Y13 [EN]: Chapter 200

0200 2011-2012 Regular Season

Marcin Gortat made only one of his two free throws and looked disappointed. Gortat, who had a free throw success rate of 56% last year, seemed to want both to go in because the ball felt good in his hand.

Dallas immediately launched a counterattack. As Kidd slowly dribbled the ball up and crossed the half-court line, Nash blocked Kidd’s path, and Jared Dudley lowered his stance, eyes sharp, to block Youngjae.

Kidd briefly held the ball, then broke away from Nash as Nowitzki sprinted to the top to set a screen, penetrating towards the high post.

[Jason Kidd! He skillfully shakes off Nash and penetrates to the high post!]

[Dirk Nowitzki is also cutting at the same time, right? It’s a textbook pick-and-roll!]

However, Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry seemed to anticipate this pick-and-roll. Grant Hill accurately read the passing lane to Dirk Nowitzki, while Shawn Marion shadowed Nowitzki, blocking his path.

‘If so.’

Kidd didn’t panic at all and threw the ball behind his back. He knew better than anyone that the ball would fly accurately to the top, and Youngjae would be standing there.

[Youngjae Yoon and Kidd’s gear-like cooperative play! How can such a pass be made without even looking?!]

[It’s possible with Jason Kidd. Kidd is a player who can elevate his teammates’ level, having led a bottom-ranked team to the Finals for two consecutive seasons during his Nets days. Moreover, Kidd and Yoon have shown exquisite teamwork since last season!]

As soon as Youngjae received the ball at the top, he slightly tilted his shoulder to the right, noticing that Marion, in a no-mark situation, had momentarily screened Dudley from the right.

Thud!!

Realizing that Dudley was deceived by his movement, Youngjae bounced the ball low in a V-shape twice with his right hand, then dashed to the opposite side, the left, with an elastic movement.

“Ugh!!”

Dudley belatedly moved to the opposite side in a hurry but crashed directly into Marion’s body, restricting his movement. With Dudley out of the way, Youngjae could do whatever he wanted. Confirming that there was no one to block him, Youngjae shot a mid-range jumper without any interference.

Swish-

[BANG!]

[A clean jumper! Dirk Nowitzki’s screen tied up Steve Nash and Channing Frye, and Grant Hill came out to block Nowitzki’s pass due to Kidd’s penetration. With Jared Dudley caught in a screen and falling, Phoenix’s defense completely collapsed!]

[Dallas, which has been unfolding perfect set offenses since last season, feels even more mature in its second year.]

Of course, Youngjae’s accuracy in making the final shot was also worthy of praise, but Dallas’s offensive system, which broke down Phoenix’s defense, was truly astonishing.

“Move actively!”

Bobbitt, who played after a long time, was gradually recovering his performance. The injury that had stubbornly held onto his ankle had already been judged to be completely healed, so Bobbitt had nothing to fear when playing the game anymore.

However, the fact that it didn’t move as he wanted was still the same. His physical abilities were stagnant to the point of frustration; in fact, they had fallen even more than in his rookie year. The little toe area is a part that is difficult to fracture, but it left considerable aftereffects for Bobbitt.

[Rodrigo Bobbitt! It’s his first game this season, right?! He has to show the results of his rehabilitation throughout the offseason after being injured again in the second half of last year!]

[Coach Rick Carlisle has also stated in an interview that he will gradually allocate time to Bobbitt. And Rodrigo Bobbitt, who is playing his first game this season with the start of the second quarter, is still looking good.]

No matter how much his physical abilities had declined, Bobbitt was so physically gifted that he could have been drafted in the first round with only two years of basketball experience. Shannon Brown was also a player with size and athleticism, but his BQ [Basketball Quotient, or basketball IQ] was low, and he made many bonehead plays. Both Bobbitt and Brown were players with strengths in offense and weaknesses in defense, so with Bobbitt’s offensive situation, there was no way Brown could stop him.

Bobbitt teased Shannon Brown by stepping back and forth, and Shannon Brown also mirrored Bobbitt’s movements, but Bobbitt’s dribbling was merely a prelude to the attack that would begin from now on.

Thud!

Warwick was startled by Bobbitt’s tremendous speed as he stabbed into the high post in just two steps, and belatedly thrust his upper body, but Bobbitt flexibly let the force flow and turned his body to sprinkle the ball with all his might to Jason Terry, who was standing on the outside.

