Chapter 74 It's really possible
Zhang Hao is active in defense and has the conditions to defend, but he doesn't know how to defend.
Can keep up with the pace, but easily loses control.
It’s not that he wants to be shaken off. He tries very hard and is able to get into position when defending or assisting. However, his lack of experience makes it easy for him to be fooled by the opponent’s fake moves.
This is something the Nets all know.
Randy Whitman didn't have high expectations for Zhang Hao's defense. As a rookie, it didn't matter if his defense was a little bit worse. It takes time to hone his defense.
But this time, PJ Brown discovered the characteristic of Zhang Hao when he occasionally succeeded on the defensive end - he was able to withstand the opponent's attack.
If it weren't for his outstanding athletic ability, his help defense was actually quite bad, and it was of little use if he couldn't defend well enough.
Even the Nets themselves didn't notice that Zhang Hao did a great job in handling outside attacks, better than PJ Brown and Jason Williams!
Because Zhang Hao looks too thin.
After hearing what PJ Brown said, Randy Whitman thought about it and it seemed to be true.
Let’s give it a try. At worst, Zhang Hao will be beaten again. He’s already been beaten for half a quarter anyway.
Just like that, Randy Whitman was ready to push Zhang Hao into the frying pan again.
With his mind opened up, Randy Whitman also discovered their problem in the first half - the offensive purpose was unclear.
It was very clear at first, but the Pistons' defense was better than expected, thanks to Kenny Anderson's strong adaptability and decisiveness in letting Almon Gilliam play more. Otherwise, they might have been counterattacked by Grant Hill many times, and they would not have been able to keep up with the Pistons in the score, and the difference would not be the current 4 points.
The coaching staff had predicted that the opponent might improve, but they did not expect such a big improvement. Their strength is certainly not comparable to that of the Bulls and Pacers, but it is not worse than that of the Hornets.
Fortunately, the Nets themselves are much stronger than during the training camp, from the players' condition to the team's tacit understanding.
The offense should be more clear...
The choice is much simpler now.
With a plan in mind, Randy Whitman called Zhang Hao, who was already sitting, over and said, "Axl, from now on, the offense will focus on your mid-range shot... On defense, you guard the basket, yes, on defense, you play center."
"watt?"
…
The official timeout was about to end, and Zhang Hao and the combination of Charles, Edwards, Jason Williams and PJ Brown came on the court.
On the Pistons side, Lynch Hunter, Alan Houston, Grant Hill, Don Reed and Terry Mills came on the court.
Zhang Hao thought he was going to be substituted, but when his name was called, he ran over excitedly. When he heard that the team would play around him for mid-range shots, his eyes lit up, but when he heard that he would play center on defense...
Before entering the NBA, he played as a small forward! After entering the NBA, he played as a center in the first regular season game.
Zhang Hao felt so powerless about his team's defense... but he couldn't make much contribution either.
So we can only try to open up the situation on the offensive end.
On the other side, Grant Hill was ecstatic about the situation of his team!
After changing the coaching staff, everything has become different!
Although he never complained, he really felt that the previous coaching staff was not good enough.
He played OK in the preseason, but he doesn't know how he will perform in the regular season.
But after this half of the game, his confidence increased a lot. Facing a not-so-strong opponent like the Nets, Grant Hill was full of confidence that he could defeat the opponent.
The referee blew the whistle to continue the game and the Nets had the ball in the frontcourt.
Zhang Hao passed the ball to Charles and then cut into the inside.
PJ Brown has a wide range at the baseline. He has a certain mid-range shot and a strong threat from cutting in due to his athletic ability. He is a good containment point and a good inside player who can catch biscuits.
Jason Williams went to the top of the arc to screen for Charles, and this pick-and-roll combination is the tactical core of the Nets' bench lineup.
Grant Hill followed Zhang Hao. Assistant coach Scott Collins arranged his defensive goal to keep a close eye on Zhang Hao and prevent him from catching the ball and shooting.
But in the first half of the game, Zhang Hao didn't make a single mid-range shot after receiving the ball. Over time, Grant Hill felt that the assistant coach was making a fuss out of nothing. Seeing Jason Williams' pick-and-roll and then pushing away Lynch Hunter's switched defense and rushing straight to the basket, Grant Hill followed Zhang Hao who was slipping to the baseline and took a step upwards, stepping on the right sideline of the three-second zone, putting him in a position where he could chase Zhang Hao and also defend Jason Williams.
Charles passed the ball to Zhang Hao, Zhang Hao turned around, received the ball, and jumped to shoot!
Grant Hill got in position in time, but he had already given Zhang Hao the opportunity to jump and shoot!
