No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 830 - 353. The Clash Between the Old and New Era_2

Tonight, Skiles made more targeted offensive adjustments and was glad he did.

The sophistication of the Bobcats’ offensive coordination has fundamentally improved compared to the two games in the first half of the season.

With Brad Miller, Okafor, Hill, and Mike Miller not on the court, and it not being Zhang Yang initiating the offense, the Bobcats were still able to play fluent team offensive cooperation and create scoring opportunities!

As Carlisle said, the role positioning of the teammates was relatively fixed, making it easier for Millsap to facilitate the offense, and he delivered.

When the team offense was blocked, just giving the ball to Zhang Yang was enough for someone to cover him.

However, the Bulls held up against the Bobcats’ momentum during the second lineup phase!

Firstly, Skiles anticipated this situation and made offensive reinforcements during preparation.

Another issue was on the Bobcats’ side.

The players paired with Millsap had relatively fixed roles, allowing him to organize the offense without considering too many changes. When the team offense couldn’t be executed, he would pass it to Zhang Yang for isolation, and someone was covering him.

This is precisely why the upper and lower limits of the team offense for this lineup were lower than that of the starting lineup. When the opponents played normally, they couldn’t establish an advantage like the starting phase.

By the end of the quarter, the Bobcats led the Bulls by 32-28, with both teams scoring 12-13 after the official timeout in more than four minutes, with the core combination of Millsap and Felton, along with Zhang Yang, managing to hold onto the lead.

In the final two minutes, Skiles called a timeout, bringing in Hinrich and Luol Deng to replace them, along with Nocioni, Joe Smith, and Yao Ming, launching a counterattack in an attempt to overcome the deficit in the first quarter.

Being the league leader, they are so fierce.

The Bobcats also took advantage of the timeout to substitute, but only for regular rotation, with Jarett Jack, Alan Anderson, and Hill coming on, while Zhang Yang and Perkins continued to play.

After the timeout, Yao Ming, who had been taking the high position for shooting, assisting, and defending low, returned to aggressively attack in the low post, coordinating with Hinrich and Luol Deng, leading the Bulls to score three consecutive baskets and gain six points.

During this period, the Bobcats only had Alan Anderson scoring a responding three-pointer from the open corner.

The score reached 34-35, with the Bulls closing the gap to one point!

As the Bulls were about to take the lead, Zhang Yang stood out, breaking through Luol Deng, going near to score against Joe Smith’s defense, and making a stop-and-jump shot, while being fouled by the chasing Luol Deng, earning an additional free throw!

Zhang Yang also made the free throw, leading the score to 38-34, extending the gap back to 4 points!

In the last attack of the first quarter, Hinrich and Joe Smith initiated a screen-and-roll offense, Hinrich shot from the right side of the free-throw line after a pick... only to be swatted away by Zhang Yang, who had shrunk in from a 45-degree angle!

The ball was swatted to the left side of the three-second area, and amidst a scramble between the players, the long whistle signaling the end of the first quarter sounded.

Zhang Yang’s three-point play plus block rendered the Bulls’ final two minutes of counterattack futile, securing their 4-point lead!

...

Scoring 38 points in a single quarter, Skiles was astonished.

Additionally, Zhang Yang managed to shoot 8 out of 11 in the quarter, including 2 out of 3 from three-point range, plus 3 out of 3 from free throws, relentlessly scoring 21 points!

If he recalled correctly, this was Zhang Yang’s best single-quarter scoring performance of the season.

It was Zhang Yang’s pulling effect that allowed other Bobcats players to shoot 6 out of 10, including 3 out of 5 from three-point range, plus 2 out of 4 from free throws, achieving a 17-point contribution.

The Bobcats’ remaining players did well in scoring from assists, which in turn created better scoring opportunities for Zhang Yang.

The Bobcats’ team offense in the first quarter, Skiles described to the assistant coach as—perfect.

He was once again glad that he further adjusted the offensive and defensive input ratio with the Bobcats’ cooperation. The Bobcats’ offensive system had been improving and changing with each confrontation since the Christmas battle.

