No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 181 - 106. Charlotte, a Mountain (Extra update for every 20k recommendation tickets)_2
Chapter 181: 106. Charlotte, a Mountain (Extra update for every 20k recommendation tickets)_2
Mike Brown applied what he had learned in his three years as an assistant coach with the Spurs to the Cavaliers, creating excellent growth conditions for early-career LeBron James, with the Spurs’ 2000 to 2003 philosophy of defense first, and giving the ball to the strongest player on offense.
On offense, Brezec toughened up, giving Zhang Yang a surprise, but on defense, Zhang Yang didn’t expect much from Brezec... Sure enough, after James drove toward the basket, he scored a layup against Brezec using just three steps, without even needing the new rule’s allowed "continuation step."
Brezec’s defense was too soft!
When it came to the Bobcats’ offense, Gerald Wallace also directly called for the ball to drive. freewёbnoνel.com
James’s lateral movement misjudgment caused him to be bypassed by Gerald Wallace.
Gerald Wallace drove to the basket and made a flying layup.
Brezec was soft; Big Z wasn’t soft, but he was slow!
Brezec had good offensive awareness. As soon as Gerald started to drive, he turned and ran to the baseline. Big Z followed for two steps and saw Gerald driving in, immediately turned back to chase... But those two steps cost him the chance to be adequately positioned for defense.
James’s drives were sharp. Even Gerald Wallace couldn’t defend against him one-on-one, and the interior defense didn’t help either as the Bobcats started losing points consecutively.
But the Cavaliers also couldn’t stop the Bobcats’ offense!
Currently, James’s defense was pretty bad, unable to stop Gerald Wallace’s drives. On Snow’s side, relying purely on skill for defense due to his age, he simply couldn’t stop the young and strong Felton.
Facing the drive attacks of Felton and Gerald Wallace, the Cavaliers players started missing Larry Hughes.
Although after Hughes’s injury, James took over the offense, and the Cavaliers’ average score in the last 18 games soared to 99 points from 94 points in the previous 27 games, their defense significantly worsened. Previously, the Cavaliers conceded an average of 92 points per game, top-tier in the league; in the last 18 games, they conceded an average of 96 points per game, just slightly below the league average.
Previously, Snow and Larry Hughes helped James cover defensive weak spots by collapsing and helping on the wings. Now with only Snow, every time they faced opponents with strong penetrating power, Big Z below the basket suffered.
However, as the game progressed, the Cavaliers started showing their advantage!
With Felton and Gerald Wallace taking turns battling James with drives, when those two needed a breather after several minutes of aggressive play, James could still continue to drive!
This season, James averaged 42 minutes per game, leading the league in number of drives and dribble breaks at the basket, and his defensive effort, based purely on instinct, probably also ranked among the top in the league...
Zhang Yang, watching in amazement, observed how tall, fast, strong, agile, and well-conditioned he was!
The score reached 15 to 11, with the Bobcats calling for a timeout and substituting; Zhang Yang, Jumaine Jones, and Perkins replaced Karim Rush, Eli, and Brezec.
Zhang Yang stretched a bit, and while the timeout hadn’t ended, gathered his teammates who had come onto the court together and said a few words.
Felton: "Jack, are you kidding me?"
Zhang Yang: "Just try it, how will you know it won’t work without trying? If it fails, no worries, think of it as helping Gerald relieve defensive fatigue. If Gerald has less fatigue on defense, he can perform better on offense and relieve your offensive pressure."
Gerald Wallace: "I have no objections, but I don’t think Raymond can do it, I couldn’t even do it."
Felton: "Who says I can’t? Just let me do it!"
Zhang Yang: Damn, boss Karim really can squeeze anyone!
Perkins: This rookie’s strategy is too outrageous, two guys competing to be the top dog actually accepted it! This team is really weird!
Jumaine Jones: It’s fine, they didn’t assign me any strange tasks.
...
Players from both teams came onto the court.
The Cavaliers also made player adjustments, replacing Ronald Murray, Snow, James, Gooden, and Big Z with Aleksandar Pavlovic.
The timeout ended, and the Bobcats resumed the offense with a mid-court inbound.
Felton received the inbounds pass and passed to Zhang Yang, spreading out the spacing.
Cheers erupted at the scene, and for the first time, Zhang Yang was matched up against James!
