First in scoring

Chapter 438 437. Double guns fired!
Before the game started, commentators from major TV stations were analyzing the situation of the two teams.

In front of the TV, basketball fans who have some understanding of the Bobcats but do not follow their news every day were quite surprised when they saw the Bobcats' record from December to date - this month the Bobcats played 12 games, lost only one to the Magic, and won the other 10 games!
But the impression these fans have of the Bobcats is that the news they see about them is often about narrow wins and comebacks, as if it is very difficult for them to win the game. As a result, they are led to believe that the Bobcats will definitely have a mediocre record among the top teams just like in the first month.

Now they are told that the Bobcats have a 12% winning rate since December? They are about to be the best team in the league?
However, fans of the Bobcats don’t think it’s wrong when they see news saying that the Bobcats have a hard time winning and when they are predicted before the game that the Bobcats may lose, because it is indeed the case.

In the past 10 games, except for the revenge against the Magic and the retaliatory massacre of the Pistons, the Bobcats had a close score difference in other games. They won by 7 points against the league's top Cavaliers and only 6 points against the eighth-placed Heat in the Eastern Conference. They defeated the ninth-placed Celtics in the Eastern Conference by 9 points and it was a reversal... It seemed like they had a - chance against everyone, but they won every time.

The people who are happiest about this situation are probably the Jews. All major TV stations like to broadcast the Bobcats games live, so there is no need to worry about the ratings.

As the defending champions, the Bulls have more attention and exposure, and are usually analyzed more thoroughly by major media outlets, just like the Bobcats last season, where everything is transparent.

28岁正值巅峰的姚明，场均23.5分9板2.2助攻2盖帽；

Hinrich, who entered his prime at the age of 27, averaged 16.3 points, 7 assists and 1.6 steals per game;

23岁半天赋与实力俱佳的罗尔-邓，场均19分7板2.8助攻1.2抢断1盖帽，

The Bulls' core trio is strong, plays in sync, and performs extremely well. Just looking at the three of them, they are even stronger than last season.

But Ben Wallace has averaged 3.8 points, 5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game so far this season. Although he is still a starter, his playing time has dropped to 20 minutes.

The 33-year-old No. 22 pick Joe Smith was moved to the center position by Bulls head coach Skiles to cope with the decline in speed caused by being one year older. He mainly came on the court as a center substitute, averaging 10.2 points in 4.2 minutes per game, which was quite surprising, but his rebounding was extremely poor, averaging only rebounds per game.

The departure of backup point guard Chris Duhon also had a huge impact. The Bulls were picky during the offseason, only picking up veteran Lynch Hunter at a minimum salary when the Pistons disbanded. He averaged 3.8 points and 2.1 assists per game, had a low shooting percentage, was not good at organizing offense, and was not good at defense. The only thing left of the 'champion veteran' was his old age.

The Bulls were affected by the fact that they gave away several future first-round picks when they traded for Yao Ming. This year, there are so many outstanding point guards participating in the draft, such as Chalmers of the Heat and Dragic of the Suns, who were both selected in the second round, especially Chalmers. If the Bulls had the 30th pick, they would definitely choose the NCAA runner-up point guard... However, almost no one cares about this small problem. They won the championship in the first year after getting Yao Ming, and everything was earned back.

After the Bulls did not match the offer from the Knicks to Duhon and signed Lynch Hunter, some experts analyzed that their management anticipated that Ben Wallace's condition might collapse, so the next focus would be to train Luol Deng and wait out the contracts of players such as Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. By then, the 25-year-old Luol Deng will have reached his peak, the 29-year-old Hinrich and the 30-year-old Yao Ming will still be in their prime, and they can rebuild a championship lineup around the three of them.

The Bulls also have some bright spots this year - two third-year players, Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas, have made significant progress.

Sefolosha averaged 7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game this season, and together with Hinrich, who is at the second defense level, he is known as one of the best defensive backcourt combinations in the league.

Although Tyrus Thomas is Ben Wallace's substitute, he has more playing time than Ben Wallace, averaging 23 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 blocks in 1.8 minutes per game. Although there is a big gap compared to Ben Wallace's role last season, he just turned 8 in August and has a bright future.

Sixth man Nocioni averaged 13.7 points per game and made 44 three-pointers per game with a 2.1% shooting percentage, supporting the second lineup's scoring.

Although the regular season performance has not been good so far, most people believe that the Bulls will still be very competitive in the playoffs, and then they can make full use of Hinrich and Yao Ming.

At 9 p.m. Eastern Time, Okafor beat Yao Ming to win the jump ball, the game began, and the Bobcats attacked first.

