No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 857 - 368. Treat everyone equally

To secure over 55 wins and surge to second in the West, winning the last game against the Lakers would give Paul a chance to win the MVP competition.

However, at 7 PM, when the game started, the ambitious Paul faced a critical hit right out of the gate... The Bobcats shot 6 out of 8 in the first 4 minutes, with 2 successful three-pointers, Felton and Mike Miller each nailing a three-pointer, Okafor gaining a 2+1 free throw against David West, halting the Hornets at 15 to 8!

Byron Scott’s painstakingly developed defensive plan was completely disrupted by the Bobcats’ intricate movements!

Except for the Spurs, all strong defensive teams facing the adjusted Bobcats for the first time make the same mistake — trying to counter the Bobcats’ offensive changes through predictive adjustments.

However, their predictive adjustments are often based on traditional basketball concepts, and such adjustments are even worse than none at all.

The Bobcats changed their tactical concepts, tactical coordination details, rhythm, but the framework based on 80s offensive basketball, Triangle Offense, and Princeton remained unchanged.

Previously effective defenses may still be effective but just not as effective, and if they had the stability and teamwork of the Spurs, they might still defend quite well.

But apart from the extraordinarily unique Spurs, most defensive coaches will confidently believe they have the capability...

Compared to the Magic Team, the Hornets are somewhat better; in their last encounter with the Bobcats, they scored over 130 points, knowing that when playing against the Bobcats, it mainly relies on offense, and they prepared a lot on the offensive end, playing very well.

After the Bobcats scored 15 to 8, the Hornets picked up in the latter 8 minutes, scoring 23 points, keeping the gap tight without allowing the Bobcats to widen the difference.

The Bobcats’ scoring efficiency slightly declined in the subsequent 8 minutes but still managed to score 24 points, ending the first quarter leading the Hornets by 39 to 31!

The Hornets temporarily stabilized the situation, but the initiative and control of the game rhythm were in the hands of the Bobcats.

The Hornets began their long journey of catching up, with a surge in the middle of the second quarter narrowing the gap to 3 points, but Zhang Yang’s fast-break chasing three-pointer immediately stretched it back to 6 points.

After the surge, the Hornets fell into a slump, missing two consecutive shots, with the forwards helping Zhang Yang secure position, Zhang Yang grabbed the defensive rebound, launched a fast-break, and skillfully used the threat of chasing shots to set up Okafor for a reverse-flowing fast-break cooperation.

Okafor soared for an alley-oop slam dunk, regaining an 8-point lead!

Then Paul made a mid-range shot to steady the situation, but Felton immediately answered with a step-back three-pointer.

Facing Felton, who is as strong as an ox, Paul felt genuinely helpless. Back in college, when they faced off, Paul was the one being bullied. In the NBA, despite being an MVP-caliber player, Felton was just an ordinary star, still shy of an All-Star, yet in matchup situations, Paul continued to be the one bullied!

By halftime, the Bobcats were leading 69 to 60, 9 points over the Hornets!

The under 10-point gap continued into the second half of the third quarter when both teams’ role players needed a breather from fatigue, calling for the stars to step up and solve problems, and the Hornets were stumped as usual.

Peja, after shooting 6 out of 10, with two three-pointers and free throws for 16 points in the first two and a half quarters, suddenly wilted, missing even wide-open shots.

Paul faced Zhang Yang’s stout defense, Okafor’s inside support, and Hill’s wing defense was futile.

At this time, the only Hornets player capable of scoring was David West, but as an inside player, scoring 20 points per game was his usual limit, scoring 30 was an outburst, and relying on him to consistently score against the hot-shooting Zhang Yang was indeed a burden.

At the end of the third quarter, Zhang Yang made two mid-range shots in succession, then broke into the inside, scored a layup against Chandler, and caused a foul, single-handedly launching a 7 to 2 run to widen the gap to 13 points!

After three quarters, the Bobcats were leading the Hornets 100 to 87!

Zhang Yang scored 14 points in the third quarter single-handedly, reappearing as the ’Third Quarter King’ this season!

In the final quarter, the Hornets finally presented a strong quarter, unwilling to lose hope of rising to second in the West; they launched a desperate offensive, with Paul attempting six three-pointers in this quarter, landing three, scoring 13 points and 3 assists in the quarter, leading the Hornets to a whopping 34-point quarter.

On defense, disregarding pre-game preparations and defending impulsively, they also performed well with rough and fierce supplementary defense, limiting the Bobcats to just 27 points, and the Hornets winning the quarter by 7 points, but previous deficits were too significant, so the one-quarter advantage was futile.

Paul scored 25 points, 4 rebounds, 13 assists, 1 steal; David West 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists; Peja 22 points; Chandler 10 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 6 fouls; Bonzi Wells 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists; James Posey 14 points... Despite having 6 players score in double digits, the Hornets were still defeated.

Zhang Yang scored 16 points in the first quarter, 9 points in the second quarter, 14 points in the third quarter, and 13 points in the fourth quarter, playing 41 minutes in total, shooting 18 out of 30 from the field, 4 out of 7 from three-point range, along with shooting 12 out of 14 free throws, exploding for a total of 52 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists, leading the Bobcats to a steady 127 to 121 win over the Hornets, avenging their previous loss!

After the final whistle, Paul looked at the 6-point deficit, feeling unwilling, angry... What kind of coach is this! It would have been better not to adjust!

They lost because of the initial 8-point deficit!

In front of the TV, there was another person more frustrated than Paul.

Watching Zhang Yang accepting a post-game interview on TV: "The Spurs and the Hornets are competing for second in the West, we can’t mess them up. If we beat the Spurs, of course, we should treat the Hornets equally..."

A certain unnamed number 23 man: I worked so hard to bring the gap down to just 0.2 points, just on the verge of overtaking, yet this lousy Hornets team let Zhang San score over 50!

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆novelkiss