Zaza Enters the Arena, The More You Defend, The Dirtier It Gets!

Zaza checked in—the dirtier he defended, the dirtier he got!

Very soon.

After the timeout.

With Horford fouling out on six fouls, the Hawks put the "enforcer" Zaza in at center.

He was far inferior to Horford.

But he was dirty enough.

Perhaps... he might produce unexpected results. In any case, as long as he could defend, the Hawks expected nothing from him offensively.

Before long.

The timeout ended.

The final four minutes—the decisive stretch—had arrived.

Hawks ball.

Teague brought the ball across half court and waited for his teammates to set up the half-court offense, still looking first to McGrady, their strongest option.

But...

If Joe Johnson had an opening, Teague could pass to him too.

And if Teague himself had a good enough chance to finish, he could take it himself.

Joe Johnson moved off the ball while Zaza set a screen for McGrady, creating the best and most comfortable catch-and-shoot pull-up opportunity for him.

That was the kind of offense McGrady excelled at and enjoyed.

When ordinary players set screens, they stood in front of defenders and formed an unmoving wall.

That was a normal screen.

Zaza was different.

Before becoming an unmoving wall, he first sought out contact with the defender, all while checking the referee's position from the corner of his eye.

Once he found a blind spot in the referee's vision...

Without a second thought, he would throw an elbow first, or drive his knee into the inside of his opponent's thigh—getting in some "dirty" contact before anything else.

The opponent would be in so much pain they could barely stand it.

His teammate might then get a direct chance to blow past the defender and attack the basket.

And if that did not work, he would go set the screen. His feet definitely