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Chapter 311 - 151. Accidentally slaughtered! _2

Chapter 311: 151. Accidentally slaughtered! _2

Alston raised the angle of his shot and released the ball... missed!

The ball hit the inside left rim and bounced to the right, McGrady rushed in for the offensive rebound... a "little black egg" slipped in front of him and grabbed the ball first!

Rondo secured the defensive rebound!

Battier, Yao Ming, and Hayes were already prepared to fall back on defense when Alston took the shot, and with McGrady’s unsuccessful attempt, the three along with Alston at the top formed a defensive formation.

Rondo decided against a fast break and looked for Zhang Yang, but seeing Zhang Yang running slowly, he had no choice but to push forward himself.

Reaching the frontcourt, Rondo continued to look for Zhang Yang, seeing him run to the left baseline mid-range... Was this the tactic for a wing screen and counter run? He could instantly discern Zhang Yang’s tactical intentions.

But who should he pass to start the offense? Felton was not present, and neither Okafor nor Gerald Wallace were the initiators for this play!

Moreover, he saw that the Alston guarding him was full of defensive flaws... he couldn’t bear it, he swiftly broke through!

Alston completely failed to react, and Rondo had already sped past him!

Alston turned to chase, but couldn’t catch up!

Rondo drove close, took a step, and went for the layup... it went in!

The wing Hayes and the Center Yao Ming also didn’t react in time!

Yao Ming had just looked towards the top, saw Rondo side protecting the ball to prevent Alston from stealing, glanced at Zhang Yang running from the baseline to the left 45-degree angle using a screen, turned his head and Rondo was already in front of him!

What was with this rookie? A breakthrough without even a starting move? He just charged directly?

The Rockets were shocked, while the Bobcats were delighted!

The basket protected by Yao Ming was breached by their rookie!

Zhang Yang excitedly high-fived Rondo while falling back on defense.

This was the move, Rondo’s "false step"!

Rondo’s scoring methods were limited, but his breakthroughs were a headache for opponents. His play was not like Paul’s or Deron’s, who set their stance and telegraph their intentions to attract help defense and deliver assists. He would just dribble along, and as soon as a defensive lapse occurred, he would suddenly start and drive straight to the basket to finish the attack.

Indeed, Rondo’s breakthroughs were aimed at scoring, not organizing play.

Depending on an unpredictable start and super-fast speed, Rondo maintained a shooting percentage over 45% before a major injury in the 2012-2013 season, even exceeding 50% in his third and fourth years.

The courtside Bickerstaff was taken by surprise; he had tasked Zhang Yang to guard Alston at the top to reduce Zhang Yang’s energy expenditure on wing defense, allowing him to conserve energy for the offensive end.

After coming back from the timeout, Zhang Yang passed the ball rights to Rondo... and this rookie scored right under the basket protected by Yao Ming!

Should he praise Zhang Yang for trusting his teammate, playing selflessly? Or should he praise Rondo for not being intimidated?

On the court, Alston advanced to the frontcourt to start the offense, refraining from reckless shooting, and instead changed direction to break through!

Zhang Yang covered Alston’s long-range stop-and-shoot space, but if the opponent wanted to break, he couldn’t stop him; this type of isolated one-on-one, the entire league couldn’t stop Alston’s breakthroughs.

After being bypassed, Zhang Yang didn’t chase deeply but shifted right, blocking between Battier, who was rising to the 45-degree angle, and Alston.

Rondo on the wing contracted inward, helping along the baseline Gerald Wallace block Alston for a moment, then swiftly pulled away, cutting off Alston’s connection with McGrady, who was positioned to shoot a long two from the baseline.

Alston, covered by Zhang Yang on the outside, and cornered by Gerald Wallace on the inside, found no room to shoot; Okafor had already moved back under the basket, so Alston had to pass to Hayes, now open on the left side of the three-second area.

Hayes took the shot... "clang"... Okafor secured the defensive rebound!

Bickerstaff’s eyes lit up; the poker-faced rookie gave him a pleasant surprise on the offensive end, and he didn’t disappoint on defense, either!

During the summer league, he had noticed Rondo’s excellent defensive awareness, but such displays in those games, where a center’s defensive awareness is prominent, a point guard’s good defensive play is hard to stand out.

In the first six preseason games, Rondo obediently ran plays and cooperated, besides accurate passing, didn’t have any noticeable highlights, and was even rated by the media as the rookie guard with the worst shooting in the preseason.

In the game against the Pacers, Rondo’s defensive prowess came to light, good both in man-to-man and help defense. Although he didn’t play much and not many noticed, his coach did, and that’s why tonight, when thinking of further reducing Zhang Yang’s defensive consumption, his first thought wasn’t Alan Anderson, but Rondo.

On the court, after Okafor grabbed the defensive rebound, he immediately passed to Rondo, who dribbled twice from under the basket and made a long pass...

Remaining in a high position, Zhang Yang had dashed out the moment Hayes shot the ball!

As Zhang Yang shook off chasing Battier and entered the three-point line, the ball perfectly met him up front; he caught it, charged into the paint, and nailed a two-pointer with a left-hand slam.

to 10, the Bobcats extended their lead to six points, prompting the Rockets to call a timeout!

Officially less than a minute after the previous timeout, calling another was demoralizing, but Jeff Van Gundy had to do it as the opposition was gaining momentum!

The Rockets, dominated by young players, were unleashing their momentum, making it highly unlikely they would be suppressed.

He was now annoyed, wondering why he hadn’t just boldly decided to intensify the attack with Yao and McGrady earlier?

Actually, his conservative approach wasn’t problematic; normally, he could have continued to drain the Bobcats in play.