Y13 [EN]: Chapter 224

Y13-224 2011-2012 Regular Season

As soon as Youngjae received the ball, he dashed forward. Arron Afflalo, struggling to keep up, was driven to the brink of frustration by Youngjae’s sudden burst of speed. He hastily retreated, staying close to Youngjae, while Jordan Hamilton, recognizing Youngjae’s exceptional shooting ability, abandoned Chandler Parsons to join in a quick double-team.

“Hot!”

But Youngjae, unfazed, leaped from the high post. Afflalo and Hamilton, surprised that he would jump in a double-team situation, belatedly jumped as well, but Youngjae had already lightly snapped his wrist, launching a floater.

[Youngjae Yoon’s floater! A beautiful arc… Ah! It’s long?! Too long! Was it too strong after all?!]

[No! That’s not a floater, it’s an alley-oop pass! Chandler Parsons, left wide open by Jordan Hamilton, soars up!!!]

KWAANG!!

[OH MY GOD!!! Y13 TO PARSONS!!!]

[That’s it! Exactly! Youngjae Yoon’s competitive spirit is unmatched! After seeing Ty Lawson’s fantastic alley-oop pass earlier, Youngjae Yoon immediately retaliates with an alley-oop of his own! His skill is relentless!]

Chandler Parsons sprinted towards the basket, the opposite direction of Youngjae. With no one guarding Parsons, Denver couldn’t complain about the alley-oop dunk.

“Nice!”

Parsons, clearly thrilled by the one-handed slam, gave Youngjae a high-five with a bright expression. The female fans among the Dallas home crowd screamed, “Kyaa!!” at the sight of the two handsome men celebrating.

[Haha! Height, looks, skill, charm – they have it all! There’s a joke that the number of female Dallas fans has increased because of the high-fives between Dallas’s handsome players, and it seems to be true!]

[I’m really envious. Ahem. Let’s get back to the game. There’s a saying that if you’re envious, you lose, right? Anyway, with a nice play befitting their looks, the score is 37 to 24! The 13-point difference isn’t shrinking!]

[It looks like we’re going to see a high-scoring game today. It would be fun to see a heated shootout, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a one-sided show of force.]

After the thrilling alley-oop play by Youngjae and Parsons, known as the faces of Dallas, Denver and Dallas maintained a consistent gap, unable to close the score. In particular, the backcourt combination of Jason Kidd and Youngjae maintained tremendous balance, practically dominating Denver’s backcourt.

[Youngjae Yoon is briefly holding the ball on the left wing, directing the players’ movements.]

As the rotation shifted, Wilson Chandler ended up guarding Youngjae. Since most of the Dallas players were shooting well today, there was no need for Wilson Chandler to overcommit to stopping Youngjae.

Kidd leisurely jogged to the top of the key from the backcourt. At the same time, Ty Lawson, who was trying to stick close to Kidd, got caught on Brandon Wright’s screen.

Tuk-

[Like a force-field from a comic book, Youngjae Yoon throws a tap pass as if shooting a ball! It connects to Kidd at the top so easily! Ty Lawson, who has to block Kidd in front, is completely tied up by Brandon Wright! Chandler and Wright know how to set screens at the right time and in the right position! A below-average defender like Lawson gets easily shaken off with one pick!]

[KIDD FOR THREE!]

Kidd rose up from the top of the key without any obstruction, as if the lane was wide open. The ball, which was finding the net well today, drew a beautiful arc and swished through the rim.

[BINGO!!!]

[Jason Kidd is 3/4 from the 3-point line in the second half! He’s showing incredible shooting accuracy!]

Denver showed some semblance of focus when Andre Miller and Nene were playing, but when Ty Lawson and Kosta Koufos played, their offense was consistently chaotic. Perhaps because they were still young players, they tended to be swept away by the atmosphere and momentum.

[It’s the last possession of the 2nd quarter. Ty Lawson, trying to make something happen?]

