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Chapter 666 - 282. First encounter with a real strong defensive team

Chapter 666: 282. First encounter with a real strong defensive team

November 30, the last game day of the opening month arrived.

Just past 8 o’clock in the morning, Zhang Yang arrived at Tuhang Stadium, where quite a few domestic reporters were already waiting. Seeing him, they crowded around him. He sighed softly, but revealed a smile and began to "do business."

He was happy to be interviewed by domestic reporters, always fairly proactive, conveying a positive basketball perspective to fans and young people in the country who loved the game.

But facing the Rockets, and only a common role player like Yi Jianlian, to have such a big media turnout... Zhang Yang understood the state of mind Yao Ming must have had when they first faced off.

Embarrassed, yet he had to feign confidence.

Yi Jianlian was indeed playing well, averaging 11.5 points per game, ranking third among rookies, but he was simply a rookie piling up stats due to his high number of attempts, nearly 10 shots per game, receiving development opportunities no less than other number one picks like Kenyon Martin, Yao Ming, Howard, Bogut, etc.

However, in front of the media, he had to save face. When asked about Yi Jianlian, Zhang Yang chose his words carefully and turned on the praise mode.

He, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, when interviewed by domestic media, would always praise each other if the topic came up. Commercial value, after all, was self-created. This was something Zhang San had learned from the future "GOAT" Jordan...

At 8:40 pm, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the arena; their game against the Rockets was about to start.

After the entrance ceremony, the big screen displayed the season’s statistics for both teams.

Seeing Zhang Yang looking at the data, Felton joined in and, after a glance, said with a bit of frustration, "I remember that two weeks ago, after our games, we were averaging a 20-point win, and now it’s down to just 13 points."

The Bobcats had started the season averaging 111 points scored and 91 points allowed; now they were averaging 113 points while allowing 99.9 points.

The reason was simple: first, the opponents in the past two weeks were slightly tougher than in the first two weeks; second, some opponents they had faced multiple times and had become more familiar with, like the Pacers and the 76ers. In the first matchups, the points difference neared 20, but in the second matchups, the Bobcats only won by 4 and 6 points, respectively.

Zhang Yang responded, "The net victory margin is going to get lower over time. The 72-win Chicago Bulls had a net victory margin of just 12 points, the 67-win Mavericks and Lakers only had 8 points, and the 64-win Pistons only had 7 points."

Felton replied, "I know, but I can’t help feeling a little dissatisfied..."

It was right to be dissatisfied. Zhang Yang said nothing more; he looked at his own stats. Although they had lost to the Celtics the day before yesterday, his average points per game had increased from 30.4 to 30.9... It had only been a little over ten games, and increases in average points could be significant, having gone from 28 points to over 30 in the past five games.

On James’s side, after getting hot last week, his average was up to 34 points.

Zhang Yang felt maintaining an average of over 30 points would be difficult, but it was also unlikely for James to maintain his current scoring average.

Being able to guarantee 34 points every game, there was only one person in the league capable of that, and that anonymously referred to man was now only at an average of 27 points.

On the opposing Rockets team, they had played 15 games to date, one more than the Bobcats, and their record in the Eastern Conference would be impressive at 9 wins and 6 losses, but in the Western Conference, they had just been surpassed by the Grizzlies and were ranked ninth.

After Yao Ming left, McGrady became a top scorer in the league again, averaging 26 points along with 6.2 rebounds and 6 assists per game. Leading the team to such a performance on his own, the domestic fans’ reaction was... mixed.

When Zhang Yang browsed domestic forums, he saw some fans’ commentary that after Yao Ming left the Rockets, McGrady was finally "liberated" by not having to share scoring opportunities.

In those fans’ opinion, McGrady was expected to have an epic surge like Kobe or Iverson.

It’s true, even Yao Ming’s fans at the time couldn’t refute this notion.

Because McGrady had an incredible season in 02-03 with an average of 32.1 points, the highest single-season scoring average of the "tough" era, a milestone superstars like Jordan, Iverson, and Kobe had never reached during that period.

While this didn’t mean McGrady had better scoring ability than Jordan, Iverson, or Kobe, as team surroundings and personal scoring contexts differed, it at least represented McGrady’s scoring ability at that time, and by the end of that season, he wasn’t yet 24 years old.

Now McGrady had just turned 28, and it was reasonable for his fans to have such expectations at the prime age for a basketball player.

However, the performance McGrady delivered not only disappointed his fans but also left those who used to dismiss other superstars’ remarks feeling let down.

McGrady ’only’ put up performances worthy of a regular All-Star or an All-NBA team, which wasn’t bad by any means, ranking in the top twenty or even top fifteen in the league, but it fell far short of fans’ expectations. It was apparent that this was McGrady’s limit.

At the same age, Kobe was putting up an epic season averaging 35 points; Iverson at 31 was still capable of averaging over 30 points if he wished...

At 28 years old, the golden age for basketball players, McGrady’s performance wasn’t even as good as his first year with the Magic at age 21, with the main reason being— injuries.

Before the game, when Zhang Yang read the scouting report on McGrady, he spotted a piece of data—McGrady’s shots at the basket only constituted 18% of his total attempts this season, with only 4 of his 22 average shot attempts being close to the basket. Close-range shots accounted for just 7%, meaning only a quarter of all his shots were taken from close range.