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Chapter 329 - 158. ESPN made the wedding dress for someone else again

Chapter 329: 158. ESPN made the wedding dress for someone else again

Zhang Yang scored 23 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists, leading the Bobcats to defeat the Knights and claim a 7-game winning streak, setting a new team record!

This result wasn’t beyond the fans’ expectations.

"James represents the class of ’03 against the Bad Boys Legion" This topic, though hotly debated with words like ’resist aggression’ and ’dignity’, suggested that not many believed the Knights could win.

Even the more rational Knights fans didn’t think they had much chance of winning, except for a few who believed James definitely would win. Those few were very vocal online, creating the illusion to the onlookers that many believed in James’ victory, and making many non-James fans think all his fans were like that.

Last season’s playoffs had already proven that the Bobcats’ playstyle severely countered James, and the addition of Muhammad during the off-season was seen by the Knights fans as a move specifically aimed at stopping James.

They guessed right before the game; this time, James didn’t even have the chance for an occasional surprise attack. Perkins and Muhammad took turns guarding the basket, Okafor’s basket time was reduced to 8 minutes, with 22 out of his 30 minutes on the court spent on close-range defensive help.

However, the Knights’ performance in the first quarter still impressed the fans. Despite a lack of adaptability, the Bobcats’ deployment of one big and four smalls cut off the connection between James and Hughes in positional warfare, but after four years, James finally had a new move!

Individuals do vary, other superstars, no matter how well they defend without the ball, usually don’t get praised.

Take Hamilton, for instance. No one praises his defense, some even say he is the weak link in the Pistons’ defense—thin, lacking strength, mediocre explosiveness, poor footwork against offensive players... But in reality, the Pistons’ defense is incomplete without him; his ability to chase down off-ball shooters ranks in the top three in the entire league.

A prime example is the 2004 playoffs: Fisher shot a three-point percentage of 52.9% against the Timberwolves in the Western Finals but was held to just 30% by Hamilton in the Finals, and Reggie Miller was limited to a shooting percentage of 38% and a three-point percentage of 33% in the Eastern Finals.

But James...

After the game, his off-ball defensive performance was highly praised!

Indeed, his defense on Zhang Yang’s off-ball movements in positional warfare was excellent in the first quarter, limiting Zhang Yang to 1 make on 3 attempts in 8 minutes.

With the Knights focusing on basket protection, wing shooters, and top of the arc breaks in their defensive system, if it weren’t for James’ speed, height, and wingspan chasing down Zhang Yang’s off-ball catches and long shots, the Knights’ ability to take advantage in the first quarter would have been difficult, with 10 of the Knights’ 28 points in the first quarter coming from counterattacks.

James, who handed over the ball-handling duties to Hughes for the first three quarters and played a supporting role, was also praised for being selfless and having a broad view...

...

Felton: "Jack, we won, but the news praises the Knights, who haven’t lost more. It’s really annoying."

Zhang Yang: "Actually, the news praising us is a bit more, just look carefully. It’s just that ours is more scattered, while all the praise for the Knights is focused on one person."

The day after defeating the Knights, Zhang Yang, Felton, and Rajon went out for lunch, then headed to the arena for extra practice.

The rest of the Big Brother Group didn’t come; they rested today, as tomorrow they have a game against the Miami Heat.

Before and after the game with the Knights, Zhang Yang and Felton would pay close attention to the news.

Who can blame them when the Knights are so popular?

The Bobcats had a three-game road series in Texas, facing teams that were stronger, tougher, and more exciting to watch than the ’03 class trio. Even the weakest Texas team, the Rockets, would have been a tougher match than the Knights if not for Rajon messing up Jeff Van Gundy’s tactics, with the worst record among the Texas powerhouses being 7 wins and 3 losses by the Rockets, while the Knights fell to 6 wins and 4 losses after last night’s loss.

But the topic of the trip to Texas combined didn’t match the heat generated by the game against the Knights.

Felton opened several websites and after careful review, exclaimed, "It’s true! We do have more news, but why do I feel like we don’t have much coverage?"

Zhang Yang: "This way, they can downplay the impact of our win but still genuinely praise us. Fans won’t find a reason to complain, and such a reporting style makes it seem like many of us performed exceptionally while it looks like the Knights had only James. Does that sound tragic?"

Felton: "That’s really too much! Is this what you were talking about before, the ’tragic hero’ role? It’s like we won but still lost."

Zhang Yang: "Boss, stay calm, we’ll see a lot more of this kind of thing."

Felton: "Can it get any more outrageous than this?"

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment and replied, "Boss, have you ever heard someone say one championship surpasses Kobe, two surpass Shaq, three surpass Jordan, four wear the crown?"

Felton: "Ha...? Who in their right mind would make such a claim?"

Zhang Yang: "I also think no sane person would dare make that claim. Let’s not discuss this anymore; let’s go train."

Felton: "Alright, let’s go, Rajon."

A cool-faced Rajon got up and followed the two.

As Felton stretched his arm trying to place it on Zhang Yang’s shoulder... He appreciated this leader, quite interesting, huh.

Warming up their bodies, the three worked on various drills with the help of a trainer—Zhang Yang on initiating high post-offenses, Rajon on finding positions to assist, and Felton on moving off the ball for the catch and shoot.

After a few rounds and during a break, Felton asked, "I saw the news saying you initiate the offense like Larry Bird, is it similar?"

Zhang Yang definitively shook his head, "Not similar, we can’t talk nonsense. The boss will glare at me again. I run faster than Bird, jump higher than Bird, totally different, right Rajon?"

Rajon: "The reporters mean your pace and style in organizing the offense... No, not at all! By the way, did you hear? James gave all 8 of his cats to his neighbor... "

Zhang Yang looked at Rajon’s dead-fish eyes, now smiling.

