Y13 [EN]: Chapter 201

Y13-201 2011-2012 Regular Season

Steve Nash’s tough shot went in, leaving only 4 seconds on the clock at the end of the 2nd quarter. Chandler signaled Youngjae to move further up the court, and Youngjae quickly sprinted towards the half-court line.

[4 seconds left! Tyson Chandler passes to Barea, and Barea immediately to Youngjae Yoon!]

The pass from Barea, ensuring possession, took only 2 seconds. Youngjae glanced at Shannon Brown, who was rushing towards him, and then took one, two… three steps!

[Euro-step! Youngjae Yoon evades Shannon Brown with a Euro-step with only 2 seconds left! Is he shooting from just past the half-court line?! He has to shoot now!!!]

[He calmly evades Brown despite the little time left. It’s not quite ‘game-over’ time, but he’s still got nerves of steel!]

Now, less than a second remained. The shot clock was visible behind the backboard straight ahead. Youngjae bit down on his lower lip, leaping forward with all his might. He pushed forward, gaining even a tenth of a second to close the distance, focusing intently, and launched a high-arcing shot.

Beeeep-

Immediately after the ball left his hand, the buzzer signaling the end of the 2nd quarter blared. Tens of thousands of spectators, players, coaches, and commentators inside the arena all held their breath, watching the ball soar high into the sky.

Thump!!!

The ball hit the center of the backboard.

Swoosh-

And a clean bank shot buzzer-beater.

Wowwwwwww!!!!!

Youngjae pounded his chest in front of the home fans, then erupted in uncontrollable excitement. The commentators were also unable to calm down, commentating as if shouting, but the microphones were useless against the roar of tens of thousands of spectators.

Y13! Y13!!!

MVP!! MVP!!

The Phoenix Suns were heavily burdened by the number 13 curse. Youngjae shared high-fives with his teammates until their hands stung with exhilarating pleasure. It was the Dallas Mavericks’ first buzzer-beater of the season.

As the 3rd quarter began, Coach Rick Carlisle started to utilize his players evenly, giving opportunities to those who hadn’t been performing well. The 17-point lead created by Youngjae’s buzzer-beater allowed them to approach the game more comfortably, giving other players opportunities while also managing the stamina of the starting players.

[Jason Terry passes the ball to Rodrigo Beaubois again!]

[Rodrigo Beaubois, with today’s performance, he can secure consistent playing time and improve his game, right? He’s showing quite good movement.]

[Originally, this player’s defense is so bad that he needs to be unleashed in offense, but even his offense wasn’t great last season. He looks to be in good condition today.]

Terry, holding the ball at the top of the key, passed to Beaubois on the left wing. Beaubois glanced at Nash, his opponent, and quickly moved to the left side. However, Steve Nash, being a clever player, skillfully stayed with Beaubois.

Whoosh-

[Good decision, right? An overhead pass to Brandon Wright in the low post!]

Sensing it would be difficult to break past Nash one-on-one, Beaubois passed to Wright. Wright briefly held the ball and began to post up against Channing Frye.

“Hey!”

After bumping into Channing Frye a couple of times with his back, Wright passed the ball as if handing it to Beaubois, who was shouting as he cut inside, having blown past Nash at an incredible speed. Beaubois was penetrating deeply along the baseline.

Slam!!!

[OH! OH!!! RODRIGUE BEAUBOIS!! ONE HAND SLAM!!!]

[He was really nimble like a flying squirrel! Beaubois’s incredible movement, taking one step to the right as soon as he passed to Wright, then immediately extending his left foot to penetrate the baseline! Nash, already an old veteran at 37, is too slow to stop Beaubois!]

[And Wright noticed the signal well! Despite being a new addition this season, they’re showing good teamwork! Just looking at his per-36-minute stats, he’s a solid player as long as he stays healthy!]

Beaubois landed a nimble one-handed slam, lightly high-fived Wright, and then backpedaled. Although the point difference was gradually narrowing as bench players were brought in, Coach Alvin Gentry could only watch the game with an anxious expression. Coach Carlisle was managing the game leisurely, allowing his starters to rest.

In contrast, Alvin Gentry had to continuously use his starting players, only giving them breaks whenever possible. They hadn’t made the playoffs last season, and they were below .500 this season as well. Since the Phoenix Suns weren’t a rebuilding team, they had to focus on each game right now.

[The Phoenix Suns are having a tough game. They need to close the gap decisively when the starters are out there, but with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, it’s 72 to 59, a 13-point difference! They’ve reduced the lead by 4 points in 5 minutes, but the Phoenix Suns’ starters are getting tired, while the Dallas Mavericks’ starters are steadily conserving their energy, right?!]

[That’s right. The Dallas Mavericks’ lineup right now is Rodrigo Beaubois, Jason Terry, Chandler Parsons, Brandon Wright, and Ian Mahinmi, while the Phoenix Suns have Steve Nash, Jared Dudley, Grant Hill, Channing Frye, and Marcin Gortat. They don’t have much room to spare!]

[Today, the Dallas starters can afford to play under 30 minutes and conserve their energy. But considering the Phoenix’s offensive power, they can’t afford to be careless. They’re not as extreme as the Denver Nuggets, but they’re a team that can catch up in an instant.]

