First in scoring

Chapter 77 76. Starting against Jordan! (Subscribe, monthly ticket)
“Name: Zhang Yang.

Age: 22 (June 1963, 6)
Height: 196 cm, wingspan: 210 cm, weight: 95 kg.

Ability evaluation (training mode): three-pointer 75, mid-range shot 88, layup 92, ball control 92, passing 68, speed 91, strength 85, jumping 89, physical strength 91..."

Zhang Yang opened the door of experience and looked at his ability evaluation panel.

His height, wingspan and weight are still excellent among shooting guards. He wants to grow up quickly!

In terms of physical fitness, compared to when he was close to 10 years old on the 23th timeline, he has added 1 point of speed talent, 1 point of jumping talent, and 3 points of physical talent, all of which correspond.

With a little more speed and a little more jumping ability, he would be able to catch up with the top physical fitness guys.

Keep up the good work, become bigger and stronger, and create greater glory!

His mid-range shots and layups are pretty much what he expected. After four years in college, his shooting ability is very mature. He is still five years away from his theoretical peak at the age of 5 or , so there is a lot of room for improvement.

But where is the three-point shooting ability that the Cardinal dreamed of?

What is a 75 point three-pointer? Oh, yes, this was the 80s, and it was rare to find a player with a decent three-pointer. If a player had a 75 point three-pointer after his first season in the NBA, he would have to have a peak of 80+, right? A three-pointer with an 80+ point three-pointer level was indeed considered top-notch in that era.

But considering the passing and controlling abilities, he feels he should go to Los Angeles.

Byron Scott is also a master of guard skills. He is currently the second best shooting guard in the history of the Lakers. He is patient, has a good personality, and is good at and willing to guide young guards in the team.

The Lakers also have Magic Johnson, who always has a smile on his face. As long as you don't treat him as a fellow teammate, he is a perfect teammate. He can harmoniously inherit the leadership status with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is not an ordinary person.

After a little sadness, Zhang Yang cheered up.

Now that I'm here, how can I expect to meet teammates like Nash and Duncan every time I practice? Maybe I'll go to the Lakers in the 20s and experience the magical operation of Jeanie Buss.

He looked at the mission board expectantly.

"Basic task: Score points. Goal: Get 1 points in a single game once in the first round of the series. Reward: Bird's post-up rhythm (beginner level). Note: Slow down, slow down your movements, and you will find more flaws in your opponent.

Optional Mission 1: Atheist, Goal: In the first round of the series, prevent Michael Jordan from breaking the single-game scoring record in the playoffs.

Optional Task 2: I am the God, Goal: In the first round of the series, the highest score in a single game is higher than Michael Jordan. "

When he saw the basic tasks, Zhang Yang wondered why the tasks were so simple. He could get such a good reward by scoring 1+ in a single game. This was the 30s, the era of offensive basketball. Any team could score 80+ points per game. When he saw the optional tasks, he remembered that in the 110-85 season, in the first round, the Celtics' opponent was the Bulls, and they were going to play against Jordan!
He and Jordan should be about the same height. He is 196 cm barefoot, so there is a high probability that he will play against Jordan!
Jordan, in his second year, seemed to have scored 63 points in the playoffs...

Without thinking, he directly chose Task 1. The reward was posted, and his core strength was slightly increased.

This experience should be similar to the first experience in timeline 10. Let him get familiar with the basketball environment of this era first. As for the tasks, except for the outrageous optional task , the others are not difficult.

As for scoring, it all depends on how well Jordan, a sophomore, defends. He remembers that Jordan was only selected to the All-Defensive Team in his fourth year.

He stopped Jordan from surpassing Baylor's 61 points in a single playoff game... He, Mad Dog Jack! His defense is not comparable to Danny Ainge, right?

...

Zhang Yang got up and looked around the residence, which had a living room, a bedroom, a study, a bathroom, and a kitchen, about 60 to 70 square meters. He looked outside the door and window and found that the environment and hygiene around the elevator and downstairs were good, so it should be an apartment building in a good location.

