46: 45.

Collapse Comes Earlier?

46: 45.

Collapse Comes Earlier?

103-95 defeating the Wizards, 99-89 defeating the Nets, 104-99 defeating the Trail Blazers, the Spurs took an 8-game winning streak, elevating their record to 48 wins and 8 losses.

By February 19th, the Spurs’ winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Chicago Bulls.

With Rose exploding for 40 points and 9 assists, the home-playing Bulls defeated the Spurs 109-102.

In the face of their ninth loss of the season, Popovich wasn’t overly concerned.

The game merely exposed their biggest issue—that apart from Ginobili, no one else could battle through tough games.

Duncan’s ability to break through defenses had been declining over the past two seasons.

After losing 5 kilograms last summer, that ability was basically gone.

Parker was fierce in regular games, especially when playing with a lead, but in adverse situations, if you depended on this speedster, he would show you what the best sixth man looks like, from the opposing team.

They were left with only Ginobili able to fight the tough battles.

When the team’s offense stalled and they needed a star to stand up and score against tough defense, if Ginobili pulled a muscle, the Spurs were finished.

Most of their eight or nine losses were like this.

Ginobili’s moments of weakness in critical situations were rare, but he was prone to erratic plays.

Tonight, in anxious moments during the fourth quarter, he pulled up from the free-throw line for two mid-range shots that clanked off the rim, nearly causing Popovich to have a stroke.

However, after working with him for so many years, Popovich just got angry in the moment, and then it passed.

When he had resolved to switch to a faster-paced offense last summer, he had already anticipated this fate in the new system.

Mainly because he has a soft spot for Ginobili.

He could tolerate it—who wouldn’t when Ginobili’s flamboyant plays sometimes matched the level of that guy in Los Angeles?

As for the issue of no one else being able to fight through tough games, he had already been seeking solutions last summer, trying to acquire Blake and Zhang Yang.

Blake’s scoring ability was average, but he was tough in clutch moments, having shown stability in key plays during his two and a half years with the Trail Blazers.

Zhang Yang’s performance in last season’s playoffs had also left a deep impression on Popovich; the guy’s got guts and is willing to take shots, yet he’s smart and doesn’t mess up during tactical plays.

But at the time, he failed to land both of his targets.

You ask why Popovich was looking at middle-class players like Blake and undrafted players earning a couple million like Zhang Yang?

He would have liked to have Kobe or Wade, and he could accept the likes of Ray Allen and wild cards, but he’s got to be able to get them first!

Let’s not even talk about money.

They haven’t had lottery draft picks in over a decade, no free agents were coming, and they had nothing much to offer in trades, forced to keep an eye out for neglected gems that others overlooked.

Now that they had finally brought back Zhang Yang, Popovich was very committed to his development.

Over the past 10 days, Zhang Yang’s performance in games, his attitude during training and learning, and his willingness to take chances when given the opportunity…all of it greatly satisfied Popovich.

But at the same time, situations that troubled Popovich also emerged.

While most Spurs players were fully committed to playing tactically, Zhang Yang and Ginobili seemed like anomalies.

Ginobili was having the most efficient season of his career, making All-Star for the second time, and with a good chance of being selected for the All-NBA team, he definitely wouldn’t be criticized even if they lost.

But it was different for Zhang Yang, a sophomore.

He was using real games to hone his skills and gain experience—naturally, his solo performances couldn’t be spectacular.

Zhang Yang’s individual play appeared so out of place in the Spurs system.

From the first game against the Thunder Team, he started to face criticism.

Popovich always despised those popular teams, and he never expected that one day, his team would become one of the powers, making him even more disdainful.

But the first four games were actually not too bad.

They won those games, and although Zhang Yang’s shooting efficiency of around 40% was criticized, he wasn’t blasted too harshly.

After losing to the Bulls, the media and fans pointed their fingers directly at Zhang Yang, pinning the loss on him without any reservation.

