Chapter 89: The Alliance is Full of Zheng Yang's Disciples
In the second quarter, both teams tried hard to implement the coach's arrangements, but it was impossible for them to achieve the results they wanted at the same time.

The Mavericks continued to perform better in the second quarter. By the end of the half, the Mavericks had extended their lead to 12 points.

They are indeed not widening the gap as quickly as before, but are still widening the gap.

In fact, D'Antoni was right in thinking that as the Mavericks' physical strength was depleted, their shooting percentage would definitely drop.

But the key point is that you have to consume the opponent's physical strength. If you only focus on Nowitzki and let Zheng Yang and others do shooting training and layup training, how quickly can their physical strength decrease?
Originally, Zheng Yang had to carry Stoudemire against him for a layup after breaking into the inside, but now he can simply skip this step.

Another thing is that while the opponent is depleting their physical strength, the Suns are also depleting their physical strength, and their shooting percentage will also drop.

In this game, the Suns shot more from outside, while the Mavericks focused their offense on the basket. Do you think the shooting percentage is more likely to decline or the layup percentage is more likely to decline?
Therefore, D'Antoni's idea of ​​catching up after the Mavericks' shooting touch worsens is basically impossible to achieve, unless God is on their side and helps their team's three-point shooting percentage reach around 50% or even higher.

But if you want to shoot twenty or thirty three-pointers in a game and still hope to have a hit rate of around 50%, you can't dream about this even if your players are the Splash Brothers!

Do you think your family eats dumplings every day?
If D'Antoni doesn't change his mindset, the game is doomed.

Of course, even if he changes his mind, the final outcome will most likely still be failure.

After all, the Mavericks' touch has been restored by him. If it hadn't been for the halftime break, they would have widened the gap to more than 20 points in one wave.

Sitting in a chair, D'Antoni was thinking hard, hoping to come up with a foolproof plan. Only then did he realize how ridiculous his thoughts were before the game started.

Old Nelson is not being stubborn, that's being confident of winning!

……

As for who had the most fun playing on the court today, it would have to be me, Jason Terry.

He really didn't plan to improve his stats today. After all, it was the playoffs and the team's victory had to be the priority.

But the Suns' defense was so bad that all the balls he fed to Dampier went in.

The number of assists kept rising, and he already had 8 assists after the first half, just the same as Nash next door.

8 assists = 8 assists!
So I = Nash!

In other words: I = MVP!

Jason Terry has already seen the big contract beckoning to him. If the Mavericks win the championship again this season, he will have the title of championship guard. By then, he will really have to count the money until his hands cramp.

……

In the second half of the game, D'Antoni still couldn't come up with a good solution. He still let the Suns continue to play according to the ideas in the first half, but when the score continued to widen, D'Antoni panicked.

He called a timeout and told the players to stop double-teaming Nowitzki and instead guard the restricted area to prevent the Mavericks from making it so easy to attack the basket.

But Nowitzki, who was no longer double-teamed, was like a beast out of a cage. He shot wildly in the next half quarter and scored 13 points.

Shawn Marion, who was defending him, was completely stunned.

Nowitzki: Shawn Marion!

Shawn Marion: Here!
Although Shawn Marion is the best defensive player among the Suns' starting lineup, he is too short. He is only 2.01 meters tall, while Nowitzki is 2.13 meters tall. The two are completely mismatched.

It's hard to defend Nowitzki when players are of similar size, let alone when there's such a big height difference.

At the end of the third quarter, looking at the score difference that had reached 20 points, D'Antoni was a little dumbfounded, and Stoudemire on the side asked in confusion.

"Coach, how are we going to defend later? Are we going to continue to double-team Dirk?"

D'Antoni really wanted to say "How the hell should I know?", but he is the head coach of the team and he cannot say such irresponsible words.

So after a brief thought, he asked the players not to double-team Nowitzki on the defensive end and to shoot more three-pointers on the offensive end.

