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Chapter 394 - 186. It’s getting more and more interesting.

Chapter 394: 186. It’s getting more and more interesting.

Zhang Yang couldn’t handle Childress, but Felton could!

By his third year in the NBA, Childress was completely different from the player who had dominated the Pac-10 league with his shooting in college. Initially a thin shooter when he entered the NBA, he had bulked up to adapt to defending power forwards and even centers. His three-point shooting was virtually gone; of his average 7.5 shots per game, 5.5 were within the three-second area, relying solely on Drive Attacks and cuts to the basket.

Felton was very adept at blocking such players.

And it wasn’t just Childress, who often initiated the Drive Attack plus high-post play, that couldn’t break through; even Tyronn Lue struggled.

The nearly 30-year-old Tyronn Lue was no longer the youth who chased after the stars; facing Felton he had a speed advantage, but against Zhang Yang, it was pretty even.

When Tyronn Lue drove into close range, the center and wing didn’t even need to collapse.

Millsap stuck closely to Josh Smith, Okafor was under the basket, and Gerald Wallace was right up against Joe Johnson...

Tyronn Lue couldn’t pass; he took the shot himself, quickly grabbing the ball and making a daring quick shot... the intensely focused Zhang Yang leaped and tipped the ball!

The ball hadn’t even traveled the distance between them before being intercepted by Zhang Yang, who jumped again to secure it. Tyronn tried to snap it back, but Zhang Yang skillfully maneuvered the ball behind his back to avoid him, started up, and counterattacked!

The Hawks team’s defensive retreat from positions 2-4 was very fast; Zhang Yang entered from the left side of the top arc into the three-point line, blocked by Josh Smith and Joe Johnson. Facing their defense, he leaped and passed!

The following Gerald Wallace caught the ball in the middle lane and drove forward, the retreating Tyronn Lue moved to cover... and was bowled over; Gerald Wallace drove to the basket and scored on a layup!

Bickerstaff crossed his arms, nodded his head, his expression saying ’nicely done’.

Actually, he was relieved inside; glad he hadn’t called a timeout to tease the youngster, lest the opponent might fantasize about how they were mocking him.

By prompting a ’can’t stay calm, brainless confrontation’ they induced the opponent to go one-on-one, causing the Hawks team to stand still and lose their coordination rhythm right from the start.

This strategy, their own team’s coordination rhythm was also affected, but their tactical discipline and team discipline were much better than the opposition, so the impact was inevitably much smaller.

Moreover, the strategy didn’t stop there; the players had discussed defensive switches early, finding more appropriate defensive match-ups...

Besides these, Zhang Yang’s fast break pass reminded Bickerstaff of that player from Los Angeles.

In the All-Star game, when he was double-teamed during a counterattack, he passed to Anthony just like that, feigning a strong shot to make the double-teaming players jump to block, providing Anthony with a better opportunity to attack the basket, not caring about assists, only to create better conditions.

After a trip to the All-Star game and practicing jump stops with his high school teammates, he improved and even learned new offensive strategies during the game... There’s a reason he touched the edge of the All-Stars at 18!

When it was the Hawks team’s turn to attack, their good start suddenly collapsed.

They didn’t know how to play!

Having had poor tactics and coordination for two and a half years, Joe Johnson had played solo for so long, they watched standing, losing their rhythmic coordination quickly, and as for adaptability, although they had indeed trained quite a few new tactics yesterday afternoon and this morning, since they were new, it meant they were unfamiliar, and after a few rounds, everything was forgotten.

Of course, there were those who remembered the tactics — Tyronn Lue.

But after his solo drive against Zhang Yang, his teammates still followed the original high-post play combinations, and he could only go up against Zhang Yang’s block again.

This time Tyronn Lue wasn’t blocked, but he also didn’t make the shot; the ball hit the rim and bounced off!

Zhang Yang turned, grabbed the defensive rebound, and launched another counterattack!

This time, the Hawks team players couldn’t keep up with Zhang Yang’s pace; Zhang Yang rushed to the frontcourt and scored a layup.

In just over a minute, Zhang Yang scored 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block; the team advanced from 14-13 to lead the Hawks team, turning the situation around!

Joe Johnson could only take the initiative to ask for the ball to play one-on-one against Gerald Wallace.

His individual play was still quite good, even Gerald Wallace couldn’t stop him.

But the more Joe Johnson played solo, the less his teammates moved, and without their movement, he had to continue playing solo... forming a vicious cycle.

Even though Gerald Wallace couldn’t stop Joe Johnson, the interference and physical toll on Joe Johnson’s shots were definitely much greater than on Zhang Yang.

During Joe Johnson’s aggressive phase, the Hawks team could still hold up, but when he was tired and needed a breather, the Hawks team could only rely on a few 203-206 cm forwards’ unreliable drives...

The Hawks team also had major problems on the defense; they had tanked for too long, perhaps the management and coaching staff hadn’t intentionally tanked these two seasons, but in fact, it was almost the same as tanking, the players lacked spirit, played well offensively, and defended forcefully, they were talented, defended well, but once the offense faltered, their defensive enthusiasm just vanished.

As the game progressed, the Hawks team’s offense fell back into the old pattern of the past two and a half years!

...

After the first quarter ended, the score went from 8-13 to 29-26, with the team leading by 3 points; in the second quarter, they continued to surge forward, scoring 28 points to the Hawks team’s 21, and by halftime, the lead was in double figures.

During the halftime break, Mike Woodson made some adjustments, but the effect... it’s better to say that not adjusting might have been better.