59: 58.

Wishing Brother Pao a happy May Day!

59: 58.

Wishing Brother Pao a happy May Day!

The Spurs and the Hornets were battling fiercely; though the scores were lopsided, each game was a delight to watch.

The Lakers, on the other hand, had a tough time, losing their home-court advantage in the first playoff game for being careless, with a score of 78 to 86.

Although they managed to win back home-court advantage with consecutive wins in G2 and G3, the games were still agonizing, scoring 81-75 and 91-86 respectively.

These three games felt like a throwback to seven years ago, during the NHC era when high-post defense was not allowed to reach over.

When Zhang Yang saw the scores between the Lakers and the Grizzlies, he too felt a chill run down his spine.

In the last 20 regular-season games, the Grizzlies allowed an average of only 93 points per game, whereas the league’s average scoring during this period was 101.2.

One could imagine how tormenting the Grizzlies’ defense must have been.

Only the Lakers, with their “Three Towers,” managed to keep up, giving up an average of only 94 points in their last 20 regular-season games, almost on par with the Grizzlies.

Their tall lineup could contend with the “Twin Towers,” while Kobe harvested the game.

Zhang Yang watched the live broadcast of Game 2 between the Lakers and the Grizzlies, originally thinking that the Lakers’ performance in the playoffs would be mediocre.

However, his actual impression was that they were incredibly strong!

He even considered them the strongest team he had seen in over two months.

A base of “Three Towers,” enhanced by Kobe raising the ceiling, and the inside-outside game; this lineup was a paragon of contemporary basketball.

No wonder when the Lakers were down 0-2 at home against the Mavericks, most people still believed the Lakers would eventually make a comeback.

It wasn’t that the Lakers weren’t strong enough; they were justified champions with back-to-back titles… it could only mean that the Silver Horned King playing like a god was too strong!

Time moved to April 29th, when Game 4 of the Spurs vs.

Hornets series was set to take place.

Over these days, the regular-season individual awards were announced one after another.

MVP, Ginobili…

ranking eighth and making it onto the list for the first time in his career.

Best Sixth Man, Zhang Yang…

finished third in voting, just the small change compared to Odom and Terry.

Best Defensive Player was quite interesting; Duncan ranked third, marking the highest voting percentage of his career.

Howard’s visibly declining dominance on defense, coupled with rumors of a herniated disc and back injury, was vehemently denied by the Magic.

However, they discreetly began to inquire about his trade value to other teams…

Garnett came in second in the vote, with a count almost equal to Duncan’s.

No one could have expected that the best defenders of the season, aside from Howard, would be two 35-year-olds.

Most Improved Player, Zhang Yang ranked second, receiving 26 first-place votes and 26.35% of the total vote share.

He had made significant improvements, but Kevin Love, who won the award, improved so drastically it could be described as exaggerated, going from an average of 14 points and 11 rebounds to 20 points and 15 rebounds per game, becoming the first in 28 years to average 20+15.

The last time anyone posted such numbers was Moses Malone in the early ’80s.

By 6 o’clock in the evening, Game 4 of the Spurs vs.

Hornets series kicked off.

Trailing 0-3, the Hornets played as if they had given up, scoring 18 to 29 in the first quarter and 16 to 35 in the second, trailing the Spurs by 30 points at halftime.

Their total score for the half was even less than what the Spurs scored in just the second quarter!

The Hornets’ performance was so unacceptable that even Zhang Yang, their opponent, couldn’t believe it.

What was up with them?

His Spurs team couldn’t possibly be that strong, could they?

To build a 30-point lead at halftime against a playoff team was simply preposterous!

He speculated that the Nuggets players who were part of the 58-point blowout in 2009 must have felt the same bewilderment.

But seeing Paul play 21 minutes in the first half, attempting only four shots and scoring six points with one rebound and three assists from 2-for-4 shooting and 2-for-2 free throws, Zhang Yang understood.

Indeed, during the first half tonight, Zhang Yang barely felt Paul’s presence, not even close to what it had been in G1 and G3, and even worse than in G2.

After the halftime break, Popovich benched the veterans, including GDP, Richard Jefferson, and McDyess, and didn’t play them at all, letting George Hill, Zhang Yang, Danny Green, Blair, and Splitter play to continue expanding the lead…

In the second half, Paul continued to play, for another 9 minutes, getting subbed out in the latter part of the third quarter, with Hornets’ head coach Monty Williams not putting him back in again.

Monty Williams was filled with despair, and so was Paul, but the latter’s despair wasn’t for this game or playoff series; it was for the team itself.

