Chapter 58: Child, it's time for you to stand up

After the first half, all the Mavericks players gathered around Nelson, eager to know about Nowitzki's situation.

"Dirk's condition is not very optimistic. He probably won't return to this game!"

Old Nelson said this with a serious look on his face, and then continued.

"Everyone, take a good rest, we have to fight for Dirk in this game, and we have to end this series right here.

Zheng, come here for a moment."

Old Nelson called Zheng Yang to the corner, glanced around and patted him on the shoulder.

"Dirk is seriously injured and will most likely miss the rest of the season. Without Dirk, it will be hard for us to compete with the Kings in the next game.

Today's game is the only chance!
Kid, it's time for you to step up. In the second half, our team will play around you. Unleash your offensive talent!"

Zheng Yang was a little surprised, but then he understood what the other party was thinking.

If we tell others about Nowitzki's situation now, the team's morale will probably be thrown into chaos, and it will be even more difficult to win the game.

At present, old Nelson can only place his hopes on Zheng Yang. Although he is just a rookie, he has proved countless times that at the most critical moment of the team, he is your most trustworthy player.

"I will do it, don't worry, coach!"

Just like countless times before, Zheng Yang did not shirk his responsibilities or hesitate, his eyes full of determination and confidence.

Without Nowitzki, the Mavericks' strength plummeted.

Let’s talk about defense first. When Nowitzki was there, the team’s rim protection ability was indeed average, but average means it is still useful.

Now without him, we really have no ability to protect the rim at all.

When there is an open space, the Kings can easily cut into the inside and make a layup at any time, and the Mavericks have no way to deal with them.

Speaking of offense, when Nowitzki is in good shape, he can score 30+ in a game, and when he is not in good shape, he can still score 20+.

If he wants to compete with the Kings on offense by losing these 20 or 30 points, he must have someone else to help him get those 20 or 30 points.

But this is not easy. It does not mean that a player can score 15 points when he takes 20 shots per game, and 30 points when he takes 40 shots per game.

This is not a math problem.

Not every player can handle so many ball possessions. Some players are more efficient and make fewer mistakes when they take fewer shots.

Once the number of shots increases, the hit rate will immediately drop drastically and the number of mistakes will also increase.

Therefore, the Mavericks' offense is likely to have problems as well.

When the offense is not as good as before and the defense is not as good as before, is there any possibility of winning the game?

So old Nelson knew that if he wanted to win this series, he could only rely on this game.

Because they have already played half the game, as long as Zheng Yang can perform well in the second half, they will have a chance to win.

Once the game drags on to the next two games, the Kings will use their gorgeous offense and impenetrable defense to snatch two wins from the Mavericks.

……

In the second half of the game, Nelson sent out a lineup of Zheng Yang, Nash, Da Chou, Finley and Fat Toutuo. At the same time, Nelson also gave Zheng Yang unlimited shooting rights.

As long as he wants to shoot, he can shoot even if there are three people in front of him.

This small lineup has only one purpose, and that is to compete with the Kings in offense. There is no need to defend them, since we can't defend them anyway, so let's just compete in offense!

If they really lose, they will admit it!

Looking at this lineup, Zheng Yang suddenly remembered the games of his high school team. It was almost the same then as it is now, and he was always the ball-holding core of the team.

This is actually Zheng Yang’s favorite way of playing. Although he can play with or without the ball, he feels great when he sees himself scoring points over his opponents’ heads!
He likes that feeling!
"The Mavericks have announced that Nowitzki will not be returning for this game.

Judging from the Mavericks' lineup in the second half, they should be playing with a small lineup. This lineup has appeared in the regular season, but the effect was not good.

Because it depends a lot on the player's offensive feel. Once the player's feel is not good, the offense cannot score and the defense can easily be torn apart by the opponent.

But maybe this is not the solution.”

Yu Jia saw through Nelson's intention at a glance. This lineup was obviously difficult to match the Kings, but judging from the Mavericks' bench players, only this lineup had the greatest hope of defeating the Kings.

At the beginning of the game, it was the Mavericks' offensive round. After Nash crossed half court, he immediately passed the ball to Zheng Yang who was outside.

After using the screen, the latter came in front of Mike Bibby. Looking at this familiar opponent, Zheng Yang smiled and started to play from behind.

No matter how hard Mike Bibby tried, the huge gap in physical talent meant that he could not interfere with Zheng Yang at all.

The latter also turned around and made a jump shot before others could double-team him.

Score +2!

"Hey, this is a really beautiful shot! Look at Bibby from the Kings. He looks really frustrated, but there's nothing he can do about it. He just can't defend it! Haha!"

Director Zhang in the studio laughed cheerfully, and Yu Jia nodded.

"Zheng Yang's technical moves are indeed much more mature than other rookies of the same age. When other rookies are still relying on their physical talents to play, Zheng Yang can often score by turning around and pulling up."

"You're talking about LeBron James from the Cavaliers, right?"

Coach Zhang asked again with a smile, and Yu Jia didn't know whether to say yes or no for a moment.

To say no would seem hypocritical!
Yes, but it feels like I'm belittling others!

Just don't respond to this.

Looking at the court again, the absence of tall players guarding the inside line did give the Kings players great confidence. They continued the style of play in the last two minutes of the previous quarter, constantly running and looking for opportunities in the inside.

After seizing an opening on the Mavericks' side, Webber passed the ball to Peja through his back. When the latter was about to jump for a dunk, Zheng Yang appeared.

