No.1 in basketball scoring
Chapter 613 - 265. Opening match massacre!_3

Chapter 613: 265. Opening match massacre!_3

Rondo, watching from the sidelines, felt a sense of urgency and was even more determined to train hard.

In the cooperation with Zhang Yang, Hill seemed more suitable than him because Hill had a mid-range shot, and his ability to catch the ball high could attract help defense, creating more opportunities. Rondo, not being a shooter, didn’t have that condition.

However, compared to his middle school, high school, and college days, he no longer felt so desperate about improving his shooting ability. Over more than a year, he had indeed developed his free throws, and there was a possibility that he could stabilize at over 70% next season; he had also brought his three-point shot to 30%. Therefore, a "Fixed-Point Mid-Range Shot" could potentially be developed!

Gerald had once said, "You are still young, and being young is your greatest asset. Don’t deny your own possibilities."

Zhang Yang himself didn’t know, but the casual remarks he made were relayed by his teammates to the media, and the fans listened to them. Some enthusiasts collected his words into a book, and perhaps one day in the world of basketball, a book called "Zhang San’s Quotations, Bad Boy’s Sayings" might appear...

The Knight’s offense kicked in again. James wasn’t leading the attack this time; he went to slash from the wing, drawing the interior defense to the other side to create opportunities for Hughes and better Drive Attack conditions.

Actually, most players on the Knight team hadn’t held much hope for tonight’s game. Even though they added one more shooter, with Gerald Wallace missing from the opponent, they didn’t feel hopeful because in the past dozen confrontations with the Bobcat team, the Bobcat team had never relied much on Gerald Wallace to win.

But hope, there was still a little bit of it—without Gerald Wallace, there might be no one able to stop Hughes’s drives.

But soon, that bit of hope was extinguished...

Hughes, guarded by Zhang Yang, was somewhat careless during his drive, got blocked by Zhang Yang just one step inside the three-point line, and was forced to stop!

In terms of speed, the two were on par, but in strength and weight, Zhang Yang was stronger!

Hughes hadn’t expected Zhang Yang’s movement and anticipation skills to be so strong. Caught off guard like this, he panicked. Seeing James running out, he hurriedly passed the ball... Zhang Yang charged forward, snatching a steal!

The Death Grip!

After the steal, Zhang Yang immediately counterattacked. James was indeed fast. As Zhang Yang started the counter from one step inside the arc, James, within the distance of the free-throw line on the left side, actually caught up.

Zhang Yang drove all the way to the basket, turned a corner from the right side, passed the ball... Hill followed up, caught the ball, and scored with a layup!

This move was quite plain, almost reminiscent of a Parker + second peak Duncan fast break from five years ago.

But a scored basket is a good basket. The Bobcat team led 6-0 at the start!

Amid the cheers of the home fans, the Knight team continued their offense.

Hughes, hearing the cheers, felt as if he had been slapped; he continued to go one-on-one against Zhang Yang, trying to regain control of the game.

But... like James, he got blocked at the right elbow area inside the three-second zone!

Perkins was crouching under the basket blocking drives, Okafor cut off the mid-range passing lanes to Gooden and Big Z from one step outside the top of the restricted area, and Hill pressed up on the right side... Hughes finally got a taste of what James felt when playing against the Bobcat team.

Hughes was quite decisive, pulling up and throwing... but missing!

Perkins stepped up, turned his back to the basket to block out the charging James and Gooden, Okafor guarded the defensive rebound, turned, and passed to Hill, who quickly transferred the ball, Zhang Yang ran out, caught the ball at the free throw line, and continued the fast break!

James, who aggressively attempted to block, couldn’t fall back in time, missing the chance to showcase his defensive capabilities with a chase-down block. Though he still rushed out, he stopped at midcourt.

Zhang Yang charged to the opposite side, sneaked a glance behind, no one had caught up, he took three big steps, jumped, and dunked with a tomahawk, scoring two points!

The dunk wasn’t particularly high, but with his excellent height and wingspan, this tomahawk dunk was quite spectacular and ignited the cheers of the fans at the venue, and it also crushed most of the Knight players’ last bit of hope.

The Knight team hadn’t changed much in the past two years, just signing Larry Hughes, who had also gone through the process of being thrashed by the Bobcat team last season.

Having lost to the Bobcat team 16 times in a row, and losing to them in the last season’s playoffs, facing them again in the season opener, they didn’t know what they could use to win; their morale was already weak, and the last hope with Larry Hughes also failed to break through...

Once, they thought their KING was the most talented player in the NBA.

But looking at the opponent, the Bad Boy, who displayed exceptional scoring talent in his rookie year, entered the ranks of top scorers in his sophomore regular season, breezed through the playoffs, and by the junior year, had honed his defense... as members of the ’royal guard,’ the Knight team players’ morale plummeted to the bottom!

On the side of the Bobcat team, scoring on consecutive fast breaks, Zhang Yang’s tomahawk dunk this time pushed their already high morale to the extreme!

Thus, a frenzy began...

Starting from the first quarter, the Bobcat team dominated the Knight team on both ends, ending the quarter with a score of 35 to 19, holding a 16-point lead.

The second quarter was better, with the Bobcat team scoring 28 points and the Knight team holding on to 25 points, biting the deficit within 20 points.

But in the third quarter, the madness resumed... The Bobcat team exploded for 36 points, surpassing their first quarter’s scoring, while holding the Knight team to just 20 points.

After three quarters, the Bobcat team led the Knight team 99 to 64 by 35 points!

In the final quarter, the Bobcat team fielded a lineup of Jarett Jack, Afflalo, Alan Anderson, Millsap, and Muhammad. Even then, the Knight team only scored 19 points in the quarter, while the Bobcat team, led by Jack scoring 10 points and Millsap 6 points in the quarter, scored 24 points...

At 10:24 pm, the final whistle sounded.

James tonight took 27 shots, making 11 of them, including 2 of 6 three-pointers, plus 9 out of 6 free throws... He played half of the final quarter and successfully boosted his score to 30 points with a shooting percentage also rising to 40.7%.

But his playing in the final quarter didn’t narrow the deficit; his teammates had basically given up after the first quarter!

to 83, the Bobcat team slaughtered the Knight team by 40 points, winning the season opener!