49: 48.

At first, he refused.

49: 48.

At first, he refused.

When pushed to the brink, potential explodes, and anything becomes possible…except for math problems.

Ginobili didn’t specifically teach Zhang Yang the “Euro step” by hopping back and forth, but rather set up many chairs for Zhang Yang to practice stepping and hopping around to approach the basket.

Facing Kobe’s defense, Zhang Yang subconsciously applied the “basic chair maneuvering skills” he had been practicing these days, and it flowed even smoother than in training!

That’s why combining games and practice is the best way to learn techniques, requiring long hours of fundamental drills and flashes of brilliance in games.

Zhang Yang was now faintly grasping the knack of the Euro step.

Popovich was very satisfied with Zhang Yang’s performance in this round, but he was even more surprised by Danny Green’s defensive coordination.

The scout report showed that Zhang Yang had been very active defensively since high school, like a mad dog, and his fundamentals and defensive awareness were also decent, but his defensive details and experience were lacking, even during his time with the Warriors.

It was normal for him to maintain this defensive stance.

Danny Green was different, though.

He hadn’t shown his defensive prowess in NBA games.

Although he defended well in the development league, the level there was only between NCAA and the summer league, which didn’t really count.

At the start, because Richard Jefferson couldn’t keep up with Kobe, Danny Green’s help defense struggled to be effective.

Now, with Zhang Yang who could keep up, Danny Green’s performance suddenly made Popovich see him in a new light.

However…

now they had to endure that man’s wrath, Popovich turned his gaze towards Kobe.

In the 2008 Western Conference Finals, Kobe faced the defense ace Bowen, scoring an average of 29.2 points at a 53.3% shooting rate, with only 1.6 three-pointers and 2 free throws per game, scoring about 10 mid-range shots per game, causing a psychological shadow for Popovich.

Facing setbacks on both ends of the court in one round, Kobe gritted his teeth, looking like he would bite someone.

But, irritated as he was, he was very calm inside.

After a few minutes, he clearly recognized that this shocking team of the season was still tough to deal with, even with Duncan and Ginobili missing…

Start yelling at his teammates!

As Popovich expected, under Kobe’s leadership, the Lakers took responsibility on both ends of the court in the following minutes, drastically increasing their intensity.

In the last 7-plus minutes of the first quarter, the Lakers scored 24 points to make 32 points in total.

But the Spurs weren’t crushed, calmly scoring 16 points during this time.

30 to 32, the Spurs trailed the Lakers by two points going into the break.

As long as the role players could run the strategies successfully without being affected by the absences of Ginobili and Duncan, with Parker leading the team, they could very well go toe-to-toe with the Lakers at full strength in regular time.

In the second quarter, under Parker’s leadership, the Spurs’s team offense remained excellent, scoring 29 points, while the Lakers, with Kobe resting, others started to slack, scoring only 25 points.

The Spurs led the Lakers by two points at 59 to 57 entering the second half.

But the evenly matched situation was broken in the third quarter, as Kobe, Artest, Gasol, and Bynum played dominant defense, quickly overwhelming Parker.

Seeing Parker act like a headless fly, Zhang Yang actively asked for the ball to go one-on-one, continuing to shoot from the free-throw line distance after using screens.

The Spurs’s previous pick-and-rolls, whether with Parker, Ginobili, or George Hill, always involved driving to the basket, using screens for mid-range shots, this was the first time, catching the Lakers off guard.

But Zhang Yang had only recently learned from Ginobili how to break through using screens, and the variations were too limited.

The Lakers replaced Bynum with Odom, Artest moved to power forward, and together with Kobe, they defended the top arc with a double-guard defense, making Zhang Yang overwhelmed as well.

The Lakers scored only 21 points this quarter, but they managed to drastically reduce the Spurs’s scoring to 19 points, reaching a tie at 78 all.

In the final quarter, Kobe fired up, scoring 12 points in the quarter, leading his team to 24 points.

The Lakers continued to maintain their third quarter’s defensive level, holding the Spurs to only 15 points.

In the end, Kobe scored 40 points, Gasol had 17 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 assists, Odom 17 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and Bynum 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks…

The Lakers defeated the Spurs 102 to 93, handing the Spurs their fourth consecutive loss.

Zhang Yang tonight shot 8 for 20, adding 2 for 2 from free throws, scoring 18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

Despite the low shooting efficiency, with a highlight moment in the third quarter, Popovich was quite satisfied, faced with the two-time defending champion and basketball king Kobe Bryant, Jack, though not overpowering, was not intimidated.

Picking up the main load, Popovich felt Zhang Yang wasn’t there yet, but as a sixth man, and as a key player when Ginobili was erratic, he was looking more and more promising.

Parker was the best on the team with stats, shooting 9 for 19, adding 5 for 6 from free throws, scoring 23 points and 6 assists, but he shot only 1 for 4 in the second half, becoming invisible when the going got tough, not quite as dependable as third-year George Hill, to Popovich’s displeasure.

Danny Green was a big surprise, shooting 4 for 7, including 3 for 5 from three-point range, scoring 11 points.

Popovich had only thought of this guy as a sparring partner, but to his surprise, resting him turned out to be a treasure find, able to shoot and defend, a pure gain.

