basketball kingdom

Chapter 68 The Match of Talents

In the second half of the first quarter, Nikola Jokic showed extraordinary dominance. He single-handedly blasted the inside guarded by Black and Thackeray, leading the team to open the point difference to double digits.

With 3 minutes and 45 seconds left in the first quarter, the Nuggets led 26-13.

Scott was a little worried, having not sat down since the game started.But the Lakers bench didn't have a strong inside defense, and he couldn't limit Jokic's performance, so he could only replace Xu Tian who had just rested.

The point guard for the Nuggets is Mudiay. Seeing Xu Tian stepping into the court, he felt a little nervous.

Xu Tian tidied up his sneakers and took the serve from Thackeray.

Reggie Miller saw Xu Tian and Mudiay, who were facing each other at the top of the arc, and said: "Emanuel and Xu were both predicted to have high picks in the draft, but in the end one fell to the seventh pick, and the other fell to the seventh pick. It's an interesting matchup to be at No. [-]."

Marv Albert said: "Emanuel was once the No. [-] high school student in the United States. If he is not eager to play professionally to earn money, but to play in the NCAA for a year, he should be able to get a more ideal draft pick. "

Reggie Miller disagreed with Albert's statement, saying: "OJ Mayo was also the number one high school student in the United States, but his development in the league was not satisfactory, and the draft position cannot be judged by his high school and college career. "

Marv Albert saw Xu Tian make an emergency stop and make a mid-range hit, and explained the goal in a drawn-out tone.

Alice stood up from the auditorium and cheered and celebrated Xu Tian heartily.

This mid-range is the first time Xu Tian scored in this game. Although it was just an innocuous mid-range, Michael Malone called a timeout immediately.

During the pause, the Tencent live broadcast room switched back to the studio.

Director Zhang said: "The coach of the Nuggets is very afraid of Xu Tian. Xu Tian just scored here, and he immediately called a timeout. I guess he will replace Faried after the timeout."

Wang Meng said: "It's really possible. Faried defended Xu Tian for more than six minutes, and Xu Tian didn't score in the first few minutes. He is the Nuggets' best defensive player, and there is a high probability that he will be used. .”

Michael Malone called a 20-second timeout, and soon the game screen reappeared.

Mudiay was not replaced by coach Malone, and he still served as the point guard of the second team.

As Director Zhang and Wang Meng guessed, the Nuggets replaced Faried at the power forward position, allowing him to continue to defend Xu Tian despite his height and strength.

Mudiay averaged only 40.6% shooting in the first few games of the regular season, and his three-point shooting rate was even worse. On the offensive end, he was completely unable to cause trouble for Xu Tian, ​​so he could only quickly pass the ball to Jokic inside. strange.

Mudiay opened up and took Xu Tian to the left wing, clearing the right side for Jokic to play inside.

Jokic landed in the NBA at the beginning of this season and is also considered a rookie this year. He showed the potential to become a superstar at the beginning of the season.As soon as he got the ball, the two inside players of the Lakers trembled in their hearts.

The super insider from Serbia defended Thackeray in back singles. Relying on his physical talent, he dexterously sent the basketball into the basket with a left-handed hook.

Jenny Buss witnessed Jokic's performance and said to the magician: "You should contact the management of the Nuggets to see if there is a way to trade Nikola."

The magician pondered for a moment, and said: "Nicola's talent is obvious. It is very difficult to get him. We can only find a way to win Yusuf."

Jenny Buss completely handed over the decision-making power of the players to the magician when he took office, so he didn't intervene any more. He just said, "The team's inside line is relatively weak, and we need to find ways to adjust it."

The magician kept this incident in mind and continued to watch the game on the court.

Farid stepped up to the top of the arc to defend Xu Tian who was holding the ball, and used his tough physical confrontation to put offensive pressure on Xu Tian.

Rookie players who perform well will always encounter the rookie wall. This is not an exception, but every rookie will encounter problems, and there is a reason for this.

After a rookie enters the league, the coach of the opposing team often does not formulate defensive tactics specifically for the rookie, so rookies with good potential at the beginning can perform well.But when the potential rookies really play well and attract the attention of the opposing coach, they will often encounter targeted defense. At this time, the performance of most rookies will shrink. This is the so-called rookie wall.

The same is true for substitute players who explode and are then restricted by the defense.Jeremy Lin played Lin Crazy in 2012. In the first few games, he didn't even encounter double-team defenses, but after he was really taken seriously, he quickly ended up under the Heat's infinite defense changes.

A potential rookie has unlimited possibilities in the future. When he hits the rookie wall, the management and the head coach have enough patience to help him find and adjust his thinking, so that he can successfully break through the rookie wall.But the substitute players do not have this kind of treatment. After being targeted for defensive restrictions, they often return to the substitute lineup, which is exactly the case with Jeremy Lin.

