First in scoring

Chapter 487 485. Cheek: The sky is falling!

Zhang San said that there would be a party tonight, and Qiao Tu immediately made arrangements.

After finishing their post-game chores, all the players from the Bobcats and the Bulls got on the car arranged by Boss Joe and headed to 23 Highland Park Mansion in the Highland Park district of Chicago.

Zhang Yang learned from Yao Ming, who has been in Chicago for nearly two years, that No. 23 Mansion is not just called No. 23. After Jordan renovated the house during his first retirement in 95, the City Hall specially changed the building number of Highland Park and assigned No. 23 to Jordan, which indirectly shows Jordan's influence in the 90s.

Boss Qiao's party this time has more elements than usual, probably because it was arranged at the last minute.

The original plan was to return to Charlotte to celebrate the end of the regular season. Whether it was 69 wins or 70 wins, it would be the second best record in history, worthy of celebration by the entire team, including all staff and their families.

It was also related to the invitation of some media, celebrities and political and business people to watch the game on site. Although some of these people, both men and women, played more extravagantly than Jordan as a former athlete, some of them were serious people. The program could not be arranged too excessively, but they could not be not invited, otherwise they would offend people... Of course, it was only plain compared to usual times. The escorts invited by Boss Joe from familiar clubs wore as little fabric as possible, and the eighteen-line stars and down-and-out socialites who heard the news were particularly proactive.

Most of the players on the Bobcats and Bulls had a great time and did not shy away from showing their extravagant side in front of the camera.

The Bulls players did not have any friction with the Bobcats players because of losing tonight and failing to prevent the second 2-win team from appearing. They cared so much because their own fans cared. They tried their best to win for the sake of face. Yao Ming even shot more than 70 times and got 20+34+18+3 data. But after the game, their own fans, led by the number one player in the history of their team, "welcomed the Bobcats to join the 4-win club" and applauded the Bobcats for their outstanding performance this season... So what are they still caring about? Of course, they did complain about Boss Joe behind his back.

A small number of players, such as Magloire who was guarding the water dispenser for the Bobcats, went to toast and drink for a while to save face and then left.

Although this center was once an All-Star player and is black, he does not like this kind of occasion at all. The most unique thing is that his total salary in his career has exceeded 4000 million US dollars. In addition to buying two houses and three cars for himself and his parents in the middle-class area of ​​his hometown in Canada, he returns to his hometown after each season to teach the children in the town to play basketball. During the 3 years he played in the NBA, he rented an apartment and bought used cars in the "scrap metal city". He also has strong financial management skills. Most black athletes go bankrupt shortly after retiring. According to Forbes Sports, this one, after 9 years in the NBA, his cash assets have more than doubled his salary. He also won an award for this in the 9-07 season and was regarded by the NBA as an excellent model for rookie guidance courses.

There are also those who cannot leave early or will be called by Boss Joe to show off at any time, such as Zhang Yang and Okafor. As for Felton, he has already had a great time.

Emma Roberts, a family member of the player, looked at Okafor who was sitting by the lake reading a book. She could understand why he was hiding here and had a good reputation. But she turned around and saw Zhang San who had just gone out for a drink and was skipping pebbles on the lake to relieve the effects of the alcohol...

She asked curiously, "Jack, why did you come back so soon? Aren't you going to play with Raymond and the others?"

"Come and keep you company!" Zhang Yang said and raised his eyebrows at Emma Roberts.

Emma Roberts: "You don't have to worry about me, my mother is here too, I will go back to the hotel with her later."

Zhang Yang was surprised to hear this and asked in confusion, "If I play with them, aren't you afraid that some woman will get me drunk and take me away? I have a girlfriend and I have to protect myself outside... Don't you care about this?"

Emma Roberts was stunned. She was also surprised. She responded, "Of course I care. It's just that athletes like you must have a lot of social engagements. I'm mentally prepared for some things... I didn't expect you to think this way."

Okafor, who was standing some distance away, suddenly spoke up: "I can testify that Jack now only goes to parties to show respect and drink a few rounds before leaving. He was not like this before."

Zhang Yang stepped forward and punched Okafor on the arm: "Your last sentence was redundant... But you have a very good hearing. You heard even such a low voice."

