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January 22, 2004.
The Lakers challenge the Mavericks on the road.
Inside the arena, the crowd was roaring with excitement.
Moments earlier, Mavericks' star Dirk Nowitzki had just made another signature one-legged fadeaway jumper over the defense.
At this point, the game had reached the second quarter, and the Mavericks were up by 6 points. With Nowitzki's shot, the lead extended to 8 points.
In this game, Nowitzki was on fire. He scored 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting in the first quarter. Now, in the second quarter, he had already added another 4 points, making it 14 points before halftime. It seemed like he was well on his way to a 30+ point performance for the game.
"Damn it..."
The one tasked with guarding Nowitzki for the Lakers was Wang Chong. But like always, Nowitzki was using his arsenal of pull-up jumpers and mid-range shots to bully those who were shorter or lacked length.
Although the 7-foot-tall Nowitzki wasn't as tall as Wang Chong when matched up with small forwards, and even had a shorter wingspan, his unique one-legged fadeaway allowed him to create an undefendable shooting angle—similar to Wang Chong's release style, yielding a similar result.
Fortunately, defending Nowitzki wasn't like facing Garnett or Gasol. Although Wang Chong couldn't shut Nowitzki down, the Mavericks' star also struggled to contain Wang Chong. Unlike Garnett or Gasol, Nowitzki lacked the speed to keep up with Wang Chong during off-ball movements. This meant that while Wang Chong couldn't shut down Nowitzki, neither could Nowitzki effectively defend Wang Chong.
By the time Nowitzki had reached 14 points, Wang Chong had already put up 11 points himself, and his shooting efficiency wasn't too far behind his opponent's.
But clearly, this wasn't enough.
The first half wasn't even over, and the Lakers were already down by 8 points. The situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable for them.
"We can't just sit here and wait to lose!"
Wang Chong gritted his teeth. Losing this game would mean total failure, and all the effort he'd put into the previous games would have been for nothing.
At this point, his only choice was to gamble on the badge abilities granted to him by the system.
The Lakers were on offense. Payton dribbled the ball across the half-court. As soon as he set up, he saw Wang Chong coming toward him.
Halfway through the regular season, Payton knew that Wang Chong wanted to run a pick-and-roll.
Glancing at Nash in front of him, Payton crossed over and accelerated, driving to Nash's right side.
Nash tried to recover but ran right into Wang Chong, who was setting a screen for Payton.
With his defender beaten, Payton accelerated toward the Mavericks' paint. Seeing this, Nowitzki, trailing Wang Chong, had no choice but to switch to defend Payton, which was exactly what Payton wanted.
Payton then swiftly dished the ball back to Wang Chong, who moved two steps sideways after the screen, just entering the range where his "Hot Zone Hunter" badge would activate. After receiving the pass from Payton, Wang Chong immediately rose and fired.
In his mind's eye, on the badge wall, multiple badges lit up simultaneously.
"Hot Zone Hunter," "Pick-and-Roll Shooter," "Mid-Range Deadeye," and the golden "Getting Into Rhythm" badge all activated almost simultaneously.
Facing Nash's attempt at a close-out, Wang Chong's shot went in smoothly without a hitch.
What Wang Chong was betting on wasn't just his stable offensive efficiency at this stage but also the improved shooting touch that would come as the "Getting Into Rhythm" badge stacked up!
Getting Into Rhythm Badge: After a player attempts a few shots, each subsequent shot provides an additional boost to their shooting stats, whether the shot is a make or a miss.
That's right—he was planning to take a high volume of shots.
Whether they went in or not, he had to keep shooting to stack the buffs from the "Getting Into Rhythm" badge. With a high shot volume, the badge's effect would fully stack, allowing him to decide the game's outcome in the final quarter!
In the next few minutes, Wang Chong frequently collaborated with Payton for pick-and-rolls. If the opportunity wasn't ideal, he'd call for the ball and go one-on-one.
On the Lakers' bench, Phil Jackson frowned.
He sharply noticed that Wang Chong's play style had shifted.
While Wang Chong had certainly taken plenty of shots before, almost every attempt was made in the most sensible circumstances. Given his excellent mid-range shooting, his efficiency was naturally high.
But today, Wang Chong was taking a lot of questionable shots. Put bluntly, his play style was becoming somewhat like Kobe's.
Under normal circumstances, he would immediately have stopped Wang Chong's increasingly "scientific" behavior.
The Lakers already had one "Dubit" (an apparent nickname for Kobe in this context). They didn't need to cultivate another one. How would they play that way?
But right now, the Lakers were missing Shaq, Kobe, and Malone. There wasn't a player on the team who was more efficient offensively than Wang Chong. Instead of letting other players attack at a sub-40% shooting rate, it might be better to let Wang Chong keep firing away. Who knows? Maybe he could pull a Kobe and drop 50+ points to lead a comeback win!
So, even though Phil Jackson noticed Wang Chong's shift in play style, he refrained from calling a timeout to adjust their tactics.
In the latter half of the second quarter, Wang Chong took eight more shots. He finished the half 5-for-11 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line, scoring 12 points for a halftime total of 19.
The high volume of shots naturally caused Wang Chong's shooting percentage to drop, and the Lakers couldn't turn things around in the second quarter. The score was 57:46, with the Lakers trailing by 11 points.
"Ah, it still doesn't work..."
Many Lakers fans sighed in frustration seeing this, but they weren't overly disappointed.
After all, the opponent was a top-tier team that had reached the Western Conference Finals in the last season's playoffs. For the Lakers to still be fighting despite missing three key players was commendable. It would be incredible if they managed to defeat the Mavericks under these circumstances.
After the halftime break, the second half of the game resumed.
The Mavericks rested several key players, including Nowitzki and Nash. Antawn Jamison came in to replace Nowitzki.
On the Lakers' side, Payton took a rest while Wang Chong remained on the court.
Without Payton handling the ball, Wang Chong took on more playmaking duties. He wasn't shy about it either. Every time he had the ball, he would resolutely go one-on-one.
As the game continued, the Mavericks gradually realized something was off.
Wang Chong's offense... was becoming increasingly steady!
After the third quarter started, Wang Chong's offensive efficiency was noticeably higher than in the first half, with a shooting rate nearing 50%.
The Mavericks, caught slightly off guard, saw Wang Chong score 8 consecutive points, leading the Lakers on a 12-4 run that narrowed the gap from 11 points to just 3!
End of this chapter
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