The gap between the two teams is too big now. Unless the Mavericks are in extremely bad shape in the fourth quarter, it is impossible for them to catch up by two points at a time.

They can only give it a try and pin their hopes on their three-point shooting.

But again, God can't always be on their side. In the fourth quarter, the Suns' shooting percentage was still around 40%, which is very good, but it seems insignificant in the face of such a big score difference.

As time went by, the Suns players became confused. They didn't know how to defend or not. They didn't know whether to double-team Nowitzki or shoot the three-pointer.

"Faced with the huge score difference, the Suns players started to lose their way.

Take the last round as an example. Amare was originally planning to double-team Nowitzki, but when Zheng Yang broke into the inside, he hurried over to defend.

Nowitzki took advantage of this opportunity to receive the pass from Zheng Yang and scored.

The Suns are now starting to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another. Their offense can't find its form, and their defense isn't focused firmly enough.

Although there were still 5 minutes left in the game, judging from the 18-point difference and the Suns' current state, the game could be said to have been decided.

As we were talking, the Suns had already replaced their starting players and called in the substitutes. It seemed like they were going to call it a day. "

Teacher Yu Jia in the CCTV studio explained that the current score difference is so big and the Suns are in such bad shape, there is no point in continuing to play.

It would be better to let everyone come down and take a break!

Nash, Stoudemire and others sitting on the bench all hung their heads and remained silent, which was in stark contrast to the joyous atmosphere on the Mavericks side.

The team's head coach D'Antoni kept staring at old Nelson, and the only thing he thought of was an ancient Chinese saying.

Older gingers are more spicy!
He completely lost the game today!
The final score was 98:112, and the Mavericks defeated the Suns and avenged their previous defeat.

In this game, Zheng Yang scored 42 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, fully demonstrating the style of a scoring champion.

He is not the kind of guy who only shows off in the regular season, the playoffs are also his stage to perform.

Jason Terry, Dampier, Nowitzki and others also all scored in double digits!
Although Nash was very unhappy about losing the game, he still came over to say hello to the Mavericks players.

Zheng Yang touched his head and smiled.

"When you plan to have a party to celebrate MVP, remember to invite me along. Don't do it in a bar because I can't get in."

"I promise I'll call you."

……

At the Suns' post-game press conference, D'Antoni took all the responsibility for the loss.

"This loss is due to me. My players played well and everyone played with all their heart. It was my decision-making that led to the loss of this game.

We will review this game immediately and try to even the score before returning to Phoenix."

He really needs to think about how to change the team's strategy, either to break the Mavericks' double-team on Stoudemire or to limit their offense.

Of course, it needs to be as soon as possible, because Game 4 will start the day after tomorrow. …

When the ratings data for the Suns vs. Mavericks game was delivered to NBA Commissioner David Stern's desk, he was also shocked.

Because the ratings of this Game 3 were actually higher than any other game in the same period, and not just a little bit higher, far exceeding the average level of a normal playoff semifinal.

As for the reason, it is naturally because the playing styles of the Suns and the Mavericks are much more interesting than those of other teams.

Today's fans are tired of the slow, bumpy basketball games. One of the reasons why the ratings of the 03 Spurs and Nets finals were six million lower than the previous year was because the game pace of the two teams was relatively slow.

The visual appeal is not as good as teams like the Suns and Mavericks.

Today's fans would rather see the players on the field competing with each other and showing off their skills.

That kind of game will be more interesting and exciting!
This is also why the league will cancel the hand-check rule during the offseason.

If you want to play a good game, you have to let the outside players play more. Only they can make the game more interesting. If you let the inside players play, you can only see a few big, dark and strong guys filming an action movie.

It's far less entertaining than the gorgeous dribbling and cool shooting of outside players!

"President, do we need to drag the game to a tiebreaker as long as possible? The ratings will definitely be higher by then."

The assistant at the side asked, and David Stern shook his head.

"Don't interfere too much at the moment, just keep the standards consistent.

