One Year Left to Play-Chapter 338 - 107: Sorry, I’m Not the Center You Want
Damon Stoudamire was feeling overwhelmed; Oliver Miller was his strongest teammate inside.
Facing Anthony Piller’s defense, Damon Stoudamire found his shooting space covered, taking a risk outside, he decisively opted to charge forward!
Really fast, his rhythm was good, Anthony Piller couldn’t keep up, but Sibaros was already there to double-team at the first moment.
Luckily, Damon Stoudamire reacted quickly, with great vision, promptly changing direction, reaching the middle... Zhang Hao blocked his path!
The sprinting momentum of Damon Stoudamire had aged, and he couldn’t change direction anymore, trapped, just as he was about to pass to Doug Christie on the sideline. Last time he scoped the field, he saw Zhang Hao previously sticking close to Doug Christie, but Anthony Piller arrived first at Damon Stoudamire’s left side, with Sibaros blocking the right rear... triple-team!
In the chaos, the ball held by Damon Stoudamire was knocked away!
Anthony Piller grabbed the ball!
Damon Stoudamire saw Zhang Hao heading fast to attack and hastily followed.
Eyeing the chance to close in on Zhang Hao, potentially cutting off Zhang Hao’s receiving path, but just as Damon Stoudamire ran past the three-point line, chasing Zhang Hao, Zhang Hao suddenly sped up! He accelerated fiercely towards the front court.
Once again, Damon Stoudamire was shocked to find that he truly couldn’t catch up with Zhang Hao on his fast break!
At this moment of transition, it was just as Zhang Hao surpassed Van Exel, who had received a pass from Anthony Piller, and Elvin Robertson, who was close to Van Exel! He was closest to the opposing basket!
"Single Rider" full power! Speed instantly soared to 100!
Even the fastest in the league, Damon Stoudamire, could only eat dust from behind!
"Here he comes, here he comes, here he comes..."
Amid the live DJ’s exclamations, the live atmosphere was lifted, everyone was cheering!
Zhang Hao reached the free-throw line, caught Van Exel’s long pass, took a step to jump, slammed the ball into the basket one-handed!
The cavalry charging at the forefront! That’s Sports Illustrated’s evaluation of Zhang Hao’s counterattack!
The home fans were fired up from the very first round!
Many who had heard Zhang Hao was better than imagined and came with suspicion, watching Zhang Hao play for the first time, were ignited at this moment!
Damon Stoudamire heard the cheers of the home fans... having experienced being unable to keep up with Zhang Hao’s speed last matchup, though certain this time that he really couldn’t catch up, somewhat hard to accept, yet currently, he had prepared for it, not quite a blow.
After just one round, he realized why he felt a chill down his spine before the game.
The opposing group, before the game, were actually figuring out how to deal with him, the rookie!
"Really? Is there such enmity? We’re a newly established team! No grudges, no hatred... Oh right! It must be Aix! It must be his idea!
Damn! You won last time too! Did I just say I could also score 40+? Is it worth this?
Only you can brag, I can’t boast?"
...
This night was destined to be an unforgettable night early in Damon Stoudamire’s career.
With Zhang Hao, Garnett, Starkhouse bearing the brunt earlier, Damon Stoudamire played for over a month, apart from being bullied by Payton, he hadn’t really faced targeting from opponents in other games.
Tonight, he realized how cruel society can be... 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Throughout the starting phase, he didn’t have a single play without encountering at least two double-teams, the one defending him outside sticking by his shot beyond the three-point line, Sibaros blocking mid-range, once he got under the basket, he was surrounded by three people...
for 2 shooting, 2 turnovers, 1 assist, that’s his 9-minute performance in the first quarter, he could only relinquish the ball to Elvin Robertson, the four-double king.
During the rotation phase, it somewhat improved, but George Lynch, Sedale-Srte, Jason Williams seemed to have grudges against him too.
In the second half, Raptors head coach Brendan Malone directly put Damon Stoudamire on the bench, not letting him play.
In the first half, 19 minutes, 2 for 10 shooting, scored 7 points, 4 assists, 5 turnovers... Brendan Malone was really afraid the team’s only promising rookie would get messed up by the other side.
Absolutely appalling!
On the other side, Zhang Hao played three quarters, totaling 29 minutes, 9 for 16 shooting, 1 for 3 from three-point range, plus 5 for 6 on free throws, easily scoring 24 points.
In the end, the Lakers beat the Raptors 108-95 effortlessly.
Indeed very easily, even though the opponents scored quite a few wide-open shots, with the score being tense in the first half, the opposing coach dared not let Damon Stoudamire be ravaged further, not letting him play in the second half, the strength gap widened, the Lakers reverted to their normal play style, within a few strokes, they blew the game wide open.
Zhang Hao discovered another thing: "This task, facing some top 8 players from the same class in poor teams, there can be very simple ways to deal with it."
Only, the level of teamwork among his teammates surprised him.
Anthony Piller, George Lynch, Jason Williams... these guys are okay too, some like Fred Roberts, Derek Strong played honestly, but Campbell also aimed to block Damon Stoudamire as his primary objective, leading to his defensive target scoring twice...
"Lakers trading me using Jones and Divac, surely they want to prioritize developing me... Most of the teammates here have much better discernment than the Brooklyn Nets players..."