If they played consecutive games like the Pistons and Bobcats, gaining experience and more comprehensive defensive preparation in the second matchup, he was confident that they could defend better than the Pistons did, and the Bobcats couldn’t score as much in the first quarter, nor could Zhang Yang score that much.

However, the matches between them and the Bobcats were among the most important in the league, with long intervals between every game... it was quite uncomfortable, and every matchup felt like playing against a new team.

He was already feeling anxious about the concluding battle now.

At least, in the playoffs, there will be multiple games in succession, so Skiles wasn’t too worried.

At the end of the first quarter, Zhang Yang’s three-point play and block stymied the Bulls’ counterattack, frustrating both their coach and players, igniting a second attempt to counterattack in the second quarter!

The Bobcats fell slightly behind at the beginning of the second quarter, briefly surpassed by the Bulls by one point, with a 9-14 start making the score 47-48.

Despite Zhang Yang pounding the Bulls in the first quarter, they also managed to score 34 points, gaining a better understanding of what could be accomplished on defense against the Bobcats. In the second quarter, even with their shooting touch wavering as the game progressed, they maintained their first-quarter offensive intensity.

However, corresponding to that, the Bobcats also had a deeper understanding of the Bulls’ defense tonight, with Carlisle making more targeted offensive adjustments, with long-term views on the entire quarter and match, rather than focusing on the momentary gains and losses of a few possessions.

After Carlisle brought Felton, Brad Miller, and Okafor back into the game, the Bobcats regained control, delivering a 22-16 score, reclaiming a 5-point lead at 69 to 64.

In the key exchanges at the end of the quarter, Hinrich missed an open three-pointer off a return pass from Luol Deng.

And Felton scored a step-back three-pointer while Zhang Yang was being closely guarded!

By halftime, the Bobcats led the Bulls by eight points, 72 to 64!

Zhang Yang’s scoring in the second quarter was suppressed, scoring one-third less than the first, playing 10 minutes with 6 attempts, hitting only 2, including 1 out of 3 from three-point range, plus 2 out of 2 free throws scoring 7 points. However, his impact was not less than that in the first quarter, as each of his moves engrossed the Bulls’ players, offering his teammates better offensive opportunities.

After the halftime break, both teams made diametrically different adjustments.

The Bulls dispatched Hinrich, Nocioni, Luol Deng, Joe Smith, and Yao Ming.

Yao Ming only played 6 minutes in the second quarter when the gap widened by the Bobcats, Skiles didn’t increase his second-quarter playing time to ensure he could be the main attack point with stamina to play the entire third quarter.

Skiles’ third-quarter game strategy was very traditional—star power offense.

Conversely, the Bobcats lined up Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Millsap, and Okafor for starters, with Mike Miller and Brad Miller initially resting and later coming on as substitutes, still focusing on team offense with the Double Guns securing the plays.

This marked a clash between traditional basketball represented by the Lakers and Bulls and the new era basketball led by the top four offensive teams.

Early in the third quarter, the advantage returned to the Bulls.

Star isolation was the best tactic during critical phases, especially with a low-post behemoth like Yao Ming.

Hinrich gave a completely different feeling in the third quarter. In the first and second quarters, his final shots fizzled—blocked once and missed an open three—but those were just routine times. When it came to the critical third quarter, he was shooting both decisively and precisely, just like he did facing Wade in last season’s playoffs sweeping the Heat.

However, with the Bobcats persisting with team offense to minimize unnecessary expenditure for Zhang Yang, as the third quarter progressed, they began to shoot more efficiently under Zhang Yang and Felton’s leadership!

The Bulls scored 15 to 10 in the first 5 minutes, narrowing the gap to 3 points.

In the next 6 minutes, the Bobcats responded with a 16 to 12 run, expanding the lead back to more than 5 points, leading the Bulls 98 to 91 by 7 points!

In the last attack of the third quarter, Zhang Yang slipped along the baseline to the right-side corner, while receiving the ball sideways to shoot with the basket, he hadn’t shaken off the defense. Without hesitation, facing the pursuing Luol Deng, he turned around and jumped. As he let the three-pointer fly, his body was already floating out of bounds...

Scored!

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