Y13 [EN]: Chapter 51

Y13-51 2010-11 Regular Season

Youngjae exchanged a few words with Barea before facing Augustine. Charlotte was pressuring Dallas with their fast-paced offense. Charlotte’s point guard, Augustine, seemed to have heard about the rookie Youngjae and was initially cautious, but soon he drove towards the rim with his usual quick and simple moves. Augustine used Gerald Wallace’s pick to dribble past. Usually, the defender would be blocked by Wallace, unable to stop Augustine’s speed.

Thud!

Beeeep-

“Offensive foul! D.J. Augustine!!!”

Wowwww!!!

Augustine looked bewildered and confused. He saw the rookie who was guarding him get blocked by Wallace’s screen and unable to follow. However, the rookie bypassed the screen and positioned himself in front of Augustine’s path, leaving Augustine with no choice but to crash into him. Youngjae, realizing he missed the timing to chase, quickly gave up on the shooting option and focused on blocking the penetration route, which worked perfectly.

[Yoon Youngjae is proving that his amazing plays in the Summer League and preseason were not a fluke!]

[Drawing an offensive foul! Yoon Youngjae! Amazing!]

[As you can see, he seemed to be blocked by Gerald Wallace’s screen, but with a quick decision, he bypassed it instead of chasing from behind and positioned himself in Augustine’s path! Incredible defensive awareness!]

Although his quickness and lateral speed were good, screen defense was another matter. Before his professional debut, he had improved his defense and learned to quickly bypass screens.

Youngjae, who had fallen, was grateful for Nowitzki’s hand, but all that came out of his mouth was, “Ughhh-” Youngjae, realizing how scary habits could be, took the ball from Barea and slowly dribbled, glaring at Stephen Jackson, who was guarding him.

‘Yoon, your playing style is beyond my expectations. You are versatile and have a high understanding of tactics. You can handle any tactic, any role. Today, I want you to increase your focus on finishing the offense. Until now, you’ve been more of a pass-first player. I want you to change from now on,’

What Carlisle had told Youngjae before the game. Youngjae intended to faithfully follow Carlisle’s instructions. However, he wasn’t going to force shots and disrupt the team chemistry.

In the past, he would prioritize passing the ball to an open teammate on the outside, but today, if he saw an opening, he would boldly finish the play himself.

Youngjae passed the ball back to Barea on the right wing, glanced at Barea bouncing the ball at the top of the key, and quickly ran from the right to the left wing. Stephen Jackson momentarily lost track of Youngjae and chased him along the shorter three-point line.

“Ugh!”

But Jackson didn’t realize it. Shawn Marion, who had been lurking on the wing, waiting for an opportunity and only showing moves to cut into the basket, set a screen on the route to block Youngjae. Moreover, Gerald Wallace was closely guarding Marion. Two players were caught by one player.

Swish-

Barea noticed it and quickly passed the ball to Youngjae, who leaped into the air as soon as he caught the ball. Boris Diaw, who was late in helping, reached out to Youngjae in the air, and Diaw’s hand touched Youngjae’s arm as the ball left Youngjae’s hand.

Beeeep-

Youngjae watched the ball he shot. A foul was called, so if this ball goes in…

Swish!

Wow, wowwww!!!!

[Yoon Youngjae’s three-pointer is good~!!! And one! Yoon Youngjae!]

[Ah!! Yoon Youngjae! He’s been in the spotlight as a shooting guard who can also lead the offense, so his shooting and offensive abilities haven’t been highlighted as much, but he’s taking shots right away as soon as he’s put in today! He even gets a three-point play, which is usually hard to get! Diaw’s defense was a bit too aggressive.]

Youngjae clenched his fist and jumped with Marion and Barea, who were smiling and walking towards him, bumping into each other in the air as if doing a high-five. Then, he showed his back to Boris Diaw, who had run to block him, pointed to 13 with his right thumb, and confidently walked to the free-throw line.

[Wow! Yoon Youngjae’s declaration of war! He’s saying, ‘I’m the Mavs’ number 13!!!’]

Youngjae slightly tossed the ball, put a spin on it, caught it, bounced it a couple of times, and smoothly shot the free throw, just like he had done since his past life. During the game, his shooting release was very quick to avoid blocks and defense, but he was careful and relaxed with free throws, so Youngjae accepted the cheers of tens of thousands of fans as encouragement and easily made the free throw.

Youngjae, who gained momentum with a four-point play, was unstoppable. However, as expected of the regular season, the pressure in offense and defense made the pressure of the previous preseason seem like child’s play. It seemed that the saying that many players play in the preseason to adjust their condition was not wrong.

