Y13 [EN]: Chapter 237

Y13-237 Regular Season 2011-2012

Youngjae’s smart defense doesn’t completely shut down Monta Ellis, but it makes scoring difficult for him. Monta Ellis, visibly frustrated, wore an expression that suggested the game wasn’t going his way, fueled by his strong pride. Youngjae simply stared back, indifferent, as if to say, “You can’t beat me,” with a cold and aloof demeanor.

As soon as Youngjae landed back on the court, he noticed Ellis struggling to contain his anger. He clicked his tongue briefly and swiftly moved past Ellis. His speed was so great that Ellis was momentarily caught off guard, and by the time he recovered, Youngjae was already sprinting to join the fast break.

[Dallas Mavericks! After Youngjae Yoon’s block, the players are quickly transitioning up the court. The Golden State players are backpedaling, but their rotation is disorganized!]

[Monta Ellis seems stunned after being blocked by Youngjae Yoon! He missed an easy opportunity to follow the play! Nate Robinson is trying his best to slow down Kidd, but he’s not strong enough!]

Kidd glanced at Nate Robinson, who was much smaller but quick. He shifted his weight with a few upper-body fakes and then drove forward. Even though his speed and agility weren’t what they used to be, Kidd’s play demonstrated that his skill hadn’t diminished, leaving Nate Robinson visibly embarrassed as he scrambled to catch up.

[Jason Kidd! Easily shakes off Nate Robinson! But as he approaches the top of the key, Nate Robinson recovers and challenges him again!]

[Nate Robinson may be a super-short guard at 5-9 (175cm), but he’s incredibly fast and clever. Plus, his strength and leaping ability allow him to make powerful plays!]

[But against Kidd, a master of the post-up, Robinson’s strength is irrelevant. Robinson can’t match Kidd’s height or power. The matchup between Kidd, a tall point guard and post-up expert, and Robinson, the shortest guard, is a mismatch. There’s a reason he’s a journeyman, bouncing from team to team: his physical limitations.]

Robinson subtly smirked, having managed to impede Kidd at the top of the key. But Kidd measured the distance to Robinson and elevated for a shot right in front of him.

[JASON KIDD FOR THREE!!!]

Despite Derek Harper’s call, Kidd didn’t hesitate. Robinson gritted his teeth and leaped with impressive spring, reaching out a hand. But at that moment, Robinson felt a chill run down his spine.

‘It’s not a shot?!’

Kidd’s eyes were focused to his right, not on the basket. Robinson frantically extended his left hand, but just before Kidd was about to release the shot, at the apex of his jump, he whipped his arms and fired a laser pass to the right.

[WOW!!! WOW!!! LASER PASS!!!]

[An incredibly fast pass, like a beam of light! Who’s it going to?!]

Thud-

Youngjae, positioned on the right, caught Kidd’s bullet pass and focused on the rim. That brief moment felt drawn out, almost a minute long, but Youngjae calmly raised both hands.

[Ah! Monta Ellis! He’s chasing Youngjae Yoon with incredible speed! Youngjae Yoon, already starting his shooting motion…]

“Ugh!!!”

Ellis, still one of the league’s fastest players, belatedly pursued Youngjae with great agility, capitalizing on the brief moment when Kidd was held up by Nate Robinson. Ellis yelled and jumped. But Ellis had jumped prematurely, forcing Youngjae to slightly lower the ball, leaving Ellis to fly past him and out of bounds.

[Monta Ellis! A series of humiliations! A pump fake after a block!!! Monta Ellis is completely fooled!]

[Youngjae Yoon fakes out Ellis and rises for another shot!]

Swish-

[BAAAANG!!!!!]

[THAT’S IT! Y13 IS BACK!!!]

Youngjae nonchalantly surveyed the suddenly silenced Oracle Arena crowd. He then raised his right thumb, index finger, and middle finger in a subtle celebration of his three-pointer, and backpedaled. A perfect rainbow three that didn’t even graze the rim.

Hesitating to shoot when open, just because shots weren’t falling, was pointless. According to Carlisle’s philosophy, anyone should shoot with confidence when they’re open. Driving into the mid-range was risky, as it could be blocked by the defense.

Youngjae felt himself gradually improving. He wasn’t in peak condition yet, but he could feel himself bouncing back more and more.

Swish-

[BUCKET!!!]

[Y13’s three-pointer explodes again! He’s hitting every open look today!]