In the mailbox outside the door were the newly delivered newspapers and the newly sent rent and utility bills. The rent was US$600, plus the heating, water and electricity, which totaled just over US$1000. He thought about it and remembered that the message said that the median annual income of Bostonians last year was US$1.9, so the cost of living was not low. With an annual salary of US$9, he would have US$5 left after tax, which made him a high-income earner.

Zhang Yang read the newspaper for a while. The newspaper he subscribed to must be sports-related. The front page content analyzed the playoffs that started today.

When he saw the Celtics' record, a question mark popped up over his head, but then he felt that there was no problem. The team had an extra player like him and let him play as the sixth man, averaging 26 minutes per game. He did make some contributions.

With 69 wins and 13 losses, the Celtics tied the Lakers' best record in history this season.

The local newspapers were very contemptuous of the Bulls. Although the Bulls were the eighth in the Eastern Conference and a playoff team, their record was only 30 wins and 52 losses.

However, in the Western Conference, the eighth-placed Spurs only have 35 wins.

Zhang Yang counted the number of teams on the league's standings. There were only 23 teams in total, 11 in the East and 12 in the West. Indeed, with this number of teams, after playing 82 games, the winning rate of the 8th place could not exceed %.

When he saw the content about the best sixth man, he was surprised to see that the local media actually complained about him not winning the award! From the information he got, it seemed that the media here discriminated against him a lot.

The media also praised Bill Walton for refusing to accept the Best Sixth Man trophy.

Zhang Yang felt that the Jewish president seemed to dislike the Celtics. Not only did he not receive the award, but he also gave it to a player on his team who did not perform as well as him. His intention was too obvious.

At around 7 o'clock in the morning, Zhang Yang was ready to go to the gym. There was some food in the refrigerator, so he just grabbed something to get by.

When he was changing his clothes, he opened the closet and fell silent.

His jersey is hanging in the closet, which should be a souvenir issued by the team. Here comes the point: the jersey number is 34!
Is it because Larry Bird's jersey number is 33?
Don't mention it, when he meets someone he doesn't like, he can really do something disgusting like this...

Zhang Yang took a taxi to the North Shore Garden Arena. He memorized the route. The drive took about 5 minutes, which was about 3-4 kilometers per hour. He didn't see the car keys at home. Based on his understanding of him, he should do a morning jog as a warm-up every day and go straight to the arena to practice.

After entering the stadium and following the signs to the training ground, it was just 7: and Zhang Yang saw that there was already someone inside. When that person saw him, he immediately started scolding him.

"Hey, Jack, you're a little late today! Are you scared by Michael Jordan and can't sleep, so you wake up late? Don't worry, I'm a good boss who cares about newcomers. If you're scared, just hide behind me."

Zhang Yang felt his anger rising from the tone of voice.

He deserves a beating! Big Bird really deserves a beating!
Zhang Yang understood why the players on this team had such weird personalities. Some were autistic, some were hot-tempered, and some were sinister people who said one thing in public and another behind the scenes... No normal person could stand such a boss.

If he didn't have a bad temper and wasn't a jerk, he really wouldn't be able to survive.

Zhang Yang retorted, "No, no, no, I still have to worry. I saw in the newspaper that you will get the MVP for three consecutive years. I am very worried. If we lose today's game to a 30-win team, I will be embarrassed along with you."

The trainer on the side was not surprised. At first, everyone on the Celtics team was shocked. This rookie was too brave. After a long time, everyone got used to it. Now it was incredible that these two people did not quarrel with each other.

After Zhang Yang stretched his body with the help of a trainer, he tried his skills and got used to it quite easily.

The playing styles are still the same, breakthrough, European step to the basket, turnaround layup, jump step layup, quick stop jump shot, top arc pull-up and bypass start, which is the pick-and-roll offense...it's just extremely strengthened compared to high school.

