basketball kingdom

Chapter 41
Byron Scott replaced Clarkson and Lou Williams with Hibbert and Nick Young, allowing Xu Tian, ​​Kobe, Nick Young, Randall and Hibbert to play the final stage of the game.

The Timberwolves have not adjusted, and still let the starting five play.

Rubio received a sideline kick from Garnett and slowly dribbled to the top of the arc to organize.When holding the advantage, you have to slow down the offensive rhythm, which can make the lead more stable. As a point guard, he understands this very well.

Xu Tian knew exactly what Rubio would do and was ready to intercept his pass at any time.

After all, Hibbert has played several playoff games in the East and still has sufficient defensive experience. At this time, he is standing very close to the penalty area and is ready to help defend at any time.

Towns has a mid-range shot. After seeing the defender change to Hibbert, he came to the flank at 45 degrees, ready to launch an attack from the mid-range.

Xu Tian noticed Towns' movements and knew that Rubio would still pass the ball to Towns, so he moved a little between the two of them.

Rubio wanted to pass the ball to Towns with a ground pass, but Xu Tian predicted it and kicked the ball directly with his left foot.

The referee blew the whistle and blew Xu Tian's foot kick violation.

Xu Tian beckoned the other four teammates to gather around him and said, "Roy (Hibert), go defend Kevin Garnett. Julius, go defend Karl Towns, don't give him a mid-range chance. Nick Go with Rubio, I'll go with Wiggins."

Kobe quietly listened to what Xu Tian said, and after Xu Tian finished speaking, he added: "This is the final stage, we must guard against it."

Rubio went to the sideline and saw the Lakers get together, and quickly sent the ball to Towns, trying to make Towns launch a quick offense.

Towns was a little excited after receiving the ball. In order not to miss the offensive opportunity, he chose to shoot a mid-range shot directly.

Xu Tian realized that he had made a mistake and shouldn't have deployed defense when there was no dead ball. He quickly ran to the side of Downs and stretched out his hand to defend Downs' shot.

Towns didn't expect Xu Tian's defense to be so fast. When he shot, his right hand slipped, which made this shot a little weak.

Garnett had no time to reprimand Towns for his choice, turned around and stuck Hibbert behind him, ready to grab this priceless rebound.

Towns' shot hit the front of the basket and bounced towards Garnett in front of him.

Garnett jumped as hard as he could, grabbing the offensive rebound before Randle's hand touched the basketball.

Hibbert behind Garnett did not respond.

Xu Tianxia consciously ran over to foul.There is not much time now, the clock should be stopped for a foul, and Garnett should go to the free throw line.

When the referee's whistle blew, Xu Tiancai remembered that he had committed five fouls—he had graduated from six fouls.But it was too late to regret, he could only raise his right hand and received the sixth foul.

Garnett applauded vigorously in Xu Tian's direction, and sprayed a few trash words passionately.

Xu Tian ignored him and went straight to the end.

Louis Williams replaced Xu Tian and continued to play.

Director Zhang saw that Xu Tian made six fouls and left the field, and said: "Hibert is a big man, he was grabbed by Garnett for an offensive rebound, and he didn't know that the foul was stopped. Xu Tian has to help him with this."

Yu Jia said: "I didn't expect Xu Tian's first game to end with six fouls."

Director Zhang said: "Xu Tian is very clear in his head. Now there are more than 40 seconds left in the time. He wants to stop the clock for a foul immediately, forgetting that he has five fouls. This shows that he wants to win too much."

Xu Tian stood on the sidelines, watching Garnett execute free throws.

Now there are 46 seconds left in the time. As long as Garnett makes a free throw, the Lakers will be in danger.

Garnett stood on the free throw line, patted the basketball with his right hand a few times, took a deep breath and threw the basketball.

The first penalty, no problem.

111-115!

The referee gave the ball back to Garnett, and this time he didn't adjust much, and confidently shot the second free throw.

The ball enters the net hollow.

111-116!

The Lakers trailed by 5 points with 46 seconds left.

Randall went to the baseline to serve, gave the ball to Kobe, and Kobe dribbled the ball across half court.

Nick Young came out on the left wing to catch the ball and jumped directly outside the three-point line.

bang!

The crowd at Staples was boiling, and the live DJ shouted in a long voice, "Nick——Yang!"

114-116!

With 32 seconds left, there is still a chance to come back.

The NBA round time is 24 seconds. Ideally, there are only two offensive possessions left now-24 seconds for the Timberwolves and 8 seconds for the Lakers.But the reality is far more complicated than this.

The Lakers have two options, one is to try to defend the ball without fouling, then get the ball, go back and shoot two or three points-this can get overtime or a chance to win.Another way is to stop the watch for fouls and bet on the Timberwolves' free throws.

But now the Timberwolves players are doing well in free throws, there are no players to target, and there is no timeout now, so it is impossible to make more precise arrangements.

Byron Scott stood on the sidelines anxiously, but he had no choice but to silently pray that the Timberwolves would not advance in this attack.