Okafor had a blank expression on his face, but he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth - damn Zhang San, his strength seemed to have increased again!
But he did not answer Zhang Yang's question. He was too lazy to complain about the first sentence, and the second sentence... there was a risk of going off topic.

In this regard, little Duncan swore that he was unwilling to associate with Xiaofei and Zhang San!
The little bitch's heart was beating fast at this moment, her face was slightly red, and her emotions began to sublimate... Zhang San thought and acted in that way in his heart, and he said it casually, as if it was a matter of course. He did not deliberately act "sincere", but instead made her feel that it was from the heart, and she didn't even need others to testify.

If Zhang Yang's teammate hadn't been next to him, and a man with expressionless face who looked old-fashioned and dull, Emma Roberts would have rushed over at this moment. She left with a sentence "I'm going to get a box of hangover pills" and left at the speed of light to curb the impulse that had begun to surge in her body. Making a fool of herself here would embarrass Zhang Yang.

Okafor didn't know why he suddenly felt a little redundant here. No matter what, he said to Zhang Yang: "Jack, what do you think of the game against the Bulls tonight?"

Zhang Yang complained: "You are so boring. You are still thinking about the competition when you attend a party..."

After a while of breeze, he felt a little dizzy. He concentrated and thought for a while, then replied, "Sinrich, Hunter, Sefolosha, Nocioni, and Deng, it is difficult for me to completely penetrate the outside line of these five people, but they can't completely defend me, and our rotation defense, combined with my single defense, can deal with their outside shooters; Yao can't be defended at that point, but it doesn't matter, it has been determined tonight, if Yao wants to score points, you, me, and Raymond will not lose to him."

Okafor nodded: "Your analysis is correct, but it may be more difficult for us to play against them in the playoffs because of these confirmations."

Zhang Yang: "What do you mean?"

Okafor: "When I was reading a book just now, I recalled the process of the four games against them. Starting from the second game, they seemed to have been trying non-stop. In the second and third games, they made a lot of changes in their overall playing style and tactics. In tonight's game, many of their players made temporary adjustments at a glance. We were able to deal with most of them head-on. This may cause them to stop trying any new changes in the playoffs and focus on advantageous playing styles. In this way, there will be fewer loopholes for us to exploit."

Little Duncan was worried, and seemed a little overly worried, but Zhang San could understand him, after all, little Duncan was the one facing the little giant.

Zhang Yang doesn't know what it feels like for Okafor to face Yao Ming head-on. Outside players know how powerful inside superstars are, but it's hard for them to fully empathize without facing them directly, just like inside players find it hard to fully understand how their outside teammates feel when they meet outside superstars like Kobe, Wade, Paul, and Nash... Not necessarily, Duncan might be able to understand it.

But he can imagine that when those outside superstars have a group of teammates who are very suitable for playoffs and have extremely strong defense, put yourself in their shoes and feel it... It's terrifying!
The drunken feeling was mostly gone. He thought for a moment and did not choose to appease them. Instead, he said, "Leave Yao to you and Kendrick, and leave the outside shooting to me and Raymond. No matter how hard this bone is, we will bite them to pieces!"

Feeling Zhang Yang's strong confidence and trust, Okafor's tremendous pressure from facing Yao Ming dissipated a lot. He nodded and said nothing more.

...

That night, the little bitch was sleeping with her mother in the next room. Zhang San woke up from his drunken stupor and couldn't sleep alone, so he opened the "Door of Experience".

“Name: Zhang Yang.

Age: 20 (Date of birth: June 1988, 6.)
Height: 196 cm, wingspan: 216 cm.

Weight: 94 kg.

Ability value evaluation: three-pointer 93 (upper limit 95), mid-range shot 92 (upper limit 95), layup 94 (upper limit), ball control 90, passing 86, speed 94, strength 87, jumping 89, physical strength 94 (upper limit 95)...

Cumulative shot value: 82336.

Gains from experience: Steve Nash's sense of ball handling rhythm (intermediate)..."

He made further progress in the two months after the All-Star Weekend. First, his mid-range shooting increased from 91 to 92. Then, at the beginning of this month, his strength increased from 86 to 87. His extra training after that focused on attacking the basket. As he expected, his layup ceiling broke through from 93 to 94 after a few days. And because he has been honing his basic skills, his layup ceiling was broken through and directly reached the new ceiling.

Perhaps due to the combination of sudden shots, the three-point shooting rate also increased to 93 soon after.

