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Chapter 222 - 120. Dueling Wade!_3

Chapter 222: 120. Dueling Wade!_3

Actually, when he initiated the Euro step, he wasn’t at full speed, possessing "Devil’s Pace," he could start at full speed from the first step during the sprint. Even Wade, chasing from a distance, might not be able to keep up. But after all, it was Wade, who has the strongest burst speed in the league from the first step and is very good at the Euro step. So, he tried to change his rhythm, and it worked! He fooled Wade!

However, he had only tried this move occasionally in practice and was not very skilled. When the first step landed, he almost failed to stop and change direction. He decided to practice it more in the future to add variations to his Euro step.

to 15, the Bobcats took the lead!

When it was Miami Heat’s turn to attack, Wade’s expression changed. A rookie had just used a Euro step in front of him and even fooled him. He could imagine just how silly he must have looked as he sprang to the side. It was being broadcast all over America!

He saw the opposing defender playing more towards the inside, showing a clear tendency to shrink the defense, but he still charged into the paint determinedly.

Encountering Gerald Wallace’s blocking defense, Wade did not stop and shoot against a 10-centimeter height difference plus a 3-centimeter wingspan. Instead, he lifted the ball with one hand, faked Gerald off, and stepped past him into the paint.

Felton retreated into position, and as soon as Wade entered the paint, he pressed forward. Wade changed direction again, got to the right side of the basket, and jumped for a layup!

At this position, Wade successfully avoided Felton’s defensive interference and Okafor’s collapsing double team, but his whole body was covered by Brezec’s towering presence: 218 centimeters tall with a 221-centimeter wingspan. He tossed the ball toward the hoop while leaning back... and fell to the floor.

But the ball went in!

A one-on-four Euro step basket! A powerful response!

Seeing the ball drop through the net, Wade sprung up from the ground with his hands and yelled at Zhang Yang, "Rookie! This is how you do a Euro step!"

As he spoke, in his excitement, he placed his hand on his neck...

The crowd was taken aback for a moment, then started booing Wade!

Zhang Yang was stunned for a second, then walked towards Wade... but was stopped by Felton.

He was afraid his little brother would damage Wade and get suspended. As for not being able to beat him... that was out of the question. Six months ago, when he and Zhang Yang went to report to the school, he saw Zhang Yang take down the entire Jeet Kune Do club single-handedly, pinning their leader to the floor and hitting him with inch punches while asking, "Do you yield?" and boasting, "I want to fight ten!"

Once he stepped onto the ’court,’ his little brother seemed like a completely different person.

At that time, Felton had prepared himself mentally, trying his best to prevent his little brother from getting into conflicts on the basketball court... He never thought that one day he would become the ’voice of reason’ during a conflict, perhaps that’s the responsibility of being the oldest.

Two assistant referees blocked Zhang Yang and Gerald Wallace, who was also approaching Wade, asking them to calm down.

Wade’s teammates quickly surrounded him, offering their support.

Fortunately, both sides were relatively restrained, and the referees successfully stopped the conflict. The head referee blew the whistle, giving Wade a technical foul.

Felton represented the Bobcats in taking the technical free throw, scoring it with ease, bringing the score to 19 to 18.

Losing a point and facing a certain fine, Wade did not regret it. Tonight, he was out to take down the opposing rookie! (Felton: ???)

Pat Riley stood on the sideline, wanting to call for a timeout, but without a dead ball and the ball in the opponent’s possession, he couldn’t.

What surprised him was that the opposing coach, Bickerstaff, also did not call a timeout... wasn’t he afraid the rookie would be intimidated by Wade?

The game continued, with the Bobcats on offense.

Zhang Yang didn’t continue with the high post back down. It wasn’t that he was afraid to play, but the person defending him had changed.

As soon as Felton received the ball, Wade stuck closely to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang first went to the right mid-range, stopped abruptly, and then ran back to the top of the arc.

Originally seeing that Payton was defending him, Felton thought about driving in. Seeing the situation, he didn’t hesitate to pass the ball to his little brother, letting him vent a little.