With Youngjae’s four-point play and Gerald Wallace’s incredible physicality being smoothly overcome with agility and unique flexibility, Charlotte’s coach Larry Brown, proving himself to be a master, began to relentlessly target Barea during the offense. He called Augustine and Jackson back and substituted Livingston and Henderson.

In Larry Brown’s position, he didn’t want to lose momentum, so he didn’t substitute the starting players even when Dallas’ reserves came out, and he used the starting players for a longer time than expected to take the lead, but it failed.

The guards who were substituted were Shawn Livingston and Gerald Henderson. Shawn Livingston was a 6-7 (201cm) point guard, making it too much of a height disadvantage for the 6-0 (183cm) Barea to rise after a breakthrough. Youngjae’s opponent was Gerald Henderson. He was a 6-4 (193cm) player, 1 inch shorter than Youngjae, but he was a strong, athletic guard with a reputation for strong defense. In particular, he was good at defensive rebounding, making him a valuable guard to assist the big men.

Shawn Livingston (6-7/201cm), a tall point guard who matched up with the 6-0 (183cm) Barea, was given the responsibility for running the overall offense, and Gerald Henderson, who was good at shooting and speed, began to focus on containing Youngjae. Henderson had a decent field goal percentage of over 45%, and his movement was good, so it was difficult for Youngjae to leave his mark carelessly. If he went for a risky help or double team, he was likely to give up an open three-pointer.

When the Mavs were on the attack, Gerald Wallace took on the task of relentlessly double-teaming Barea and Youngjae, leveraging his incredible physicality and activity. Since Shawn Marion had the shortest shooting range and the lowest shooting accuracy on the Mavs, Larry Brown intended to block Youngjae and Barea’s accurate shooting even if he allowed Shawn Marion to score 2 points.

“Hiss!”

Barea, who was caught off guard by Gerald Wallace’s double team the first time, hurriedly looked around, thinking that he should use Youngjae rather than making unreasonable passes or breakthroughs.

‘Oh!’

Youngjae was running towards him in an easy-to-see position. Barea pretended to dribble and handed the ball to Youngjae as he passed by, then turned around and left. The biggest disadvantage of a double team is that if you can’t stop one player, a hole is created.

Youngjae intentionally squeezed into the area where Barea, Livingston, and Wallace were entangled, then nimbly slipped out and received the ball. Gerald Henderson, who was following behind, got tangled up with those three and stuttered. With one momentary movement by Youngjae, three of Charlotte’s players were tied to Barea. Youngjae glanced at Boris Diaw, who was trying to help, then took a step back and quickly shot the ball.

[Yoon Youngjae, step-back! Jumper!! Accurate!!]

[Did you see Yoon Youngjae’s incredible basketball IQ (BQ) using the double team with a momentary movement?! Has there ever been a Korean player who has shown such a perfect performance in the NBA?! It’s history; today is the day that the history of Korean basketball is being written!]

Youngjae began to bombard Charlotte’s rim with tremendous accuracy, as if he were holding a sniper rifle that could fire in bursts. However, as they constantly attacked Barea in defense, they began to engage in a pattern of trading baskets.

Then, coach Carlisle immediately took out Barea and put in Jason Kidd. With Jason Kidd, a smart and powerful defender who could defend even small forwards depending on the situation, coming in, Shawn Livingston’s height was no longer a big problem for the Mavs. Livingston was a tall point guard with slow speed, so Kidd’s slower feet, which was usually a disadvantage, wasn’t as much of a liability against him.

[The battle of wits between Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle is really fierce!]

[Rick Carlisle puts in Jason Kidd right away to address Barea’s height disadvantage and try to counter the height advantage centered on Shawn Livingston, and then puts in Caron Butler to break Gerald Wallace’s double-team strategy, right? This is what the battle of wits between great coaches is all about! Appropriate player substitutions and rotations require excellent sense and complex calculations in a short period of time!]

Youngjae’s playing style also changed when Kidd came in. Just the presence of Jason Kidd could bring about a huge change in offensive tactics. That was Jason Kidd’s power and Rick Carlisle’s meticulous strategy. Kidd was one of the few players who could inject creativity into the court.

[Brandon Haywood! He’s defending for the first time in a while!]

[Nazr Mohammed, who should be doing his part during Tyrus Thomas’s rest time, is underperforming!]

[Rebound, Jason Kidd! Outlet pass that suddenly throws forward with all his might!]

