No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 874 - 374. Arrogant and unruly bad kid

Pachulia watched Zhang Yang and Felton bumping against each other in celebration while retreating on defense, hearing the frenzied cheers from the crowd. He felt really stifled, but could only hold it in.

If it were someone else, he would have pulled them down directly, refusing to be dunked over — such a good excuse. But this person...

The last time Zhang Yang fought was two and a half years ago; he only fought once on the court.

Yet his legend has continued to spread among the people, his notoriety even exaggerated beyond Laimbeer.

However, there is one point where Zhang Yang’s reputation is better than Laimbeer’s — if you don’t mess with the Bad Boy Jack, he won’t mess with you. He is a pure basketball player.

This is also the reason why, despite Zhang Yang’s notorious reputation and the Bobcats being called the New Bad Boys Legion, the league still supports them. If they really played like Laimbeer and the Old Bad Boys Legion, those Jews wouldn’t specifically target them in the games.

With the offense and defense switching, Zhang Yang’s dunk this time ignited the team’s morale, and they defended fiercely.

When Okafor moved to the free-throw line to help Bibby, Horford counter-cut from the left side of the free-throw line and received the ball for a layup... after which Okafor, recovering from defense, swatted it against the backboard!

On this play, Okafor really showed a bit of his draft template, Ben Wallace!

Zhang Yang pulled in to grab the defensive rebound, with Joe Johnson hitting his arm, the referee blew the whistle, resulting in a Bobcats backcourt ball.

This counts as a tactical foul, to prevent Zhang Yang from starting a fast break directly.

The Bobcats fell into a half-court set, with Felton continuing to single out and initiate an attack, while Zhang Yang and Okafor continued to pretend to screen.

Seeing Pierce and Horford choose to switch defense again, Bibby pulled into the middle once Felton passed the ball to Brad Miller.

As Bibby expected, Zhang Yang got the ball and got past Horford, heading straight into the paint. He courageously positioned himself between Zhang Yang and the basket, outside the restricted area, with both hands guarding his crotch.

But Zhang Yang, with excellent vision, noticed Bibby’s movement. After getting past Horford, he was ready to slow down, pulling up sharply in front of Bibby, and jumped!

Horford, who chased back, didn’t expect to keep up with Zhang Yang’s pace, eagerly lunged aiming to block from behind... only to swipe at nothing!

Zhang Yang didn’t even raise the ball above his head, instead jumping up and flicking the ball toward the right!

The ball flew over Okafor and Pierce’s heads, landing in the right corner.

Felton, who had spread to the corner after Bibby closed in the middle, caught the ball and shot a three-pointer... scored!

The Double Guns scored 5 consecutive points, with the Bobcats leading 7 to 2!

Seeing the Bobcats players excitedly retreating on defense, Bibby, with years of playing experience and having encountered various strong teams, knew that this young team had gained momentum!

He pushed forward after receiving the inbounds pass and signaled — our trio is going on.

Leading by example, he isolated Felton, broke through, stopped abruptly, and nailed a long two-pointer!

With a pick-and-roll center under the basket, two shooters on the wings, and a power forward capable of crashing the boards, isolating and taking long shots from the top arc to the free-throw line and within the 45-degree range on both wings, there was normally no double-team. Still, it heavily tested individual abilities! frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

Penetrating deeper to the sides, entering the free-throw distance, both the wings and basket could support defensive reinforcements, with passing lines easily intercepted. Any isolated player could only shoot within this unpredictable range, with defenders fully aware that the isolated player would shoot from here, unafraid of being bypassed...

But this playstyle was straightforward for the Hawks, as all their three major stars on the perimeter excelled at this!

Bibby’s play helped stabilize the situation for the Hawks.

However...

When the Bobcats attacked, Okafor forcefully muscled his way in low against Horford, who couldn’t hold him off. Pachulia dropped to the basket to defend against Okafor’s attack on the basket, Brad Miller pulled to the free-throw line to support, Joe Johnson moved up, Brad Miller passed to the left side, while Zhang Yang slipped along the baseline, keeping Pierce and Horford occupied.

Mike Miller received in a wide-open space by the left sideline and nailed a three-pointer!

In terms of offensive firepower, the Bobcats, already playing with momentum, clearly had the upper hand!

Leading 10 to 4, the Bobcats extended their lead to 6 points!

With the experience from 10 games in April, the Bobcats had quite a handle on how to play against teams with poor defense.

There was no need for complex plays, just let Felton and Okafor isolate to draw double teams and find Brad Miller or Mike Miller, with Brad Miller facilitating from mid-range and Mike Miller on the sidelines.

Zhang Yang prioritized positioning to seek shooting opportunities, maximizing the distraction of the opponent’s defense.

In the next three possessions, the Hawks went 2 for 3.

Pierce caught the ball at the high post, adopting a triple-threat stance, a shot fake tricked Zhang Yang into raising his center of gravity, then he directly powered through Zhang Yang, driving for a short hook shot, securing two points;

Joe Johnson posted up Zhang Yang at the high post, spinning for a jump shot, securing two points;

Only Horford’s long two-pointer from the side failed, but it was expected, as he found the opportunity in that spot, yet this season, his regulation side long two-pointer percentage was only 35%, a shot he should have taken when the chance appeared, but it just didn’t go in.

Zhang Yang felt pretty heartbroken, not expecting a day when he would be targeted for isolation by the opponent, and he couldn’t defend any of it!

Generally speaking, Zhang Yang wasn’t responsible for defending particularly strong opponents, often assigned to guard spot-up shooters to conserve stamina, like when playing against the Lakers, where he typically guarded Kidd, and Vujacic types.

But against this opponent... the wing was manned by Pierce and Joe Johnson, both taller and stronger than him.

Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)