First in scoring

Chapter 45 45. The collapse comes early?

103比95击败奇才队、99比89击败篮网队、104比99击败开拓者队，马刺队豪取8连胜，战绩提升至48胜8负。

到了2月19号，马刺队这波长连胜被公牛队终结了，罗斯爆砍40分9助攻，主场作战的公牛队以109比102击败马刺队。

Popovich didn't care much about suffering his ninth loss of the season.

This game just exposed their biggest problem - apart from Ginobili, no one else can play tough defense.

Duncan's offensive ability has been declining in the first two seasons. After losing 5 kilograms last summer, his offensive ability is completely gone.

Parker is very strong in regular games, and is especially strong when the wind is with him, but when the wind is against him, if you point to this sports car, he can tell you what the best sixth man is, the opponent.

They only have Ginobili left who can fight tough battles.

When the team's offense is no longer working and the stars need to step up and shoot the ball against the defense, once Ginobili has a hip injury, the Spurs are finished. This is basically the case with the eight or nine games they lost.

Ginobili doesn't perform poorly in critical moments very often, but he is prone to seizures. Tonight, in the middle of the fourth quarter, he missed two mid-range shots at the free throw line in a tense moment and almost gave Popovich a cerebral thrombosis.

However, after working together for so many years, Popovich was only angry at the time and it was over. When he made up his mind to switch to a light offense last summer, he had already anticipated that the new system was destined to have this disaster.

The main reason is that he has a preference for Ginobili. He can tolerate it, because when Ginobili gets excited, his strength is comparable to that of the one in Los Angeles.
As for the problem that no one was able to fight the tough battle, he was thinking of ways to do it last summer, such as competing for Blake and poaching Zhang Yang.

Blake's scoring ability is average, but he is very tough in critical moments. He was very stable in key shots during his two and a half years with the Trail Blazers.

Zhang Yang also left a deep impression on Popovich in the playoffs last season. He is bold and dares to throw the ball, but he is also smart and does not act recklessly when it comes to tactics.

But both goals failed at that time.

You ask Popovich why he is focusing on middle-class players like Blake and undrafted players like Zhang Yang who earn two or three million? He also wants Kobe, Wade, Ray Allen and Madman, but he has to get them!
Let’s not talk about the money first. They haven’t gotten a lottery pick in more than ten years. No free agents are coming. They have nothing to trade with and can only stare at the missed gems that others don’t want.

Now Zhang Yang is finally back, and Popovich is training him very attentively. Ten days later, Zhang Yang's game performance, training and learning attitude, and his courage to fight when given training opportunities... all make Popovich very satisfied.

But at the same time, a situation that made Popovich worried also occurred.

While most of the Spurs players are playing completely tactically, Zhang Yang and Ginobili seem to be two exceptions.

Ginobili played at the highest efficiency of his career this season, was selected to the All-Star Game for the second time in his career, and is expected to be selected to the All-NBA Team. He will definitely not be criticized if he loses.

But it is different for sophomore Zhang Yang. He is using actual combat to practice his skills and gain competition experience. It is naturally impossible for him to play well in singles.

Zhang Yang seemed so out of place in the Spurs system during the singles phase. He was criticized since the first game against the Thunder.

Popovich used to hate those popular teams, but he didn't expect that one day he would become the strong team, and he hated them even more.

But the first four games were actually okay, and we won all the games. Although Zhang Yang's inefficient shooting rate of around 4% was criticized, it was not criticized particularly severely.

After losing to the Bulls, the media and fans pointed the finger at Zhang Yang. Without thinking twice, they simply put the blame for the loss on Zhang Yang.

Popovich felt sorry for Zhang Yang because he did not arrange for Zhang Yang to practice for this game. He is not a fool. When he let Zhang Yang play freely in the previous games, the score gap had already widened, which was equivalent to garbage time.

In the match against the Bulls, Zhang Yang had only two singles, and both times the team couldn't get going and Ginobili was not on the court, so Zhang Yang took the initiative to take the blame... Although he didn't score, doesn't this deserve praise?
况且张杨在团队配合时打得其实挺好的，4投2中，加上2中2的罚球，拿到6分3板1助攻1抢断。

But let's just say whether they lost or not! Anyway, the blame was put on Zhang Yang.

At noon on the 21st, the Spurs returned to San Antonio.

Popovich wanted to talk to Zhang Yang, as he was worried that Zhang Yang would not be able to withstand the pressure of public opinion.

Training young players is always a worry, especially for a small-market team like theirs. It is not easy to get a talent worthy of being trained as a star.

Then, he saw Zhang Yang dragging a helpless Ginobili to the training ground...

Popovich remembered that during the past three consecutive away games, Zhang Yang had been pestering Ginobili to teach him the Eurostep. Ginobili was annoyed and reluctantly agreed. He also complained to him at night and took away the half bottle of red wine left on his desk.

Seeing Zhang Yang not paying attention to the outside world and only wanting to learn skills, Popovich felt that his presence here was a bit redundant...

...

Ginobili sounded disgusted when he complained to Popovich, but he was just pretending - you see, the new guy doesn't learn from Parker, Jefferson, or Duncan, but comes to me.

When teaching, Ginobili taught very attentively. Zhang Yang had a good attitude towards learning and worked hard, so he taught even harder.

Moreover, Ginobili is the type who doesn't talk much when doing things, so Zhang Yang doesn't have to waste time socializing.

Ginobili once said a famous quote to mock Durant: If you want to be a team leader, then you should talk less, because talking too much will annoy people. You should be like Duncan, who doesn't talk much, but at critical moments, he will use the most affirmative tone to reassure his teammates.