Zhang Yang took the initiative to recall the last experience in the 10th timeline. Currently, he is less than two months away from turning 21, but his strength is very close to that of the 10th timeline when he was nearly 26 years old. However, there is still a significant gap with his strength in the 80th timeline. In that timeline, he was already in his twenties and went to fight against God. Although he was still at a disadvantage in terms of pure strength, it was enough for the Knicks, who had more money and a more luxurious lineup. The reason why the 10th timeline was so much weaker was because he started too late...

In terms of ball control, there is a big gap between the two timelines. This is purely due to the difference in playing time. The 80 timeline has been playing basketball since childhood, and the 10 timeline has played for 5 more years. There is no comparison.

But fortunately, he found a way to control the ball to the top level, which is enough even if he doesn't play pure organizational offense.

When facing a point guard's defense, it is easy to be stolen the ball, so he just needs to back up and score. Which serious scorer has the nerve to break through when facing a point guard? If Paul and Rondo dare to defend him, Kuku will just ram into them.

His basic skills in shooting, passing and controlling the ball are getting closer and closer to the upper limit of his talent, but Zhang Yang is not in a hurry about this. First of all, his talent in these aspects is not low. On the contrary, being close to the upper limit proves that his development in the past six years has been very good. If other players with similar physical fitness can reach his level in three-pointers, attacking the rim and mid-range shots, they can become the second in command and one of the core scorers of a team.

Secondly, there is no point in being anxious. Just wait patiently until you get more talent points. Instead of worrying about this, it is better to focus on how to enrich and strengthen your skills and make better use of his already all-round top basic skills.

It was already the playoffs, so he could start making plans for the summer. Thinking about work made him sleepy, and he fell asleep while thinking...

The next day, the 21st, Zhang San slept until noon before being woken up by the little bitch.

He originally wanted to do something inappropriate for children, but when he heard the little bitch say that her mother invited them to dinner, he suddenly jumped up and quickly took a shower and changed his clothes.

Zhang Yang was a little nervous when having dinner with Emma Roberts' mother, but Emma Roberts' mother really just wanted to have a meal with him. She asked some questions, but they were all related to studies and work... After dinner, when chatting with the little bitch alone, Zhang Yang understood why her mother treated him so differently from his mother treated her. Zhang's mother wanted to know everything about the little bitch, but the little bitch's mother only cared about Zhang Yang's plans for the future, whether their child would be a boy or a girl, the differences in cultural concepts, and the different levels of marital happiness of both parents.

Zhang Yang had prepared a lot of responses to various questions from Emma Roberts' mother, but he didn't use them. That's a good thing as it saved him a lot of trouble. As for the future... we'll talk about it when the time comes.

The two returned to the hotel, and Zhang Yang met Randy Brown and learned that he had won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award.

The two quickly returned to the room, turned on the computer, and opened the NBA official website. The headlines were - Bobcats' 70 wins ranked second in history, and the Bad Boys were named Player of the Month 4 times, setting a historical record.

Zhang Yang clicked on the news and saw his specific performance in April... He really didn't know this.

He won all 10 games, averaging 28 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. His shooting percentage was rather poor, 44.6%. His three-point shooting was good, 41.2%, but it was enough for him to secure the Player of the Month award.

This time, he won the Player of the Month award, surpassing Garnett and O'Neal, and ranked first in the number of Player of the Month awards in a single season.

Zhang San was very happy, and Xiao Biao Biao was even more excited. They chased a star, pushed the star down on the bed, and were together. They could also witness their favorite star reach a new peak in his career together...

Zhang Yang was quite surprised by the winner of the Player of the Month award from the Western Conference - the Silver Horn King!
诺维斯基4月份11场比赛率领小牛队取得8胜3负的战绩，场均拿到30.1分7.9板3助攻，投篮命中率47%，三分命中率40%。

In the two months after the All-Star Weekend, Zhang Yang's attention has been focused on his own team and he hasn't paid much attention to other teams. He checked the latest situation of the Mavericks.

The Mavericks started to improve in late last month. As of March 3, the Mavericks had 18 wins and 39 losses. This team, which had a hot start but has been plagued by injuries since December, is almost overtaken by the Rockets and the Suns. The improvement is also because the injury wave has finally been brought under control, the main players can be guaranteed to be healthy, their strength has recovered, and their record has naturally improved.

