Chapter 73 Let Him Defend the Center
Everyone hates the Pistons. Many teams were bullied by them in the past. Even though the Pistons have completely changed under the leadership of Grant Hill and Joe Dumars, being hostile to the Pistons is the right thing to do in basketball.
With an excited heart and trembling hands, Zhang Hao was about to start his first game. He felt himself trembling when he came to the technical table to apply magnesium powder.
This is excitement!
"Don't be nervous. You'll get used to it after playing more games."
A gentle voice came into Zhang Hao's ears.
The voice was unfamiliar. It wasn't from a teammate. Zhang Hao turned around and saw it was Grant Hill, who was shorter than him.
A modest gentleman, gentle as jade... this was the first impression Grant Hill gave Zhang Hao.
Seeing Zhang Hao's surprised look, Grant Hill smiled and said nothing more. He grabbed some magnesium powder, rubbed it in his palms, and walked onto the court.
Needless to say, Zhang Hao felt much calmer after receiving the comfort from one of the top talents who entered the NBA at the same time.
After applying magnesium powder and just about to go on court, the mission came!
"Specially signed player Zhang Hao is about to face off against top pitcher Alan Houston. Mission: Shooting Star Triggered."
"Shooting Star (Alan Houston):
Goal: Zhang Hao's total number of mid-range shots in all games against Alan Houston this season must be higher than Alan Houston's.
Mission Rewards: 1. Top pitcher Alan Houston's favorability towards Zhang Hao has greatly increased; 2. When the host assigns a player to train with Alan Houston, there is a chance that the learning mode will be triggered. "
"Specially signed player Zhang Hao's first game in his NBA career will begin. Mission: A small goal is triggered."
"A small goal:
Goal: Zhang Hao needs to score at least 20 points in this game.
Reward: Lifespan of 15 days, and for every additional point you get, you will receive an additional two days of lifespan."
Two more tasks are here.
It was not easy. He had to score 20+ in the first game and compete with Alan Houston, the future mid-range shooting king, in terms of the number of mid-range shots... But before that there was an even more difficult task - to get the highest score in the opening game.
When these two tasks appeared, Zhang Hao felt nothing.
Pat your chest and work hard!
If pressure could crush Zhang Hao, he would have done so long ago. Now, when pressure comes, he will experience psychological fluctuations, but if he slows down, he will transform it into motivation.
At 5:58 in the evening, the starting players of both teams took to the court.
The Pistons sent out a starting lineup of Joe Dumars, Alan Houston, Grant Hill, Odis Thorpe and Theo Ratliff.
The Nets sent out a starting lineup of Kenny Anderson, Graham, Almon Gilliam, Zhang Hao and PJ Brown.
At 6 o'clock in the evening, this nationally broadcast game started.
The referee blew the whistle and pushed the ball into the air. PJ Brown used his speed to beat Ratliff and won the jump ball. The Nets attacked first!
The moment PJ Brown touched the ball, Zhang Hao immediately rushed forward.
high speed!
However, Grant Hill predicted Zhang Hao's fast route well and blocked him immediately, and the Pistons fell firmly into positional defense.
Pistons assistant coach Scott Collins emphasized to Grant Hill that Zhang Hao is very talented, has accurate mid-range shots and strong athletic ability, and is an opponent who needs to be guarded against.
Grant Hill listened!
Kenny Anderson advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Almon Gilliam who was being switched.
Almon Gilliam received the ball at the left baseline of the three-second zone, and did not dare to be careless facing the defense of Odis Thorpe. This is an outstanding inside player who once formed the strongest inside combination in the NBA with Olajuwon. In one-on-one combat, whether it is offense or defense, he is extremely good. Although he is now sold because of his age, he still should not be underestimated.
Almon Gilliam was very focused, and he skillfully performed a mid-range and close-range singles. In a flash, he used a fake step to find an opening, grabbed the ball, took a step to the top line, and shot a long run from the free throw line...
The opportunity was indeed found, and the direction of the attack was very correct, but perhaps I was too excited and used too much force!
The rookie center Ratliff under the basket was not afraid of PJ Brown at all. He took up a good position to block PJ Brown. Seeing the ball hit the basket and bounce high, Ratliff was very excited!
Since the Pistons don't have a decent center, Ratliff started in the first game of his rookie season. If he wants to perform well, he has to defend the first defensive rebound!
After the ball reached its highest point, it began to fall and left the cylinder of the basket. Ratliff jumped with all his might and stretched out his super long arms towards the falling ball. He was about to get the first statistic of his career when suddenly, he was attacked from behind!
If Ratliff watched FBI movies, at this moment, he would really want to say the name of the insect!
Zhang Hao rushed into the inside from the free throw line and jumped into the fight with Ratliff. Relying on brute force, he snatched the ball from Ratliff's fingertips and pushed it into the basket!
Zhang Hao's first goal in his career! Tip-in! 2 points and 1 rebound!
Adhering to the principle of keeping a low profile, Zhang Hao did not even celebrate after the tip-in and ran directly to the backcourt.
Some people are like fireflies in the dark and can't keep a low profile.
With such an opening score, you still want to keep a low profile?
