Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 105 The Battle of the Trapped Beast (for Subscription)

After returning from vacation at the seaside, Anthony’s mental state was very excited, but his body was a bit overwhelmed. If Fox was like a goblin, he almost sucked him dry. He even came seven times that night, let him experience The feeling of a seven-night man.

If it weren't for Carmelo Anthony's body, he reckoned that he would really collapse. Although Fox made him stew this and that stew again after returning home, he still felt that he couldn't bear it.

Until the next day to say goodbye to Fox, Anthony returned to the arena for training.

Now on the training ground, it didn't take long for him to sweat profusely, and his face was a little pale.

Sensing Anthony's change, D'Antoni also immediately took him off the court, and asked with concern: "Melo, what's wrong with your body?"

Anthony's face was a little embarrassed, but naturally he wouldn't say that he was tired from doing that with Fox. He could only lie and say that he was on vacation at the beach in Miami, and was a little headache from the sea breeze.

D'Antoni didn't have much doubts, and he was not allowed to go to the training again.

After a day of training, Anthony also sat for most of the day. That night, they also ushered in the last game of three consecutive home games. The opponent was the Indiana Pacers who were in the limelight.

The Indiana Pacers joined the league in the 70s. In the 90s, under the leadership of Reggie Miller, they were brought into the playoffs several times, and they reached the finals in 2000. Unfortunately, they were in full swing at the time and had the "OK combination" Lakers.

And this season, several young players in the Pacers, such as Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, and Al Harrington, are all growing rapidly, plus the still brave three-point marksman Reggie Miller, The strength of the team is tied with the Pistons with the "Bad Boys" in the East.

This is a very difficult game. For the current Nuggets, this is definitely the most severe challenge D'Antoni has encountered since coaching.

Anthony was sitting off the court at this time, and he was also very nervous. On the one hand, his body really felt very powerless. The player in the "Benshan Incident" is definitely the strongest defensive player among active small forwards, not one of them.

Encountering Artest with such a body is definitely something that Anthony does not want to encounter.

But a game is always a game, what should come still has to come, Anthony can't avoid it, he can only fight.

But not long after the game started, he felt a little powerless.

In the first few rounds, Anthony intentionally reduced the chances of playing singles with the ball, but Artest's defense was very tough. When he was off the ball several times, he was staggered by the latter, completely fighting with him. Same.

Anthony was not feeling well, and the other players on the Nuggets were even more uncomfortable. The Pacers' defensive rotation was very fast. It was difficult for them to bring up the rhythm. Without attacking, the whole rhythm is about to collapse.

Halfway through the first quarter, the Pacers scored only 10 points, but the Nuggets were so miserable that they couldn't look directly at them. They were known for their offense, but they only scored 3 points!
Poor 3 points, Korver, who came off the bench, hit a buzzer ball.

The Nuggets are stuck in a deep quagmire, fighting a weak beast.

Anthony also sat on the bench early, panting heavily. He only took one shot in the entire half quarter, and it ended in an iron strike.

After entering the rotation, the Pacers' defense was a little looser. The Nuggets launched a counterattack under the leadership of five new aids this season, but the Pacers did not fall behind. Under the leadership, the point difference has always been maintained at about ten points.

Anthony and his main players sat on the bench for more than ten minutes, until four or five minutes left in the second quarter, the Pacers replaced the main players, and the Nuggets' substitutes were also defended and struggled. , D'Antoni called a timeout and replaced the main force.

"Melo, do what you have to do!"

Before playing, D'Antoni walked to Anthony's side and said forcefully that he was very dissatisfied with the team's main players, especially Anthony's performance.

Anthony nodded. After resting for a while, he recovered a bit. Although he was not in the best physical condition, he still had to fight Artest.

After the timeout, the Nuggets made the first attack. Except for Bell, everyone else was the starter.

After attacking the frontcourt, there was no suspense. The Nuggets once again fell into the strict defense of the Pacers. Playing a pick-and-roll was like fighting a battle.

After busying around, it took a lot of time. I didn't find a chance to make a phone call. In the end, I went around and returned it to Anthony. With ten seconds left in the attack time, Anthony also had to face Artest. Stuart's defense.

"Hey, rookie, don't try to take a point from me." Artest said defiantly, and he had every confidence to say such a thing.

