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Chapter 680 - 286. Is he missing a screw or is he really smart?_2

Chapter 680: 286. Is he missing a screw or is he really smart?_2

The ball hit the rim, bounced to the backboard, teetered for a moment, and then hit the backboard a second time. The referee’s whistle blew, out of bounds!

In the eyes of the Supersonics players, Zhang Yang’s defense had been too impressive.

Zhang Yang felt the same way. Usually, he would have shown off a bit and thrown out some trash talk, but this time he didn’t.

Watching the lanky figure retreat silently, Zhang San thought this rookie was toxic. The comparison of their wingspans before had left a psychological shadow on him, and who knew how this rookie would respond to his trash talk.

As long as it wasn’t him feeling awkward, it meant someone else was... Zhang San never imagined he would become that ’someone else’ one day.

In the following rounds, Zhang Yang kept hammering on Durant. When on offense, if he could go one-on-one, he would, and on defense, he went all out to press him.

On offense, Durant couldn’t defend him. Durant wasn’t as quick on his feet, even less so in physical confrontation, and his defensive experience was virtually non-existent.

Zhang Yang was very familiar with Durant’s offensive habits, defended with clear purpose, and Durant, still somewhat raw, was well guarded. Zhang Yang didn’t let up on him even when he was off the ball.

During the start of the game, aside from occasionally forcing a shot to showcase his height, wingspan, and shooting talent, Durant hardly found any room to maneuver.

But Zhang Yang didn’t get to enjoy beating up on the newbie very much.

It was too quiet. No matter how badly he was getting beaten, Durant was very quiet, yet he tried his best with every shot and every defensive stance. Zhang Yang, who had entered the game with an attitude of picking on the weaker, even felt a slight sense of frustration.

He began to understand why Duncan’s opponents were so irritable...

...

The score gap quickly widened. Once Durant’s opening offensive phase ended, Ray Allen took control of the ball, started isolating and sharing the ball, and the Supersonics began to score normally.

Although Ridnour was the Supersonics’ assist king, it was Ray Allen who was the real offensive coordinator, averaging 25.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.

Half of Ridnour’s assists came from just passing to Durant or Ray Allen, who would shoot immediately upon catching the ball. The real effective offensive organization only amounted to two or three plays per game.

Ray Allen was decent at leading the offense, but with too few teammates able to score, he could only barely prevent the score gap from becoming ugly right away.

Halfway through the first quarter, the Bobcats led the Supersonics by 9 points, 18 to 9.

During the official timeout, Felton wiped his sweat and said to Zhang Yang, "Jack, you’ve got that top high school player, ranked third in the whole country, playing all disorganized because of your defense. You’re too harsh."

Zhang Yang, "He’s not disorganized. He’s trying every way he can to score over me, it’s just that he can’t make it right now."

Felton, "Do you really think he can develop that kind of difficult scoring ability? You’re thinking too much. He’s not you."

Zhang Yang, "He might become one of my biggest rivals in the future."

Felton, "No way, right?"

Zhang Yang, "How about we make a bet? Bet a hundred bucks that he’ll become a superstar."

Felton, "Then I need to reevaluate him. If reporters ask me about him during an interview, I’ll need to answer carefully to avoid embarrassing news articles in the future."

"?" Zhang Yang dissatisfiedly said, "Boss, why won’t you bet with me?"

Felton, "Your judgment is better than mine. Why would I bet with you, to just give you money?"

Zhang Yang, "Stingy, not even giving me a hundred bucks..."

After chatting idly and carelessly wiping off sweat, they gathered around Carlisle. A few seconds later, they sat down on the chairs, changed into clean towels, and continued to wipe away sweat while putting on their training gear.

Zhang Yang and Felton were both subbed out as Okafor, Rondo, Alan Anderson, Mike Miller, and Hill entered the game. The offense was organized around the mid- and long-range shooting of Mike Miller, with Rondo and Hill as the offensive core, while Okafor and Alan Anderson handled the passing points.

