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Chapter 372: Come on, let’s hurt each other!

Chapter 372: Come on, let’s hurt each other!

Zhang Yang returned to the bench and was immediately teased.

Gerald Wallace: "Jack, it’s all because of your popularity. Look across, everyone is staring at us with such a fierce look."

Zhang Yang: "Emeka will definitely get voted as an All-Star starter."

Gerald Wallace: "NO! You can’t go telling the fans to vote for Emeka. Give us all a fair chance to compete!"

Zhang Yang swaggered and bobbed his head: "That will depend on my mood."

Gerald Wallace mockingly cursed a few times, though he said that, but he knew Zhang Yang would definitely not be ’biased’.

In the past, when asked by the media who he thought deserved the All-Star starting spot between him and Okafor, Zhang Yang replied—Every time we play the Knights, we win, so both our forwards should be All-Star starters.

In fact, initially Okafor was leading by a lot with averages of 20+11 for the first month, and also had averages of 19+11 before Christmas. In the Eastern Conference center spot, he was far ahead in performance. When the first batch of votes came out on the 10th, he was second among Eastern Conference forwards with 790,000 votes, only behind James’ 1.01 million votes, 180,000 more than Gerald Wallace, and even higher than a few tens of thousands over Duncan and Garnett’s votes from the West.

But after entering the middle of the season, his performance significantly declined – he played too much like Duncan.

Seemingly expressionless and emotionless, but fighting for every ball, even reducing his playing time did not help, his efficiency was still sliding. After all, he was only like Duncan in play style, but with differences in physical fitness and techniques. Following 15 games into the mid-season, his stats had dropped to an average of 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks per game and a shooting percentage dropped to 50.6%, being overtaken by Howard, who was more robust physically and had better stamina.

Although Gerald Wallace’s play time was also reduced due to injuries, his performance didn’t drop noticeably. Moreover, his explosive style and entertainment value kept his votes increasing instead of decreasing. By the time the second batch of votes came out on the 21st, he had over 1.39 million votes, ranking third, only less than 50,000 votes behind Okafor’s 1.44 million.

The final result was hard to predict.

The fourth-ranked forward in the Eastern Conference, Bosh, had only 610,000 votes, less than half of Gerald Wallace’s, so the second forward starting spot in the East was definitely between the two of them.

Stern was ’correct’ to categorize Okafor as a forward. O’Neal’s domination plummeted, and so did his votes. In the current season, the Miami Heat played 42 games, and O’Neal participated in only 20, with an attendance rate of less than 50%. His performance plummeted, and even though he still had stats resembling a star center, they were far worse compared to his own past performances. The media’s ranking of the top three centers in the East didn’t even include him, yet in the second batch of votes, he led with 1.4 million votes, ahead of Howard’s 980,000 votes and Eddie Curry’s 770,000 votes.

If Okafor’s votes surpassed O’Neal’s despite competition from his teammate, moving to the center position would be crazy.

At 7:58 p.m., Zhang Yang, Felton, Gerald Wallace, Jumaine Jones, and Okafor entered the court together, and he glanced across, seeing Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, and Biedrins arriving on the court too.

Jason Richardson and Mickael Pietrus were benched tonight.

Apart from the two tactical cores, Baron Davis and Al Harrington, the starting lineup for the Warriors was very flexible, arranged by the Crazy Scientist according to matchup needs.

Although the Warriors had a lower payroll than the Rockets, with over half a million less, they had accumulated a lot of talents over the years. Coach Nelson had all kinds of players he needed, and even the three players traded for Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson – Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu – were already marginalized this season, which is why the media commented that they got two starters for free.

At 8 p.m., the game between the Bobcats and the Warriors kicked off!

Biedrins outjumped Okafor to win the tip-off, and the Warriors started with the ball!

Baron Davis advanced to the frontcourt to initiate the offense.

With top-notch ball handling, a strong 95-kg body, proficient driving skills, and a quick first step... his drive was hard to defend. Just a bit of space, and he could use his body to force through the opponent into the paint.

But he faltered on the opening drive tonight, unable to shake off Felton’s defense. He had created the space but couldn’t push past!

Felton, at 185 cm and 93 kg, had an effective tonnage even greater than Baron Davis, who was 191 cm and 95 kg!

Baron Davis muscled his way past Felton to the elbow area but couldn’t get through. Driving to the basket or pulling up for a jumper were not good options. He turned his back and passed the ball to Ellis who had come up high for support.

Gerald Wallace didn’t lose his position and stuck to Ellis right when he received the ball.

Ellis pulled back beyond the three-point line for a drive!

Gerald Wallace couldn’t stop Ellis’s drive, only being able to follow behind to guard against a quick stop jumper, but he couldn’t keep up beyond the free-throw line distance.

Ellis’s shooting percentage within close range was as high as 53%, with as much as 40% of his shots occurring under the basket, and a top-notch conversion rate of 67% beneath the rim. Amongst guards, he had the highest shooting percentage after Parker and Nash. Okafor immediately retreated from close range to cover defense.

As Okafor was drawing back, Biedrins followed closely behind to cut to the basket. Ellis lobbed the ball... Biedrins caught the alley-oop and slammed down two points!

Since Coach Nelson took over, the underperforming Biedrins was revitalized, becoming one of the best supporting centers in the league, with his talent for ’eating cakes’ developed. He was even able to follow up on fast breaks like a forward and averaged 9+9 stats per game.

