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Chapter 716 - 303. White Devil: Could it be that I am to become the ’big thigh’?

Chapter 716: 303. White Devil: Could it be that I am to become the ’big thigh’?

Back-to-back in the first battle, the Bobcats took it easy and won. The following evening, the Bobcats’ home court welcomed the match against the Hawks team.

At 6:40 p.m., at Tuhang Stadium, the visiting Hawks team entered the arena first.

Zhang Yang stood at the entrance of the player’s tunnel, watching as Pierce, Horford, Pachulia, Bibby, and Joe Johnson entered the arena one by one. No matter what he said or how confident he felt inside, the pressure was still there seeing the starting lineup of the opposing team.

After the entrance ceremony, the two teams exchanged pleasantries, mainly the two major stars from the Hawks team who were very enthusiastic.

In past encounters with the Hawks and the Celtics, it was rare to see a smile on the faces of Joe Johnson and Pierce, as their brows were always furrowed. This time, they enthusiastically came over to greet them, almost as if they were... showing off their new teammate?

Even the stoic Bibby was all smiles when he greeted Hill.

Zhang Yang wasn’t surprised to see the three of them so happy.

Ever since Webber was dumped by the King, Bibby had been making a fuss to leave. The King team had been placating with promises for several years... Perhaps the King team’s management didn’t intend to just make empty promises but truly believed they had the capability to rebuild a championship-contending squad.

For example, this summer, they carried out several maneuvers. While benefiting from the rookie bonuses of Kevin Martin and Artest as cheap labor, they retained both along with Bibby and Brad Miller, clearing up a max salary space, and recruited top-tier inside players in an attempt to recreate the ’Fab Five’.

Bibby had believed it for the past couple of years, but this summer, after seeing that even with such a quartet they couldn’t attract any top-tier inside players, he finally lost hope. After the season began, he requested a trade, making a stir to leave.

Pierce had already requested a trade after last season’s All-Star weekend.

Joe Johnson had almost lost his passion for basketball after playing point guard for a few years.

Now, Pierce had strong teammates, Bibby had successfully escaped from the King, and Joe Johnson no longer had to play point guard. All three were in their prime, either All-Stars or near All-Star level players. Two days ago, the trio had their first battle as a team, easily defeating the Knicks Team 107 to 95 in an away game.

Bibby scored 21 points with 6 assists, Pierce 23 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists, Joe Johnson 25 points with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. All three major outside players performed very well, dominating over Randolph, Crawford, Big Q, Eddie Curry, David Lee... and others.

Zhang Yang thought that if he were one of the three, he wouldn’t just be laughing but might directly challenge the Lakers and the Bulls, declaring "I am the number one in the universe."

...

At 7:00 p.m., Okafor won the jump ball against Pachulia, and the Bobcats took the first offense!

Hawks team starting lineup: Bibby, Joe Johnson, Pierce, Horford, Pachulia.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor, Perkins.

Zhang Yang received the ball at the high post for the first attack, going one-on-one against Joe Johnson. A behind-the-back dribble and a lateral move led to a jump shot... Joe Johnson’s interference was on point, the shot clanked!

Pierce secured the defensive rebound with ease, and Zhang Yang quickly fell back. He had been careless this time—the contemporary Jordan had become much more aggressive on defense than before.

In the transition offense, Bibby took the ball up to the frontcourt, looking for the team’s strongest one-on-one matchup... Where is everyone?

After looking around, he saw Pierce and Joe Johnson standing one step inside the three-point line at the baseline on both sides, then looked over at Horford at the left elbow area and Pachulia at the right elbow area.

Bibby: Are you guys playing performance art here? A symmetrical pattern?

The first attack last game seemed to be the same... Can’t you stop being so modest!?

Joe Johnson and Pierce were also speechless for a moment, exchanging glances... Neither of them moved.

Bibby decided to take it upon himself, going for a one-on-one breakthrough!

Against Felton’s defense, Bibby drove hard to the right side of the free-throw line and pulled up for a jumper. His speed was average and he couldn’t shake Felton. Under Felton’s contest, he forced up a mid-range shot... it missed!

Perkins secured the defensive rebound, and Felton drove the ball up to the frontcourt. Seeing that Zhang Yang wasn’t continuing to position himself high, he lobbed the ball to Okafor, who was pinning down Horford in the low post.

Okafor backed into Horford, pushing him back a step. Horford immediately pushed back, and Okafor took advantage of the moment Horford pressured to spin into the three-second area.

Pachulia smartly moved to block Okafor. Okafor passed the ball...

Zhang Yang cut to the left side of the three-second area after using Felton’s screen, caught Okafor’s pass, and went up for a layup over the defending Bibby... and scored!

It was the Hawks team’s turn to attack.

After a rough start with one-on-one plays that didn’t work out and being capped with a layup in team defense, Bibby remained calm and didn’t go for the solo play.

His biggest advantage—physical confrontation—wasn’t that effective against Felton.

He signaled his teammates to execute some sets.

Bibby seemed to have figured it out in the second game; the two All-Star teammates were suddenly thin-skinned after the big trade—Joe Johnson was worried that taking initiative to go one-on-one would seem too domineering and upset the newly arrived star teammates, while Pierce felt that as the newcomer, he should play a supporting role, at least initially.

Bibby: So I’m the only one who doesn’t understand the ways of the world?