[Haha, that team is first in scoring, but also first in points allowed and turnovers, right? They really show the extremes of up-and-down basketball. Phoenix is more stable than that.]

Rick Carlisle, who had been watching the game with his arms crossed and a satisfied expression, confirmed that the Phoenix Suns’ players were getting tired and prepared to substitute his starting players back in to tighten the screws.

Youngjae and Nash matched up again. The Phoenix Suns’ starters couldn’t hide their fatigue, and Nash was no exception. Nevertheless, Nash glared at Youngjae with sharp eyes that hadn’t lost their edge and began to dribble.

Thump thump!

Nash confused Youngjae’s eyes by rhythmically stepping side to side. Nash’s ability to scan the court in an instant while his long hair fluttered was worthy of the player Youngjae respected the most.

Whoosh-

[Marcin Gortat receives the ball at the high post! 1-on-1 against Tyson Chandler!]

Gortat posted up slightly with his back to Chandler and advanced in a semicircle to get past Tyson Chandler to the right.

“Yoon!”

But the problem wasn’t Gortat. Chandler and Kidd were startled and had no choice but to call out to Youngjae because of Nash’s movement, which was perfectly aligned with Gortat’s path to use Gortat’s post-up as a screen.

[There he goes! Steve Nash!! He penetrates along a path that Youngjae Yoon can’t possibly keep up with!]

[But that’s Tyson Chandler for you, right?! Even though Gortat slipped away, he doesn’t follow Gortat and marks Nash! Tyson Chandler was the number one player in mismatch defense rate last season! If guards attack just because it’s a mismatch, they’ll only lose out!]

For a moment, Youngjae was momentarily breached by Nash’s fantasy-like breakthrough, but he quickly regained his senses and ran to Chandler’s right to double-team Nash.

[Youngjae Yoon! Best choice!! Nash’s use of Gortat was amazing, but Youngjae Yoon’s defensive sense to immediately double-team is also really amazing!]

Nevertheless, Nash didn’t stop his penetration. Tyson Chandler couldn’t push Nash too hard as he daringly followed the baseline. He had to be careful because a blocking foul would give the offense back to the other team and give them another chance to develop their attack.

Nash moved past the rim to the left side and immediately turned his body to attack the rim again. At the same time, the Phoenix players moved to the opposite side and outside of Nash to shake off the defense attached to Nash as much as possible.

[There! Steve Nash! He jumps up as is!]

Nash penetrated as carefully as possible, thinking that he had to make this attack a success, and jumped aggressively despite having Tyson Chandler in front of him. Chandler knew that Nash’s shooting and free throw abilities were tremendous, so he couldn’t recklessly bump into him.

‘Good!’

Nash was even more confident in Chandler’s passive defense and tried to lightly put up a double-clutch shot, moving the ball from his right hand to his left.

Whack!!

[Oh! Shawn Marion! Shawn Marion’s amazing block!!!]

[When did he get there?! Shawn Marion!!]

Marion, who had been teammates with Nash on the Phoenix Suns, showed off his incredible physique, befitting his nickname “The Matrix,” and forcefully struck the ball in Steve Nash’s hand. Nash was surprised by Shawn Marion’s unexpected block, but that wasn’t the problem. The ball knocked down by the block was already in the hands of the fast-footed Youngjae, who was starting to run forward.

[There’s no player who can keep up with Youngjae Yoon’s speed!]

Youngjae confirmed that there was no one following him and lightly laid up an easy layup without bothering to dunk. There was no reason to dunk in a situation where there was no need to gain momentum.

[This is fatal! Shawn Marion’s block completely cuts off their will to chase! And anyone who sees Youngjae Yoon not missing that timing can’t help but lose their will!]

[The score is 74 to 59! Youngjae Yoon scores 18 points in just 19 minutes!]

After making the easy layup, Youngjae shared his joy with Marion, who had succeeded in the block and was following behind, with a relaxed expression and backpedaled. On the other hand, the Phoenix players’ disappointed expressions were caught on camera.

[The game is over! The Dallas Mavericks vs. the Phoenix Suns, 107 to 89! The Dallas Mavericks win by a whopping 18 points! They maintained the point difference even while leisurely operating garbage time players in the late 4th quarter!]

Chris Webber looked at the Dallas players with an awestruck expression, as if they were amazing.

[You can feel that they’re a really scary team when they’re on a roll! The Dallas Mavericks are on a 2-game winning streak, starting with the game against Oklahoma City! Moreover, the fact that both games were won by more than 10 points shows that they are a team with tremendous offensive power and decent defensive ability!]

[The fact that the team’s core players, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion, are also getting into better condition seems to be a positive sign for the Dallas Mavericks, right?]

[Of course. The moment the two players’ performance returns to 100% normal, the Dallas Mavericks will be a really scary team! It’s already terrifying that they can play this well even when the two players’ performance isn’t at 100%, so it’s scary to think about how much more terrifying they’ll become!]

[Youngjae Yoon is the number one contributor to Dallas’s big win today, right?]

[That’s right. He recorded a season-high 33 points and 12 assists while also playing a 0-turnover game. Phoenix doesn’t have good defensive players and is a fast-paced team, so the number of points and assists may be high, but the possibility of turnovers is also high. Nevertheless, the fact that he had 0 turnovers shows that Yoon’s performance today was perfect.]

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

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