Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk
Chapter 1689: Blocked shot + 3-pointer
"Requesting a substitution."
Coach Scott frowned.
This season, Jokic has averaged 20+10+7 per game, which looks good, but there is still some gap compared to the league's top inside players. However, he played exceptionally well in today's game.
Before the end of the half, Jokic had already scored 15 points, plus 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
The gap between the two sides was narrowed to only 5 points.
"Zhuang Yu, Zubac, Cunningham, the three of you go up..."
Coach Scott replaced Holiday, Nance Jr., and Korver with Zhuang Yu, Zubac, Cunningham, and Clarkson and Kuzma.
After the substitution, the Lakers attacked, and Zhuang Yu was responsible for advancing with the ball. After reaching the frontcourt, he first called a pick-and-roll, and waited for Zubac to come up and screen Zhuang Yu to move to the left. Jokic immediately rushed forward to delay, and seeing Zhuang Yu's center of gravity raised, pretending to shoot a three-pointer, Jokic did not jump easily.
Although Jokic's athleticism limits his performance on the defensive end, his excellent basketball IQ often allows him to predict the opponent's intentions.
So all in all, his performance on the defensive end is actually not bad.
At this moment he accurately predicted Zhuang Yu's intention.
Sure enough, Zhuang Yu did not shoot a three-pointer, but quickly changed direction and accelerated to break through to the right. Jokic quickly retreated sideways and shouted to his teammates: "Defend."
The Nuggets players came up to defend, but Zhuang Yu did not pass the ball. Instead, he jumped towards the players who came to defend.
After a jump step, Zhuang Yu grabbed the basketball with one hand and threw it towards the basket. It was another lob shot, and the ball went in with a slight sound.
The point difference became 7 points.
"Zhuang Yu's scoring ability is indeed too strong."
Jokic couldn't help but sigh inwardly. They had defended well enough, but Zhuang Yu had too many ways to score and his skills were too outstanding.
He can shoot three-pointers and fade away jumpers, and this season he has developed a lob shot that is impossible to defend against. It's so unstoppable.
Whether it is a three-pointer, a fadeaway jump shot, or a lob shot, they are all offensive skills that are enough to make defensive players helpless, and all of them are concentrated on Zhuang Yu alone.
This left the Nuggets helpless.
Unable to defend Zhuang Yu, Jokic felt it was a bit difficult to play against him.
But he still comforted his teammates, and then went to the frontcourt and asked for the ball in the low post, and then still played one-on-one, with Zubac sticking close to Jokic and confronting him. Jokic looked fat, his movements were slow and sluggish, and he was wrestling with Zubac.
But suddenly, he turned around and bypassed Zubac.
This is the strength of Jokic. He looks fat and his movements are slow, but at times his movements are actually very fast.
For example, this turn was very quick, and the movement in a small area was so fast that Zubac couldn't react.
After bypassing Zubac, Jokic did not rush to shoot, but instead faked a shot. Zubac had already lost his position and was in a panic. He subconsciously jumped up to block the shot.
"Don't jump." Zhuang Yu reminded loudly.
However, it was too late. Zubac had already jumped up, and Jokic just jumped up at this time, and the two bodies collided
In fact, Zubac regretted it as soon as he jumped up.
He heard Zhuang Yu's voice and realized that he shouldn't jump. He twisted his waist as much as possible in the air to avoid physical contact. But he still couldn't avoid it. Jokic wanted to foul him, so he wouldn't let Zubac avoid it.
beep!
The referee blew the whistle and gave Zubac a foul, and Jokic successfully scored the ball.
Watching Jokic stand on the free throw line, Zubac could only put his hands on his waist with a depressed look on his face, cursing in his heart: "Damn it."
Swish!
Jokic made the free throw.
With this 2+1, the score difference became 4 points.
"Jokic scored another goal, a 2+1."
"You need to defend better. He already scored 18 points."
In the audience, fans shouted loudly, reminding the Lakers players to strengthen their defense against Jokic and not let him score easily.
Before the end of the first half, Jokic's personal score had reached 18 points, making him the highest scoring player in the game.
Zhuang Yu also frowned slightly and said hello to his teammates: "Pay attention to helping Zubac defend faster later."
The teammates responded one after another.
But when Jokic got the ball again, without waiting for the Lakers' help defense to arrive, he received the ball in the low post on the left side and immediately slapped the ball, pretending to turn around.
Zubac quickly adjusted his steps, but Jokic did not really turn around. He quickly grabbed the ball, took a step forward with his right foot, and then made a small hook shot.
It only took a blink of an eye from the time he got the ball to the time he scored. He dribbled the ball only once, then passed it to the goalkeeper, and then shot high, leaving the Lakers' help defense no time to respond.
