I just play ball

Chapter 403 Conquering the Smoothie King

On the court, the central large screen camera was aimed at the Pelicans bench, and the players looked embarrassed, and there was a little anger.The home audience collectively called the away player the MVP. It felt like my wife calling another man her husband, and it was still in front of my face, without concealing it.

Head coach Monty's face was black, his arms were crossed around his chest, and he stared coldly at the five Pelicans players on the field, as if he was going to fire lasers to burn them.

The referee blew the whistle, the Pelicans kicked off from the bottom line in the backcourt, Gordon took it all the way to the left wing of the frontcourt, and Davis raised the wall to block Iguodala.

Gordon took the ball off the assembly line, ignoring Landry's switch and interception, rushed to the basket forcibly, faced Gobert's defense and took off, gliding in the air and pulling the bar.Gobert jumped up to block the shot. Without thinking, Gordon stopped his movement and handed over the ball.

Asik, who was temporarily unguarded, received the ball, jumped up on the spot, and dunked with both hands.

There were sporadic applause at the scene, and Li Yue turned and ran forward, looking up at the large central screen.

The Pelicans chased 9 to 24, with 4 minutes and 32 seconds left before the end of the first quarter.

He came to the right corner of the front court in a blink of an eye, stood with his hands on his hips, and saw Clarkson dribble the ball to the right wing, and slightly bent his knees to prepare.

Clarkson threw the ball to Gobert at the top of the arc, stepped towards the right corner, and formed an off-ball screen.

Li Yue ran over head-on, and the two had just made contact when Clarkson took off the cover and cut inside.

Such a routine originally wanted to take away the defender, but Anderson did not follow the defense and retreated. Instead, he teamed up with Holiday to double-team.Li Yue happened to receive the pass, without thinking too much, he jumped directly against the double-team, and made a strong three-pointer with a two-stage movement.

when!The basketball hit the basket and fell, and Coach Monty's tense face immediately relaxed.

Many spectators on the sidelines also breathed a sigh of relief. Asik raised his hands to catch the rebound and pushed hard toward the center circle.

Holiday caught the ball and ran wildly, and started sprinting at the same time as Davis. The Lakers had only Gobert and Clarkson to intercept.

Li Yue chased him to the 45-degree third line on the left side of the frontcourt, but Holiday had already taken off, but he didn't pass it to Davis who knelt in advance to prepare for an alley-oop, but threw it himself.

when!The basketball hit the ring and fell, sighs sounded in the Smoothie King Center, and the head coach Monty gritted his teeth and stomped his feet.

Clarkson picked up the rebound, turned and ran forward.

It's a pity that the Pelicans originally had three players who did not make a fast break, and the defensive formation was established in advance.

After the Lakers got into position, Li Yue received the ball at 45 degrees on the left side, observed for a while, and walked to the sideline with the help of Gobert.

Asik switched defenses and intercepted with small steps, while Holiday bypassed the screen, took three steps in parallel, and chased behind him in the blink of an eye.

After a little trade-off, Li Yue stopped pulling the ball urgently, switched his right hand to his left in advance, diverted to the line, and took the initiative to stay away from Asik.

Gobert cut inside at the same time, Asik gave up the double-team to chase, and the left half was empty.

Seeing this freshness, Li Yue made a sudden stop again, leaned against Holledi sideways, bent his knees and used his strength to sit and hit. After three consecutive times, he grabbed the operating space, pulled the ball decisively, turned around, kicked off the ground, and leaned back to hit the board.

boom!The basketball rebounded into the net, 26 to 9.

"He's invincible!" Walton yelled. "I really want to see what kind of round Twitter will have at this time. It would be great if we could fast forward to halftime."

"There must still be people who think he is average." Nash smiled, "Unless he wins the scoring title, and he has to win 10 like Jordan, and at the same time he has to have many championships, in order to completely destroy doubts."

The Pelicans attacked, and Holiday took the ball to the center circle, slowed down and observed for a while, and shifted to the right sharply.

Meanwhile, Asik runs to the right elbow to set up a screen.

In the blink of an eye, Holiday stopped on the right wing.

Gordon started from the short corner on the right, used the screen to get rid of Iguodala, rushed to the right wing, received the pass, and rushed to the top of the arc.