[Jason Terry’s 3-pointer!!!]

Swish-

[KABOOM!!! J.E.T!!!]

Terry tapped Bobbitt’s head, who had spread a wonderful kick-out pass, and told him he did well, and Bobbitt nodded, smiling awkwardly.

[Wow! Rodrigo Bobbitt! It looks like he’s become a completely different type of player?!]

[Of course, it’s not the physicality that was expected during his rookie days, but his dribble penetration based on his still fast speed is excellent! In addition, his wide vision seems to have created the ability to coordinate the game, as well as kick-out passes!]

[With this, the score is 39 to 34! Rodrigo Bobbitt tenaciously defends the 5 points earned in the first quarter!]

The virtue of the bench is that the biggest virtue is to defend the points earned by the starting lineup without being pushed back by the opposing bench. No matter how much the starting players have earned a lead of 15 points or more, if the bench members eat up the 15-point lead in just a few minutes and even get reversed, that game will inevitably be a difficult fight.

Clack!

[Rodrigo Bobbitt’s steal!! Sebastian Telfair’s pass was too bland!]

[Rodrigo Bobbitt rushing in! It’s safe to say that there is no one in Phoenix who can catch up with Rodrigo Bobbitt in this! Corey Brewer and Shawn Marion are running behind!]

Bobbitt didn’t think he needed to pull back, so he leaped with all his might and slammed a one-handed dunk.

“Wow!!! Bobbitt nice!!!”

And of course, Youngjae was the one who was happier than anyone else to see that. From last year’s Summer League, Youngjae had been watching Bobbitt’s slump and fickleness right next to him for the longest time, and it was Youngjae, not anyone else, who had taken care of him meticulously. Youngjae waved a towel and cheered at Bobbitt’s appearance of finding confidence and playing basketball, and Bobbitt looked at such Youngjae and pointed at Youngjae with his index finger as if shooting a gun with both hands, then quickly backtracked.

[Rodrigo Bobbitt, who shows the best performance in a limited time of only 7 minutes! 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal! It’s really a great performance!]

[Dallas’s guard lineup, it seems like a really fierce fight will break out, right? Excluding Jason Kidd and Youngjae Yoon, and Jason Terry, it will take on a two-way aspect between J.J Barea and Rodrigo Bobbitt! If Bobbitt’s skills rise again, Barea shouldn’t let his guard down either!]

The score was 41 to 34, a 7-point lead. Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry called a timeout, and Carlisle applauded the returning bench members. Then he replaced all five players.

“Good, we didn’t get pushed back at all on the bench; rather, we brought the flow. Starting with Barea, Yoon, Parsons, Wright, and finally Mahinmi will come out. Don’t let go of the flow you’ve brought!”

The players nodded and prepared to go out, and Coach Carlisle reminded each person of what their mission was.

“Yoon, Phoenix will try to bring the atmosphere back by using the starting members again. Maybe you’ll be blocked by Dudley or Shannon Brown again. Nash will definitely come in. If Dudley comes in, you have to block Dudley even on defense, but if Shannon Brown comes in, your role is similar to the first half. First, block Nash. Since Barea is there, focus on scoring rather than leading. If you continue to take irregular patterns, there will definitely be confusion.”

“I understand.”

Youngjae came back onto the court. Youngjae, who had been taking turns with Nash in the first quarter, gently rode over Marcin Gortat, who was openly setting a screen in front of him.

“?!”

However, the situation was the worst when he came out of the screen. It was less than a second, but Mahinmi, who was following Gortat, was trying to steal from Nash, and Gortat was easily penetrating into the paint. Markieff Morris was standing on the left wing, so Wright was also standing there, and Barea was also out on the outside to block Shannon Brown, who was now crossing the half-court line.

A bizarre phenomenon occurred in which Chandler Parsons alone was guarding the rim in the paint. And if Nash’s pass went to Gortat or Grant Hill, who was empty on the right side, it was safe to say that 2 points would simply be accumulated.

Thud!

As expected, a clean pass without any frills. Moreover, Youngjae was in awe as he watched Nash sprinkle a low and fast bounce pass that was difficult for Youngjae to touch, but Youngjae was confident this time.

