First in scoring

Chapter 441 440. Winning streak!

Many years later, when Harden, who was given the title of "The Great" by the new God, wrote his retirement memoirs, he recalled the feeling of being an enemy of God for the first time in his NBA career and cursed: "Do you know what collapse is? Do you know what despair is? That night I almost severed my father-son relationship with him..."

Let's go back to December 2008, 12, the disastrous night for the future "Emperor". He played as a substitute at the first or second position under D'Antoni and was still a rookie. Harden defended him for half a quarter and Zhang Yang scored 29 points.

A very important reason is that the interior defense is too bad. It is a bit exaggerated to say that it is the worst in history, but it is only a bit.

The Suns team back then at least had Marion in the interior.

The Knicks' inside line... David Lee's defense is not even as good as Stoudemire's. Stoudemire can at least jump around in the inside and pose some blocking threat. David Lee's defense can be called the inside version of Vujacic. It is rare in the entire NBA history that an inside line concedes 100 points to opponents every 115 possessions. It is even more outrageous that such an inside line also averages 3+ fouls per game. He and Vujacic have a similar problem, that is, when he can't defend and the opponent shoots, he will actively pounce on the opponent and touch him, and he often gets fouled.

Al Harrington was a good defender when he was with the Pacers, but after a few years with the Hawks, his defensive habits broke down. After that, he went to the Warriors and played for two years with the classic bombardment, and his defense was ruined.

The most intuitive data is that so far this season, the Knicks have lost an average of 67.2 points per game in close range, which is the worst in history since detailed statistics were available. Even in the period when there were no detailed statistics, there was probably no team with such poor interior defense.

In the second half, Wilson Chandler came on as a small forward, and Stephen Jackson, who was better at defense, returned to the shooting guard position to defend Zhang Yang.

Stephen Jackson is a very special player. Like Al Harrington, he played for a strong defensive team. In 03, he won a championship as the main forward and guard with the Spurs. Later, he played for the Hawks, Pacers and Warriors for a few years, but he did not lose his defense like Al Harrington. He is a little slower with age, but his defensive habits and skills are still there, and he has more experience than before. It's just that with such an inside combination, let alone him, even Kobe, Wade and Kidd would not be able to defend well.

Well, it wasn't much better even with Wu Sheng on the field. Zhang Yang scored 5 points in 9 and a half minutes, made 10 of 7 shots in the first quarter, scored 22 points in a single quarter, and led the Bobcats to 33 points in a single quarter!
However, the Knicks' defense was not good, but their offense was really excellent. They had 9 players rotating, and everyone could shoot and run. The Bobcats' rotation and defense were already very fast, but they still couldn't defend and the Knicks scored 27 points in a single quarter.

But this also gave Zhang Yang an opportunity...

The game ended at 10:24 pm.

首节22分、第二节9分、第三节13分、末节11分……张杨出场41分钟，34投20中，其中三分球10中6，加上10中9的罚球，狂轰55分，率领山猫队以121比109击败尼克斯队！

After the final whistle, his teammates rushed to the court and surrounded Zhang Yang. His teammates were even more excited than Zhang Yang himself. Another 50+! Two consecutive 50+ games! And in the holy land of basketball!

The fans at the scene started celebrating as early as 3 minutes ago when Zhang Yang scored his 19th goal and broke the 50-point mark.

Normally, it is difficult for fans to remember how many points the visiting team scored, but the Knicks are an abnormal team. After Zhang Yang scored over 40 points at the end of the third quarter, every time he scored a goal, the big screen posted his score, reminding fans to cheer for Zhang Yang...

Harden played very hard tonight, playing 27 minutes, 15 of 7 shots, including 5 of 2 three-pointers, plus 3 of 3 free throws, scoring 19 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. It was a very good performance, but Zhang San on the opposite side...

However, after spending a long time with Zhang Yang and DeRozan, he has already developed a competitive character. Although his mentality is exploded, his desire to defeat Zhang Yang has become stronger.

To a certain extent, he was also stimulated by the fans cheering for the visiting team's stars.

He recalled the information he saw from his assistant coach during the halftime break. It was a data analysis used to assist the head coach in arranging matchups and tactics. It contained detailed data on the 12 minutes of his matchup with Zhang Yang. He made 6 of 2 shots, Zhang Yang made 11 of 7 shots, and when Chris Duhon and Stephen Jackson were guarding Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang made 9 of 5 shots.

He didn't know the whole matchup situation. In the second half, they had less matchup time, but he felt that it was not much different from the first half.

Harden likes coach D'Antoni very much. The media, fans, even his agent and Zhang Yang, all say that D'Antoni is very suitable for him in his starting period and will be beneficial to his growth on the offensive end. He himself thinks so too.

