First in scoring

Chapter 500. The Youngest 498-Point Player in the Playoffs

With Luol Deng missing a three-pointer against Hill's defense, the Bobcats led the Bulls by 35 points, 25 to 10, at the end of the first quarter!
姚明首节拿到10分3板2助攻1盖帽，被单节20分的张杨碾压！

During the intermission, the big screen replayed Zhang Yang's goal highlights in the first quarter. Fans who wanted to go to the bathroom stopped and were able to hold it in, watching the highlights before going to the bathroom.

Luol Deng, Sefrosa and Nocioni, who were defending Zhang Yang in the first quarter, also stared at the big screen. Their one-on-one defense against Zhang Yang in the first quarter was... really bad!
Their subconscious reactions based on past experience became opportunities for Zhang Yang!

The impatient Nocioni cursed: "Oh, damn, is he a monster?"

Nocioni came on the court after the official timeout. He had just defended Zhang Yang for several rounds in the second half of the quarter and his mentality was at its peak.

Luol Deng's mentality had exploded during the official timeout, but now he has calmed down and responded: "His situation is actually very common. After I played against the Heat in the first round in 06, I improved a lot. James is also like this. After playing for two or three years, he will make great progress after each playoff. Bryant, McGrady, Williams (Deron)... are also the same.

There are some more special talents. I am particularly impressed by Wade, who was tortured by Artest for 6 games in the playoffs in his rookie season, but directly became a top scorer and All-Star in the second year.

The Bad Boys played against the three stars of the Hawks in the second round for seven games, which was very difficult. It is normal for them to make such progress..."

Before Nocioni finished listening, he couldn't help but interrupt: "Normal? Those you are talking about are geniuses who have only played for two or three years and accumulated a good foundation before being trained, or they are twenty-one or twenty-two year old rookies... uh..."

Sefrosa, the team's most handsome player who had been silent, saw the Argentine's expression change from anger to surprise, and suddenly said: "This is the fourth season for the bad boy. He seems to be just 4 years old, which is also the age of an older rookie."

Hearing this, Nocioni started to curse again: "F**k, this world is so unfair..."

He was suddenly stuck just now because he remembered that Zhang Yang was only in the fourth grade. It was just because Zhang Yang had won MVP, FMVP, scoring champion and so on, in his mind he was a shooting guard on the same level as Kobe and Wade, so he ignored his age.

If no one brings it up, he will keep silent because he feels embarrassed, but if someone brings it up, he habitually uses swearing to cover up his inner embarrassment.

However, Nocioni's swearing made Luol Deng and Sefolosha calmer and more rational. They themselves did not notice that they had always used Nocioni as a "mouth substitute" to vent their emotions through this teammate's mouth.

After Nocioni finished his rant, Luol Deng said, "I think we have the ability to defend better. I had at least two opportunities to get close to him and limit his jumping power, but I hesitated. I didn't think he would play that aggressively. Now it seems that his shooting habits have changed to a considerable extent after the match against the Hawks. His judgment of opportunities is also different from what we are used to. We can study more about the defense of the Hawks on him."

Sefrosa shook his head: "Stick closer. I'm not as strong as him, and you're not as fast as him. You might get passed by like Andres (Nocioni) did, and we won't have time to make up for it in the paint. We don't have a power forward like Horford. Yao can't stay away from the three-second zone when defending. After he expanded out, he couldn't even take care of Perkins catching the ball."

Luol Deng: "Then I'll play power forward? I don't know if Scott (Skiles) will agree."

Sefrosa: "I defend outside and you cover? That's a good idea, but can you stand up to Okafor? Can you help Yao protect the rim like Tyrus and Ben?"

Luol Deng: "There are indeed many unsolvable difficulties, but we can first propose ideas to Scott..."

