First in scoring

Chapter 498 496. Beating up the Second Defense Group (Part )

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle on time, threw the ball into the air, and the game began.

Okafor beat Yao Ming to win the jump ball, and the Bobcats attack first!
Felton advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Zhang Yang who was in the high position relying on Luol Deng.

After receiving the ball, Zhang Yang leaned on Luol Deng, dribbled, turned around, and took a step back to create space.

The opponent was the second defensive guy. He played very attentively and cautiously. The moment the opponent pressed forward, he dribbled the ball to the left and moved sideways, took a step forward, grabbed the bouncing ball while taking the second step, jumped in the middle of the semicircle outside the free throw line, and shot quickly... and hit it!
Zhang San: Eh? Why didn't you catch up? Are the modern Jordan's tactics so effective? Is it so effective to defend against the second player?

This move was a modern-day Jordan move that he learned in the seven-game series against the Hawks - catching the ball with his back to the basket, turning around and shooting with a change of direction.

Relying on solid basic skills, he was able to use it after learning it in the series against the Hawks. It worked well against Joe Johnson himself, but it was not useful after Pierce switched over immediately. The truth was that he could predict his steps, mainly because he had just figured out how to use it, and had not practiced it well, and had not formed muscle memory, so it had to "go through his brain."

Joe Johnson is good at using his height and wingspan to disrupt shots. His weaknesses are mediocre athletic ability and lack of judgment in footwork. However, he is aware of his flaws and rarely reaches out to steal the ball or predict blocks on the defensive end. When grabbing rebounds, he focuses on helping his teammates inside block opponents who are rushing to grab the ball. He also has good basic defensive skills, so even if he is defending forwards and guards like Kobe and Granger, his defense rarely lags behind and his overall defense is good.

With teammates with strong scoring ability on the outside and a strong team, Pierce can devote his energy to defense. His defensive attitude and enthusiasm have improved. He has a good foundation in offensive reading ability and defensive footwork. In addition, he has excellent short-distance explosive mobility and rich game experience. His overall defense can be called excellent. However, time is not forgiving. At the age of 31, his athletic ability has deteriorated a lot compared to his time on the Celtics. When defending against breakthroughs on the outside, he cannot catch up once he is passed. He has obvious flaws and has nothing to do with the defensive formation. He did not get a single vote for this year's best defensive team.

In the first attack of the game, Zhang Yang faced the new second defense player Luol Deng who knew him very well and had played against him many times. He wanted to try out a new strategy, but he didn't expect it to be so easy!
If Deng Yingqiao (Deng - British Jordan) knew what Zhang Yang was thinking, he would definitely jump up and down: Zhang San! I am a second-tier defense mainly focusing on assisting defense, double teaming, and preventing violent breakthroughs. My strengths in single defense on the outside are interference with shots and off-ball defense, not single defense techniques!

In the transition from offense to defense, Yao Ming moved to the mid-range to contain the opponent.

Hinrich attacked with the ball, facing Zhang Yang's defense, and he and Tyrus Thomas launched a pick-and-roll attack.

After blocking the opponent, Tyus Thomas immediately turned around and rushed to the basket. His movements were very clear and his timing was also very good. Zhang Yang had to give up going around to double-team Hinrich and switch to defend the pick-and-roll.

Fortunately, teammate Millsap, who switched to defend the pick-and-roll, did a good job. Although he was passed by Hinrich, he did not give the long two-point jump shot a chance.

Hinrich rushed to the right side of the free throw line, seized the opportunity to pass the ball directly to the basket, and Tyus Thomas received the ball and shot high against Zhang Yang... but was disturbed by Okafor who rushed back to the inside.

Zhang Yang grabbed the defensive rebound and Tyus Thomas immediately entangled him. He protected the ball and passed it to Felton without forcing a charge.

Zhang Yang felt very weird about this round of defense!

Tyrus Thomas's block was solid and steady, and he had a good grasp of the timing. His mobility to the basket showed his physical fitness, which is among the best among power forwards. But he played too badly at the end. He was so flustered and impatient when a defender was following him. He even forced forward when Okafor rushed to the position, and acted as if he didn't see the big Yao Ming! But when defending against the fast break, his performance was excellent.

However, watching the opponent actively running back to set up a defensive formation, and thinking of the Bulls' simple and rough pick-and-roll and pass-rush style of play just now... Zhang San: Little Duncan must have guessed right!
On the night of the regular season finale, Okafor speculated that if they met the Bulls in the playoffs, the Bulls would not try to create more possibilities like they did in the regular season, but would stick to defense and focus on not making mistakes.

At yesterday's preparatory meeting, Felton made this speculation on behalf of Okafor, and the coaching staff agreed with it. In the first round of the game, the opponent showed such signs!
Zhang Yang came to the front court and continued to ask for the ball for singles.