Zhang Yang initially focused on developing techniques related to shooting after dribbling, but after playing two games, he found that the team seemed to have no tactics for mid-range singles.

He knew that he was being scolded, but his focus was different from Popovich's. He saw a statement that he thought was very correct - when he started playing one-on-one, his teammates all stood there.

He recalled that during the Spurs' heyday of winning four championships in nine years, there seemed to be no mid-range tactics. Even after Leonard came into being, the Spurs did not have any mid-range scoring tactics until the 9-4 season. It was not until the 14-15 season that this aspect began to be improved, and the mid-range tactics were not really implemented until the 15-16 season.

The main reason is that the Spurs have never had a very good mid-range shooter. In the past decade or so, Duncan has been the most accurate mid-range shooter for the Spurs, but it is not particularly good, not at the level that can be used as the main tactic. The year when Duncan scored the most mid-range points was 5.8 points per game, and the year when Nowitzki scored the best mid-range points was 6.4 points per game.

Given Popovich's ability to iterate tactics, Zhang Yang does not expect to come up with a viable mid-range tactic this season.

His goal is to help the team get through the tough times at the end of the season so that they don’t end up with a 4-8 record.

The team has no other breakthrough points except Ginobili, which was the key point he highlighted when he first analyzed "Why the Spurs collapsed".

To sum up, he decided to learn Ginobili's playing style first. At least when Ginobili was having a seizure or was not on the court, he could cooperate with his teammates in one-on-one play. Although he might not be able to become very strong in just one or two months, he would not have to fight alone.

He still needs to learn the shooting technique after dribbling, but the focus of his training should be on breaking through and attacking the basket.

Yes, Ginobili did not teach Zhang Yang the Eurostep from the beginning, but helped Zhang Yang improve his breakthrough and attacking skills.

In this regard, Popovich, who was observing secretly, did not stop Zhang Yang from "privately" adjusting the training direction.

Ginobili went to tell Popovich that Zhang Yang was pestering him to learn the Eurostep. In addition to showing off, his main purpose was to inform Popovich about the matter first.

As long as Zhang Yang is working hard to improve, Popovich won't care about anything else. The technique that can put the ball into the basket is a good technique.

When it came to the game, since Zhang Yang ignored the outside public opinion, Popovich continued to give Zhang Yang the opportunity to practice on the court.

As for the scolding outside, let them scold, after all, it is directed at Zhang Yang, not him.

He missed this feeling a little. In the past, Bowen was the one who took the blame for him. After Bowen retired, he was the only one who was blamed for two years. Now the familiar feeling is back, which is great.

...

As time passed and games were played one after another, Zhang Yang's strength improved day by day, and he was scolded more and more.

There are times when they don’t get scolded. On March 3, the Spurs beat the Heat at home.

After Zhang Yang came on as a substitute, he received the ball and shot from mid-range, cut into the basket, and scored on counterattacks...he had too many opportunities to count.

因为他上去的时候球队就已经20比5领先15分了，接着又打了热火队一波16比7，单节36比12赢了热火队24分。

After that, the score difference continued to soar... and finally settled at 36 points, beating the Heat 128-92, creating the second largest score difference of the season.

张杨全场17投11中，其中三分球1中1，加上5中4的罚球，拿到全场最高的27分5板1助攻2抢断。

Zhang Yang was very excited when facing the Big Three of Heat. He would rather shoot than pass the ball when the chance came, which resulted in him being hit on the head several times by the evil big hand with the number 21 that reminded him of a blacksmith in Los Angeles.

He was so scared that he returned to the hotel and prayed to Guanyin Bodhisattva, Laozi, Tongtian Jiaozhu... in turn, asking them to bless his hair.

The next day, Zhang Yang heard a strange story from Ginobili and Engelland - the Heat's Big Three cried in the locker room after losing by more than 30 points.

Zhang Yang's first reaction was to not believe it, but when he thought about that shocking kneeling...it was not impossible.

Just when Zhang Yang was fully committed to training and competition, preparing for the collapse at the end of the season, something unexpected happened.

3月7号，马刺队和小牛队打了双加时，114比121不敌；9号，马刺队以95比104输给灰熊队；10号，马刺队92比98输给开拓者队，遭遇了一波三连败！

After Zhang Yang joined, the Spurs first had a record of 4 wins and 1 loss, then a record of 5 wins and 1 loss, and then slaughtered the Heat. During this period, they had a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. Although the winning rate was slightly lower than that in the first half of the season, it was still the team with the best record in the league during this period.

This is the first time the Spurs have suffered three consecutive losses this season. No, they have never experienced consecutive losses this season!

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

Zhang Yang doubted his life. After he joined the team, the Spurs collapsed before the end-of-season sprint?

Although he was deeply impressed by the Spurs this season, he certainly couldn't remember the details of the record. What impressed him most in this regard was that the Spurs were third in history at the first half of the season, and were overtaken by the Bulls in the final sprint of the season with 4 wins and 8 losses.

He recalled the three games, in which he scored 3 points, 19 points and 12 points respectively. Since the games were either tense or always behind, he had no chance to practice through games. He had already determined the tactical play style, and he performed better than Neal. He had stronger scoring ability, and on the defensive end, his physique brought a stronger perimeter defense to the Spurs than Neal.

That's definitely not his problem. To be precise, in these three games, he didn't think the role players in the team played badly. There were only those things they could do and those were also what the coaching staff asked them to do.

He went to England to ask for the statistical table and looked at it, and sure enough... there was something wrong with the GDP!

……

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(End of this chapter)