The three-man forward and guard rotation combination of Sefrosa, Luol Deng and Nocioni has been working together for the third year. They have a good relationship, are willing to communicate, and have a clear division of labor. Luol Deng, who has richer tactical thinking, likes to put forward ideas, Sefrosa is calmer and likes to "find fault", and Nocioni... is used to shouting 3 and swearing to vent.

The communication among the three during the intermission was generally effective. Emotions were vented, problems were raised, and difficulties were found... However, I don't know if they can be solved in the future. Anyway, this communication among the three has no effect on tonight's game.

By the second quarter, the Bobcats, who had already taken a 10-point lead, were in high spirits!
In the first quarter, the Bulls attacked too hard when they shouldn't have. Although Yao Ming played for 9 minutes in the second quarter, his efficiency was much worse than in the first quarter. He took 5 shots, but only made 1 mid-range shot and 1 hook shot, and scored only 4 points. The Bulls' overall offense also declined.

However, the Bulls' "persistence" on the defensive end in the first quarter still worked. They did not double-team Zhang Yang in the high post throughout the quarter and insisted on consuming the wing shooters. The Bobcats' receiving performance also began to decline in the second quarter.

But they really couldn't defend against Zhang Yang. In the second quarter, Zhang Yang still maintained a 50% hit rate in one-on-one play. Once the Bulls expanded to long-distance double-team, Zhang Yang would pass the ball. Although the Bobcats' wing players' long-range shooting touch was exhausted, they were decisive in their shots, and they would not be discouraged if they missed. They would continue to shoot next time to keep the offensive rhythm from stagnating. If they shot more, they would always make it.

At this time, they understood that the Bulls' three-man defense trophy was not won for nothing. Their team defense was really fierce. However, this did not affect their high morale, but made them even more excited... The third brother was awesome! He beat the opponent's second-man defense like he bought the trophy with money!

In the second quarter, Zhang Yang played for 10 minutes, made 6 of 3 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 11 points, leading the Bobcats to a single-quarter score of 24 to 20, expanding their lead to 14 points!
During the halftime break, Skiles tried to adjust, he had no choice but to try!

After the steady and cautious war of attrition took effect, although it lowered the Bobcats' overall score, it was even able to lower Zhang Yang's score by indirectly reducing the number of Zhang Yang's shots. In the second half, they might have narrowed the offensive gap between the two sides to a smaller level, and it was even possible to end up in a tie. When they played against the Cavaliers, they used up the game like this and wore the Cavaliers down.

The premise of playing with a long way to go is that the score is close, so that they can use their rich experience in winning with low scores to kill the opponent, but now they are behind by more than ten points! Playing with a long way to go is suicide! But this year Skiles only has so many cards in his hand, and the burden of response falls on Hinrich and Yao Ming.

After resting for about 20 minutes and returning to the court, Yao Ming played quite well offensively. He played for 10 minutes, made 4 of 2 shots and 5 of 4 free throws to get 8 points. He made Perkins, who already had 3 fouls in the first half, commit his 5th foul and was replaced early.

But Hinrich... let him be the second or third scorer, scoring 15 points per game, he can do it perfectly, he can also stand up and score in the tense stage, and the key ball is no problem.

But he was asked to shoulder the heavy burden of chasing points... He alone allowed Zhang Yang to score two counterattack layups and one chase three-pointer in a single quarter!
With 6 of 1 shots, Hinrich only scored 3 points in the third quarter!
Zhang Yang scored 7 points in the counterattack and 8 points in the positional battle, scoring 15 points in a single quarter, only two points less than the entire Bulls team!

26比17，三节打完，山猫队以85比62领先公牛队23分！
Halfway through the final quarter, seeing that the score gap could not be narrowed to within 20 points and was even showing a trend of widening, Skiles chose to give up and replace the main players.

Carlisle also replaced all the starters except Pietrus with Jarrett Jack, Afflalo, Hill and Ibaka.

