First in scoring

Chapter 433 432. The plan failed?
Zhang Yang backed up Courtney Lee from the high post, turned around, took a step sideways, grabbed the ball and jumped, and took a long two-point shot...

Courtney Lee defended very well and almost blocked the ball shot by Zhang Yang.

But the ball missed the target by a hair's breadth. It went over Courtney Lee's fingertips and headed for the basket...and it went in!
Courtney Lee turned around and saw the ball fall into the frame, her shoulders collapsed and she went crazy for a short while.

He turned around and looked at Zhang Yang, who was retreating with a nonchalant expression amid boos. If this guy hesitated for a moment, he would have blocked the ball, but this guy never hesitated!
Ten days ago, when Courtney Lee played against Zhang Yang for the first time in his career, he was shocked by the youngest scoring champion in history who was known as the "No. 35 scoring talent in history". It was not because he tried his best to defend but still conceded points to Zhang Yang. He was beaten up by Pierce and Joe Johnson in the opening game.

His college coach once praised him for his "keen sense of the game" and his ability to easily judge whether the opponent would choose to pass or shoot during offense. This is his innate talent and he has a unique advantage in becoming an excellent defensive player.

He has always been proud of this and actively utilized this talent. With his hard work, he was able to gain a foothold in college basketball despite his extremely mediocre athletic ability, eventually enter the NBA, and become the starting shooting guard and perimeter defensive pioneer of a championship-contending team in his rookie season.

But at this moment, he hoped that his "game sense" would not be so sharp tonight... The confidence Zhang Yang showed when shooting was something he had never seen before!
The feeling he had when defending Zhang Yang was hard to describe in words. He used to think that Kobe was the most confident person in the world, but this guy's shooting was even more determined than Kobe!
Knowing that the person in front of me will definitely take a shot this time, trying my best to defend, and defending very well... but still just a little bit short, this feeling is much more uncomfortable than the opponent scoring an unexpected goal.

It was the Magic's turn to attack, and Turkoglu took the ball and started the attack.

Lewis just made a three-pointer. Turkoglu was ready to pass the ball inside or make a quick jump shot, but he didn't expect to be left open on the outside!

Howard made a circle and tried to cut in from the left side of the three-second zone to receive the ball and attack the basket...but was blocked again!

Felton retreated from the baseline in advance, and Millsap switched defense to Courtney Lee who cut in and then rushed directly to the left sideline of the three-second zone after returning to the inside. Felton blocked the baseline and Millsap blocked Howard in front of him, blocking Howard's way into the three-second zone.

However, the defense was blocked because Howard had no shooting ability. Okafor could stand on one foot outside the three-second zone and then immediately return to the basket. When Millsap switched to defend Courtney Lee, he only needed to follow the opponent into Okafor's defensive coverage area.

Fortunately, Turkoglu reacted quickly and stopped the dunk, but the ball had already been caught. At this time, he wanted to pass it to the left corner, but Pietrus moved a step to his left side and stuck to him, restricting his movements.

After blocking Howard, Millsap immediately went around to Turkoglu's left side. The Bobcats' rotation and defense advantage without a big center lineup was demonstrated, cutting off the passing connection between Turkoglu and all his teammates.

Tegkru didn't hesitate, he jumped up despite the confrontation, used his height advantage to shoot... and missed!
Howard wanted to push Felton away to grab the offensive rebound, but Okafor ignored Courtney Lee and came up to block him together with Felton.

Courtney Lee was preparing to tip in the ball when Zhang Yang rushed in from the right sideline and narrowly snatched the ball from over Courtney Lee's hands.

After grabbing the rebound, Zhang Yang turned around and prepared to counterattack, but was blocked by Howard and Courtney Lee. Zhang Yang had no chance to pass the ball to Felton immediately. He dribbled around the two of them. Nelson, Lewis and Turkoglu had already retreated.

Zhang Yang did not launch a strong counterattack. Instead, he protected the ball and passed it to Felton, engaging in a positional battle.

Felton advanced to the frontcourt, passed the ball back to Zhang Yang, and continued to move to the bottom corner to contain and receive the ball.