For example, his pull-up jump shot is smooth and silky, and his shooting stability is excellent, which is completely incomparable to that in high school.

After getting familiar with the playing style, Zhang Yang looked at Big Bird who had started training again and was practicing basic skills.

At the age of 29, it is almost certain that he will win the MVP award for the third time in a row. It is admirable that such a strong player is still honing his basic skills every morning.

Watching Big Bird practicing back-to-the-basket shots in the air, he turned around, pulled back, took a step forward, glanced to the right, then suddenly turned left, suddenly increased his speed, slid along the baseline into the basket, and gently tossed the ball into the basket.

Zhang Yang had seen this move in the video! Bird turned around and dunked over Malone, Rodman, Olajuwon and others!
The feeling of seeing it with your own eyes is completely different from seeing it on the computer screen. On TV, he saw his opponent "Safufu" being blocked by a dunk, but when he saw it with his own eyes, he realized that it was all about skill!
In fact, the speed of the big bird's turning and rushing forward is not very fast, and the jumping height is not high, but compared with the previous fake moves, it gives people a feeling that the movement is very fast and sharp.

'Slow down, slow down your movements, and you will find more flaws in your opponent.'

Zhang Yang thought of the description of Big Bird's back-to-the-basket rhythm in the mission reward. So this is what it meant!
Want to learn!

He, Compton Zhangsan, understands technology!

But given his relationship with the other party, the other party probably wouldn't teach him.

It doesn’t matter, just watch it!
Seeing Bird train in person is completely different from watching game videos. In a game, Bird has to improvise according to the defense, and it is almost impossible for him to perform all the moves. But in training, Bird must practice every move.

The big bird who was training suddenly felt something like a thorn in his back and turned around to look.

Zhang Yang: Stare...

Big Bird: Is this guy crazy? Want to fight again? Oh, I won't start a fight again, don't even think about beating me up!

Big Bird ignored Zhang Yang's gaze and continued with his light basic training.

He guessed that this rookie had a grudge against him due to a quarrel, so he used some strange ways to make him unhappy. He could make such a guess because he would do the same.

The best way to deal with this kind of thing is to ignore it.

Oh, little rookie, you still have a lot to learn about things like irritating and disgusting!
After watching Big Bird practicing his back-to-the-basics skills for more than ten minutes, until Big Bird finished his back-to-the-basics training and went to practice three-pointers, Zhang Yang retracted his gaze and recalled it over and over in his mind to deepen his memory... It's almost there, let's start practicing!
Over on Big Bird's side, after practicing three-pointers for a while, he suddenly realized that the feeling of being on edge had disappeared without him noticing. He looked at Zhang Yang... What was this rookie doing?
Is this action imitating him?
Imitating his back-to-the-basket moves to tease him and stimulate him, to provoke him into asking for a beating?
The rookie's annoying level has risen again?

No, it doesn’t seem so… Big Bird looked terrified.

This rookie seems to be imitating his post-up play!

...

At around 9 o'clock in the morning, Celtics players and coaches arrived at the stadium one after another.

Zhang Yang felt the weird atmosphere of the team. It was not as quiet as the Spurs, nor as harmonious as the Suns. These two guys would yell at any time, and those two guys would laugh... and there was also Ainge who followed Bird like a lackey.

If there were mobile group chats in this era, he thought that the dozen or so people on his team could be divided into more than 20 groups. However, after the team meeting began, the situation changed.

Bird, McHale, Dennis Johnson, Ainge, Greg Kate, Jerry Hitting... and other players, plus KC Jones, enthusiastically discussed how to play tonight.

Zhang Yang took a quick look and found that including him, the team had a total of 13 players, 7 of whom were future NBA head coaches, assistant coaches, and general managers.

The underworld in Boston is really huge!
Zhang Yang concentrated his attention and listened to the discussion of his teammates who had outstanding tactical abilities. Suddenly, his name was mentioned.

