Chapter 46 No One is Forever Young (Two Chapters in One)

Let’s take a look at how the “reasonable ball” that Coach Zhang mentioned is played.
In the last offensive round, Zheng Yang took the initiative to ask for the ball and then started his face-to-face singles.

How good is the Kings' defense?
Although their performance in the playoffs is much better than in the regular season, to be honest, the best defender in the entire team is Doug Christie, who was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team twice and was just selected to the All-Defensive First Team last season.

But Zheng Yang didn't plan to fight him alone.

After using several screens, Zheng Yang found Mike Bibby. Obviously, this 1.85-meter-tall guard was the defensive weak link in their team.

Before the Kings formed a double-team, Zheng Yang easily pushed Mike Bibby away and then did a turnaround and fade away.

The non-existent defense made him feel like he was doing shooting practice, and the ball went in without a hit.
In the TNT studio, after seeing Zheng Yang's goal, Barkley immediately showed a smug expression, and then glanced at Pippen with disdain.

He didn't say anything, but his eyes were full of disdain.

"It's only the first quarter, but we only scored one goal..."

Pippen couldn't stand Barkley's expression and said speechlessly.

But the latter ignored him and just stared at him.

He was waiting for Zheng Yang to exert his strength. When Zheng Yang exerted his strength, it was time for him to exert his strength!
Coming back, the Kings once again used their Princeton system to score a goal.

"Josh, Walker, pay attention and don't get distracted."

Zheng Yang shouted and reminded them that Nowitzki was not good at protecting the rim, so they naturally needed to react quickly and help with defense.

"Hey don't blame them. No one can defend against them."

Mike Bibby, who scored two goals in a row, shouted to Zheng Yang with a proud expression, and the latter shrugged.

"I don't mind treating you to another hot pot! Or two or three will do."

Zheng Yang has never been at a disadvantage in oral skills, and this time is no exception.

"We'll finish you off in four games."

"If your words work, why do we need to play basketball? Hey Mike, uncle is going to back you up again."

Zheng Yang sneered at him and then hit him from behind again.

Mike Bibby, who was not in the same level of height and weight, could not be stopped at all, and Zheng Yang easily scored two points again.

……

The two sides fought back and forth until the last three minutes of the first quarter. The substitutes should have been used at this time, but don't forget that this is the playoffs.

If we don't kill the main force now, when will we do that?

Let Erchoise replace Walker, let Finley replace Nash, and the other positions remain unchanged.

The Kings also only replaced two people.

It seems that the main players of both teams will have playing time of 40+ today.

After Finley came on the court, Zheng Yang was able to take a break on the offensive end. After all, Finley's shooting was still very good.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 32:28, with the Mavericks leading by 4 points.

郑阳第一节7中6，砍下13分3篮板，另外还有2个助攻到手。

Don't think that Zheng Yang suddenly became a good passer today. That's because after repeatedly looking for Mike Bibby for one-on-ones, the Kings had to double-team him.

Since there is double-teaming, there must be open space.

That's why Zheng Yang received two assists.

In addition to Zheng Yang's 13 points, Nowitzki also scored 8 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter.

I have to say that Nowitzki's hands are really tough, especially in such a crucial game.

When other teammates are unable to open up the situation, he can rely on his personal ability to solve the problem.

During the intermission, the TNT studio became a stage for Barkley's speech.

He hadn't said anything yet, but when he saw Pippen he couldn't help laughing.

"Haha, Scottie, what do you think of a rookie who can shoot 7 of 6 and score 13 points in the first quarter of his first playoff game?"

Pippen knew that the other side was going to mock him, but there was nothing he could do because Zheng Yang played really well.

“…Not bad, huh?”

He said somewhat stubbornly.

"Not bad? Not bad?

Yes, we should have higher expectations for Zheng. We should think about why he missed a shot, why he only scored 32 points when the team had 13 points, and why his performance couldn't be better?

I think if it was you, Scottie, playing in this game, you would have performed better.

Let me guess, you should be able to make 10 of 10 shots in the first quarter, maybe have seven or eight rebounds, and it would be normal to have four or five assists.

After all, you are not someone else, you are the famous Scotty! "

Barkley's sarcasm made Pippen very unhappy.

"Charles, don't forget that this is only the first quarter. Even if he performs well, what's the point if we lose the game in the end?
In competitive sports, only the results matter! "

"Maybe that's true, then let's see what Zheng does next."

……

After a short break, the second quarter began immediately.

And the Kings also made their first big change of the day.

That is to let Doug Christie, the best defender on the team, follow Zheng Yang closely. The latter's performance in the first quarter was so amazing that they had to change their defensive strategy.

As soon as the game started, the Mavericks launched an attack.

Nash passed the ball to Zheng Yang, but the latter failed to break through the defense of Doug Christie for the first time.

He then passed the ball to Fat Monk and suddenly made a counter-run. His original plan was to use this rebound to catch the ball again and attack.

But the fat monk who received the ball directly stared at the defense and made a three-pointer.

"You..."

