First in scoring

Chapter 478 477. Finally reached the next stage
After the final whistle, the Bobcats players, coaches, and management poured into the court and gathered together to celebrate. It was an 18-game winning streak. In the history of the NBA, every team that has achieved this winning streak has won the championship without exception!
Although this does not mean that they will automatically win the championship next time they play, it is undoubtedly something that will boost their confidence.

Jordan patted Zhang Yang's back hard and kept saying "Well done".

After getting 17 consecutive wins last night, Boss Joe, who was on vacation in Miami, didn't even want to wait for the private jet route this morning. He took a plane directly to Sacramento to cheer for the players on the scene.

The game was won, an 18-game winning streak, of course Zhang Yang was happy, but he looked at the big screen and wondered what Boss Qiao meant by "well done"?
34 out of 13, with a hit rate of 38.2%, slightly better than the old blacksmith's peak game, 21 misses in a single game, the 10th time in his career that he missed 20 shots in a single game, and the number of 4 misses in the first four years tied the answer to the 'second in history'. Going 'above', only Baldy Joe is left!
In the evening, Zhang Yang had a drink with his teammates in the nightclub and then returned to the hotel. He turned on the computer and watched the news. As expected, the hottest topic after the 18-game winning streak was that he, Zhang San, had failed to hit 4 irons 20 times in 10 seasons. Fans joked that he was surpassing Ai and catching up with Joe.

What annoyed him the most was that he saw that most of the IP addresses in the comments and replies were from North Carolina or South Carolina!

Is this something to be proud of?

He had a vague and scary feeling that he was surrounded by black fans without knowing it.

...

The next afternoon, the Bobcats arrived in Minneapolis. After a night's rest, on March 3, they came to the Target Center for the fourth game of their five-game road trip, challenging the Timberwolves.

After entering, Bynum greeted Zhang Yang warmly.

It's been his fourth year in the NBA, and he still doesn't have any real friends, which is pathetic when he occasionally has a moment of intelligence.

He has several 'little brothers' in the team, but these people either come because of him being the core of the team or because he spends money generously. Other teammates either look down on him or hate him; his 'friends' outside the team are all flatterers who come for his money; he is quite disliked by his opponents on the court... Over the years, only Zhang Yang, who participated in the draft with him, has a 'normal' expression and tone when interacting with him.

Zhang San naturally didn't know that he was regarded as Bynum's white moonlight by Anzhu. He only had one or two opportunities to see Bynum every year. They were players under the same agent, so it was only right for him to say hello.

Moreover, the two of them have been tied together in the hype since before the draft, and some media still discuss them together - the most talented players in the East and West. The highlight of this game hyped by the media is the showdown between these two players from the same class.

He is still three months away from turning 3. Bynum, who was just selected for the All-Star Game, is also just over 21 years and four months old. The contract extensions they received were also the first and second in the same class. He got a four-year, $21 million maximum franchise salary. Bynum averaged 4 points, 4 rebounds, 8600 assists and 18.4 blocks per game this season. After being selected for the All-Star Game, he got a six-year, $12.2 million maximum salary with bird rights from the Timberwolves.

However, after this season, Bynum's contract extension will most likely become the third in the same class, and Paul will definitely be selected to the All-NBA Team for the second time this season, which will trigger one of the three conditions of the "Bad Boy Privilege", and he can renew his contract with a starting salary of 30% of the salary cap.

Paul is the only player among the popular players of the 05 class who has not completed the contract renewal in advance. Zhang Yang does not need to guess, he is sure that Paul is waiting to get the "Zhang San dividend" and it is impossible for him to give up this privilege. If the Hornets don't give it, there are many teams willing to give it.

Zhang Yang also chatted with Love for a while. He and Love knew each other even earlier. They met at Coach Lu's training camp in the summer after the end of the 10th grade season. They were not familiar with each other, but they were not strangers either.

So far this season, Love has averaged 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists per game. His defense is very poor, but his mid-range shooting and rebounding performance are very good, especially his mid-range shooting, with a hit rate of 40.2%, which is rare for a rookie inside player. He made good use of Bynum's restraining power under the basket.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the game between the Bobcats and the Timberwolves began.

Before the Bobcats' winning streak was ended, anyone who met them wanted to be the one to be in the spotlight. Even though the Timberwolves were weak and had a poor record, currently with only 21 wins and 39 losses, they still wanted to give it a try, since they would not lose anyway.