The Magic have Nelson, who is the type that Felton is not good at dealing with, and Okafor's success rate in singles against Howard is also low, so the starting lineup tonight is Zhang Yang as the main attacker, Millsap as the assister, Okafor as the miscellaneous player, and Felton and Pietrus as the supporting players.

The offensive capability of the Bobcats' starting lineup this season is actually not as good as last season's offensive basketball with Brad Miller as the inside tactical core, but there are more ways to initiate offense, and the requirements for high-post coordination are lower. When encountering opponents with strong defense, there are more options to choose from. For Millsap, whose coordination is not that good, the pressure is not that great, and he can also work with the starters to deal with the opponent's strongest lineup and get more training.

After Zhang Yang received the ball in the high position leaning against Courtney Lee, he took a step closer to Courtney Lee, turned around and faced the frame, and saw that the opponent had set up a new defensive formation, with Courtney Lee defending alone, Lewis in the middle of the right sideline of the three-second zone, Howard in the low post, and Nelson and Turkoglu on the two wings.

After being pushed away by Zhang Yang, Courtney Lee immediately stuck to him again, no longer trying to defend Zhang Yang one-on-one like in the previous round, and just stuck to him for long shots.

This defense reminded Zhang Yang of Iverson. It looked brainless and impulsive, and it was easy to be passed by, but it was very effective in preventing opponents from making easy shots from the outside and affecting their jumping and shooting rhythm. As for being passed by, wasn't there the best defensive player behind him?

Zhang Yang had never seen this defensive style of the Magic team before. Was it aimed at him? Or was it aimed at Kobe after the loss to the Lakers two days ago?
Analysis and speculation all happened in a flash. Facing Courtney Lee's close defense, Zhang Yang decisively chose to take advantage of it and made a fake move to withdraw.

Courtney Lee judged that Zhang Yang's move was fake, but he was well aware of the versatility of Zhang Yang's skills and did not give Zhang Yang a chance to turn the fake move into a real step-back shot and pressed forward.

Zhang Yang took half a step sideways to avoid Courtney Lee and rushed to the free throw line.

Lewis had already moved up, and Courtney Lee quickly turned around and caught up after making a save.

Howard under the basket was ready to defend after Lewis was passed, but when he saw Zhang Yang take a step forward after entering the free throw line, he quickly rushed out from the arc of the reasonable collision zone...it was too late.

Zhang Yang took a step forward, grabbed the ball and jumped before being caught by Lewis.

Lewis was startled and quickly braked...but he didn't stop, and after Zhang Yang threw the ball, he still bumped into Zhang Yang.

"beep"

"Swish"

The referee's whistle and the sound of the ball entering the net sounded one after another. Howard turned his head and saw the ball fall through the net.

Zhang Yang's goal was valid and he was awarded a penalty!
Zhang Yang celebrated by high-fiving Pietrus and Felton, his expression still relaxed...he was saying "Yeah" in his heart.

Now that the clever method he came up with to deal with the Magic has been implemented, he should not regret it or doubt whether it will work. He should execute it firmly. Then what he has to do will be simple - make the shot and give his teammates confidence.

Seeing Zhang Yang walking up to the free throw line, his teammates were indeed given a shot of confidence.

This method was initially decided by Zhang Yang and Okafor. Felton didn't really understand it, but it was a method thought up by the second and third brothers together, so he had to support it. As for Millsap and Pietrus, they just followed the arrangements of the eldest brother. They were uneasy and doubtful in their hearts, and they really didn't know the meaning of targeting Howard.

Although they didn't care much about leading or lagging behind in the starting phase, it would not be good if they were really opened up by the opponent's scoring and fell behind too much.

However, Zhang Yang's goal made them determined.

They still don't understand the meaning of it, but if the opponent scores a goal, Sandra can respond, and if the opponent misses a shot, Sandra can still score a goal. So they just need to make a good defensive plan, and even if the sky falls, Sandra will be there to hold it up.

Zhang Yang made the free throw and the Bobcats led the Magic 5-3.