德安东尼总是把他放在正确的进攻位置，他开局至今能有场均12+3+4的数据、44+36的命中率，离不开这位主教练的帮助。

But at this moment, he was very disgusted with D'Antoni for giving up defense.

Not only did the head coach give up, but the entire coaching staff and the entire team gave up. During the summer league, head assistant coach Dan D'Antoni never managed defense, and even emphasized during the game that offense should not be affected by defense... If they had started to practice defense well from that time on, even if they couldn't defend, at least they wouldn't have been beaten with a hit rate of over 60 by the evil Zhang San when they were matched up, right?

Harden returned to the locker room, sat for a while, got up and went to the training ground to practice defense.

He remembered what Zhang Yang said.

That was a few years ago. He saw that Zhang Yang surpassed him in strength after only one year of training. He felt sorry for Zhang Yang because he started training so late and wasted several years. If he had started playing basketball right after arriving in the United States, he would definitely not be less famous than Mayo.

He remembered that Zhang Yang also felt regretful when he heard his words, but he did not dwell on it. Instead, he responded with a sentence - it is never too late to mend the fold.

At that time, when he saw Zhang Yang surpass him, he was actually very upset about why he did not start training hard after his asthma was under control, he no longer needed to take medicine, and his weight dropped. That way, he might not have been surpassed so easily by Zhang Yang. He was actually quite discouraged at that time, but just because he was unwilling to give up, he chose to train hard in order to keep up with Zhang Yang and DeRozan.

Zhang Yang's words played a big role in allowing him to persevere and surpass DeRozan to become the number one in California before graduating from high school.

Tonight, he once again took this sentence as his motto.

The wasted half year has been wasted, so don’t dwell on it, start working hard from today!
So, Harden... stood on the court for more than ten minutes, motionless.

Erha: How do you train defense?

Ask the coach? It seems impossible. The D'Antoni brothers can't defend, and the team doesn't even have a proper defensive assistant coach.

Suddenly, he thought of another sentence Zhang San said after the three brothers had a drink in the room after the draft - James, remember, you are an NBA player, a high-income group, a happy kind of person. When encountering problems, take a step back and throw money forward. Problems that can be solved with money are not problems. Don't be impulsive, especially when going to nightclubs.

Although he didn't know why he specifically mentioned nightclubs, he felt that Zhang Yang was right.

Anyway, when he and Zhang Yang went out to play together, he saw that Zhang San, who was extremely domineering on the court, was always very polite when encountering problems. He called men "cool guy" and women "beautiful", no matter what they looked like.

He returned to the locker room, took out his cell phone, called his agent Pelinka, and asked him to help him hire a defensive coach.

Pelinka said this is simple. There are a lot of retired players with good defensive fundamentals, and they are cheap. If they are not suitable, they can be replaced at any time.

Get it!

...

Zhang Yang scored 50+ points in two consecutive games, becoming the fourth active player after Jamison, Iverson and Kobe to score 4+ points in at least two consecutive games. He single-handedly stopped the downward trend in NBA popularity that had begun after the Christmas game and brought it back to a new level.

This is not an easy task. The NFL playoffs have already begun. The NFL playoffs are the second most profitable event in North America, the first being the NCAA's March Madness.

When these two events start, all other events in North America have to take a back seat. The NBA has been suppressed all year round and rarely steals the limelight in these two months.

Since Jordan in the 97-98 season, only three players have done it. The first was the new flying man Carter after the 3 Slam Dunk Contest. In March of that year, the post-game popularity of every game he played was no less than that of the Crazy March game.

After that, it was Kobe in the middle of the 05-06 season and March and April of the 06-07 season.

The current one is Zhang Yang, the youngest FMVP, the youngest scorer, Beijing Olympics... multiple buffs stacked.

Dolan looked at the ratings which had increased by nearly one-third after the halftime break due to Zhang Yang's 31 points in the first half, and wondered if he would really not give Zhang Yang a ticket the next time he asked for one?
But after thinking about it, he decided to give it to him. Whether he gave it to him or not, that guy worked very hard every time he beat them, so there was no need to stimulate him in this way.

You can say anything about him, but you can't say he is stingy. He doesn't want to be compared with the poor owner of the Clippers. It's too embarrassing.

If it weren't for the new general manager Donnie Walsh's strong ability, a complete and ambitious reconstruction plan, and the effective implementation, he would not have tolerated his team's salary not being the highest in the league.