Clack!!

[STEAL!!!]

[Wow! How can you steal that pass?! Youngjae Yoon cuts the low pass with his hand, leaning his body forward until he’s about to fall forward!]

Nash ran to catch up with Youngjae in embarrassment, and Shannon Brown, who was on the outside with Barea, was standing behind Youngjae, but he had no choice but to be helpless against Youngjae’s fast break.

Beep!!

In the end, Brown had no choice but to foul to stop Youngjae’s fast break, and Youngjae was hit in the arm by Brown’s hand and dropped the ball as it was. It was a pity that he didn’t succeed in the fast break, but Youngjae was already full of confidence just by cutting off Nash’s pass for the first time.

“How?”

Nash still looked at Youngjae with a frustrated expression, wondering how Youngjae had cut off his pass, but unless Youngjae was a fool, there was no way he would tell Nash that.

‘Nash often chooses the right side there. And he prefers bounce passes rather than overpasses. This steal was just as expected. It won’t always be like that.’

[Ah! That’s really amazing! J.J Barea, Chandler Parsons, Brandon Wright! The synergy effect of these three players is considerable!]

Chris Webber was praising the new Dallas bench members, who were no less than last year. That’s because, although they only played together for about 5 minutes, Chandler Parsons confidently shot 2-pointers and 3-pointers every time he received a kick-out pass, and Brandon Wright slammed the rising alley-oop pass as it was, earning the nickname Helicopter. Finally, J.J Barea’s passing ability, which consistently provided quality assists to these two, was exploding in today’s game.

[If it were just these three, Phoenix would have been able to continue chasing, but the main thing is that Youngjae Yoon and Tyson Chandler are firmly supporting the three from behind! Tyson Chandler is only scoring 4 points today, but he is already contributing greatly to the defense with 7 rebounds, and Youngjae Yoon is also playing 16 minutes and recording 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal, creating a lead of 55 to 41, a whopping 14 points!]

============================ Author’s Afterword ============================

★Thank you to those who gave advance subscriptions, recommendations, comments, and coupons!!

★Thank you to Hallucigenia for the sponsored coupon!! Take care of your health during the change of seasons^^

＠It’s already the 200th episode. I was able to come this far thanks to the support of many people. It’s my first work, so I was worried about whether I could come this far, but I have mixed feelings. Thank you to the readers who have read this far, and I will try to write good articles in the future.

＠Not only baseball but also basketball has become a data sport with detailed analysis to some extent. Not just shooting charts, but also penetration direction, frequency of using one hand out of both hands, preferred types of passes, preferred alley-oop positions, shooting, penetration, and pass ratios in pick-and-rolls, etc. Well, it’s true that there isn’t as much of an effect of analysis as in baseball, which is a static sport. Even if you analyze basketball, you need reaction speed, and the cases where similar situations come out are rare in themselves. It’s a dynamic sport, so even if the 1:1 position is the same, the cases where the positions of the remaining 8 people are the same are almost non-existent. Baseball is always 1:1, so all scenes can be dataized, and the pitcher, batter, and catcher always calculate that data.

＠Phoenix has lost Dantoni, but coach Alvin Gentry is also a coach of the Dak Gong style [a fast-paced, high-scoring offensive style] who enjoys transitions. He was also an assistant coach for the Golden State’s offense last year. This season, he went to New Orleans as a coach.

gil5436///Thank you for the quick comment^^

Naye, Lee Dong-seok, -DarkANGEL-, Vanishing Soul, Financia, Omarion/// Thank you for your comments as always. Take good care of your health~ My throat is starting to tickle lol

goimosp, Ultra10/// It’s also a number matching, but Nash was a player who showed plays that made people’s mouths drop open. At this time, Nash was the last flame. It was his last season in Phoenix… Nash in Lakers ㅠ.ㅠ

ㅎ0ㅎ/// Hehe Thank you for the coupon!! I’m just grateful if you give it to me. Please enjoy reading in the future^^

rtg98/// If it’s the Cubs and the White Sox, I know that the Cubs have overwhelmingly more fans. I don’t remember exactly, but I know that the main support base of both teams is completely different. Real Madrid and Atletico are the same, and Chelsea and some team (I can’t remember;;;) also have completely different main support bases.