[He’s quickly driving in. J.J. Barea, who came in as a substitute, is persistently following, but Ty Lawson’s dribble penetration is really fast! Barea is struggling to keep up!]

Ty Lawson was already dashing towards the left wing. It was difficult to contain Lawson with just Barea alone, and eventually, Dirk Nowitzki and Ian Mahinmi, who were guarding the paint, had no choice but to step out.

“Mahinmi!”

When one player comes out to hedge according to the defensive rotation, the other player has to fill the gap. However, Mahinmi came out at the same time as Nowitzki, who was already close to Lawson, leaving the paint empty for a moment. Nowitzki was surprised and shouted Mahinmi’s name loudly, but there was nothing more he could do.

Tung-

[Ty Lawson’s sensational bounce pass! He hasn’t scored any points today, but he’s contributing to the team with his unique penetration ability and passing!]

[Lawson has weaknesses in his jump shot and defense, but he’s a fairly reliable player with an assist-to-turnover ratio of over 3. For a player who mainly relies on penetration to have this level of stability shows his ability.]

The bounce pass accurately slipped between Nowitzki and Mahinmi and went straight into Nene’s hand, who was cutting along the baseline.

“Ugh!”

However, Nene fumbled, failing to catch such a perfect pass cleanly. Nowitzki saw a glimmer of hope that an opportunity had arisen and closely guarded Nene.

[Nene! How can you miss a pass like that!]

[He’s not usually like that, but Nene was one of the veterans who struggled to get in shape before this season, so he was very flustered in the beginning. It seems that the effects are still lingering. Occasionally, he makes turnovers that are hard to understand, which is definitely not a play that a seasoned veteran would make!]

Nene forced the ball up to try and slam it down with one hand in order to somehow salvage the possession, but Nowitzki skillfully didn’t jump and just stretched out his hand without committing a foul.

Whoosh-!!

And he couldn’t even get a good grip on the ball, and of course, the ball sailed over the backboard instead of the rim, flying far into the stands.

[HOMERUN!!! NENE!!!]

[A wonderful grand slam! He’s definitely a slugger, Nene! But this is a basketball court!]

[Haha! Oh my, Shaquille O’Neal would really laugh if he saw this! Shaq will be happy this week?! Shaqtin’ a Fool (a TNT program hosted by Shaquille O’Neal that satirizes ridiculous turnovers in the NBA) will be really abundant!]

Nene frowned, unable to vent his frustration over his mistake. Nowitzki pretended to be calm and received the ball from the referee, but he couldn’t have a good impression of Ian Mahinmi.

Beee-

[Eventually, the 2nd quarter ends with a score of 54 to 40, a 14-point difference. We’ll be back with the 3rd quarter after halftime.]

[Denver played too chaotically. Dallas is also giving up too many easy baskets in the paint, even though the opponent’s shooting isn’t good. It’s a slightly lower quality game than a game between the top seeds (1-4) in the Western Conference. It would be nice if both teams pulled themselves together and showed a better game.]

The Denver players looked annoyed, perhaps because they had lost momentum in just 24 minutes, while the Dallas players were generally upbeat, but Ian Mahinmi, who had made incomprehensible defensive plays, and coach Rick Carlisle couldn’t be happy.

“The first half was good overall.”

The enthusiastic cheers of the home fans and the sounds of events echoed from outside the locker room, pounding in the players’ ears, and Carlisle began to speak as he looked around at the players who were taking a breather.

“Can you hear that?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the voice of the fans who are expecting us.”

…

“It’s not a professional attitude to get complacent just because we’re winning, or to play half-heartedly. I think you all know that since you’re professional players.”

At Carlisle’s sharp words, the players tightened their momentarily loosened focus and listened to Carlisle’s instructions.

“We’re going to increase the tempo in the second half as well. Thanks to maintaining a comfortable point difference, we have some leeway. Rather than saving your stamina, everyone should have the mindset of pouring energy into the time you’re on the court. We’ll substitute you when your stamina runs out.”

Carlisle continued.