But Bibby never cared about other people’s opinions. Since both his teammates were being modest, he took on the role of the leader.

Horford received the instructions and came out to screen Felton for Bibby.

Bibby used the screen to break through and passed the ball to Pierce who had moved to the left side of the paint.

Pierce encountered a switch and had the chance to take a rhythm shot, but instead of gambling on his shooting hand, he safely passed it to Joe Johnson, who had circled to the top of the key. Felton, who was at the free-throw line, pushed up on Joe Johnson. Not relying on his height advantage, Joe Johnson passed to the open Horford.

But the ball had transitioned through the hands of Pierce and Joe Johnson twice, and that time allowed Okafor to get back on defense.

As soon as Horford turned around with the ball, Okafor had already raised his long arm to block him.

Horford faked a shot, but Okafor didn’t bite. As a rookie facing Okafor, Horford was somewhat timid and passed the ball back to Bibby, who had pulled out to the perimeter again.

The ball had come full circle back to him. Bibby looked at Zhang Yang, who had switched onto him.... This was no better than going one-on-one with Felton!

The only highlight of this round of tactical play was that the passing between the number one and four spots was secure, with no turnovers.

Seeing Felton fiercely sticking to Joe Johnson, pushing against Joe Johnson’s lower body, and Hill closely guarding Pierce with the shot clock winding down, Bibby took matters into his own hands.

Against Zhang Yang’s defense, Bibby forcefully drove in two steps before stopping abruptly for a pull-up jumper.... "Clang"....

Bibby’s shot was heavily contested by Zhang Yang, and he couldn’t even see the basket; he was throwing the ball based purely on feeling—missed!

Perkins grabbed the defensive rebound, with Horford pressuring to disrupt the pass and create a chance for his teammates to get back on defense.

Judging by individual defensive abilities alone, all five starters of the Hawks weren’t bad.

Even Joe Johnson was actively getting back. In previous years, he was almost blown up every night, simply because he was tasked with guarding the opposing point guard and couldn’t keep up with their speed. Over time, he completely lost his defensive drive, becoming what media and fans called a ’bench decoration’ at the top of the key. But now he had rediscovered his former proactiveness.

Zhang Yang received the pass from Perkins. The fast-break opportunity had disappeared, so he passed the ball to Felton to continue playing a set offense.

Felton advanced to the frontcourt and continued to feed Okafor for a one-on-one. The freshly-doubled double 20 Okafor posted a significant threat tonight. Pierce moved to double-team from the wing, Hill circled inside the free-throw line to receive the pass, Pachulia stepped up to defend, and Hill tossed the ball to the left.

Zhang Yang moved up from the left baseline to the left of the free-throw line. Pachulia quickly covered up to Zhang Yang, joining Joe Johnson to double-team him.

And here is where the mentality of each team’s best scorer showcased their difference... Faced with a double-team, including the opposing center, doesn’t that mean at least one of the frontcourt trio was left wide open?

Zhang Yang pulled up for a mid-range shot!

Hill charged from the free-throw line straight under the basket... only to find it fruitless.

Zhang Yang’s decisive mid-range shot went in!

The situation in these opening exchanges was far different from what the King’s players had anticipated!

The Hawks defense was in chaos.

Pachulia played with effort, but his abilities were limited. Once he stepped out, he couldn’t get back to the basket.

Horford had talent, immediate combat power, and enthusiasm, but he lacked experience. His combat effectiveness was decent but not particularly impressive, especially since he was just a rookie. In the previous 20-plus games, the Hawks were the third-worst team in the Eastern Conference... at that moment, he didn’t know what to do and completely failed to serve as the ’interior-exterior defensive link’ the media talked about.

Bibby, Joe Johnson, and Pierce all had good defense, but their coordination with their teammates was almost non-existent.

Just now, the double-team on Zhang Yang by Joe Johnson and Pachulia focused on blocking Zhang Yang’s driving lane, and they jumped with him after he took off. This kind of double-team didn’t make much difference whether it happened or not.

These problems all add up to one thing—the defense was not systematic and lacked any structure.

Three of the five starters had been switched out. Tyronn Lue, Marvin Williams, and Josh Smith left the team, with two new players on the perimeter. Horford moved from his original starting center position to power forward, and Pachulia returned to the starting lineup from the bench... Now they not only lacked defensive cooperation, but they also lost the implicit understanding they relied on for defense.

However, it was expected that the Hawk’s defense would be worse than before in the short term following the trade. The King’s team had guessed this, even though the Hawk’s head coach was Mike Woodson, a renowned defensive coach. However, in more than two years, the Hawk’s development of a defensive system was practically zero. But this could not be blamed on Woodson—it was due to the Hawk’s management’s outrageous decisions.

But the Hawk’s struggling offense was puzzling the King’s players—just two days ago against the Knicks Team, their offense was quite good!

But regardless of the confusion, they had the advantage and were determined to press the attack, expanding their lead!

At the end of the first quarter, the King’s team exploded for 31 points, leading by 9 points with a score of 31 to 22 against the Hawks!

If it wasn’t for Bibby’s last-minute and-one play at the end of the quarter, where he got inside off a screen against Okafor and scored with a floater, the Hawks would not have finished the quarter with over 20 points!

After enduring for a quarter and entering the interval, White Devil pulled the 35 seconds 13 points and the contemporary Jordan to one side, "Can you guys be a bit more proactive?"

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