With Granger at the peak of his career, and with strong leadership skills, the Pacers, whose lineup isn’t bad, although it’s tough to win gas, have the strength to compete with any opponent for a while, and it’s rare for them to be completely thrashed.
But tonight was a bit special, with half a quarter where he went 7 for 5, including 2 for 2 from three-point range, scoring 12 points without any free throws... The Pacers players were totally stunned.
Watching Zhang Yang shoot, they had only one thought—how the hell does he dare to shoot that? And how does he keep scoring!
But thinking carefully about it, those shots seed to count as opportunities, but for them, even for soone as talented as Granger who’s amongst the top scorers, they wouldn’t normally view those as shot opportunities, let alone seize the mont to shoot.
But thinking about this, Granger felt even more frustrated; it wasn’t just about scoring ability, but he couldn’t even spot opportunities as well as Zhang Yang...
This brings up the ’art of shooting’ practice Zhang Yang gained before the Olympics; to make the most of this practice, he’s been adjusting his shooting habits since the Olympics to capture better shooting opportunities.
In the opening dozen gas of the new season, his shot selection made significant progress.
Tonight, it turned into seizing those opportunities that ordinary players wouldn’t even dare to think about in poor shooting environnts!
Initially, Pacers players saw that the Bobcats team hasn’t been in good condition recently, and thought they could take this opportunity to blow out the Bobcats with a bang.
Even Big Bird joined in during training to help the players co up with ways to win. Although the record isn’t important, defeating the ’strongest youth army bad boys legion’ would be quite a morale booster.
But the result...
Their own offense, due to Hibbert’s shortcomings, was obstructed and spotted by Zhang Yang, causing their opening strategy to collapse imdiately; on the defensive end, Zhang Yang’s various reckless shots exploded them, falling behind by a dozen points right at the start...
At 9:23 pm, the final whistle blew.
Zhang Yang scored 17 points in the first quarter, 6 points in the second, and 13 points in the third... with no points in the final quarter, shooting 22 for 14, including 3 for 4 from three-point range, plus 5 for 5 from free throws, scoring 36 points in three quarters to clock out, leading the Bobcats to a 116 to 82 victory over the Pacers!
After the ga, DeRozan stared blankly at the data of both teams’ players on the big screen.
He played for 26 minutes tonight, as the entire fourth quarter was garbage ti. He shot 13 for 6, including 2 for 5 from three-point range, plus 2 for 2 from the line, scoring 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, setting a personal scoring high, but compared to Zhang San on the other side...
Tonight, Granger, who was bombarded by Zhang Yang’s unexpected shots, restrained his frantic emotions, ca to DeRozan, and said: "DeMar, don’t be discouraged because of this. You’ve just entered the NBA, one day you’ll be just as brilliant."
DeRozan shook his head: "You might not know how talented Jack is."
Granger: "I know, of course, I know. I entered the NBA the sa year as him. I know how fast he’s progressing, I’ve been keeping an eye on him, he’s my benchmark."
DeRozan was privately musing, seeing your face, I thought you entered the NBA at least three to five years earlier than Zhang San...
DeRozan just made this ntal note, it’s sothing he wouldn’t say out loud.
Granger continued: "I’m very clear about his rapid progress, but this year he doesn’t give as strong an impact as at the start of last season. From a technical angle, his progression has slowed down, he’s already starting to seek improvent space in his playstyle, which ans our gap with him will gradually narrow..."
At this point, Granger couldn’t continue speaking, the next line in his mind being—although we might never surpass him.
Having been in the NBA for so many years, he had accepted the fact that he’s an ’ordinary person’ amongst the ’genius’ group, not depressed by this, but prepared to beco a team player and lead the team to win. But DeRozan had just entered the NBA, and he thought this rookie might not co to terms with it.
DeRozan, with a lot of internal monologues, guessed what Granger hadn’t finished saying.
He rarely smiled and said: "Thank you, Danny, but you don’t have to worry about being discouraged. After playing a year of high school ball with him, I knew for sure he would soon beco stronger than . His performance after entering the NBA didn’t shock as much as when he was in 10th grade. Within a year, he beca number one in California... But I never gave up because of this. My dream at the mont is to catch up with his footsteps and then surpass him!"
When DeRozan said this, his eyes seed to be glowing.
Granger was stunned; he could clearly feel that this rookie didn’t think it was possible to surpass Zhang Yang, but still chose to strive in that direction.
His emotions were stirred, he hugged DeRozan’s shoulder and said: "Good! Let’s work hard together to surpass the bad boys, surpass the bad boys legion!"
...
After the two back-to-back away gas concluded, on the 27th, Zhang Yang returned to Charlotte with the team, rested for a night. On the 28th, they hosted the Nuggets Team.
This was a ga Zhang Yang had been looking forward to for a long ti—the ultimate version of the Three Musketeers!
In Zhang Yang’s impression of the Nuggets Team managent, they’re not a group of people who settle for the status quo.
He rembered, after the Nuggets Team managent ford the ’Golden Duo’ with Iverson and Anthony, they only maintained it for a complete season, played the playoffs twice, but could not stand the lack of results in the playoffs, decided to dismantle the team. Just as the 08-09 season started, they sent away Iverson, who had a previous season average of 26 points and 7 assists. Before that, during the 08 offseason, they traded Camby away for just a second-round pick.
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