最近17场比赛，小牛队取得了13胜4负的战绩，最终以52胜30负排在西部第七。

In the list of related news, Zhang Yang saw an analysis post about Nowitzki. He clicked on it and saw that the post was praising Nowitzki's all-round improvement this season in his post-up skills, strong shooting ability, off-ball movement, and assisting in passing the ball.

He noticed a sentence in the analysis post - it has been three seasons since we saw such a significant improvement in Nowitzki's technical diversity.

3 seasons...isn't that the time the young general coached the Mavericks?

Looking back now, Zhang Yang suddenly realized that from his rookie season to last season, when playing against the Mavericks, although Nowitzki's shooting was more accurate and his technical details were better, his playing style has always been the same with almost no changes, and he was still restrained when he should be restrained.

It's not just Nowitzki. Josh Howard played the same way he did in the 05-06 season and last season, with no visible changes.

He analyzed that the young general's unlimited singles system did indeed utilize the abilities of the Mavericks' players who were good at singles to the extreme, but it also limited the players' progress.

In order to ensure the 'diversity of singles supporting running positions', the singles methods of players in each position are fixed. How the point guard should play, how the shooting guard should play, how the small forward and power forward should play... These are all planned according to the characteristics of each player when the young general took over the team, and a supporting running tactics was created. However, due to there being too many singles cores in the infinite singles flow, once they are fixed, they cannot be adjusted, and most players cannot remember more running methods.

This makes it unnecessary for players to enrich their singles playing methods. They practice but cannot use them, and have no actual combat opportunities, so it is equivalent to practicing in vain. It is better to invest time and energy into polishing existing playing methods.

Josh Howard and Nowitzki were delayed for three years by the young general. Zhang Yang felt it was a pity. If the mad scientist had not left the Mavericks, the Silver Horn King would definitely have become stronger.

Nowitzki's basic skills must have become more solid in the past three years, so this season he was able to make great progress with the help of head coach Philip Saunders, who once brought out the Wolf King and helped the Tianzun to better adjust his skills in the later stage of his career.

However, given Nowitzki's self-discipline, even if he develops new technologies, he will definitely not lose his basic skills.

Although this post is professional, there are only a few replies. This is normal. Before he came down to earth, the Silver Horn King was not very popular. Outside of Texas, he was considered a "niche star" among superstar players.

After closing the webpage, Zhang Yang browsed other news and posts.

The regular season is over, and various summaries and analyses are emerging one after another. He picks out the key points.

He glanced over most of the analysis of their Bobcats' season performance without going into detail and only focused on a few important statistics.

The team averaged 105.03 points per game, ranking sixth in the league after the Nuggets, Knicks, Warriors, Suns and Spurs. However, they only scored 3 points, 102 points and 84 points in the last three games and were overtaken by the Spurs at the last moment.

The average points allowed per game is 95.43, ranking seventh in the league.

However, the Cavaliers, who are second in the league, dominate the league in terms of net score, averaging 98.1 points per game and allowing 91.2 points per game, and their net score is less than 7 points.

Other statistics at the forefront include 11.2 three-pointers per game, second in the league, second only to the Magic; 24.2 assists per game, second only to the Jazz's 24.7 assists per game; fourth in rebounds, seventh in steals, ninth in blocks...

Zhang Yang didn't know how strong they were until he saw it. Is this the performance data of a 70-win team that is good at both offense and defense?
For other teams, those that rank in the top ten in offense generally don't have that good of a defense, and those that rank in the top ten in defense generally don't have that good of an offense either. Of course there are special cases, like the Lakers, who are very strong on both offense and defense when playing against strong teams, but are only ranked eighth in offense and fourteenth in defense, and they were simply slacking off during the regular season.

However, the Bobcats are not the only strong team that can combine offense and defense. The Magic's offensive efficiency squeezed into the top ten at the last moment, ranking tenth in offense and fourth in defense!
At the same time, the Magic are one of only two teams that have not been swept by any team this season. The Bobcats also lost the first time they played against the Magic this season.

It’s a bit of a pity for Zhang Yang. This Magic team may be at its peak in team history, but they won’t be able to meet them in the playoffs…

In terms of record, in the Eastern Conference, the Bobcats are ranked first with 70 wins and 12 losses, and also first in the league.

