First in scoring

Chapter 423 422. The Raptors were stressed out by the beating

It was late November, on the 11st, the Bobcats faced the Bucks at home, who had started with 21 wins and 3 losses.

In the third game in four days, the Bobcats had a cold hand tonight, as they were upset by the Bucks 4-3 at home. Zhang Yang had his worst performance at the start, making only 74 of 79 shots, including missed open three-pointers. His teammates were not much better, with the team making 23 of 5 shots, with a hit rate of just over 82%... However, this game did not lack highlights for the Bobcats, as they defended the Bucks to only 25 of 30 shots and 80 of 29 three-pointers. Excluding free throws, the Bucks only scored 17 points from shooting.

But unfortunately, a tactical foul was committed when the team was trailing by 3 points, and Bogut, who has always been bad at free throws, made both free throws.

Bogut's free throw performance in this game was amazing. Zhang Yang's final tactical foul seemed to be full of personal emotion as he slapped Bogut on the arm, but he still made both free throws. It can be said that the Bobcats defended everything. Richard Jefferson made 15 of 5 shots, Reed made 23 of 8 shots, Bogut made 12 of 5 shots...but Bogut made all 7 free throws, which became the key to the Bucks' victory.

After two days of rest, on the 24th, the Bobcats came to the North to challenge the Raptors away.

The Raptors have a new coach this season, Jane Triano, who is the head coach of the Canadian men's basketball team. Perhaps the Raptors management wants to use this title to attract local fans to buy tickets to watch the game?

这位主教练执教做得倒是挺不错的，扭转了猛龙队上赛季后半程的颓势，开局打出了6胜6负的战绩，面对8胜1负的骑士队时以107比103爆冷、面对7胜1负的小牛队时以104比99爆冷，是他们开局阶段表现最亮眼的两场比赛。

不过主要原因还是马上满25岁的波什进入巅峰期了，开局至今12场比赛场均拿到24.1分10.5板2.6助攻，得分排在内线第二，仅次于诺维斯基的场均26分、高于姚明的场均23.8分。

His shooting percentage reached 51%, a career high, and his three-point shooting percentage of 36.4% was also excellent.

Jane Triano played in Europe during his playing career and has coached some European national teams. He values ​​Bosh's long-range shooting talent and wants to train him into a superstar power forward who can score both inside and outside.

Yahoo Sports Review - Bosh finally found a coach that suits him.

Every time Okafor meets Bosh, he plays well on offense, but he is always terrible on defense. This time is the worst defense for Okafor in the dozen or so times the two have played against each other.

25投15中、其中三分球2中1，加上10中8的罚球，波什狂砍39分11板。

Okafor made 12 of 6 shots, plus 6 of 4 free throws, for 16 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. He performed very well and defended hard, but he just couldn't be defended.

In fact, Okafor was not the only one who was beaten. Millsap, Ibaka and Hill took turns to defend Bosh but they were all unable to do so. At this time, Bosh was like a deluxe version of Garnett if he only looked at the offensive end.

Okafor didn't even face off against Bosh at the beginning of the game, and only faced off against Bosh during the rotation phase...but he is the Bobcats' number one inside player, and if Bosh starts to perform, it is his responsibility.

After a few years of decadence, O'Neal Jr. played very hard this year, averaging 13 points and 9 rebounds per game. His scoring is far less than before, but his shooting percentage has returned to 47%, at least he is not lagging behind, and he did a good job in protecting the rim. Tonight, he made 9 of 4 shots and 3 of 3 free throws to get 11 points and 10 rebounds, giving Bosh the necessary help.

With the outstanding performances of Calderon, Anthony Parker, Kapono and others, the Raptors led the Bobcats by 80 points with 71 to 9 in the first three quarters.

However, in the final quarter, Zhang Yang, whose touch in the first three quarters was not much better than in the previous game, woke up and scored two goals in a row. First, he made a three-pointer, then he broke through to the basket and hit O'Neal with a 2+1. After he attracted the Raptors' defensive attention, Felton and Mike Miller fired continuously, and both scored 11 points in a single quarter...

Zhang Yang only scored those two goals in the final quarter, and then he made a three-second free throw by relying on defense. However, the Raptors did not dare to let him shoot throughout the final quarter. He was stressed out by the old blacksmith.

Led by these three players, the Bobcats scored 35 to 23 in the final quarter!
As Bosh missed the buzzer-beating three-pointer, he failed to score 40+ in a single game. The Raptors' hope of dragging the game into overtime was shattered and they suffered a tragic reversal.

张杨21分、奥卡福16分、费尔顿23分、迈克-米勒18分……山猫队4人得分上双，以106比103逆转猛龙队！
...

In the last two games, Zhang Yang's scores were the last and second to last this season. His previous lowest was 22 points in the away game against the Detroit Pistons. His average points per game also dropped from 30.4 points after the game against the Timberwolves to 28.7 points, dropping to second on the scoring list.

Zhang Yang was quite upset about this, but fortunately, Wade, who surpassed him and ranked first, has played 14 games so far, averaging 29.7 points per game. He has played for less than a month and can surpass him with just one more game.

It has been almost a month since the game started, and the scores of the major stars on the scoring list have dropped significantly compared to last season. To be more precise, the scores of each team are more balanced.

詹姆斯首周场均33分，到现在数据平稳下来后，场均28.3分7板7助攻1.8抢断1.1盖帽。

Kobe Bryant, who is fourth on the scoring list, averages 27.1 points per game;
Nowitzki, who ranked fifth, averaged 26 points per game, returning to his peak performance two years ago. His shooting percentage also rose to 49%. The Mavericks also returned to first place in the Western Conference, surpassing the Lakers.

