First in scoring

Chapter 448 447. Who is more pretentious?
On February 2, the 3th game day of the Bobcats regular season arrived.

In the morning, Zhang Yang came with the team to the Staples Center to prepare for the game. During the pre-game meeting, Carlisle announced that he had signed a formal contract with Juwan Howard.

After getting two 10-day short contracts in a row, Juwan Howard successfully stayed with the team and renewed his contract until the end of this season.

Zhang Yang was quite satisfied with this contract.

A 10-day short contract is generally not just 10 days. According to the regulations, the player can get the same amount of money whether he or she stays on the team for 10 days or plays 3 games. This is chosen by the player when signing the contract.

Players usually choose three games because they may not be able to play in every game. For example, Juwan Howard's two-point, 3-day short contract only allowed him to play five times in total. Four weeks have passed and he still hasn't played out his contract. However, the contract has to be renewed sooner or later. The sooner he renews the contract, the more he can get the salary for one more game, and the base salary is more than 10 US dollars. Carlisle is using Boss Joe's money to do him a favor.

In these five games, Juwan Howard's performance on the court was actually very average. He averaged 5 points and 11.5 rebounds in 4.4 minutes per game, which was much worse than rookie Ibaka.

But his role in the team is not small!
Although they are all veterans, different veterans lead the team in very different ways.

Muhammad used to be a standard locker room leader. For teams with a large number of players on rookie contracts, such as the previous Bobcats and the current Thunder, he played a core role. He was able to adjust the team atmosphere well, guide young talents to do the right things, and lead the team in the right direction.

Hill is the executive deputy boss. When the team has a clear locker room leader, he helps lead the team. If the boss is injured, he can take over and serve as the leader on the court.

Juwan Howard does not have these abilities. The way he leads the team is to infect and motivate his teammates with his love for the game on the court, in team training, and in-team scrimmages, so as to maintain their enthusiasm for the game. His ability in this regard has greatly helped his teammates in terms of game enthusiasm and continued form during the Bobcats' difficult journey of 1 games in January.

Moreover, he is very accurate in shooting, with 48% for long two-pointers and 46% for mid-range shots!

Of course, there are more shortcomings. He has lost his singles a long time ago and can only catch the ball and shoot. His athletic ability has deteriorated, his running position is lagging, and it is difficult for him to create catch-and-shoot opportunities on his own. When he comes on the court, it increases the difficulty of the team's tactical execution. His negative defensive effect drags the team down...

But overall, keeping Juwan Howard is a good deal.

After the pre-game meeting, the Bobcats conducted an offensive running training session and completed their pre-game preparations. The necessary preparations had already been made yesterday afternoon.

After the team work was finished, Zhang Yang stayed to practice a few more long-range shots.

He usually doesn’t practice extra on game days, especially in the middle of the season.

Having played 1 games in January, even he couldn't handle it without a good rest. His training time last month was much less than that in November and December last year.

This also made the accumulation speed of shooting points much lower than the previous two game months and much slower than he expected. Most of the time he could only rely on games and team training to accumulate shooting points.

He practiced extra today because his shooting value was just a little short and he just couldn't wait and couldn't wait until the game in the evening.

After 3 sets of 100-ball mixed catch-and-shoot training of long two-point and three-point shots, the "Gate of Experience" finally popped up on its own!
"… Shot value: 100023."

For the two tasks, the requirements for the next training have been met, and the extraction of random physical fitness from 14 shooting points is still in progress.

He decisively ended the training. Before he had accumulated enough, he felt itchy in his heart. After he could start the training at any time, that unreasonable sense of urgency disappeared immediately.

...

The NFL playoffs ended the day before yesterday. The most alternative quarterback in history, 'Big Ben' Roethlisberger, led the Pittsburgh Steelers to defeat the Arizona Cardinals and win the Super Bowl.