Although they lost the game, Popovich was overall satisfied; against the prime Lakers, their lineup surely wasn’t enough, but against ordinary playoff teams, they had the potential to win, and could up the intensity for a bold Jack.

Against weaker teams, under the system, Parker alone could lead the team to a thorough victory.

The experiment had already begun, and Popovich awaited the next game to test the results of the experiment.

…

The Spurs lost to the Lakers, suffering a four-game losing streak, bringing their record down to 54 wins and 14 losses.

The sad news didn’t end there; after the game, the league announced a fine of $150,000 against the Spurs for basketball reasons and a $100,000 fine against Popovich.

This amount of money is far from compensating for the economic loss Popovich’s sudden announcement that Duncan and Ginobili would not play brought to this game, but this was already the highest level of punishment the league could impose for this.

Faced with the league’s sanctions, Popovich scoffed and immediately sent an appeal email to the league.

The appeal was very likely to be futile and the fines would still have to be paid, but Popovich wanted to drag it out.

The team fine could be handled through the team’s accounts, but for his personal fine, he was sure the owner wouldn’t help him pay, so he would delay as much as possible.

On March 15, the Spurs arrived in Dallas and defeated the Mavericks 107 to 101 on the road.

After a few days of rest, Duncan and Ginobili’s performance efficiency was completely different!

Ginobili made 8 out of 13 shots, including 3 of 5 three-pointers, along with 3 of 4 free throws, efficiently scoring 22 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Duncan played 29 minutes, made 5 of 8 shots to get 12 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks, showing great performance in defense, making plays, and mid-range shooting.

With the top players handling, Zhang Yang dramatically improved his efficiency, making 5 of 9 shots, including 1 of 2 three-pointers, along with 3 of 4 free throws, scoring 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.

He had been learning from Parker and Ginobili how to use Duncan’s screening, diversion, and playmaking abilities and was becoming increasingly proficient.

Initially, Popovich was against the idea of resting players.

But a daring No.

3 player insisted that he implement a rest strategy, and he reluctantly accepted it though he was unwilling at heart.

Now seeing the help that rest provided to the nearly 35-year-old Duncan and nearly 34-year-old Ginobili…

he felt it was not unacceptable after all.

After the game, Nowitzki, who lost to Duncan, was hung out to dry again.

Zhang Yang saw the news and felt Nowitzki was treated unjustly as he had played well in that game, making 9 of 17 shots, including 2 of 4 three-pointers, along with 6 of 7 free throws, scoring 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.

It was Terry who messed up, making only 5 of 17 shots to score 16 points.

Defending Terry were Zhang Yang, Ginobili, and Danny Green, taking turns…

Zhang Yang felt that they hadn’t defended all that well; sometimes Terry would miss even when he was wide open.

What Zhang Yang found most distressing was Marion.

In 2008, at the peak of his career, Marion was traded by the Suns for the 36-year-old O’Neal, which completely crushed the spirit of this superstar forward.

Whether with the Miami Heat or the Toronto Raptors, he merely existed, passing his days listlessly.

Once a max-salary player, he could now only earn a $7 million annual salary with the Mavericks, having devolved into a corner shooter and wing defender, backing up DeShawn Stevenson.

However, Marion had his pride.

A media outlet reported that in the summer of 2009, Steve Kerr invited him for a meeting, hoping to re-sign him for 3 years at $26 million.

Marion went, listened to the offer, didn’t respond, but flipped Steve Kerr the bird, left without looking back, and promptly accepted a lower-priced offer from the Mavericks.

On the 16th, the Spurs returned home, facing the Warriors in a back-to-back game switching between home and away.

Ginobili and Duncan were absent again, and this time Popovich contacted the media early in the morning to officially announce the pair’s ‘limited injury’.

For the game against the Warriors, it was not worth deceiving the opponent, and he was sure that even without a live broadcast, the crafty old thief would find a way to fine his money.

As for why Parker wasn’t rotated…

not even 29 yet, why rest him.

In the original timeline, Parker didn’t take a rest until the 11-12 season, which was shortened, and only in the 12-13 season, when his physicality had quite obviously declined, did he start resting.

During Zhang Yang’s first encounter against his former team after being traded, he chose to go all out, joining Danny Green as the fierce guard-forward duo.

Danny Green chased Curry, Zhang Yang went after Ellis, with the help of George Hill, McDyess, Blair, and Splitter, they defended very well!

Curry made 3 out of 8 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, along with 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists; Ellis, although he scored 23 points, his 8 out of 21 shooting performance wasn’t good either.

Although Ellis ranked third among shooting guards in average points, the gap with the top two was huge.

Since the shooting guards didn’t heat up and David Lee was just padding stats, the Warriors were crushed by the Spurs.

Parker exploded for 28 points and 11 assists, Zhang Yang 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, McDyess 13 points, 14 rebounds, Blair 12 points, George Hill 10 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists…

The Spurs blew out the Warriors 111 to 96, improving their record to 56 wins and 14 losses.

With only 12 games left in the regular season, Zhang Yang was at a key point he remembered from this season.

He was both nervous and excited!

…

…

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