First in scoring

Chapter 428: The Passion of the Dragon King

On December 12, at 4:7 p.m., a man with an unusually long neck stepped onto the court of the Turkish Airlines Arena.

There was a lot of booing at the scene, but he didn't care. With his keen sense of camera, he adjusted the angle and presented what he thought was his most handsome look to the fans in front of the TV.

The person who came was none other than the long-necked dragon Chris Bosh.

He is particularly excited tonight because the upcoming game is one of the four nationwide live broadcasts scheduled for the Raptors this season!

He is a person who likes to stand in the spotlight and appear in front of the camera very much, but the Raptors have very few national live broadcasts. The only time he played with Carter in his rookie season was when there were 11 national live broadcasts. In the five seasons since Carter was traded, the Raptors have only had three national live broadcasts for four consecutive seasons. This is very tormenting and painful for him, so he cherishes every national live broadcast, enjoys it, and tries his best to play well.

据统计，05-06赛季和07-08赛季猛龙队6场全美直播的比赛中，波什场均能拿到28.8分，远高于平时。

This season, the Raptors have four nationally televised games scheduled before the start of the season, one more than the past four seasons, which is tonight's game against the Bobcats. This nationally televised game was made possible by Bosh's own ability. He was one of the best players in the game against the Bobcats last season, and ranked very close to the front.

Although the Raptors' strength is not first-rate, they are not a weak team that can be easily bullied. They have enough lineup depth to defeat strong teams when they are in an outbreak. It's just that the management is not satisfied with the status quo and has to work hard, but they don't have the ability to destroy the lineup structure built by Colangelo Jr., and thus they are reduced to the edge of the playoffs.

There were no other popular games tonight, and the media and fans focused their attention on the Turkish Airlines Arena. Bosh accepted exclusive interviews from several media outlets in the afternoon, and he was smiling all the time.

The Northern Dragon King is ready to kill everyone. He was overturned by Zhang Yang in the last fight, so this time he vows to win the game!
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats' home game against the Raptors began.

The Bobcats' starting lineup remained the same, while the Raptors sent out a combination of Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Bosh, and O'Neal Jr.

Bosh, who is full of ambition and confidence, is ready to beat the Bobcats' inside line with the posture of a strong dragon...

Giraffidae: ??? No, you guys are attacking, you're actively looking for a fight?
Okafor defeated O'Neal Jr. and won the jump ball. Millsap went all the way to the left baseline and directly took position at the baseline.

Although this position is not Millsap's one-on-one area, Bosh still has to stand between Millsap and the basket to prevent Millsap from having the opportunity to rush into the basket without interference.

Otherwise, with Felton and Zhang Yang's passing ability, a lob would be an assist.

On the top arc, Felton launched an attack against Calderon, broke through to close range, and passed to Okafor who was at the baseline... Okafor missed the mid-range shot.

Bosh blocked Millsap who was actively rushing for the ball and grabbed the defensive rebound.

He defended and secured the rebound, but Bosh had a bad feeling.

The first defense at the beginning of the game is more tiring than a normal round of offense and defense!
The bad premonition soon came true. After Bosh passed the ball to Calderon, he turned and ran to the frontcourt... and encountered Millsap's full-court press defense!
Bosh was in a terrible state. He had sensed something was wrong just now, so how could he not understand what the other side was trying to do?
What serious team would use full-court press defense on the power forward?
After Bosh squeezed Millsap to the frontcourt, he ran back with faster steps to get rid of Millsap, but as soon as he received the ball on the left side of the free throw line, he was stuck by Zhang Yang. Millsap did not give up and also made up for it.

Before Millsap could get back into position, Bosh took advantage of his height and wingspan to shoot a mid-range shot against Zhang Yang's defense... "bang"... missed!
In this ball, Bosh's lower body was completely blocked by Zhang Yang, his jump was restricted, and he had to rush to shoot, so he didn't control the strength and direction well.

Okafor protected the defensive rebound, the offense and defense switched, Zhang Yang received the ball in the high position and backed up Anthony Parker, then turned and broke through. Millsap and Okafor were both at the baseline, and the Raptors chose to push the forward and guard line collectively to the lower limit.

