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Chapter 711 - 299. Bad Kids VS Little Giant

Chapter 711: 299. Bad Kids VS Little Giant

When Rondo passed the ball to Hill, Mike Miller had already received Zhang Yang’s instructions to sprint back toward the backcourt.

Falling back inside the three-point line, Miller positioned himself in front of Yao Ming, who was at the free-throw line; Miller then looked across the court, locking eyes with Duhon... Duhon had just received the inbound!

Mike Miller: Is he really going to try that? Thank goodness for the reminder from Brother Three!

Under Rondo’s full-court man-to-man pressure, Duhon advanced the ball steadily, abandoning the idea of a fast break one-against-zero.

No matter, once Duhon reached the frontcourt, he continued to look for Yao Ming, who was posting up Okafor down low.

Yao Ming kept powering through, facing the double team of Okafor and Hill, and went up high to score with a layup.

After scoring, Yao Ming attempted to disrupt Okafor’s inbound, aiming to slow down the opponent’s advance, but Okafor didn’t go for the inbound. Instead, he bypassed Yao Ming and ran towards the frontcourt, leaving Hill to quickly inbound the ball to Rondo, who advanced for a fast break with Hill in tow!

Yao Ming chased up to half court, then stopped; Rondo had already passed the ball...

With Okafor cutting through the middle to draw the defense, Zhang Yang pulled Sefolosha to the flank, and Hill received the ball inside the top of the key, then passed to the left wing, where Mike Miller’s trailing three-pointer from the left sideline hit its mark!

to 16, the Bobcats lead by 4 points!

Seeing Rondo’s performance in these two fast break advances, Skiles was incredulous.

He had never considered that the Bobcats would employ fast breaks to counter Yao Ming’s dominance under the basket.

Wearing down a towering center by speeding up the game is easy to talk about among fans, but there are hardly any teams that can actually pull it off.

Every team has a fast big man, and more and more have outside shooters, yet there are fewer than a handful of teams that can play a fast-paced game because, under the current rules, the key to playing fast isn’t these elements but the player leading the advance.

In the 01-02 season, when Kidd joined the Nets, he led the team with a fast break offense which had the Eastern Conference teams at their wits’ end. Media called him a 5-inch shorter ’Magic.’

In the 04-05 season, Nash joined the Suns and sparked a run-and-gun craze, to everyone’s astonishment.

The counterattack defense and 7-seconds-or-less offense are two ways to win games by playing fast, demonstrated by both Kidd and Nash. Media, fans, and teams all thoroughly studied their team’s strategies, but not a single team could successfully replicate them.

The Warriors, with Nelson himself coaching and All-Star Point Guard Baron Davis leading, had a roster that could field two starting lineups due to years of tanking. Yet, they only just made it to the edge of the Western Conference playoffs with their run-and-gun style; Davis benefited the most from last season’s memorable upset over the top-seeded team, boosting Nash’s two MVP awards’ value.

The Nuggets, with George Karl at the helm playing their version of a run-and-gun offense and boasting significant roster depth including the scoring champion Iverson, strived for a spot alongside the Warriors for the seventh or eighth in the Western Conference.

Holding the ball doesn’t necessarily mean leading a team to a successful fast break.

The Raptors’ T.J. Ford, dubbed an athlete of sprint-level speed and widely recognized as the fastest in the NBA.

Yet when Ford drove the fast break, the defense only needed to block him. Once at full speed, he couldn’t attend to his wings, teammates behind, or the opponents, unless a teammate managed to rush to the frontcourt faster. Otherwise, his fast break was just a solo counterattack. His speed was unmatched in the NBA, and throughout a game, it was rare for his teammates to outpace him to the frontcourt even once.

On the contrary, players like Kidd and Andre Miller, who weren’t as fast, played the fast break exceptionally well.

Under current basketball rules, the key to driving a fast break is being able to spot teammates while moving at full speed over a long distance, anticipate their movements, judge the timing of the pass, and deliver the ball accurately.

There are only a few players capable of this in the NBA, and those who pass well in set plays mostly can’t deliver when running the fast break.

The Bobcats... well, in Skiles’ eyes, there really might be one player with such talent and ability—Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang’s talent for leading a fast break had won praise from Nash and Kidd, but Zhang Yang didn’t take the route of a ball-dominant core, only leading fast breaks after grabbing defensive rebounds occasionally.

Especially tonight, where Zhang Yang was shooting every minute in the first half, he certainly could not continue to play the fast break.

Rondo came into Skiles’ view during last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Both the Pistons and the Spurs had strong defenses; Rondo showed capabilities in set offense passing and sneaky scoring, somewhat like Ford in counterattack scoring. But when leading a counterattack, he wasn’t as good as Zhang Yang.

So during the official timeout, Skiles had not even considered the possibility of the opposition playing fast.

Skiles didn’t expect that in just a few short months, Rondo would have improved so much in his fast-break play. While he definitely lagged behind the top-tier players, this sudden move was enough to get the job done.

’Little Kidd’ really has Kidd-like talent!

Rondo: I’m flattered, but during the off-season, I learned a little something from Master Nash.

Skiles fought the urge to call a timeout, his stubbornness kicking in—let’s see whether your ’Little Kidd’ hits those long-range shots in a fast break or our ’Little Giant’ gets precise in low post solo play!

As Rondo passed the ball to Hill, Zhang Yang immediately turned and ran to the backcourt, preventing a long pass to Yao Ming.

In the transition from defense to offense, Yao Ming continued his low post solo play, against the double team, stepping on the right side of the three-second area, he smoothly spun and scored with a hook shot from the baseline.