He was originally at the free throw line, but the next second he had already rushed into the paint.

The empty inside allowed the Kings players to run around freely, and also allowed him to rush in without any obstacles. His extra-long wingspan allowed his palm to quickly press the ball. Since Zheng Yang rushed in from the front of the basket and Peja jumped from the side to prepare for a dunk, Zheng Yang easily pressed the ball down.

"Zheng blocked Peja's shot! That was a big shot!"

Barkley shouted excitedly, and when he saw Nowitzki leave the court, he also lost hope for the Mavericks in this game.

After all, even though Chinese fans always joke that he is the "number two on the team," Nowitzki's role in the Mavericks is irreplaceable.

This season, it is because of Nowitzki's presence that the team can become a championship team.

Otherwise, relying solely on Zheng Yang and his team, they can only be a playoff team.

But in the second half, Zheng Yang rekindled Barkley's hope with his offense and defense.

Yes, although Nowitzki is gone, we still have Zheng Yang!
If you let Nowitzki and Zheng Yang lead the Mavericks for a whole season respectively, it is obvious that Nowitzki's record will be better.

But if you let them play a game, it’s hard to say!
Zheng Yang is a player who really cannot be viewed with common sense. From the fact that he was able to lead a group of substitute players to defeat the Lakers with a full lineup, you can tell that if this guy gets into high gear, he is no worse than other stars.

Maybe there is still a chance in today's game.

"Zheng is still fighting, and he is still using his story to tell us that everything is possible!"

Barkley took off his suit jacket and shouted. Fortunately, there were no fans at the scene to respond to him, otherwise he would have been even more excited.

After passing Peja, Nash picked up the rebound and started a fast break, eventually helping the team score two more points with an alley-oop dunk with the ugly guy.

"Guys, focus, discipline, hard work and unity, everything is possible!"

Zheng Yang shouted to everyone that he had already told everyone his determination with his performance just now, but he alone was not enough, all the players on the field must go all out.

This way we have a chance in this game!

"Everything is possible!"

Others also shouted the same slogan.

Looking at this group of ferocious Dallas robbers, the Kings team suddenly had a bad feeling.

Maybe this game is not as easy as they imagined.

……

Without Nowitzki, Fat Monk really can't bear the responsibility of protecting the rim, and the Kings players can do whatever they want inside.

Although Zheng Yang's block just now was indeed eye-catching, it still would not weaken the Kings' determination to attack the basket.

It doesn’t matter if they lose one or two goals occasionally, as long as most of the goals can be scored, they will make money.

But even though the Kings continued to take advantage of the Mavericks' inside disadvantage to score points, they only opened up a 2-point gap by the end of the third quarter.

The reason is very simple. The Mavericks' outside shooting percentage was also extremely high in the third quarter.

The Kings have very tall inside players, and Peja, Divac and Webber can surround the restricted area tightly.

Therefore, the Mavericks focus on the outside.

In the third quarter, Nash, Finley and Nash both had good touch, one scored 7 points and the other scored 8 points, but Zheng Yang scored the most points on the team.

In the third quarter, he fully played like a ball-handling core, making 10 of 6 shots and scoring 16 points.

These three people basically accounted for the team's entire quarter's points.

Da Chou and Fat Toutuo focused their energy on defense, so they didn't spend much energy on offense.

Another reason why the Mavericks were able to keep up with the Kings' offensive rhythm was that they grabbed a lot of frontcourt rebounds in this quarter and scored a lot of points through second offense.

Since the Mavericks' offense is mostly based on shooting, even if they miss the ball, it will generally bounce a little further out.

Mavericks players on the perimeter often have a greater chance of grabbing rebounds and then making second-chance attacks.

But no team can maintain such a good touch forever. In the fourth quarter, due to the decline in physical strength, the Mavericks' offense began to fall behind the Kings.

With only three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the difference between the two teams had reached 6 points.

6 points are not a lot, but because the Kings had a very high shooting percentage in the Mavericks' interior, these small 6 points felt like they could never be caught up.

The Mavericks players on the court were exhausted. They basically had no rest in the two quarters, especially Zheng Yang, who did not rest for a minute in the second half.

The reason I’ve been able to fight till now is entirely due to my willpower!
Since he had to take on more offensive tasks in this game, he consumed a lot of physical energy. His jersey was soaked with sweat, his arms were a little swollen, and he had some strength left.

My legs were shaking and could cramp at any time.

The physical exertion of just playing against the Kings for half a game was so great. If they really played the whole game, there would be no chance of winning.

Besides, it’s hard to say whether I’ll be able to play in the next games as well as I did today.

Therefore, if we want to win this series, we can only rely on this game.

"There are still four minutes left, and our fate is in our own hands."

Old Nelson motivated everyone. Now he has no tactics to arrange. It all depends on the players' performance.

If they play well, they can end this series directly. If they play badly, they will be dragged into the quagmire by the Kings and may even be stepped on by them in the end.

"Everything is possible!"

Zheng Yang had nothing else to say, he could only use this slogan to inspire everyone and also to motivate himself.

Back on the court, Zheng Yang successfully made a three-pointer with the help of Fat Toutuo's cover, narrowing the score to three points.

But then Divac scored again against Fat Monk, narrowing the gap to five points.

This feeling of constantly scoring goals but with no significant change in the score is really frustrating!

But Zheng Yang had no other choice. He could only seize every opportunity to shoot and pray that the Kings would give him another chance later!
(End of this chapter)