Zhang Yang broke through to the close range and passed the ball back to the high position. After the opponent's defense sunk, Millsap immediately stopped positioning himself and ran to the high position. He received the ball on the left side of the free throw line, turned around and shot a mid-range shot...and it went in!
This time Bosh was caught off guard. He didn't expect Millsap to stop fighting if he said so, so he didn't follow up immediately.

But before Bosh could feel upset, Millsap stuck to Bosh again.

From the end of the fight to the beginning of the fight again, only three or four seconds passed...

Bosh was much calmer this time. He did not wrestle with Millsap and ran towards the front court. He noticed that he was not the only one being fought. Everyone on the opposite side, from Felton to Okafor, was also engaged in a hand-to-hand fight!
He felt very bad. Except for Okafor, who had no advantage over O'Neal, positions 1 to 4 all had advantages over him. Except for him, who had a speed advantage over Millsap, positions 1 to 3 and 5 had no speed advantage!

Moreover, among the five players on their side, except for him who is the type who scores balancedly from inside and outside the court, the other four mainly score from mid-range and long-range shots!
Bosh, the King of the North who was not loved by his father and mother during the Dragon King period, was ranked in the top 15 of the league by all media before the start of the season, and one media even ranked him ninth. This was the result of his performance in game after game last season.

He immediately made adjustments, ran back to ask for the ball, attracted the double-team of Zhang Yang and Millsap, and did not shoot again, but passed the ball to Anthony Parker.

Pietrus quickly rotated to defense and actively moved in front of Anthony Parker. Anthony Parker is a veteran who has been competing in European and American arenas for more than ten years. He was ready to pass the ball again. After receiving the ball, he threw it to the bottom corner without stopping. Moon received the ball and made a three-pointer...and it hit!
3 to 2, the Raptors lead by 1 point.

In the following period of time, the Raptors relied on Bosh's containment to suppress the Bobcats in the score, and the lead reached as much as 9 points, but!

The Raptors players, who had been leading, became impatient first.

At the beginning, they were in high spirits under the leadership of Bosh, but when the lead reached 9 points, which would have reached double digits with one more goal, they could no longer widen the gap and the touch of the wing players began to decline.

But when they needed their star player to step up and score to continue their offensive firepower, Bosh couldn't stand up!

Although the Bobcats failed to catch up immediately, their own wing shooting was also affected and their scoring was purely supported by the two guns, but the Raptors were more impatient.

The mentality of the players of the two teams is very different. The Bobcats have the overall strength advantage, are patient, and have clear goals. As long as the plan of not letting Bosh score easily and consuming Bosh is successfully implemented, they can accept a slight fall behind in the score. When the momentum of the Raptors to widen the gap slowed down, they were happy about it.
The Raptors players are different. The last time they played against the Bobcats, they were leading by more than ten points after three quarters but the lead was reversed. Deep down, they feel that they must have a bigger advantage to win, and they are anxious when the momentum of widening the score gap slows down.

Just when the Bobcats were narrowing the gap and were about to overtake the score, an X factor appeared - Bargnani!
In the first round after Bargnani came on as center, replacing O'Neal Jr., he made a three-pointer to help the Raptors stabilize the situation.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats narrowed the gap to two points after Jarrett Jack and Ibaka, who came off the bench, scored two goals in a row!

But in the Raptors' last attack, Bargnani hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer and ended the first quarter with a 28-point lead over the Bobcats 23-5!
Bargnani came off the bench and scored 4 points in 6 minutes, helping the Raptors to get back on track.

During the intermission, Zhang Yang returned to the bench, drank some water, and kept complaining: "The current team is too shameless, letting a player like Bargnani who can average 20 points per game play as a substitute!"

It is not an exaggeration to say that Bargnani has the ability to average 20 points per game. So far this season, Bosh has missed three games due to injury. In those three games, Bargnani served as the starting power forward and the first shooting point, and he scored exactly 3 points in the three games combined.

Although they lost all three games, there is a suspicion that Bargnani scored points by inflating the score, but if he is given enough shooting opportunities to increase the score, he also needs strength, and I would like to mention Tieza here.