Zheng Yang broke through the defense on the spot. This fat monk is really bad and likes to play. In the regular season, he took 305 three-pointers and only made 82 of them. The hit rate of 26.9% is already the lowest in his career.

But this guy really dares to shoot. The more he misses, the more he shoots.

Even though he missed both shots in the first quarter, he still dared to force a three-pointer as soon as he came on the court.

But Zheng Yang had just finished saying half of his greeting when he saw the three-pointer go straight into the net.

"You... made a great shot!"

What else can he say? Who doesn’t eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year!

"Hey! I just said that I can definitely hit the target."

Fat Monk was also very excited and shouted towards Zheng Yang, but the latter ignored him, fearing that this guy would start throwing three-pointers again.

Looking back, the Kings still played their Princeton system. After all, this was simply an unsolvable problem for the Mavericks.

“After the first quarter, Don Nelson still couldn’t figure out a way to crack Princeton’s system, which was not a good situation for the Mavericks.

Although they were still leading the score, once their shooting percentage began to decline, the Kings would never miss this opportunity to catch up. "

On CCTV Sports Channel, Yu Jia was seriously explaining the situation on the field to the fans, while Zhang Weiping on the side was a familiar style to the fans.

"Hey, this Walker really dares to shoot, you know what, he's really amazing, I just shot and it went in!"

"Oh, this ball is going to end, this, this, he plays it very patiently, you see he is really reasonable, he just doesn't rush!"

"Zheng Yang shot! What a great shot! Oops, it didn't go in! Even though it didn't go in, the strategy worked! This shot makes sense, the Mavericks should keep playing like this!"

"Hehe, it's Zheng Yang indeed! He can even make free throws!"

"Why didn't they pass the ball to Zheng Yang? This teammate's play is unreasonable. Even if the ball goes in, it's not a good shot!"

After interviewing Zheng Yang and watching him play, Coach Zhang became a "Zheng fan". Although there were ten athletes on the court, Zheng Yang was the only one in his eyes.

Yu Jia felt that Coach Zhang was a little too subjective. After all, he was explaining to the fans, so it was better to be more objective. So he gently nudged Coach Zhang with his elbow to remind him.

But the latter had not thought of this at all, and thought that Yu Jia also agreed with his point of view, so he hurriedly spoke.

"You think so too, right? The Mavericks should give the ball to Zheng Yang. It is most reasonable for him to play!" Yu Jia silently withdrew his elbow. Forget it, let it be! It's good!

The second quarter was less enjoyable than the first because both teams' shooting percentages dropped and there were more physical confrontations.

For example, when Doug Christie was defending Zheng Yang, he would secretly make some small moves where the referee couldn't see, and Zheng Yang would also "reasonably" use his auxiliary hand to increase the intensity of his opponent.

However, in the second quarter, under Doug Christie's defense, Zheng Yang's shots did become more difficult. Sometimes he had to make two consecutive changes of direction and physical confrontation before he could make a layup.

So he reduced his shots in the second quarter to conserve his energy and prepare for the fourth quarter.

At the end of the first half, the Mavericks continued to lead the Kings with a score of 65:63, but the 2-point difference could not decide anything and could be wiped out at any time.

In the second quarter, the Mavericks' offensive firepower was mainly maintained by Walker and others, which can be regarded as blooming in multiple places.

The Kings' way to limit Zheng Yang is to let Doug Christie guard him, and the way to limit Nowitzki is to use multi-person movement.

Let Webber, Peja and Divac take turns to fight in close combat.

Let’s have three heroes fight Lu Bu!

Nowitzki was so tired that he held his waist and gasped for breath.

Although he is young, he can't stand being treated like this!

In the fierce hand-to-hand combat, Nowitzki's physical strength declined significantly, and his touch was lost. He only made 4 of 1 shots in the second quarter and scored 2 points.

……

When the game entered the third quarter, old Nelson took the initiative to change the lineup, replacing Walker with Bamboo Pole, and then let Nowitzki continue to play power forward.

Temporary changes in the playoffs are very common, but not every time they are effective.

"Sean Bradley is 2.29 meters tall and is currently the tallest player on the court, but in the regular season he averaged only 12.1 minutes per game, scoring 3.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks.

His height can indeed help the team relieve the pressure of rim protection, but his movement speed is too slow and his confrontation is also poor. It is not easy to block Divac in the interior. "

Yu Jia explained seriously, and Coach Zhang next to him took over the conversation.

"Hey, Bradley's nickname Bamboo Pole is really right. Look at his skinny arms and legs, hey!"

One has a broadcasting tone and the other has a BJ tone!
The strange style of this combination also made the fans in front of the TV laugh out loud. It was so funny to see these two people sitting together to commentate!

The game goes on!

At the beginning of the third quarter, Nash controlled the ball and dribbled across half court, then passed it to Nowitzki, who had just rested and was full of energy.

As soon as Nowitzki received the ball, Webber hurriedly followed him. He was reluctant to let the opponent slip away so easily in front of him.

But the driver didn't want to continue the fight with him, so he suddenly accelerated, passed Webber, rushed into the inside, and dunked.

People's impression of Nowitzki may be that he likes to post up and ask for the ball.

