Chapter 2184 - 15: The Old Turtle (Part 2)
"I’ve done my best, Sonny." Allen Iverson defended himself, he played very hard tonight.
"No, you haven’t. You need to use your brain, handle the ball more cautiously. You’re not the same as Kobe, don’t let him set your pace."
Iverson didn’t speak, feeling a bit frustrated inside, wondering if he could change his style of play at 31 years old.
However, thinking of Ah Gan at 42, has his style been unchanged? Over the years, he’s changed many times.
After coming to Glory, Iverson’s biggest change was rekindling his passion for basketball. Ah Gan’s presence made him realize that he’s still young, with many opportunities, and that 31 is not the end for a short player.
"I understand, I’ll use my brain more."
Iverson has always actively participated in training, striving to understand Glory’s tactical system.
Every player’s position, every teammate’s intention, tactical changes, every teammate’s characteristics, and so on.
He wants to break out from his overly casual past playing style and think more in the game.
The timeout ended and back on the court, sideline ball, Gan Guoyang gestured to Allen Iverson, Iverson got the message.
Receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang immediately went up to provide Iverson with a screen. Drawing the double-team defense, Iverson made a high lob pass to the interior. Yao Ming, catching the ball with a one-handed dunk, scored.
A simple and efficient play, using the defensive attention of three people, left the Trail Blazers’ defense scrambling. Iverson keenly seized the space, assisting Yao Ming.
Iverson strives to make every attack smarter, starting to suppress his desire to shoot, and refining himself technically.
When a person learns to let go of some things, they tend to see the world more clearly.
For example, when Iverson saw Kobe attacking with the ball, he marveled at Kobe’s handling of subtle details, noticing they were sharper than his own.
Kobe’s left and right hands are very balanced, his dribbling rhythm is excellent, and when he breaks through, he always leaves himself some leeway, instead of rushing out thoughtlessly.
The benefit of leaving leeway is that he can change direction and rhythm at any time, adjusting his offensive move according to the defense’s arrangement.
After Kobe hit another mid-range shot, Gan Guoyang started to target Kobe on defense.
But Kobe was unfazed by Gan Guoyang’s help defense and continued without any panic, well understanding Gan Guoyang’s defensive characteristics, seemingly nonchalant, but actually keeping a close watch on you.
Therefore, he had to be fast, shoot quickly, handle the ball quickly, without any hesitation.
Facing the defense, Kobe would shoot at any slight opportunity, never falling into Gan Guoyang’s defensive traps.
Gan Guoyang, after targeting two plays, stopped bothering, continuing to guard under the basket.
Iverson, on the other hand, worked hard to act more like a point guard, suppressing the urge to drive with the ball, slowing down to observe, observe the defense, observe teammates.
Gan Guoyang in the low post, a fleeting opportunity, Iverson put the ball in, Gan Guoyang caught, turned, took a jump shot, and scored two points.
His signature crossover has appeared less frequently since joining Glory, often only showcased when the opponent’s defense was still relatively lax, to entertain the audience a bit.
Once the game reached an intense stage, Iverson reminded himself to employ more efficient and energy-saving ways to initiate offense, ensuring to give the opponent the greatest trouble.
Crossover can only trouble one defender, while smart and cunning offensive methods can put every opponent in a dilemma of choices.
In the latter part of the third quarter, Glory gradually gained the upper hand, narrowed the gap, and then extended the lead to 5 points by relying on Yao Ming’s fadeaway shot and an Iverson three-pointer.
Trail Blazers called a timeout, Kobe had scored 12 points with drives and shots in the third quarter, and with the quarter not over yet, he had already reached 35 points.
For Kobe, this wasn’t particularly high. Iverson had currently scored 16 points and handed out 9 assists, and the duel continued.
Gan Guoyang had no intention to intervene in the rivalry between the two; he reminded Yao Ming, "Don’t go soft when you should fight."
Yao Ming nodded, in the third and fourth quarters, his stamina was always problematic, and the further the game went, the worse his condition got, with his shooting accuracy consistently dropping.
In this regard, Yao Ming persevered with stamina training and was also optimizing his style of play.
For instance, increasing his hook shots; compared to Ewing’s turn and fadeaway shot, hook shots were easier and saved more energy.
Except the application situations weren’t as extensive as the fadeaway, and the power slightly less compared to the fadeaway shot.
Also, Yao Ming’s three-point shot, through relentless practice, finally showed some impressive performance.
This season, Yao Ming’s three-point shooting percentage reached 34%, averaging 1.2 per game, which counts as a weapon.
When he stands at the top of the arc with the ball, the opponent’s center dare not easily leave him open and must come out to defend.
Yao Ming played somewhat like an "NBA civil servant" in the past few seasons, consistently outputting every game, but too steady, lacking explosiveness.
However, with Iverson and Gan Guoyang handling more defensive duties, Yao Ming also experienced some relief and could contribute more offensively.
Returning to the game, in the last two minutes of the third quarter, both sides started to scramble for points, striving to set a good start for the fourth quarter.
Kobe, at the arc top, faced with Bell and Ah Gan’s encirclement, chose to dribble widely to pull away from their distance, flee Glory’s defensive trap zone, ran to the left corner three-point spot, utilized Marion’s screen, found a very small opportunity, jumped for a three-pointer, and made it!