When the Magic attacked, Turkoglu received the ball at the top of the arc and watched Zhang Yang, Felton, and Millsap confront the wing shooters more aggressively and roughly. With the experience of the first two rounds, he had already analyzed the opponent's defensive purpose.

He also wondered what the point of targeting Howard was. Was it just a simple desire to target him?

But for him, it doesn't matter what the opponent's goal is. With the opponent defending like this, his job of passing the ball is easy. Turkoglu gestured to Howard, and Howard began to actively look for opportunities to cut into the basket.

With Howard's active movement to compress the Bobcats' defense, Turkoglu connected with Nelson, Nelson passed the ball again, and Courtney Lee caught the ball and made a long two-point shot!

When Howard saw Courtney Lee score, he realized that he was fooled by Turkoglu and was only using him as a defensive firepower attraction.

But he was still very happy that his teammates scored a goal, because he was "tricked" in a worthwhile way.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack. When Zhang Yang received the ball, he saw Lewis was standing further outside, so he continued to break through Courtney Lee... and was surrounded by four people in the middle of the three-second zone.

It's just one against four, so... just pass the ball.

Zhang Yang passed the ball to Millsap, Millsap passed it again, Felton cut in to receive the ball, took advantage of Okafor's counter-run on the other side to attract Howard's defense, and made a close-range jump shot.

Led by Zhang Yang and Turkoglu, the Bobcats and Magic started a fierce offensive battle.

Turkoglu initiates the offense, or Nelson starts the offense with a pick-and-roll and cooperates with Turkoglu in the high post, taking advantage of Howard's inexplicable threat to attack the basket tonight to create long-range shooting opportunities.

Zhang Yang plays more simply, in singles, and shoots when he thinks there is an opportunity. If not, he passes it to Millsap or Okafor for support. The Magic's 1-3-1 defensive formation is highly expanded, so one of these two players can always be left free in the mid-range and have good conditions for passing the ball again.

The Magic are one of the three teams with the strongest three-point shooting ability in the league, with an average of 10.6 three-pointers per game, second only to the Knicks' average of 10.9 per game and higher than the Warriors' average of 10.3 per game. If the hit rate is also taken into account, the Magic's team averages 40.1% three-point shooting rate, one level ahead of the other two teams' average hit rate of 38%+. The Magic is undoubtedly the league's top three-point team.

Not only that, the Magic's mid-range and long two-point shots accounted for a high proportion of their points. 103 of their 59 points per game were scored outside of close range, and Howard scored almost 15 of the close-range points. The Magic's scoring distribution chart is quite rare among all teams in NBA history...

This allowed the Magic to play very freely when facing the Bobcats' defensive style. After just a few rounds of offense, the Magic had the initiative firmly in their hands.

Although the Bobcats relied on Zhang Yang's offensive threat to play as a team and insisted on implementing the defensive plan, as the game progressed, Zhang Yang himself began to doubt whether his cleverness had failed again this time.

The offensive conditions of the Magic tonight were perfectly matched with their offensive style. The Bobcats' confrontational and attrition strategies played a very small role and they played very smoothly.

The Bobcats, on the other hand, will have to use their offense to compete with the Magic, the second-best defensive team in the league.

The Magic are averaging 94.4 points per game this season, one of only two teams to have allowed less than 95 points so far. The other is the Cavaliers, who are leading by a large margin in defensive efficiency.

The Bobcats' persistence was completely shaken in the middle of the second quarter. Nelson, Turkoglu and Keith Bogans, who came off the bench, hit three-pointers in succession, beating the Bobcats 9 to 4, widening the 6-point gap to 11 points and stopping the Bobcats!

After the official timeout, Felton returned to the bench and looked at the score. In one and a half quarters, the Bobcats scored 42 points, which was a pretty good offensive firepower. It would be no problem for them to score around 58 points in the first half. Facing the Magic team's offensive firepower like this, Zhang Yang played for 18 and a half minutes and scored 19 points and 3 assists, which was a great contribution.

But the opponent scored 53 points. If they continue to play, they will score 70+ in the halftime!

The fat boss took the blame and said to his teammates: "I am responsible for falling behind so much. I think too much."