The Bobcats' starting lineup remains the same, while the Bulls' starting lineup includes: Hinrich, Sefolosha, Luol Deng, Ben Wallace, and Yao Ming.

Zhang Yang made the first attack, and missed the jump shot one step inside the free throw line under the double-team of Sefrosa and Ben Wallace.

Ben Wallace's statistics have declined and his overall performance has been criticized, but he can still serve as a starter. It is not because the Bulls head coach Scott Skiles gives him special care because he is a veteran superstar. This head coach who is evaluated as "utilitarian and unkind" is not that kind of person. When Skiles coached the Suns, the 30-year-old Gugliotta's condition declined and he was directly abandoned. At that time, Gugliotta was only in the second year of his 6-year, 5500 million contract.

Fans who watched the Bulls live broadcast found that Ben Wallace's defensive performance was still excellent in the 10 minutes of playing time in the first half.

However, once physical strength begins to decline, performance will plummet and concentration will also drop significantly.

Yao Ming positioned himself and Luol Deng protected the defensive rebound. The offense and defense switched. Yao Ming played one-on-one against Okafor in the low post. Facing the double-team of Millsap, he turned around and made a high throw that hit the board.

Zhang Yang thought this move was very beautiful.

The turnaround high throw to the rebound itself is simple and unpretentious, but it is Yao Ming's new way of scoring!

Fans who know Yao Ming well know that when he first entered the NBA, he weighed over 130 kilograms. In the first two years, he made obvious technical progress every year. Other centers would take ten or eight years to learn the footwork of Dream, but after he participated in Dream's training camp for a week, he basically integrated into his post-up style.

But after the weight increased to the range of 142 to 146 kg, technological progress began to stagnate.

It's not that Yao Ming didn't work hard. Looking at his mid-range shooting percentage improved from 37% in his rookie year to 45.4% last season, and his close-range shooting percentage improved from 40% in his rookie year to 48.4% last season, you can tell that he was still working very hard in training over the years.

It's just that he is so strong that he doesn't need more skills in one-on-one play, and after gaining that much weight, his flexibility is greatly affected. Not to mention developing new scoring skills, many of his previous scoring skills are no longer usable.

After joining the Bulls and losing weight in the summer of 07, Yao Ming's skills, which had stagnated for three years, began to improve again from last season.

This move of turning around and throwing the ball high has been demonstrated at the Olympics, but it was still in the development stage at that time and its accuracy was average. Now, four months later, it has obviously been fully developed.

Yao Ming made good use of his dominant strength advantage over most inside players after losing weight. He also utilized his much faster turning speed better than last season and played smarter, reducing the exhaustion caused by forcing shots in the low post. He used the static confrontation advantage brought by his weight and height to complete his shots. His high throws reduced his defect of being easily blocked by double-teamed players due to his slow hook shot. Hitting the rebound should be to improve his accuracy. There are still very few players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rasheed Wallace, and O'Neal who can throw the ball directly into the basket with their arms raised straight.

When the Bobcats attacked, Felton advanced to the frontcourt and was about to pass the ball to Zhang Yang. When he saw Zhang Yang make a gesture and run away, he immediately adjusted his playing style and signaled Millsap to get ready to launch a triangle offense.

Felton broke through and passed the ball to Millsap who was in the high position. After helping Zhang Yang to set the screen, Pietrus broke free and got an open space, but Millsap couldn't pass it!
Yao Ming squatted under the basket to delay Zhang Yang's escape to the baseline, and Ben Wallace blocked Millsap's best opportunity to assist. By the time Ben Wallace got back in front of Millsap, Sefolosha had already switched defense and moved in front of Pietrus. Millsap failed to pass the ball and lost his chance to shoot, so he had to pass to Okafor.

Okafor faced Yao Ming at close range, dribbled the ball, took a step to the baseline, grabbed the ball and took a jump shot... and missed!
However, Zhang Yang overpowered Luol Deng to grab the offensive rebound, and quickly bounced up and made a layup before Yao Ming came in to block it!

Zhang Yang's continuous jumping ability always reminds Yao Ming of Anthony and Randolph. Sometimes he is happy for Zhang Yang's talent in this area, but he certainly can't be happy at this time.

Unlike the Bulls head coach Skiles' idea of ​​using defense and Yao Ming's low-post singles to force the Bobcats to replace Perkins early at the beginning, the Bobcats, under the command of Zhang Yang...Felton, did not think about responding to the Bulls' opening offense and defense strategy from the defensive end, but chose to play offense!

