basketball kingdom

Chapter 70 Learning Ability
The muscles on Xu Tian's back were wide enough, even if he fell heavily on the floor, he was not affected in any way. He grabbed Nick Yang's hand and stood up from the floor.

The referee has already punished JJ Hickson for a defensive foul, so Xu Tian has to stand on the free throw line to make a free throw.

Scott walked to the referee's side to communicate, asking the referee to pay more attention to Hickson's defensive actions and not to miss fouls.He did this to protect Xu Tian, ​​so that Xu Tian would not be fouled too roughly.

Tonight's game was played at the Lakers' home court, so the referee gave Scott face and did not give a technical foul without thinking.

After the communication between the referee and Scott, he came to the court to execute the free throw.

Xu Tian's touch has been recovered, and he hit all two free throws without accident.

83-94!The Lakers trailed by 11 points.

Michael Malone needed to adjust his defensive strategy against Xu Tian, ​​and called a timeout when Mudiay dribbled the ball across the half.

In order to maintain his state, Xu Tian did not sit on the bench, but stood beside Scott and listened to his arrangement.

The first thing Scott wants to do is to let Xu Tian protect his body, saying: "JJ Hickson is just an ordinary rotation player, there is no need to compete with him, and if he gets injured, the loss outweighs the gain."

Kobe stood not far from Xu Tian. After listening to Scott, he said, "Xu, this is the NBA, not WWE or UFC. You have to control your emotions. If necessary, Ron (Ci Shiping) Will go out there and fix the mess."

Xu Tian was not affected by Hixon's continuous provocation at all, but he nodded silently, indicating that he had received Kobe and Scott's words.

Knowing that there is not much time left in the timeout, Scott hurriedly said: "The Nuggets are likely to continue the offensive style inside, I need you to implement good defensive tactics, so that it is not so easy for Nikola or Yusuf to score. "

Michael Malone was squatting in front of the bench at this time, holding a tactical board and said to Jokic: "Nicola, after the timeout is over, you and Yusuf will still be partnered inside, and you will initiate the offense. Play more high and low positions." Cooperate and let them focus on one thing and lose another."

Jokic just arrived, but he didn't really understand what the head coach said, so he nodded pretendingly and fooled the past.

Nurkic had just rested for more than a minute, before he had time to put on his warm-up suit, and was replaced by Michael Malone again.

Seeing JJ Hickson return to the court, Xu Tian understood that Coach Malone wanted him to continue to challenge him, so he came to the top of the arc to prepare for defense.

Although Mudiay did not perform very well, he was still sent by coach Ma Long to confront Xu Tian head-on.

Although Xu Tian's height is not an exaggerated 205 centimeters, he is still a tall player among point guards. Nelson has to face too much defensive pressure, so he has to continue to let Mudiay lead the team.

Xu Tian lowered his center of gravity to the lowest, staring at the ball in Mudiay's hands with fiery eyes, ready to take it as his own at any time.

Mudiay dribbled the ball with his right hand, and blocked Xu Tian's body with his left hand, while looking for opportunities to play the ball.

Xu Tian only received one foul in this game. He strengthened his hand movements when defending. When Mudiay raised his hand to release the ball, he pressed his right hand on the basketball.

Mudiay didn't expect Xu Tian to touch the basketball, so he couldn't react, and Xu Tian snatched the ball from his hands.

Xu Tian immediately dribbled the ball and launched a counterattack, advancing rapidly towards the offensive half.

The Nuggets players did not expect Xu Tian to steal the ball directly from his hands, and failed to retreat in time, so they could only watch Xu Tian take off in the frontcourt.

Xu Tian's body was fully active, but in order to save energy, he finished the attack with a light layup.

85-94!

The Lakers narrowed the point difference to single digits, which brought suspense to the game again.

The fans at the Staples Center, who had been silent for a long time, began to shout in unison. They shouted what the Lakers need to do most now-defense!
It was difficult for Bass and Nance Jr. to defend Jokic and Nurkic, and they were desperately stuck in the interior, preventing them from receiving the ball easily.

Nurkic has a lot of small moves, and he has a lot of experience in dealing with Bass, who is shorter than him. He took the lead in grabbing the position, and raised his right hand high to ask Mudiay for the ball.

Mudiay once again encountered Xu Tian's strict defense. Even something as simple as throwing the ball has become extremely difficult.

Sensing Mudiay's predicament, Wilson Chandler sprinted to the top of the key and took the ball from Mudiay.But when he wanted to pass the ball to the inside, he found that Nurkic on the inside had left the penalty area in order to avoid a three-second offense violation, and could only barely dribble the ball to attack.

Nick Young put up a [-]-point mental defense and forced Wilson Chandler, who was not very skilled in dribbling, to stop the ball.

Mudiay wanted to get rid of the ball, but due to Xu Tian's long arm, he was never able to run out of the offensive space.

Wilson Chandler forced a mid-range shot against Nick Young's defense at the end of 24 seconds of shot clock.

