One Year Left to Play-Chapter 226 - 76: Going Head-to-Head with Hill!
On the other side, Kenny Anderson was much faster than Edwards, making it difficult for Alan Houston to easily get the ball as he did against Edwards' defense. After finally creating an opportunity, Edwards' influence on Joe Dumars again made Dumars hesitant to pass the kind of ball that could be intercepted.
Joe Dumars couldn't break through, had no chance to pass, and opted to pass to Edith Soper, who pulled up to the mid-range. Edith Soper used his strong body to turn and push PJ Brown aside, breaking through to the right side of the three-second zone, taking a shot... Zhang Hao jumped up vigorously and reached out to interfere, successfully disturbing the shot!
Edith Soper's shot was off-target, and Almon Gilliam grabbed the defensive rebound.
Successful defense!
Just as the Pistons changed their coaching staff, and the players' abilities were better utilized, the Brooklyn Nets made a small adjustment that might not significantly improve the overall defense, but it was perfect for defending the combination of Alan Houston and the aging Joe Dumars.
Switched to offense, Kenny Anderson tried to speed up but failed, passing the ball to Edwards again. This time, the Pistons clearly placed much more emphasis on defending Edwards.
After aging, Edith Soper has lost weight, but his speed remained decent. He still had the height, and Zhang Hao found it harder to get mid-range shots and passes. Edwards' passing wasn't as good as Kenny Anderson and Chales, so Zhang Hao mainly stood aside when Edwards played one-on-one, creating space.
When Edwards broke through, Edith Soper moved to the position one step inside the right side of the free-throw line. Zhang Hao immediately spotted an opportunity and cut toward the basket!
A direct pass, Edwards saw the opportunity, and made a high-low pass to the cutting Zhang Hao, who caught the ball without dribbling, stepped, and dunked single-handedly from the right side of the three-second zone, slamming the ball into the basket!
39 to 41, the point difference was down to just two!
When it was the Pistons' turn to attack, Joe Dumars chose to drive hard but couldn't shake off Edwards' defense and got completely stuck. Alan Houston couldn't get a receiving opportunity, Grant Hill was generally stationed for catch-and-shoot plays, Edith Soper was fronted by PJ Brown, and only Ratliff was near the three-second zone... During the breakthrough, Joe Dumars ruled out these options and directly drove into the basket, leaning sideways against the incoming Zhang Hao, attempting a floating shot...
Joe Dumars widened his eyes as he saw Zhang Hao leap high, swatting the ball against the backboard before it touched it!
This was being reckless; to others, Joe Dumars seemed to be playing wildly. The commentator from the American Cable TV Station remarked, "Joe overestimated himself, still thinking he was that FMVP from back then..."
Edwards secured the ball bouncing off the backboard and immediately passed it to Kenny Anderson, who had already sprinted beyond the three-point line, with Zhang Hao quickly following him.
This time, the pace successfully quickened!
Grant Hill caught up with Kenny Anderson, while Zhang Hao kept tightly keeping up with Alan Houston.
Kenny Anderson was on the move distributing the ball, Zhang Hao arrived at the left side of the free-throw line in the frontcourt, with both of them ignoring Alan Houston. Kenny Anderson passed the ball over Alan Houston's head to Zhang Hao, who took a mid-range shot upon receiving the ball...
The trailing mid-range shot hit the target!
彦页身寸!
Alan Houston felt like he was completely outclassed!
41-all!
The Pistons called a timeout, entering the official timeout stage.
After the timeout, Grant Hill resumed controlling the ball.
This was exactly what Zhang Hao wanted. It was easy to see that Grant Hill played over 40 minutes a game, and it was impossible for him to be the primary focal point of every play since he couldn't sustain such performance.
Others would certainly need to step in to give him a break. What the Brooklyn Nets needed to do was to defend everyone else tightly when Grant Hill wanted to rest. Just in time, Grant Hill's off-the-ball skills were weak, not like the future version where he adapted his off-the-ball skills to fit a role player. Additionally, the Pistons were similar to the Brooklyn Nets in that their role players weren't great, especially ball handlers weren't as effective as those on the Brooklyn Nets.
Sure enough, two successful defensive rounds forced Grant Hill back to controlling the ball.
Undeniably, the leading All-Star vote recipient was indeed the leading vote recipient. When Grant Hill controlled the ball, the Pistons' offense immediately upgraded a notch.
Before Iverson entered the NBA, Grant Hill had the fastest first step, exceptional crossover ability, precise mid-range shot, super top-level scoring ability beneath the basket, and outstanding vision... The coaching staff's improved abilities were the reason for the significant changes from last season for the Pistons and their playoff potential, but the core still was Grant Hill's personal ability!
A superstar well displays their importance to a team, as shown through Grant Hill.
The Brooklyn Nets clearly defined their playstyle, collaborating between Zhang Hao and Edwards in half-court plays and between Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson on fast breaks.
The Pistons paid great attention to Zhang Hao because their assistant coach Scott Collins had repeatedly emphasized it.
No matter how much they emphasize, the general principles and perceptions still can't be changed.
The Pistons' players did pay attention to Zhang Hao, but they still didn't expect Zhang Hao's mid-range shot to truly rival Alan Houston. This rookie was not yet 19 years old!
By appearance, from the perspective of Westerners, he would be believed as a middle school student, yet his mid-range shots could compete with Alan Houston, who was in his third year and known for top-tier mid-range shot talent in the league. Who could have expected this?
In addition, Zhang Hao's excellent court movement awareness and ability far exceed the understanding of players at this age.
They themselves had gone through this age, knowing how they were and how players of this age were. They had deeply ingrained perceptions.
Thus, just like in the latter half of the first quarter, Zhang Hao once again made the Pistons feel disoriented!
Facing the Pistons' defense, Zhang Hao played more and more comfortably, becoming increasingly targeted.
When Edith Soper defended him, he would wait for Edwards to make decisions, not moving randomly, preserving strength, and only moving when necessary and exerting force when needed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
If Grant Hill defended him, he would run wildly.
Consuming Grant Hill's stamina on the offensive end.
Zhang Hao's scoring did not increase as rapidly as it did in the latter half of the first quarter, but the Brooklyn Nets played even better.
On defense, initially, Zhang Hao was just experimenting, but as he continued to play, he set more clear goals.
It's okay to not be able to defend, the key is to force Grant Hill to control the ball. Whenever Joe Dumars and the substitute Lynch Hunt controlled the ball, they would go all out defensively because these two lacked self-driven offensive ability, the former being old and the latter inherently lacking, forcing Grant Hill to switch back to controlling the ball.
Double strategy!
As strong as Grant Hill was, he couldn't handle everything at once.
As the game progressed, Grant Hill abandoned defending Zhang Hao, realizing the Brooklyn Nets' open strategy. However, there was nothing they could do about it. The Pistons had a skill advantage but not overwhelming, and in the face of the opponent's initial effective adjustment, they fell into passivity.
Even knowing entering a competitive status favored the opponent, Grant Hill had no choice but to join in.
The scores of the two teams alternately rose, and by the end of the half, thanks to Alan Houston's forced mid-range shot, the Pistons tied the score at 58!
12 out of 9 shots in the half...
Even Zhang Hao was stunned by this shooting efficiency himself.
Unfortunately, he only made one out of two free throws once; otherwise, he would have scored his career-first 20+ points by halftime.
In nearly 20 minutes played in the first half, Zhang Hao scored 19 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, provided 1 assist, and made 3 blocks!