[Yoon doesn’t seem to be in bad shape today. He’s making over half his shots and leads the team with 7 assists. Coach Mark Jackson is trying to implement defensive tactics, but Golden State’s individual defenders are weak. It’s natural that he’s scoring better than usual against Ellis or Rush.]

[With about 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the score is 72 to 77! David Lee has 18 points for Golden State, and Nate Robinson has 13. Ellis, Curry, Thompson, and Rush, the guards besides Robinson, are all struggling today. Golden State has a hard time winning with defense if their offense isn’t clicking.]

[Last season, they realized that the combination of Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis was inefficient and tried to trade both of them, but both deals fell through. As a result, they’re forced to play them together this season. But the two still lack chemistry and aren’t a good fit. Perhaps because they’ve been on the trading block, both players are performing worse than last season.]

As Derek Harper and Mark Followill continued their enthusiastic commentary, Youngjae once again swiftly knocked the ball out of bounds as Stephen Curry attempted a hasty dribble penetration.

Stephen Curry looked at Youngjae with a disappointed expression. He thought he could create enough space with David Lee’s screen, but Youngjae intervened in the gap at the perfect moment, disrupting Curry’s drive.

[He almost got another steal, right? Curry and Lee’s two-man game is pretty good, but Yoon’s pick-and-roll defense is too solid. He seems to anticipate Curry’s every move.]

[Yoon’s pick-and-roll defense is well-known. It’s a result of his thorough analysis of opponents and quick lateral movement in every game. Most players have a preferred direction. Yoon thoroughly researches the opponent’s tendencies and probabilities based on their position.]

Curry, receiving Dorell Wright’s inbound pass, eventually held the ball and turned slightly before passing to Klay Thompson. Youngjae didn’t bother over-committing to Brandon Rush’s straight drive and slowly retreated, denying Rush a clear path to the basket.

Thud!

[Brandon Rush drives forcefully! Brandon Rush, pushing into the high post!]

Rush, backing down towards the basket, quickly transitioned to a face-up and charged towards the rim, putting his right shoulder into Youngjae’s chest. But Youngjae nimbly stepped back, using Rush’s shoulder as a fulcrum to anticipate his path and apply even tighter pressure to his upper body.

“Kuh!”

[Ah, Rush is trying to break through, but it’s not working! A drive in such a tight space is reckless against a player with such quick positioning!]

‘Tsk!’

Rush’s drive was difficult, but he continued to push with his characteristic tenacity. But Rush’s drive was walking into a trap.

“Ugh!”

The tremendous force he felt from behind startled Rush, who tried to escape. But before he knew it, Rush was trapped, with the baseline, Youngjae, and Tyson Chandler boxing him in. He was caught in a perfect trap defense.

“Hey!!”

Curry shouted from the outside, trying to create an opening with constant movement, but Rush’s vision was narrowed by the roar of the crowd and the urgency of his predicament.

“Eek!”

In the end, Rush had no choice but to throw the ball forcefully off Youngjae, sending it out of bounds, which was somewhat successful. Fortunately, there was no turnover. Youngjae was slightly disappointed but adjusted the defensive strategy while talking to Chandler.

[A tremendous cooperative defense in an instant. Youngjae Yoon seemed to be pushed back, but he cleverly guided Brandon Rush, who was driving with his right shoulder as a fulcrum, towards the baseline, and then attempted to force a turnover with a cooperative defense with Tyson Chandler, but it didn’t work.]

[They’re maintaining possession, but the shot clock is winding down. A trap defense that fails to force a turnover is a failed defense.]

Coach Carlisle called Kidd to the bench and subbed in Brewer to defend this possession. As a result, Youngjae took over point guard duties, Brewer became the shooting guard, and the defensive assignments shifted to Youngjae guarding Curry and Brewer guarding Rush.

[Dallas is compensating for their lack of guards with Brewer! Coach Carlisle often uses Brewer as a shooting guard because Marion and Parsons are occupying Brewer’s usual small forward position. The offense may be simple, but Brewer is still showing his skills as a swingman defender.]

Ekpe Udoh stood on the baseline, and Tyson Chandler waved his arms in front of him, blocking the passing lane. With the referee’s whistle, Udoh, who wasn’t a great passer, had no choice but to pass it out wide, and the ball eventually went to Curry, who was moving quickly on the perimeter.

It was Stephen Curry, who had a career 3-point percentage of 44% after his debut. A player with the individual skills to easily break down a defense. In just two years, he had become one of the team’s primary scoring options and was considered the team’s future.

