piratefiction 229 Chapter 3 The Battle of Cows and Horses ([-])
229 Chapter 3 The Battle of Cows and Horses ([-])
Chapter 229 The Battle of the Ox and the Horse ([-])
At the end of the first quarter, the score on the big screen was 26 to 20, and the Mavericks entered the second quarter with an 6-point lead.
If it weren't for the second half of the first quarter, when the Spurs improved their defensive strength, and Ginobili hit two difficult three-pointers out of the sheath, the point difference might have widened to double digits.
Not long after, the intermission ended and the second quarter began.
The lineup sent by the Mavericks is: Delk, Finley, Jamison, Li Xuan, and Uncle Mu.
The lineup sent by the Spurs is: Manu Ginobili, Bowen, Horry, Duncan, Willis.
The Mavericks had the ball, and Delk dribbled forward without rushing. When he came outside the three-point line, he immediately passed the ball to Li Xuan on the right.
As a ball-handling tool, he is very conscious, and his task is very simple. He dribbles the ball across the half court to the boss, then runs to the bottom corner to ambush to open up space, and just wait for an open opportunity to shoot.
Li Xuan received the pass, made a three-threat move, and took a tentative step.
When Bo Wen saw this, he felt a little embarrassed for a while, not knowing whether he should step forward to defend.
All the players in the league knew that Li Xuan was poor at handling the ball, but he didn't think so. He knew that Li Xuan was insidious and cunning, so he might not have been deceived.
"This kid won't lie to me, will he?"
Just when Bo Wen was hesitating, Li Xuan pulled up and quickly threw the basketball out of his hand.
Only then did Bowen come to his senses, and immediately rushed to interfere, but it didn't help.
"Shh!"
The basketball is hollow into the net and hits steadily!
After scoring the goal, Li Xuan taunted Bo Wen in front of him.
"Goal without defense is soulless."
Bowen gritted his teeth angrily, and the guy in front of him blatantly mocked him for his poor defense.
If he had reacted faster just now, the nasty kid would have fallen on the floor and covered his ankle by now.
"Little ghost, don't be arrogant, I will let you know how powerful I am."
When Li Xuan turned back to defend, he warned Bo Wen.
"If you want to step on your feet, I advise you not to have such dangerous thoughts. At that time, I will break your dog legs, and it will be useless for anyone!"
Bao Wen didn't respond, and looked at Li Xuan's leaving back viciously, calculating gains and losses in his heart.
After this episode, the game continued.
The Spurs attack, and Ginobili dribbles to the top of the arc and passes the ball to Duncan in the low post on the right.
Although he has the right to handle the ball, the core of the Spurs' offense has always been Deng Daidai.
Shi Buddha received the pass, looked at Jamison who was half a head shorter than himself, jumped up, hit the rebound and shot.
Jamison is in pain!
It's not until the rotation is received that you have to face a top boss.
What about abusing food during the rotation stage?Why is it different from what I imagined!
Gritting his teeth, Jamison rushed to interfere with the shot.
Although he knew it wouldn't work, at least he tried.
Jamison does have self-knowledge, which is one of his few strengths.
A basketball flying in the air rebounds into the basket.
29: 22!
In the next round, Li Xuan didn't step forward to catch the ball and gave Finley the chance.
It is better to be happy alone than to be happy together. This is the performance of high EQ.
After Finley received the pass, Li Xuan immediately stepped forward and made an off-ball screen.
Naturally, Finley would not say to Li Xuan: "Put away your damn pick-and-roll!"
After expressing Li Xuan's kindness, Finley used the cover to get rid of Horry's defense and break through to the basket.
Bowen didn't choose to switch defenses. He believed in Duncan, who was guarding the basket, and still followed Li Xuan.
"Little ghost, don't try to get rid of me in such a despicable way."
Li Xuan ignored the dog barking, and firmly blocked Huo Li, preventing him from taking the next step.
Therefore, Li Xuan is equivalent to holding back the two defensive players of the Spurs.
On the other side, Finley broke through to the mid-range area on the left, was defended by Duncan, and saw Willis waiting under the basket, quickly passed the ball.
The unguarded Jamison received the pass, jumped up immediately, and hit a mid-range jumper.
Originally it was Huo Li who came to make up for this loophole, but he was entangled by Li Xuan and couldn't go to make up for it.
"Hahaha, Lee pre-judged the Spurs' defense, restrained two defensive players, and created opportunities for his teammates. Although he didn't touch the ball, he contributed the most to this attack." Barkley praised with a smile.
The Spurs attacked, Ginobili dribbled the ball to the three-point line, beckoned, and called his teammates to play a pick-and-roll.