Davis mentioned the top of the arc as a screen, Gordon got rid of Iguodala again, and went left to hit the basket, while Davis disassembled and went down.Landry switched defenses, spread out his hands and moved laterally to intercept, Gordon made an emergency stop and passed the ball to the right, Davis took off immediately after receiving it, lunged against Landry, and forced a mid-range shot.

Boom!The basketball crashed into the net, 26 to 11.

The Lakers attacked and Clarkson caught the ball and advanced.

Li Yue ran to the right wing and settled down. Seeing that the Pelicans formed a formation to surround him, he immediately waved his hand to signal Clarkson to play freely.

Clarkson nodded in response, then took the ball to the top of the arc, and with the help of Landry's cover, he broke through on the left.

The Pelicans pinched back and forth, and Landry took the opportunity to disassemble and run down, took the pass and rushed to the free throw line, stopped and turned around to avoid Davis, took another two strides, and ran with one hand.

Snapped!Davis side cap.

The audience cheered, and the basketball was forced to fly to the left. Holiday picked it up in his hand, turned around and rushed forward.

The Pelicans quickly followed up, but the Lakers struggled to catch up, and arrived at the frontcourt one step ahead, each positioning to mark.

The basketball passed to the left sideline, Gordon caught it and held it high to aim at the basket, and Iguodala subconsciously took off to block the shot.

Gordon dodged sideways, dribbled the ball to his left elbow, and continued to raise the aiming basket, but before he could make a shot, he was slapped by Iguodala.

The basketball was forced to fly to the right, and Li Yue stepped on his feet slightly to catch it, and immediately turned around with his hips twisted, and ran towards the frontcourt.

The Lakers launched a fast break, Li Yue was surrounded by two people, and Davis intercepted him under the basket.
And Iguodala was in a wide open position, so he passed the ball without hesitation.

The audience shouted a reminder, and Davis raised his right hand and stepped up to make up the defense.

But Iguodala, as if ignoring it, took off steadily and made a three-pointer.

when!The basketball hit the hoop and fell.

There were bursts of cheers at the scene, the Lakers players quickly retreated, and the Pelicans launched a counterattack.

"What does he want?" Wharton looked puzzled, "Why did he suddenly stop shooting? There are still 12 points left to break the record!"

"Don't worry." Nash smiled, "There are still 3 minutes, there are plenty of opportunities."

Between the words, Holiday dribbled the ball across the center line, and the referee blew his whistle to stop the game, announcing the official timeout.

Li Yue walked back to the bench, high-fived his teammates one by one, and then sat down to wait for the tactical arrangement.

Perhaps it was because of too many leads, D'Antoni only said a few words and then announced the end. Li Yue took care of communicating with Kobe about the details. Iguodala and others bluntly hoped that he would just take shots and wait until the second quarter before considering how to help. The team played at a higher level.

Li Yue naturally understood, said a few words of thanks briefly, and then asked his teammates to discuss the details.

In a blink of an eye, the pause is over.

The Pelicans replaced Asik with Luke Babbitt, Davis at center and Ryan Anderson at power forward.

The Lakers replaced Clarkson with Marshall.

"Huh? Coach Monty is trying to learn from the Warriors? Stick to defending Li Yue alone?" Wharton chuckled, "I'm worried that he won't be able to break the record, so he has to arrange for slow players to defend?"

"This... is indeed a bit weird." Nash said, "Evans or Austin Rivers should be replaced for points. This choice may be based on the pre-match plan."

Accompanied by the applause of the audience, the players of the two teams entered the field and the referee blew the whistle to count. Davis, who was standing at the 45-degree three-point line, and Holiday, who was standing at the waist, started running towards each other at the same time.

The two crossed without the ball to cover, Holiday successfully received the ball, turned to the right, and then used Anderson to cover, and strode to the top of the arc.

Marshall squeezed through the screen to catch up, but just after chasing him, Holiday pulled the ball and turned around again, diverted to move to the left, and Anderson also set up a wall for a screen again.For a while, Marshall was too late to catch up, and Landry fell into the paint ahead of time. The Lakers could only watch Holiday take off and easily score two points.

when!The basketball bounced off the hoop.

Davis and Gobert jumped up at the same time, neither of them caught it, and the basketball landed and rolled toward the right sideline.