He planned to call his agent tomorrow to discuss a trade with the Hornets’ management.

As for the growing deficit, Paul, sitting on the bench, wore a smile that seemed to be aloof from the world’s concerns…

At 8:24 p.m., the final whistle blew.

That night, Zhang Yang hurled the ball 27 times, with 19 shots in the second half, hitting 15 of the 27 attempts, including 1-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Alongside 5 successful free throws out of 6, he scored a game-high 36 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out an assist, and picked up 3 steals.

GDP trio all failed to score in double figures, with Duncan contributing 8 points and 8 rebounds despite his high salary, Ginobili with 6 points and 4 assists, and Parker with 8 points and 7 assists… Each of them only played fourteen or fifteen minutes.

Adding George Hill’s 14 points and 9 assists, Danny Green’s 18 points, and Splitter’s 11 points…

120 to 69, the Spurs slaughtered the Hornets by 51 points, sweeping their way to the second round!

Advancing to the next round, it was a massacre, and the Spurs players merely high-fived and hugged each other.

Their celebration was so quiet and calm, in stark contrast to the ebullient and exuberant Suns.

Zhang Yang and his teammates celebrated briefly and with a hint of reluctance, he could feel that he was about to “leave.”

This trial was very different from the last.

He spent a long time studying, training, and improving himself.

He also thought about the team’s perspective to bring help…

The difficulty of the trial must be higher than the ‘demo version,’ but the mission he chose of the lowest difficulty was not particularly hard.

Furthermore, his deep impression of this season’s Spurs, after all, it was the most amazing debut of the ‘Spurs system’, helped him to analyze and complete the task smoothly.

This trial marked a significant step in the direction he hoped to take.

Although this series wasn’t a big occasion, he played a considerable role instead of just watching from the sidelines!

He had not anticipated the last game to end with over a 50-point gap; consider it an early Labor Day greeting to Brother Pao on May 1st!

His vision gradually blurred…

…

…

On December 26th, 2003, the morning after Christmas at 6 AM, Zhang Yang woke up from his sleep.

The ‘yesterday’ he thought of after waking up was Christmas night, after watching the games and going to bed.

The second time is easier than the first.

This time, he actively recalled his journey through the trial… A very nice trip it was, and he looked forward to when next on this timeline he might arrive, at what point in time.

Just then, the Gate of Trials appeared before him, and reading the words on the door, he felt it might be some time before he returned to this timeline.

The door displayed that the next trial would open up a new timeline.

He felt a slight regret, but to the ‘awakened’ him, the ’10th timeline’ felt like a nice ‘dream.’ He briefly indulged in his disappointment before eagerly anticipating the new trials.

He wondered what era the new timeline would be, what the start would be like, and who he would meet.

Through this trial, he had learned a lot, understood the ‘incomplete version’ of the Spurs system, picked up numerous pick-and-roll techniques related mostly to scoring post-screen, and gained a lot in terms of defensive cooperation and skills, as well as the Euro step.

The rewards of the trial increased to three: Steve Nash’s sense of control tempo (beginner level), increased continuous jumping ability, and Ginobili’s Devil’s Pace.

The Devil’s Pace, paired with the Euro step, was perfect.

He hadn’t tried the improved continuous jumping yet, but by the name alone, it was apparent that, like ball sense and Devil’s Pace, it would significantly enhance his basketball talent.

A new task had also arrived.

“Task: Accumulate 20,000 Shooting Value; Reward: +1 to stamina talent limit.”

Stamina again, Zhang Yang thought it was pretty good.

At 22, his stamina wasn’t bad, stronger than Ginobili’s, probably stronger than Yao Ming’s, but not amongst the top in the NBA.

He re-evaluated his stamina talent; currently, he was better than DeRozan, likely due to being a year older.

As they grew older, DeRozan would definitely close the gap and perhaps surpass him…

He hoped for more tasks that would add to his stamina talent!

Closing the ‘Gate,’ Zhang Yang got out of bed, washed up, changed into his long-sleeved sportswear, grabbed the basketball he had pumped up the night before, headed downstairs, lifted some chairs, and shot towards the park to practice the fundamentals of the Euro step, weaving around the chairs.

Time to get to work!

An hour later, Yang Jing woke up and went downstairs to make some purchases, noticing a few chairs missing from the coffee bar… She was suddenly jolted; had they been burgled?

She rushed to check her things… The change was all there, electronics were all there, nothing else was missing, just a few chairs.

No, what kind of thief doesn’t take anything else but steals a few broken chairs?