basketball kingdom

Chapter 71 Calm and agile

Xu Tian understands that high-intensity defense can only last for a short time. While listening to Scott's arrangement, he is also thinking about how to fight next.

Scott replaced Nance Jr. with Blake.Although Black is not much better than Nance Jr. on the defensive end, he can only be a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and he can only help Xu Tian relieve the defensive pressure.

Michael Malone replaced Nurkic and arranged for the fast Faried to play again, trying to use him to break the Lakers' zone defense.

The Nuggets' perimeter players have not been adjusted, and Wilson Chandler, Mudiay and Nelson are still playing together.

The point difference between the two sides is only four points, and they are basically on the same starting line. Who will win depends on the game in the final stage.

Xu Tian wiped off the sweat on his face, stepped into the court, and prepared for the final stage of the game.

The Lakers fans shouted defense when Mudiay dribbled the ball, and encouraged the players on the field mentally.

Xu Tian grabbed the shorts with both hands, lowered his center of gravity, and stared at the ball in Mudiay's hand.

Jokic has a high ball quotient, knowing that it is difficult to catch the ball in the low post, so he took the initiative to come to the top of the arc to perform a high pick-and-roll.

With the help of Jokic's solid screen dribble breakthrough, Mudiay brought Black, who switched on him, to the free throw line, and passed the ball to Jokic who was running down.

Jokic attracted the defense of Bass and Xu Tian, ​​quickly scored the ball to the basket, and let Faried, who was in the open, take a shot.

The tough man also has tenderness, and Faried completed the offense with a layup on the board.

96-90!

Xu Tian took Black's serve, dribbled the ball slowly to the front court, and dribbled at the top of the arc to observe his teammates' running positions.

The internal strength of the Lakers is not as good as that of the Nuggets. Logically speaking, they should run and play, but Xu Tian does not have abnormal physical strength and cannot run at high speed all the time. He can only take the initiative to play against the Nuggets.

Farid did not come to the top of the arc to defend Xu Tian, ​​but stood in front of Bass, defending neither far nor near.He was fast enough that he didn't have to worry about Buzz making a sudden shot.

Xu Tian used a dexterous dribble to get rid of Mudiay's entanglement. Seeing Nick Young running on the left, he hit the ball and passed it into his hands.

Nick Young lived up to his nickname of singles king. He caught the ball without adjusting and fired from outside the three-point line, but the basketball missed and hit the back edge of the basket.

Jokic got stuck in the position early, straightened his right arm, and easily got the defensive rebound that popped up.

Mudiay ran to catch the ball, dribbled it half court, and continued to run a high pick-and-roll with running Jokic.

Xu Tian did not switch defenses with Black again, but quickly bypassed the screen and came to Mudiay, forcing Mudiay to change his intention of passing the ball to Jokic and had to stop the ball at the top of the arc.

Nick Young did not venture to the top of the arc to help defend, but stuck to Nelson tightly, making it impossible for him to meet Mudiay.

Faried came up from the penalty area and came to the top of the arc to respond.

Mudiay seized this life-saving straw and passed the ball to Faried hand-to-hand.

Xu Tian blocked the middle of Faried and Mudiay with his arm, preventing the ball from returning to Mudiay's hands, forcing Faried to attack from the top of the arc.

With Nick Young and Xu Tian beside Faried, he didn't dare to dribble too much, and threw the ball straight to Jokic in the penalty area.

Jokic didn't have a good position, and Faried's pass was too strong, which caused him to fail to catch the pass and let the ball bounce out of his hands.

Bass was beside Jokic, flew over to grab the basketball that slipped out, and quickly passed the ball to Xu Tian.

After Xu Tian dribbled the ball for two steps, he threw the ball to Nick Young who was about to come down the frontcourt.

Nick Young caught the ball and ran quickly, dodged the Nuggets' foul attempt, flew up and made a layup, and recovered the ball he had just missed.

92-96!

Nelson dribbled the ball across half court and continued to play a pick-and-roll with Jokic at the top of the arc.

Faried stood on the left waist and pulled Bass out of the penalty area to ensure that Jokic, who was going down, would not encounter a strong defense.

Xu Tian let Mudiay take a step, and when Nelson dribbled the ball to his side, he reached out to try to steal it, but this time he failed to touch the ball, but hit Nelson firmly on the arm.

The referee stared at Xu Tian for the whole game, finally caught his foul, immediately blew the whistle in his mouth, and sentenced Xu Tian to a thug foul.

The number of fouls by the Lakers was not full, and Nelson didn't make any shots, so the Nuggets continued to attack with a sideline ball.

Faried ran to the position designated by the referee to serve. Facing the interference of Bass, he hit the ground and passed the ball to Nelson who ran over.

Nelson made a quick pass to Jokic in the penalty area.

The Nuggets' inside players are stronger than the Lakers', but their outside players have insufficient range, so that the Lakers can safely shrink their defense.

Bass and Black pounced on Jokic's left and right sides at the same time, strongly blocking his breakthrough route, forcing him to make a forced shot or pass.

Jokic's position is on the periphery of the reasonable collision zone, and there is a great risk of direct shots. He chose to pass the ball to Wilson Chandler outside the left three-point line.

