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Chapter 742 - 316. Let’s rush!

Chapter 742: 316. Let’s rush!

Zhang Yang landed, turned his head to tease Iverson with a raised eyebrow, and immediately ran toward the backcourt.

A thousand alpacas ran through Iverson’s mind.

He seemed to have heard about this move from Zhang Yang but had never seen it firsthand. When watching live broadcasts or recordings of the games between the Bobcats and those top teams, he had not seen it either.

Therefore, he thought that Zhang Yang had merely learned this move because of the phrase "bad boys like the answer," just as he himself had purposely learned the assassin’s mid-air drifting shot due to being called the "little assassin."

Everyone said he was the successor to the assassin, so he thought he might as well have a bit of fun learning it.

But Zhang Yang’s butterfly step breakthrough just now didn’t seem like just for fun.

Not considering the real-world effectiveness against top defenders, just looking at the technique, Zhang Yang had mastered the essence of this move!

Seeing Zhang Yang returning and Hill, who was smiling broadly, high-fiving, Iverson understood that it was this guy who had taught him.

Hill was also skilled at the butterfly step during his time at the Pistons, although his method was different. Hill dribbled fast, unlike his, the Answer’s, leisurely tempo-based dribbling, but the skills were similar. If Zhang Yang had the talent to learn, there wasn’t much difference between Hill teaching and him teaching.

However, this time Iverson wasn’t happy that Zhang Yang was "like him"; instead, he was quite annoyed.

He had never realized how infuriating his style of play was, but now, facing a butterfly step himself, he understood why those defending him were so prone to frustration—it was truly annoying...

Iverson ran to the frontcourt, called for the ball, and continued the attack!

The Nuggets settled into their game plan in the half-court—the trio of Iverson, Anthony, and J.R. Smith aggressively took the shots!

Zhang Yang defended energetically, but Iverson still easily broke into the paint. He stopped abruptly before Okafor got into position and shot... but missed.

Hill grabbed the defensive rebound, turned, and quickly passed it to Zhang Yang, who pushed forward on the fast break!

Iverson and Anthony Carter retreated to beneath the basket first, with Anthony chasing Zhang Yang from behind, their 3-on-1 defense surrounding the fast break!

Zhang Yang dashed into the midst of the three-sided encirclement, passing the ball to the right... Okafor followed up on the wing, took the ball, and glide-dunked for two points!

Iverson had intended to cover up after Zhang Yang passed the ball, but upon seeing Okafor receive the ball, he stepped aside.

The trio from the Nuggets’ perimeter had played surprisingly well in transition defense, something Zhang Yang found a bit baffling given the Nuggets’ porous defense—this trio actually defended so well.

Mike Miller hadn’t even come on yet, and if Okafor hadn’t lost weight to keep up, this fast break would have been wasted.

But then he understood. Iverson’s defensive weakness wasn’t due to a lack of defensive IQ or willingness; it was limited by his physical abilities. In the iron-blood era, with players like Snow on the wing and Mutombo or Ratliff behind him, Iverson had never been labeled a defensive black hole. These basic transition defenses, he would perform very well.

Anthony Carter was known for his efforts, so his proactive defense was normal.

Although Anthony wasn’t proactive in one-on-one defense, his transition and team defenses weren’t bad before he gained weight. The Nuggets originally played athletic, counterattacking basketball. George Karl, like Carlisle, embraced fast-paced gaming this season due to limited circumstances. George Karl still maintained a defensive baseline, which enabled them to bring in Billups later, soaring to second in the West, reaching the conference finals, and becoming the second-strongest team the Lakers faced in the 08-09 postseason.

In the original timeline, during the 08-09 playoffs, the Lakers’ toughest opponents in their four rounds of games were Yao Ming and Artest’s Rockets, the second toughest being the Billups and Anthony Nuggets. They completely outplayed teams like the Jazz and Magic...

Understanding the proactive and well-positioned defensive work of the Nuggets’ perimeter trio took just a moment. As Zhang Yang was about to move back and was thinking of high-fiving Okafor to celebrate their fast break collaboration, seeing that Anthony Carter did not hesitate to pick up the ball and pass it to Iverson, who also immediately rushed the fast break, Zhang Yang quickly hastened his steps to retreat on defense.

