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Chapter 332 - 159. How difficult is it to get the first place?_3

Chapter 332: 159. How difficult is it to get the first place?_3

Actually, that play was a bit irrational, but that’s Gerald Wallace. Zhang Yang’s most admired aspect of this teammate is his fighting spirit.

After resting for a night in Detroit, on November 22nd, the Knight team headed to Auburn Palace to challenge the Pistons on their home court.

During the off season, the Pistons lost Ben Wallace, which greatly affected them on both ends of the court. Defensively, they lost a top defensive player, and offensively, nobody could replace Ben Wallace’s average of 3.5+ offensive rebounds per game.

However, even though the Pistons’ defense slipped, it didn’t collapse as the media had predicted.

Coach Philip Saunders truly is brilliant.

Rasheed Wallace has switched to playing solely as a center this season, guarding the paint.

The Pistons managed to poach Melvin Ely from the Knight team during the off season with a three-year, 10 million US dollar deal, and he turned in the best performance of his career, averaging 9.6 points with a 50% shooting rate, in addition to 6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 blocks.

Together with Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess, the Pistons’ interior defense still maintains top-level standards.

Their perimeter defense emphasizes rotational coverage, clogging drives, and containing sideline three-pointers.

Having been a pure shooter with the Knight, Ronald Murray developed into a player who could drive, shoot, and pass with the Pistons, rediscovering the versatility he displayed as the sixth man with the Supersonics.

The Argentine forward Carlos Delfino also saw significant playing time this season and performed well.

The Pistons’ perimeter defense improved compared to last season.

Under Philip Saunders’ guidance, the Pistons’ defense remained among the top five in the league, and their offense was also above average. Currently, they stand at 8 wins and 4 losses, ranking second in the Eastern Conference.

Before the game, Zhang Yang worried about how to cope without Gerald Wallace, but once the game started, he decided—to just do what needs to be done, just shoot the ball!

For tonight’s game, the Knight rolled out a starting lineup of Felton, Zhang Yang, Herrmann, Millsap, and Okafor. With Gerald Wallace injured, Bickerstaff didn’t simply put in a substitute; instead, he switched to an offensive lineup, intending to overpower the Pistons from the get-go.

The tactic worked well. Philip Saunders knew Bickerstaff was wild, but this was just too much; two reserves starting, one of whom was the third small forward. The Pistons were caught off guard defensively and, in the first half of the first quarter, the Knight built a 13-11 lead.

But Philip Saunders made timely and appropriate adjustments. In the latter half of the quarter, the Pistons switched to offense mode. Although they still couldn’t stop the Knight, whose combination of Rondo, Felton, Zhang Yang, Jumaine Jones, and Okafor scored 14 points in half a quarter, the Pistons themselves scored 19 points!

By the end of the first quarter, the Pistons had stifled the Knight’s momentum and took the lead with a 3-point advantage, 30-27!

Bickerstaff’s wild tactics lacked sustainability and were contained by Philip Saunders in the second quarter, with only 22 points scored. The Pistons continued their offensive performance from the first quarter, scoring 30 points, and finished the half leading the Knight by 11 points, 60-49.

After the halftime break, Bickerstaff had no choice but to switch back to a defensive mode, trying to play a counter-attacking game.

The impact on the team’s front line was greatly reduced with Gerald Wallace injured.

He had hoped that Millsap could stand in, but although the rookie had talent—having scooped up such a treasure in the second round was a steal—his potential was still raw. To ask him to lead the line now was too much.

In the second half, the Knight limited the Pistons to 22 points in each of the two quarters. Since the Pistons’ offense this season was just above average, and even without Gerald Wallace, they were not hard to contain. But constraining the Pistons meant that the Knight had to deploy more defensively able players. Without Gerald Wallace breaking down the Pistons’ defense, the Knight’s offense faltered too, scoring only 20 points in the third quarter. Although they managed a 26-22 score in the fourth quarter, a deficit of 13 points from the first three quarters was too much to overturn.

Okafor scored 19 points and 12 rebounds with 1 assist, Zhang Yang 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals, Felton 13 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, Rondo 11 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, Millsap 12 points, 8 rebounds, and Jumaine Jones 10 points. With 6 Knight players scoring in double digits, they still fell short, losing to the Pistons 95-104 and suffering their third loss of the season.

Zhang Yang took a lot of shots tonight, but with poor accuracy—6 out of 15 field goal attempts, plus perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line, only bringing in 18 points. Hamilton was simply the bane of his off-ball play. When he led the offense, the Pistons rotated so fast on defense that, if not for Rondo’s support, he would have fared even worse.

After playing the Pistons, the Knight headed to Jersey City, rested for the night, and on the 24th came to Rutherford Town to challenge the Nets.

Travel-worn, with ineffective rim protection and off-the-mark wing shooters... the Knight struggled tonight, losing to the Nets 96-108 and suffering their first back-to-back defeats of the season!

What the Knight did best tonight was holding Kidd to only 6 points on 2-for-9 shooting, preventing the player who also had 13 rebounds and 14 assists from getting a triple-double.

With Kidd’s help, Carter scored 27 points, Richard Jefferson 17 points, Eddie House 20 points, and Krstic 25 points.

Watching Krstic dominate like an interior star, Zhang Yang thought of Brezec. With Brezec around, how could this Serbian center be so bold?

Zhang Yang noticed that Rondo’s eyes changed when he refrained from shooting and Kidd held back on attacks. It seemed like he really wanted to hit back hard, but unfortunately, tonight the young Rondo got a serious lesson from veteran Kidd.