Marshall stepped forward, bent over to pick up the basketball, turned and pushed forward, all the way to the front right wing.The Lakers' V-shaped formation fell, Marshall passed the ball to Gobert at the top of the arc, rushed to the bottom corner on the right, and set up a wall to block Luke Babbitt.

Li Yue took the opportunity to go around to the right wing. Seeing that Holiday was in place, he decisively twisted his hips and rushed into the paint area, moved to the left along the baseline, and with the help of Landry's cover, he came to the 45-degree three-point line on the left.

Gobert passed the ball almost at the same time, Li Yue received it, and took advantage of the situation to assume a three-threat posture. Seeing Holiday approaching close to him, he lifted his right foot and crossed to the left.

Huo Ledi subconsciously stopped and retreated, and the center of gravity of his body fell back involuntarily. Li Yue instantly retracted his right foot, kicked off with his left foot, and raised his hand to score a three-pointer.

Boom!The basketball crashed into the net, 29 to 11.

"It's still 9 points away from breaking the record!" Walton shouted excitedly, "I hope the Pelicans don't worry about losing face, and must stick to single defense."

"Hehe." Nash smiled, "There are only 2 minutes and 30 seconds left, probably no more double-teaming."

The Pelicans attacked and Holiday dribbled the ball to the top of the arc.

He voluntarily gave up using Davis to cover, directly got rid of Marshall in one step, and rushed to the basket.

Landry had just finished settling, and he didn't have time to react.

When he twisted his hips to catch up, Holiday had already rushed to the basket, jumped high, and pulled the bar with his backhand to avoid interference.

The basketball hit the board and rebounded into the net, and the Pelicans chased 29 to 13.

The audience cheered and applauded, as if celebrating that the team had finally reached double digits.

The Lakers attacked, Marshall dribbled forward, and Li Yue ran to the left 45-degree three-point line ahead of schedule.

Marshall dribbled the ball to the right wing, raised his hand and passed it to the right corner, strode to the basket by himself, and moved left along the baseline.

Iguodala catches the ball, immediately throws it to his right elbow, then turns and hits the rim that is temporarily unguarded.

Gobert raised his hands high and wanted to hang a pass, but Gordon stepped forward to intercept and interfere.

The Lakers' offense fell into a sluggish state, and Landry hurried up the wall to block Babbitt.

Li Yue took the opportunity to rush to the top of the arc, received the pass from Gobert, hugged him and waited.

Gobert ran down to cover, Li Yue took the opportunity to move the ball to the right, slowed down and braked at the 45-degree three-point line, and singled out Babbitt.

Seeing that Babbitt showed no signs of sticking to the defense, he decisively collected the ball and took off, leaned back in the air in a two-stage movement, and shot a three-pointer without interference.

Swish!The basketball went into the net hollow, 32 to 11.

"Here we come, we're still 6 points away." Walton rubbed his hands excitedly, "The Pelicans are kind of double-teaming."

"How does it feel like you are going to score 38 points in a single quarter?" Nash laughed. "I guess someone has already criticized Li Yue on Twitter for occupying too much possession."

The Pelicans attacked, Holiday made a quarterback-style long pass from the backcourt, and Davis received the ball in the paint area of ​​the frontcourt.

Seeing that the opponent was about to score an empty basket, Iguodala, who was closest, stretched out his hand like lightning, and the referee whistle followed.

It's a pity that Davis has raised his hand to complete the shooting action, and the return of this tactical foul is low.

Li Yue convened the whole team to discuss, emphasizing that the next retreat needs to be more timely.

Taking advantage of the timeout, the Pelicans replaced Rivers Jr. and Gordon.

The Lakers replaced Jokic and Ed Davis, and replaced Gobert and Landry.

Anthony Davis stood at the free throw line, cheered by the audience, and hit the first free throw.

The cheers stopped abruptly, Davis also hit the iron for the second free throw, and the basketball hit the basket and rebounded.

Iguodala rushed to take off to get the rebound, landed and handed it to Marshall, and the Lakers launched a counterattack.

Li Yue rushed to the right bottom corner quickly, and Marshall took the ball to the right wing, passed it to Jokic at the top of the arc, and rushed towards him again.