Duncan quickly stepped forward to set a screen and helped Ginobili block the chasing Delk.
With the help of cover, "Demon Knife" rushed into the three-point line, faced Jamison's defense change, and made a forward change, but failed to break through Jamison.
At the same time, Li Xuan, who retreated to the basket, immediately stepped forward to double-team.
Facing the double-teaming of two big guys, Ginobili's vision was severely blocked and he couldn't pass the ball at all.
Li Xuan didn't wait for the Spurs players to come forward to respond, and suddenly walked around in front of Ginobili, reaching for the basketball in his arms.
Seeing this situation, Ginobili was a little confused.
He had never seen such a brazen person.
This is Chi Guoguo's tough grab!
Ginobili didn't let go of the basketball easily, got entangled with Li Xuan, and fell to the floor.
At this time, the referee blew his whistle and called a foul ball.
Deng Daidai ran forward quickly, pulled up Ginobili who had fallen on the ground, and stroked his flowing long hair by the way.
"Manu, believe in yourself, you can do it!"
After hearing this, Ginobili felt a little stuffy, so he didn't speak if he couldn't comfort others, and at the same time complained in his heart.
"Brother, you trust me so much, why don't you help me to jump the ball."
On the other side, Li Xuan was pulled up by Jamison, and then they clapped each other to celebrate the successful defense.
The referee blew his whistle to signal Li Xuan and Ginobili to come to the free throw line for a scrimmage.
As a result, there was no suspense. Li Xuan touched the basketball first and moved to the basket.
The moment Li Xuan jumped up, Jamison quickly rushed to the frontcourt. He was very confident that Li Xuan would grab the basketball.
In this way, Jamison received the pass, rushed into the penalty area, flew into the basket and scored, and the sneak attack was successful.
At this time, the Spurs players realized that it happened too fast, and they couldn't return to defense.
"Tacit cooperation! The Spurs were caught off guard."
In the next few rounds, the shooting percentage of both sides began to decline, and each scored only one goal.
Facing Bo Wen's defense again, Li Xuan hit a mid-range jumper.
This time Bowen was very honest and didn't make any small moves.
Faced with such a phenomenon, Li Xuan did not take it lightly.
As the saying goes, a dog that bites does not bark, and he still understands this truth.
The Spurs' scoring was done by Ginobili.
He used a snaking breakthrough to avoid Li Xuan's chasing hat before scoring a layup with difficulty.
After playing for about 4 minutes in the second quarter, the head coaches of both sides made substitution adjustments and replaced all the main players in the game.
After the substitutions and adjustments, the two sides still played inextricably.
The Mavericks quickly scored points by relying on the iron triangle of Nash, Li Xuan, and Nowitzki.
The Spurs relied on the three carriages of Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan to score frequently.
On the sidelines, Spurs coach Popovich frowned, thinking about the problem.
Although the situation on the court is evenly matched, the Spurs are still 8 points behind the Mavericks, and there is no way to narrow the gap.
"It won't work like this. We have to narrow the point difference so that there will be no pressure in the fourth quarter."
Immediately, Popovich racked his brains to think about how to deal with Li Xuan and Nowitzki.
On the field, Parker used Duncan's high-quality pick-and-roll to pass Nash with one step of acceleration, and broke into the three-point line.
Seeing Parker coming towards the restricted area, Li Xuan hurried over.
The "French Little Sports Car" has two unique skills, one is turning around with a top, and the other is a very accurate small throw.
Parker looked at Li Xuan who was rushing over, and he couldn't help but recall the scene when he was dunked and blocked, with lingering fear in his heart.
"Fuck! This nasty guy has left a shadow in my heart."
The "French Little Sports Car" never imagined that he would be afraid of a rookie.
Parker passed the ball before Li Xuan came up on defense. He didn't want to get entangled with Li Xuan, it was too exhausting.
Ginobili, who made an empty cut from the right to the basket, received Parker's ground pass, used a European step to pass the defense of Nowitzki, and flew to the layup.
Parker wanted to applaud Ginobili when he saw Ginobili successfully drive to the basket.
But when he turned his head and saw that Li Xuan, who was still in front of him before, had disappeared, he secretly thought it was bad.
It was too late to remind Manu, because he had already found Li Xuan's trace, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
"This guy's defense ability is too strong!"
Under the basket, Li Xuan, who rose into the air, slapped the rising basketball on the backboard from behind Ginobili.
After landing, Li Xuan immediately found Nash and passed the ball.
Nash received the pass, dribbled it, and quickly passed the ball to the frontcourt.
He has found his teammates while dribbling.
Finley rushed into the penalty area first, received a wonderful pass from Nash, and scored an easy layup.