Zhang Yang stepped on the three-point line to catch the ball, turned around, and was closely guarded by Wade.

He backed away from the three-point line, protecting the ball amidst Wade’s aggressively pressing defense.

Zhang Yang and Wade went head-to-head, and the fans in attendance cheered loudly for Zhang Yang.

The fans’ chants had changed conspicuously; Wade’s provocative actions had suddenly shifted the atmosphere of the competition. What the fans initially wanted was to witness a clash between ’the third generation No. 3 players,’ but it had evolved from a regular ’duel’ to a battle for honor!

However, the fans were still worried. Last season, Wade had made the All-Defensive Second Team, known for his rough defense, adept at bullying weaker guards.

Fortunately, having ’learnt from’ Nash, Zhang Yang was good at protecting the ball even when at a disadvantage in confrontations, so even though Wade wanted to play tough, he had no way to handle Zhang Yang.

Once Zhang Yang stabilized, he made a horizontal break!

Wade predicted Zhang Yang’s starting direction, moved laterally... and was blocked!

No need for Zhang Yang to signal, Okafor immediately ran out from the inside as soon as he saw that Zhang Yang was stuck and could only retreat further away instead of turning and driving directly.

While Zhang Yang secured the ball, Okafor had already positioned himself on Wade’s left rear. Although they hadn’t played together long, their understanding was excellent.

However, Anthony Walker also followed out, standing in front of Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang immediately accelerated towards Anthony Walker. Remembering Zhang Yang’s past drive against Payton, Walker quickly retreated to avoid being circumvented by Zhang Yang’s turn, as he would not be able to keep up any more than Payton could.

But Zhang Yang only made a downward motion, stopping abruptly two steps inside the three-point line, and took off for a jump shot, releasing a long two-pointer before Wade could close in again after navigating the screen...

After shooting the ball, Zhang Yang’s mind was shouting "Go in, go in, go in," feeling tense from resisting Wade’s physical play. His jump was somewhat rushed due to Wade’s movement around the screen, the direction was good, but he was unsure about the force...

After the ball traced a parabola, it hit the inside of the rim, bounced, hit the other side of the rim, and then slipped into the net!

The cheers from the fans in the arena soared an octave higher, erupting in wild celebration!

Zhang Yang, with a ’lucky ball’ bringing a sense of surprise, tilted his head, folded his arms, and spread his hands towards Wade...

Zhang Yang scored 4 consecutive points, 20 to 17, the Bobcats leading by 3 points!

On the Miami Heat’s offense, the Bobcats’ defensive formation was conspicuously tighter inside. Payton wanted to remind Wade to stay calm, but seeing his expression, he decided to let it go.

Wade continued to drive, encountering Gerald Wallace’s help defense, using the Euro step to dodge.

But this time, Gerald Wallace only faked a jump, tiptoed, and immediately turned to chase Wade. When Wade changed direction to avoid Felton and Okafor, Wallace was already there to block him!

Wade forced the shot... the ball had just risen to the height of the backboard when it was slapped against the board by a hand.

Okafor and Gerald abandoned their defense of Haslem and Anthony Walker, joining forces with Felton and Brezec to trap, and even Wade had to accept the big block against such defense!

Gerald Wallace grabbed the ball, was about to pass to Zhang Yang... when Mourning grabbed him, Wade was still on the floor, and only Payton had retreated, potentially leading to a two-on-one break. The experienced Mourning chose to commit a tactical foul.

Riley took the opportunity to make a substitution. He originally wanted to call a timeout but seeing Wade getting up and immediately running back to the court, he stopped the timeout signal and called O’Neal to replace Mourning.

He intended to use O’Neal to remind Wade to keep calm but didn’t hold out much hope.

As Riley had expected, on the following Bobcats offense, Zhang Yang didn’t go for a solo play but ran with Wade.

But when Miami Heat had the ball again, Wade continued his attack!

Riley had seen it from the start: it seemed Wade was trying to tempt Zhang Yang into a one-on-one with a ’retaliation ball,’ but he was the one who got trapped!