One Year Left to Play

However, it wasn’t Barkley or even Kenny Anderson who turned the tide for the Lakers with their individual abilities to win the game, but Zhang Hao, which was quite unexpected.

Just like the Hornets believed Zhang Hao’s tactical position had declined, most people also thought so.

From any angle, with Barkley and Kenny Anderson in the picture, the Lakers shouldn’t have to rely on Zhang Hao for reckless play. Last year, with only Van Exel, using Zhang Hao for physical play was a necessity, and the Lakers played as a team ninety percent of the time.

Judging from the first two games, as expected, Zhang Hao’s tactical role seemed reduced; he was no longer the Lakers’ primary or secondary shooter. Even if Zhang Hao played well in the first two games, it was purely because catching and shooting was indefensible, unless Zhang Hao felt off, otherwise his shooting accuracy would be impressive.

This wasn’t surprising; Zhang Hao’s exaggerated two-plus-hour preparation before the game had become well-known.

But in the second half of the third game, everything changed...

With the strongest big guy on the Lakers injured and the second strongest slacking off, Zhang Hao stepped up to lead the Lakers to win the game!

Zhang Hao’s new playing style showcased in last night’s game became a hot topic on the morning sports news program!

Against the Hornets with Clifford Robinson and Little Anthony Mason, Zhang Hao’s low post or mid-range post-up didn’t work well, nor did his spins.

But Zhang Hao innovated, cutting in, taking one or two dribbles directly to start a layup!

A simple and brutal approach to an extreme, yet it looked so exaggerated that the Hornets had to use a double-team to stop it.

And this sparked the Lakers’ entire team offense, causing them to break the Hornets, who had held the initiative from the third quarter to the first half of the fourth quarter!

Monotonous personal offensive techniques often mean low efficiency, even Jordan continuously diversified his skills.

But this move by Zhang Hao was somewhat similar to when he would post up against players weaker than him; it was purely a rascal tactic!

There were new things that could be seen; Zhang Hao’s mediocre dribbling last season had greatly improved this year.

His ability to finish at the basket also became stronger, showing obvious improvement in explosive confrontations, with his shooting under pressure being more stable.

Overall, this move is simple yet absurdly difficult to defend, resembling a rascal style in effectiveness!

Moreover, even though new scenarios haven’t emerged yet, the media has analyzed it.

When facing players with sufficient tonnage and short-distance mobility but lacking long-distance mobility, Zhang Hao would draw them out to play off dribble or breakthroughs.

When facing players lacking tonnage but with quick mobility, Zhang Hao would post up.

With only these two autonomous offensive moves, it gave people a feeling of being helpless against him.

This led to a peculiar argument—was Zhang Hao only focusing on developing rascal-like tactics?

Some media joked that Zhang Hao was creating a new style—Rascal Style.

Yet this rascal style, in terms of entertainment value, was admittedly impressive. Compared to the slow post-up chiseling play, it indeed was highly entertaining and very difficult to replicate.

Media thoroughly analyzed Zhang Hao’s signature move. Although it seemed simple, combined with his physical condition, it wasn’t simple, and those with his physique and athletic ability basically couldn’t develop his shooting fundamentals. This was even more complex.

Rascal or effective, Zhang Hao’s performance in the second half last night made him start the new season unexpectedly like his rookie season, went berserk again, and became popular!

...

Seeing the midday news reports, Zhang Hao silently turned off the TV, fearing he couldn’t resist smashing the remote control up there—it costs money.

What does Rascal Style mean?

Isn’t simple and brutal playstyle good?

Rascal it is!

But there was one analysis that he found quite reasonable, and it matched his thoughts after analyzing last night’s game—just play these two simple moves: Rascal post-up + Rascal cut-in.

Who cares!

However, considering stronger defensive opponents like the New York Knicks, Bulls, Heat, Utah Jazz, and even the Rockets didn’t look promising, Zhang Hao remembered Olajuwon eventually stood out this season possibly due to comparisons with opponents. The performance was a bit clumsy at the start, but later might improve, recovering from the pain of losing the three-peat...

Therefore, in terms of autonomous offense, alternating between post-up and cut-in tactics isn’t enough. This core tactic is the best his current technology can achieve, it’s hard to conceive better ones, but it can still improve.

After thinking all night in review mode, Zhang Hao decided to develop stop-and-shoot jump shots!

Stop-and-turn jump shots, catch-and-stop jump shots—don’t need too many, for now these two will suffice.

This decision was based on his increasingly reliable mid-range shot, improved dribbling, stronger finishing ability at the basket, more excellent strength—a set course.

"Having solid fundamentals is great, otherwise this cut-in play wouldn’t have been developed. Fundamentals must not slack, continue to strengthen!"

Zhang Hao gradually became more fond of appearing under spotlights, but for some miscellaneous opinions, he could choose to filter selectively. The day after a game, he immediately invested time in thinking about how to strengthen new tactics, and the influence from last night’s performance was greater than he imagined.

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