[Drive in! A slight bump, then a spin move, followed by a reverse spin!]

Curry was going all out. With the shot clock running down, he needed to create even a sliver of space from Youngjae to get a shot off, but Youngjae was moving laterally with him, as if reading his mind, never losing contact. Youngjae’s quick feet allowed him to anticipate every possibility.

[He’s not fooled! Youngjae Yoon! Stephen Curry, 2 seconds left!!]

Tatat!

[Step back! But even that is met with tenacious defense!!]

There’s no time left. Curry had no choice but to throw up a shot. But a shot launched in front of a defender who’s already anticipating it has little chance of going in.

Clang-

The ball didn’t hit the rim, bouncing off the backboard and falling into Chandler’s hands, but the referee’s whistle had already blown.

Beep-

Because Curry’s shot didn’t hit the rim, a 24-second violation was called. Dallas was disappointed to miss the fast break opportunity, but it wasn’t a complete loss, as rebounds aren’t guaranteed.

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

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

Rango/// In Youngjae’s case, he is a guard with a short wingspan and average jumping ability, so there is no way he can get LeBron-level rebounds ㅠ. It is difficult to tell you what Youngjae’s career high will be because it is a spoiler. One of the reasons may be that Dallas in the novel is not a team that lacks attackers to the point where Youngjae has to score 40-50 points every game. As mentioned in the introduction, it is difficult to give you a definite answer other than that Youngjae will definitely become one of the best players in the league.

EvilHeartedDevil/// I avoid Deus Ex Machina as much as possible. I hate those novels very much. I personally don’t like novels where the world revolves around what the main character says, everyone moves according to what the main character has planned, and everything the main character wants to do is done. For example, that’s why I prefer “From Defeat” to “Baseball Manager” among baseball novels.

Eunseolya, Lee Dongseokdong, Financia, DisappearingSoul, -DarkANGEL-/// Thank you for your comments!! Have a good weekend^^

goimosp/// Watching players like Park Byung-ho and Choo Shin-soo, I feel anew that women are very important to sports players. He will become a player who is similar to Nash but different.

H0H/// Of course, readers’ comments affect the novel. Because the synopsis is set, the big framework does not change, but the detailed changes or the size of the ups and downs change slightly depending on the readers’ comments. Episodes may be added or deleted based on readers’ opinions, provided that the framework of the synopsis does not change.

Ultra10/// As you said, we are fiction based on non-fiction. The league situation, records, player levels, and personalities at the time are followed similarly. Terry has a lot of pride and is a bit greedy for money, so he made a lot of slip-ups in his last year of contract, 11-12, when the team’s performance and personal performance declined. Even before that, it was difficult to say that his mentality was good, but he was at a level where he could fully match up in a winning team.

Makerere/// If it’s sports, there must be a slump to make it taste good.

Alchemy Master/// LOL Choo Shin-soo….ㅠ.ㅠ

Yabes/// A player who catches the offense well is good for rebounds. The problem is that players who are good at offensive rebounds are strangely weak at defensive rebounds. Drummond seems to be good at both this season, so I’m looking forward to it.

And Atlanta doesn’t have a “The Man”, and their inside defense is weak, so their limitations are clear. The characteristics of recent championship teams are that they have a “The Man” (LeBron, Nowitzki, Kobe) who can score from tight defense, or they must have overwhelming inside defensive power (under-the-basket scoring, rebounds, blocks). In the case of the 13-14 San Antonio, the system worked too well, and Miami’s compatibility was the worst. In both seasons where Miami’s LeBron failed to win the championship (Dallas, San Antonio), the opponent’s offensive/defensive system was perfect, they had Marion and Leonard to control LeBron, and they had a perfect under-the-basket defense led by Duncan and Chandler.

Dallas in the novel has two players, Youngjae and Nowitzki, who can score 20+ points in the playoffs, and two starting-level defensive centers inside. If it is realized, it is a very ideal team composition. System basketball is good, but I felt that a “The Man” and a big man with good defense and rebounds are essential. Golden State last season was a bit unusual, but I think all of Golden State’s tactics and lineups are possible thanks to Green’s presence.

Park/// Hmm, there are quite a few people who want to feel catharsis. You can find enough fun with realism, but to do that, you would have to have a munchkin spec from the beginning, but that’s not how it started… It seems difficult to balance that.

Sleep.Sleep.Rain./// Haha… We’re cold too ㅠ