Popovich felt sorry for Zhang Yang because in that game he didn’t arrange for Zhang Yang to train—he’s not a fool.

In the previous games when he let Zhang Yang freely shoot, it was when the point difference had already widened, effectively garbage time.

In the game against the Bulls, Zhang Yang only had two solo plays and they both happened when the team was struggling and Ginobili wasn’t on the court.

Zhang Yang took the initiative to take the blame…

though he didn’t score, shouldn’t he be praised for that?

Moreover, Zhang Yang played quite well during team play, shooting 2 for 4, plus going 2 for 2 at the free-throw line, earning 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.

But they lost, didn’t they?

The blame, anyway, was dumped on Zhang Yang’s head.

On the 21st at noon, the Spurs returned to San Antonio.

Popovich wanted to have a chat with Zhang Yang, worried that he would struggle under the pressure of public opinion.

Developing young players is always a concern, especially for small-market teams like theirs; it’s not easy to find a talent worth nurturing into a star.

Then he saw Zhang Yang dragging a resigned-looking Ginobili to the practice court…

Popovich remembered that during the past three-game road trip, Zhang Yang had been pestering Ginobili to teach him the Euro step.

Ginobili, annoyed to the point of relenting, had even complained to him at night and helped himself to half a bottle of red wine left on his desk.

Watching Zhang Yang, oblivious to everything outside the window and solely focused on learning techniques, Popovich felt he was a bit redundant here…

…

Ginobili disparaged Zhang Yang when venting to Popovich, but that was just him showing off—you see, the newcomer isn’t going to Parker, Jefferson, or Duncan, he’s coming to me.

While teaching, Ginobili was very dedicated.

Zhang Yang was eager to learn and worked hard, so Ginobili put in even more effort.

And Ginobili being a man of few words while working spared Zhang Yang from wasting time socializing.

Ginobili has a classic quote mocking Durant: If you want to be a leader of a team, then you need to keep quiet because too much talk can annoy people.

You should be like Duncan, who doesn’t speak often, but when he does, it’s with a certainty that reassures his teammates.

Zhang Yang initially focused on developing his shooting skills after dribbling, but after playing two games, he realized that the team seemingly lacked tactics for mid-range isolations.

He was aware of the criticism, but his focus was different from Popovich’s; he had seen an opinion he felt was right—when he began to play one-on-one, his teammates would stand still.

He recalled that during the Spurs’ heyday with four championships in nine years, there never seemed to be much emphasis on mid-range tactics.

Even after Leonard emerged, the Spurs didn’t have mid-range scoring tactics until the 14-15 season, and it wasn’t until the 15-16 season that they started to refine it, finally getting it right in the 16-17 season.

It was mainly because the Spurs had never had a really good mid-range shooter; over the past decade, Duncan was the most accurate from mid-range for the Spurs, but even he wasn’t exceptionally good, not to the level of being a go-to tactic.

In Duncan’s best year for mid-range scoring, he averaged 5.8 points, while Nowitzki’s best was 6.4 points a game.

Considering Popovich’s ability to iterate tactics, Zhang Yang wasn’t expecting to come up with viable mid-range tactics this season.

His goal was to help the team overcome difficulties by the end of the season so they wouldn’t finish with just four wins and eight losses.

The team had no other strong point of attack apart from Ginobili, which Zhang Yang had identified as a key issue when analyzing ‘why the Spurs collapsed’ early on.

Therefore, he decided to learn Ginobili’s style of play first, so at least when Ginobili was having an off day or wasn’t on the court, he could collaborate with his teammates in one-on-one plays.

Although he might not be able to get very strong in just a month or two, he wouldn’t just be blindly flailing on his own.

He still had to learn the post-dribble shooting techniques, but he shifted his training focus to driving attacks.

Indeed, Ginobili didn’t start by teaching Zhang Yang the Euro step; instead, he helped Zhang Yang enhance his drive attack skills.

