No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 861 - 370. You’re still far from it.

During the Kings’ offense, Kevin Martin wants to continue the isolation play, having just been countered once, he wants to hit back!

Rondo guessed his teammate’s thought, and also plans to pass the ball for Kevin Martin’s isolation play.

Compared to being around Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen, those big guys with somewhat problematic personalities, here with Felton, Zhang Yang, and Okafor, he spent the important "social recognition phase" upon entering the NBA; although his character still remains arrogant, he is more adept at handling situations.

Having experienced the Bobcats’ rise season, after changing teams, he wants to be the Boss, deeply influenced by the Bobcats’ team style of not being willing to fall behind any opponent.

But he has never been the Boss, during high school, 9th to 11th grade he played uncomfortably at East Louisvile High School, the league in that area was too small, opponents and teammates were too weak, limiting his performance; he could get more than 30 points and a dozen rebounds almost every game, but teammates couldn’t hit the shots he passed, that high school didn’t really have the concept of a "Boss", in games everyone was just watching him play, people in that area willing to watch high school games were there just for him.

In the 12th grade, he was invited to transfer to the legendary Oak Hill Academy, and became teammates with Lawson in 10th grade and Beasley in 9th grade, those two were pretty strong, a killing combination; although he was ranked 20th nationally at the end of his 12th grade, during high school those two entered the school as big shots, eventually ranking 5th and 4th in the nation respectively, he had no chance at the Boss position as a transfer student.

During his time at the University of Kentucky, he also didn’t become the Boss, Kelenna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes were the leaders there at the time.

He lacks experience being the Boss, but he can learn—his best example being Felton.

He doesn’t really admire Felton’s ability to lead the team in games, thinking he can replace Felton as a starter no problem; of course, tactics would need to change a bit, lots of things Felton can do he cannot;

But he gives Felton a thumbs up for his ability to lead the team.

He knows Felton has steadily become the immovable Boss of the Bobcats, Zhang Yang’s assistance played a big role; but it was Felton’s willingness to lead the team, his straightforward personality, attentiveness to teammates’ thoughts and emotions, and tireless efforts to help teammates solve problems... that’s key.

Kevin Martin wants to compete with Zhang Yang and has the capability, Rondo chooses to support him, his ability to become the team’s leader as a sophomore is very much aided by the support from good-natured teammates Kevin Martin and Jason Richardson.

If it can spark an interest in Zhang Yang for a one-on-one showdown, thereby influencing the Bobcats’ team offense, it would benefit the entire game.

But Rondo stopped the ball yet couldn’t pass it out!

In the instant Rondo made the stop-ball motion, Zhang Yang started a physical battle and front defense on Kevin Martin!

Felton cooperated seamlessly, pressing towards Rondo who had picked up the ball, attempting a physical steal.

Luckily, Rondo reacted quickly, turned, bumped Felton aside with his hip, swung to the right, and passed to the approaching Dunk King.

Jason Richardson caught the ball and charged in, Mike Miller couldn’t defend him, Jason Richardson drove to a close range, attracting the defense, then passed to Hawes who had opened up to the right baseline mid-range; Hawes caught the pass and shot... hit!

Just like Brad Miller said, this 2007 lottery talent has both immediate skill and potential.

Since becoming a starter, Hawes, in the near 30 games, has averaged 9.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, with a wide shooting range, even achieving 34% three-point accuracy in the past two months, hitting over 40% on mid-range and long twos.

A great passing talent, he was a guard before the 11th grade, at 17 years he grew 20 cm to 2.1 meters tall, had to switch to play as a center.

However, his weakness is clear, his 216 cm and 111 kg frame is too thin, posing almost no threat in close range, with only a 55% field goal rate at the rim, not even as good as the outside player Kevin Martin who is not strong in inside scoring; defense-wise is even more dire, poor individual defense, insufficient initiative in team defense can only execute tactics...

But overall, having this capability at 19 is quite impressive, if developed properly, he has potential to become a tactical core for a strong team’s inside.

Retreating defense Coach Long is pleased with the score, rookie teammates with good talent will make his team stronger and stronger.

But also mocks: You Third Bro are really again not giving face, just know how to use brute force to bully!

Things didn’t go as expected, but Rondo admires Zhang Yang’s defensive awareness.

In the previous turn, Zhang Yang for fear of being fouled by the contemporary flopper Kevin Martin, dared not engage in physical confrontation, easily conceding a goal.

This time, Zhang Yang started the physical battle before Kevin Martin caught the ball, regardless of whether Kevin Martin eventually catches it or not, the confrontation was initiated, can at least consume a round.

