The Rookie Wall Arrives?

After returning to the bench, Zhou Ze was showered with praise from the coaching staff and his teammates.

Even Kobe praised him. "Zhou, great defense."

Although Zhou Ze had allowed Chris Webber to score 6 points, Webber's shooting percentage had been abysmal. On top of that, Zhou Ze had contributed three precious steals.

After all, the Lakers' half-court offense had been utterly constipated tonight.

Those three steals were equivalent to three fast-break opportunities.

Although, on one occasion, Zhou Ze caught a teammate's pass under the basket and prepared to dunk, only to be chased down from behind by Andre Iguodala for a massive chasedown block off the backboard.

Still, it was precisely because of those fast-break opportunities that the Lakers managed to take the lead.

Los Angeles Lakers (69) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (62). More than halfway through the third quarter, the score was still this low, which showed just how badly both sides had been bricking shots tonight.

"Zhou, your stamina is this bad, yet you still went clubbing like everyone else?" Kobe scolded as he watched Zhou Ze sit on the bench, gasping for breath without ever managing to calm down.

Zhou Ze was instantly left speechless.

"Train your endurance properly. You're so weak at such a young age," Kobe mocked him again without mercy.

Unable to argue back, Zhou Ze could only mutter softly, "My stamina isn't even bad among rookies. The hell, do you think everyone's a stamina freak like you?"

To be fair.

Zhou Ze really wasn't making excuses.

His stamina truly wasn't bad among rookies. Besides, he had been matched up against Chris Webber. Though Webber was past his prime, he could still put up 20+10.

Affected by his stamina, Zhou Ze wasn't sent back onto the court by Phil Jackson until the decisive stretch of the fourth quarter.

The decisive stretch.

Kobe, who had been bricking shots all game, finally found his touch.

He and the equally tireless Allen Iverson put on an explosive scoring duel, like Mars crashing into Earth.

Still feeling somewhat weak in the legs, Zhou Ze mainly served as a floor spacer and decoy on the court.

During the final four minutes, Zhou Ze was mostly just a spectator on the court, but he did have a highlight moment when he suddenly teamed up with Kobe to trap Iguodala at the top of the key and came away with a crucial steal.

"Beep!"

As the referee's final whistle sounded, the score was set at:

Los Angeles Lakers (91): Philadelphia 76ers (86)

The Lakers narrowly won the game by 5 points.

As for the players' scoring.

[Los Angeles Lakers]:

Kobe went 9-of-27, 0-of-2 from three, and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, scoring the second-highest 22 points of the game, along with 1 steal and 6 rebounds.

Zhou Ze went 6-of-19, 3-of-11 from three, and attempted no free throws, scoring the team's third-highest 15 points, along with 5 steals, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists for a double-double. Other than blocks, where he had nothing to show, he recorded at least 5 in each of the other four basic stat categories.

[Philadelphia 76ers]:

Allen Iverson went 10-of-23, 2-of-5 from three, and 12-of-16 from the free-throw line, recording 34 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. He led all scorers, and despite being the shortest player on the court, he had one more block than Zhou Ze, whose barefoot height was 206 cm.

Chris Webber went 6-of-19 and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, scoring 16 points, but had only 4 rebounds and 1 block.

Andre Iguodala went 2-of-3 and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, recording 5 points, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. His stats were nothing special, but one figure was the highest in the game: 47 minutes played. Iguodala had practically played the entire game.

His stamina was terrifyingly strong.

Incidentally, Iguodala had defended Zhou Ze's mismatched post-up attacks under the basket twice, stopping him both times.

And this was destined to draw criticism from the media after the game!!!

[Postgame Reward: 195 Peak Points]

[Special Reward (First Career Double-Double): 200 Peak Points]

[Peak Points: 453/3653]

He spent 400 Peak Points to exchange for two random draw opportunities.

He obtained 2 random attribute points.

The system applied the boost to [Release Speed], raising it to 79 (115).

Zhou Ze had two powerful dunks at the basket tonight, both because the improved release speed allowed him to complete the dunks before the opposing help defense arrived.

Of course, another reason was that the Philadelphia 76ers' centers were too ordinary.

Their athleticism and defensive awareness were both rather average.

Zhou Ze truly had many areas that needed improvement, but at this stage, rather than patching up his weaknesses, it was better to amplify his strengths.

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For example, ways to finish after cutting inside off the ball.

The Lakers' next opponent was the Memphis Grizzlies.