The Bobcats' nine-game winning streak has also sparked heated discussions - in December, the Bobcats already have 9 wins and 12 loss, with one game left to play, and it is very likely that they will repeat the crazy record of only one loss in the first game month of last season!

At noon on the 30th, Zhang Yang, who had slept on a bed at Xiao Biao Biao's house the previous night, said goodbye to Xiao Biao Biao, went to the airport to meet up with the team, and flew south.

The game against the Knicks marks the beginning of a five-game road trip for the Bobcats.

Next up, it’s the brutal journey to the Southwest Division!

Except for the Grizzlies, the other four teams in the Southwest Division are all on consecutive away games.

As for why there’s one team missing from every Southwest Conference trip…

Currently, there are five teams in the Southwest Division: the Grizzlies are firmly in the top four in the Western Conference; the Spurs are firmly in the playoffs; although the Mavericks' record has declined recently, it is only because of a wave of injuries, and everyone thinks that they will return to the top four after they get through this period; the Hornets are striving for a playoff spot... Even the Rockets still have hope of achieving a 5% winning rate.

The Southwest Division's nickname is simple and straightforward - the strongest division in the NBA.

If there is such a schedule, not to mention others, even Jordan, who is 20 years younger and returns to the court, would be cursed.

When the Bobcats arrived in New Orleans, the Hornets had just flown back from an away game. The two teams' chartered planes landed one after the other and met in the parking lot.

Zhang Yang and Paul chatted for a while and learned that the Hornets had returned from Phoenix and had a fierce battle with the Suns last night, winning with a difficult score of 109 to 104.

Zhang San felt that the competition process was very intense and exciting according to what Xiao Pao said.

纳什14分4板9助攻、斯塔德迈尔25分8板、奥尼尔21分10板、贾森-理查德森18分……保罗拿到25分7板11助攻4抢断才艰难获胜。

But when I think about the records of these two teams... the Suns have 16 wins and 14 losses, and the Hornets have 15 wins and 15 losses, it feels kind of sad.

Not to mention too long ago, at this time a year ago, Son of Wind was first in the MVP ranking and Tristana was second in the MVP ranking, suppressing Zhang San and the Old Blacksmith. In just one year, it was difficult for the two brothers to enter the playoffs.

Zhang Yang swore in his heart again that when the team wants to introduce a star player, he will definitely inquire about it. If he knows that the player is not suitable, he will firmly refuse him no matter how famous the player is or how low the cost is.

On this night in New Orleans, the Bobcats did not go out to play. During the All-Star Weekend last year, Felton did not believe in evil and went to a nightclub on the first night and was robbed of his watch by a honey trap. He went there again the next day and was robbed of his necklace.

I had thought that after another year, the security here would be better, but the Louisiana State Legislature passed a resolution that most low- and medium-level crimes in the entire New Orleans County would not be prosecuted or included in crime statistics... This meant that the previous practice of excluding robbery and smashing from crime statistics was no longer sufficient to reduce the crime rate to a acceptable level.

The city has undergone another transformation. According to statistics from third-party independent media, its main sources of income have shifted from tourism and port business to gambling, nightclubs and bars, and the film and television industry for adults. Tourism revenue has dropped to third and fourth place, and it has even earned the 'reputation' of 'Hollywood of the South'.

There is a chance of success, but not a third time. Felton no longer insisted on this matter and stayed in the hotel to watch the live game.

After a night's rest, on the evening of December 12st (US time) and the morning of January 31st (Beijing time), the Bobcats came to the New Orleans Arena to start a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day battle with the Hornets.

今晚保罗打了44分钟，拿到18分4板12助攻2抢断，打得非常卖力，但命中率……15投6中，其中三分球3中0。

费尔顿21分5助攻、张杨28分5板6助攻、奥卡福14分10板、布拉德-米勒7分6板3助攻、伊巴卡8分8板……山猫队以105比89吊打黄蜂队，用一波10连胜结束2008年！
Paul played with a really bad temper tonight. On their side, some are old, some are injured, and some are useless... Some media even said that if Paul leaves, his team can compete for Griffin.

The opposing Bobcats were in good form. The backcourt duo Felton played for 29 minutes and scored 21 points, Zhang Yang scored 28 points in just 32 minutes, and even Okafor got a double-double, but he only played for 31 minutes. Paul was at a loss tonight.

But after being confused and waking up from a good sleep, Paul still has to prepare for the back-to-back games on New Year's Eve. As the media said, if he doesn't fight hard and try to seize the opportunities in every game, his team will never make it to the playoffs.

...

The Big Three left New Orleans and came to Dallas with the high morale of 10 consecutive victories.

They are not playing back-to-back, have one night to rest, and play the Mavericks away tomorrow.

