First in scoring

Chapter 486 484. Welcome to the 70-Win Club
Felton made two consecutive three-pointers, the score was 15 to 11, the Bobcats' lead expanded to 4 points, and the Bulls called a timeout!

Skiles regretted not calling a timeout earlier. When his players discovered the target of the opponent's offensive strategy, he discovered it almost at the same time, but when he saw that his players were adjusting on their own, he did not call a timeout.

It’s just that rhythm is something that makes no sense. Sometimes you see a team playing very hard, but their rhythm may not be disrupted and they may be able to counterattack at any time; sometimes the rhythm is disrupted suddenly, and starting from Zhang Yang’s three-pointer, the rhythm of their Bulls team was obviously affected.

Although the players have been actively adjusting, after this wave of star attacks, we can see that their adjustment direction was wrong from the beginning, and the mistake became worse as time went on.

They have the strongest perimeter defensive trio in the league, including Hinrich, the real second-line defender, Sefolosha, who mainly focuses on one-on-one defense and is expected to be selected into the defensive team this season, and Luol Deng, who has comprehensive defense and defensive team strength but is likely to be eliminated because the players above are too strong... Yao Ming can go to the low post to attack if he disagrees, which is feasible against most opponents. No one can score more than him in the interior, and he has teammates to defend on the outside.

But they met the Bobcats' duo, who combined to score 11 points in a row without any sense of reason!

He should have called a timeout at that time and replaced Big Ben in advance. Big Ben would not be a drag like Tyus Thomas when playing pick-and-roll. On the offensive end, he could be used as a poor version of Kenyon Martin, allowing Yao Ming to stick to the basket and ensure that their iron-blooded tactics that they have relied on for survival this season can continue. Although this operation is not brilliant, it is stable.

But these are all hindsight. At that time, he must have trusted the players on the court. After all, it was the players who were playing, not him.

Ultimately, it can be attributed to the "all-in syndrome".

Putting aside his regrets, Skiles replaced Sefolosha and Yao Ming with Nocioni and Joe Smith, and used a stern tone to tell the players to put away their distractions and focus on defense.

After the timeout, the Bulls players firmly implemented Skiles' adjustment arrangements, using their speed advantage, rotating defense, and playing hard defense.

Joe Smith is not fast enough to play power forward, but he is good enough to play center. Tyus Thomas has amazing athletic ability and can even barely keep up with the point guard when switching defense.

The defensive intensity of this lineup is not as high as that of the starting lineup, but it is sticky enough and has excellent consumption capacity, which managed to suppress the momentum of the Bobcats.

Carlisle, Zhang Yang, Okafor... have no way to deal with this. This is the "rogue" side of the Bulls in the past two years. Even though they have declined a lot this year, they are still the most shameless "rogue".

Forced error correction is a very difficult operation, but Skiles can do it easily in this team.

Skiles came to the Bulls in 03. This team has been rotten for 4 years since Jordan retired for the second time. It is rotten to the core.

Let's just say that when Hinrich was drafted by the Bulls, it felt like the sky was falling.

But Skiles put things right with great force, and in just two years, the Bulls returned to the playoffs. In the 06-07 season, he showed a strength that all the underdog superstars, including Kobe, envied. That season, the Bulls gave people the feeling that they could win the championship as long as they added a superstar. Of course, the operations of the Bulls' top management were very important. There were almost no omissions in the draft in those years, and the lineup was also reasonable. But in the minds of the players, the credit belongs to the head coach. After six years, his prestige in this team is enough to rival Popovich in the Spurs and Sloan in the Jazz. He is an absolute mentor in the minds of the rookies who joined the Bulls after 6.

The head coach's ability is one of a team's greatest advantages, and this is fully demonstrated by the Bulls.

In fact, Carlisle currently does not play the same role to the Bobcats as Skiles does to the Bulls.

Fortunately, the Bobcats are in the second half of the Eastern Conference where every team is a troublemaker. They have been playing mainly with Eastern Conference teams recently and have become accustomed to the torment. They have no way to solve the problem of their offensive obstruction, so they don't bother to solve it. They can just waste their energy on each other, since they are leading anyway.