During the rotation phase, the Bobcats’ lead increased at a slower pace. Against the Supersonics, running tactics wasn’t as effective as letting Okafor play one-on-one or Rondo create plays—the opponents’ defense was too weak, making many tactical movements seem silly and awkward.

But Carlisle issued strict orders, they had to run plays, they needed to get familiar with the tactics during the game.

Indeed, Carlisle treated the Supersonics as sparring partners.

It wasn’t that Carlisle was too arrogant, not only did he treat the Supersonics as ’sparring partners,’ other strong teams did the same; if every team seriously played against the Supersonics, their average losing margin wouldn’t be just in the low teens, it would be hard to keep it under twenty points.

When they played against the Rockets previously, they discovered aspects of their tactics that needed adjustment, so against one of the worst four teams this season, the Supersonics, Carlisle forcefully ordered his players to practice properly through real competition.

However, Carlisle couldn’t fully control what the players did on the court, like on defense.

Zhang Yang took a rest, and Mike Miller or Rondo would take the initiative to help Hill double-team Durant, and Hill didn’t refuse; bullying the talented rookies was something he often did last century.

Under the ’care’ of Zhang Yang and his teammates, Durant’s performance tonight was miserable, playing 37 minutes, making only 4 out of 16 shots, including 0 out of 4 from three-point range, plus making all three of his free throws, barely scoring in double figures with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, along with 4 fouls and 4 turnovers.

But with Zhang Yang’s evaluation, the Bobcats’ players also noticed something special about Durant—he kept shooting no matter how bad the offensive environment was!

The old teammates who have been playing with Zhang Yang since his rookie season really saw a bit of Zhang Yang in Durant...

Durant, who kept silently missing shots, was actually quite shocked tonight—the real Jack, playing only 27 minutes, took 20 shots!

Running the same tactics, the style of play revolving around Zhang Yang was completely different compared to revolving around Okafor, Felton, and Mike Miller. Zhang Yang could get the ball just by moving and using screens, and even if defenders came at him, he’d still shoot...

Making 11 out of 20 shots, including 2 from 4 three-point attempts, and 3 out of 4 free throws, Zhang Yang scored a game-high 27 points!

He took one more shot than Ray Allen, who played 39 minutes and scored two points less than him.

Durant: I want to shoot like that too!

But thinking about how tonight, including drawing fouls and turnovers, he was already exhausted after around 20 rounds of play...

Durant: I’d better level up slowly, no rush, I’m still young... wait!

Am I a little older than the real Jack? No way!

At 10:24 PM, the final buzzer sounded, 116 to 98, the Bobcats easily defeated the Supersonics.

Durant was shocked, but the shock-inducing Zhang Yang was sullen—bullying the weak teams actually led to a depressing feeling, something Duncan’s opponents had definitely never experienced.

We still have one more game against the Supersonics this season, right? Next time, I’ll play even harder! I need to take twice as many shots as Durant!

...

The game against the Supersonics kicked off the Bobcats’ five-game road trip.

The next morning, the Bobcats left Rich City Seattle and arrived in another bustling city in the West, Rose City Portland.

After a night’s rest, on the morning of December 5th, Zhang Yang and his teammates went to the Rose Garden Arena to get ready for the game.

The pre-game meeting had just ended when Zhang Yang and his teammates received some news about their rivals—Yao Ming was named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week, with four straight wins, averaging 32 minutes, 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks per game.

With last week’s four consecutive victories, the Chicago Bulls’ record improved to 13 wins and 5 losses, surpassing the Pistons to become number two in the East.

They’ve caught up! The iron-willed Chicago Bulls, led by Madame Sun and Moon, have caught up!

And the disheartening news came that the Player of the Week, Madame Sun and Moon, had beaten out none other than Zhang San.

What could they do when the Bobcats were doing well, with 2 wins and 1 loss last week, and with him averaging 32 points per game, he would inevitably appear among the candidates for such awards.

A few days ago, when the Player of the Month was announced, Zhang Yang was proud to see that he had beaten the three nominees, but today, he wanted to propose to the NBA—to stop announcing the nominees who didn’t win the awards.

Zhang San began to understand the meaning behind that old blacksmith’s saying: being second is truly unbearable!