James, the son of American basketball, touted as the top talent of the new generation.
In this regard, many basketball fans in the Carolina region disagreed with the statement and believed Zhang Yang was the most talented.
Finally, the two players matched up, and the fans at the scene were incredibly excited.
Compared to the fans, Zhang Yang calmly protected the ball, waiting for his teammates to position themselves.
Suddenly, Zhang Yang made his move!
This time, James correctly predicted the movement, pressing forward to use his body to block Zhang Yang’s drive... Zhang Yang anticipated James’s anticipation, stopped his feet before the confrontation, dribbled between his legs to step back to the left, and James lunged past him from the front. Zhang Yang restarted, bypassed James, and charged down the middle!
The fans at the scene screamed in ecstasy at this sight; the rhythm was just too beautiful! It had a bit of a Steve Nash vibe!
As he drove inside, Zhang Yang remained composed. His step back had taken a bit more time; Big Z had already moved in. He drove to a suitable position, quickly grabbing the ball and shooting before James could catch up and Big Z could close in to trap him... It was good!
to 15, Zhang Yang helped the Bobcats keep up with the score!
Hearing the cheers of the fans, Zhang Yang calmly fell back on defense.
His role on the court at this time was to continue the offense, easing the offensive pressure on Felton and Gerald Wallace.
Playing defense against the Knight, who were only average in the league, offense was not a big problem, the key was in defense... it was up to Big Neal and the Heir.
Soon, the fans couldn’t cheer anymore.
They saw James advance to the front court, and guarding him at the top of the arc was Felton!
What kind of defensive matchup was this? Had Bickerstaff lost his mind?
Bickerstaff also looked bewildered; he hadn’t made any defensive adjustments just now, allowing the players to make their own decisions, but the players’ adjustments were too wild!
Felton, guarding at the top of the arc and watching James advance, also felt scared, but having already spoken out, he had to muster up his courage and go for it.
Right, what did that little rascal say again? Remembered it now...
James, seeing he was guarded by Felton, was also surprised, but before he could think that he was ’being underestimated,’ ’the opponent was crazy,’ etc., he saw Felton step back a long step, then another small step, almost retreating to the free-throw line!
The fans were baffled seeing Felton ’emptying’ James; what kind of defense was this?
Felton wanted to press forward again after stepping back, the unreliable little rascal, but he remembered what Zhang Yang said, "James generally only shoots threes at the start of the game when there’s no confrontation, or when they are trailing and desperate," and resisted the urge to press forward again.
Then... he saw that James really didn’t shoot and was driving down the middle instead!
Felton internally cursed, hurriedly taking small quick steps to prepare to move.
James charged to the free-throw line, and just as he was about to contact Felton, he changed direction, exploding along the baseline on the right side of the three-second area.
From the free-throw line to the right side of the basket was much shorter than from the top of the arc to the right side of the basket, so Felton wasn’t shaken off; he closely followed James, stretching out his hand to steal, his chubby hand was incredibly quick.
James almost lost the ball, hurriedly pulling the ball back and turning, facing back against Felton, stopping at the right side of the three-second line on the baseline.
Felton felt regretful, but his actions didn’t stop; he pressed up close against James.
Though he was stuck to him, Felton felt a chill inside, fearing he would be dominated, fearing he would be forcefully carved through, recalling all those centers thrashed and ravaged by O’Neal and Yao Ming. He had never imagined he would face such a day, that darn little brother... huh?
Wait, why hasn’t the impact come yet?
Felton braced for being dunked over, but James just kept dribbling there, looking around... almost five seconds back to the basket! Are you going to dunk on me or not?
James was also anxious. After backing down, he hadn’t attacked immediately, and the grim, ferocious-looking Center had already moved in. Not to mention he was not very skilled at back-to-the-basket power plays; even if he was, it was too late. No one had come to assist him yet, and he surely couldn’t just turn around and dribble out, could he?
Not to mention whether there would be enough time left for a full drive, being forced to pull out and retry breaking through a 6’1" guard - did he even care about his image anymore?
At this moment, the baseline referee’s countdown of 5 seconds had already reached "4". James, having waited in vain for a teammate to assist or perhaps his teammates didn’t expect James needing assistance in low-post back to Felton... one way or another, he had to shoot.
Then, Felton watched as James made an awkward turnaround jump shot... it hit the rim... and he really held him off!
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