首节森林狼队还真给山猫队来了个狠的！乐福7投3中，加上2中2的罚球拿到8分，拜纳姆6投4中加上5中3的罚球，单节拿到11分，两人携手率队轰了山猫队一个32比25，领先山猫队7分进入节间休息！
Only when you are on the same court with Bynum in person can you feel how annoying this guy's playing style is. Not only is he rude on the offensive end and looks down on everyone with his facial expressions and language, but he also makes a lot of small moves on the defensive end... Even a calm person like Okafor, who was mentally prepared, was obviously angry.

However, in the second quarter, the Timberwolves' firepower suddenly dropped.

The Timberwolves have done a very good job in training Bynum. If we only look at the basic skills and technical aspects, it is no worse than the two years of training by the Lakers. After all, this is the team that trained Gugliotta and Garnett. If we only look at the training of inside players, the Timberwolves can be said to be in the top five or even top three in the league since the 90s.

But things on the court are beyond the team's training capabilities.

During his time with the Bullets and Warriors, Gugliotta was disliked for his low offensive efficiency and poor defensive habits. He was traded twice in a row in the last year of his rookie contract. In the mid-90s, when a player averaging 15 points per game could earn a contract worth tens of millions of dollars, he only got a three-year, $17 million contract at the end of his rookie contract despite averaging 9+3+3 in his sophomore year.

He was able to correct his mistakes when he joined the Timberwolves because he had the guidance of Christian Laettner, a college student from the Dream Team; Garnett was able to develop good game habits in the Timberwolves because of Gugliotta. This is something that only traditional strong teams have - inheritance.

As for Bynum, he originally had a huge personality problem, and even the old blacksmith could only suppress it. After he came to the Timberwolves, the first teammate he hung out with was Ricky Davis...

This season, fans have compared Anzhu with Big Dog and gave him a new nickname - the first quarter's No. 1 center.

This is about Bynum's average of 18+12 points per game. On average, almost half of them were obtained in the first quarter. His performance in the first quarter ranked first among all centers in the league. Yao Ming, Howard, and the old Shaq could not compare to him. In one-on-one confrontation, only Yao Ming could suppress him in the first quarter.

This is very similar to Big Dog. Big Dog also had a nickname in his peak period - the best small forward in the first quarter. Even Mashburn and Pippen were not his opponents in the first quarter.

However, there is a difference between Bynum and Big Dog. Big Dog is thinking about reaching the average score as soon as possible and then punching out, but Bynum has no intention of slacking off. He just has bad game habits and does not know how to allocate his energy. He just goes up and does it, and his performance starts to decline when he gets tired... Overall, he is indeed like Big Dog, an All-Star level player who cannot lead a team to win a game alone.

In the first quarter, Bynum relied on his 130 kg weight to crush Okafor and Brad Miller, and relied on his height, wingspan and flexible footwork to hook shots against Perkins. After the start of this quarter, his shooting efficiency dropped rapidly and the number of times he went low to ask for the ball also decreased. The Timberwolves' offensive coordination around him was seriously hindered.

The players who were most affected were Love and Randy Foye, the two players who were responsible for shooting. They were forced to switch from off-ball offense to mainly holding the ball... From another perspective, Bynum's performance on the court was like that of a big dog, which gave Love the opportunity to practice his offensive skills with the ball, but his performance as a leader was far worse than that of Bynum.

山猫队在第二节轰出了34比26的比分，半场打完，山猫队以59比58反超森林狼队1分进入中场休息。

In the third quarter, both teams performed poorly, scoring only 21 points each. The Timberwolves' performance naturally declined, and as for the Bobcats... looking at their scoring in the first half, it can be seen that most of the points were scored through singles, counterattacks, and offense-defense transitions, and their shooting performance was below normal.

Fortunately, in the final quarter, Mike Miller and Afflalo both started shooting well, hitting 4 three-pointers in a single quarter, helping the Bobcats increase their offensive firepower.

With a score of 28 to 21 in a single quarter, the Bobcats won in the final quarter and defeated the Timberwolves 108 to 100, improving their record to 52 wins and 9 losses, winning 19 consecutive games!

