one-handed ball

Chapter 173 Chauncey's Night
Paul's outburst was expected by Whitman, but what he didn't expect was that he was so sharp, he seized the opportunity when he came up, and successfully hit a wave of climax.

"Teaming, we need double-teaming!" Whitman said loudly, drawing lines on the tactical board: "Chris (Paul) holds the ball too easily, we have to put pressure on Chris holding the ball, force He protects the ball first, and then returns to defend his own players, here, here, and here, pay attention to Peja's off-ball running point."

"Everyone must believe that as long as we play our defense and force the Hornets to make mistakes, we will definitely win!" Whitt did not forget to encourage the momentum of the Timberwolves players at the end.

"Come on everyone, come on!" Zheng Ke encouraged loudly, clapped his hands, and stretched out.

The generals of the Timberwolves also put their hands together, "One, two, three, come on!"

In fact, not only the Timberwolves, but all NBA teams are looking for how to defend the pick-and-roll. After each team encounters a pick-and-roll master like Paul, the way to deal with it is different. The most common ones are transposition, wrong defense and forward cross defense. .

What the Timberwolves adopted was to put pressure on Paul to hold the ball, not to make Paul make mistakes, but to delay the Hornets' pick-and-roll efficiency and rhythm.After the rematch, the Timberwolves attacked.

Paul used his height advantage to directly hoist the ball into the inside, Love got the basketball with his back, and Zheng Ke, Billups and Afflalo stood on the position they designated on the outside.

Peja looked at Zheng Ke intently, worried that he would run away.

Sure enough, Zheng Ke's left shoulder sank, and he had a fake movement to run to the left, but then he changed his center of gravity and turned to run to the right.

Love responded in a low position, without looking at Zheng Ke, flicked his left wrist, and handed the strike to Zheng Ke who cut inside.

"Stop him!"

Paul shouted from the outside, and he didn't know who he was talking to.

Then, a huge figure appeared on the route that Zheng Ke had broken through. It was Eli, with a death-defying expression on his face, solemn as if he was blowing up a bunker.

Zheng Ke couldn't avoid it, and bumped his head into Eli's chest, and a huge rebound came over, making him stop his figure.

But Eli, who was protecting his vitals with his hands, felt hit by a rushing rhino, and his body couldn't stop falling backwards. He sat on the cold floor and slid several meters away.

"Drip~" The referee made a penalty, "Block the foul."

Eli's chest was painful and constricted, and he got up from the ground after a while, but seeing the referee's penalty, he felt unspeakably frustrated. Such a controversial penalty, it is understandable for the referee to blow it like this.

Zheng Ke stood on the free throw line, took a few deep breaths, slapped the ball on the ground twice, looked for the feel, and then pushed the ball out.

"Shh!"

One penalty hit.

Zheng Ke made 83% of his free throws this season, and free throws have gradually become a relatively stable and easy scoring method for him.

Zheng Ke extended his hand to Love, and Anderson clapped his hands, then stepped back and waved his palms, and clapped Billups and Afflalo.

"Shh!"

Two free throws were made.

11:6.

Paul advanced with the ball, and the Timberwolves retreated quickly.

This time when Paul broke through to 45 degrees with the ball, Peja made a pick-and-roll with him, Zheng Ke saw this and yelled: "Switch defense, Chauncey."

Zheng Ke opened his hands, a ray of light flashed in his eyes, blocking defender, activate!

Paul suddenly felt that the momentum of the whole person changed. Zheng Ke opened his big hand, and the terrifying momentum rushed towards him in all directions. The basketball in his hand seemed to be broken by Zheng Ke at any time.Paul turned his head, but shook his wrist, and the basketball in his left hand turned into an orange light, looking for Peja.

Paul has a good idea, and with Peja's height, he has no pressure to shoot in front of Chauncey.

However, this time, he miscalculated.

A black arm suddenly appeared on the line of the basketball, and then cut off the light, and slammed the racket to the frontcourt.

Chauncey!

The 32-year-old veteran, like a 22-year-old boy, vigorously chased the basketball that was bouncing and rolling in the frontcourt, and then turned into a blue lightning and rushed to the empty basket.

One-stop layup, hit.

11:8.

It seems that Whitman's timeout had an effect. In just 1 minute, the Timberwolves scored 4 points and caught up in an instant.

