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Chapter 208: Jack stole the ball!

Chapter 208: Jack stole the ball!

The break between quarters ended, and Zhang Yang sat at the sidelines, watching Felton lead his teammates onto the court.

He hadn’t tired himself out tonight, having played about the same minutes as usual, averaging a little over 6 minutes each quarter for the first three quarters. Tonight, his tasks were straightforward and clear.

It wasn’t just him, most of the players on the Bobcats hadn’t worked as hard tonight as they had in their last game against the Cavaliers.

The main reason was the return of Okafor.

For Gerald Wallace, the pressure on offense and protecting the rim had greatly diminished.

Perkins, responsible for helping Felton defend James under the basket, no longer had to worry about his energy levels and defended better than last time.

With the reduction in Gerald Wallace’s pressure to protect the rim, Karim Rush, who was weaker defensively, was able to guard against the Cavaliers’ two main scoring guards, Ronald Murray and Pavlovic, just like Keith Bogans did. Alternating their play ensured the continuity of defense at that position, preventing the Cavaliers’ perimeter shooting from blooming.

Then there was Head Coach Bickerstaff personally refining the defense, perfecting the defensive approach he brought over from Van Gundy. Everyone had their roles, and the tasks to be done had lessened.

The truly exhausted player on the Bobcats was Felton.

He, like James, had played all three quarters, and both had gone on scoring sprees in the third.

Yet Felton, continuing as a starting player in the fourth quarter, was still pumped up.

James weighed heavily on Felton’s mind; even if he didn’t like James, he saw him as a leader among the players who entered the NBA at the same time.

Having the chance to lead his team to victory over James, Felton didn’t want to miss a single one!

The fourth quarter began with Felton, along with Karim Rush, Gerald Wallace, Jumaine Jones, and Okafor, continuing their intense battle with James.

This time James moved back to the more familiar point guard spot, leading shooters Pavlovic, Luke Jackson, Donnell Marshall, and the versatile post player Gooden.

In fact, in the previous season, James had mainly played point guard, even though they had Snow since the summer of ’04, but Snow was still adapting to playing with James, a ball-dominant guard who lost his three-pointer and lacked a mid-range game.

With Snow, a ’facilitator point guard’, James had an easier time organizing the offense, and the Cavaliers’ style was no longer just James making pure drives, with Snow’s backup Damon Jones also distributing the ball after receiving it, averaging 2 assists per game, the two point guards together averaging 6 assists per game, more than most teams that didn’t center their tactics around the point guard!

Now with James returning to the point guard position, the Cavaliers’ offense reverted to the star-surrounded-by-shooters approach of the past two seasons.

This style heavily relies on the penetrating player’s individual skills. The advantage is that when the shooter is accurate, it’s powerful, and it also feeds back to James, giving him better space to score on drives.

But once the perimeter shooters go cold, it becomes very difficult for the penetrator.

This time James was unlucky, as the Cavaliers’ poor shooting from the third quarter continued into the last period!

In the first four minutes of the last period, the Cavaliers only managed one field goal from a James fast-break attack!

Fortunately, Mike Brown was well-prepared for this game, especially in countering fast-breaks, especially during the third quarter. Despite their many missed field goals in set plays, they didn’t give the Bobcats too many opportunities. If it weren’t for Felton’s three-point eruption in the third quarter, they would have overtaken the lead and gained an advantage already.

Continuing to misfire in the final quarter, the Cavaliers still defended well against fast-breaks.

However, the Bobcats didn’t exploit the opportunity to widen the gap, as their poor wing outside shooting from the third quarter carried over to the last period.

Felton couldn’t continue his hot streak either. Mike Brown put James back at point guard, not only as a last-ditch effort with a star surrounded by shooters but also to limit Felton’s long-range shooting.

Offense, Mike Brown might not understand, but his defensive instincts were sharp, and he was strong in judgment. The Cavalier’s deficiency in defense this season wasn’t due to his lack of ability but because the core of the defensive system he crafted at the beginning of the season was injured and couldn’t play for several months. In the first 20+ games, they only gave up 92 points, top-level defense.

Mike Brown anticipated that the opposing team’s outside shooting might not improve and allowed his defense to contract.

Although James couldn’t defend well against drives, with his teammates able to shrink and protect the rim, all he had to worry about was guarding the three-point line. With his height, arm span, movement ability, reaction speed, and jumping ability, he was practically the bane of ball-handling shooters!

In the first four minutes, the Bobcats also only managed to score two points thanks to an Okafor put-back basket. Bickerstaff, too, emphasized countering fast-breaks during the break, allowing James to score only once.

With 4:06 left to play, substitute Ronald Murray took a three-point shot that bounced high off the rim, bounced twice on the backboard, and then the referee whistled for an out-of-bounds, Bobcats ball possession.

In those four-plus minutes, both teams only scored 2 points, as if the hoops had been sealed off. Fans just turning on their TVs to watch the live broadcast would be forgiven for thinking they had tuned into a Pistons vs. Spurs game by mistake.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, Bickerstaff subbed in Zhang Yang and Keith Bogans for shooters Karim Rush and Jumaine Jones, with Felton, Gerald Wallace, and Okafor continuing to play.

Actually, he had been wanting to sub him in earlier, but putting Zhang Yang in now meant he would likely not come out again, which was a test of his stamina. He needed to chase shooters, seize counterattack opportunities, and either handle the ball or move to receive passes in set plays.