Chapter 971: Chapter 406: Turning Point
The bench of the Chinese Team was thrilled, while the atmosphere on the American team’s bench… was okay as well.
As the Dream Team, playing against an opponent they deemed to have only two players, and being down by 7 points after the first quarter, was a bit embarrassing for them.
However, they had regained control of the game itself.
With Zhang San and the big man on the court at the same time, they had the capability to compete hand-to-hand with them. Without either one, even if the others exploded in performance, they could still assert their advantage. They still secured 30 points in the first quarter.
Of course, there were also concerns.
Kobe asked Okafor: “Has Jack gotten stronger again?”
Okafor replied: “He has been improving at a pace beyond my imagination.”
How is this answer any different from not answering at all?
Kobe turned to Felton and said: “I feel like his sense of rhythm has gotten better. Without help from the forwards, the height disadvantage of Dwayne leaves him unable to stop him; even with forward help, after Jack adjusts to Dwayne’s defense, his shooting accuracy improves rapidly. I’m not sure if I can limit him myself, I’m at a slight speed disadvantage.”
Felton: “Really? Jack is amazing! He truly is the most talented scorer in history, to receive such a compliment from you; he will definitely be delighted. You are his benchmark, his favorite player to compare himself to.”
“…”
The old Ironsmith: Both of you, get out of here!
What kind of team is the Bobcats, anyway? Is there anyone who can speak human language? Can such a broken team still win the championship? They sure got lucky! They happened to catch the Pistons before they strengthened, the Heat collapsed, the Spurs fell into a middle-class trap, and their Lakers and Bulls had not yet risen…
The old Ironsmith went to discuss offense with teammate Ji Bugong, to avoid having his mindset shattered by these two.
If it weren’t for the excellent offense of little Fei, the diligent defense and side cover by little Duncan, he might really doubt these two were spies sent by Zhang San from the other side.
After the intermission, both teams made lineup rotations.
American Team: Paul, Kobe, Iguodala, Anthony, Howard.
Chinese Team: Sun Yue, Zhang Yang, Zhu Fangyu, Du Feng, Yao Ming.
The Chinese Team attacked first, Zhang Yang received the inbound pass and pushed past half court, being closely guarded by Kobe just over a meter beyond the three-point line. He changed direction, broke into the three-point line, saw Iguodala and Paul’s movements, stopped, withdrew beyond the three-point line, protected the ball, with Kobe who hadn’t been fully shaken off quickly returning to his front.
Yao Ming, seeing this, moved to the right low post with Howard behind him, demanding the ball, with movements much more aggressive than in the first quarter.
Zhang Yang steadily lobbed the ball to Yao Ming. As soon as Yao Ming received the ball, Anthony and Paul double-teamed immediately. Yao Ming raised the ball and passed it to Sun Yue; Iguodala quickly covered, so Sun Yue, instead of risking a pass to Zhu Fangyu that could be intercepted by Iguodala, opted for a lob!
The ball flew over a bunch of people in the three-second zone, landing in the hands of Du Feng on the left sideline of the three-second zone. Du Feng took a step and floated a shot over Howard’s outstretched fingers, the ball falling in!
39-30, the gap widened to 9 points! Approaching double digits!
The connection between Sun Yue and Du Feng boosted the confidence of both Zhang Yang and Yao Ming.
Liu Wei, Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi were resting off the court, worried that the others couldn’t keep up with their rhythm.
Zhu Fangyu was daring enough to make throws; that wasn’t a worry.
But Sun Yue, Du Feng, the concern was that these two might hesitate, breaking the offensive rhythm. They didn’t need these two to play excellently, just to take the shot when the opportunity arose.
Little did they expect, these two not only didn’t hesitate but delivered such a stunning passing play.
This is the benefit of playing with momentum! No one was intimidated by the fact that all the opposing players are world-class stars, seizing the chance when they saw it!
On to the American team’s offense, Anthony set up a play, Paul received the ball, taking a step, abruptly stopped, and sunk a mid-range shot as a straightforward counterattack.
Neither Anthony nor Paul were guarded by Zhang Yang, who took responsibility for sticking close to Kobe, voluntarily falling into the American team’s defensive strategy.
During the intermission, Zhang Yang presented his observations on the American team’s offensive strategy to the coaching staff, who acknowledged his insight. However, despite seeing through it, they did not come up with an effective defensive solution.
After some discussion, they decided that on defense, Zhang Yang should follow Kobe; at least it would make the opponents think their strategy was working, pulling Zhang Yang to Kobe, and allowing the rest to play four-on-four. Consequently, Zhang Yang could seize a chance to rest; their fundamental objective to protect was simple—when Yao Ming was on the court, don’t allow the opponent to score easily in the paint.
For everything else, defend as best as they could.
Focus on the offense!
Zhu Fangyu and Wang Zhizhi’s excellent long-range shooting, Yi Jianlian’s attack on the basket and offensive rebounds, Sun Yue’s coordination, Zhang Yang, and Yao Ming’s one-on-ones… managing these well would be sufficient.
Midway through the second quarter, the American team closed the score gap to 46-49. The Chinese team, after scoring to widen the gap to 9 points at the start, found it was reduced to just a one-basket difference.
Though the Chinese Team was fighting hard on offense, their efficiency dropped, securing only 12 points in over five minutes and unable to prevent the American team from efficiently acquiring 16 points during this time, continuing their offensive firepower from the first quarter.
The Chinese Team called a timeout but still couldn’t stop the expanding disadvantage. Coming back from the timeout, Liu Wei was intercepted by Kidd; Kidd broke forward, passed to the fast-breaking James, James entered the interior only to be blocked by Zhang Yang and the rotated-on Yi Jianlian, he distributed to the wing, Kidd advanced to the left sideline, stood firm waiting for the pass, hit a three-point shot, the American Team tied the score!