Anthony did not respond to Artest's provocation. His attention was all focused on how to break through Artest's defense. He had already experienced the power of this defensive champion in the previous game, not an ordinary pervert.

"Hey, rookie, what? Don't dare to attack?" Artest continued to provoke.

Anthony continued to ignore it, and looked up at the attack time. There were less than ten seconds left, and he had to attack if he didn't attack.

Dribbling the ball, he quickly took the first step to the left, followed by an emergency stop, followed by a cross step, and quickly changed direction to the right to break through.

Anthony has used this set of skills very skillfully, and it has been tried and tested in previous games.

But Artest in front of him was not shaken by him at all, not because of how flexible his footsteps were, but because of his body, the huge defensive coverage after opening, always keeping Anthony in his defensive area.

Anthony failed to get rid of it once, and then accelerated forward for a while, preparing to force a layup.

But right now.

"boom!"

After a burst of physical contact, Anthony felt as if he had hit a wall in an instant. The chest-to-chest collision almost made him faint. This Artest's body is too abnormal!

In a panic, he hurriedly retreated, and then looked up to see that the attack time was less than five seconds left. Anthony had no choice but to step back and make a jump shot.

Artest is like a shadow, jumping up almost at the same time as Anthony.

Anthony's shot point is high, but Artest's threat is great, and he was almost taken away at the moment of the shot.

Fortunately, good luck.

There was a crisp sound of "swish", and the ball shot into the basket almost at the buzzer before the whistle sounded.

Artest saw the ball into the net, but smiled on his face, looked at Anthony and said: "The rookie is lucky, I wonder if he will have such good luck next time."

"You'll know if you try it." Although Anthony knew that luck was a big part of this ball, he definitely couldn't show weakness.

The Nuggets scored two points and narrowed the point difference to 8 points. Looking back, Reggie Miller used the pick-and-roll to hit a three-pointer, and immediately opened the point difference to 11 points.

The battle is still going on.

The commentary for this game is "Magic" Johnson and his partner Devin Brown.

"Hey, Erwin, Melo struggled a lot in this game~" Brown said with emotion.

"He is still a rookie after all, and he is playing against the most defensive No. 3 player in the active league. This game will definitely be a lesson for him to pay for his tuition." Although Johnson claimed to be a fan of Anthony, he was also a fan of Anthony. A basketball star, he is a down-to-earth person.

"Yeah, the ball against Ron just now was a bit of luck. It seems to be his first goal of the game." Brown continued, "And looking at his movements, why does it feel weird? , seems to be a little...lack of physical strength? He doesn't seem to have much time, right?"

"This is indeed a little bit. Could it be that the amount of training has been too much recently?" Johnson said suspiciously, "The young players nowadays are working hard, but they are inexperienced, and the amount of training is still somewhat uncontrollable. Learn your lesson~"

When Brown and Johnson were talking, Anthony, who was "overtrained," was holding the ball and doing his best to break through Artest's defense.

Anthony is indeed doing his best, but the reality is very naked.

Perhaps it was what Anthony said just now that angered him. Artest's defensive focus was much higher than before. Anthony tried many offensive methods, but he just couldn't break through.

In the end, Anthony ended the attack with a turn and fall back. This time, he lost his previous luck. The ball was forced to hit the iron with a "bang", and the rebound was also taken by O'Neal.

Anthony shook his head in frustration, and then turned to retreat.

These two singles have also become a microcosm at the end of the second quarter. It is difficult for other Nuggets players to find offensive opportunities. Most of the time they rely on Anthony's strong play against Artest.

The effect was very bad. At the beginning, Anthony was able to attack with all his strength. Although the effect was not good, he still managed to hit 5 times out of 2 shots, but his physical strength dropped sharply later on. In the next three shots, none of them Exceptions all end up in blacksmithing.

By the end of the second quarter, the Nuggets' trailing score was slowly widened from 11 points to 18 points.

The performance of the Nuggets' players was even worse. Anthony scored 9 points on 2 of 4 shots. The highest scorer was Korver. He hit 3 three-pointers when he played against the Pacers.

On the Pacers side, except for Artest, the other three scored in double figures, and Miller even scored 18 points.

D'Antoni stomped his feet anxiously on the sidelines, but he felt completely powerless at the moment. There was already a gap in strength between the two teams. Coupled with Anthony's weakness, this game didn't start much at all.

(End of this chapter)