Zhang Hao made a baseline shot two steps outside the right side of the three-second zone!
Finally scored again!
So accurate! Grant Hill feels that Zhang Hao's mid-range shot is even better than his!
With his outstanding height and wingspan, he is no worse than Alan Houston if he plays as a small forward!
Ridiculous! Grant Hill felt that his own judgment was ridiculous. Alan Houston had not yet become famous, but as a teammate, he knew that Alan Houston's mid-range shooting was a level better than his, and was definitely among the top few in the league.
But looking at Zhang Hao's action of catching the ball and shooting, as a top-notch mid-range shooting expert, Grant Hill had this idea.
Also, you need to find a way to restrain the opponent's team cooperation and not let them start a fight.
The offense and defense switched, and the Pistons attacked.
The Pistons played a positional battle with low tempo tonight. Lynch Hunter received the serve and slowly advanced.
The Nets' current lineup also plays a slow-paced positional battle.
Since 1994, which was last season, the three-point line has been shortened to 6.7 meters, which led to a significant improvement in the league's overall defensive efficiency last season. However, the impact was not so obvious last season. This season, all teams have discovered the impact of the shortened three-point line on the rhythm of the game - defense within the three-point line has become easier.
Therefore, the slow-paced offense and defense of positional warfare will definitely become the mainstream.
The Pistons aim to build a championship-winning lineup with Grant Hill as the core, so they must make good use of the rules.
The Nets didn't think too much about it. The lineup was just like that, and it happened to be a lineup for positional warfare.
After Lynch Hunter reached the frontcourt, he passed the ball to Grant Hill. Grant Hill thought that Zhang Hao was defending him, but when he saw that it was Jason Williams... he decisively accelerated and broke through!
The Nets were naturally prepared. PJ Brown moved to the right sideline of the three-second zone. Grant Hill was chased by Jason Williams in a mid-range shot. He chose to break through deeper, attracted PJ Brown's double-team, and then passed the ball to Don Reed behind PJ Brown!
Tang Reed received the ball and pressed forward, trying to squeeze Zhang Hao out of the way for a strong shot... but he failed! He had a strength advantage, but it was not great. The ball was already lifted up. In the confrontation with Zhang Hao, Tang Reed himself did not have much room to jump, and the lifted ball was slapped down by Zhang Hao!
With a height of 206 cm, a wingspan of 216 cm and excellent static confrontation, he played a miraculous role on the defensive end when facing the Pistons team that had no strong inside line!
PJ Brown was pleasantly surprised to grab the defensive rebound. Although he made such a suggestion, he did not expect Zhang Hao to play a role as soon as he came on.
At this time, Zhang Hao, who was extremely excited after being blocked, had already jumped out!
Grant Hill reacted quickly. When he saw Don Reed being blocked by Zhang Hao, he immediately retreated and rushed out of the three-point line one step earlier than Zhang Hao. As expected, he saw Zhang Hao running down quickly.
Grant Hill was just congratulating himself for remembering what assistant coach Scott Collins said, to be on guard against Zhang Hao's speed at any time, when Zhang Hao suddenly became faster! His speed, which was already extremely fast for a person of his height, suddenly became even faster!
When running to the center line, Grant Hill was overtaken, and then Zhang Hao was seen running faster and faster!
Can’t catch up!
After Charles received the ball from PJ Brown, he made a long pass. Zhang Hao received the ball when he rushed into the opposite three-point line, dribbled one step, grabbed the ball inside the three-point line, took three steps, jumped, and slam dunked with both hands!
17 to 17, thanks to Zhang Hao's 4 points in a row, the Nets tied the score after the timeout!
After this dunk, Zhang Hao’s subtitle prompt came again!
Medal: Slam Dunk Master (Bronze) Triggered, the morale of the whole team will be boosted for the next three rounds!
This dunk was really morale-boosting, mainly because Zhang Hao's solo counterattack was so fierce that the fast Grant Hill gave up chasing him when he reached the three-point line.
After being blocked, he made a fast break and was the first to break into the opponent's three-point line!
Even his teammates who had seen Zhang Hao counterattack like this several times found it incredible , not to mention his opponents. The players on the Pistons who noticed Zhang Hao's counterattack speed felt it was too exaggerated.
The fans at the scene were stunned. Most of them stared at their respective positions. It felt like Zhang Hao had just blocked a shot and suddenly appeared in the other half of the court. Before anyone could even boo, Zhang Hao had already dunked the ball into the basket!
Amid the slow boos from the fans, Zhang Hao returned to the backcourt and high-fived Charles to celebrate, then returned to the three-second zone to prepare for defense.