Hill patted Felton on the shoulder and consoled him, "Plans always fail sometimes. You don't have to blame yourself. You are doing this for the good of the team. This failure at least eliminates one wrong option... But what is the purpose of this defense?"

The teammates were also very curious. It couldn't be that this was just targeting Howard, right?
Xiaofei: You want to know, and I want to know too!
Just as Felton was about to make up an explanation, Carlisle said, "Forget about the purpose first. Let's continue to execute the previous defense, finish the half, and then adjust during the halftime break."

The advantages of the Bobcats as a top team were revealed at this moment. Carlisle didn't need to say too much, everyone understood - the top priority now is not to adjust, but to stabilize the situation and not to panic. Hasty adjustments in a hurry are very likely to lead to a sudden collapse.

...

The official timeout came back and the Bobcats attacked.

Felton took the blame, Zhang Yang felt quite guilty, and also felt annoyed that he had pulled his hips because of his cleverness, but he knew that what he should do at this time was not to feel guilty and annoyed, nor to make a fuss to take the blame back. He was the light in the eyes of his teammates and the pillar of the team, and he had to stand up and do what he should do.

He withstood the pressure, broke through to the right baseline, turned around and shot, causing Turkoglu to foul. He made both free throws, increasing his personal score to 21 points while narrowing the gap to single digits, trailing the Magic by 44 points at 53 to 9.

Zhang Yang's singles goals always bring confidence to his teammates. His teammates are motivated and ready to follow the third brother to hold on to the score difference and prevent the opponent from expanding their lead, so that there will be a chance after the halftime break.

It's just a 10-point deficit at halftime. They have reversed situations even when they were behind by more than 10 points after three quarters.

But something unexpected happened...

The Magic team, who had just had a highlight performance and made three three-pointers in a row, felt like they were poured with a basin of ice water after the official timeout. Their performance declined rapidly, and they only made two goals in six rounds and scored only five points!
This is not the point. The Bobcats' wing shooting also declined in the second half of the second quarter. Mike Miller and Felton missed both open three-pointers, and only scored one goal in three positional attacks. Ibaka followed Zhang Yang's counterattack and made an alley-oop dunk, and Zhang Yang counterattacked into the inside and hit the opponent's substitute power forward Tony Battie for a 3+1. Only then did they beat the Magic 2 to 1, chasing the score to 7 to 5, a 51-point difference, and still a single goal could widen the gap to double digits.

The point is, after the outside shooting percentage dropped, the Magic pitchers still shot from the outside and no one cut inside!

Courtney Lee and Nelson, who started the game, and Ryan Gomez, Redick, Bogans and others who were on the bench, all actively cut in when they first came on the court to keep the team's offense connected inside and outside.

Although the Magic's close-range scoring percentage is the lowest in the league, barely over 4%, the linkage between inside and outside scoring is very important to them. Sufficient threat to attack the basket can guarantee better outside shooting opportunities.

But tonight, Howard alone can guarantee the threat of attacking the basket, and the others can have opportunities if they move away. Naturally, no one wants to cut in. Everyone goes inside in order to run back outside to get a shooting opportunity. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this because it does create opportunities.

But without the other players' cuts, Howard's already poor offensive rebounding conditions became even more difficult. The Bobcats only needed one forward and one guard + Okafor to hold Howard back. Howard played hard in these few rounds.

So when the Magic team's long-range shooting rate dropped, Zhang Yang launched two consecutive counterattacks against the Magic team.

The Magic are also a top team with a high basketball IQ. Turkoglu directed his teammates to make adjustments - strengthening defense.

Fluctuations in the touch are inevitable. What they have to do at this time is to endure, get through this stage, and slow down the opponent's speed of narrowing the points gap.

There was nothing wrong with Turkoglu's decision, but the key person who implemented this adjustment started to get upset...

Suo Suo: When I was scoring, you ignored me and treated me like a transparent person. When I was grabbing rebounds, no one helped me. When you needed to strengthen defense, you asked me to retreat faster and treated me like a laborer. Who do you think you are?

(End of this chapter)