The basketball was halfway into the net, but it was just a joke to the Nuggets, and it bounced out of the rim in no time.

Bass and Nance Jr. stuck Jokic and Nurkic behind respectively, preventing the two 213 cm centers from taking off.

Xu Tian and Mudiay rushed into the penalty area at the same time, but Xu Tian's bullet speed was much faster than Mudiay's, and he successfully received the defensive rebound.

Nick Yang used all his strength to quickly run towards the frontcourt and launched a fast break in the first place.

Thunder guard Russell Westbrook has a priority rebounding franchise because head coach Billy Donovan, who took over this year, believes point guards can launch quick counter-attacks with rebounds.Xu Tian borrowed from this attacking method, and practiced with Nick Young a lot in normal training.

Nick Young and Wilson Chandler compete in sprinting in the frontcourt, but in terms of track and field alone, no one in the league can match the Nuggets.

Wilson Chandler overtook a corner and came to the front penalty area earlier than Nick Young who started first, but when he turned around, he saw a scene he didn't want to see.

When Nick Young was overtaken by Wilson Chandler, he retreated to the three-point line instead and ended the offensive round with a counter-attack three-pointer.

This kind of counterattack is very uncommon. Except for Curry and Klay Thompson of the Warriors, basically only Yang Shaoxia and Louis Williams dare to use this kind of attack.

The basketball drew a perfect arc. Although the sound of scraping the net was very soft, it aroused enough noise in the Staples Center to overturn the roof of the stadium.

88-94!

With 7 minutes and 27 seconds left, the Lakers are only 6 points behind, and the final result is still unknown.

Michael Malone called Nelson to his side to replace Mudiay at dead ball.

Just after half court, Mudiay passed the ball to Hickson, allowing him to organize the offense.

The defensive player Hickson faced was Louis Williams, who felt much less defensive pressure. He dribbled the ball outside the three-point line and was about to hand the ball to Jokic who was positioned inside.

Xu Tian had long realized how the Nuggets would attack, and came to a position where he could intercept the pass ahead of time, and turned the ball into the Lakers' possession with his empty hands.

Nick Young and Lou Williams double fast again, completely confusing the judgment of the defensive players.

Mudiay didn't want to give the Lakers another chance to easily switch offenses, so he flew onto Xu Tian and delayed the Lakers' offensive rhythm with defensive fouls.

Reggie Miller admired Nick Young and Louis Williams' double-quick play tactics very much, and said: "The Lakers should have specially practiced double-quick play, so that Xu Tian can maximize his ability to transition from offense to defense. "

Marv Albert took advantage of the opportunity of the Lakers to send a sideline ball to stop his passionate commentary, and said: "Xu has 13 assists so far, 7 of which were in transition from push to defense. If the Nuggets If they can’t improve their offensive success rate, I’m afraid they will pay a heavy price for it.”

Reggie Miller said: "Not only that. The reason why the Lakers can recover the point difference is entirely because of Xu. His dominant performance on both ends of the offense and defense makes the Nuggets' offensive and defensive system look fragile. Even if we only look at the current With his performance, Xu has also shown the level of a superstar."

Marv Albert said: "I agree with you. The Los Angeles Lakers had the worst record in team history last season, but at the beginning of this season, they became a team of another level. This transformation Is it because of the arrival of Louis Williams? I think the answer is no, the real reason is that the magician tried his best to replace the Rockets with the problematic player Xu Tian, ​​so that the Lakers ushered in a real rebirth."

Xu Tian couldn't hear the praise from the two commentators. He received the ball from the sideline at the top of the arc, and immediately dribbled the ball to accelerate in a straight line, overtaking Wilson Chandler.

Nurkic guarded the basket, while Jokic ran out of the penalty area to help defend against Xu Tian who broke through.

Nick Young and Lou Williams crossed over from beyond the three-point line, taking away Nelson and JJ Hickson's defense and leaving Nance Jr. open.

Xu Tian's pass quickly reached Nance Jr., allowing him to make an open mid-range shot.

Nurkic reacted quickly, ran over with his right hand held high, and interfered with all his strength.

The basketball missed the basket, but Bass took off from the basket and hit the ball back with his right hand.

90-94!

The difference between the two sides was only 4 points, forcing Michael Malone to call a timeout again.

The magician looked at Xu Tian who was walking off the field in disbelief.He only knew that Xu Tian had great potential, but he never thought that his immediate combat power was so strong, and he couldn't see the shadow of a rookie at all.

Thackeray was the most active player on the bench. He took Gatorade from Maples and handed it to Xu Tian.

Kobe looked at Xu Tian who was gulping Gatorade, and felt a strong sense of pride in his heart.

Xu Tian was not particularly strong when he participated in the draft. At that time, he couldn't even communicate in basic English. But in less than half a year, not only his English is fluent and free, but he has also grown to the level of a superstar.

Kobe has never seen such an exaggerated learning ability.

(End of this chapter)