Paul turned his head to look at the Hornets coach Byron Scott standing on the sidelines. The best coach of last season shook his head cryptically, indicating that Paul did not need to pause.

Paul picked up the basketball, reached out and gave tactical instructions: "Tact 2."

Usually the Hornets' tactics rely on Paul's personal ability, just like the Timberwolves rely on Zheng Ke's finishing ability, Paul's personal singles are one of the Hornets' important tactics.

Facing the aggressive momentum of the Timberwolves, Paul made up his mind and decided that the ball should be attacked by himself.

Paul's center of gravity sank slightly, and he began to dribble the ball under the crotch extremely skillfully. Facing Billups, his shoulders began to shake irregularly, making it difficult to see his breakthrough intention.

"To the left or to the right?" Paul asked himself in his mind.

From Chauncey's point of view, Paul's sharp eyes revealed a trace of firmness. He had a hunch that Paul's breakthrough this time would definitely come very firmly and quickly.

Sure enough, as he expected, two seconds later, Paul suddenly accelerated and dribbled towards the left side of Billups.

Feeling Billups' defensive pressure, Paul's body suddenly stopped, his right hand holding the ball swung back, dribbled the ball behind his back, exchanged the ball to his left hand, accelerated to the left, and even threw away Billups' defense.

Two steps away, Paul rose from the ground, and it turned out to be a simple mid-range shot. Billups withdrew his weight, shouted, and blocked it forward.

The ball has been shot, Billups looked back, and the basketball fell into the basket accurately.

13:8.

Paul secretly clenched his fist, cheered himself up, and then called his teammates back to defend.

Looking at Paul's back, Billups suddenly smiled.

It's not the first time the two have played against each other. Paul's growth has shocked Billups, but he is not a vegetarian either. He has his own way of dealing with point guards like Paul.

In the next round, Zheng Ke broke through Peja forcefully, and the Hornets immediately shrunk their defense. Zheng Ke threw the ball beyond the three-point line, found Afflalo, and Afflalo gave it to Billups.

Facing Paul, who was one step away, Billups directly made a jumper!
This came very suddenly. Although Paul reacted quickly, he was still a beat behind.

"Shua!" Hollow into the net.

13:11.

Paul frowned. Billups' shot was unreasonable, but he shot very firmly. More importantly, he made the shot, which gave him a bad premonition, as if he saw that Utah No. 8 is the shadow of omnipotence in front of him.

West missed the mid-range shot and Love missed the mid-range shot
The two teams fought several times, and then Billups once again found a chance to hit a three-pointer from the outside.

14 to 13, the Timberwolves lead by 1 point.

Scott's face changed slightly. Billups has hit two three-pointers in a row. This feeling seems to be a bit better than others. If he makes a shot, it will be a disaster for the Hornets.So he went to the front of the technical table and applied for a timeout.

"Good job!" Zheng Ke walked down with Billups with a smile on his face. He reached out to touch Billups' bald head, but felt that this was not appropriate, so he stretched out his long arms and hooked Billups. Lupus' shoulders, the two of them walked down shoulder to shoulder.

Chauncey's performance was not over yet. In the second half of the first quarter, he hit another three-pointer. The 8 cm height advantage was a gap for Paul at the moment.

After Billups played in the second quarter, he still maintained a fiery touch. He hit 2 consecutive three-pointers and helped the Timberwolves score 55 to 47.

After the game, Billups admitted that today I feel hot, and the basket is as wide as the sea in front of him.

This is a three-point show by Billups. Zheng Ke watched Billups' performance and was full of enthusiasm. After the second half started, everyone consciously handed the basketball to Billups. After Zheng Ke broke through and scored the ball Billups was found immediately.

In the third quarter, Billups continued his three-point show, and once again made three three-pointers in a single quarter, and all three shots were hit.In the third quarter, the Timberwolves won by 32 points 22 to 10, and the total score has led by 87 points to 69 to 18.

In the end, the Hornets failed to make a counterattack.

In the end, the Timberwolves beat the Hornets 113 to 84 away, winning eight consecutive victories!Billups was elected the best player of the game. He made 9 of 8 three-pointers and scored a total of 36 points and 8 assists. This was a night that belonged to him.

　In the playoffs of the 08-09 season, in the first game between the Nuggets and the Hornets, Billups made 9 of 8 three-pointers.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)