Okafor also saw their moves, pressed forward to disrupt Iverson’s advance, and from a theoretical standpoint, this was fine, but he didn’t touch him—Iverson was too fast!

Anthony and Anthony Carter also sprinted forward with all their might. Okafor, having failed in defense, was left behind, unable to keep up with the opposing perimeter trio’s speed, and alongside was Jarett Jack, who had just run up quickly on the transition.

Zhang Yang did retreat in time, but the backcourt was just him, Hill, Muhammad—3 against 5!

Iverson bypassed Zhang Yang heading straight for the basket, Muhammad stepped up to defend, Iverson lobbed the ball... and Kenyon Martin caught the alley-oop and dunked in two points!

Only then did Jarett Jack rush back to the paint, noticing the disordered positional play, he quickly signaled Muhammad to inbound, received the throw, and pushed for a fast break!

This counterattack was beautifully executed. Jarett Jack burst all the way to the opponents’ basket, passing left.

Zhang Yang followed up the middle, drawing the defense, while Okafor positioned himself on the left, received the ball, and hit the mid-range shot!

But, the Nuggets immediately countered again!

As soon as the ball fell through the net and before it hit the ground, Iverson already caught it and stepped out of bounds to throw inbounds to Anthony Carter. Anthony Carter, receiving the ball, swiped past the obstructing Zhang Yang and dashed with his short legs to the opposing basket.

Facing Muhammad guarding the rim, Anthony Carter circled the baseline, turned around, and made a floating shot!

The veteran, rich in experience, knew how best to play a one-on-one fast break to the interior as a smaller player.

The ball bounced once on the ground, Muhammad caught it, quickly stepped out of bounds, and passed back to Jarett Jack, who turned around under Anthony Parker’s defensive chase and pushed forward. Camby, just outside the three-point line, immediately backed off to the backcourt, and seeing this, Muhammad also quickly followed; his role as an interior player added some threat during the fast break... Under Jarett Jack’s lead, the Bobcats started running with the Nuggets!

George Karl, watching this unfold, smiled; the start was going smoothly!

With Felton, the steady traditional point guard not around, the remaining two point guards of the Bobcats couldn’t control the pace.

As he had predicted, Jarett Jack was easily drawn into running.

The Bobcats running this way could score indeed, but the Nuggets, with disciplined transition defense, lacked cooperative defensive capability.

But the Nuggets scored even more fiercely!

Running a disruptive play like this was exactly what the Nuggets were best at.

With 4 minutes and 22 seconds to go, Anthony received the ball in the frontcourt, took a step, and leapt. Iverson cut in from the wing, sprung up like he was on springs, and executed a breathtaking alley-oop dunk!

The Bobcats had scored 12 points in over four minutes, which wasn’t bad, but Iverson’s dunk brought the Nuggets up to 18 points, widening the gap to 6!

It was the Bobcats’ turn to attack; Jarett Jack still wanted to keep the pace up. He saw the scoring opportunity but couldn’t grasp it as well as Iverson on the opposite side. Not convinced, he wanted to prove himself.

But Zhang Yang also demanded the ball at the same time, and Hill passed it to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang advanced with the ball, pressing down with his left hand freeing him up, forcing Jarett Jack to give up and dutifully run up the court to set up for positional play, spreading out to draw the defense.

If he were paired with Rondo, Alan Anderson, or Afflalo in the backcourt, Jarett Jack would certainly have gone it alone.

If paired with Felton, Jarett Jack might have contested, talking things out as the boss.

But paired with Brother Three...

Brother Three was not one to reason, always retorting "I’m not the boss, go talk to the boss"—who doesn’t know that the boss listens to you?

Zhang Yang pushed to the frontcourt, closely guarded by Iverson.

This time, Iverson didn’t rashly reach for the steal, sticking close and limiting as much as he could.

Zhang Yang took a side step, shoved Iverson away, and burst forward!

Iverson kept close behind Zhang Yang, with Kenyon Martin stepping up to help defend.

Zhang Yang passed the ball; Okafor moved to the right side of the three-second zone, caught the ball and made a lob shot...

