No.1 in basketball scoring

After playing for more than four minutes, both Zhang Yang and Wade had low shooting percentages and scores, with their 'dog-eat-dog' style of play leaving both exhausted.

During this time, Zhang Yang scored 4 points and 1 assist, while Wade had 5 points and 1 assist. It seemed that the latter performed a bit better, but the score was... 12 to 7, with the Bobcats leading the Miami Heat by 5 points!

Besides Zhang Yang's 4 points, Felton cut in for a close-range floater to score two points, and the remaining 6 points for the Bobcats were all from second-chance points!

Self-doubt and physical decline under psychological influence plagued Marion; with a wild playstyle, aggressive rebounding, and excellent athleticism but poor physique for interior play, lacking even Millsap's weight, Haslem; and averaging 17 minutes per game with just 2 points and 3 rebounds, purely starting as a Center due to position vacancy, Joel Anthony... when Marion and Haslem needed to guard against Zhang Yang's penetration, standing higher up, were completely outplayed by Millsap and Okafor!

And when Wade drove in vain, the area around the basket was full of Bobcats players; Haslem wanted to rebound but couldn't get in at all.

Big Cheek: Damn Zhang San screwed me over!

Why did Wade play several possessions until the lead stretched to a 5-point gap to realize he was being 'screwed over'?

Because Zhang Yang, during these possessions, didn't do deep double-teaming to attract defense, but kept trying to create the best shooting opportunities.

During one possession, when Marion and Haslem sank on defense, Zhang Yang broke to the elbow for a pull-up jumper, scoring, scaring them into stepping up to block in the next possession.

In terms of Zhang Yang's play style, there wasn't really any tactical intent; it was just a shoot-out. Millsap and Okafor grabbed 4 offensive rebounds, converting 3 of them into points, which was Millsap and Okafor making proactive adjustments based on their chemistry.

When it was the Miami Heat's turn to attack, Wade received the ball and slowly advanced, almost at an 8-second violation over the half-court line, using this time to adjust and calm himself down.

He was currently facing the first relatively critical juncture of tonight's game:

The best case would be for them to perform a small outburst and narrow or even reverse the point difference;

A slightly worse case would be maintaining the status quo, as they were used to trailing by 5 points, beginning to battle around this point difference;

The situation he least wanted to see, yet was most likely to occur—the opponent taking advantage of the momentum to widen the lead.

Switching to those top, even first-tier strong teams wouldn't care about this, but he couldn't help it. Their strength was weak, and to defeat the league's number one Bobcats, every critical junction had to be taken seriously, every opportunity seized, and every disadvantage countered with effort.

Moreover, they had to compete with the league's top team, he couldn't back down, because every win or loss could affect whether they could make the playoffs in the end.

What troubled him the most was that only one of the three scenarios was good, and the worst scenario was the most likely to happen. This is the plight of a weak team. In the past two years, he truly empathized with Kobe's situation back then.

Once he calmed his emotions, Wade advanced to the top of the arc, facing Zhang Yang's tight defense. He stepped back half a step, ready for a pick-and-roll!

Haslem came up to screen Zhang Yang, Wade used the screen to break through!

Zhang Yang immediately retreated, and Millsap, who was defending the pick-and-roll, instinctively chose to block, leaving Wade no option but to change direction and sidestep forward.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yang chased after Wade. Though he couldn't keep up fully, together with Millsap and Okafor under the basket, they formed a containment trend against Wade, leaving Wade with shooting options only for an uncomfortable pull-up mid-range shot or to force a shot in the paint under double teams.

Wade chose to penetrate deeper. Zhang Yang, Millsap, Okafor three pressing in... Wade caught the ball before the containment was complete and swung it to the left!

Okafor reacted quickly, moving right instantly, but was slightly slow. Haslem caught the ball, took a step outside the restricted area, and released a close floater... Successful!

Big Cheek abandoned head-to-head and started team play, while Zhang San... persistently chose isolation!

As long as the Miami Heat didn't double-team at the high post in advance, he would shoot!

Wade has excellent defensive awareness, solid fundamentals, and great positivity, with the league's top lateral burst ability. Once Zhang Yang decides to shoot from high post, he can always provide counterforce limits during Zhang Yang's jump.

But on this point, after several attacks, Zhang Yang gradually adapted, always adjusting his shooting angle and force action. The seemingly absurd 'shooting philosophy under confrontation' he learned from Kobe during previous workouts was now actually coming into play...

Under Wade's contest, Zhang Yang executed a left spin followed by a right backspin fadeaway jumper... Successful!

From 6 out of 2 to 7 out of 3, Zhang Yang's isolation shooting percentage rose back above 40%!

After contesting, Wade immediately turned to collect inward post-Zhang Yang's jump. With teammates failing to protect the defensive rebound properly, he had to take responsibility, seeing the ball falling into the basket!

Thinking about Zhang Yang's newly confident continuous stepback jumps, Wade grunted in annoyance, already feeling slightly off earlier, now confirmed—damn Zhang San was using him, Big Cheek, to practice skills!

He was too familiar with this move, the West Coast Ironsmith's back-to-back spin mid-range shot.

However, he actually felt a tiny bit proud about this. In the early years, he also loved to practice skills against top defenders, honing his techniques that way. Zhang San using him to practice meant Zhang San considered him, Big Cheek, a top defender.