The Magic Team’s offensive conditions tonight perfectly matched their preferred offensive style, making the Bobcats’ strategy of attrition largely ineffective, leading to a smooth ga for them.
As for the Bobcats, they are truly contending against the league’s second-strongest defensive team, the Magic Team, with their offense.
The Magic Team has allowed an average of 94.4 points per ga this season, being one of only two teams to allow fewer than 95 points, the other being the defense-leading Cavaliers.
The Bobcats’ persistence was thoroughly shaken in the middle of the second quarter when Nelson, Turkoglu, and substitute Keith Bogans hit consecutive three-pointers, leading to a 9-4 score against the Bobcats, widening the 6-point gap to 11 points, forcing the Bobcats to take a tiout!
During the official tiout, Felton returned to the bench, glanced at the score: in one and a half quarters, the Bobcats scored 42 points, quite a decent offensive output, predicting around 58 points by halfti, which is comndable against the Magic Team. Zhang Yang’s 19 points and 3 assists in 18 and a half minutes were crucial.
However, the opponent had already scored 53 points, leading them towards 70 points by halfti if this continues!
The Boss took the bla voluntarily, saying to his teammates: "Falling this far behind is my responsibility; I was overthinking it."
Hill patted Felton on the shoulder, comforting him: "There are always tis when a plan fails. You don’t have to bla yourself; you’re trying to do what’s best for the team. With this failure, at least one wrong option is eliminated... But what’s the purpose of such a defense anyway?"
The teammates were also curious. Surely it wasn’t solely to target Howard, right?
The Boss: You want to know; I want to know too!
Just as Felton was about to co up with an explanation, Carlisle said, "Never mind the purpose for now; continue with the previous defense till the half. We’ll adjust during halfti."
The Bobcats, as a top-tier team, showed their strengths at this mont. Without Carlisle saying too much, everyone understood—right now, the priority is not adjustnt but stabilizing their position. A rushed adjustnt out of impatience could lead to a sudden collapse.
...
The official tiout was over, and the Bobcats on offense.
Felton took the bla, Zhang Yang felt guilty, and there was awkwardness from so clever but lacking moves. But he knew this was not the ti for guilt or awkwardness, nor for boisterously taking back the bla. He was the light in his teammates’ minds, the pillar of the team, and he had to step up and do what he needed to do.
He held up under pressure, drove to the right baseline, turned and shot, drawing a foul from the defending Turkoglu, sinking both free throws, boosting his score to 21 points and narrowing the gap to single digits, trailing the Magic Team by 9 points at 44 to 53.
Zhang Yang’s solo scoring always seed to inspire his teammates, motivating them to follow third brother’s lead to keep the score close and prevent the opponent from extending their lead any further, ensuring a chance after the halfti break.
Isn’t it just trailing by a dozen points by halfti? They’ve co back from a double-digit deficit in three quarters before.
But an unexpected situation arose...
The Magic Team, which had just put on a stellar performance with three consecutive three-pointers, suddenly cooled off as if doused with icy water after the official tiout, hitting only two shots over six possessions and scoring just 5 points!
That’s not the point; the Bobcats’ wing shooting also dipped in the latter part of the second quarter, with both Mike Miller and Felton missing open three-pointers, and only scoring on 1 out of 3 set plays, while Ibaka followed Zhang Yang on a fast break for an alley-oop dunk, and Zhang Yang drove into the lane for an and-one against the Magic’s substitute Power Forward Tony Battie, resulting in a 7-5 run, cutting the score to 51-58, a 7-point gap, still a possible two-possession lead from double digits.
The point is, after the periter shooting percentage declined, the Magic’s shooters remained outside, with nobody cutting inside!
Originally, starters like Courtney, Nelson, and substitutes like Ryan Gos, Redick, and Bogans, actively cut in when they first took the field, maintaining the team’s inside-out offensive linkage.
Although the Magic team scored the league’s lowest percentage of their points near the basket, just barely over 40%, inside-out scoring synergy was crucial for them. Enough attack-the-basket threat ensures better periter shooting opportunities.
Yet, tonight Howard alone was enough to ensure an attack-the-basket threat. Others creating space would naturally have chances, so no one wanted to cut in, and stepping in was ant to run back out for shooting chances, which indeed could lead to opportunities.
But with no other cuts, it beca even harder for Howard, who was already not great at offensive rebounding, to grab boards. The Bobcats just needed a wing defender plus Okafor to firmly lock down Howard, who was playing his heart out
So with the Magic Team’s long-range shooting percentage dropping, Zhang Yang hit back the Magic Team with two fast breaks.
The Magic Team, being a top-tier team, were smart, with Turkoglu directing teammates to make adjustnts—strengthen the defense.
Fluctuations in touch were unavoidable, and what they had to do then was persevere, tough through this phase, slow down the opponent’s pace in narrowing the gap.
There was nothing wrong with Turkoglu’s decision, but the key figure in executing this adjustnt started to act up...
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