However, we must continue to invest more efforts in publicity, especially in Zheng’s personal image, which must be established in front of the public.”

His ultimate goal is to hope that the Mavericks can advance. At that time, the battle between the Mavericks and the Mavericks will definitely be more talked about, which will also be beneficial to his plan to create a god.

Judging from the current situation, the Mavericks do have a better chance than the Suns. As long as there are no problems with the refereeing, advancing later should not be a problem.

So there is no need to deliberately force a Game 7. If the Suns explode and win the game, they will end up losing more than they gain.

Thinking of this, David Stern couldn't help but compare Zheng Yang with the fisherman in Cleveland.

Compared to the fisherman, Zheng Yang is really easy to support!

As long as you write the script well and keep the game fair and square, he will do what you want.

There's no need to do any small actions for him.

……

After Game 3, the media began to praise Zheng Yang in the newspapers. After all, his performance in Game 3 was so great, especially on the offensive end, where he completely crushed his opponents.

Zheng Yang was very humble in the interview and gave the credit to his teammates.

Zheng Yang understands the nature of the media best. He can praise you, but if you dare to brag about yourself and don't perform well later, he will definitely write a short essay for you.

And to be honest, it's really too low to brag about yourself, just like a self-proclaimed goat. Who among the younger generation would recognize you?
You still have to let your younger brothers brag about you, so that you can look more classy.

This is also the reason why he has been recruiting younger brothers.

His goal is to see the entire league filled with “Zheng Yang’s disciples” when he retires one day.

The scene must have been quite spectacular.

Of course, it’s not easy to achieve that step, so let’s take it step by step.

……

After winning Game 3, the Mavericks players were all very happy and excited, except Nowitzki who was unhappy.

The next morning, I saw the newspaper praising Zheng Yang. It filled an entire page, but for myself there was only a light sentence: "Dirk scored in double digits and performed well."

Nowitzki couldn't help but clench his fists.

He is not a fool, he can clearly sense that the Dallas fans are leaning towards Zheng Yang.

No, it's not falling...

Instead, he has completely sided with Zheng Yang!
When people mention the Dallas Mavericks, the first thing that comes to mind is no longer the big man with comprehensive skills and explosive scoring.

It was Zheng Yang, the sophomore rookie who scored freely, dribbled beautifully and shot accurately on the court.

He was like a black hole, sucking away the attention of Dallas fans and everyone else.

Everyone seems to have forgotten who led the team through all the difficulties and finally entered the Western Conference Finals in the past two years.

If there had been no injuries that year, maybe the championship would have been theirs.

People have all forgotten...

Nowitzki took a deep breath and adjusted his mentality as much as possible.

Nowitzki is not a person who likes to steal the limelight. Many times he doesn't care about the fans and the media's evaluation of him, and he is very friendly to the people around him.

But he is not a saint, he also has his own desires. He also hopes that he can stand under the spotlight and listen to everyone shouting his name.

In fact, this was originally the case, but now with the addition of Zheng Yang, the spotlight is no longer on him.

He began to become a supporting role, a "team boss" who existed in name only.

He was not blaming Zheng Yang for anything. He also knew that he was a great player and the best partner to have around him both on and off the court.

He didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to play well and bring victory to the team, just like himself.

But he was really a little jealous of Zheng Yang.

He was jealous that he could easily get so much attention and love from so many people, and get everyone's support and respect.

If he himself was the sophomore rookie, if Zheng Yang was the leader of the Mavericks from the beginning, he would definitely be content to play the role of the second-in-command of his team and do his best to assist Zheng Yang in winning the championship.

But... he was the boss of this team at the beginning!
Everything Zheng Yang had originally belonged to him...

Nowitzki held his head and remained silent.

After a long time, he crumpled up the newspaper on the table and threw it into the trash can, no longer caring about it.

Now is not the time to think about this, let’s wait until we win the championship!

　Today's early update
　　
　
(End of this chapter)