If the three of them can boost the team’s offense, the fighting power is still very strong, and the Bobcats will have a headache.
However, to sever the trio’s cooperation with their teammates, as long as Zhang Yang can control Carter’s break direction and timely supplement the opposite elbow area shooter, it will not be difficult to implement, and he has the ability to do so.
The main problem is that the Nets’ role players are too poor, needing the big three to feed them the ball right to their mouths, without the ability and awareness to find opportunities on their own.
Last season, the Nets already lacked quality role players, purely relying on Kidd’s support; with Kidd gone, those players are even worse than last season’s Grizzlies’ role players.
Carter, Odom, and Richard Jefferson’s salaries add up to almost 40 million, plus the legacy issues from the Kidd era, several junk mid-level contracts, with a high salary cap of 74 million. The Nets’ management has always been very ambitious, and they also recruited role players around the new big three during the offseason. But in the broken place of Rutherford Town, without offering premium contracts, no one comes, and with no salary cap space, they can’t even offer major contracts if they wanted to.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have resorted to bringing back 39-year-old Darrell Armstrong from the Pacers to start, nor would they continue to start Krstic, who doesn’t fit with the big three at all. They really have no one left.
Therefore, the Nets this season have an impressive new big three, but that’s all they have.
The big three account for over 60% of the scoring, with the best three-pointer being Carter’s 41% shooting, the second best is Richard Jefferson’s 39%, and the third-best is Odom’s 37%. Odom also has the most rebounds, followed by Richard Jefferson and Carter. The top three in assists are also those three...
When the first week was over, experts analyzed that if the Nets had a strong inside player like Nenê, a steady shooting point guard like Blake, plus three or four substitutes that fit the big three’s style of play, without needing the substitutes to be of exceptional quality, just to reach the average level of other teams’ substitutes, the Nets might have entered the ranks of the first-class teams. But they don’t.
With Zhang Yang marking Krstic, who draws defense with his mid-range shot, Okafor can return to defend inside after covering Carter’s distance shot and guard against Richard Jefferson’s cut-ins. Other than pushing the ball past the half-court, Darrell Armstrong doesn’t contribute much, even his open shots aren’t accurate... The Nets can only rely on the star players’ individual abilities now.
So, in the following possessions, it turned into individual contests between Zhang Yang and Carter, and Carter couldn’t outplay him...
Actually, Carter’s offensive technique and fundamentals are more solid. In theory, he should have the advantage in one-on-one, but he overthinks, not decisive in his isolation plays, torn between scoring himself and organizing the team offense, hesitating; whereas Zhang Yang has a clear objective, shooting if not double-teamed, shooting if the double-team isn’t timely, and passing to Hill for assistance if there’s no chance... The mindset in playing also counts as part of the strength; current Carter is no match for current Zhang Yang.
The Nets wanted to play team offense at the start, but got disrupted; they tried to rely on their stars and couldn’t outshine either.
The Bobcats didn’t drop the ball and steadily crushed the weaker team, gradually widening the point gap... At 9:21 PM, the final whistle blew.
Carter shot 20 times for 9 baskets, including 1 for 4 from three-point range, plus 3 of 4 free throws, scoring 22 points with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block. Odom had 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists; Richard Jefferson scored 19 points, and the three combined for 59 points, but their teammates only added 27 points.
On the Bobcats’ side, Zhang Yang played 36 minutes, hitting 11 of 23 shots, including 2 of 6 three-pointers, plus 6 of 6 free throws, scoring 30 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.
Felton had 14 points and 4 assists, Hill 7 points and 3 assists, Rondo 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists, Okafor 18 points and 9 rebounds, Mike Miller 12 points... The Bobcats defeated the Nets 104 to 86!
The Bobcats started with 9 consecutive wins, setting a new team record for consecutive victories!
As the Hornets lost their home game to the Lakers on the other side, their unbeaten streak was broken, ending their 8-game winning streak, leaving the Bobcats as the only team this season yet to taste defeat!
The Bobcats’ performance has surprised the fans, and the media has been lavishly praising the Bobcats for their 9-game winning streak at the start.
As for the Bobcats’ overly easy schedule at the start, the media does not care; if they were to calmly analyze the Bobcats’ initial winning streak, the professionalism would be there, but not the traffic.
The media has been exaggerating the Bobcats’ performance, with a full win in the first 9 games, an average of 114 points per game, and an average of only 97 points against. Anyone would be astonished by this point differential.
Especially when the Bobcats started by thrashing the Knights, triumphing over the Miami Heat, and outscoring the Suns to set the season’s league-high score... It all looks particularly fierce.
But on Carlisle’s side, during the preparation meeting at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis the next day at noon, after the Bobcats arrived, he listed all the points from last night’s game that were not well executed.
After the meeting, Felton, instead of complaining about the coach being too harsh as usual, said to Hill when none of their role player teammates were around, "Grant, you predicted right, Rick has indeed started intensive coaching, but I think he’s right, and I also feel we’ve been overrated. Everyone is praising us, even ESPN is praising us, and that’s not a good thing. I need to help him and urge my teammates to stay grounded."
Hill laughed and replied, "I’ll leave that to you, boss."