Jason Kidd has countless strengths, but Jason Kidd’s greatest strength, which led the perennial bottom-ranked New Jersey Nets (later moved to Brooklyn and became the Brooklyn Nets) to the playoffs, is his fast-break initiation ability that comes from quick judgment. His amazing outlet pass was perfectly thrown to Youngjae, who ran forward as soon as he confirmed that Kidd had secured the rebound.

No matter how fast Youngjae was, he couldn’t be ahead of Shawn Livingston, who was already near the top of the key, because Livingston had participated in the rebound during defense and then ran out, so he had to get past Shawn Livingston in the end.

“Hiss!”

[Yoon Youngjae! Head-to-head match with Shawn Livingston without slowing down!]

Youngjae received the outlet pass with his left hand, moved the ball to his right hand with a V-dribble, and leaned his body to the right without slowing down. Livingston took a side step for that one moment and followed Youngjae’s center of gravity, but Youngjae’s right ankle bent to an odd degree, and Youngjae darted out to the left as if he were popping out.

[Oooooh!! Yoon Youngjae’s amazing dribble!]

[That’s the Kill Crossover Dribble! It’s a dribble that deceives the opponent by shaking the center of gravity from side to side in an extremely short moment! It’s a dribble that can be said to be the trademark of legendary player Tim Hardaway in the 90s! He uses a high-level kill crossover dribble!]

[Yoon Youngjae rushes to the rim like a beast! He jumps up!! One-handed dunk as it is!!]

Kwaaaang!!

“Waaaaa!!!”

Youngjae slammed the rim with his right hand and ran to the home fans, roaring like a beast. As the timeout was called, Youngjae, still not calmed down, returned to the bench, high-fiving the home fans until his hands hurt.

Y13!

Y13!

[Can you hear it?! The Y13 cheers are echoing in the American Airlines Center!]

============================ Afterword ============================

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

※Coach Larry Brown: He is a coach who is almost always mentioned when talking about the best coaches. He doesn’t have as much championship experience as Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich, but he is a ‘wanderer of the court’ who turns weak teams into contender teams even though he has only won one championship.

＠I’m sorry for the late update. My internet router is old and causing problems haha. I tried turning it off and on, and unplugging and plugging in the cord, and finally fixed it. I will add recommendations soon.

abcd가나다라님/// Congratulations on your first commentㅋㅋ

kingofking님/// ㅎㅎ To keep my promise of consecutive chapters!!

우유동자님, 권우현™님///Yes, finally debuting~

개구리파워님/// Huk huk, I need to improve my writing skills quickly haha.

CaCan님/// Thank you~

anwkdk님/// Oh, Westbrook. He’s really amazing. He gets criticized for shooting too much when he plays with Durant, but he’s definitely the best one-two punch in the league. His performance this season was good enough to be in the top 5.

니앞에꽃미남님/// It’s been a long time since I’ve had consecutive chapters since the beginning of the series ㅋㅋ

야베스님/// Huk ㄷㄷ Thank you. I have no intention of taking a break, but you’re making me feel more responsible ㄷㄷ. Rookie of the Year… will be decided as the season progresses?ㅋㅋ

반포아찌님/// Yes. It’s been a while since I’ve had consecutive chapters

huhcafe님/// I, I also l…l, no I like it ㅋㅋ

라피르and진트님/// This team is a team that superstars don’t come to. They always gather players who are past their prime;; Nowitzki has only played with one All-Star-level player in his prime, Josh Howard. Finley, Nash, Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler, etc… There are almost no players who have won an All-Star in the season they played with Nowitzki.

-DarkANGEL-님///That’s right. These days, they just pick All-Stars as guards. Of course, the boundaries haven’t completely disappeared, but haha. You’re a fan of Rose.

론즈하트 님///Fortunately, it’s an elimination home. From Clip’s point of view, it’s definitely about 6:4 in their favor. The problem is Paul and Griffin’s stamina.

misscherry님/// ㅎㅎ Thank you.

skwkfsks님/// First of all, Korean commentary uses a lot of movement without the ball (off-the-ball movement in English). English commentary uses a wider variety of terms. In addition, for the convenience of the novel, it is a little longer than the actual commentary. It’s a gap that arises from trying to make it easy. I will try to increase the variety of terms a little. Thank you for your feedback^^

블락장인보도블락님/// Ha… I didn’t know that Choo Shin-soo would be so ruined. I thought he would get at least .250 with an on-base percentage in the late .300s.

개구리파워님, 그림자소년님/// Sorry for being late ㅠ.ㅠ