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Chapter 655 - 279. Start with ten consecutive wins! _4

Chapter 655: 279. Start with ten consecutive wins! _4

From this point, Zhang Yang felt that Carlisle had truly improved, not rushing the pace of system development due to anxiety.

After training ended and he returned to the hotel, Zhang Yang received a video of last night’s game between the Lakers and the Hornets from his trainer.

The Hornets faced their first defeat of the new season, and he wanted to know how the Hornets had lost.

Compared to his memory, this Hornets team was stronger, primarily because they had snatched up James Posey, a top-tier 3D player of this era, from the Miami Heat for nothing.

Thinking of James Posey, Zhang Yang again wanted to incite the owner to sue the Miami Heat to prevent them from retiring jersey number 23.

It was definitely not because they refused to trade Jarett Jack and a second-round pick for James Posey; it was purely to pave the way for a certain number 23 player to join the Heat in the future, avoiding any inconsistency in his statements and preventing embarrassment.

After spending more than half an hour skipping and fast-forwarding, Zhang Yang finished the video.

The game was thrilling and intense. Zhang Yang recalled their season’s games; only their matches against the Suns reached the Lakers and Hornets’ standards. These two teams felt stronger than their matches against the Suns...both in offense and defense!

Kobe was surrounded by James Posey, Paul, and Chandler throughout the game, played 44 minutes, took fewer than 20 shots, made 8 out of 15, including 2 out of 3 from beyond the arc, along with 1 out of 2 free throws, scoring only 19 points.

But the Lakers’ team offense performed very well, Kidd with 8 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists; Garnett with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists; along with Kobe’s 5 assists, just the three of them had 18 assists, the Lakers team had 30 assists, 7 players scoring in double figures, reaching 109 points. The second-highest scorer was Kwame Brown with 18 points, another game of a bust number one pick feasting on passes.

The Hornets scored 104 points; Paul and David West combined for 60 points, both scoring fiercely. Paul made 13 out of 25, while David West even achieved a 9 out of 15 shooting efficiency, but Paul’s assist count was a season low of 5...his connection with his teammates cut off by Kobe’s front defense, Kidd’s wing defense, and Garnett’s mid-range defense!

Even through the screen, Zhang Yang could feel the suffocating defense that Paul was facing at the time.

He also saw how strong Paul’s personal abilities were before his knees were wrecked; quick direction changes, fast starts, strong jumping ability... somewhat like a half-step slower version of Derek Rose with luxurious mid-range skills?

His knees seemed as if they were expendable...

The next day, November 20th, the Hornets came to Conseco Fieldhouse again, facing the Pacers on the road.

The Hornets trailed the Pacers by 6 points, 27 to 33, in the first quarter and lost the second quarter by 4 points, 25 to 29, trailing by 10 points at halftime, 52 to 62.

The Hornets struggled in the first half; their offense was actually not bad, the main issue was their defense.

Ganger kept firing from the wing, making 5 out of 8 three-pointers in the first half, flying both Deng and Murphy, the shooters.

In the third quarter, the Hornets strengthened their perimeter defense rotation, with Okafor guarding the basket alone, withstanding the pressure of rim protection. Although they only scored 23 points themselves, they successfully limited the Pacers to 22 points, shrinking the point difference to single digits by the end of the quarter.

In the final quarter, Zhang Yang and Felton heated up, Zhang Yang scoring 10 points on 4 out of 7 shooting, adding 2 free throws made from 2 attempts; Felton scored 9 points on 3 out of 6 shooting, including 3 out of 5 from beyond the arc.

Together they combined for 19 points, leading the Hornets to blaze through the final quarter with 32 points and continued their third-quarter defense, pulling the Pacers’ score down to 19 points!

Zhang Yang made 12 out of 25 shots, including 3 out of 7 three-pointers, and 6 out of 7 free throws, scoring 33 points with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, leading the Hornets to a 107 to 103 comeback against the Pacers!

Of Zhang Yang’s 33 points, 19 were scored in the second half, 13 of which came from solo plays and only 6 from catch-and-shoot.

In the second half, he also did very well defensively, focusing on guarding Ganger’s shooting after giving up rim protection and wing assistance, limiting Ganger, who had made 5 out of 8 three-pointers in the first half, to only 1 out of 5 in the second half, dropping Ganger’s three-point shooting percentage below 50%.

Not just in threes, Ganger’s overall scoring performance also dropped significantly; in the first half, he made 8 out of 15 shots, including 5 threes out of 8, and 4 free throws out of 4, scoring 25 points and leading the Pacers to 62 points in the half.

In the second half under Zhang Yang’s defense, Ganger made only 4 out of 12 shots, including 1 three-pointer out of 5, and 3 free throws out of 4, scoring only 12 points. Although he scored a game-high 37 points, his performance fell in the second half, and the Pacers’ offense collapsed.

However, Ganger’s first-half performance was still staggering to Zhang Yang; comparing to their last encounter, Ganger played smarter, seizing opportunities to move and shoot better. Zhang Yang vaguely saw glimpses of Zhang San’s movement in Ganger... a mutual learning?

In just two weeks, Jim O’Brien’s offensive tactics built around Ganger’s long-range shooting capabilities had also enriched, highlighting his talent in coaching forwards and guards.

But Ganger’s second half exposed his issues—stability and strong shooting capabilities weren’t great yet.

There was another change in the Pacers that made Zhang Yang feel emotional—Jermaine O’Neal was benched, giving Murphy and Jeff Foster room to play as substitutes.

Based on abilities, little O’Neal was definitely stronger than these two, not even on the same playing level, but these two fit Ganger better, and little O’Neal had already requested a transfer. Whenever he played, he appeared completely lifeless, his dissatisfaction with the change in his team role blatantly apparent.