At noon, Zhang Yang received a notice that he had won an award! Last month, he averaged 14 points in 13 games with 1 wins and 35.1 loss, and won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award! Carlisle also won the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month award, which was not surprising to him. He would have been surprised if he hadn't won it.

In the evening, a transaction caught Zhang Yang's attention. This transaction would not have any impact on the alliance structure...

But the attention and topic are very high!

The Rockets, Kings and Knicks completed a three-way deal.

The main players obtained by the three parties are:

The Kings received Carl Landry and Ben Gordon from the Rockets and Stephen Jackson from the Knicks.

The Rockets received Kevin Martin from the Kings.

The Knicks got McGrady from the Rockets and Bobby Jackson from the Kings.

Including the players whose salaries were equalized, the three-party transaction involved a total of 10 players, but the topic came entirely from one person - McGrady.

Zhang Yang looked at the comment section of the trade news post. Countless McGrady fans cursed the Rockets and said that McGrady would regain his glory and return as a king in New York... In his previous life, Zhang San also posted a photo of McGrady on his QQ space with the caption "The king will eventually return"... but the result was the beginning of the passing of youth.

First, McGrady went to New York and never recovered, then Iverson retired, then Yao Ming was injured for a year and returned to play 5 games, then he was injured again and chose to retire, then Mamba and Double 21 retired...

However, Zhang Yang remembered that McGrady was traded in 10, which was almost a year earlier. McGrady still averaged 15+5+5 per game... but it wasn't that different.

The trading intentions of the three teams that completed the three-way deal were very clear.

The Rockets wanted to get rid of the high salaries of McGrady and Ben Gordon and sent Landry away, probably to give Yi Jianlian more stable playing time. Zhang Yang saw Landry complain several times that he could not start, but whether for economic benefits or adaptability, the twin towers of Yi Jianlian + Lopez are better than Landry + Lopez.

The Knicks' goal was also very clear. The contracts of McGrady, Bobby Jackson and others they traded back were set to expire in 09 and 10, and they were preparing for the expiration of superstar contracts in 2010.

Sending Stephen Jackson away and bringing back McGrady, perhaps to give Harden more playing time? To find a superstar senior to guide him?

The first goal can be achieved, but the second one is probably difficult. Not to mention whether he has the teaching ability or not, McGrady has no intention of teaching.

The Kings' move was not surprising. No one understood why they made this deal, but others couldn't understand it, which is their unique style.

Zhang Yang also didn't understand what the trade of Kevin Martin for Stephen Jackson, Ben Gordon and Landry was all about. Was it a good deal? But last summer, the Kings had a similar confusing trade, trading Jason Richardson for Raja Bell. As a result, Rondo and Raja Bell almost got into a fight in the locker room. The thief looked down on the throat-locking man, and Raja Bell was put on the shelf again for sale.

And the hellish start to the career of Tyreke Evans in the original future... I feel sorry for Coach Bolon.

However, Zhang Yang thinks Rondo is luckier than Evans. He is smaller in stature, otherwise, with his averages of 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game this season, he might have been asked by the Kings management to play center... Rondo is the Kings' rebounding leader this season, and the second highest rebounder is rookie Jason Thompson, who averages 7.2 rebounds per game.

After a day of rest, on January 1, Zhang Yang came with the team to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas to challenge the Mavericks away.

The Mavericks did a good job in their defensive plan tonight and restricted all the targets that needed to be restricted. Zhang Yang made only 21 of 9 shots. Although his three-point shooting percentage was extremely high, he only took two shots, making 2 of 2, and only took two free throws, making 2 of 2. He scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists.

费尔顿10投4中拿到12分7助攻、奥卡福也只有11分13板5盖帽。

It's just that the Mavericks' offense was even worse. Nowitzki scored 23 points on 12 of 27 shots, which was not bad. Terry and Billups also scored 17 and 15 points, but apart from the three of them, no one else scored in double digits.

But this was not the key to the Mavericks' defeat tonight... At 8:23 p.m., the game came to the end of the fourth quarter, with 9 seconds left in the game, Mike Miller received a pass from Zhang Yang and made an open three-pointer before the 24-second countdown ended, helping the Bobcats to widen the gap to 5 points and lock in the victory!

Millsap continued to be absent, which had a certain impact on the Bobcats' overall offense in the starting stage. Hill had no problem starting, but rookie Ibaka was okay against the Knicks, but had a hard time against the Hornets at the beginning, and was beaten badly against Nowitzki.

Fortunately, Mike Miller seized the opportunity when the Mavericks targeted the three young players tonight, made 16 of 8 shots, 3 three-pointers and 3 free throws, scored 22 points and 3 assists, and made the key shot, becoming the winner tonight!