Roethlisberger's nickname is 'Big-Ben'. Besides the fact that his name is 'Ben', his body shape is also because he is 196 cm barefoot and weighs 109 kg. When he took a photo with another 'Big-Ben' Ben Wallace, the two were almost exactly the same size.

His playing style is unique for the quarterback position - knocking away all opponents who want to intercept him is equivalent to bypassing the interceptor.

As night fell, with the NBA's overwhelming promotion, North American sports fans focused their attention on the City of Angels.

After the NFL season ended, Stern arranged the first popular matchup, sending the Bobcats and the Lakers to face off at the world-famous Staples Center.

If the Bobcats and the Bulls are scheduled to play against each other, it will definitely be the game with the most spectators in the world, but the game schedule of these two teams is the same at any time. What the NBA needs at this time is the game with the highest attention in North America.

The Lakers and the Bulls, last season's champions and runners-up, would normally be the two most watched teams in the new season, but when arranging the schedule last summer, Stern rejected this option.

Stern has a very sharp eye. After seeing the Bulls' operations during the offseason, he knew that the Bulls would encounter various troubles in the new season and their record would definitely decline significantly. At least in the regular season, the Bulls were not a top team. At the beginning of the season, they could rely on their status as the defending champions, and every game would definitely attract much attention. But by the end of the mid-season, the Bulls were no longer one of the most watched teams in the local market.

His prediction was correct. The Bulls have played 48 games so far, with 29 wins and 19 losses. If we calculate the winning percentage, they will have to fight hard in the next 50 games to get 30 wins.

So the two teams he chose at this critical time point were the Bobcats and the Lakers, which was a safe choice.

But now he feels a little regretful. If he had known earlier, he would have arranged 23VS24. The Chinese market is very important, but for the local market, he certainly wants to push out a 'black leader'.

But who would have thought that the Cavaliers would be so much better after getting Mo Williams? They were ranked first in the league in the early stages of the season!

Now that the mid-season has come to an end, the Cavaliers are still ranked second in the league with 36 wins and 11 losses, ahead of the Lakers and Magic, second only to the Bobcats with 38 wins and 9 losses.

There is a cause for every effect. The Cavaliers' poor performance in the past few years led Stern to exclude the Cavaliers from the key events. Therefore, the beneficiary of this game, which the league invested a lot of money to promote, fell to the Bobcats, that is, Zhang Yang...

At 7:40, the visiting Bobcats entered the Staples Center.

Zhang Yang, who was the last one to enter, heard a lot of cheers mixed in with the boos, and he was in a very good mood. It was great to play away in California. Even at the Lakers' home court, there were fans cheering for him.

He didn't know where this inexplicable "basic plate" came from.

According to data from media street surveys, when voting for the All-Star starting lineups, more than half of the fans who voted for Kobe also voted for Zhang San. This can no longer be explained by the large number of Chinese in California. The majority of those surveyed were black and white.

Look, most of the fans cheering for him at the scene are not of the same skin color.

The only pity he has now is that the little bitch is not in Los Angeles, otherwise he could let the bitch take advantage of his popularity, since he has taken advantage of it everywhere anyway.

Emma Roberts has not had any filming recently and has been staying in school most of the time. She is still studying very hard and wants to get her degree certificate as soon as possible like Zhang Yang.

On the other side of the player tunnel, seeing Zhang Yang enter the court amid cheers, Kobe said to Garnett, who had no expression on his face, "Kevin, stop dwelling on this. I hated this scene at first, but after a few years, I'm used to it. This is Los Angeles. You never know what these Hollywood neighbors will like."

Garnett snorted and responded, "I'm better than you in this regard. This is just the second time I've encountered this situation. I'm used to it."

Kobe snorted back and said, "I didn't get used to it that quickly, but the first time I encountered this situation, it taught me not to get angry about it and to play calmly."

Ji Bu Gong: What's the train of thought of these high school students? They have to argue about who is better at this kind of thing? Zhang San on the other side seems to have a very strange train of thought...