More than 4 minutes after the timeout, the Bobcats beat the Bulls by 7 point with a score of 6 to 1, and the score came to 22 to 17. The Bobcats' lead expanded to 5 points. At the end of the quarter, when the ball was dead, Skiles took advantage of the opponent's substitution of Zhang Yang for a rest and replaced him with Yao Ming.

Steady operations mean that they are easy to be seen through. Skiles predicted that Carlisle would replace Zhang Yang in this dead ball. Carlisle also predicted that the opponent would predict his operation, so he replaced Perkins when he replaced Zhang Yang. Of course, Perkins' substitution was also within Skiles' expectations... But sometimes prediction does not mean that there will be an absolutely effective way to deal with it, and you can only give it a try.

Carlisle chose to believe in the inside combination of Okafor and Perkins, while Skiles chose to believe that Yao Ming could break through the opposing twin towers.

Yao Ming launched a fierce attack as soon as he came on the court. Carlisle's trust in the defensive end... was misplaced. The Bobcats' twin towers couldn't stop the little giant!
节末1分40多秒，姚明2投2中加上2中2的罚球，独得6分，一个人得分顶上了过去4分多钟全队！
However, the Bobcats were not as bright as they could be. In order to ensure that Yao Ming would not be burdened in the low-post offense, Skiles replaced him with Tim Thomas, their most accurate long-range shooter. Okafor took on the offense even though he could not be defended. He made 2 of 1 shots in two singles, and once Felton took advantage of Perkins' quick serve to launch a fast break. Okafor followed up and asked for the ball and attacked the basket with someone protecting the rim in front of him. He took a one-on-two approach and put the ball into the basket over the heads of Luol Deng and Tim Thomas, and got 4 points!
After the first quarter, the Bobcats led the Bulls by 26 points with 22 to 4!
Although the process was different from what was expected, the result was good and Carlisle won this gamble!

After the intermission, Carlisle replaced Zhang Yang with Jarrett Jack, Hill, Ibaka and Perkins.

Zhang Yang came onto the court, and just as Kawhi Leonard had predicted, he saw Yao Ming on the opposite side also coming on the court.

Yao Ming scored 12 points in the first quarter and was indeed very tired in the first five minutes or so, but Skiles reacted quickly and gave him rest time in time. His overall condition should be fine now.

The other four players on the opposite side are Hinrich, Sefolosha, Nocioni and Ben Wallace.

After the start of the second quarter, Yao Ming did not fall to the low post to continue the main attack, but Hinrich and Ben Wallace played pick-and-roll cooperation, or Nocioni broke through.

However, Zhang Yang did not launch a fierce attack to try to widen the score gap. He was confident that he could do it, but it was impossible to widen the score gap to a large extent.

Since that's the case and they're still ahead, there's no need to take any risks.

He focused on containment on the offensive end, adjusting his position around the main attacker Jarrett Jack, creating more space for Jack, counterattacking when conditions allowed, and investing his energy on the defensive end, keeping a close eye on Hinrich, affecting his shooting and disrupting his offensive rhythm.

The main goal is to keep going! Let’s see who gets impatient first!

Yao Ming kept his composure this time. He really wanted to overturn Zhang San's team and kill him, but he controlled his emotions. He had tried it in the first quarter. It was like a Pandora's box. He had the ability to break the opponent's established strategy, but the consequences were unpredictable. Zhang San was getting more and more fierce.

两队磨着打了5分钟，山猫队拿到7分、公牛队拿到8分，比分来到33比30，山猫队的领先优势被缩小了1分。

But the reduction of 1 point has little practical significance for the Bulls. It was just that Yao Ming's tip-in caused Ibaka to foul and made the free throw. They didn't score as many regular goals as the opponent.

When the Bulls started attacking and the official timeout was about to come, Hinrich could no longer sit still. He used Nocioni's screen at the top of the arc to directly shoot a three-pointer!

But Hill, who switched defense, interfered! Hinrich jumped and forced a backward shot, but it was short and hit the outside edge of the basket!

It wasn't that Hill predicted this ball well. He didn't care about Hinrich's advance at all and pressed directly to the three-point line. One of the most important defensive goals of the Bobcats tonight was to prevent Hinrich, who had a 42.1% three-point shooting rate, from shooting outside the three-point line. Putting individual defense goals in a secondary position and team defense goals first was the defensive concept strictly implemented by the Bobcats at the beginning of the season to make up for the weakness of most players' single defense. They also insisted on implementing it during the period of low offense in February and March, maintaining the overall defense. This is also the confidence for them to boldly implement the "deep adjustment"!