Rajon: o(╥﹏╥)o Why did I shrink back, I should have snapped back at him... but I’m so scared, as the legend goes, this guy once stood on someone’s head in an underground Jeet Kune Do match and arrogantly shouted ’I want to fight ten’.

...

On November 17, the Bobcats welcomed the Miami Heat at home.

The Bobcats were unstoppable, determined to continue breaking the team’s longest win streak record. With O’Neal absent, the Bobcats exploited the Heat’s vulnerable interior defense, with Gerald Wallace and substitute Millsap scoring consecutively inside.

After the front line pressed the Miami Heat’s defense to the baseline, Zhang Yang continuously fired from high positions, throwing the Heat’s already poor season defense into complete disarray.

The Knights scored a whopping 31 points in the first quarter!

But the Knights’ defense was not solid.

To be precise, it wasn’t that they defended poorly, but that the key areas were heavily targeted—Wade hit all four of his shots from the elbow areas of the three-second zone in the first quarter, completely overwhelming the Knight’s interior defense!

Effective mid-range shots from a high position can shake the opponent’s overall defense.

Accurate elbow area shooting, although it does not impact the opponent’s overall defense as much as high-position shots, can directly affect the opponent’s center’s ability to guard the basket, creating excellent scoring opportunities for one’s own center.

Kobe was a master in this area, with a shooting percentage of 49.4% last season, consistently over 45% for years, referred to by what is called the OK connection.

Wade’s shooting percentage in this area last season was also frighteningly high at 48.5%.

That is why there emerged the saying, "Shark’s peak lasts three years, give him a guard for a triple streak," after last season ended.

The night before, James tried shooting several times in this area, aiming to break through the Knights’ defense when the inside attacks didn’t work, but he failed.

However, Wade succeeded tonight!

In the first quarter alone, he made four shots from the elbow area to score 8 points, but also provided four assists!

Under Wade’s leadership, the Heat scored 28 points in the first quarter, closely trailing the score and not letting the Knights gain too much advantage!

In the second quarter, Pat Riley adjusted tactics around Wade’s exceptionally accurate mid-range stop-and-shoot tonight, and the Heat’s offense efficiency further improved, scoring 31 points!

The Knights also played well offensively in the second quarter, but scored slightly less than the first, bringing home 29 points.

By halftime, the Heat had closed the gap with a score of 59 to 60, narrowing it down to 1 point!

In the third quarter, riding their momentum, the Heat outscored the Knights by 30 to 24, leading by 5 points with a score of 89 to 84.

In the final quarter, Wade’s energy declined, and his shooting performance dropped, but the Heat managed to keep the entire team’s score down to 23 points; however, they continued their solid defense from the third quarter, keeping the Knights to just 24 points and preventing them from surging as they did in the first half.

At 8:23 PM, the final whistle blew.

Wade made 10 out of 13 shots, and with 6 out of 10 free throws, scored only 26 points but also had 6 rebounds and 14 assists!

With Wade’s help, Mourning scored 20 points tonight on 8 out of 10 shooting and 4 out of 6 free throws; Haslem scored 14 points with a weak side mid-range shot of 6 out of 9, and 2 out of 2 free throws; Anthony Walker scored 16 points with 6 assists through receptions and playmaking; Kapono from the wing got 15 points...

With a score of 112 to 108, the Heat narrowly defeated the Knights by 4 points in this high-scoring battle!

On the Knights’ side, Felton was heavily defended by Wade tonight, making only 6 of 15 shots and getting 13 points and 7 assists.

But Gerald Wallace scored 24 points, and substitute Millsap scored 14 points, both well above their season average.

Zhang Yang made 9 out of 18 shots, including 2 out of 5 three-pointers, and with 7 out of 8 free throws scored 27 points along with 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal; he also performed exceptionally well.

Okafor scored 9 points and 11 rebounds, Rondo contributed 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, another solid performance.

The Knights played well, scoring a total of 108 points, so their offense was definitely not weak, and their defense was quite targeted.

But Wade almost never missed in the first three quarters, making 10 baskets, only hitting the rim 3 times. Normally, if he needed 20 shots to make 10 baskets, tonight’s efficiency saved him 7 attempts while still achieving the expected score. These 7 saved attempts were almost wholly converted into scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Facing such a performance from Wade, it was hard for the opponent to win; the Knights’ winning streak stopped at 7 games.

There was nothing the Knights’ players could do but curse their luck. Those with a stronger mentality, like Okafor, playfully blamed Zhang Yang saying, "Number 3 on the opposite side goes berserk whenever he sees you; you have to take responsibility."

One player just gave his cat to a neighbor and threw the remote at the TV.

What does this mean? They hammer down when playing against me, but you can’t defend against Wade? Is that favoritism?

...

After 10 games, the Knight’s record stands at 8 wins and 2 losses. Since the Pistons also lost their game, having a record of 7 wins and 3 losses, the Knights temporarily remain atop the Eastern Conference.

After the game, Zhang Yang went back to his apartment and browsed the standings online, feeling conflicted.

The second-ranked Pistons in the East had the same record as the fifth-ranked Rockets in the West! Although it was not surprising, it indeed left him at a loss for words.

And the news after the game truly surprised him.

The topic that ESPN had been hyping up the past couple of days about the ’03 Class Dignity’ and ’Fighting the New Bad Boys Legion’ had cooled down after the Knight’s loss.

But tonight, after the game, it flared up again!

Only this time, the protagonist had changed to Wade!

Major portals were talking about how Wade preserved the dignity of the 03 class and successfully halted the winning streak of the New Bad Boys Legion.

Zhang Yang: Is ESPN... making someone else’s wedding dress again?

Wondering how big the psychological shadow of the KING is...