Bird: "Jack, you're starting tonight, against Jordan!"

Zhang Yang: "I'm the starter?"

Big Bird: "Of course, you are the best shooting guard on our team. You have been lazy on the bench for a year. It's time for you to take responsibility. But if you are afraid, I said you can hide behind me."

Zhang Yang was a little surprised. It seemed that Big Bird's evaluation of him and his attitude towards him were completely different.

However, if Bird did not recognize his ability, he would not have argued with him for a whole season.

To be able to go against Bird for a whole season and still stay as the sixth man, it takes something special.

Zhang Yang noticed that Anji had a bad expression, but he didn't care. He asked, "How should I adjust my playing style? How should I cooperate with you?"

Big Bird: "You can play however you want. Do I need your cooperation? You just need to shoot the ball into the basket. What else do you want to ask?"

Zhang Yang shrugged: "That's easy, I don't have any other questions."

It is this kind of self-confidence that is both annoying and admirable that makes Big Bird dislike Zhang Yang very much.

So much like him.

Zhang Yang was not surprised to see head coach KC Jones standing by with a calm expression, as if he had no objection to Bird's overstepping his authority in arranging the starting lineup.

When he was watching the live broadcast, he heard Hubie Brown teasing Bill Walton and said that the Celtics head coaches were all protectors of Bird's tactical board.

Moreover, the teammates and coaches around him are much more talented than KC Jones.

KC Jones only arranged one training session in the morning, and the rest of the time was free, gathering for warm-up at 5: pm.

Most of the Celtics players are very enthusiastic about training. After the team training is over, most of them stay to practice more, of course, they are all basic training with low intensity.

Zhang Yang practiced back-to-back kicks for a while, but couldn't get the hang of it. He needed to watch and study more.

He watched his teammates' training aimlessly. If he could learn something, that would be great, but if he didn't, it didn't matter.

He had already prepared himself to not learn any skills from this experience, so getting two rewards was good enough, and he was in a very peaceful state of mind.

McHale was practicing the low-post turn and step-back technique, and Zhang Yang stared at him for a while...it was inappropriate.

McHale turns around and steps back to shoot without jumping, relying purely on his height and wingspan, an inside back-to-the-basket style, and is so close to the basket, which is not suitable for the outside line.

Most of the others were practicing shooting, including Bill Walton, who was once the "league's top center". Walton has become a blue-collar worker.

The information he received and the news he saw all mentioned that Bill Walton refused to accept the Best Sixth Man trophy. Zhang Yang had some feelings for this rough-looking man, but he didn't talk to him.

He does not discriminate against stutterers and is patient.

But this legendary center had such a bad temper that he would get so angry at himself when he stuttered that he would then take his anger out on others.

Just when he was about to practice shooting and look for Jordan's video to watch, he saw Bird starting to practice back-to-back steps again...

Zhang Yang: Stare...

...

On April 1986, 4, at 17:6 p.m., the TD Garden was filled with boos.

That man is here - Michael Jordan!

There is actually no real grudge between the Celtics and Jordan.

In last season's playoffs, the Celtics swept the Bulls.

But there are two things that make Celtics fans hate Jordan.

One is that Jordan was selected to the second team in his rookie season and was hailed by the league as a strong challenger for the No. 1 player in the NBA.

Lakers fans think Magic is the best, Pistons fans think Mark Six is ​​the best, Celtics fans think Bird is the best. The three teams of fans compete with each other and then jointly boycott Michael Jordan.

Another reason is the All-Star voting in the 84-85 season. Jordan was originally regarded as a small forward and was placed at the forward position. As a result, Jordan was ranked first at the forward position. When the first votes were announced, Bird was squeezed to third place. Later, the league moved Jordan to the guard position, and Bird avoided the situation of not being selected as an All-Star starter despite having won the MVP last season.

But this is enough to embarrass Celtics fans. They once laughed at Magic Johnson for winning the Finals MVP in his rookie year and then failing to be selected as an All-Star the following year. Now this boomerang has hit them in the face.

