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Chapter 413 - 192. Where the heart leads_2

Chapter 413: 192. Where the heart leads_2

Kobe’s performance had sparked something in Zhang Yang. The next day was the team’s preparation day. They were supposed to gather at 9 a.m., but he arrived at the arena for extra practice at 7:30 a.m.

After more than 40 minutes of practice, the "Gate of Trials" popped up. He had accumulated 100,000 shooting value points, allowing him to choose whether to immediately extract a random shooting talent, upgrade the "I age a bit slower," or wait until he accumulated 200,000 shooting value points to retrieve them all at once.

The latter option was temporarily of no use. A person’s physical peak is usually around the age of twenty-five or twenty-six, and after reaching this peak, it starts to decline. What an athlete needs to do is to delay the speed of this decline and adjust their playing style before it no longer supports their original way of playing.

Zhang Yang chose to take the shooting talent first. This time, he randomly received a three-point talent +1.

There was a bit of regret that it wasn’t a mid-range talent, which might have raised his talent to the historic level of 95, but three-point was also good. An extra point would make his training progress a bit faster.

After extracting the reward, the content on the "Gate" changed.

"You have now accumulated 20 talent points. The shooting value needed for the next talent task is 120,000. New talents available for upgrades: ball control, attacking the basket, allocated in the random shooting talent sequence."

Zhang Yang: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Previously, the shooting talents only included mid-range and three-point as random options, which is why he was able to quickly "farm" his mid-range talent to 94, the closest to the historic limit. Now, the difficulty had significantly increased.

Luckily, his mid-range and three-point were still far from their limits, so it wasn’t time to worry yet.

And being able to enhance ball control and attacking the basket talents was definitely a good thing... Keep training!

First, he took the reward for upgrading "I age a bit slower" and started the next phase of tasks.

Two days of rest passed, and on March 6, the Bobcats hosted their 61st game of the season against the Grizzlies.

Zhang Yang looked at the Grizzlies’ record on the big screen and exclaimed, "Logo Man is really impressive."

Felton, looking at the Grizzlies’ 15 wins and 46 losses, was puzzled: "Impressive? They are at the very bottom!"

Zhang Yang: "Yeah, you see, the Celtics are trying so hard to tank. The coach is randomly adjusting the lineup, tactics are all over the place, causing Pierce to request a trade and the talented high schooler Jefferson to express his dissatisfaction with the Celtics. Yet, they only managed to be the second-to-last."

Look at the Grizzlies, Gasol averages 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks, all career-highs.

Mike Miller averages 18 points. Can you imagine a pure shooter averaging 18 points? And it’s not just random shooting; he makes three three-pointers a game at a 40% shooting rate, mostly from tactical plays.

Warrick went from averaging 4 points and 2 rebounds last season to 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Guy also worked his way up from a substitute to a starter, getting the right development.

All four of them have significantly improved this season.

The Grizzlies didn’t deliberately play poorly like the Celtics did but played tactics and teamwork well, trying hard to win. It’s just that Logo Man traded away Battier, Wright, Jones (Eddie), Tsakalidis, Jackson (Bobby)—last season’s defensive and offensive key players—so they couldn’t win much after all.

If the Grizzlies land Durant, with their efforts to maintain discipline, they can become a top team again within two years, given their talent and ease of recruiting quality role players to rebuild."

Felton looked shocked toward the other side, having spent some time studying the Grizzlies these past few days. He took not underestimating any opponent seriously, and he knew his younger brother’s analysis was spot on.

He hadn’t realized there could be such a huge difference between tanking and tanking!

But the hefty elder brother Felton had one question: "Aren’t the Grizzlies, being last, most likely to get Oden? Why Durant?"

Zhang Yang paused for a moment before replying, "They already have Gasol; nurturing another center wouldn’t be appropriate."

Felton: You’re brushing me off again!

Never mind, that isn’t important.

At 7 p.m., the game began.

Just as Zhang Yang had analyzed for Felton, the Grizzlies indeed tried their best to win.

Though the Grizzlies had lost 46 games this season, the highest in the league, they were rarely slaughtered.

After the All-Star weekend when facing strong teams, the Grizzlies played against the Spurs 98-106, the Suns 109-117, the Rockets 81-86, and even won a shocking victory against the Warriors 126-121 through overtime.

In the starting phase tonight, the Grizzlies held their own against the Bobcats!

The lineup of Mike Miller, Guy, Stromile Swift, Gasol, going head-to-head with Felton, Zhang Yang, Alan Anderson, Okafor, Perkins, managed to keep it even. By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats were only leading the Grizzlies by two points, 27-25.

But in the second quarter, the Bobcats widened the gap by 11 points within half the period, and thereafter, the Grizzlies fell into a vicious cycle of starting players chasing points and substitutes digging holes.

The Grizzlies’ head coach did not give the starters particularly more playing time. For instance, Gasol, despite the team losing so many capable players, saw his minutes reduced from an average of 39.2 last season to 36 minutes this season. His efficiency had substantially improved, his shooting percentage rising from 50.3% last season to 54%, with scoring just like all other stats reaching career highs. However, no matter how hard he tried, the outcomes were more often losses than wins...

The game result was not surprising. Okafor had 14 points and 17 rebounds, Zhang Yang 24 points and 4 assists, Felton 14 points and 6 assists, Alan Anderson 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists... The Bobcats defeated the Grizzlies 105-97.

Gasol tonight went 8 for 14, plus going 4 for 5 from the free-throw line, putting up a well-rounded performance of 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals, but his efforts went in vain once again.