First in scoring

Chapter 527 Chapter 526. 8 consecutive wins at the start! (Update yesterday)
After winning five games in a row, including one at home and four away games, Zhang Yang, who was about to return to Charlotte with the team, received good news at noon on November 1th. He defeated James and won the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award in the "Season Opening Luxury Week" from the 4th of last month to yesterday.

西部那边，拿到‘开季豪华周’周最佳的是诺维斯基，4胜1负，场均25.2分7.8板4助攻1.4盖帽，命中率是对于一个投篮型内线来说夸张得不行的51.1+42.6+100，开季前30次罚球全部命中。

击败的对手，是场均17分10.8板3助攻2.8盖帽、率队开局5连胜的邓肯。

A winning streak and a prize should have been a double joy, but when he got home and saw the news… the direction of some media hype made him feel like he had eaten a fly.

He immediately called the editor and asked him to edit the video of every game between the Cavaliers' opening game and the game against the Bobcats on the 23rd... He promised a cash tip of $100 for each game. The editor, who was originally saying that some games did not need to be edited, immediately said, "Do you want the preseason video? I can find it!"

他开季5场比赛，场均30.2分5.2板3.4助攻2.6抢断，5胜0负；击败了场均28.8分7.2板8.6助攻1.8抢断、率队开季4胜1负的詹姆斯，拿到周最佳，这本来是没什么毛病的事情。

But some media picked out his five games separately and calculated them, including 5 points against the Heat, 35 points against the Pistons, 13 points against the 76ers, 23 points against the Bucks, and 53 points against the Magic. Then they subtracted his 28 points against the Bucks and calculated his average of 53 points in the other four games, saying that if he had not had the explosion against the Bucks, his average points would be far lower than James and his performance would not be as stable as James. If you calculate it that way, except for steals, his other four positive statistics are lower than James. He should not get the Player of the Week award just because he has a better record. This should be given to players who truly perform stronger and more stably, just like Nowitzki defeated Duncan in the Western Conference.

He averaged only 2 turnovers per game, less than half of James' 4.1 turnovers per game, and his 2.9 fouls per game were also lower than James' 3.4. He only played for 16 minutes against the Pistons before being sent off in the first half... The media never mentioned that part.

Zhang Yang originally thought that he had seen enough, but he didn't expect that these keyboard wielders could always refresh his cognition...

After being angry and spending more than a thousand dollars, Zhang Yang calmed down and found that James could be quite miserable sometimes.

James has been low-key enough this year. He did not pop open champagne before the season and say he would bring a championship to Cleveland like he did in the past two seasons. He played very well, with a 50%+ shooting percentage at the start of his career and 36% three-point shooting percentage. He averaged two three-pointers per game, a career high, especially in defense. He can defend positions 1-4. His one-on-one defense against All-Star fringe players and above is a bit weak, but he is too strong to defend ordinary stars and provide assisting defense. His efficiency is even enough to compete with Howard for the best defensive player.

Zhang Yang believes that James has been hammered in the playoffs for several years and he really intends to keep a low profile this year. However, whether to keep a low profile or not is not something that popular superstars like them can decide. The media standing behind them will push them.

Just like him and Yao Ming, in the eyes of the public, they are only 'polite on the surface' and never interact with each other in private. It is only by frequent visits between their two families that they can avoid being affected by public opinion. But even so, they still want to compete with each other and are more eager to defeat each other.

He has no personal relationship with James, and the competition on the court... Zhang San has never focused on how to become the "most popular athlete among the media and fans". He really doesn't think that he and James are in a competitive position. The environment James is in now is unlikely to pose a threat to him in the playoffs.

But even so, he is often led by public opinion to dislike James. He estimates that this is already a common occurrence for James.

Zhang Yang feels that this kind of hard-praising approach will have another impact on James - he will feel that he is good enough and that he cannot be blamed for losing in the playoffs. He may be deceiving himself and seeking comfort at the beginning, but he will take it seriously later.

However, in this time and space, James seems to be much less affected in this aspect. Although his technical progress cannot be said to be fast, it can be seen that he has been working hard to make up for his shortcomings. Although it is a little late and he "wasted" his time as a rookie from the age of 19 to 22, it is not too late to make up for the loss.

The main reason is that the Eastern Conference was too unfriendly to James at that time and space. After 07, everything changed. Their Bobcats won the championship, Howard passed the growth period and the Magic began to produce results, the little giant shocked the East... If James had worse luck, he would not have made it through the first round and was forced to improve.

...

休息了两天后，山猫队开启一波4连主，先是以131比93狂屠篮网队38分，接着以97比92末节逆转开拓者队，然后又以116比91吊打猛龙队。

The Nets lost six games in a row at the start of the season and are the only team that has not won a game since the start of the season. The Wizards even won one game against the Warriors. They are so bad that they don't even need to put on an act.