The fans at the scene originally booed Zhang Hao just because he was a popular rookie this year, but this dunk made the Pistons fans really start to pay attention to him.
The Pistons players' attention was immediately attracted to Zhang Hao.
Grant Hill already attaches great importance to Zhang Hao, but it is impossible for him to stick to Zhang Hao all the time. When the Nets missed a shot, as the core player with the ball, Grant Hill must go to receive the ball and attack. Zhang Hao immediately seized the opportunity to bypass Grant Hill and rush into the basket to complete a tip-in.
"Just as Scott said, this rookie is extremely talented." Grant Hill realized that he had underestimated this rookie!
This awareness, the ability to grasp the timing, coupled with such athletic ability, is enough to gain a foothold in the NBA. And when following Zhang Hao, Grant Hill found that he was not at an advantage in strength! And Zhang Hao was a lot thinner than him!
It doesn’t matter if they didn’t defend it. With the experience from last season, the Pistons players were not affected by this ball.
Grant Hill advanced downfield and did it himself.
A very beautiful change of direction, the horizontal pull does not seem to be particularly large, but this is because of his tall stature, the horizontal pull distance is almost the largest in the league today! A crossover step creates a channel that leads directly to the basket.
Grant Hill took a step inside the free throw line and shot a mid-range shot as P.J. Brown rushed over...
Hit!
The ball went in, showing off Grant Hill's excellent mid-range shooting ability, but the Pistons showed more than that.
When Grant Hill shot, Zhang Hao was blocked by Ratliff, and Audis Thorpe cut into the inside, ready to rush for the ball.
PJ Brown failed to interfere with Grant Hill's shot. When he turned around to pick up the ball, he saw the position of Odis Thorpe . Scratching his head, he found that the Pistons' offense was much better than last season.
It is true that Grant Hill , but the Pistons had a terrible record. The Nets and the Pistons played against each other four times last season, with three wins and one loss. PJ Brown's assist defense played a big role.
But this time, not only was the assist defense not very effective, the opponent's offensive positioning was obviously much better than before.
As a quasi-defensive-level help defense expert, PJ Brown can see that the Pistons have made great improvements on the offensive end compared to last season and have become more organized.
As the team's strongest defensive player, PJ Brown feels the pressure has increased.
The offense and defense switched, and the Nets attacked.
Coming to the frontcourt, Zhang Hao encountered Grant Hill's defense again.
After Kenny Anderson advanced to the frontcourt, Zhang Hao began to coordinate with his teammates in running.
Contrary to expectations, the Pistons did a pretty good job defending off-ball shooters.
When Grant Hill was following closely and constantly confronting Zhang Hao and doing pick-and-roll, the Pistons players who were used as pillars would interfere with Zhang Hao's shooting line after the pick-and-roll.
Such a defense is bound to have loopholes. Kenny Anderson seized the opportunity to pass the ball to Graham who was cutting in. This time Ratliff did a good job and gave Graham the first block of his career!
Fortunately, Almon Gilliam was very active in grabbing the ball and forced a tip-in with the help of Ratliff and threw the ball into the basket.
Obviously, the Pistons' defense after they got into a good defensive position exceeded the Nets' expectations!
Things didn't go well starting with Kenny Anderson. It was the first real positional offense and the whole team didn't play well.
Although Ratliff, the rookie center, does not look that good, Zhang Hao's ability rating is only 63, his offense is basically zero, and he is a pure defensive type with a defensive rating of 79, mainly in protecting the rim, but his defensive awareness is better than expected, or it can be said that Ratliff's rim protection characteristic was utilized very well by the Pistons head coach.
From Joe Dumars, to Grant Hill, to Odis Thorpe, to Ratliff, the defensive awareness and ability of the four were very well combined together. With 4 to 1 and Alan Houston, the defense played very well!
Almon Gilliam scored a goal with his enthusiasm, and the offense and defense switched, and the Pistons attacked.
Grant Hill encountered PJ Brown's help defense during his breakthrough. This time PJ Brown moved in advance, double-teamed the player and interfered with Grant Hill's pass to Ratliff. At this time, Ratliff had not yet gone to help Audis Thorpe with an off-ball pick-and-roll in the interior.
Grant Hill did not stop the ball or pull out to reorganize, but passed it directly to Audis Thorpe who chose to lean on Zhang Hao to ask for the ball.
Audis Thorpe wanted to pass the ball to Ratliff, but the angle was not very good, Zhang Hao's arms were waving and PJ Brown was also shrinking.
Audis Thorpe chose to play singles and pushed Zhang Hao... Audis Thorpe, who is already 33 years old and has to lose weight to 102 kg to maintain his mobility and has a strength rating of 86, really couldn't push Zhang Hao, who has a static confrontation rating of 90!
Young players usually have higher explosive power than static confrontation, but most veterans have more explosive power than static confrontation. Audis Thorpe was known for his explosive power in his peak period. Now at the age of 33, he is underpowered when facing Zhang Hao!
Unable to hold on, Audis Thorpe tried to turn around and feint a shot... He just tried it, and then he saw Zhang Hao jump up...