Zhang Yang collected the inbound pass and advanced the ball back upcourt. Although he was a bit annoyed with Ellis, he had to admit, this older high school player had truly sharp drives, like a bolt of lightning. Seeing Ellis’s drive, he thought their coach on the sideline, Coach Rong, might be the only one able to keep up with Ellis’s pace.

Zhang Yang reached the frontcourt, intending to pass to Felton. Felton struggled with Baron Davis and chose to run towards the corner instead of receiving the pass.

Bearded Man:

Zhang Yang had to do it himself, advancing beyond the three-point line, with Ellis pressing out for a physical defense beyond the arc.

Zhang Yang protectively moved the ball to his side, puzzled by the lack of lethality in the 6’3" plus 185-pound Ellis’s close-quarters combat. What newfangled defense was this?

Let’s start with a shot! Zhang Yang leaned on Ellis, switched to his left hand to dribble, turned around, and surged forward!

Ellis struggled to contend, but couldn’t hold his ground. By the time he thought to retreat backward, he had already been bypassed by Zhang Yang.

Harrington shrank from the wing to help on defense, and Zhang Yang grabbed the ball and stepped boldly forward to the left, avoiding Harrington’s coverage.

Biedrins, who was about to move up from underneath the hoop, saw Zhang Yang start a Euro step and quickly shifted to where he anticipated Zhang Yang’s next step would land.

However, Zhang Yang didn’t go for the Euro step but instead took a close-range floater... and scored!

Zhang Weiping, a commentator for the Imperial Court Channel, commented, "The Warriors’ defense is really awful. They weren’t cooperating at all in a three-on-one, Yangyang is just playing however he wants? But as bad as the Warriors’ defense is, their offense is equally strong, this game is going to be exciting..."

On the court, Bearded Man turned into a former Lakers’ point guard, advancing to the frontcourt before passing the ball to the scoring guard, and then continued to engage Felton in grueling close quarters, inflicting mutual damage.

Ellis took the ball and drove, but this time both Okafor and Jumaine Jones fell back.

Okafor didn’t press forward but stood on the arc of the restricted area, while Jumaine Jones moved up, cutting off the sideline pass route and disturbing Ellis’s quick-stop jump shot. This time, the defensive cooperation was very good.

But Harrington wasn’t just a stationary pole; he had excellent defensive reading ability. He quickly moved to the free-throw line, trapping Ellis in a triple team and forcing him to jump back and pass to Harrington.

Running on the move, Harrington caught the ball and carried it to the left elbow area. Zhang Yang timely contracted before Harrington, and Harrington didn’t shoot against the defense but instead passed the ball to the left corner where Stephen Jackson was open for a three-pointer... but he missed.

Okafor forcefully secured the defensive rebound over Biedrins!

However, open chances came from missed shots. An open three-point opportunity, Zhang Yang had no choice but to fall back and block Harrington’s drive. Biedrins and Ellis drew the Bobcats’ trio to the right sideline of the three-second area, if Harrington got the ball and dribbled back to the elbow he could dunk, Okafor would have to transform into Duncan.

Hard to defend, then shoot!

Felton also turned into a fish, catching Okafor’s pass and advancing to the frontcourt before passing to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang easily got past Ellis and drove inside, but this time Harrington didn’t move to block his path. Instead, he covered the floater space, so Zhang Yang stopped abruptly, stepped back inside the free-throw semi-circle, and took a mid-range shot... and hit it again!

As Zhang Weiping had judged, the two teams quickly engaged in a back-and-forth battle.

The two stolid players hurt each other, with Ellis and Zhang Yang taking up the banner of main offense.

Ellis, assisted by the ever-versatile Harrington, just needed to take the ball and do his thing, passing it to Harrington if the opportunity wasn’t good.

At this time, although Ellis had started to grow confident, his playstyle wasn’t as solo-centric as it would be two or three years later when he’d have the ability to average 25+ points per game. He knew when to shoot and when to pass.

Stephen Jackson was responsible for long-range responses and holding the sideline, drawing the defense, while Biedrins sought chances to cut in for lobs and compact the defense. The Warriors’ offense played very well.

On Zhang Yang’s side... shoot!

If tired of shooting, let Gerald Wallace or Okafor carve them up.

Biedrins was quick-moving, had a good jump, excellent shot-blocking instincts, good positioning... his help defense often led people to compare him to Kenyon Martin, but his one-on-one defense resembled Martin too, albeit a watered-down version. His lean and tall physique was mobile and explosive, but lacked in static confrontation strength, so Okafor could carve him up every time.

When Gerald Wallace drove, unless Biedrins moved early for help defense, he couldn’t stand his ground, and the Warriors rarely collapsed to trap Wallace’s drives, so his solo success rate was very high.

With 4:04 left in the first quarter, Ellis missed a mid-range quick shot, but Biedrins rushed in for the offensive rebound and scored two points, 13-12, putting the Warriors ahead by one point.

Zhang Yang went back to receive the ball and felt something was off.

The game was going as they had expected: unguardable, trading blows, but he just felt something was amiss.

Just as he caught the ball, he saw the overweight boss moving vigorously, getting ready to go up front and continue his physical confrontation with the Bearded Man... that explains it.

Zhang Yang called out to Felton, "Boss, you start the offense!"