This time, Luol Deng moved more actively than in the previous round, trying to predict Zhang Yang's movement... but Zhang Yang seized the opportunity and dribbled behind him and took a step sideways.

When the opportunity appeared, Zhang Yang immediately grabbed the ball, jumped, and shot quickly... and hit it again!
The two people facing each other were very surprised this time.

Zhang San: Why does Deng Yingqiao feel weaker after taking the second defense?

Deng Yingqiao: Only one month has passed. Has Zhang San made such great progress?

In the last round, Luol Deng felt something was wrong. This round, he saw clearly that Zhang Yang still used the same technical moves, but the combos had become more complicated!
In the past four years, he has played against the Bobcats 4 times, and most of the work of defending Zhang Yang was done by him. Every time he played against the Bobcats, he could feel the changes in Zhang Yang's playing style - his pre-shooting movements became simpler and more efficient.

This time there are big changes, but it seems to be a step backwards? But it is very different from before the 'simplification'. The 'complexity' is not the redundant movements before the 'simplification', but the effective fake movements!

When Zhang Yang used fake moves to create an opportunity, the rhythm instantly became faster, and he threw the ball as soon as he pulled it up, quickly and accurately!
Luol Deng feels that things are in trouble...

When the Bulls attacked, Hinrich continued to play pick-and-roll with Tyrus Thomas.

Yao Ming seized the opportunity to run up from the baseline along the long two-point distance and pinned down Okafor.

However, Pietrus retreated to the middle from the left sideline in time, Zhang Yang headed and Pietrus intercepted, and Tyus Thomas had no chance to catch the ball. At the same time, Zhang Yang, Pietrus and Millsap cut the three-second zone, and Hinrich, who broke into the right elbow area, had no space to pass the ball to the left!
Just when Hinrich was about to break into the basket to play against the top three, he saw his teammate moving to the receiving point. He did not stop, but rushed into the three-second zone and passed the ball back to the high position!
Luol Deng took a step outside the free throw line, received the ball and rushed into the inside, took two steps outside the reasonable collision zone, jumped, and made a layup!
Zhang Yang felt that it was really shameless to pull out the tallest center in the league to contain the opponent. It was also very puzzling. What kind of player would think that such a center is not a superstar? Has he ever led a team to 50 wins or made it to the second round alone?
With a pure physical power forward like Tyus Thomas who can only do the simplest tasks on the offensive end and doesn't understand how to do them, and whose brain seems to be filled with muscles, they can still play such pick-and-roll pass-and-cut cooperation, relying on Yao Ming, who has the league's best mid-range shooting ability and is the center. The three of them have no problem protecting the rim and defending Hinrich and Tyus Thomas, but it is really difficult to defend Luol Deng who receives the ball in the open position unless they block him in advance.

When it was the Bobcats' turn to attack, Zhang Yang planned to take advantage of his good start to hit more shots.

After two defensive attempts, he was certain that the opponent was really prepared to defend hard throughout the game and not to respond, in order to avoid being caught by the Bobcats due to inappropriate responses.

His strategy for dealing with this is also very simple – use waves to counter stability!
He wanted to see if the other party could really be so patient!
Zhang Yang came to the front court and unexpectedly saw that it was Sefrosa guarding in front of him!
Luol Deng guessed Zhang Yang's offensive method tonight - just shoot the ball from long distance, don't break into the inside, and don't give Tyus Thomas a chance to double-team.

He failed to defend for two rounds, so he switched defense and let Sefrosa have a try.

Zhang Yang directly asked for the ball outside the three-point line, facing Sefolosha, without any fancy changes of direction, and directly pressed forward to the right front, actively confronting Sefolosha who was moving sideways with his left shoulder, using his strength advantage to force a step into the three-point line, then slammed the ball, stepped back from the three-point line, grabbed the ball, and jumped...

Sefrosa's defensive reaction was excellent. After being pushed back half a step, she immediately jumped up and stretched out her hand to interfere. She even jumped up half a beat faster than Zhang Yang.

When Zhang Yang jumped up with the ball, his wrist had been covered by Sefrosa, but he did not lean back or bend his elbow more. Instead, he exerted force steadily, fixed his elbow, pressed his forearm forward, and used force from his wrist and fingers to throw the ball!
As soon as the ball left his fingertips, his forearm hit the hand of the falling Sefolosha, and Sefolosha didn't even have time to dodge!
The referee blew the whistle, and the ball drew a beautiful arc in the air and fell into the frame. The outside referee confirmed that the take-off point was outside the three-point line. Zhang Yang made a three-pointer and was awarded a free throw!
Compared to Luol Deng, Sefrosa is better and sharper in one-on-one defense - isn't this how Pierce shoots?
(End of this chapter)