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No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 839 - 361. It’s soaring again!
Chapter 839: 361. It’s soaring again!
Howard secures the defensive rebound and passes it to Turkoglu.
Turkoglu advances to the front court, feeling an immense pressure.
The game has just begun, yet it already feels like a frantic scramble!
The opponents started with 5 shots making 4, and even the one that didn’t go in was a good opportunity. He feels that if they miss just one shot, the lead will go back over 5 points.
Not just him, the rest of the Magic Team are also tense.
In a game, being too nervous isn’t good, as you can see, Nelson rounds the top arc to catch the ball and drive, drawing Zhang Yang’s wing contraction and double-teaming, then passes to Morris Evans. Morris Evans, the team’s most reliable from the three-point open spot, misses the wide-open three, hitting the far side of the rim!
Okafor holds his ground, Brad Miller grabs the defensive rebound, doesn’t pause, lands and spins to pass to Zhang Yang, who is constantly aware of everyone’s position on the court.
Zhang Yang receives the ball and pushes with full force, initiating a fast break!
He barely reaches the opponent’s three-point line when he is blocked by Lewis and Turkoglu, losing the chance for a trailing three.
Before the two can close in, he moves the ball behind his back and to the right, breaking through!
He gets past Lewis on the right.
Turkoglu immediately retreats, Zhang Yang moves past Lewis but is stopped by Turkoglu, switching from a double block to a front-back pincer with Lewis.
After all, Turkoglu had been with that Kings team and the 03 champion Spurs team, his defensive awareness is excellent.
Zhang Yang jumps against the double team... passes to the left side!
Mike Miller catches the ball at the left sideline, with Nelson arriving to block his lower body.
Although Nelson’s defense isn’t great, under Van Gundy’s coaching, the small details are done well.
But Mike Miller doesn’t shoot after receiving the ball, instead passing to the right.
Felton catches the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left, adjusts slightly, and jumps for a three-point shot against Nelson’s charge from Mike Miller’s side... scores again!
to 7, the Bobcats lead extends to 7 points!
At 2 minutes and 47 seconds in the first quarter, the Magic Team calls a timeout!
The Bobcats Team hits 4 out of 4 three-pointers, forcing the Magic Team to stop!
Actually, it’s mainly Zhang Yang’s two trailing threes at the start that boosted Mike Miller and Felton.
Van Gundy calls a timeout but doesn’t make any substitutions, just emphasizes the importance of defensive choices during retreat defense.
They scored 7 points in less than three minutes, shooting 3 out of 6, not too bad, but the opponents were shooting too accurately.
On the other hand, the Bobcats’ coach Carlisle, having gained an advantage, makes a substitution, putting Millsap in for Brad Miller.
Coming out of the timeout, the Magic Team attacks.
Nelson continues to initiate offense with a pick-and-roll with Turkoglu, passing the ball to Lewis on the right sideline.
Zhang Yang, contracting to the middle and then expanding, covers Lewis.
Although Lewis has limited offensive organization ability, like most top shooters, who spend most of their time outside the wing three-point line, he has excellent court vision and can always pass the ball to an open teammate from the wing when faced with additional defense, usually toward the top arc or under the basket.
But this time, Lewis doesn’t pass, shooting a three over Zhang Yang... interrupted!
Okafor boxes out, Millsap grabs the defensive rebound and passes to Felton.
Felton receives the ball and pushes, with the Bobcats team fully pressed up.
The Magic Team retreated quickly, preventing a fast break from the Bobcats, but it was an excellent opportunity for offense-defense transition.
Replacing the slow Brad Miller with Millsap, while Okafor, positioned as center after losing weight, boasts excellent speed even as power forward, significantly increases the Bobcats’ overall speed.
Zhang Yang, Felton, and Mike Miller stay outside the three-point line to draw defenses, Okafor receives a pass on the cut, and facing a Howard closing in, dunks it with both hands for two points!
to 7, the Bobcats lead is now 9 points!
Van Gundy’s earlier timeout, if it had any effect... he’s a very emotional person, when playing well, his dancing happiness is very motivating for the players, and they play even better, the Magic Team hits shots precisely and always plays better in the lead, largely due to his emotional reactions.
During the timeout, his anxious demeanor transmitted his impatience and unease to the already tense players.
During another Magic Team offense, Howard actively seeks the ball in the low post against Okafor.
The 04 draft’s top pick duo goes one-on-one, with the Bobcats not double-teaming, Howard forcefully bumps Okafor back a step, turns and jumps, tossing the ball towards the basket... scores!
Returning to defense, Howard ferociously challenges Zhang Yang’s driving three-step layup and disrupts it.
At this critical moment, he demonstrates the responsibility expected of a burgeoning superstar!
Zhang Yang regrets not taking two steps before jumping, or else this would have surely gone in, besides being fully compliant with the NBA’s three-step layup rule.
However, in his previous life, he didn’t learn the Euro step, and when developing layups in this life, he did it strictly by the book. Trying to develop it now might destroy his original footwork, failing to learn the high-difficulty three-step layup, and losing the basics too.
Back to Magic Team’s offense, Howard in the low post fails to budge Okafor, having gone all-out on both ends in the last play, still recovering from the short-term exhaustion!
Limited by the contact, Howard doesn’t jump high enough on the turnaround jump, and the tossed ball hits the neck of the basket.
Mike Miller goes in for the defensive rebound, passing it to Felton.
With Howard’s shot, the rest of the Magic Team immediately retreats on defense.
Felton advances to the front court, settling into the half-court game, continuing with the pick-and-roll, this time executing it with Millsap.
Felton bursts forward after splitting, reverse passes back, Millsap forwards from high, Zhang Yang cuts in to receive.
After dribbling two steps close to the hoop, Zhang Yang continues to charge towards the basket guarded by Howard! Euro step initiates!
Howard thought his last play defense would intimidate Zhang Yang, forcing him into the highest difficulty short-distance pull-up, but didn’t expect Zhang Yang to face him directly, this time defending somewhat frantically.
Zhang Yang seizes the chance, changes direction and steps wide, reaching the baseline, jumps on the third step, banks it in off the glass!
This shot by Zhang Yang seems to carry a sense of pride; last play, with just Howard under the hoop, Okafor on the right side of the key, Millsap at the free-throw line, yet Howard alone stopped them all, he was holding it in.
Also due to Millsap’s greatly improved coordination skills but still lacking slightly, the best shooting opportunity Zhang Yang could find was cutting to attack the basket. Since he’s already cutting, he definitely wants to try if he can score against Howard’s defense.
This time he succeeds!
to 9, the lead returns to 9 points!
As Magic Team players play, their mentality shifts from "narrowing the gap under 5 points" to "preventing the gap from exceeding 10 points," their morale clearly hit.
But even the reduced goal wasn’t achieved...
At 6 minutes and 23 seconds into the first quarter, Zhang Yang performs a high one-on-one against Morris Evans, makes a pull-up jump shot, and scores, bringing the score to 24 to 13! The Magic Team calls a timeout, entering the official timeout phase!
In 6 and a half minutes, Zhang Yang scores 10 points, leading the Bobcats Team to an 11-point lead at halfway through the quarter!
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