After two rounds, Carlisle understood the players' intentions of responding on the spot. After Yao Ming passed the ball to Luol Deng and Millsap jumped to defend the foul, Carlisle made personnel adjustments, replacing Brad Miller and Mike Miller with Millsap and Pietrus in advance to enhance the supporting ability and the positioning awareness of the receivers and shooters.

With Yao Ming at the basket, Ben Wallace in plenty of energy, and Hinrich + Sefolosha + Deng on the outside, the Bulls' starting lineup is a natural counter to the triangle offense and Princeton-style tactics.

Even the Lakers did not play the triangle offense in last season's finals. Instead, they focused on their stars. And because they did not have a strong enough forward line to compress Yao Ming's defensive space, they were defeated by the Bulls.

The Bobcats had difficulty creating open shooting opportunities when playing the triangle offense, and in the end they still had to score by singles and rushing for points. Brad Miller and Mike Miller came on the court to play offensive basketball based on the triangle offense and Princeton, and the team's offensive situation did not improve much. But after these two people came on the court, Ben Wallace's judgment of the timing of movement and his range of movement became greater!

The goal of this on-the-spot response is not to start the offense at the beginning. It would be better for Zhang Yang to just take the ball and swing it, as the probability of starting the offense is greater. He can swing it as much as he wants in the high post and on the three-point line, and it will be difficult for Sefrosa, who has more defensive skills than strength, to defend against him.

Just to consume Ben Wallace!
Scales quickly discovered the opponent's intention, but he had no way to deal with it.

If Ben Wallace is left on the court, he will be quickly consumed. If he is not left on the court, the opponent will want him to replace Ben Wallace.

He could only hope that his players would gain a little more advantage at the start.

But the problem is, the Bulls are not a team that is good at scoring, but a slow-paced positional defensive team!
In the first six minutes of the game, the Bulls' starting five, who had the best defense in the league, successfully limited the Bobcats' score to only 6 points. However, Yao Ming, Hinrich and Luol Deng led the team's offense with all their strength, and the Bulls only scored 8 points in the first quarter.

The Bulls did a good job of scoring in positional battles, but their relatively mediocre fast break scoring was met with the Bobcats, who were led by Zhang Yang and Okafor, retreating. Even though they defended well, they were unable to make even one successful fast break in half a quarter.

The Bobcats players knew that they could not defend in positional warfare, so they attached great importance to defending against counterattacks.

Entering the official timeout, Skiles reluctantly replaced Ben Wallace, who was already out of breath after playing for half a quarter, with Tyrus Thomas, while the other four starters continued to play.

Normally, Ben Wallace would have to play for a while in the second rotation, which is the beginning of the second quarter, before he would be so tired. It is foreseeable that the next time Ben Wallace plays, he will not be the Big Ben who can cooperate with the outside trio and Yao Ming to play a sweeping defense at the beginning of the game.

On the other side, Carlisle replaced Felton, Zhang Yang, Afflalo, Okafor, and Perkins. The official timeout came back and the Bobcats attacked.

Zhang Yang played against Frosa in a singles match, broke into the right elbow area and attracted the double-team of Luol Deng, then passed the ball to Afflalo who was at a 45-degree angle. Afflalo received the ball and made a three-pointer, narrowing the gap to 4 points and bringing the score to 11 to 15.

When the Bulls attacked, Luol Deng broke through Afflalo and missed the close-range shot!
Perkins easily blocked Tyus Thomas and held the defensive rebound. The Bulls did a good job of retreating as a team, and the Bobcats fell into a positional battle. Zhang Yang continued to receive the ball and play singles in the high post.

This time, Sefrosa didn't stick so closely and defended at a regular distance. Afflalo hit a three-pointer, which made Luol Deng dare not retreat early.

Zhang Yang turned his back, took a step against Sefrosa, turned around and made a jump shot... and it went in!
Seeing the point difference narrowed to two points, the Bulls' turn to attack, Yao Ming stood up, received the ball in the low post and forced Perkins to hit the ball, then made a hook shot on the right side of the basket, raising his personal score to 9 points.

At the same time, it helped the Bulls widen the gap to 4 points again, leading the Bobcats 17-13.

Luol Deng scores very well when the team is doing well, but once the team is in trouble, such as when being chased, he tends to play very anxiously, and his personal offensive skills are rough, so he cannot be relied on at all.

Fortunately, Yao Ming and Hinrich, a teammate with strong ability to withstand pressure, led the team together and withstood the Bobcats' counterattack in the next few minutes.

With 7 seconds left in the first quarter, Zhang Yang received the ball and quickly rushed to the frontcourt to shoot a three-pointer despite the interference of Luol Deng... Unfortunately, it didn't go in, and he lost the opportunity to tie the score.