The Bobcats scored highly concentratedly tonight, with Zhang Yang scoring 28 points, Felton 21 points, Okafor 15 points, Jarrett Jack 18 points...they just played against the stars and defeated the Timberwolves.

On the other side, Bynum performed the best, scoring 6 points with 4 of 11 shots in the first quarter, with high output and high hit rate, but he only made 19 of 10 shots in the whole game, plus 9 of 6 free throws, and got 26 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks... After the game, the TV commentator was very regretful when analyzing the game, thinking that if Bynum knew how to allocate his physical strength, he would have averaged 20+10 per game, and would not be so tired after playing for 38 minutes like he is now.

Bynum was 213cm tall when he participated in the draft. He hasn't updated his stats in the past four years, but you can see clues when he plays against O'Neal and Gasol. The three are basically the same height. Gasol currently weighs 4kg and can't even run, while Bynum has the average speed of a power forward. His hands are as good as O'Neal's and he can even shoot mid-range shots. But he has been with the Timberwolves for less than two years. Although he is getting stronger, the talent that made people think "this is the future No. 130 center" when he was in the second grade is completely gone...

You have to know that when Bynum was traded for Howard in the original time and space, he was only 25 years old, and he had not even reached the golden period of his career in theory for a traditional center.

...

On March 3, at 9:10 p.m. at the Phoenix America West Arena, the cheers of the fans resounded throughout the arena, even the piercing whistle at the end of the game was drowned out. Although the Bobcats scored 22 to 29 in the final quarter, the Suns won by 18 points in the first quarter with 35 to 27, 8 points in the second quarter with 30 to 18, and 12 to 29 in the third quarter to suppress the Bobcats' counterattack momentum, leading by 28 points with 94 to 73 in three quarters. Although the Bobcats successfully launched a counterattack in the final quarter, there was not enough time, and the Suns relied on the huge lead in the first three quarters to hold on to the victory.

112 to 102, the Suns beat the Bobcats at home!
It has been a long time since we have seen the three young players with their hands on their hips. The three of them have tried their best tonight. Zhang Yang scored 27 points, Okafor scored 23 points and 10 rebounds, Felton scored 14 points and 9 assists, and Millsap also scored 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. But except for the four of them, the others only scored 22 points in total... and their efficiency is all below their personal average. The data looks good, but it is too poor to rely solely on the opponent's defense.

Nash and his teammates celebrated this victory, which the commentators called "great", amid the cheers of the fans. They ended the Bobcats' 19-game winning streak and gave the Bobcats their 10th loss of the season!
Although he knew that this was just a false carnival, the opponent had played until the last game of the five-game road trip, the role players could not fight hard, and even the three young masters could not play the C game. Zhang Yang made 5 of 32 shots tonight and was one step closer to the God of Basketball... They won by luck, and even if they won one game by luck, their record was only 11 wins and 1 losses, tying the Rockets, who are ninth in the West, with a winning rate of only 34 wins, and this is already their limit. In the wildest period of the West, they don't even have the possibility of entering the playoffs. The Hornets, who are currently eighth in the West, have 28 wins and 45 losses.

But because of this, his celebration with his teammates at this moment was even more crazy. This game was really their greatest achievement of this season. They stopped the Bobcats from winning 20 games in a row and interpreted the word with actions - finding joy in suffering.

As for the Third Young Master, he put his hands on his hips for a while. He was upset about losing the game, but his emotions did not stop there.

Felton looked up at Okafor's expression, then lowered his gaze a little, turned his head to look at Zhang Yang's expression, and then said, "It's finally over."

There was an undisguised sense of relief in his tone.

Okafor responded: "Yes, it's finally over. We can start preparing for the playoffs."

Zhang Yang: "Boss, I leave it to you."

Even if he had heard it a thousand times, the word "boss" from the little brother's mouth always made the fat little boss full of energy. He immediately ran to comfort his teammates who were frustrated after their winning streak was ended...

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

After finishing their post-game chores, the Bobcats players showed up at a membership-only nightclub in the suburbs of Phoenix in the early hours of the morning, booking the entire nightclub to celebrate their 19th consecutive win.

We had a simple celebration the night before in Minneapolis, but we didn't even go to the nightclub. That damn place is really not fun. No wonder the Lakers ran away immediately after receiving funding from the Los Angeles City Hall to build a new arena.

