Chapter Seventy-Five: Believe in Yourself
Wayne Jr. knew that this situation was a bet that he would not feel good, and since this was the case, he decided to bite the bullet and fight all the way from defeat to nothing to fear. A hello, and Amir Williams came to block him.
Papayannis followed up and blocked Wayne Jr.'s breakthrough from the left. At the same time, Zhang Feng's side, Baldwin ran back to the middle line, and Zhang Feng also chased after him, but the Kings misjudged, and Wayne Jr. did not choose to pass, but used the double wall to block a one-step jump shot directly outside the three-point line.
"Danm, it's not like summer league level, it's a playoff level, especially for the Kings, it's hard to imagine that they finished 12th in the West last season," Kenny sighed.
"I agree with you, Kenny, but did you find out? The Kings are based on Zhang Feng's tactical arrangement, and judging from his off-court performance, Zhang Feng is the boss of the team, and the Kings players are very convinced of him" O'Neal is very happy to see that the young Kings have such a strong cohesion.
"Off the field? You mean the nightclub thing? I also watched that video, and it is obvious that Carter as an NBA legend is led by Zhang Feng, which is very rare in the previous NBA, and the last time I saw this situation was back in the 04 season of the Cavaliers, when LeBron had become a star and led the Cavaliers" Kenny praised Zhang Feng's locker room performance, and even used LeBron as a comparison.
"It's just one game, it's too early to tell," Barkley calmly reminded the two.
On the court, the Kings were scored a three-pointer by Wayne Jr., but the Kings did not panic in the slightest and continued to implement the established tactics. Zhang Feng dribbled the ball across the half, and after a few blocks, it was handed to Papajanis.
In the same position, in the same plot, Papayannis once again singled Amir Williams and scored easily.
Yibian fought again, it was still Wayne Jr. who held the ball, and his first three-point shot gave him confidence, and this time he didn't even call for a pick-and-roll, and faced the Kings player Buddy with a direct pull-out jumper, and it was a three-point shot.
It went back and forth for a few rounds, and both teams shot 100 percent, with the Kings playing inside and the Grizzlies playing outside. Wayne Jr. scored four three-pointers in a row, and Papajanis singled Amir Williams four in a row, one of which was still two plus one.
Although both teams scored, the Grizzlies scored more three-pointers, the Kings scored two points, and at the end of the first quarter, Wayne Jr. scored 15 points alone, and the Grizzlies led 19-16.
The Kings played well, but there were problems, except for Zhang Feng and Papajanis, no one scored, and Zhang Feng scored a three-point goal. The Grizzlies also played well, but the problem was even greater, the interior line couldn't be opened at all, and the scoring was all up to Wayne Jr. In general, both teams rely heavily on the inside and the other on the outside.
"Judging from the shooting hotspots in the first quarter, these two teams played completely opposite styles, what do you guys think? Charles? Kenny brings the conversation to the table.
"I think the Kings play better, I'm an interior player, and I also have years of NBA experience, experience tells me that the closer the shooting location is to the basket, the higher the shooting percentage, although the Grizzlies rely on the hot touch of Wayne Jr. to lead by 3 points, but the decline in physical strength and shooting percentage will be their nightmare, you have all seen Zhang Feng's scoring explosion, the 3-point gap is not a problem for him at all" Barkley made his own reasoned analysis.
After Barkley finished speaking, O'Neal glanced at him with appreciative eyes, straightened his body and said: "I have the same opinion as Charles on this point, but I want to explain it from another aspect, that is, we can see that the Kings are strictly implementing the coach's established tactics, and the Grizzlies are unable to play inside, nor can they pass the ball well, so they have to choose Wayne Jr. to force the shot, the difference between this and everyone who plays basketball should understand, if the Grizzlies can't find a good solution in the second quarter, Then the result of this game will be exactly what we expected."
"Wow, it's a special day, Shaq and Charles have the same opinion, so let's get back to the game and keep watching" Kenny let out a look of disbelief.
The second quarter began, with the Grizzlies possessing the ball, and instead of choosing to change their tactics as O'Neal said, they continued to choose Wayne Jr. to attack with the ball.
couldn't change the situation abruptly, Wayne Jr. came up with a three-point shot, and when he defended, he directly stole Buddy, and he took the ball with a fast break and Baldwin hit a peak, and it was a three-point shot.
The score was suddenly pulled to 9 points, O'Neal's eyebrows trembled, but he did not speak, and Barkley watched the game with a serious face. suffered the loss of being stolen, and saw that Wayne Jr. was in good shape, Zhang Feng chose to go it alone, and it was also an unreasonable one to shoot a super long three-pointer.
However, the goddess of victory seemed to be beckoning to the Grizzlies, and Wayne Jr. responded with a three-pointer immediately after Zhang Feng hit a three-pointer.
Seeing this situation, Zhang Feng went up, and he wanted to fight against Little Wayne, and he chose to shoot three points again. Unfortunately, this long-range shot missed, and Wayne Jr. grabbed the rebound and made a long pass to Grizzlies forward Ladd, who scored directly on a fast dunk.
After a one-and-two, the Grizzlies had a 14-point lead, and Turner called a timeout.
"Zhang Feng, don't be impulsive, continue to play according to our established tactics, although they are ahead, the fiery hit rate will always drop, let's not mess with ourselves first" Turner did not hesitate and directly pointed out Zhang Feng's choice mistake.
Falling behind by 14 points all of a sudden, the atmosphere of the Grizzlies was a little depressing, and Zhang Feng secretly regretted that his decision-making had affected his teammates badly when he saw this situation.
"I was impulsive in my choice just now, and then we will continue to insist on playing inside and outside the tactics, even if the Grizzlies still feel good after playing the court later, we don't have to be nervous, we have to believe in ourselves, remember we are kings" Zhang Feng stretched out his hand, and the Kings players also stretched out their hands and put them together and shouted:
“we are kings”。
Back on the field, Zhang Feng handed the ball directly to Buddy after halftime, and gave Buddy an encouraging look. Buddy dribbled the ball himself for a while and found that it didn't work, then chose to hit the ground and pass to Papajanis. Papa himself took the ball in front of him, Buddy's pass made him very comfortable, and the backhand was a backward shot, Amir Williams was in a hurry to follow up and foul the direct hitter, but Papa's pitch still went in, and it was another 2+1.
The score returned to 33-22, and the 11-point gap was not big at this time in the second quarter.
"It seems that this timeout allowed the Kings to control the rhythm, Zhang Feng did not choose to continue to play hard, and the next thing is to see if the Grizzlies can continue to maintain their touch" Kenny saw that Barkley and O'Neal did not speak, thinking that they were afraid of being slapped in the face.