Zhang Yang also shook his head, "The last ti we played the Magic team, we thought the sa. Other teams that lost to the Magic team thought so too, but the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls don’t think that way."
Okafor finally showed a slight change in emotion, eagerly saying, "Huh?"
Zhang Yang: "Players like Brown and Garnett, and Yao that make Howard unable to laugh, I think that’s the key to defeating the Magic team. Want to give it a try?"
Okafor thought for a mont and responded, "We’re just experinting for the playoffs, which is necessary and has nothing to do with personal grudges."
Zhang Yang took a step back and said, "Sure, sure, Eka, you don’t have to emphasize that... hey, you can’t catch !"
Okafor retracted his extended arm, gave Zhang Yang a side-eye, and ran off to find Felton. Such troubleso... big matters within the team should, of course, be left to the Boss.
Zhang Yang was in a good mood. Originally, a simpler thod could be used to reach a consensus on such matters, but making Little Duncan show such big mood swings is quite difficult, and it only seems possible when facing Howard, so uncontrollable.
He kept pace with Okafor and joined the starting teammates to communicate together.
Carlisle saw the starting players huddled together communicating and moved in to listen... there’s a self-adjustnt? And the target is sowhat strange...
But since it’s within the tactical frawork, there’s no need to interfere.
Coaches who often coach talented players have a common trait—they dare to let the players go for it.
The Zen Master is one, Adelman is another, and Carlisle, who has never coached a team with a poor lineup since joining the NBA, is also the sa, especially after seeing old Bickerstaff’s coaching.
The defensive goal discussed by the starting players this ti, if told to Carlisle in advance, he probably wouldn’t adopt it and would still carry out regular targeted defense arrangents, but when players have their own ideas before the ga, he won’t oppose it, so why not give it a try?
...
The ga was about to start, and the two teams’ starters took to the court.
The Bobcats continued with the ’no big center’ starting lineup since the beginning, and the Magic team’s starters hadn’t changed this season, with the lineup of Nelson, Courtney Lee, Turkoglu, Lewis, and Howard taking the court.
Howard excitedly ca to the mid-circle, and across from him, a fellow sophomore stared at him with wide eyes.
Previously, he didn’t like playing against the Bobcats, every match ended in frustration.
But with Van Gundy’s arrival, promoting Turkoglu as the tactical core, creating a 4-1 defensive setup... the situation changed.
Last season, although they lost the latter two matches, they won the first two, ending with a back-and-forth in the regular season.
This season’s first encounter with the Bobcats, they won again, and unlike the luck involved in the first two victories of last season, the victory in the last ga was genuinely hard-earned! They pressed the Bobcats in the second half! They really have the ability to beat the Bobcats... mainly, they can beat Okafor now!
Okafor was always brooding about not being the top draft pick, and Howard was never happy with Okafor.
During their rookie year, fresh out of high school, his personal skills were inferior to Okafor who had played in college for three years;
By the second year, his skills caught up, but Okafor had teammates Felton and Zhang Yang, and they made it to the playoffs, while his team was still in the lottery pit;
By the third year, he already surpassed Okafor in skills, leading the team into the playoffs... and Okafor won the championship with Zhang Yang.
Envy, jealousy!
At 8 PM, the referee blew the whistle to start the ga, tossing the ball into the air.
As the ball reached the highest point, Howard burst up, tapping the ball back, Magic Team on the attack first!
After losing the jump ball, Okafor imdiately retreated, having to admit, Howard’s sharp athletic instincts were sothing he couldn’t envy.
His jumping was a conscious decision he made his body respond to, Howard’s jump was pure instinct.
Nelson moved the ball to the frontcourt and passed it to Turkoglu.
Howard didn’t, like in previous years, demand the ball at the low post on the first attack, but moved along with his teammates’ positions, maintaining a cutting threat, anticipating secondary attack lines based on his teammates’ ball movent...
His single-player ability is stronger than in any past year. He’s bulked up, able to push more opponents around, but he doesn’t seem to care about this anymore, no longer needing an opening attack to find his presence.
Guarding the top arc position wasn’t Zhang Yang, but Pietrus.
Zhang Yang and Turkoglu have about a 10 cm height difference barefoot, and Turkoglu is a skillful player, good at shooting, so it’s hard for Zhang Yang to defend him.
Of course, Pietrus can’t effectively guard Turkoglu either. While Turkoglu isn’t a superstar in terms of personal ability, within the Magic team’s system, his performance and role are equivalent to one, and no one has truly stopped him this season, only tried to limit him as much as possible.
Pietrus’ style of limiting was simple and crude—physical play.
The effectiveness was, well, not great.
Though Turkey is an Asian country, its sports style belongs to Eastern Europe. Turkoglu is similar to Bargnani, their playing style looks soft, seemingly wobbly in confrontations, but it doesn’t affect their gaplay in the slightest.
Turkoglu successfully utilized his excellent skills to get past Pietrus, breaking through to the left within the free-throw line distance, while other Magic team mbers interchased, following Turkoglu’s rhythm.
Lewis, after screening for Courtney Lee on the right mid-range, widened to the baseline, while Courtney Lee cut into the paint with Millsap switched on him. Seeing this, Howard lit up, seeing a scoring opportunity, and followed Courtney Lee into the paint.
As expected, Okafor switched defending, blocking Courtney Lee’s cut line, with Millsap coming up to his beast for backup.
Howard didn’t sidestep, pushing up on Millsap, preparing to spin around him into the three-second zone, aiming for a thunderous alley-oop dunk with Turkoglu’s help on Okafor... but couldn’t pull it off!
Zhang Yang moved to help just in ti, blocking Howard with Millsap at the three-second line!
Turkoglu seized the mont, leveraging his height advantage, lobbed the ball over a bunch of people from the right side line of the three-second area to the right corner, where Lewis took a three-point shot... score!
The massive dunk opportunity was gone, leaving Howard montarily displeased, but he quickly tossed the feeling aside and turned to defense.
On the transition, Zhang Yang, running to the frontcourt, felt so regret—will they overplay tonight? Magic Team’s three-pointers are so accurate...
However, when he got to the high post holding Courtney Lee and received the ball, he brushed off the worry and thought, just attack!
...
...
The weather turned cool, and I caught a serious cold these past two days, dizzy and muddled, didn’t originally intend to say much, haven’t been very active this year, but
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