181: 106.
Charlotte, a Mountain (Extra update for every 20k recomndation tickets)_2 181: 106.
Charlotte, a Mountain (Extra update for every 20k recomndation tickets)_2 Mike Brown applied what he had learned in his three years as an assistant coach with the Spurs to the Cavaliers, creating excellent growth conditions for early-career LeBron Jas, with the Spurs’ 2000 to 2003 philosophy of defense first, and giving the ball to the strongest player on offense.
On offense, Brezec toughened up, giving Zhang Yang a surprise, but on defense, Zhang Yang didn’t expect much from Brezec…
Sure enough, after Jas drove toward the basket, he scored a layup against Brezec using just three steps, without even needing the new rule’s allowed “continuation step.”
Brezec’s defense was too soft!
When it ca to the Bobcats’ offense, Gerald Wallace also directly called for the ball to drive.
Jas’s lateral movent misjudgnt caused him to be bypassed by Gerald Wallace.
Gerald Wallace drove to the basket and made a flying layup.
Brezec was soft; Big Z wasn’t soft, but he was slow!
Brezec had good offensive awareness.
As soon as Gerald started to drive, he turned and ran to the baseline.
Big Z followed for two steps and saw Gerald driving in, imdiately turned back to chase…
But those two steps cost him the chance to be adequately positioned for defense.
Jas’s drives were sharp.
Even Gerald Wallace couldn’t defend against him one-on-one, and the interior defense didn’t help either as the Bobcats started losing points consecutively.
But the Cavaliers also couldn’t stop the Bobcats’ offense!
Currently, Jas’s defense was pretty bad, unable to stop Gerald Wallace’s drives.
On Snow’s side, relying purely on skill for defense due to his age, he simply couldn’t stop the young and strong Felton.
Facing the drive attacks of Felton and Gerald Wallace, the Cavaliers players started missing Larry Hughes.
Although after Hughes’s injury, Jas took over the offense, and the Cavaliers’ average score in the last 18 gas soared to 99 points from 94 points in the previous 27 gas, their defense significantly worsened.
Previously, the Cavaliers conceded an average of 92 points per ga, top-tier in the league; in the last 18 gas, they conceded an average of 96 points per ga, just slightly below the league average.
Previously, Snow and Larry Hughes helped Jas cover defensive weak spots by collapsing and helping on the wings.
Now with only Snow, every ti they faced opponents with strong penetrating power, Big Z below the basket suffered.
However, as the ga progressed, the Cavaliers started showing their advantage!
With Felton and Gerald Wallace taking turns battling Jas with drives, when those two needed a breather after several minutes of aggressive play, Jas could still continue to drive!
This season, Jas averaged 42 minutes per ga, leading the league in number of drives and dribble breaks at the basket, and his defensive effort, based purely on instinct, probably also ranked among the top in the league…
Zhang Yang, watching in amazent, observed how tall, fast, strong, agile, and well-conditioned he was!
The score reached 15 to 11, with the Bobcats calling for a tiout and substituting; Zhang Yang, Jumaine Jones, and Perkins replaced Karim Rush, Eli, and Brezec.
Zhang Yang stretched a bit, and while the tiout hadn’t ended, gathered his teammates who had co onto the court together and said a few words.
Felton: “Jack, are you kidding ?”
Zhang Yang: “Just try it, how will you know it won’t work without trying?
If it fails, no worries, think of it as helping Gerald relieve defensive fatigue.
If Gerald has less fatigue on defense, he can perform better on offense and relieve your offensive pressure.”
Gerald Wallace: “I have no objections, but I don’t think Raymond can do it, I couldn’t even do it.”
Felton: “Who says I can’t?
Just let do it!”
Zhang Yang: Damn, boss Karim really can squeeze anyone!
Perkins: This rookie’s strategy is too outrageous, two guys competing to be the top dog actually accepted it!
This team is really weird!
Jumaine Jones: It’s fine, they didn’t assign any strange tasks.
…
Players from both teams ca onto the court.
The Cavaliers also made player adjustnts, replacing Ronald Murray, Snow, Jas, Gooden, and Big Z with Aleksandar Pavlovic.
The tiout ended, and the Bobcats resud the offense with a mid-court inbound.
Felton received the inbounds pass and passed to Zhang Yang, spreading out the spacing.
Cheers erupted at the scene, and for the first ti, Zhang Yang was matched up against Jas!
Jas, the son of Arican basketball, touted as the top talent of the new generation.