Also, they didn't know how long the winning streak would last at that time. On the night when they defeated the Kings back-to-back and achieved their 18th consecutive win, they just opened the precious red wine brought by Boss Joe in the locker room.

Now the winning streak is over, and as Okafor said, the chapter of the winning streak has come to an end and we can really raise a toast to it.

Also attending the celebration were Nash, Stoudemire and O'Neal. The place was recommended by Nash, and it was because of his local connections that they were able to book the entire nightclub.

O'Neal is a person with excellent social skills. He and Jordan had a lot of fun with the Bobcats players.

Stoudemire spent a lot of money at the poker table, which has been his favorite thing to do in more than a year.

Nash, on the other hand, did not behave as he usually did in such closed places. Instead, he sat in a corner sipping a glass of wine and chatting with Zhang Yang about the next game...the Bobcats' next game.

Nash: "Jack, the most important thing for you right now is to cut off this long winning streak from this season and reorganize your playing style like you did at the beginning of the regular season."

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and said, "I also think there are some problems with our playing style. For example, in terms of tactical adjustment, the coaching staff made a lot of plans during the All-Star break, and we also worked hard to adjust during training. But when it came to the game, it seemed that all the training didn't work, and the tactics got worse and worse."

Nash: "Because adjustments will bring fluctuations in strength, but you have been winning. In the game, once the tactical adjustments affect the performance, you will choose to give up the adjustments and follow the previous playing habits..."

Zhang Yang: “Oh, yes! Path dependence!”

Nash: "Tsk tsk, you are worthy of being a master's student. This word sums it up well. I have been observing your games. In the past 9 games, your 'dependence' has become more and more serious. In the last two or three games, everyone is relying on you, Raymond, and Emeka. Any problem is found on you. In January, every player was very active. When encountering problems, everyone was trying to solve them. That kind of beautiful picture has disappeared recently.

In fact, you had the All-Star break after 10 consecutive wins, which should have been a good time to adjust, and the winning streak should not have been an obstacle, but the schedule was too unfriendly. First you faced Yao, and then you played Howard back-to-back. In these three games, you had to prioritize winning and put adjustments aside. But this start in the second half set the tone for your subsequent games, and it was too late to adjust. Then there were five consecutive away games, and you spent every day on the plane and on the court, and the "dependence" deepened further. "

Zhang Yang nodded and said, "I have discussed this situation with Emeka, Raymond, and Grant many times. Each discussion was very in-depth, but we have not found the key point. Steve, you have experience."

Nash: "I encountered this problem in the first two years after I came to the Suns. We had been improving, but after we became the best team in the league, our progress stopped all of a sudden. It was like this in the first year, and it was still like this in the second year. It wasn't until 07 that I figured out this problem, so that year we gave up competing with the Mavericks for the top spot in the league. We actually did better last season, but unfortunately..."

Seeing that Mr. Na was talking about the thing he was most reluctant to look back on, Zhang Yang said, "Steve, you have suffered so much and learned so many lessons, are you just going to share them with me for nothing?"

Nash's lament about the unfairness of fate was instantly wiped out. He rolled his eyes at Zhang Yang with a displeased smile, waved his hand and said, "Haven't you taken enough advantage of me? This is not enough."

Zhang Yang: "Then let me take advantage of you a little bit. Help me analyze how to solve the current situation."

Nash's dead fish eyes were exposed, and he continued without getting angry: "Then I will try to help you analyze it, but you still have to consider what to do about the specific situation.

Now, the most important thing for you, Raymond and Emeka is to get your teammates involved in "winning" again, and let them do more. Even if you are at a disadvantage in the game, you must persist and stand up at the last moment, instead of giving you the ball whenever you encounter any problems like now.

This is much more difficult for you than it was for us. We only had eight players in rotation, while you sometimes had 8 players as the main force, but your ceiling may also be higher than ours..."

Zhang Yang nodded and said, "I understand. I will discuss this with them when I get back... Then what?"

Nash: "No, that's all I can think of now. I have to wait and see what happens next before I can make a specific analysis."

Zhang Yang: "Thank you for your hard work."

Nash: “You are really not polite at all!”

Zhang Yang: "It is unwise to refuse help from others."

Nash: "Aren't you curious why I want to help you at this time?"

Zhang Yang: "Maybe you don't want to see Kobe continue to win championships?"

Nash laughed and said, "I like your answer!"

(End of this chapter)