Although Mike Malone knows it’s difficult for Zeng Xingyang to defend Durant, there’s no other choice; there’s no better defender than Zeng Xingyang on hand.
"OK, I’ll give it my all."
Zeng Xingyang doesn’t feel daunted by the rookie gap with Durant; on the contrary, he’s eager to try!
Soon, after a dead ball, the Nuggets made some substitutions.
The players on the court became Nelson, Barton, Zeng Xingyang, Faried, Jokic.
The Thunder also made substitutions, with DJ Augustine, Waiters, Durant, Ibaka, Collison.
The Thunder still had the ball.
DJ Augustine dribbled past half-court.
DJ Augustine, at 1.83 meters tall, is a scoring-type point guard with accurate shooting. Last season, he joined the Thunder, averaging 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists, with a career three-point shooting percentage of 38%.
Zeng Xingyang quickly matched up with Durant, semi-fronting him to start the defense, trying to prevent him from catching the ball. Not giving Durant the chance to receive the ball is best, as it’s hard to defend once he has it.
Durant felt the defensive pressure from Zeng Xingyang; he tried to move to receive the ball but failed; he couldn’t shake free.
Durant simply parked himself at the right three-point line, half-turned, backing into Zeng Xingyang, and signaled for the ball.
DJ Augustine wanted to lob the ball high to Durant.
But he didn’t anticipate Zeng Xingyang’s defensive coverage would be so large; he was a bit careless, and the pass wasn’t high enough!
Zeng Xingyang anticipated the passing route and directly intercepted the ball.
After grabbing the ball, Zeng Xingyang passed it to Nelson.
Nelson dribbled to the frontcourt and passed it to Barton.
Zeng Xingyang escaped Durant’s defense on the right side, leaving an opportunity to receive the ball.
Barton pulled a slick move this time; instead of passing to Zeng Xingyang, he faced off against Waiters’ defense, did an extremely flashy behind-the-back dribble, and took a side-step three-point jump shot in the defense.
The shot slammed hard against the rim and bounced out.
The rebound was grabbed by Collison.
Collison is the Thunder’s veteran center, nearing retirement, a role player, a locker room leader. The Thunder didn’t expect explosive contributions from him on the court; they just needed him to do what needed to be done.
Barton had thoughts that there was no leader in the Nuggets, so he wanted to be the core.
However, clearly, he had the ambition but not the ability; he didn’t take the continuously hot-handed Zeng Xingyang seriously.
Seeing such a forced offense, Zeng Xingyang assumed a classic superstar posture, spreading his hands.
On the sidelines, Mike Malone frowned; Barton’s playing style was not reasonable.
The Thunder’s offense came.
DJ Augustine this time successfully passed the ball to Durant.
Durant tried to drive past Zeng Xingyang with the ball on the right side but failed.
Having played for quite a while, Durant was a bit tired. Realizing Zeng Xingyang’s defense wasn’t easy to shake off, he decided not to force it himself and passed the ball to Waiters on the other side.
Waiters has decent offensive initiation capabilities; last season, he averaged 30 minutes, scoring 13 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
His contract was up, and he wanted a big contract, so he was very aggressive offensively. After some pulling and direction-changing, he bypassed Barton, dashed to the basket, and before Jokic’s help arrived, he made a high bank shot, the basketball rebounded in.
The Thunder continued their multi-point scoring display.
Barton didn’t apply enough defensive pressure on this play, allowing Waiters to pass too easily, leaving Jokic no time for help defense.
"Give some intensity to defense," Zeng Xingyang shouted, frowning.
"Rookie, shut up," Barton retorted unhappily.
Barton has always been displeased with Zeng Xingyang, especially in these two games where Zeng Xingyang’s attention and importance have increased.
This has severely affected his future development in the team.
Barton felt Zeng Xingyang’s offensive methods were too simplistic; his initiation capability was much stronger than Zeng Xingyang’s.
Yet the team was so biased, giving a rookie so many opportunities!
A rookie supposedly should sit on the bench for the first year, passing water and waving towels.
"Your defense better be as strong as your mouth."
Zeng Xingyang was unafraid to compete with veterans, directly responding.
He’s always competed this way!
Only the weak fear competition.
Barton stopped arguing with Zeng Xingyang; he hadn’t done well defensively.
It was the Nuggets’ offense.
With the ball, Barton still ignored Zeng Xingyang, who was in position, and charged in himself.
Barton’s drive was indeed fierce, but his body was too frail. The opponents could see he was eager to score, so he was well-contained defensively.
In the paint, Collison took a stand and disrupted, causing Barton’s layup to miss, but Faried from the Nuggets went for it fiercely.
Faried tapped the ball out, with Zeng Xingyang catching control of it.
Zeng Xingyang quickly passed the ball to Jokic at the right side of the free-throw line.
Jokic gestured to play it steadily.
Jokic sensitively noticed Barton’s issue; Barton was too impatient. As Barton ran to receive, Jokic didn’t pass to him.
Instead, when Zeng Xingyang came to receive, Jokic passed the ball back to Zeng Xingyang.
Following with a screen, Durant was blocked, and Collison switched defense.
The Nuggets players instinctively spaced out, with Zeng Xingyang at the right 45-degree three-point area. This was a mismatch opportunity.
Mike Malone watched this unfold; if Zeng Xingyang wanted to compete with veterans, he needed to show more.
Barton’s one-on-one wasn’t effective, so his one-on-one needed to be better than Barton’s.