No.1 in basketball scoring
Chapter 740 - 315. Corresponding answer

Chapter 740: 315. Corresponding answer

Two days of rest had passed, and on January 16th, Zhang Yang arrived at the arena at 8 a.m., not for a team meeting. The preparatory work for the game was mostly done yesterday, and today there was only one training session open to the media focusing on offense and defense. He came so early because today there was official documentary filming by the Court TV station.

The content of the filming had been agreed upon, such as getting up at 6 a.m., morning exercise, making breakfast, reading... and so forth.

Zhang Yang was initially resistant to this staged type of filming, but after communicating with Tellem, his parents, and the television station, he felt it was necessary. These documentaries were meant for the fans, to create a positive image of his lifestyle and to have a positive impact on them.

Moreover, his personal routine was already quite healthy, just not as exaggerated as when being filmed for a documentary. When he was alone, he liked to lounge on the sofa shirtless, wearing just his shorts - which definitely could not be included in the documentary...

Such filming wasn’t frequent during the season; normally, the Court TV station would also have a camera crew follow the teams and capture some footage, but these were just backup recordings or for the occasional unforeseen events that could be captured.

Formal filming like this only happened for certain key games, popular matches, or special day games, such as the Christmas Day game, the season opener where the champions’ rings were presented, playoffs... and so on.

Today was one of those high-profile games—Bad Boys vs. The Answer.

This match attracted a lot of attention, and was broadcast live in both the Rabbit and Hawk nations.

As Wade secured the 05-06 season FMVP and Zhang Yang took the 06-07 season FMVP, and with Paul emerging as a hot contender for MVP in the new season, ’the strongest No. 3 player’ became one of the hottest topics in the NBA.

Iverson, Wade, Paul, and Zhang Yang—these four players donning the No. 3 jersey, were highly sought after by the media and fans every time they faced off.

Among them, the confrontation between Zhang Yang and Iverson attracted the most attention!

Wade and Zhang Yang’s FMVP showdown was quite a spectacle, Zhang Yang’s battle with Paul as rookies from the same year was also highly anticipated, and the match-ups between any of the trio Iverson, Wade, and Paul generated a lot of buzz. But none matched the level of interest in the clash between Zhang Yang and Iverson.

The topic of No. 3 vs. No. 3 started initially from the match-ups between Zhang Yang and Iverson, with the other two No. 3 players adding to the derivative discussions of these matchups.

Nobody thought Wade or Paul resembled Iverson, and few people compared them with Iverson.

Wade, being noticeably taller than Iverson, was compared to Kobe after his second year partnered with O’Neal.

Paul, with an official height similar to Iverson’s, and impressive speed, had a start-off after creating space with high-frequency change of direction moves that gave off a feel similar to Iverson’s, but media and fans preferred to compare him with Isaiah Thomas.

Zhang Yang, seemingly the most different in height compared to Iverson and with a jumping ability that was the most distinct from Iverson among the three other No. 3 players, was still regarded by people as being the most similar to Iverson, specifically to the Iverson coached by Larry Brown.

In those days, Iverson did one thing on the court—shoot!

During Iverson’s period with three scoring titles in four years, there were three seasons where he averaged fewer than five assists per game, despite averaging 7.5 assists per game in his rookie season.

His lowest assist season was the 00-01 season, his MVP year, with only an average of 4.6 assists per game, ranking him third on the team. That season Eric Snow averaged 7 assists per game, and sixth man Aaron McKie averaged 5 assists per game.

In those seasons, Iverson was almost not responsible for organizing the offense; starting Snow took that responsibility, and McKie took over during rotations.

Iverson’s style included drive attacks, pull-up jumpers, off-ball high post shots, and baseline cuts for slam dunks...

Iverson averaged 4+ assists, which were mostly from being double-teamed hard when going solo or after moving off the ball and then being double-teamed.

Iverson, during those years, had a fundamental difference from Kobe, McGrady, Carter, Ray Allen, Wade, Pierce... and others, who, while leading their teams, also wore the crown of both scoring and assists leader. Iverson was a pure scorer.

And Zhang Yang, from his rookie year to now, aside from having a wider shooting range, played in a manner identical to Iverson during that period!

His assists were lower than Iverson’s during that period only because Zhang Yang’s scoring threat wasn’t as strong.

As Zhang Yang’s abilities improved, so too did his assists count: averaging 2.1 assists in his rookie year, 2.5 assists in his second year, and 3.1 assists per game for the current season thus far.

Nash, Kidd, Ginobili, and others felt Zhang Yang resembled their style of play.

But to the media and the fans, it was Iverson whom Zhang Yang resembled.

This season, with the Bobcats focusing on offense, third-year Zhang Yang benefitted the most, consistently maintaining an average of 30+ points per game, ranking second in the scoring list, just 0.5 points behind the leading James... making him even more like Iverson!

Iverson himself saw a significant increase in his scoring ability in his third year, leading the score charts for a long period during the regular season. In his first 40 games that season, he played 38, averaging 25.7 points per game, just behind O’Neal’s average of 26 points. However, in the last 10 games, he exploded with an average of 31 points per game, ultimately averaging 26.8 points for the season. Although O’Neal also peaked towards the end, he only increased from 26 points to 26.2 points, allowing Iverson to overtake him for the scoring title in the season’s final month and a half... It’s worth mentioning that season, they were the only two players to average over 25 points per game.