But in fact, when he was young, that is, at this point in time, he was actually a player who liked and was good at facing the basket.

His favorite way to punish his opponents is to hold the ball on the outside, accelerate past the defender, and then dunk or layup.

According to relevant statistics, in the 03-04 season, Nowitzki's face-to-the-basket singles accounted for 30.1% of his total offensive rounds, which was his most frequently used method, while the proportion of back-to-the-basket shots during this period was only 14.8%.

In the 10-11 season, the proportion of the two was completely reversed, with the proportion of post-ups reaching 27.2%, far exceeding the 11.4% of face-to-face singles.

Back to the Kings' offensive round, this time after Divac held the ball in the high post, he did not choose to pass the ball to the outside players.

Instead, start playing with a bamboo pole alone!
Divac's form has indeed declined in the past two seasons, but he is still valued by coach Rick Adelman, which is enough to prove that his strength is still there.

If he were to play against Nowitzki, he might still hesitate, after all, Nowitzki is not small in physique.

But hitting with a bamboo pole is easy!
Just like countless scenes before, the bamboo pole was knocked away with a slight collision, and then Divac made a direct dunk before Nowitzki could assist in defense.

Old Nelson on the sidelines frowned and decided to fight one more round to see how it goes.

It was the Mavericks' turn to attack again. After a pick-and-roll, Nash made a small jump shot one step before the free throw line.

This was considered his specialty, but maybe because he had just come on the court, his touch was not good, so the basketball hit the right side of the basket and bounced away.

Peja was positioned well below and was ready to grab the rebound.

At the moment, he is the closest to this place, so logically speaking, this rebound should be 100% within his reach.

But just as he was about to jump, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Why do I feel like there is someone above my head?
The 2.06-meter-tall Peja thought it was an illusion, but soon he did feel someone's body touching him, and there was also a "bang" sound.

Having played in the NBA for many years, he naturally knew what was going on. He was dunked on.

who is it?

He looked up and recognized the other person at a glance. It was the rookie, the rookie he had ridiculed in the All-Star Game.

He dunked on him!
Let's look at the ball again from a side view.

When Peja was about to jump, Zheng Yang, who was originally standing on the right side, suddenly accelerated and rushed inside. Before Peja completely jumped, he was already in the air!

He suddenly jumped into the air, grabbed the basketball that had just bounced away, and then slammed it back into the basket.

The huge force caused the basket to shake violently, making a loud noise as it could not bear the weight.

"yeah!"

Zheng Yang returned to the ground and roared at Peja to celebrate. The latter's face changed, and then he pretended not to see it and turned around to prepare to serve.

Damn, I got dunked on by a rookie. I really don’t care about my face anymore!

The audience suddenly fell silent, and many fans had dazed faces, obviously shocked by Zheng Yang's sudden dunk.

This yellow guy...is he too good at jumping?
He just...his head was flat on the basket!
At this moment, the TNT studio was also in chaos.

"What? Zheng dunked over Peja? He dunked over a 6-foot-9 player?"

Barkley exclaimed, holding his head.

"He just flew up straight away. Peja, who made outrageous remarks at the All-Star Game, was severely punished by Zheng.

You're the only All-Star? I'm an All-Star too!
We all forget that Zheng is not a good guy, he is not a wimp who likes to cry in front of the media.

Those players who have ridiculed him before, you have to pray that you will not meet him on the court, otherwise he will make you pay for what you said. "

Pippen on the side didn't say anything to spoil the fun this time. After all, the ball just now was really powerful.

The morale was boosted immediately.

At the end of a basketball game, it's all about morale.

But just because Pippen doesn't speak doesn't mean Barkley won't call him.

"Hey Scotty, what did you think of that shot?"

"It was a good shot, but it was nothing, really, I mean, it was just a two-point shot.

No matter what happened, it was just a two-pointer.”

Pippen was as stubborn as ever, and Barkley pointed at him and smiled.

“Hey Scotty, fans used to say you were tough on defense, but now it seems to me that you’re even tougher on the mouth.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your face when the Mavericks win this game."

"Hmph, let's talk about it after we win!"

Pippen shouted unconvinced, but he was also secretly worried.

Zheng Yang's performance today was already quite good. If he were to win the game again, it would be a real slap in the face!

On the CCTV side, Director Zhang also expressed his surprise in BJ accent.

"Hey, this ball is really reasonable, really reasonable!
Look, our young Chinese player flew up straight away. As for Peja, haha, you see, his mind is still dizzy and he hasn't reacted yet!"

"Zheng Yang's dunk just now was truly amazing! Before Peja Stojakovic could react, Zheng Yang had already arrived and used his physical talent to help the team score two more points.

Zheng Yang is a player with a wide variety of offensive means. His arsenal includes face-up one-on-ones, turnaround fadeaways, pull-up jump shots, etc.

Therefore, we tend to overlook the fact that he is actually a young man with extremely strong physical talents. Sometimes when you are not paying attention, like just now, he will suddenly appear, and then use his talent to tell you that a player younger than you is here.

No one is forever young, but there is always someone who is young! "

(End of this chapter)