The main reason is that the super rookies of this era are all very scary. Magic Johnson, FMVP in his rookie year; Bird, first team in his rookie year, FMVP in his sophomore year; Olajuwon, a sophomore this season, averaged 23.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game, and was the biggest threat to Bird's three consecutive MVPs... Jordan is also this kind of person.

Celtics fans are not afraid of someone bragging that someone will threaten Bird's position, but if this person can really threaten him, then they will be very angry and want to step on Jordan and not give him a chance to turn over.

Zhang Yang is very excited now as he is going to play against Jordan!

During the warm-up, he was still thinking that he should not be too nervous when facing such a great player, otherwise it would affect his performance. But after seeing Jordan in person, he tried hard to suppress his overly high emotions.

The pre-match preparation time ended and the starting lineups of both teams came on the court.

Celtics starting lineup: Dennis Johnson, Zhang Yang, Bird, McHale, Parish.

Bulls starting lineup: Kyle Macy, Jordan, Orlando Ulrich, Charles Oakley, Jeff Korsin.

Zhang Yang looked at the substitute on the opposite side, Iceman Gervin, who was wearing a suit.

Last summer, Jordan broke his leg and was predicted to be out for the season. The Bulls spent a whopping $80 to bring him from the Spurs.

Gervin worked hard to help the Bulls stay in the ranks of playoff teams despite being extremely unfamiliar with the playing style, but Jordan suddenly returned in March!
After Jordan played a few games and adapted to the game, Gervin was relegated to the sidelines. At the beginning, he still had about 10 minutes of playing time, but was directly abandoned by the Bulls in the last two games of the regular season.

Zhang Yang read in the newspaper that Gervin might not be able to find a job after the season ends. Last season, Gervin averaged 21.2 points per game with a 50% shooting rate! How miserable!

The game starts at 7pm.

Parish beats Korsin to win the jump ball, and the Celtics take the first attack!
Zhang Yang ran to the frontcourt, waiting for Dennis Johnson to advance and launch an attack.

Jordan was very aggressive in defense. He stuck to Zhang Yang roughly and kept muttering, "Are you the rookie who had a fight with Bird? He arranged for you to start against me, right? You are so pitiful. He is taking revenge on you, you know?"

Zhang Yang struggled to withstand Jordan's physical attack and replied, "You talk so much. I thought you were Larry. I didn't expect you were the one who was swept. Luther is so confident?"

At this time, Dennis Johnson came forward, Zhang Yang slapped away the arm that was exerting force on his waist and started to move.

Slipping to the baseline, running back, going around McHale on the wing, McHale blocked Jordan.

Zhang Yang accelerated as fast as he could while circling the pole, rushed to a high position, and the ball came!

Zhang Yang received the ball, turned around and accelerated, going straight to the basket from the middle. Oakley, who came to defend the shot, was left behind by him, and he jumped with one step inside the free throw line.

Korsin under the basket didn't move in time, he couldn't press forward or dodge, he wanted to reach out but it was too late, his eyes went dark...

"bang"

Along with the sound of smashing frames, the audience burst into cheers!
In the beginning, Celtics fans hated Zhang Yang very much, but as the season progressed, Zhang Yang played better and better, at least there were fewer and fewer scoldings from the audience, but they still couldn't stand Zhang Yang because of the beating of Bird.

After KC Jones revealed to the media today that Zhang Yang would be the starting player, the fans who saw the news at noon were full of doubts.

Zhang Yang has never been a starter. Now when he is facing Jordan, who was selected to the second team in his rookie season, letting Zhang Yang start against him seems like a stupid move no matter how you look at it.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang hit a fierce shot in the first ball!

……

……

This chapter has 5800 words, and I took a while longer to write. I will update another chapter tonight with a similar number of words, and then make up for the 1500 words that were missing yesterday. Please give me your monthly votes and recommendation votes!

(End of this chapter)