Faried's defensive action is very tough, and it should be restricted by whistle, but the referee chose to ignore it, allowing Xu Tian to face a defensive action that was close to a foul.

Xu Tian lowered his center of gravity, dribbled the ball with his right hand to get rid of Faried's physical confrontation, and took off directly outside the three-point line.

Farid reacted at the same time, jumped with all his strength, and blocked Xu Tian's sight with his right hand.

Xu Tian's real goal was not to shoot, but to fake the shot and pass it to Louis Williams who was emptied in the left corner, allowing him to take the shot when he was open.

Louis Williams is also a ruthless person. He won the best sixth man last season, even better than Nick Young, who is known as the singles king.

Gary Harris was running as fast as he could, fast enough, but still too late.

Lou Williams used a reasonable offensive method to hit a very difficult shot.

Xu Tian made a tactical gesture, and used the full-court tight defense with Louis Williams to limit the Nuggets' serve.

Mudiay tried his best to get rid of it, but he still couldn't get rid of Xu Tian's defense. He could only take Xu Tian to the other side and let Jokic send the ball to Faried who responded.

Xu Tian and Lou Williams kept blocking Mudiay and Gary Harris from receiving passes, forcing Faried to dribble across half court.

Faried plays inside, and dribbling is not his strong point. Unprepared, Xu Tian, ​​who was chasing quickly, stabbed the basketball away.

Thackeray couldn't do top defense or help defense, but he was conscious enough, and quickly fell to the ground to get the basketball that Xu Tian hit.

Anthony Brown received the basketball thrown by Thackeray and wanted to pass the ball to Xu Tian in the frontcourt, but Jokic saw through his passing intention and he snatched it back.

Jokic passed the ball across the half court to the basket, helped the unguarded JJ Hickson take off, and completed the offense with a beautiful long pass.

Michael Malone didn't know that Jokic still had such abilities. Seeing this pass, he stood up excitedly from the coach's bench and walked to the sidelines unconsciously.

Xu Tian dribbled the ball across the half court, started it before Faried's defense was in place, turned into a yellow lightning, rushed into the Nuggets' inside line, and bombed the basket in a flash.

Xu Tian helped the Lakers score two points.

The cheers at the Staples Center erupted, cheering for Xu Tian's tough one-handed dunk.

Jokic steps out of the baseline and quickly throws the ball to Mudiay for a fast break.

Instead of stopping Mudiay, Michael Malone folded his arms and waited to see his performance.

Xu Tian's defense was not in time, and he failed to catch up with Mudiay who was running at full speed, so he could only watch him dribble the ball into the interior.

Mudiay tricked Black's defense and hit the basket with his left hand.

Louis Williams received Blake's serve, quickly pushed across half court, and threw the ball to Xu Tian in the right corner.

Xu Tian ignored the defense when he caught the ball and made a dry shot.

Jokic made a two-card at the basket, but it became superfluous, and he could only watch in amazement as the basketball went into the net.

Xu Tian made a three-point gesture with both hands before Jokic sent the ball, and celebrated the goal in a low-key way.There were a lot of management members who came to the scene today, and he didn't dare to use too arrogant a celebration posture.

Mudiay is a young man under the age of 20. Seeing Xu Tian scoring a three-pointer was a bit over the top. After dribbling the ball for half the court, he threw a three-pointer without waiting for Jokic to settle.

The basketball hit the backboard and bounced back into Black's hands.

Black held the ball with both hands, passed the Nuggets defender, and then passed it to Xu Tian who was supporting him.

Louis Williams secretly made a three-point gesture with his right hand behind him, and conveyed to Xu Tian the offensive method he wanted to play.

Xu Tian started from the center line, took Faried to the inside, ran into the free throw line, and passed the ball to Louis Williams at the top of the arc without looking behind him.

Lou Williams didn't make adjustments after receiving the ball and shot against Gary Harris' defense.

Gary Harris defended too hard, earning a defensive foul and sending Lou Williams to the free throw line.

Xu Tian has not stopped running in the past few minutes. Taking advantage of Louis Williams' free throw, he quickly stood outside the three-point line to recover his strength.

When Lou Williams made his second free throw, Wilson Chandler stepped onto the court to replace Faried, who needed a rest.

Mudiay recalled the head coach's arrangement, gradually calmed down, and prepared to slow down the offensive and defensive rhythm to fight the Lakers.

The most important thing in positional warfare is the inside line. Without good inside players, it is extremely disadvantageous in positional warfare.

Although the Warriors are good at five small lineups, they have Andrew Bogut and the best defensive level Draymond Green in the interior, these two are enough to support them to play positions.

The defense of the Lakers' inside players is poor, and if they fall out of position, they will only be beaten.

Louis Williams hit all three free throws, making the situation on the court another subtle change.The most obvious thing is that Xu Tian and Louis Williams no longer use full-court pressing defense, but retreated to the backcourt early to prepare for defense.

(End of this chapter)