Hinrich's shot after the pick-and-roll ran into the Bobcats' defense!
The ball bounced toward the top right corner of the free throw line. Zhang Yang, who was one step inside the arc, pounced on it, fell to the ground to catch the ball, and controlled the ball before Sefrosa rushed up from the right sideline, and passed it to Hill as soon as possible.

Hill launched a counterattack, and with the help of Zhang Yang who followed up from behind, he successfully entered the basket one-on-one, and put the ball into the basket with the help of Hinrich!
It's the Bulls' turn again. In the last round, Hinrich wanted to give it a try. This time, whether he wants to or not, he has to continue attacking, otherwise the previous round would be equivalent to giving the opponent two points for free.

Hinrich continued to play pick-and-roll with Nocioni, Hill continued to press on defense, Hinrich changed direction and broke through...the backup defense came so quickly!
The rookie Ibaka on the opposing team has physical fitness that is not inferior to Tyus Thomas!
Hinrich made a two-point shot before being blocked by Ibaka...but it missed!
Fortunately, this time the ball bounced closer to the basket, and the Bulls retreated as a whole, not giving Zhang Yang and Hill another chance to fast break.

Being dragged into a positional battle, Zhang Yang took the initiative to ask for the ball. Facing the close defense of Nocioni, with the help of Hill's screen, he accelerated to push away the switched defense of Sefolosha, came to the free throw line, and faced Ben Wallace who rushed out to make a quick stop jump shot...

This may be the most crucial goal in the first half. He withstood the pressure and was fearless. He shot when he should and it went in!

37 to 30, the Bobcats' lead expanded to 7 points!
The Bulls called a timeout, 6 minutes and 16 seconds, entering the official timeout stage!

Hinrich put his hands behind his head in annoyance, scratching the back of his head with his ten fingers, trying hard not to let his expression get out of control.

Yao Ming and Ben Wallace both came up and patted Hinrich on the back.

Hinrich took the initiative to launch an attack, but failed. He was strangled by Zhang Yang and Hill, and the score difference that was originally within the controllable range gradually got out of control.

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

Can his teammates blame Hinrich? Yes, but no one does.

In the past half quarter, they had been longing for teammates to step up and solve the problem, including Yao Ming. At this time, Hinrich stood up and was very courageous, but he just didn't do it.

Even the utilitarian Skiles encouraged Hinrich by saying "Don't be discouraged" after he returned to the bench.

However, although Hinrich was not blamed, the Bulls lost both morale and score!

After the official timeout, Carlisle replaced Felton and Okafor, and together with Zhang Yang, they led Mike Miller and Brad Miller to launch a fierce attack!

Skiles and his core players guessed what adjustments the opponent would make during the timeout, and he responded by replacing the best offensive lineup of Hinrich, Nocioni, Luol Deng, Tim Thomas, and Yao Ming, and fighting hard... but they lost!
Dare to shoot, have confidence to make a shot, and be able to rely on a clear lead and remain confident even if you don't make a shot. These three points are too important in a game like tonight, and the Bobcats currently have all three!
The score was 15 to 11 in the first half. At the end of the first half, the Bobcats widened the gap to 11 points and led the Bulls 52 to 41!
After the halftime break, in the third quarter, the Bulls took the initiative to launch an offensive, with Yao Ming and Hinrich leading the team in a fierce attack.

山猫三少见招拆招，以对攻应战……没能飙得过！今晚姚明状态确实猛，首节6中5拿到12分，第二节4中2加上1中1的罚球拿到7分，第三节又飙起来，7投4中加上4中3的罚球拿到11分，加上辛里奇的4分3助攻、接应远投的蒂姆-托马斯的6分、罗尔-邓的3分、轮换上场的泰鲁斯-托马斯在姚明拉到近距离单打的时候接应进了两球拿到4分……公牛队全队单节狂轰28分，力压单节24分的山猫队一头。

After three quarters, the score was 69 to 76, and the Bulls narrowed the gap to 7 points.