Knowing it’s unavoidable to defend, finding the most useful defense method in a short span... no wonder he’s viewed as a future top defensive expert at just 19.

The Bobcats have their turn at offense, seeing Zhang Yang going high for the ball, Rondo is inwardly pleased.

Although the process was slightly different, the plan to lure Zhang Yang into a one-on-one seems to have worked!

Zhang Yang at the high post going one-on-one against Kevin Martin, taking a step back, turning, and stepping to the free throw line distance, he jumps up, mid-range shot, scored!

Transitioning the offense and defense, last time Kevin Martin didn’t receive the ball, and Rondo almost made a mistake, he didn’t anticipate Zhang Yang would defend like that.

He’s been slender and lacking strength for a while now, he’s long been adept at dealing with physical combat and front guarding, he circles around, utilizes nimble steps to temporarily evade Zhang Yang, although Zhang Yang quickly closed in again, he successfully received the pass from Rondo.

Zhang Yang didn’t put up a challenge, but his defense was close, primarily focusing on preventing the shot.

Kevin Martin exploited the threat of mid-range damage, dribbling past Zhang Yang successfully, pulling up a short distance, stopping abruptly before Okafor could reach for a block, jumps up, scores with a jump shot.

Now it’s the Bobcats’ turn to attack, Zhang Yang called for the ball on the right of the free throw line, turning right mid-drive.

When he reached close distance, Hawes moved into charge zone, Zhang Yang jumped up directly, bracing against Hawes who pressed forward, makes a difficult layup!

After a few rounds, Zhang Yang noticed, Hawes has great offensive positioning sense, defensively... executing Rondo’s arrangement well, but anything outside of Rondo’s arrangement, he does poorly, even basic rim protection is inadequate.

Failing to guard one-on-one is something Kevin Martin’s already accustomed to, as the Kings go on the offensive, he continues to request a one-on-one, getting into a standoff with Zhang Yang!

Of course, Rondo will pass him the ball, as it’s part of executing his ’disrupt team coordination’ tactical strategy.

In the following rounds, both sides used one-on-one as the metric for launching their attacks, not only Zhang Yang and Kevin Martin, but Jason Richardson, Felton, and Okafor also mainly focused on one-on-one play, Rondo himself even made a sneaky step to drive the basket.

During this period, both teams fought back and forth, Kevin Martin and Jason Richardson were contrasted against Pierce and Joe Johnson, relying on their scoring ability.

The game seems to be developing in the direction that Rondo wants, but as it continues, he starts to feel something is amiss.

Their team doesn’t seem to have any intention of playing team offense?

After the official timeout in the first quarter, the Kings started to fall behind.

Zhang Yang’s ’physical pre-one-on-one’ defensive strategy began to take effect, Kevin Martin’s form started to wane, whereas Kevin Martin’s challenge had basically no impact on Zhang Yang, making Zhang Yang’s form only grow hotter.

The gap in stability between stars’ one-on-one plays began to show as the game deepened, Jason Richardson’s side has stronger scoring ability than Felton and Okafor, but the Bobcats just have more personnel, they rotate in threes, while the Kings generally rotate two, and when Felton is tired, Jarrett Jack steps in as relief.

Hill and Millsap came off the bench one-on-one, and the Kings’ weak interior line couldn’t stop these two.

The Bobcats gradually built a score advantage, the Kings initially luring the Bobcats into matching one-on-one, became forced into star exchanging, not daring to ease off.

One-on-one scoring as the strongest scoring ability player’s approach has been one of the best tactics throughout, traditional basketball system offensive tactics are also constructed around this point.

Having Rondo lead the team to run tactics, the offensive force yielded isn’t necessarily stronger than the individual scoring from Jason Richardson and Kevin Martin!

By the end of the first quarter, the Kings were already 5 points behind, the Three-Point King of the season, Jason Richardson himself came in, outside against Alan Anderson who had come off the bench for a three-point shot... missed!

Perkins coming off the bench held Hawes in check, Zhang Yang grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack!

Only Rondo retreated for the Kings, after retreating into the free throw line suddenly, he realized something, rushed back towards beyond the three-point line...

Zhang Yang facing the charging Rondo, paused at the top arc, shot a trailing three-pointer... scored!

to 27, the Bobcats expanded their 5-point lead to 8 points!

Rondo stopped in front of Zhang Yang, at this moment, he understood everything, his tactics were not rooted in team offense for the night, more rather relying on star power for the second game of a back-to-back to win, and he unknowingly helped the opposing side achieve their strategic target!

Upon landing, looking at the frustrated Rondo, Zhang Yang lowered his head and said, "Rajon, you still have a long way to go..."

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