Kidd actually hated the situation in front of him, even though he had admired Zhang Yang for a long time. Last season, when he played against the Bobcats at home for the first time as a Lakers player, he played like his life depended on this scene.

But after spending a long time in Los Angeles, he was speechless after seeing many Zhang Yang billboards in the city and learning about the sales success of the products endorsed by Zhang Yang in this city.

He also heard a lot of outrageous rumors, the most outrageous of which was that he started playing basketball at the age of 15 and went straight to the NBA after playing in high school for two years. But such an exaggerated thing was actually true!

Seeing Zhang Yang receiving cheers in his home stadium again, Kidd was no longer too shaken and even began to think - how can he change the wrong impression among fans that Zhang San's model is the Son of Wind?

After the entrance ceremony, Zhang Yang and Kobe Bryant accepted a pre-match interview. Facing the camera, Kobe asked in a teasing tone: "Hey, bad boy, do you have the confidence to win the scoring title again?"

After the old blacksmith's relationship with the media has eased in the past two years, does he still like to be in the spotlight? He even actively looks for topics to hype for the media!

After complaining in his heart, Zhang Yang also cooperated and acted: "That trophy doesn't have much appeal to me. You can also say that I don't have much motivation to win that trophy."

"Wow? That's the proof of being the best scorer!" Kobe asked this question out of genuine curiosity.

Zhang Yang tilted his head and looked at Kobe: "How can the title of the best scorer be considered without you competing for it?"

Damn, he can act better than me... Kobe's mouth twitched, but he has to admit, it sounds good!

He also acted as if he didn't care and said, "What a pity. I have no interest in that trophy. I tried twice to win the scoring title, but I won it casually. I didn't feel any sense of accomplishment at all."

Zhang Yang nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, there is no sense of accomplishment, but my scoring ability is a bit too strong. Even if I don't compete, I am ranked first. I hope other scorers will work harder."

The old blacksmith and Zhang San chatted with each other, becoming more and more excited, and looked at each other with eyes full of "admiration".

Reporter: I'm XX you, I don't care if I choose to interview you, it's all because of these two guys showing off!

...

The pre-match preparation time ended and the starting lineups of both teams came onto the court.

Bobcats: Felton, Zhang Yang, Pietrus, Millsap, Okafor.

Lakers: Kidd, Kobe, Ariza, Garnett, Kwame Brown.

Zhang Yang came to the top of the three-point line and looked at the big screen, which showed the record of the two teams and the data of the main players.

山猫队目前打了47场比赛，38胜9负，联盟第一，场均104.1分（8）、场均失分95.1分（3）；
湖人队目前也打了47场比赛，35胜12负，西部第一、联盟第三，场均105.9分（5）、场均失分97.1分（13）。

他张三，场均31.2分5.7板4.1助攻2.6抢断0.7盖帽，其实，截止去年12月月底连续两场50+后，他已有场均32分，被上个月17场比赛场均29.9分拉下来了。

科比场均26.6分5.3板4.7助攻1.8抢断0.6盖帽。

Kobe's average points per game is the lowest since the 03-04 season, but his playing time is the lowest since he became a starter in 98. This season he only plays 35 minutes per game, compared to 98 minutes per game in the 99-37.9 season. Last season, because the team did not have a good small forward, he mainly stayed on the front line, averaging 40.8 minutes per game.

His shooting percentage hit a new high, improving from last season's 47.9% to 48.3%.

Not only did Kobe's playing time decrease, but Garnett, Kidd, and Kwame Brown's playing time also decreased a lot.

加内特场均打28分钟，拿到15.1分8板2.6助攻1.4抢断1.4盖帽；

基德场均打29分钟，拿到9.2分6.6板8.2助攻1.1抢断。

The reduction in playing time for these three players is undoubtedly the Zen Master's way of protecting veterans, especially Garnett. He was too harshly treated by the Timberwolves in the first ten years of his career. He had to do everything, including scoring, rebounding, assists, and defense. He was seriously exhausted and had a great risk of injury. The Zen Master directly cut his playing time by a quarter.