不过他们已经将比分追至24比27，分差缩小到了3分，后半节打出了16比12的比分！
In the second quarter, after Yao Ming was substituted for rest, the Bulls began to be unable to withstand the Bobcats' counterattack.

This season, the Bulls often have a big advantage in the first quarter, even leading by double digits, but then start strong and end weak. Normally, Ben Wallace can still hold on for half a quarter in the second quarter, but this time, Ben Wallace, who came on the court again, went straight into his usual second-half state.

Since the opponent was the Bobcats, a direct playoff rival, Ben Wallace did not lose his concentration when he got tired like he usually did when playing against ordinary opponents. He played very hard, but after his physical strength declined, his speed, reaction ability and judgment were greatly affected, and it was worse than when his concentration declined. He played very hard but his ability declined, and as a result, he received two fouls in just 3 minutes!

At 3 minutes and 15 seconds, Zhang Yang cut in to receive the ball, used the Euro step to avoid Ben Wallace, and squeezed Joe Smith for a layup. The score was 33 to 31. The Bobcats made a 9-4 run and successfully overtook the score. The Bulls called a timeout!

Skiles replaced Ben Wallace early and brought on Tyrus Thomas to partner with Hinrich, Nocioni, Luol Deng and Joe Smith.

It's not because Ben Wallace committed three fouls that he was replaced early, otherwise he would have been replaced when he just committed a foul. Skiles no longer cares whether Ben Wallace will get into a foul crisis. Generally speaking, if the score is tight, Ben Wallace will be completely abandoned in the final quarter. Skiles would rather use the inexperienced Tyrus Thomas to play in the crucial final quarter to cultivate young talents.

The reason why Ben Wallace was replaced at this time was simply because he couldn't stand it anymore and didn't want to give him any face at all.

Even with Tyrus Thomas on the court, the Bulls' interior defense still didn't improve.

This third-year high-draft talent has good stats, decent defense, and is very motivated, but he has too little experience. The inside twin towers he formed with the aging Joe Smith were played around by Hill and Brad Miller.

Although Tyus Thomas came on the court, the Bulls' front line's impact was greatly improved. He was much more active in moving on the offensive end than Ben Wallace and had a keener nose for dunks, but there was still no qualitative change.

The Bobcats took advantage of the opportunity when Yao Ming was not on the court to attack the inside line desperately, and made a 9-6 wave, with a score of 18-10 in the first half of the quarter.

After the official timeout, when Yao Ming returned to the court, he saw that the score had reached 37 to 42, and their Bulls team was already 5 points behind!

Although he was used to the situation of having an advantage at the beginning and a disadvantage during the rotation phase, this was worse than their usual situation!
There was no other choice but to start the offensive mode again and try to lead the team in a counterattack.

But the problem is that when he came on, Hinrich and Luol Deng were both replaced. His teammates were Lynch Hunter, Sefolosha, Nocioni, Tyus Thomas... The score in the second half was 10 to 12.

山猫队第二节打出了30比20的比分，以53比47领先公牛队6分进入中场休息！
After the halftime break, the Bulls' situation still did not improve. After the Bobcats took control of the initiative in the second half of the first quarter, their advantage snowballed.

At the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats led by 9 points. Zhang Yang made two three-pointers in the third quarter, plus a layup, two mid-range shots, and 1 of 2 free throws, scoring 2 points in a single quarter, leading the Bobcats to a score of 12 to 26, continuing to widen the gap!

Yao Ming personally experienced the conclusion he came to after watching the Bobcats' recent live broadcasts and videos.

He recently watched the Bobcats' games and always felt that this team was very special, even weird.

He knows that the Bobcats' goal is to integrate offense and defense, otherwise they would not have abandoned last season's style of play. If the Bobcats do not change, 60 wins are a sure thing.

But the Bobcats' changed playing style is completely different from other offensive and defensive teams, such as the Mavericks and the Lakers, who both have full intensity on both offense and defense from the beginning.

The Bobcats are different. They often fall behind at the beginning, always giving their opponents the illusion that they can defeat them if they just try harder. But as the game goes on, the opponents' advantages start to shrink, disappear, and they get into a disadvantage... and then they can never recover.

Once the Bobcats take control of the initiative, this team will gradually display an integrated offensive and defensive performance that will be completely unstoppable!
Trailing by 9 points after three quarters and being suppressed for two and a half quarters, any team with worse mental quality would have probably been at a loss by this time, but the Bulls were different.

After the intermission, Hinrich and Yao Ming, two stars with strong ability to withstand pressure, led the team to continue the counterattack!
However, the Bobcats did not take it lightly. Their opponent was the defending champions, and their three superstars were still very strong and withstood the Bulls' counterattack.