Popovich, who observed in secret, didn’t stop Zhang Yang’s ‘private’ adjustment of his training.

When Ginobili went to tell Popovich that Zhang Yang was pestering him to learn the Euro step, he boasted a bit, but the main purpose was to give Popovich a heads-up about the situation.

As long as Zhang Yang was making progress, Popovich didn’t care too much; any technique that could get the ball into the basket was a good technique.

During the games, since Zhang Yang ignored public opinion, Popovich continued to give him the opportunity to practice on the court.

As for the outside criticism, let them criticize; after all, they were criticizing Zhang Yang, not him.

This feeling was somewhat nostalgic; in the past, it was Bowen who took the heat for him.

After Bowen retired, he had been the target of criticism for two years.

Now the familiar feeling was back, and it felt great.

…

As time passed day by day and games were played one after another, Zhang Yang’s capabilities also improved progressively, and so did the criticisms he faced.

There were also times he escaped criticism—on March 4th, the Spurs crushed the Miami Heat at home.

After Zhang Yang came off the bench, he had lots of opportunities for mid-range shots, driving to the basket, and fast-break points.

When he came on, the team was already leading by 15 points with a score of 20 to 5, and then they went on to beat the Heat with a run of 16 to 7, winning the quarter by 24 points with the score at 36 to 12.

After that, the lead ballooned…

ending with a 36-point victory at 128 to 92, the second-largest point difference of the season.

Zhang Yang made 11 of his 17 shots in that game, including 1 for 1 from three-point range, and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line, scoring the game-high of 27 points along with 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

Excited to face off against the Heat’s Big Three, Zhang Yang took every opportunity to score himself instead of passing the ball, which reminded him of a certain blacksmith in Los Angeles wearing number 21 with his evil hand messing with Zhang Yang’s hair.

Frightened, he returned to the hotel and prayed to Guanyin Bodhisattva, Lord Lao Zi, and the Master of Heaven, one after the other, to protect his hair volume.

The next day, Zhang Yang heard from Ginobili and Ingles about something bizarre—the Big Three of the Heat cried in the locker room after losing by over 30 points.

Zhang Yang’s first reaction was one of disbelief, but considering that shocking kneeling…

it wasn’t impossible, ha.

While Zhang Yang immersed himself in training and games, preparing for the end-of-season collapse, something he hadn’t anticipated happened.

On March 7th, the Spurs played two overtimes with the Mavericks and lost 114 to 121; on the 9th, they lost to the Grizzlies 95 to 104; and on the 10th, they lost to the Trail Blazers 92 to 98, suffering a three-game losing streak!

After Zhang Yang joined, the Spurs had started with 4 wins and 1 loss and then had 5 wins and 1 loss, followed by slaughtering the Heat.

During this time, they achieved 10 wins and 2 losses, a slightly lower win rate than at the beginning of the season but still the best in the league over this period.

A three-game losing streak was a first for the Spurs this season, in fact, they hadn’t experienced any losing streak this season!

After losing to the Trail Blazers, the Spurs locker room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Zhang Yang questioned his life choices; had the Spurs collapsed before he even reached the season’s final rush after his joining?

Although his impression of that season’s Spurs was vivid, he definitely couldn’t remember the details of the records.

What stood out most in his memory was the Spurs being third at mid-season and then collapsing with 4 wins and 8 losses towards the end, which allowed the Chicago Bulls to overtake them.

Reflecting on these three games, he scored 19, 12, and 16 points respectively.

Since the games were always close or they were always behind, he lacked the opportunity to replace practice with games.

He had already determined that he performed better in tactics than Neal, was stronger in scoring, and his physique provided the Spurs with a stronger presence in perimeter defense than Neal.

Clearly, the problem wasn’t with him.

More precisely, in those three games, he didn’t feel any of the role players on the team performed badly.

They did what they could, and the coaching staff asked of them just that much.

He went to ask Ingles for a statistics sheet and, sure enough…

there was a problem with the GDP!

…

…

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