骑士队63胜19负第二、魔术队57胜25负第三、凯尔特人队44胜38负第四（赛区第一必定分区前四）、老鹰队52胜30负第五、公牛队52胜30负第六、76人队41胜41负第七、热火队40胜42负第八、篮网队38胜44负第九……

西部，马刺队62胜20负第一、湖人队58胜24负第二、掘金队55胜27负第三、灰熊队53胜29负第四、开拓者队53胜29负第五、黄蜂队52胜30负第六、小牛队52胜30负第七、爵士队50胜32负第八、火箭队48胜34负第九、太阳队46胜36负第十……

The Spurs went from 10 wins and 10 losses to 62 wins and 20 losses, and then 62 wins and 52 losses in the next 10 games. After their offense took off, they were even more impressive than the Bobcats last season. Zhang Yang clearly didn't let Duncan touch his head, but he inexplicably felt like he was being plucked bald.

As for the teams with the worst records, since the eleventh team in the Eastern Conference, there has been no team with more than 25 wins. These teams have almost never won against the top ten teams in the Western Conference. These five teams alone have contributed nearly 5 wins to the top ten teams in the Western Conference. Not only the bottom five, but starting from the 20ers, which are seventh in the Eastern Conference, their winning rate against strong teams in the Western Conference is very low. The top three teams in the Eastern Conference have better records than the top three teams in the Western Conference, but the top eight are far behind the Western Conference. Isn't the reason found now?

However, there is still a peculiar team in the Western Conference - the Clippers. With such a good lineup, they have a record of 15 wins and 67 losses. The Thunder tried so hard to play badly, but still have a record of 22 wins and 60 losses. When it comes to playing badly, hard work is indeed no match for talent.

In the statistics list, Zhang Yang won the scoring title with an average of 31.1 points per game, beating Wade who averaged 30.8 points per game;
Howard won the rebounding title with an average of 14.1 rebounds per game, beating Bynum who averaged 12.2 rebounds per game;

Paul averaged 11.6 assists per game, beating Deron Williams who averaged 11.1 assists per game to win the assist title.
Paul averaged 2.8 steals per game, beating Zhang Yang who averaged 2.6 steals per game to win the steals title;

Howard averaged 3 blocks per game, beating Duncan who averaged 2.7 blocks per game to win the block title.

In terms of award predictions, Howard is first for the best defensive player, and Mayo is first for the best rookie. Although the two have a big lead, there are at least names of people who may win the award. Duncan almost single-handedly prevented the Spurs' defense from collapsing to the point where it was unbearable to watch, Rose averaged 18 points and 5 assists in the last two months, and Harden averaged 4+15+5 in April...

There seems to be no suspense in the MVP prediction. Almost all mainstream media have pulled Zhang Yang out for separate discussion. James, Howard, and Duncan who came after him were all evaluated as "a pity". The three MVP candidates Kobe, Paul, and Wade were all analyzed for their poor performance.

The Los Angeles Times' MVP prediction list was the most direct. There was only one name, Zhang Yang, on the entire list. The others were simply ignored, including an unnamed player No. 24 who was gritting his teeth while watching the news.

He averaged 31.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 47.1%, a three-point shooting percentage of 40.6%, and a free throw shooting percentage of 87.5%. He was the scoring champion, had 70 wins, and was named player of the month four times. His defense was also likely to be selected to the best defensive team this season. The advantage is too great.

Zhang Yang was somewhat relieved. If Wade had competed with him for the scoring title in April, would he have competed? Or would he have competed? In that case, he probably wouldn't have won 4 games.

On the other side, in Miami, Wade saw that Zhang Yang's average score finally settled at 31.1 points, and he didn't feel regretful at all. He had seen before that once the lead was narrowed, the damn Zhang San would score 50+. In his opinion, if he really went after him, he might lose both the scoring title and the playoff spot!
He now has some respect for Kobe's strength. It is very difficult for players like them who mainly focus on scoring to win with a group of teammates who can't shoot or defend. How did the old blacksmith make it to the playoffs in the Western Conference in those two years?
Suddenly, Wade thought of something, opened the newspaper and looked at the team rankings. They were ranked 40th in the Eastern Conference with 70 wins, while Zhang San was ranked st in the Eastern Conference with wins... The sky was falling!

(End of this chapter)