Actually, I Really Like Close Combat!

The date was November 8, 2005.

On the day of the game against the Atlanta Hawks, the first thing Zhou Ze did after waking up was measure his wingspan.

After taking the [Armspan Booster], Zhou Ze's total wingspan would increase by 2 cm over the course of a week.

To Zhou Ze's surprise, his wingspan had already reached 213 cm today.

At 206 cm barefoot with a 213 cm wingspan, the difference between his height and wingspan was 7 cm.

Honestly!

That wasn't bad.

But when Zhou Ze looked at himself in the mirror, he still felt they were a little short.

No helping it!

His shoulders were simply too broad.

They made him look like a Tyrannosaurus rex.

That night.

Los Angeles Lakers locker room.

After Coach Phil Jackson, the Zen Master, finished laying out the tactics and firing up the players, he had everyone put their hands together and raise them while shouting, "Fighting!!!"

In the past, during this part—mainly when raising his hand—Zhou Ze had needed to stand on tiptoe a little. But now, he seemed to be able to reach just fine.

Who would have thought a longer wingspan came with this benefit too?

Starting lineups for both sides:

[Hawks]: Tyronn Lue, Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Al Harrington, and Pachulia.

[Lakers]: Parker, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Zhou Ze, and Chris Mihm.

Even though the Los Angeles Lakers front office thought very highly of Bynum's potential, based on what Bynum had shown so far, he was still far from the level of a qualified NBA center.

It wasn't just his basketball skills. Bynum, fresh out of high school, was also lacking in tactical awareness.

Meanwhile, Zhou Ze, whom the team's front office had snagged as a bargain in the second round, had begun growing wildly the moment he entered the league.

Not long after the game officially began, Zhou Ze got his first shot attempt.

Zhou Ze quickly ran from the corner to the top of the arc. During the process, he did not use a screen.

It wasn't that Zhou Ze didn't want to. His shoulders were simply too broad, making it easy for him to get caught up when using screens.

Also, his explosiveness was on the weaker side. His acceleration after stopping and starting again was nothing special, and opponents could catch back up to him.

At the top of the arc, Zhou Ze was half a beat ahead of his defender, Al Harrington. After receiving a pass from his teammate, he immediately launched a three-pointer.

It was practically an open shot.

Swish! The crisp sound of the ball going through the net followed.

Al Harrington was 206 cm tall and weighed 104 kg. He had solid athletic talent and excelled in a run-and-gun style.

At his peak, his three-point percentage had reached 45.8%. He averaged 3.3 attempts per game and made 1.5 of them.

But last season, Al Harrington had shot only 21.6% from three. This season, he was at 34.6%. Of course, in an era when three-pointers were not yet mainstream, that percentage was still quite good for a forward who could swing between the three and four.

Defensively, Al Harrington was somewhat lacking. Besides, his decent athleticism was only decent compared to other players. Compared with Zhou Ze, he was in an entirely different tier.

"Al, what are you doing?"

"Stay focused on defense!"

Hawks head coach Mike Woodson shouted at Al Harrington from the sideline.

Harrington nodded apologetically. At the same time, he did not forget to glance at Zhou Ze, thinking, This rookie not only has the accurate three-point shot everyone has been talking about, but his athleticism has been somewhat underestimated too.

Al Harrington had truly never seen an offensive style like Zhou Ze's before.

There were legitimate big men who shot threes, though not many.

But there were very few legitimate big men who could make catch-and-shoot threes off the run.

Over the next stretch, Al Harrington could not help but take Zhou Ze's three-pointer more seriously on defense.

He guarded him extremely tightly!!!

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Zhou Ze's explosiveness was not enough for him to completely shake Al Harrington.

Additionally, the Lakers' guards couldn't get the ball into his hands in time every single time.

Of Zhou Ze's four three-point attempts in the first quarter, only the first had been an open look.

Two had been contested right in his face, and both threes had clanged off the rim.

The other had been a semi-open look.

Semi-open meant there had been some defensive interference, but not much.

Zhou Ze seized that opportunity and knocked down the three.

In the first quarter, Zhou Ze went 2-for-4, making two three-pointers.

A 50% shooting percentage was highly efficient, but Al Harrington had gradually figured out Zhou Ze's off-ball movement patterns.

When Zhou Ze returned to the court in the second quarter, he could clearly feel Al Harrington's defensive intensity had increased.

After two consecutive missed threes, the Atlanta Hawks home crowd immediately erupted in cheers.

Zhou Ze, who had been so cocky for two games, had finally been brought under control tonight.

Once again, Zhou Ze began an off-ball cut from the corner. He appeared to be running toward the top of the arc, but suddenly curled and cut toward the basket. His powerful arms, combined with the abrupt change of direction, directly shoved Al Harrington away from his body.

That instantly forced an Indiana Pacers switch, and Lakers point guard Parker spotted the chance, firing the ball to Zhou Ze, who had a mismatch against Tyronn Lue.

After receiving the ball in the low post, Zhou Ze was stunned to find that no one from the Atlanta Hawks had come over to help defend him.

Zhou Ze's expression immediately darkened.

What did the Atlanta Hawks mean by this?

They were letting 183-centimeter, 79-kilogram Tyronn Lue guard him one-on-one?

Faced with this defensive strategy that dealt zero damage but carried maximum insult, Zhou Ze chose to back him down with brute force.

Using his weight and strength advantage, Zhou Ze easily muscled Tyronn Lue aside. Then came a standing power dunk. Though his takeoff was a little slow, the force behind the dunk was fully loaded.

Even the rim trembled slightly from Zhou Ze's slam.

After scoring, Zhou Ze flexed his biceps at the Atlanta Hawks fans who had been booing him.

Everyone outside had been wrong!

Zhou Ze did not actually enjoy drifting around the perimeter and shooting threes all that much. He preferred battling in the paint.

He simply did not yet have that ability.

Unlike the Lakers players on the bench, who made exaggerated celebratory gestures, Kobe carefully studied Zhou Ze instead.

The observant Kobe had a feeling...

The time Zhou Ze took from shrugging off the defender to finishing the dunk seemed to have shortened.

Could it be that his jump speed had improved?

That was right.

Not only had Zhou Ze's jump speed improved, but his "one-sided wingspan" had also increased by one centimeter. Naturally, the time needed from takeoff to dunk had become shorter, making it difficult for opposing centers to rotate over in time to protect the rim.

Besides, the Atlanta Hawks' starting center, Zaza Pachulia, was a slow-moving, bruising center.

After changing his offensive strategy, Zhou Ze instantly made Al Harrington feel the difficulty of defending him soar.

If he guarded too tightly, Zhou Ze would curl-cut at any moment and drive into the paint.

If he gave him space, Zhou Ze would shoot the three without hesitation.

Although Zhou Ze could not get a three-point opportunity or a mismatch near the basket through off-ball movement every time, he had already begun to possess the ability to alter the opposing defense.

Disrupting the opposing defensive formation would inevitably create good offensive opportunities for his teammates.

Throughout the second quarter, Zhou Ze made only one of his four three-point attempts, but he got three mismatches in the paint.

Zhou Ze capitalized on two of them. Against Tyronn Lue and Joe Johnson, he scored both times. Of course, backing down Joe one-on-one took much more effort.

The remaining one had been a minor mismatch against Josh Childress. Against this 203-centimeter, 95-kilogram swingman, Zhou Ze managed to back him down with his weight, but his finish was wildly off, nearly failing to touch the rim at all.

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