The defensive player Wilson Chandler faced was Louis Williams, which was relatively easy for the Lakers to break through. After watching the attack time, he pulled out from outside the three-point line.

Basketball joked with the Nuggets again, doing a few spins around the rim before slipping out of it again.

Bass and Black did not relax their position against Jokic, and quickly grabbed a favorable position, and Black, who was taller, took the defensive rebound.

Xu Tian received the ball and advanced, facing Mudiay's defense at the top of the arc.He didn't pass the ball this time, but walked around with butterflies. He was light and nimble. Using two fast and slow rhythm changes, he scored a fancy layup amidst the siege and interception of the Nuggets.

94-96!There are 4 minutes and 56 seconds left in the final quarter.

Fans at the Staples Center were surprised by Xu Tian's picturesque attack, and most of them stood up from their seats, clapping uncontrollably with both hands.

Xu Tian has a good sense of the ball. If there is no confrontation, he can dribble the ball flexibly with his fingers. At this time, it is easy to use rhythm and dribble to break through.

Seeing Xu Tian's breakthrough, Michael Malone scratched his hair helplessly.He thought Xu Tian was a skillful player, but he didn't expect to have a smart and elegant side. This situation made him even more unsure of what tactics to use for defense.

Mudiay was a little stunned by Xu Tian's beating, and he ran to the frontcourt in frustration to run and cooperate with his teammates to attack.

Jokic came down the pick-and-roll and was heavily defended again, but he quickly passed the ball to Faried on the right.

There was no one one meter in front of Faried, and he made a mid-range shot from an open space, fulfilling his mission.

98-94!

Xu Tian dribbled the ball slowly across the half court, first passed the ball to Louis Williams on the right, and then moved to the left at 45 degrees to receive his return pass.

Mudiay followed closely, but he still took a step too late, and Xu Tian had already jumped up when he got in front of him.

Xu Tian's overall rhythm is very good, the strength of his knee is from bottom to top, his right arm is naturally straightened, and he throws the basketball in his hand.

For the possible rebound, several inside players under the basket huddled together again. When they saw the basketball go into the net, they still didn't let go of each other immediately.

97-98!

Xu Tian put the index finger of his right hand on his lips, making a silent gesture to celebrate.

Michael Malone immediately called a 20-second timeout, and after a simple arrangement of tactics, Gary Harris and Nurkic replaced Mudiay and Wilson Chandler, who performed poorly.

The Lakers' offense went smoothly during this time, and Scott didn't make substitutions and adjustments, and still kept the attacking lineup on the court.

Nelson dribbled the ball across half court, first observed Xu Tian's position, and then passed the ball to Gary Harris who was outside the three-point line on the right.

The defender Gary Harris faced was Nick Young. He felt a little slack in his heart, but he was still not intercepted by the raiding Nick Young and successfully dribbled past him.

Both Nurkic and Jokic had mid-range shots, and the two stood on the left and right sides of the penalty area, clearing the basket.

Gary Harris dribbled the ball quickly and went straight to the unguarded penalty area, trying to take advantage of the Lakers' defense before the arrival of the inside players.But he ignored the back, and Xu Tian, ​​who was being chased, hit the ball from behind.

The referee confirmed that Xu Tian hit the ball out of bounds, and the ball was given to the Nuggets.

Jokic came to the sideline to serve, found the right opportunity and threw it to Nurkic in the penalty area.

Nurkic positioned himself well, lobbing the ball into the rim while drawing a foul from Buss, who wanted to defend.

100-97!

Xu Tian stood outside the three-point line, taking advantage of Nurkic's chance to execute the extra penalty to rest.

Nurkic tapped the ball twice, adjusted his breathing, and threw the basketball in his hand, and the basketball went into the net hollow.

101-97!There are 2 minutes and 49 seconds left in the clock.

Nick Young dribbled the ball across halftime, and quickly handed it to Xu Tian, ​​who was standing at the top of the arc, to start the attack.

Xu Tian looked at the timer above the backboard, waited until Bass and Black settled inside, and shot directly from outside the three-point line.

Faried didn't expect Xu Tian to shoot, and he didn't make any defensive moves at all, he could only look back to see if the shot was made.

The basketball spun gracefully into the net.

This three-pointer seemed to press the button of the Staples Center and ignited the atmosphere of the venue again.

101-100, with 2 minutes and 36 seconds left.

Nelson dribbled the ball for halftime, Nurkic and Jokic came to the top of the arc and used double pick-and-roll tactics to attack.

The ball was passed to Jokic first, and then he passed it to Nurkic who was fast down on the right.

Nurkic was on fire, wanting to take another shot over Bass's head by virtue of his height advantage.

Bass failed to form an effective interference. In order to avoid being fouled, he dodged to give up his position under the basket.

Xu Tian followed Nurkic, and when he was about to make a shot, he jumped from behind and hit him on the arm, preventing this shot with a high probability of being scored with a defensive foul.

Nurkic felt that the beaten right forearm seemed to have been burned, and it was burning and painful.However, such pain is nothing to the inside players. He quickly adjusted his mentality and stood on the free throw line.

Xu Tian walked to the power forward's position on the left side of the free throw line, ready to grab a defensive rebound.

(End of this chapter)