In the last few seconds, Nowitzki received the ball against Hill's defense and missed the three-pointer, and the score was fixed at 90 to 95.

The Bobcats beat the Mavericks by 5 points, winning 11 games in a row and bringing their record to 25 wins and 6 losses!
The Mavericks' record has dropped to 21 wins and 11 losses, with 17 wins and 9 losses in the last 8 games. Due to widespread injuries, they are still hovering in the "5% winning rate period."

At noon the day after playing against the Mavericks, the Bobcats came to Houston next door.

Although the Rockets' start this year was not as impressive as last season, overall they look more promising than last season, especially after replacing McGrady and Ben Gordon with Kevin Martin, people's expectations for them have increased a lot.

The Rockets' inside line includes rookie Lopez, averaging 12.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game; sophomore Yi Jianlian, averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds per game; older sophomore player Scola, averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds per game, plus veteran Mutombo and short center Hayes. This inside lineup with a total salary of less than 800 million is a headache for strong inside teams, as each player has his or her own characteristics.

On the outside, Alston, Brooks, Vaughn Weaver, and Battier all had good performances at the start. Many people even felt that Ben Gordon and McGrady, who were in poor form this year, held back the role players.

It sounds magical that the stars hold back the role players, but the Rockets are a special team.

McGrady played 20 games in the first two months of this season, averaging 15 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game... with a shooting percentage of 38%. Although he has additional defensive appeal when he is on the court, it is better than nothing. Alston and Brooks, the two blacksmiths, have a greater impact on the court than him.

Ben Gordon was OK last year, averaging 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Although not as good as the 06 points per game in the 07-21 season, it was still acceptable. However, after renewing a 5-year, 5000 million contract, he has averaged 13.6 points per game since the start of this season...

So the Rockets used these two players + this year's unprotected first-round pick in exchange for Kevin Martin. When the deal was announced the day before yesterday, the media unanimously felt that they made a good profit from the deal.

昨晚凯文-马丁首秀打得也不错，13投6中，加上8中8的罚球拿到20分3板2助攻。

Kevin Martin is on offense, and Alston, Battier, Lopez, Mutombo, Hayes and others seem to be able to cover for Kevin Martin's poor defense. The media gave the Rockets a new evaluation today - a team that can influence the Western Conference playoff landscape but has almost no chance of making the playoffs.

Zhang Yang summarized the media's comments - the Houston Troublemakers.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats and the Rockets started a back-to-back matchup, and both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back.

Tonight, Alexander may have to make one more expense - replacing the basket.

The basket was moaning all night long. Both teams had poor shooting in back-to-back games, and therefore both defended very hard.

The Bobcats' defensive system has basically taken shape, while the Rockets, led by Thibodeau, have continued their tenacity from the Van Gundy era. The shooting percentages of both teams are hovering around 35%.

At the end of the game, it all depends on who can shoot better!

At the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats trailed the Rockets by two points, 52-54, and only scored over 20 points in the second quarter.

But in the final quarter, Felton and Zhang Yang took almost all the team's regular shots. Zhang Yang made 10 of 4 shots, including 3 of 1 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, for 11 points. Felton made 7 of 3 shots, including 5 of 2 three-pointers, for 8 points. Led by the two, the Bobcats scored 26 points in the final quarter!
No one on the Rockets could keep up with the two players, and the score was similar to the first three quarters, only 17 points.

24投9中，其中三分球7中2，加上8中6的罚球，张杨拿到26分10板2助攻1抢断2盖帽，率领山猫队以78比71击败火箭队，拿下12连胜！

The Rockets' best performer was... Scola, with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Although Kevin Martin scored 16 points, he only made 13 of 3 shots, and as many as 10 points were scored by free throws.

Lopez scored 10 points and 7 rebounds, and Brooks was the only Rockets player to make a three-pointer tonight and scored 11 points.

Yi Jianlian, who was highly anticipated by domestic fans, made only 9 of 3 shots tonight, plus 3 of 3 free throws, for 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block. However, if you exclude his 3 of 0 three-pointers, his 6 of 3 shots from mid-range, counterattacks and cuts are actually not bad. It seems that he has completely adapted to the identity of a pure receiving player.

On January 1th, the Bobcats came to the AT&T Arena in San Antonio to play the Spurs in the final game of their five-game road trip and the last game of their Southwest Division journey.

As expected, no team could escape unscathed from the trip to Texas, including the Bobcats... 102 to 114, the Bobcats lost away from home, and their winning streak ended at 12 games!
(End of this chapter)