During the offseason, Zhang Yang saw that the Nets almost gave Carter to the Magic for free and also got a power forward with excellent shooting talent, Ryan Anderson. He knew that the Nets would definitely play badly in the new season.

Keep Odom, who has high trading value, compete for the No. 1 pick, reduce total salary... The Nets owner is just short of writing "team for sale" on his face.

Playing against the Trail Blazers, the Bobcats' winning streak was almost ended, trailing 70-80 at the end of the third quarter.

Fortunately, it was the final quarter, and Zhang Yang started the 'brainless breakthrough' mode, breaking through the inside line guarded by Aldridge and Camby; Perkins and O'Neal took turns to protect the rim, blocking the basket, which in turn affected the Trail Blazers' outside offense... and they made a big reversal of 27 to 12 in the final quarter.

Zhang Yang played very well in this game. In the final quarter, he scored 14 points and 2 assists. His score was higher than the entire opponent team, and his assists were the same as the entire opponent team.

But it is a bit regrettable. If Oden can play, even if there is no improvement compared to his rookie year last season, the strength of the Trail Blazers can surge to a higher level. Center is the shortest board on the Trail Blazers' bucket.

Looking at the Trail Blazers' lineup, Zhang Yang can analyze the opponent's original planned lineup structure this season - the core combination of Andre Miller, Roy, Mike Miller, Aldridge, and Oden, with substitutes such as Jerryd Bayless, Fernandez, Batum, Juwan Howard, and Camby. Even if there is no chance to break out of the West, it should be a team with more than 55 wins, and there should be no big problem in the second round of the West.

But Oden... when he was injured in May, the Trail Blazers' team doctor said he would need 5 to 12 weeks to recover and be able to catch up with training camp. But when he got to training camp, the Trail Blazers' team doctor said he would need another 16 to 12 weeks to recover.

If the time for recovery training is included, Oden's season is over.

And Zhang Yang remembered that Oden was indeed gone...

Then the Trail Blazers will only have two centers left, Camby and Pulzybila. Pulzybila was originally just a backup center, a pure rim-protecting blue-collar player who averaged 3+6 per game in his career, but now he has become the main substitute.

Camby… His statistics look like a top blue-collar player, averaging 8.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, but his role on both offense and defense… Aldridge is really lucky! Despite his hard work, he didn’t get hurt in the Trail Blazers.

The current Trail Blazers have a very high ceiling. Roy is the fourth point guard in the league, and Aldridge is one of the few inside players who can raise the ceiling. But the floor is also terribly low. In the West, they may not even make the playoffs. Nash has recovered after O'Neal's absence, and the Durant and Ross twins are coming on strong...

Raptors...Giraffe: I want to opt out of my contract and I will not renew it!
Bosh's remarks before the start of the season were indeed outrageous. The Raptors couldn't even put him on the shelf to sell him. No team would be a sucker. If they wanted him, they just had to wait a year and fight for him in the free market.

And because of the strange operations of the Raptors in the past few years, Bosh shouted that he would not renew his contract and leave the team, but not many people criticized him, and he even won the support of Carter's fans. On November 11, the Bobcats' winning streak came to an end, and they lost to the Pacers 12-95, ending their 102-game winning streak.

Tonight, the Bobcats' wing missed the shot, and several young talents of the Pacers were very bold in defense. They left the Pacers open and madly double-teamed Zhang Yang, and cooperated with Hibbert to surround the three-second zone. With more than three minutes left in the final quarter, the advantage reached as high as 3 points, leading 16-87.

Zhang Yang missed shots for most of the game, but he finally started shooting in the last quarter. In more than 8 minutes, he scored 11 points and 2 assists, leading the team to a 24-12 climax.

But Granger remained steady throughout, scoring 20 points in regular time. With 40 seconds left and the score difference narrowed to 4 points, he stood up and hit a three-pointer against Hill's close defense, widening the gap to 7 points again, stifling the Bobcats' efforts for more than half a quarter and maintaining the 7-point advantage to the end.

Zhang Yang’s biggest feeling after playing this game is that Big Bird is awesome!
Only two years have passed since the Pacers kicked Carlisle out and started rebuilding, and they have gone from chaos to a playoff-level team!

The team signed Jim O'Brien, a player development expert who had trained "offensive kaleidoscope" Pierce and "jack of all trades" Walker, as head coach, and the talents of Granger and DeRozan have been fully tapped.

