Chapter 811 - 254: Child of the Wind Descends Again (Part 3)

After completing the grab and block, Zhang Hao landed and immediately pushed forward for a fast break, passing to Barkley as he approached the three-point line.

Barkley also moved quickly, but as he received the pass from Zhang Hao, he couldn’t shake off the athletic Rashid Wallace. Nevertheless, it was enough; Barkley received the ball and was preparing to move to block Rashid Wallace from Zhang Hao, but Rashid Wallace stuck to Barkley. When Barkley passed back to Zhang Hao, Zhang Hao had already accelerated to a speed of 99! Single Rider Full Power triggered!

A simple left-handed tomahawk dunk, from Zhang Hao’s fast break sprint to finishing the dunk, the cheers were unending as they accompanied his flowing hair!

As he landed and turned to run back, Zhang Hao couldn’t help but cover his forehead with his hand.

How pathetic!

Usually his fast break dunks aren’t more beautiful than this? His poster dunks aren’t more imposing than this? Dunking on teammates isn’t more... cough, cough, aren’t his put-back dunks more explosive?

But the cheers weren’t as intense as this simple tomahawk dunk.

As Nash ran back to receive the ball for the throw-in, looking at Zhang Hao’s figure, a term popped into his mind—man like the wind.

Though it was the first attack, Nash felt a slight frustration, having used that move perhaps only around ten times this season? With an average of just 1.3 close-range and under-the-basket shots per game, that move was unfamiliar even to his teammates. It was his secret weapon for attacking the basket, yet Zhang Hao had managed to anticipate his layup and block it!

Despite the slight frustration, Nash wasn’t disheartened. As he saw it, that was Zhang Hao—for anything related to Zhang Hao, he felt it was normal.

Pushing forward again to the front court, Nash resumed his composed style.

Many players are praised for seeming mature beyond their years, but originally in this timeline, this adjective was rarely attributed to Nash. However, this word truly belongs to him, even in the original timeline where he wasn’t heavily utilized in the first four years of his career, his performance was steady from his rookie season onward, with over 40% three-point shooting, extremely low turnover rates, decisive passing and shooting... and crucially, after such tough years, he continued to strive for improvement.

Nash himself might not realize it, nor might many of the Blazers’ players; however, when Nash had control of the ball, they felt secure, more so than when any other perimeter teammate was handling it.

Approaching the three-point line, Nash didn’t rush to close in on it but instead analyzed the Lakers’ positioning and movements, waited for two seconds, then moved up. Rashid Wallace synchronously came up to block Kenny Anderson, allowing Nash to break through!

Much like the previous straightforward drive to the basket, during the breakthrough, Nash seized the opportunity as the Lakers players made defensive moves while his teammates shifted their offensive positions, grabbing an opening and decisively releasing the ball; Sabonis received the ball at the top left corner of the free-throw line!

George Lynch immediately rushed to prevent Sabonis; upon receiving the ball, Sabonis raised it, and when George Lynch reached him, Sabonis released the ball behind his head, stepped forward to block George Lynch.

Rashid Wallace received the ball, bypassed Sabonis, pierced into the paint, and leaning against Zhang Hao’s defense at the basket made the layup successfully!

In this play, it was only due to Zhang Hao’s quick reaction that he wasn’t posterized!

During the Lakers’ offensive play, Kenny Anderson easily broke into the paint and passed the ball to the sidelined Doug Christie who found an open shot; unfortunately, Doug Christie missed the three-pointer.

Sabonis wisely used his massive physique to secure the position, and Gary Trent retracted and protected the rebound.

Switching from defense to attack, Nash and Rashid Wallace continued with the pick-and-roll tactic; Nash immediately passed to Rashid Wallace who, instead of shooting or making a breakthrough, promptly passed to the right baseline, making a long-distance pass; Isaiah Rider received the ball at the corner baseline and scored a three-pointer!

In these two sets, Nash’s basketball intelligence, judgment, and execution were showcased vividly!

The key was his selflessness; despite having considerable assists, the assist count couldn’t fully represent his effect on the offensive end. As long as it helped the team score, he didn’t mind whether he got the assist or not; he was more than willing to pass the ball.

It was also apparent that Rashid Wallace had made significant progress; since the Blazers realized Nash’s ability with the ball in pick-and-roll plays, the athletically gifted, highly mobile Rashid Wallace had proactively adjusted his strategies to primarily focus on pick-and-roll plays.

In his second year, Rashid Wallace was already 22 years old. After three years at North Carolina, his offensive fundamentals were solidly grounded; after enduring an unstable rookie season, he was now entering a phase of growth. Since the Blazers established the pick-and-roll offense centered around him and Nash, over the past month, he had already transformed into a rather competent pick-and-roll power forward, with solid fundamentals and willingness to set screens, possessing the pick-and-roll playing skills.

After Nash was blocked once, the Blazers scored two consecutive goals to take the lead!

This exhilarated the Blazers’ players immensely!

The Lakers’ start was not promising; the old fox on the sidelines had already anticipated this. The Blazers were a team capable of winning 50 games, and putting it bluntly, even Sabonis was only a second-year player, brimming with enthusiasm, their performance mid-season being even better than at the beginning of the season. The current situation for the Lakers wasn’t good; being suppressed by the opponent was quite normal.

Objective conditions were in place, and there was nothing he could do.

What he feared came to pass; just when Del Harris sensed that the opponent might ride the momentum of those two goals, that’s exactly what happened. In the next 4 plays, Nash, after streamlining his team’s offense, handed out two assists and scored a mid-range shot himself, helping the Blazers score 3 goals in 4 plays, accumulating 7 points!

Meanwhile, the Lakers scored only once in 4 plays, struggling against the Blazers’ aggressive collapsing defense.

After Nash’s mid-range shot was successful, the Lakers called a timeout, trailing 6-12 by 6 points against the Blazers!