The ball just now was highly lucky, as Lynch Hunter of the opponent wanted to snatch the ball from PJ Brown, and Alan Houston was a beat slow in retreating. Otherwise, he might not have been able to complete the single-player counterattack so easily, and might not have been able to trigger the second acceleration of "single rider".
After calming down from being shocked by Zhang Hao's counterattack, Grant Hill picked up the ball and passed it to Lynch Hunter who was running back, and the Pistons started attacking.
Lynch Hunter advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball back to Grant Hill, who played in a similar way to the previous round, except that he gestured to Don Reed before breaking through.
When Grant Hill broke through, Don Redra went out to screen for Alan Houston, who successfully broke away from Charles' sticky defense and made a mid-range shot.
Don Reed is also a rookie this year. He was selected with the last pick in the second round. His advantages are only that he has a solid physique and is obedient.
When Grant Hill passed the ball to Alan Houston, he called on his teammates to retreat quickly. Ratliff and Edith Thorpe were not there, and they had no offensive ability to begin with. Now they didn't want to put pressure on the defense, and retreating was more important.
It was the Nets' turn to attack again and they continued to engage in a positional battle.
Grant Hill put away the contemptuous thoughts that popped up in his mind when he came back from the timeout and followed Zhang Hao closely.
On the other hand, the Nets' offense was organized around Zhang Hao's mid-range shot, and coordination became easier. Playing around mid-range and long-range shooters is inherently simpler.
Charles and Jason Williams set a pick-and-roll. After Charles broke the pick-and-roll and moved to the left side of the top arc to take Don Reed away, he had two options: one was to pass to Jason Williams who cut in, and the other was to pass to Zhang Hao.
This time, Terry Mills retreated to the basket in time, blocking Jason Williams' space to break through the basket. Charles had two choices again. One was to pass the ball to PJ Brown in the mid-range on the left baseline. He chose the other one and passed it to Zhang Hao who ran out from the basket to the right at a 45-degree angle!
Zhang Hao received the ball with his back to the basket, took a step forward with his left foot, turned around while moving his body, and after his right foot landed, he exerted force with both feet at the same time, jumped facing the basket, and slid toward the outside line due to inertia... He made a mid-range shot from one step inside the three-point line at a 45-degree angle on the right!
Grant Hill was following very closely. If Zhang Hao received the ball and turned around to shoot, he had no space to move and could only force the shot. However, this turn created a good opportunity for shooting.
The touch was also good, and sufficient warm-up before the game played an important role. He hit a long two-pointer with one step inside the three-point line!
In this ball, the cooperation of teammates was crucial. Jason Williams cut into the middle after the pick-and-roll, and Charles moved to the left side of the top arc, taking everyone around him away. Edwards, one of the few outstanding shooters in the league who averages at least one three-pointer per game with a 40% hit rate, also had enough control over the bottom corner, giving him very good space to make moves.
In addition, Grant Hill never expected Zhang Hao to shoot like this.
Catching the ball and turning around to shoot a jump shot looks easy, but it is actually very difficult, and core strength is extremely important.
Coincidentally, in this lineup, Zhang Hao himself knew this trick and used it smoothly in the game.
Almon Gilliam and Kenny Anderson were both substituted out for rest. Grant Hill thought he could lead the team to widen the score gap. If the defense just now had developed as expected, the Nets should have given the ball to PJ Brown for a jump shot. For the Nets, whether they scored or not was no different from relying on luck to make a living.
He originally thought that Scott Collins' order for him to keep a close eye on Zhang Hao was too much of a compliment to Zhang Hao, or that he thought too highly of his former student. After these few rounds, he realized that not only was he not overestimating him, he was actually underestimating him!
18 years old! How did you train like that?
It was the Pistons' turn to attack. They had succeeded in the previous round, so of course they had to continue their successful attack in order to carry on with their successful offensive strategy and find more defensive loopholes for the opponent.
The Nets defended well this time. When Alan Houston received the ball with the help of Don Reed's off-ball pick-and-roll, P.J. Brown blocked the mid-range shot in time. The second-year player's defensive ability, who almost made the best defensive lineup just by helping defense, was fully demonstrated.
Alan Houston's mid-range shot was blocked, so he chose to break through with the ball. Seeing the thin Zhang Hao blocking him, he chose to meet the man head-on!
Alan Houston weighs 93 kilograms and Zhang Hao weighs 96 kilograms. The same is true when looking at the body shape comparison.
Alan Houston thought that Zhang Hao's previous block on Don Reed was due to his height and wingspan advantage, but now that they collided, he realized that Zhang Hao was so fierce! He jumped up and confronted Zhang Hao, and his shooting movements were deformed! He was slapped out of bounds by Zhang Hao!