“Of course, we’ll vary the tempo from time to time. Especially when the opponent has Miller out there coordinating the attack, we need to match that. And we should increase the proportion of plays in the paint a little more than the outside. The opponent’s fast breaks are dangerous, so Kidd and Yoon should initiate the attack from the wing rather than the top of the key.”

The players nodded, making Carlisle smile. But Carlisle’s smile soon disappeared, and his gaze landed on Mahinmi.

“…”

He probably already knows what he did wrong. Carlisle hesitated for a moment whether to point it out again in front of all the players, or to just let it go, but soon averted his gaze and clapped as if nothing had happened.

“Denver’s running out of steam. But whether you give them a chance to recover or finish them off depends on your play. Can you finish off Denver?”

“Yes!”

The players mentally refocused and left the locker room. But Mahinmi didn’t leave until the end, standing tall in front of Carlisle with his hands behind his back, waiting for Carlisle to speak.

“Do you have something to say?”

“I, I…”

Mahinmi wanted to know why he hadn’t been called out, but Carlisle looked up at Mahinmi with an expression as if he didn’t know what had happened. But soon, Carlisle sighed and patted him on the back, saying.

“People always repeat mistakes. Mahinmi, I know how impatient you feel. But you continue to survive as a player who takes on a center position in Dallas. Am I right?”

“I’m not sure either. When I get on the court… I feel like I have to prove myself. Then I end up over-helping…”

He understood his feelings, but Carlisle had to correct what Mahinmi was clearly misunderstanding. That was the coach’s job.

“Mahinmi. You have the ideal 7-foot height for a center, and you even have good mobility. In other words, you’re in excellent physical condition. But what do you think is the biggest reason why you were released from San Antonio and don’t get much playing time on our team either?”

“…”

“You probably already know. It’s what I’ve been pointing out since you joined this team, and Gregg Popovich [the coach of the San Antonio Spurs] probably said the same thing on your previous team. Your willingness to provide help defense with a lot of activity is good. But you often abandon your assignment by over-committing to the hedge. You know that our team’s rotation defense is varied depending on the situation and the player. And the other players are executing it effectively.”

“Yes.”

“Mahinmi, if you want to prove yourself, show a basic, reliable performance. Then your value will naturally increase. Do you understand what I mean? This is your last season under contract, and it’s going to be a problem if it’s no different from last season. Whether you stay on this team or go to another team, unless you improve your basic understanding of defense and discipline yourself, it’s hard to increase your value no matter what you do on offense.”

At Carlisle’s sincere advice, Mahinmi bowed politely and left the locker room.

============================ Author’s words ============================

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@I wanted to criticize Mahinmi’s brainless defense a bit. His nickname was Brainless-Hinmi… When another player is already going to defend, he jumps out there with them. In pick-and-roll defense, he hedges out to the 3-point line, leaving his man wide open… He really doesn’t know how to defend. It’s a waste of a gifted physique.

@Shaqtin’ a Fool is quite fun to watch if you search for it on YouTube. You can watch it as if you’re watching a comedy show ㅋㅋ. There are so many plays that make you wonder if they really happen in the NBA. Personally, I think it’s more fun than the game ㅋㅋ

goimosp/// It can’t be helped. I didn’t expect much because Parsons and Matthews, who are the team’s top 1 and 2 in salary, were absent. DeAndre Jordan is becoming more and more unlikeable. He’s elbowing people and playing the victim…

소심찌질열등남/// Haha, it’s the best steal pick since T-Mac [Tracy McGrady, a famous NBA player].

울트라10/// Typically, Houston is a team that produces good results based on energy level. Frankly, I think it’s a team with nothing but Harden’s offensive tactics and Moreyball’s [a basketball analytic strategy] 3-point & paint plays. They’ve become a strong team thanks to their high energy level and decent defensive tactics. Because they have a high energy level and are fast, they are also very strong in transition.

사라질영혼, misscherry, 오마리온, -DarkANGEL-/// Thank you for the comments!!

이동석동/// I’ll try to show you an even more heated game^^