第六的丹尼-格兰杰场均25.6分，锻炼了3年，步行者队队长在新秀合同最后一年也步入巅峰期了，05届选秀的含金量进一步提高，算上尼克斯队开局至今场均16分12板的大卫-李、森林狼队场均17分11板的拜纳姆，05届1-5号位都有了全明星潜力的球员。

Apart from these six players, there are no other players averaging 6 points per game so far this season. The closest is second-year Durant, who averages 25 points per game. However, if the current trend continues, he is expected to become the second-year player after James to average 24.6+ points per game. Less than a month into this season, there are only 25 players averaging 25+ points per game, the fewest since the 6-04 season.

The balanced scoring of each team is a major trend in the environment of rising salaries, and this is the same whether it is the Iron Blood Era or the NHC Era.

At the beginning of the Iron Blood Era, the performance of role players declined significantly, while the performance of top scorers declined relatively less. For example, O'Neal, David Robinson, Malone and others were almost unaffected. The sudden increase in the intensity of the confrontation had the greatest impact on the players with less ability. At the same time, it also promoted the improvement of the strength of role players, and they began to gradually share shooting rights and impose greater restrictions on top scorers on the defensive end. In the 03-04 season, the peak of the Iron Blood Era, an average of 28 points per game was enough to win the scoring title, and the scoring of role players increased significantly.

In the current NHC era, the top scorers' scores increased significantly at the beginning. Now, a few years have passed, the role players have caught up, and the top scorers have returned to their proper performance.

If Zhang Yang remembers correctly, in the future the only players who will average 25+ points per game in a season will be Durant, Kobe and James.

It was not until the rise of the King of Jingdezhen, Turtle, Elementary School Student and others, and the transition to the small ball era, that more scorers averaging 25+ points per game began to appear.

However, the performance of some top scorers has declined, which is related to the fact that there are too many scorers in their teams. For the Nuggets, Iverson averaged 21.2 points per game, Ray Allen averaged 20.6 points per game, and Anthony averaged 22.6 points per game.

The Nuggets also have Nene averaging 12.6 points per game and JR Smith averaging 13.8 points per game in the interior and on the bench.

If there is a chance to compete for the scoring title, Zhang Yang certainly doesn't want to miss it, but he needs to be patient at the moment and can't act rashly just because his ranking drops. Now is the most critical stage.

As the saying goes, "Misfortunes often bring blessings." In the past two games, he had a bad touch, which then spread to the whole team, making it very difficult for them to play defense, but they were also forced to play defense with all their might. Especially the second and third lineups had to shoulder greater responsibilities on the defensive end. Their second and third lineups really had a good sense of defense, and in terms of defensive continuity when switching lineups, they took a big step forward by accident.

After the game with the Raptors, since it was already snowy and icy in the north, no one went out to play. Some players gathered in Carlisle's room and discussed the defensive performance of the two games with Carlisle, Paul Silas and other coaches.

Unlike Zhang Yang's own intuitive feeling that the second and third lineups had better defense, Brad Miller, Perkins, Afflalo and others said that they felt they could defend better when they were on the court.

The coaching staff, as a "third party perspective", had their own opinions, but they did not say it directly. Instead, they took out the video clips of the game against the Bucks and watched it with the players. After some discussion, Carlisle put forward his point of view -

"In this game, our defense in the starting phase was very anxious because we only scored 5 points in the first half of the game. We kept confronting the Bucks players physically, which caused their shooting touch to decline.

Therefore, when the rotation lineup came on the court to play traditional positional defense, they found that the opponent's wing long-range shooting accuracy was very poor, so they could focus more defensive attention on protecting the rim and Reed's high-post one-on-one singles, and disrupt the opponent's tactical coordination rhythm.

When the starting lineup came back on the court to rotate defense, we found that the opponent's tactical coordination had been messed up, so we played a better rotation defense and completely locked the opponent's scoring. "

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Before the game tonight, you emphasized that we should focus on fighting against long-distance shooters in the starting phase. Is that because of this?"

Carlisle responded: "Yes, the effect is good, but Bosh's shooting range is too wide and we couldn't defend him, but overall we did a good job."

Felton raised his hand and expressed his concerns: "We actively increase confrontation in the starting phase, and our starting shooting feel will also be affected. Will the return be less than the investment?"

Carlisle smiled and said, "Raymond, you hit the nail on the head. As expected of you, you are always able to keenly detect hidden dangers."

Upon hearing this, Felton involuntarily sat up straight with his chest puffed out.

Carlisle continued: "The defensive system has been built to this point, and it's time to move on to the next stage."

Felton asked, "The next stage?"

Carlisle: "We used to train and play around defense, but now our progress has slowed down. Next, we need to focus on the entire game, the playoffs, and a series, and have a long-term defensive plan.

Our best shooter on the wing is Mike. He comes off the bench, so how the starting lineup plays has no effect on him. This is the confidence that allows us to play this way. Our starting lineup at positions 1-4 are you, Jack, Michael, and Paul. You have advantages against most opponents in your respective positions, and you can keep up with the speed, so you have the conditions to consume the opponent's energy in the starting stage.

As for your concerns, Raymond, as long as you and Jack can keep up the scoring in the starting phase, it can be solved. Raymond, is it okay for me to leave this to you?"

Felton's tone suddenly rose: "Of course, this is my responsibility!"

Zhang San blinked his eyes: Hey, Katu has a better understanding of the fat little boss, and he has him under his control!
(End of this chapter)