In the first half of the quarter, Zhang Yang threw the ball 7 times when the opponent double-teamed him in the high post or even outside the three-point line. He was successful in 6 of them, including 1 three-pointer and a breakthrough layup. He also made 3 of 2 free throws after being fouled on a three-point shot, and got 7 points!
The game ended at 10:23 pm.

首节20分、第二节9分、第三节15分、末节7分……张杨打了40分钟，32投18中，其中三分球12中7，外加10中8的罚球，拿到51分6板2助攻2抢断！

在张杨单场50+率领下，山猫队以106比83屠杀公牛队，大比分1比0！

When the final whistle blew, Zhang Yang stood up and celebrated with his teammates... no, he was surrounded by his teammates and celebrated with the fans at the scene cheered wildly.

51 points in a single game! Zhang Yang scored 50+ points in a single game for the first time in the playoffs!

As early as when Zhang Yang was substituted in the middle of the final quarter, the director had already posted his score on the big screen!
The bench on the other side was eerily quiet. They quietly packed up their things and went back to the player tunnel. Congratulations after the game? Impossible. The scene of "joyful atmosphere, friendship first and competition second" before the game will never appear again after this game. Even Yao Ming ignored the reporters and went straight into the player tunnel. He wanted to find a place to draw circles.

21投9中，外加8中7的罚球，今晚他拿到了25分9板3助攻3盖帽，全队输了23分……

...

The one-sided massacre in the first game of the Western Conference Finals has already surprised the fans.

I didn’t expect the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals to be a massacre!

Domestically, the media began to make up for the "peak showdown" and "battle of the century" that they had previously promoted... but the score difference was only 10 points in the first quarter and 23 points in the whole game. They had to find some "inevitable reason for the loss" for the Bulls and Yao Ming.

In the United States, after the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the attention has also skyrocketed.

This result was indeed beyond everyone's expectations before the game!
It wasn't surprising that the Bobcats, playing at home, won their first victory, but the score difference was too exaggerated, and even more exaggerated was Zhang Yang's personal performance!
He scored 40+ points in the first two rounds. Before him, only O'Neal had done it.

Before the Eastern Conference Finals began, some media and fans discussed whether he could score 40+ again in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals. If so, he could set a new "record".

But at that time, both the media and fans generally believed that Zhang Yang could not do it.

Even the Bobcats fans are saying, 'Winning is more important, statistics don't matter.'

因为第二轮后面5场比赛，张杨最高分34分，而且从G3到G6，连续4场不到30分。

The Bulls' lack of adaptability, stubborn defense, and grinding style of play in the first two rounds really gave the opponent's fans a headache. Howard, a center who mainly relies on dunks and second-chance offense, was only defended to a 46% shooting rate; James was defended to the point that he became a role player in positional warfare, cutting and throwing three-pointers... These two brothers ranked second and third in MVP votes! Both of them were in the double first team!
After the Bobcats advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, there were even Bulls fans who shouted that they wanted to complete a sweep of the top three MVPs, a triple-kill and a double first-team selection, and there were still many supporters of such bold statements.

As a result, Zhang Yang scored 51 points!
20岁零353天，张杨超越了22岁72天的乔丹、22岁55天的里克-巴里，成为NBA历史最年轻的季后赛50分先生！
In addition, Zhang Yang scored 7 three-pointers in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, and scored at least 5 three-pointers in the first game of three consecutive rounds, which also broke the historical record;

His 7 three-pointers in a single game tonight ranked second in the history of the Eastern Conference Finals. Only the 00 three-pointers in a single game when Ray Allen played against Iverson in the 01-9 Eastern Conference Finals were higher than this...

The iron-blooded Sloan's rematch with the Zen Master is very interesting; Kobe's rematch with the Jazz who beat him as a rookie is very topical; the Jazz's dark performance all the way to the Western Conference Finals is dazzling; the showdown between the pick-and-roll system and the triangle offense... Zhang Yang single-handedly grabbed people's attention from Los Angeles!
(End of this chapter)