Halfway through the final quarter, the score was 89 to 81. The Bobcats maintained an 8-point lead and scored 10 to 11 in the half.

After the official timeout, the two teams continued to play back and forth, and the score was 4 to 8 in more than 8 minutes. 97 to 89, the Bobcats did not allow the Bulls to narrow the gap!
Just when the fans at the scene had begun to celebrate the victory, facing a desperate situation, Hinrich stood up and hit a three-pointer!
Then, when Hinrich was defending Zhang Yang, he cut off Zhang Yang's pass and completed a steal. He turned around and did a pick-and-roll with Tyus Thomas. After the break, he shot a three-pointer against Millsap who was defending... and made it again!
95 to 97, Hinrich narrowed the gap to two points by himself!
Carlisle spewed an expletive and prepared to call a timeout ... saw Felton wave at him, then waved for a serve.

Carlisle chose to trust.

Felton received the serve and came to the frontcourt, playing against Hinrich. He pretended to break through and stepped back, but failed to fool Hinrich. However, he faced Hinrich's interference and stepped back to make a three-pointer!
Xiao Fei lived up to Kato's trust and responded to Hinrich's two three-pointers over him with a three-pointer from the right side!
It was the Bulls' turn to attack, with more than 30 seconds left and a 5-point difference. There was still a chance, and Hinrich made two three-pointers in a row and continued to attack!

This time it was not Felton who was guarding in front of Hinrich. Felton went after the running Sefrosa, and Zhang Yang switched to defend at the top arc.

Tyus Thomas continued to pull out and cooperate with Hinrich in the pick-and-roll. Hinrich took advantage of the screen and made a quick shot, trying to repeat the offense in the previous round and catch Millsap off guard.

Millsap's mobility and burst speed are not as good as Ibaka's, and he once again failed to block the ball in the first place, but... Hinrich just grabbed the ball, bent his knees and lifted it up, and just as he was about to jump, the ball in his hand was cut off!
Zhang Yang squeezed through the screen of Terrence Thomas and chased Hinrich in the high post. With his long arms, he reached out from the side and behind and grabbed the ball!
A big flaw of Tyrus Thomas at present is that he is 206 cm tall and weighs only 98 kg. He is often bullied by small forwards using their strength. Look at Big Ben, who claims to be 206 cm tall and weighs 109 kg.

Hinrich had already made the move of jumping with all his strength, but the ball was knocked away. He lost his balance and fell backwards, watching the ball that was knocked to the ground bounce up and fall into Millsap's hands!

Tyus Thomas does have good athletic ability and defensive enthusiasm. He caught up with Zhang Yang as soon as possible. Although he did not get in front of Zhang Yang, he actively cut off the space for Millsap to connect directly with Zhang Yang.

Millsap didn't force the ball, but passed it to Felton who rushed out from the other side.

Felton received the ball while being chased by Sefolosha, rushed to the frontcourt, and went straight to the basket. Tyus Thomas could only make up for it.

Felton grabbed the ball while moving and lobbed it... Zhang Yang jumped with all his strength and pushed the ball into the basket with both hands.

The Bulls had a small climax, Carlisle didn't call a timeout, and then the two guns hit Skiles so hard that he called a timeout!
At the critical moment, both guns opened fire and the Bobcats' lead returned to 7 points!
There were only 20 seconds left and the score difference was 7 points. Even if McGrady was at his peak, he would be powerless to turn the situation around.

After the timeout, Hinrich received the ball and stepped back to shoot a three-pointer against Zhang Yang's defense...but missed.

Perkins, who came off the bench, blocked Yao Ming, and Okafor secured the defensive rebound. There were still more than ten seconds left, but the Bulls did not defend anymore...

At 11:22 pm, the final whistle sounded.

张杨31分7板3助攻、费尔顿27分6助攻，力压30分11板的姚明、24分8助攻的辛里奇，率领山猫队以102比95击败卫冕冠军公牛队！
Seeing Zhang San and Xiao Fei being surrounded by their teammates after scoring the winning goal, thinking about how they were ahead in personal scoring for the entire game but were overtaken in the last half minute, and thinking about their 8-man rotation tonight...

Little Giant: Here it comes, the familiar feeling of no one in the team and the substitutes dragging things down is here again!
Yao Ming's situation this season is very similar to the three years when he partnered with McGrady on the Rockets. There are only a few teammates who can play.

But after a while of feeling depressed, he was not as desperate as he was back then. Looking at the gradual growth of Sefrosa and Tyrus Thomas, he still had a lot of hope for the future, mainly because the management was willing to spend money...

(End of this chapter)