Camby didn’t move out to block, instead pushing against Muhammad prepared to rebound... as he watched the ball drop into the net.

to 18, the gap narrowed to 4 points.

After running half the quarter, Zhang Yang finally realized that playing positional offense against the Nuggets wasn’t any less efficient than fast breaks!

With Nene out, the only real defensive presence in the starting lineup of the Nuggets was Kenyon Martin.

But by the time Zhang Yang decided to take control and slow the pace, it was already too late—the Nuggets had already picked up momentum!

Camby caught the ball as soon as it descended, stepped out of bounds, and inbounded to Anthony Carter, then followed up into a fast break.

Before 2004, Camby was a serious defensive big man. In the 03-04 season, he worked hard to assist Anthony, leading the Nuggets from the bottom of the league into the playoffs. It paid off when he secured a four-year $32 million contract extension in the summer of 2004, a steep salary increase from his 1999 five-year $33 million extension.

But his joy didn’t last long as he saw his cohort Dampier earn a seven-year $70 million deal from the Mavericks after putting up 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks with the lowly Warriors... his mindset crumbled at that point, his ethos shattered. From the 04-05 season onward, he solely focused on blocks, rebounds, and finishing at the rim, neglecting everything else.

Over the past three seasons, George Karl found Camby’s behavior very troubling; using him meant a collapse in defense, but not using him left Kenyon Martin and Nene weak on rebounds. However, with the embrace of the fast break strategy this year, George Karl’s problem disappeared. Camby’s style of blocking shots, sticking to rebounds while staying confined to the restricted area, meant if the opponent scored, he could pick up the ball and start a fast break right away.

Anthony Carter quickly advanced to the frontcourt, passed to Iverson, who, while running, received the ball and burst forward.

The Bobcats had retreated in defense after their basket, but the opponents came too fast, and they hadn’t properly set their defensive positions, leaving a group scrambling to cover Iverson. Iverson passed to Anthony on the right, who drove for a layup... Zhang Yang leapt up and struck Anthony’s wrist. Although he disrupted the shot, he also got called for a foul, giving Anthony two free throws.

Carlisle, taking advantage of the dead ball, pulled Rondo, Mike Miller, and Millsap aside to make some adjustments.

Seeing that they had actively retreated after scoring and the opponents still successfully initiated a fast break, he had intended to call a timeout regardless of whether the opponents scored or not but decided against it after seeing Zhang Yang firmly land a slap on Anthony’s wrist.

Under normal conditions, Zhang Yang played with great sportsmanship, but when it came to committing fouls as a bad boy, he never held back.

Vincent had already received instructions to approach the technical table for a lineup change, substituting Jarett Jack, Hill, and Muhammad.

Anthony stepped up to the free-throw line, first throw... it clanked off. He shook his hands, that bad boy’s foul really was severe!

While Anthony and his teammates high-fived, buying time to regain his shooting touch, Mike Miller whispered a few words to Okafor, and Rondo also relayed Carlisle’s adjustments to Zhang Yang on the perimeter.

Zhang Yang felt this was yet another situation he needed to shoulder the blame for not reacting sooner and correcting Jarett Jack’s poor decision earlier.

He realized why, even though Jack, a god-level player often starting, with decent stamina and stats, ended up roaming like a vagrant.

Leaving aside the superstition of ’cursing starting point guards’...

Jarett Jack was good at chaotic plays and played confidently, not backing down from anyone... which worked great off the bench unless facing particularly strong opponents.

But making him a starter was troublesome; his confident style often dragged his teammates into his pace—into chaotic play. Yet his skills weren’t enough to lead, easily dragging his teammates down.

Previously, when Iron Man Fat Buddy was there, Jarett Jack was always a backup, so this problem wasn’t exposed. Now with Felton injured and Jarett Jack starting, the issue had come to the fore after just a few games.

Luckily, the Nuggets’ defense was poor, among the bottom three with the Warriors and Suns, so they hadn’t fallen behind too much. As for the pace being dictated by their opponents... it was time to charge ahead!

Running an offensive battle with Iverson, Zhang Yang found it exhilarating!