Granger has averaged 24 points per game so far this season, lower than last season, but his shooting percentage has increased from 44% to 47%. Relying on DeRozan's one-on-one plays to attract defensive attention, his wing long-range shooting efficiency has greatly increased, with an average of 40.6 three-pointers per game with a shooting percentage of 2.5%, ranking fourth in the league, only lower than Zhang Yang's average of 3.3 three-pointers per game, Ray Allen's average of 2.8 three-pointers per game, and rookie Curry's average of 2.6 three-pointers per game.

DeRozan, a sophomore, has averaged 17.2 points per game since the start of the season, surpassing Dunleavy and Murphy to become the Pacers' second-leading scorer. He can score from outside the three-point line to the basket, and has been given the title of "Little Kobe." He does have shortcomings, with his shooting percentage dropping from 43% in his rookie year to 41%. But for a sophomore player who just turned 20 and has doubled his shot attempts, this is within acceptable limits.

Moreover, under the promotion of Big Bird, DeRozan is famous for his self-discipline and hard work. It is no secret that he wants to be stronger than Harden and Zhang Yang. The Pacers often mentioned this when promoting him.

Hibbert, a sophomore, has also shown the potential to be a top rim protector, and he has been quite interesting, averaging 25 points, 10.7 rebounds and 7.7 blocks in 2 minutes per game.

It took only two years for the new tri-core to be formed and achieve results!
Bird also made an even more impressive move - in the summer of 08, he completed the contract extension ahead of schedule with a 5-year, $6000 million contract, which was far higher than Granger's value at the time.

Zhang Yang, who was in the Olympic training camp preparing for the Olympics at that time, saw the news about Big Bird being scolded.

Looking back now, if the contract Bird offered Granger was not enough to make him sign the extension without hesitation, and if he had waited until the beginning of last season and averaged close to 25 points per game, he would not have had to wait until the middle of the season to stabilize his average of 25 points per game. Five years and $5 million would not have been enough, and there were plenty of teams that would have directly demanded a maximum salary for Granger.

By enduring the criticism for a while, we saved nearly 2500 million in expenses, and created an average of about 500 million more salary space each year!

There are also operations such as trading O'Neal Jr. for Ford, digging up Murphy and Dahntay Jones, signing Brandon Rush and Earl Watson with high salaries...all of which are very excellent. If there is one thing that Bird has not done well in recent years, it is the draft.

In 09, a big year for the draft, Bird used a lottery pick to select North Carolina's Hansbrough, Zhang Yang's white schoolmate. His combat effectiveness was actually OK, but his physical fitness was not outstanding in college. He was slow to play power forward in the NBA, and even slower when playing with Hibbert... He had to switch to center, but he was only 206 cm tall, with obvious defects.

However, this does not affect the strength of the Pacers. Hansbrough is only the third choice at the center position, so it can only be said that a draft pick was wasted.

In Zhang Yang's opinion, the biggest problem facing the Pacers right now is that the head coach's role is getting smaller and smaller, and he is even starting to have a negative effect during games.

There was an important condition for him to lead the team to narrow the gap from 16 points to 4 points. After he started to go crazy, Jim O'Brien was very flustered and except for calling a timeout to interrupt the rhythm, he did not have any positive effect... If it wasn't for Granger's key three-pointer, he would have once again led the team to a big reversal in the final quarter.

On his own side, Zhang Yang felt the pain of losing Mike Miller.

This former teammate was quite weak in the playoffs. He was not as tough as Korver, and he was too gentle to look like a white man. But in the regular season, he was definitely one of the strongest off-ball shooters.

'Regular season players' are not completely useless in the playoffs; it depends on how they are used.

For the Grizzlies, who were only on the edge of the Western Conference playoffs and at the first round level, Mike Miller was really of little use.

But it's different for the Bobcats.

Being able to help the team achieve better results in the regular season and get a better ranking in the playoffs can also have a huge impact on the playoffs.

Jordan, Bickerstaff, and Carlisle had no intention of trading Mike Miller during the offseason. Without Mike Miller in the regular season last season, they would have won 3-5 fewer games and would not have been able to achieve as many as three 3+ win streak games.

But faced with the situation where there was a possibility that the Bulls would force a trade against O'Neal's wishes, they had no choice but to make the deal.

When we were winning, no one thought about Mike Miller, but after we lost because of the poor performance of the wing shooter, someone started to praise him.

……

……

I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had vomiting and diarrhea yesterday and felt completely exhausted. Luckily my sister was there and took Xiaofeng to the hospital. I didn't even have my cell phone with me and couldn't even send out a leave application. I started writing as soon as I got back from the hospital at noon.

I didn’t sleep the whole night last night, and only slept for three or four hours after daybreak. Xiaofeng is going to take a nap now. After Axue prepares dinner, I will continue writing after eating!

(End of this chapter)