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Chapter 460 - 206. We are already considering the next round of opponents_3

Chapter 460: 206. We are already considering the next round of opponents_3

Yao Ming’s team, having lost three consecutive games...

On May 4th, the Bobcats began preparing for the second round.

Today, Bickerstaff only held a meeting to discuss the strategy for the second round, and then allowed the players, who had rested for two days, to do individual training.

In the past two days, not many truly took full rest. Zhang Yang resumed training on the second day after advancing to the next round, and yesterday the main players also went to the gym for training.

After practicing shooting for an extra hour, Zhang Yang saw the ’Gate of Trials’ pop out.

"Three-Point Ability assessment upgraded from 79 to 80, Mid-Shot Ability assessment upgraded from 85 to 86 (talent cap at 94), Layup Ability assessment upgraded from 89 to 90 (having reached the current phase cap).

Note 1: The talent cap for attacking the basket is influenced by physical development and can increase or decrease with age; Note 2: The talent cap increase for completing the task is comprehensive, raising both the current and the peak physical period caps."

Zhang Yang felt a bit emotional—the three-point rating increased from 74 to 80 over the season, which was not easy!

It even took a long time to develop the mid-range shot originally.

When the mid-range shot just reached 80, Zhang Yang compared himself with other league players, finding that just having a mid-shot similar to his at that time was enough to be part of the rotation and even become a key substitute if accompanied by other skills.

The three-point shot must be similar, plus the playstyle of long-range shooters is highly versatile.

His mid-shot, which was stuck at 85 for half a season, and his layup, which was stuck at 89 for almost a season, both improved. As he had previously analyzed himself and discussed with two top trainers, once his outside, mid-range, and inside shooting abilities reached certain thresholds, he needed to combine all three to see improvement in games.

Layups had reached the current cap... He could only wait to ’grow up.’

Zhang Yang went to drink a sports beverage, gave a quiet cheer to celebrate, then continued to train—he was still short by more than 1,000 points of shooting value.

After practicing hard all day, he finally accumulated enough shooting value by a little after 4 p.m., reaching 100,000 points and upgrading ’I Age Slowly’ to the intermediate level.

He just hoped the next related trial achievement task would come later, waiting three or five years would be fine.

New tasks arrived: 120,000 shooting value for a random physical talent; 100,000 shooting value to unlock the next trial.

The required shooting value for ’talent grinding’ kept increasing... Fortunately, he was going to turn 19 next month, so there was time to build it up gradually!

...

After a day of individual training, on May 5th, the Bobcats officially started their preparations for the second-round series against the Knights.

In the morning, the Bobcats had a 90-minute practice session, not including the breaks after every 30 minutes.

During lunch, Felton complained to Zhang Yang, "Today’s practice was so slow, we trained all morning on defensive positioning and movement."

Zhang Yang, "It’s right to train meticulously. If us wings who are helping you defend James can instinctively make defensive movements, it will reduce the pressure on you. Jarett is slow on his feet and Rajon is too skinny to guard James as well as you do."

Felton, "I understand that, but it’s just the Knights. Do we need to go to such lengths?"

Zhang Yang, "We can’t help it, we had too long of a rest period. After today, we still have two days of rest, and the coaching staff must find ways to maintain our condition, as well as ensure that the preparation training is effective.

If we finished all our preparatory training in one day, the effectiveness of repeating the practice in the next two days would certainly not be good. If we did the preparation on the last rest day, we would lose our rhythm for playing too long, which is why we train in such detail... Bernie has been a general manager and head coach for over 30 years, he is experienced in preparation, and we should just follow his arrangements."

Felton, "Oh... I see! Alan and the others were also complaining; I’ll talk to them about it later."

Zhang Yang responded and continued eating—there was more training in the afternoon.

The series between the Bobcats and the Knights would start on May 8th, the second game day of the second round.

On the 7th, the first game day, two teams that swept their way into advancement, the Pistons and the Chicago Bulls, would be the first to commence their second-round battle.

The earliest advancing teams got the theoretically longest rest period of 7 days because the two Texas teams dragged out too long. If the Mavericks defeated the Warriors again tonight, the first game of the second round might even happen before the last game of the first round.

Yao Ming’s side, last night the Yao-McGrady duo had another powerful game, with Yao scoring 29 points, and McGrady getting a personal playoff career high of 16 assists along with 25 points, leading the team to a narrow 86-82 victory over the Jazz Team.

This process is reminiscent of two years ago when Yao and McGrady played against the Mavericks...

During the post-lunch digestion time, Zhang Yang was watching the TV in the lounge and when he switched to the T.N.T sports channel, it happened to be the sports news program. The current news being pushed was that MVP voting had concluded, and the award information would be announced tomorrow.

Zhang Yang thought that the Silver Horned King could raise his right hand when receiving the trophy... Tonight the Mavericks might not make it through, with the award ceremony happening tomorrow, he maliciously speculated—a jab at the German player.

In the afternoon, the Bobcats continued their preparations, focusing on offensive cooperation within the defensive perimeter against the Knights’ Snow, Hughes, and James.

Having faced the Knights 12 times over two seasons, the Bobcats had plenty of experience.

In the first round, Calderon provided excellent material for the Bobcats’ preparations against the Knights’ perimeter defense, averaging 16.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 6 games, with a field goal percentage of 51% and three-point percentage of 42.9%, which was very valuable for reference.