The Bobcats continued the fast break!

It was Okafor who stayed calm despite having three balls scored on him consecutively, taking the initiative to run a fast break first.

Seeing Okafor rushing past him toward the opposite side, Yao Ming simply didn’t bother chasing and stayed in the frontcourt, spreading his hands, indicating, "In such a situation, what can you do when a ’little giant’ is pulling away? Just enjoy the ride."

The Chicago Bulls this time are falling back on defense, 4 defending against 5... and they actually managed to hold the line!

Under great pressure, the Bulls’ players were extremely calm in their response, blocking the fast Rondo, closing in under the basket, and allowing the Charlotte Bobcats mid- and long-range shooting opportunities.

Mike Miller goes for a trailing three-pointer for the second consecutive time, and it’s a miss... But!

Zhang Yang snatched the offensive rebound close by, took a step into the three-second zone, and hit the second-chance layup!

to 18, the Charlotte Bobcats continued to maintain a 4-point lead!

In the past two rounds, Zhang Yang was just a decoy on the wing, and in the last round, he even fell back on defense directly, so when the ball was transitioning through the hands of Rondo, Hill, and Mike Miller, the Bulls players completely overlooked Zhang Yang.

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang moved according to the opponent’s defensive adjustments; with Joe Smith and Nocioni both positioned under the basket, Okafor couldn’t break through, unable to secure the offensive rebound, so Zhang Yang naturally chose to quietly slip in.

After Zhang Yang scored, Duhon looked to see if Yao Ming was open, only to find Okafor had already retreated to mid-court!

This tacit understanding, this enthusiastic sense of tackling the dirty and tiring work... At that moment, Duhon was as impressed as Hinrich.

Okafor and Zhang Yang, these two were the strongest players of the Charlotte Bobcats, the dual nuclei of the champions!

A few seconds ago, the pressure was mounting on the Charlotte Bobcats players as they launched a counterattack.

The pressure hadn’t disappeared, it had only shifted, and now the pressure was on Yao Ming, who was on the offensive in a positional battle.

Yao Ming continued facing a double-team, spinning on the right edge of the three-second area and hooking the ball toward the basket... He missed!

Rondo overpowers Joe Smith to protect the defensive rebound!

However, Rondo couldn’t immediately launch a fast break this time; Joe Smith’s interference meant that by the time Rondo had changed direction to pass Smith, Yao had already run past the free-throw line, and the Chicago Bulls’ fall-back defense was well-coordinated, preventing Rondo from quickly advancing to create a mismatch on the transition attack, falling back into set play.

Rondo directed his teammates to move, then suddenly started a drive!

Duhon got caught off-guard and was beaten!

Duhon: "I’m not the fastest guy on the court anymore..."

Yao Ming steps up, Joe Smith retreats to the elbow area, covering Rondo’s drive to the basket, Okafor’s catch on the wing, and his cut-ins; Rondo passes the ball... Hill catches the ball on the left side of the free-throw line, gets the shot off before Duhon can properly contest... And misses!

Rondo made a good pass, and Hill took a good shot, but Hill’s touch suffered heavily while skirmishing with Yao!

Yao turns around and bumps away the charging Zhang Yang with his backside, securing the defensive rebound.

In the transition from defense to offense, Yao feels exhausted, but he still actively positions himself in the low post, leaning on Okafor asking for the ball.

After playing four rounds continuously, now on the fifth... Not to mention Yao, a center, even letting Zhang Yang, a guard, play iso for four or five rounds in a row, would be tough, necessitating a break of a couple of rounds in between to ensure accuracy.

In that instant, Yao felt a bit nostalgic for his heavier past self from last season, when he weighed 145 kilograms and could often boast a weight advantage of over 25 kilograms against most centers. Just in terms of playing back to the basket, it was easier than now.

But that was just a fleeting thought. After receiving the ball, Yao continued to focus on offense!

The current point difference was 4 points, with the Charlotte Bobcats looking to extend the lead to 6 points, and the Chicago Bulls aiming to reduce it to 2 points at the very least and not let the gap widen to more than 5 points. It was a tight struggle.

As the ’newly appointed’ team star, Yao felt it was his responsibility.

Hill went up to join the double team again, leaving Okafor alone under the basket. Whether he could defend successfully was not the question – it was pitiful to watch with a height difference of more than 20 centimeters.

After five offensive attempts by Yao, he was moving further away from the basket; he couldn’t wedge his way in, but he was ready, raising the ball the instant Hill got close, flicking with his fingertips, the ball accurately flying into Joe Smith’s hands.

Joe Smith took a mid-range shot from the right side of the three-second area...

This shot could be considered key at the end of the first quarter, and Joe Smith’s mental strength was slightly lacking!

The direction of the shot was quite accurate, but the power was too much!

The ball bounced off the inside of the rim and came out. Yao Ming, having the upper hand against a double-team, seemed set to grab the rebound, but Rondo lunged beside the three players, stretching his long arm first, and secured the ball!

After Joe Smith’s missed shot, he didn’t linger on the frustration of missing the open jumper and immediately moved in front of Rondo, but this time Rondo had support. Grabbing the rebound, he quickly passed the ball out... Zhang Yang caught it on the left side of the three-second area, turned around, and started the counterattack!

Having rested for a few minutes, Zhang Yang had recovered some energy, charging all the way to the opponent’s interior, unleashing the Euro step. The first step avoided Duhon’s attempted steal, and with the second step, he moved in front of Sefolosha and went up over his face, scoring the layup!

With 6 of 8 shooting and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line, Zhang Yang finished the quarter with 14 points, helping the Charlotte Bobcats to a 6-point lead!