This continued for some time afterwards.
The Lakers consciously strengthened their defense against Jokic. Whenever Jokic got the ball, they would immediately go up to assist in defense. However, Jokic's reaction was too quick. He didn't stick to the ball at all. He would either shoot high as soon as he got the ball, or pass the ball away as soon as he saw the assisting player rushing over.
Moreover, his passing is very good. He can always find the teammate in the best position and pass the ball accurately.
For a while, the Lakers had no way to deal with Jokic. Jokic could not only score points and provide assists, but also grab rebounds. His jumping ability was not top-notch, but his positioning and prediction were very strong.
He can always accurately judge where the basketball will bounce and use his body to block the most powerful position in advance.
Moreover, his wrist is very flexible. Sometimes he doesn't grab the rebound directly, but instead taps the ball in the air to a position that is more conducive to his competition, and then takes the ball down.
"boom!"
There was a muffled sound.
The Lakers missed the shot, Jokic blocked Zubac, reached out and touched the basketball, and the basketball flew again.
The Lakers players couldn't reach it at all, and he jumped up again to grab the rebound. Without putting the ball down, he turned around and threw it to the front court with both hands. A figure quickly ran to the front court. It was Murray.
Jokic's pass was very beautiful, flying directly across most of the court and in front of Murray. Murray secretly praised "good pass" in his heart, stretched out his hand to grab the basketball, took two steps forward to the three-second zone, and prepared to make a layup.
"Be careful."
Just at this moment, a cry of surprise was heard.
Murray's heart skipped a beat, but before he could react, a hand suddenly reached out from behind him and slapped the basketball, blocking his shot.
Murray was shocked and turned his head to look after landing.
Seeing Zhuang Yu had already taken the basketball and turned around quickly, Murray cursed in his heart and could only chase after him quickly.
There were bursts of exclamations from the audience.
Jokic's pass just now was indeed very beautiful, and Murray's fast break was also very timely, but they all underestimated Zhuang Yu's speed.
Originally, Zhuang Yu was behind Murray, but he caught up with Murray by virtue of his speed advantage, and when Murray was making a layup, he jumped up and blocked Murray's shot.
Moreover, after blocking Murray, Zhuang Yu took the basketball and immediately ran to the Nuggets' half. After a few steps, he left Murray behind and came to the frontcourt to form a 5-on-4 situation.
"Hurry up and jump on it."
At this time, Jokic didn't care about the regret that the fast break just now failed. He quickly called his teammates and asked them to rush forward to prevent Zhuang Yu from making a three-pointer.
At the same time, Jokic also rushed forward, but it was too late.
Jokic's judgment was accurate. It was a 5-on-4 situation at the time, and the Nuggets' one less person meant they would definitely miss someone.
Some people were still waiting for Murray to come back, while others were hesitating. They had already seen Zhuang Yu coming outside the three-point line, but were hesitating whether to leave the person they were defending and rush over to defend Zhuang Yu.
Jokic had already anticipated that Zhuang Yu would most likely shoot a three-pointer.
Sure enough, when the Nuggets players were still hesitating, Zhuang Yu had already stopped outside the three-point line and directly shot a three-pointer.
With a slight sound, the ball hit the target.
"Hey......"
Jokic sighed helplessly.
The teammate came over and said sorry with some self-blame.
Jokic shook his head and did not blame his teammates for hesitating. In fact, he was not 100% sure that Zhuang Yu would shoot the three-pointer. But in his opinion, if he were Zhuang Yu, with such top three-point shooting ability, and the Lakers were still in the lead at this time, he would definitely choose to shoot the three-pointer.
Firstly, this was a completely open opportunity; secondly, even if the ball didn't go in, the Lakers were 5 against 4 on the court at that time, and they had an advantage in grabbing rebounds.
Facts proved that his judgment was correct, but in a split second he naturally didn't have time to explain this to his teammates.
Obviously, his teammates did not have the same basketball IQ as him and were unable to react in time.
Murray also ran over with a very unhappy look on his face.
This should have been a successful fast break, but it turned into a three-pointer by Zhuang Yu, and the score difference widened a little bit.
"Attack."
Jokic shouted and ran to the front court.
After reaching the frontcourt, he gestured to his teammates, then went up to the line to set a screen for Murray, and then asked Murray for the ball.
After Murray passed the ball back, Jokic stood at the top of the arc and glanced at the basket. Zubac did not rush forward. Jokic glanced at his teammates' positions and saw that they had no chance to score directly, so he simply shot a three-pointer himself.
The basketball drew an arc and flew towards the basket. It hit the basket with a bang and bounced up, and finally fell down again.
"Shet."
"I'm so lucky to get in."
The home fans grumbled in frustration.
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