Kwame Brown averaged 26 minutes per game, scoring 10.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks. His playing time was reduced because he had a strong substitute who might surpass him in a year or two...

The Lakers' defense ranks only 13th in the league, which is directly related to the reduction in playing time for their four best defensive players.

In fact, in this regular season, each team has a clear tendency in their playing style, either focusing on defense like the Cavaliers, Magic, and Bulls, or focusing on offense like the Spurs and Lakers. There are also teams like the Nuggets, Suns, and Warriors that play offense to the extreme, and teams like the Grizzlies and Celtics that play defense to the extreme.

A team like the Bobcats that is in the top ten in both offense and defense is unique in the league.

There was another such team in the early part of the season, the Mavericks, but after the Mavericks suffered a wave of injuries, their defense also fell outside the top ten.

Zhang Yang has seen a column article analyzing the reasons for this situation - the pace of the game is getting faster and faster, it is difficult to play well on both offense and defense, and it is difficult to guarantee physical strength and health.

The Mavericks suffered widespread injuries because of this.

The Bobcats were able to hold up because their defensive strategy this season was very unconventional. Unlike other defensive powerhouses, they did not focus on 'point-to-point defense', but instead emphasized a full-court defensive plan.

The column predicts that the Bobcats' defensive strategy this season is likely to become the mainstream defensive strategy in the NBA in the future.

The time came to 8 o'clock in the evening. Kwame Brown defeated Okafor to win the jump ball. The game began and the Lakers attacked first!

Kobe received the ball in the low post, took one step away from Pietrus, and made a turnaround jump shot!
Full of arrogance!

I, Zhang San, am coming too... Zhang Yang runs to the front court...

Gave up the high-post back-to-the-basket shot and received the ball outside the three-point line.

The one who followed him was not the old blacksmith, but Ariza. His back-to-the-basket attack was a bit difficult, but confrontation was not a problem because he was not a power-oriented back-to-the-basket player, mainly because of his height.

Kobe is as tall as him, Ariza is 203 cm tall, and his current wingspan of 213 cm is not as long as Ariza's 218 cm.

After receiving the ball, Zhang Yang turned sideways to withstand Ariza's close defense, grabbed the ball with one hand, and observed Ariza's defense.

It’s different after receiving special training!
Last summer, legendary trainer Grof helped train Ariza for two full months. Generally speaking, Grof would not be a trainer for a young player like Ariza, so it was only because Kobe visited him that he gave him this honor.

Of course, there is also the reason that most of his clients are going to the Olympics, so he needs to find some work to do.

After Ariza received special training, both offense and defense have undergone qualitative changes. He is also a hardworking person with a solid foundation. With the help of Grove, he transformed the foundation laid in his early years into effective combat power. So far this season, he has averaged 27 minutes per game, scoring 9.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.7 steals. His shooting percentage is 50.7% and his three-point shooting percentage is 30.1%. Almost all aspects from data to shooting percentage have reached new highs.

However, this kind of oppressive defense that makes high use of physical fitness... Zhang Yang turned around and took half a step back, dribbled the ball left and right, and took the butterfly step!

The 23-year-old Ariza is passionate about defense and presses forward!

Zhang Yang suddenly increased the strength of his dribbling, seized the opportunity, passed Ariza and rushed to the three-point line!

Ariza quickly turned around to chase and defend, but he was unable to close the distance. After the start, Zhang Yang was very fast, very fast!

Zhang Yang ran straight to the basket, jumped, and made a layup over Garnett who was protecting the rim!

On the Lakers bench, the Zen Master sat on a chair with his hands crossed on his legs, his thumbs circling.

He looked at Zhang Yang and Okafor who were high-fiving each other while retreating - the bald guy on the opposite side had so many ways to mobilize the defense!

(End of this chapter)