The teammates nearby all agreed. In the past two years, it has become popular to make the second and third scoring points play as substitutes. The Spurs were the pioneers. Yao Dao was the first to play as a substitute. Then the Mavericks did it, making Terry a substitute. The Knicks made Nate Robinson a substitute... The Raptors also did it this year. Bargnani has averaged 16.1 points per game since the start of the season, ranking third among all substitutes, higher than Ginobili's 15.8 points per game. The highest is Terry's average of 20.1 points per game, and the second highest is Nate Robinson, averaging 17 points per game.

After complaining for a while, Zhang Yang drank some water and then gathered with several core teammates to communicate. They were not discouraged because the score difference was widened to 5 points again. Their overall defense was very good in the first quarter. If it weren't for Bargnani's 2-for-2 three-pointer, they would have already overtaken the score.

Moreover, they successfully interfered with Bargnani's mid-range shots, and Ibaka continued to consume Bargnani's energy.

It’s just that Bargnani has a very outstanding characteristic as a player - he is good at maintaining his shooting touch under high confrontation.

This is the advantage that Baggnani's growing environment brought him. He started playing in the Serie A youth team at the age of 13, joined the main team at the age of 17, and counterattacked from the bench to become the core in the first year, leading the team to win the two major Serie A cup championships. By the age of 20, he completed the league, national cup and super cup triple crown in a single season, and led the team to the semi-finals of the Champions League... With long-range shooting as the main scoring method, he has long been accustomed to maintaining shooting stability in hand-to-hand combat.

Zhang Yang remembers that Bargnani was a tragic player. In the first year after Bosh left at the age of 25, Bargnani averaged 21+ points per game after getting enough shots, and it did not affect DeRozan's growth. The sophomore DeRozan averaged 17+ points per game.

The two were highly anticipated at the time. They were two such young scorers, and Valanciunas, whose immediate combat effectiveness was foreseeable, was selected... As a result, Bargnani was seriously injured in the shortened season, his athletic ability plummeted, and he couldn't find the feel of his shooting due to the decline in his athletic ability. He went from an average scorer of 20+ points per game to an average of just over 10 points per game. He was abandoned by the Raptors in the summer of 13, and then hung around in New York for two years, ending his career hastily at the age of 30.

Apart from Bargnani, the Bobcats' other defensive plans went well. The Raptors scored 16 points in the first half, and in the second half, except for Bargnani's 6 points, the other players on the Raptors only scored 6 points. The plan to defend Bosh was particularly successful. Bosh made only 4 of 1 shots, plus 2 of 1 free throws, and only scored 3 points in the entire first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Bobcats did not change their defensive plan because of Bargnani's three-point explosion. They just defended as they should. They accepted that Bargnani could kill them with long shots after high confrontation.

During the intermission, Zhang Yang instructed his teammates to stick to the established defensive plan. This choice was the right one. Although the Raptors relied on Bargnani's long-range shooting to gain momentum at the beginning of the second quarter, as the shooting of other players on the Raptors further declined, the Bobcats did a better job of defending Bargnani's long-range shooting and Bargnani's open shooting opportunities decreased, the Raptors' lead began to narrow again...

At the last moment of the second quarter, Zhang Yang stole the ball and counterattacked with a three-pointer, but missed. Okafor followed up and made a tip-in. At the end of the half, the Bobcats narrowed the score to 51 to 52, narrowing the difference to 1 point, and played a single quarter score of 28 to 24.

After the halftime break, at the beginning of the third quarter, Zhang Yang again stole the ball from Anthony Parker and counterattacked directly to the top arc of the opposite side.

Following up on Zhang Yang's left was Pietrus, and on his right was Ibaka. Bosh, who tried to retreat, seemed to be dead... Zhang Yang made a three-pointer, and the Bobcats overtook the score 54 to 52!

The Raptors made good use of Bosh's containment power and Bargnani also exploded to score 12 points in 11 minutes in the first half, but they were unable to lead for three quarters. The score was overtaken at the beginning of the third quarter, and the morale of the Raptors collapsed to the bottom.

Zhang Yang made two consecutive three-pointers across the quarter, which reminded the old players of the Raptors of that unpleasant night. The defense was quite orderly in the first half, but it was completely messed up in the third quarter.