But at the beginning of the final quarter, Zhang Yang took advantage of the sideline support tactics led by the two Millers, went around the top left side of the arc and received the ball and hit a three-pointer, expanding the lead to 10 points again!
The little giant who was resting and watching on the sidelines: Players like Zhang San are just cheating!
He worked hard to lead the team to chase the goal for a whole quarter, but Zhang San destroyed it with just one goal!
Next, Lynch Hunter, Sefolosha, Luol Deng, Tyus Thomas and Joe Smith held on for a few minutes, trying to keep the score close, but with 4 minutes and 22 seconds left, Mike Miller made a three-pointer and the score came to 89 to 75. The Bobcats led by 14 points. Skiles called a timeout and replaced Hinrich, Nocioni, Tim Thomas and Yao Ming for a final counterattack.

Hope is slim, but we still have to try. What if a miracle happens? What if four three-point shooters can shoot well, or Yao Ming can do anything under the basket like he did in the first quarter? Unfortunately, what happened was another 9999.

Yao Ming played for 29 minutes in the first three quarters, scored 17 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 8 blocks with 30 of 16 shots and 3 of 3 free throws. After resting for half a quarter, he failed to continue his C-game, scoring only 3 points with 1 of 2 shots and 2 of 4 free throws. His shooting burst did not appear. The only one who was still accurate in three-point shooting in the final quarter was Mike Miller. What's more, Zhang Yang did make a three-pointer, but after the opening shot, the next two three-point shots were both missed. It's just that Zhang Yang missed the shot, and the Bulls didn't dare to let him go.

In the next 7 and a half minutes, the Bulls scored 9 points and the Bobcats scored 7 points...

At 10:24 p.m., the halftime whistle sounded.

张杨28投12中，其中三分球10中3，加上6中5的罚球，拿到全场第二高的32分，外加8板4助攻1抢断2盖帽，率领山猫队以95比84击败公牛队！
Before the final whistle, when the Bulls grabbed the rebound with 9 seconds left and decided not to attack, the Bobcats players had already rushed into the court. The referee naturally would not care at this time, as the score difference was 11 points and the lagging team had already given up the attack.

After Zhang Yang prepared a simple celebration and released his excitement, he took his teammates back to the locker room to celebrate again. The away fans were particularly excited tonight and booed them all night. They had to be cautious to prevent some fans from making extreme behaviors that would irritate his teammates. He couldn't guarantee whether those teammates who were dominated by the small head would not have any extreme reactions.

But surprisingly, after the final whistle, there was sparse applause, which then spread and the whole audience was applauding!

The big screen above the stadium soon posted a message: "Welcome to the 70-win club."

Zhang Yang was the first to notice the big screen. That sentence had no background or embellishment, and it looked like it was typed out and pasted directly on the screen.

He looked around and saw Jordan and Pippen standing on the sidelines applauding opposite the technical table. As expected, these two brothers were the ones leading the applause.

Zhang San: Shit! Baldy Qiao is the biggest winner tonight, winning both sides!

It can be said that Jordan was the least pressured tonight. If his Bobcats lost, the 72 wins he set as a player would be the only record of 70+ wins. If he won, he would have 70 wins both as a player and as a boss!
The fans were moved to applaud, and they probably thought - since they couldn't stop it, they might as well be generous, since they still got first place anyway.

At this time, reporters from Chaoting TV squeezed into the crowd. Zhang Yang put away his criticism of Boss Joe and began to praise Felton and Okafor's performance in the first quarter, praised his teammates' defense, praised Mike Miller's three-pointer, and praised his teammates in front of the camera.

But after praising himself for a while, he noticed that the reporters had expectant eyes and his teammates also gathered around him... and he was immediately in a state of dismay.

He was young and ignorant back then, and he just shouted that slogan when he was excited. It happened that the Taiwanese drama was very popular in China at that time, and he was still a high school student at that time... Then the nickname "The Strongest High School Student in History" became popular in China first, and then it spread to the United States and became popular for a while.

The popularity of this nickname was gradually fading, but this season he has become the MVP, especially in April, when Yao Ming won the March Player of the Month award and the Bobcats' 4-win hopes were rekindled... This nickname has gone from being a joke to a reality! That slogan has also become popular again!
Forget it, forget it, the strongest high school student in history is the strongest high school student in history.

Zhang Yang opened his arms to the camera and shouted: "Tonight...Party time!"

(End of this chapter)