Rubio moves the ball laterally beyond the three-point line while looking for opportunities to pass.

The Lakers didn't choose to foul, they believed in their defense.

Bryant put up 120% of his efforts to defend, clinging to Kevin Martin's side, not giving him any chance to catch the ball.

With 20 seconds left in the game, Rubio passed the ball to Wiggins for the final play.In his opinion, the defender Wiggins faced was Nick Young, who was relatively easy to attack.

Nick Yang just rested for a while, and now has sufficient physical strength, desperately exerting physical confrontation to thwart Wiggins' attack.

Although Wiggins was young, he played almost the entire fourth quarter. At this time, his physical strength was unsustainable. He was a little out of strength in the confrontation with Nick Young, and he made a dribble error.

The basketball rolled to Kobe's side. Kobe, with quick eyesight and quick hands, bent to pick up the basketball, and dribbled the ball to launch a fast break towards the Timberwolves half court.

In order to delay Kobe's offense, Rubio directly fouled.

The Timberwolves fouled five times, and this foul sent Kobe to the free throw line.

Now that there is no timeout for both sides, Sanders can only watch the game from the sidelines, not knowing what the outcome will be.

Sanders called Rubio to his side when Kobe made a free throw, and whispered: "The last offense, the Lakers' defense will definitely not pay too much attention to you, and you will complete the offense."

Rubio answered OK and returned to half court to watch Kobe make free throws.

When Kobe made his second free throw, the scene shouted the voice of MVP.

Kobe made both free throws.

116-116, the two sides tied.

Only 15 seconds left.

When Garnett serves, the basketball rolls across the floor, saving the time it takes to dribble across half court.

Rubio picked up the basketball near half court and dribbled to the top of the arc.

Garnett does the pick-and-roll directly, creating opportunities for Rubio to attack.

Lou Williams' defense lagged a bit.After bypassing the screen, he found that Rubio had already completed his shooting action, so he could only tentatively pounce on it.

Rubio's shot arced so high this time that Lou Williams failed to touch the basketball.

The spectators, players from both sides, and those who watched the game through various methods all looked at the basketball flying in the air with trepidation.

The basketball seemed to know the mood of these people. It spun around the hoop for a long time. After Hibbert and Towns under the hoop both jumped twice, it entered the hoop safely.

116-119!

7 seconds left.

Hibbert picked up the basketball quickly, came to the baseline, and passed the ball to Kobe who was about to come down.

Wiggins, Garnett and Kevin Martin all came to Bryant's side to prevent Bryant from shooting a [-]-pointer.Now the Timberwolves lead by three points, as long as the Lakers don't score three points, they can win the game.

Bryant dribbled for holes in the trio's defense, and Lou Williams and Nick Young waited outside the three-point line on the left and right wings, ready to catch Bryant's pass at any time.

But at this time, it was difficult for Kobe to pass the ball.

With 0.5 seconds left, Kobe faced the defense of the Timberwolves three and forcibly pulled up to shoot.

Wiggins jumped up hard, trying to interfere with Kobe's shot, but it backfired, and he couldn't touch the basketball.

Byron Scott folded his arms over his chest, watching the shot nervously.

Staples suddenly became very quiet, as if there were no audience here.

Xu Tian stood where he was and sighed.

Basketball hollow into the net.

The Lakers bench was boiling, ready to celebrate the overtime goal.

The referee put his hands on top of each other, leaving a little space between them, and blew the whistle in his mouth-this means that the goal is invalid.

Byron Scott thought to himself: "They still need to watch the video to determine the penalty. It's not the final result yet." There was still a little hope in his heart.

The referee walked to the scoring table on the sidelines and called up the live broadcast of the game to confirm whether Kobe's three-point shot had timed out.

Byron Scott watched the movements of the three referees nervously, waiting for them to make the final penalty.

Kobe already knew the result and walked towards the Lakers' bench.

The broadcast screen began to repeatedly broadcast Kobe's shots, and the slow motion showed that when the basketball was about to be shot, the game time had already run out.

The referee determined the penalty, Kobe's three-pointer was overtime, and the goal was invalid!

Timberwolves 119-116 Lakers.

The Lakers lost by three points.

Director Zhang was still thinking about how he should explain, and seemed a little silent.

Yu Jia took the initiative to come out to make a rescue, and said, "Let's take a look at Xu Tian's performance in this game!"

The guide played Xu Tian's basic statistics for the game. He played 19 minutes and 21 seconds, shot 8 of 5 shots, scored 11 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, fouled six times, and left the field early.

After Yu Jia finished reading Xu Tian's stats, he asked Director Zhang next to him, "Director Zhang, what do you think of Xu Tian's performance this time?"

Director Zhang managed to force a smile, and said, "This is a tuition fee! I believe that if he didn't make so many fouls, his performance would be even better."

Xu Tian walked alone in the player tunnel, covering his head with a towel, so he couldn't see his expression at all.

(End of this chapter)