The score in a single quarter was 29 to 16. After three quarters, the Bobcats led the Raptors 80 to 68, expanding their lead to double digits and securing the victory in one quarter!

At 10:22 pm, the game ended with the Bobcats defeating the Raptors 108-91, winning three consecutive games and improving their record to 13 wins and 5 losses!
Affected by Kobe, Zhang Yang has not scored very many points against the Raptors since January 06. In the match half a month ago, Zhang Yang shot well in the final quarter and only scored 1 points in the whole game.

The defensive intensity he faced tonight was still very strong, but his extraordinary playing style still helped him score soar!
26投12中，其中三分球9中5，加上5中5的罚球，拿到全场最高的34分，外加7板3助攻5抢断1盖帽！

The Raptors' one-on-one defense on the outside is not strong, and they rely on Jane Triano's team defense to cut off Zhang Yang's passing and receiving, and to double-team him in the zone, while also leaving some players open to limit Zhang Yang's scoring.

But now Zhang Yang just swung the ball in the high post without saying anything, and threw it 34 times in 26 minutes. The Raptors' outside players were really helpless. Even when they were close to him, he would still throw the ball as long as he thought it was an opportunity. What could they do?
However, most of the Raptors players were just upset about the loss. They were just thinking of relying on Bosh to beat the Bobcats' usual inside advantage and see if they could pull off an upset. If they couldn't, it didn't matter since the difference in strength was so obvious.

Bosh, who has greater ability, desire for honor, and vision, saw in this game something he didn't see when they faced each other half a month ago - true strength!

After playing a few rounds, he analyzed what the Bobcats wanted to do, but he just couldn't stop them. Judging from the changes in the score, the Raptors were reversed, but he felt that the Raptors were pushed flat by the Bobcats.

Bosh never felt this feeling, even when facing the Bobcats who averaged 110 points per game and won more than 60 games last season.

Judging only from the performance in the regular season, last season was undoubtedly the peak of the Bobcats' history, and it may be difficult for the Bobcats to reach that height this season.

Now, Bosh sincerely believes that the Bobcats may become the strongest, the kind of strength that he longs for!

There is also Zhang Yang's defense. Moon, Anthony Parker, Kapono, Calderon... these technical players and running shooters all failed when they met Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang had no way to stop the strong attack of James and Joey Graham, who ranked first in the 05 physical test report. However, Graham did not play a big role except for looking irritable when he broke through Zhang Yang. When he entered the inside and was double-teamed, he did not pass the ball but threw it against the defense...

Taking back his envy of the Bobcats' signs of transformation, Bosh looked at his stats still displayed on the big screen and felt like crying.

He played very hard and fought very hard, but!

16投6中，其中三分球3中0，加上2中2的罚球，拿到14分6板7助攻……这是他3年来打山猫队得分最低的一次！
He even pulled out to shoot three-pointers, but whenever he caught the ball, there were at least two people in front of him.

It would be even more exaggerated if he wanted to cut to the inside. Not only would he be double-teamed by the forwards and guards, but the center would also come up to surround him.

These bastards on the other side never did this badly when defending Kobe, Iverson, James, and Wade!
Bosh was sure that the next time they played against the Bobcats, those bastards would still defend him like this.

They are just bullying him for not having good teammates...

Okafor scored 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks tonight. It was a rare occasion that he scored higher than Bosh in the game. After the game, he happily high-fived his teammates to celebrate.

Suddenly, he felt a burning gaze.

Following the gaze, it was that long neck...

Duncan: Why is this guy staring at me? I didn't play against him much tonight, and I wasn't the one protecting the rim most of the time when they double-teamed me! It was Big White Bear! The one who came up with this defensive method was Zhang San... No, it was Little Fatty! This petty guy won't hold a grudge against me, right?
Northern Dragon King: You are so shameless that you even use your eyes to laugh at me? Isn't it just because your teammates are better than me? If I had a teammate like Zhang San, would I lose to you? Impossible!

When the two looked at each other, they completely misunderstood the thoughts revealed in each other's eyes, but it didn't matter. They both added another entry to the other's name in the little notebook in their hearts...

(End of this chapter)