It is still the previous tactic, covering for the shooter along the way, which belongs to the basic starting method of the dynamic offensive system.

Li Yue went around to the right wing, took the pass from Jokic, put his back on Holiday, who was trying to defend, and then turned around and swiped low.

He wanted to put on a more comfortable three-threat posture, but noticed that Holiday chose to block the right and put the left. He immediately pulled up and took off, using his left hand to shoot a three-pointer.

Swish!The Nets soared, 35 to 11.

The central large screen reminded that Li Yue was 3 points away from breaking his single-quarter scoring record, and there were 1 minute and 36 seconds left in the first quarter.

The audience stood up one after another, ready to greet this extremely possible miracle with the highest courtesy.

The Pelicans players showed displeasure on their faces. Holiday caught the ball and ran wildly in the backcourt, and he and his teammates made various conduction moves on the outside.

It's a pity that no matter how he ran, he couldn't break through the Lakers' defense. The attack time was quickly only 9 seconds left. Holiday took the pass back and forced to hit the basket.

The referee blew his whistle, whistled for a walking violation, and gave the Lakers the right to the ball in the backcourt.

Holiday was so angry that he slammed the ball on the floor and almost got a technical foul.

The Lakers attacked, Marshall took the ball to the top of the arc, patted on the spot and waited.

Li Yue started from the short corner on the left, rushed to the left wing with the cover of Ed Davis, received the pass and put on a three-threat posture.

Babbitt pressed close to him, and Anderson also came up to interfere. Li Yue subconsciously wanted to pass the ball, but all the Lakers refused with their eyes, as if they were about to catch a time bomb.

Li Yue was angry and moved, and quickly pulled the ball back, ignoring the double-teaming of the duo, and forced a three-pointer with a jump.

when!The basketball hit the hoop and fell.

Ed Davis jumped up, caught the offensive rebound over Anthony Davis, landed and turned, and passed to the left wing.Li Yue received the ball, lowered his shoulders, got rid of Babbitt in one step, and rushed past Anderson in the short corner on the left.

when!The basketball bounced off the hoop.

Anthony Davis leaped high, grabbed the rebound with a roar, and the Pelicans launched a counterattack.

"DMAN!" Wharton clapped his hands, "It turns out that those guys on the opposite side are cowards, and they actually double-teamed at the last moment."

"Hehe." Nash chuckled, "I think Li Yue is too anxious, but I can understand, after all, the historical records are in front of us."

While talking and laughing, Holiday took the ball to the left wing of the frontcourt, raised his hand and lobbed it to the left waist.Anthony Davis received the ball with his back to Jokic, slowly turned forward with his left foot as the axis, and after facing the basket, he strode across into the paint area suddenly and made a mid-range shot.

when!The basketball hit the rim and fell, Ed Davis grabbed it, and the Lakers launched a counterattack.

The Pelicans arranged for two people to attack, and Li Yue used various screens to run, and in the last five seconds he caught the ball and forced a three-pointer, but it was a pity.

The Pelicans launched a counterattack. Facing the Lakers' full defense, they were dragged until about 24 seconds into the violation before Anderson forced a three-pointer.

With the same bang, Jokic grabbed the rebound. With 20.3 seconds left before the end of the first quarter, Li Yue stepped forward to catch the ball and pushed forward slowly. The Lakers bench, including members of the coaching staff, stood up and watched.

In the previous three rounds, Li Yue was a little anxious, so he decided to play steadily, reached the top of the arc, waited for a long time, and raised his hand to call for double screens.

Ed Davis and Jokic set up a human wall one after another. Li Yue sank his shoulders and accelerated to 45 degrees to the right, and was attacked by Babbitt and Holiday. Only Rivers Jr. watched from a distance.

With little time left, Li Yue held his breath and stopped abruptly.

Babbitt and Holiday both took off to block the shot, the basketball flew past their fingertips, and hit the circle into the net with a bang.

The Smoothie King Center fell into a brief silence, and then erupted into cheers like a tsunami.

The central big screen congratulated Li Yue for breaking his own historical scoring record in a single quarter.

"He conquered this arena." Walton sighed, "The key is the away game, which is rare in the entire history of the NBA."

"Maybe it sounds pretentious," Nash said with a laugh, "but we're going to win easily tonight."

(End of this chapter)