Audis Thorpe, who hadn't dribbled the ball yet, reacted quickly, dribbled one step, and made a low layup with the help of Zhang Hao!
This defense is definitely that of a man with jumping physique!
PJ Brown did a good job on defense and single-handedly supported the front line defense, but Zhang Hao failed!
The Pistons found a breakthrough!
…
Zhang Hao encountered trouble in his first game of his professional career.
During the opening attack, he thought that Grant Hill came up to block him during his fast break. This time after arriving at the frontcourt, he discovered that the Pistons had really been using Grant Hill to defend him as a rookie!
Grant Hill's defense was focused and excellent, like a piece of taffy, not giving Zhang Hao any chance to catch the ball easily.
Zhang Hao circled the pole, and the Pistons also had coordination to interfere with passing and receiving the ball. The rookie center Ratliff's basket defense played an important role in the Pistons' team cooperation.
Kenny Anderson is not having much trouble against the defense of the aging Joe Dumars, but Gilliam, who clearly has the advantage in speed, will be in a better position.
Kenny Anderson is not the type of person who holds onto the ball, he will give it to his teammates whenever they have a chance.
As a result, the Nets started the game with an offensive style mainly relying on Almon Gilliam's one-on-one plays.
And there were not many opportunities for counterattack. The Pistons' defense was not very good, but they retreated very quickly.
Obviously, the Pistons have made special preparations in this regard.
Fortunately, Almon Gilliam's performance was pretty good. After failing in the first attack, his success rate was very high from the second attack onwards, and he was also very efficient in rushing for the ball. The opponent's inside players were relatively thin. Edith Thorpe was old, and Ratliff had height and wingspan but lacked tonnage.
The biggest problem is on the defensive end!
As the game went on, the Pistons discovered that the rookie on the opposing team had no defensive experience at all.
He has the awareness of backup defense, but is easily fooled, which is a manifestation of inexperience.
With Zhang Hao as the breakthrough point, the Pistons' positional offense became more and more smooth.
Zhang Hao played very depressed. He was actually okay on the offensive end. Although he did not score any points, he did a good job of containing Grant Hill. It was easier for Almon Gilliam to deal with Edith Thorpe.
In the opening stage, he was mainly assigned to contain the opponent, allowing Kenny Anderson and Almon Gilliam to attack and lead the entire team's offense .
It was mainly his own defense, which was really a pain in the ass...
When defending the inside, all opponents are like Malone; when defending the outside, all opponents are like Jordan.
Looking at Zhang Hao's miserable appearance, Pistons assistant coach Scott Collins heard the background music in his mind - "Let weak students understand cruelty..."
It was he who arranged for Grant Hill to defend Zhang Hao when he had no ball.
The Nets were fortunate that Almon Gilliam played very well, scoring 8 points and 2 assists in the first half of the first quarter, helping the Nets hold on.
The offense of both teams looked decent. Neither team called a timeout nor made any substitutions. In the first game of the new season, we need to see more of the players' performance. At 5 minutes and 49 seconds into the first quarter, the Nets were still leading the Pistons by 1 point, 13 to 12.
But then Almon Gilliam missed a jump shot and Zhang Hao missed a baseline shot. The Pistons seized the opportunity, Alan Houston made a three-pointer and Grant Hill made a mid-range shot, and they made a 5-0 run, 17 to 13, and the Pistons stopped the Nets!
Almon Gilliam has proven that he has the potential to be the Nets' top scorer, but the continuous singles and rushing to the basket are extremely exhausting for him!
The problem is that the team offense didn’t start!
The key point is Zhang Hao. Except for the tip-in at the beginning of the game, his subsequent offense was quite bad, and his defense was even worse.
Entering the official timeout, players from both teams returned to the bench.
Randy Whitman discovered that they had misjudged their opponent's strength!
The Pistons' players haven't changed much, except for the addition of Edith Thorpe and a rookie center, Ratliff. They also lost the heavyweight center, Oliver Miller, from the starting lineup. Judging from the players alone, the Pistons should not be much stronger than last season.
Even though Grant Hill and Alan Houston have improved, Joe Dumars has clearly regressed.
The public does not have high expectations for the Pistons' performance this season.
But now Randy Whitman has discovered that the opponent has played badly and had poor records in the past two years, and the problem does not seem to lie with the players, but with the coaching staff.
In the past two seasons, the Pistons finished sixth from the bottom once and seventh from the bottom once, both times under the coaching of Don Cheney. After the end of last season, the Pistons replaced the coaching staff with the Collins brothers as the core. Doug Collins once coached the Bulls and led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals, but was fired by the Bulls because he was unable to defeat the Bad Boys. His ability is not comparable to that of Don Cheney, so the Pistons have truly brought out the strength of their players.
Fortunately, with the support of Almon Gilliam, the team was not far behind at the beginning.
Should we replace Zhang Hao to slow down the game? Seeing Zhang Hao was a little frustrated because of his poor start, Randy Whitman was about to make this decision. PJ Brown, the best defender on the team, came to Randy Whitman and said, "Coach, I think we can let Ax guard the basket on defense. He is better at confrontation than Jason and I..."