In this regard, many basketball fans in the Carolina region disagreed with the statent and believed Zhang Yang was the most talented.
Finally, the two players matched up, and the fans at the scene were incredibly excited.
Compared to the fans, Zhang Yang calmly protected the ball, waiting for his teammates to position themselves.
Suddenly, Zhang Yang made his move!
This ti, Jas correctly predicted the movent, pressing forward to use his body to block Zhang Yang’s drive…
Zhang Yang anticipated Jas’s anticipation, stopped his feet before the confrontation, dribbled between his legs to step back to the left, and Jas lunged past him from the front.
Zhang Yang restarted, bypassed Jas, and charged down the middle!
The fans at the scene scread in ecstasy at this sight; the rhythm was just too beautiful!
It had a bit of a Steve Nash vibe!
As he drove inside, Zhang Yang remained composed.
His step back had taken a bit more ti; Big Z had already moved in.
He drove to a suitable position, quickly grabbing the ball and shooting before Jas could catch up and Big Z could close in to trap him…
It was good!
13 to 15, Zhang Yang helped the Bobcats keep up with the score!
Hearing the cheers of the fans, Zhang Yang calmly fell back on defense.
His role on the court at this ti was to continue the offense, easing the offensive pressure on Felton and Gerald Wallace.
Playing defense against the Knight, who were only average in the league, offense was not a big problem, the key was in defense…
it was up to Big Neal and the Heir.
Soon, the fans couldn’t cheer anymore.
They saw Jas advance to the front court, and guarding him at the top of the arc was Felton!
What kind of defensive matchup was this?
Had Bickerstaff lost his mind?
Bickerstaff also looked bewildered; he hadn’t made any defensive adjustnts just now, allowing the players to make their own decisions, but the players’ adjustnts were too wild!
Felton, guarding at the top of the arc and watching Jas advance, also felt scared, but having already spoken out, he had to muster up his courage and go for it.
Right, what did that little rascal say again?
Rembered it now…
Jas, seeing he was guarded by Felton, was also surprised, but before he could think that he was ‘being underestimated,’ ‘the opponent was crazy,’ etc., he saw Felton step back a long step, then another small step, almost retreating to the free-throw line!
The fans were baffled seeing Felton ’emptying’ Jas; what kind of defense was this?
Felton wanted to press forward again after stepping back, the unreliable little rascal, but he rembered what Zhang Yang said, “Jas generally only shoots threes at the start of the ga when there’s no confrontation, or when they are trailing and desperate,” and resisted the urge to press forward again.
Then…
he saw that Jas really didn’t shoot and was driving down the middle instead!
Felton internally cursed, hurriedly taking small quick steps to prepare to move.
Jas charged to the free-throw line, and just as he was about to contact Felton, he changed direction, exploding along the baseline on the right side of the three-second area.
From the free-throw line to the right side of the basket was much shorter than from the top of the arc to the right side of the basket, so Felton wasn’t shaken off; he closely followed Jas, stretching out his hand to steal, his chubby hand was incredibly quick.
Jas almost lost the ball, hurriedly pulling the ball back and turning, facing back against Felton, stopping at the right side of the three-second line on the baseline.
Felton felt regretful, but his actions didn’t stop; he pressed up close against Jas.
Though he was stuck to him, Felton felt a chill inside, fearing he would be dominated, fearing he would be forcefully carved through, recalling all those centers thrashed and ravaged by O’Neal and Yao Ming.
He had never imagined he would face such a day, that darn little brother…
huh?
Wait, why hasn’t the impact co yet?
Felton braced for being dunked over, but Jas just kept dribbling there, looking around…
almost five seconds back to the basket!
Are you going to dunk on or not?
Jas was also anxious.
After backing down, he hadn’t attacked imdiately, and the grim, ferocious-looking Center had already moved in.
Not to ntion he was not very skilled at back-to-the-basket power plays; even if he was, it was too late.
No one had co to assist him yet, and he surely couldn’t just turn around and dribble out, could he?
Not to ntion whether there would be enough ti left for a full drive, being forced to pull out and retry breaking through a 6’1″ guard – did he even care about his image anymore?
At this mont, the baseline referee’s countdown of 5 seconds had already reached “4”.
Jas, having waited in vain for a teammate to assist or perhaps his teammates didn’t expect Jas needing assistance in low-post back to Felton…
one way or another, he had to shoot.
Then, Felton watched as Jas made an awkward turnaround jump shot…
it hit the rim…
and he really held him off!
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