The future "Big Brother Gasol," Pau Gasol, was currently the leader of this team.

Aside from Pau Gasol, the Grizzlies' starting guard Eddie Jones had once been Kobe's big brother on the Lakers. When Kobe first entered the league, he had served as Eddie Jones's backup.

The two had a good relationship, but as Kobe grew wildly, he gradually replaced Eddie Jones. Regrettably, Eddie Jones was traded by the Lakers to the Hornets in the 1998-99 season and never won a championship in his career.

At his peak, Eddie Jones had been one of the league's defensive stalwarts. Many media outlets believed his defense was no worse than Ron Artest's, but now, nearing the end of his career, Eddie Jones had transitioned into a shooter.

Before the game, Kobe made sure to exchange a few pleasantries with Eddie Jones, while Zhou Ze sized up Pau Gasol in his "clean-cut-looking days."

"His arms are really long!" Zhou Ze couldn't help but marvel.

Shane Battier was responsible for guarding Kobe tonight. He had been Gasol's former teammate and the team's core, a player with extremely high basketball IQ and overall intelligence, as well as a master of hand-in-the-face defense.

Shane Battier did indeed defend Kobe quite well tonight. Kobe went 7-for-18 from the field and 4-for-4 at the line. That number of attempts was very un-Kobe-like. That was what made Battier so impressive: while diligently and cleanly defending Kobe, he didn't provoke him at all. It was like slowly boiling the Black Mamba in warm water.

Zhou Ze's three-point touch bounced back tonight. He went 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and 6-for-11 overall, though he only drew two free throws.

Uh...

With a free-throw rating of only 60, Zhou Ze went 1-for-2.

The coaching staff all frowned at the sight. Your three-point shot was so accurate, yet your free throws were this bad—how was that remotely reasonable?

Zhou Ze took the fewest shots he had all season. It wasn't that his teammates didn't want to pass him the ball; it was just hard to get it to him.

Eddie Jones specifically watched the passing lanes.

Gasol's wingspan was also enormous. If Zhou Ze didn't create enough separation, it was easy for Gasol's long arms to get a touch on the ball.

And...

Pau Gasol was still quite quick at this point in time.

Compared to the Lakers, who were in mediocre form, the Grizzlies looked like they had contributions coming from everyone.

Pau Gasol orchestrated the offense from the high post, driving the team's attack.

After backing Zhou Ze down, he hit a straight-arm skyhook that left Zhou Ze able to do nothing but watch.

In the end, the Memphis Grizzlies handed the Lakers their first loss of the season.

Los Angeles Lakers (85) vs Memphis Grizzlies (96)

Zhou Ze played 34 minutes and finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.

According to the Peak Value calculation formula, the reward for losing was only half of what he would receive for winning.

[Postgame Reward: 54 Peak Value]

[Peak Value: 107/3707]

The final game of the week was the Battle of Los Angeles.

Although the two teams played in the same arena, the Lakers were the home team tonight.

Kobe went completely berserk tonight, shooting 12-for-35 and 11-for-12 from the line for 36 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.

But they still lost in disappointing fashion.

The Clippers' twin-tower pairing of Elton Brand and Chris Kaman destroyed the Lakers' interior.

Against Brand at the height of his prime, Zhou Ze had no answer for him on offense, nor on defense. As a former first overall pick, Brand possessed a powerful build and excellent athleticism. Zhou Ze, lacking explosive burst, found it difficult to completely shake Brand with short-distance movement.

Not to mention, Brand was also a wingspan freak.

Worst of all, the Clippers crushed them on the boards.

Kaman and Brand's twin towers combined for 24 rebounds.

Zhou Ze, Bynum, and Kwame Brown combined for 23 rebounds, with Zhou Ze grabbing only 3 of them.

After recording double-digit rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers, Zhou Ze's rebounding ability had been beaten back to its original form.

By the end of the game, Clippers (101) vs Lakers (94), with the Clippers taking the win.

Zhou Ze went 1-for-7 from three tonight, finishing with just 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.

No matter how accurate a shooter was—even someone as deadly as Golden State LaVine—they couldn't stay hot for an entire season. There would always be nights when they went cold.

But Zhou Ze's situation was a little different...

His opponents seemed to have become familiar with his off-ball patterns. They could usually judge fairly accurately whether Zhou Ze was going to flare out for a three or cut inside.

And that was what fans called the "rookie wall."

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