In the next round, the Spurs still played pick-and-roll cooperation.
Li Xuan switched defenses again and went in front of Parker to delay.
Parker didn't choose to pass the ball this time, but wanted his spinning top to turn around and pass Li Xuan, breaking the daze in his heart.
Seeing that Parker didn't choose to pass the ball, Li Xuan seized the opportunity and used the active skill [Death Coil] to predict Parker's breakthrough route and prepare for a steal.
When Parker was about to bump into Li Xuan, he turned around immediately.
When he successfully turned around, he was overjoyed, but he was a little confused when he saw that his hands were empty.
"I am a man coming over, but the ball is lost."
Li Xuan successfully cut off the basketball in Parker's hand and immediately passed it to Nash.
Nash received the pass, started quickly, changed direction in front of his body and passed Duncan who stepped forward to block him, and ran towards the frontcourt.
The other Spurs players looked at Nash who was dribbling and sprinting like the wind, and stopped, acquiescing that the ball could not be chased back.
Seeing this situation, the players of the Mavericks also stopped and stopped wasting energy.
Lao Na turned his head and saw that no one was following up, and scored the ball with a civilian layup.
In the other half, Ginobili patted Parker on the shoulder as he ran toward the frontcourt, and said a word of comfort.
"Tony, cheer up, didn't you and I suffered from that guy's torture together with you, we have to find ways to pay back."
Parker nodded, he knew Manu was telling the truth.
The pair of suffering brothers and sisters were hit too badly by Li Xuan.
But in the next game, the two of them had no chance of revenge at all.
With Li Xuan's shooting point and shooting speed, it is impossible to block the shot without a sneak attack.
Since Li Xuan entered the league, he has been blocked a handful of times.
It is even more difficult to steal Li Xuan. This guy basically rarely controls the ball. Facing a small guy like them, he is very rough. Isn't this going to give away the head!
In this way, the second quarter ended. Relying on Li Xuan's excellent performance on the defensive end, the Mavericks once again won the Spurs by 24 points with a score of 18 to 6 in the single quarter.
At the end of the halftime game, the score on the big screen was 50 to 38, and the Mavericks entered the second half with a 12-point lead.
Not long after, the short 15-minute intermission ended and the second half began.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Mavericks changed their offensive style, improved their offensive and defensive rhythm, and started running and bombing.
For a slow-paced team like the Spurs, they are very uncomfortable with this fast-paced, but for some reason, they can't regain the rhythm of the game, and unknowingly fell into the offensive rhythm of the Mavericks.
In this way, the third quarter ended, the score of the two teams was 78 to 64, and the Mavericks led by 14 points into the fourth quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Spurs launched a counterattack under the organization of Ginobili.
"Demon Knife" hit two life-saving three-pointers from the outside, narrowing the point difference to less than 10 points, giving the Spurs players the hope of overtaking and winning.
But the Mavericks are not vegetarians. After a quick adjustment, Lagabel was asked to defend Ginobili, and Li Xuan acted according to circumstances to assist in the defense.
After the adjustment, the effect is very good, let the "Desperate Demon Sword" return to its sheath, and no longer kill the Quartet.
After suppressing the Spurs' offense, the Mavericks attacked Parker on the offensive end.
To be honest, Parker's defense is a bit better than Nash's. The main reason is that the Spurs' defensive system makes Parker's defense look quite satisfactory. In fact, he is a defensive black hole.
Li Xuan and Nowitzki took advantage of the cover of their teammates to single out Parker with a high success rate and stabilized the situation.
Seeing this situation, the Spurs couldn't bear it anymore, and also played singles against Nash, which achieved good results.
This is poor for both Nash and Parker, who had to make sacrifices for the team to win.
They just wanted to say: "When is the time for retribution!"
When the game progressed to the last 3 minutes or so, the Mavericks replaced Nash and Finley with two defensive champions to secure the victory.
Seeing this, Popovich was so angry that he almost scolded his mother.
"This old guy is really shameless. He is indeed the ruthless person who invented the shark-slashing tactic."
When the Mavericks turned from offense to defense, they shrank their defense, making Duncan unable to make any waves in the three-second zone.
Ginobili didn't want to admit defeat yet, regardless of the coach's arrangement, he shot wildly from beyond the three-point line.
Under Lagabel's interference, the hit rate was very low, and no miracles occurred.
When the Spurs couldn't play, Li Xuan and Nowitzki occasionally hit a mid-range shot, which made the Spurs even worse.
In this way, the Mavericks maintained a point difference of about 10 points until the end of the game.
In the end, the Mavericks defeated the Spurs 96 to 80 and won the first victory of the series.
(End of this chapter)