Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 187 187. Christmas War: Kill the Heat!

Now the competitive state of Garnett and Chris Webber is not what it used to be.

One is No. 1 in the active league who has just achieved three consecutive MVP achievements, and the other is a miserable veteran who is working hard for the first championship trophy in his career with a veteran's basic salary.

Chris Webber's defensive ability is very average. With the recurrence of knee injuries in the past two seasons, Webber's movement speed is not as good as before, and he will soon be unable to parry Garnett's singles with the ball.

With a breakthrough with the ball, a turnaround jumper, and an empty cut to the basket without the ball, Garnett played very aggressively throughout the first quarter, leaving Chris Webber far behind.

And because both Iverson and Artest have excellent finishing abilities, the Heat did not dare to double-team Garnett on the defensive end. Rhys Webb got it.

As Garnett once again hit a turnaround jumper from the middle distance on the right, Riley, who was standing off the court, finally couldn't bear it anymore. He waved Haslem and replaced Chris Webber, who was in the second spring of his career, ahead of schedule.

Haslem's debut can ensure that the Heat become stronger on the defensive end, but Haslem's contribution to the offensive end is far inferior to Chris Webber.

Haslem is a typical tough guy on the court. On the offensive end, apart from struggling to grab offensive rebounds, his only function is to be able to make some mid-range shots on both sides.

However, Haslem is a powerful power forward. With a height of [-] meters, Haslem does not have much advantage in the interior.

Especially when facing the tall and long-armed Garnett, it is difficult for even Haslem to complete the defense against Garnett.

Throughout the first quarter, the two teams played back and forth on the court. The Timberwolves' defense is certainly frightening, but the Heat's players are also not good at it.

"Shark" O'Neal's strong inside shot, Wade's stray step breakthrough, and "Lone Wolf" Marbury, who made a strong shot when there was a disagreement, the combined efforts of the three also helped the team to fight the Timberwolves evenly. , Score has been biting anxiously.

As Iverson used Garnett's pick-and-roll to hit the last jumper, the first quarter ended and the Timberwolves led the Heat by only two points.

In this game, the Timberwolves' defense against "Shark" O'Neal is very targeted. In addition to letting Da Ben defend with strength behind him, Garnett, Artest and others will also get stuck on O'Neal's receiving route in advance. O'Neill continued to harass.

This defensive method is exactly the defensive strategy that the Pistons used to defeat the Big Four Lakers, and it is also the defensive system that caused O'Neal to collapse the most.

Although O'Neal is 34 years old this year, his average data has dropped to 17.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, but once O'Neal is allowed to comfortably catch the pass in the low post, O'Neal's strength will still make the defender feel collapsed.

After all, the season's 61% field goal percentage is enough to prove O'Neal's efficiency. Even if the Sharks are no longer at their peak, O'Neal is enough to beat most center players in the league.

It's a pity that O'Neal met Ben Wallace, who is very familiar with him, and Garnett, who has the best defensive ability in history, and others. This made O'Neal very depressed throughout the first quarter, and only scored 2 points and 3 rebounds. The data.

If it weren't for Marbury's personal eight points, the Heat's situation would only become more difficult.

In the second quarter, the two sides replaced the substitute lineup to start a contest. Even though the depth of the Heat's lineup is very good, the Timberwolves have never been afraid of any team in the rotation stage.

Spanoulis, Iguodala, Trevor Ariza, Gerald Wallace, and Millsap, this offensive and defensive rotation lineup is enough for the Timberwolves main force to rest at ease.

Although the Heat's bench depth is strong, they are not good at the center position, so Luke directly mentioned Millsap to the fifth position to increase the team's field mobility and let the old guys of the Heat taste the pain.

The Timberwolves' excellent field mobility throughout the second quarter enabled the team to play defensive counterattacks many times.

In particular, Spanoulis, who is good at playing fast breaks, completed consecutive alley-oops with Gerald Wallace and others, allowing the fans to experience the feeling of a slam dunk contest.

"Shu~"

With Iguodala hitting an open three-pointer from a 45-degree angle on the right, the Timberwolves have extended their lead to ten.

In the second half, the Heat became more involved on the offensive end. Whether Stephen Marbury or "The Flash" Wade, both of them hit the ball more resolutely to the basket, and won fouls again and again through violent body collisions.

This point of Iverson has become the main target of the Heat on the court.

Even if everyone else on the field can assist Iverson in the visit, Riley used pick-and-rolls to lure Iverson out many times in the second half, allowing Marbury to succeed in consecutive singles on the offensive end and continue to reduce the score for the team.

The unsatisfactory defensive end made Iverson a little annoyed, and at the same time vented all his anger on the offensive end.

Throughout the second half, Iverson's offensive desire was very strong. No matter whose defense he was facing, Iverson could always send the ball to the basket in various ways, and started a confrontation with Marbury and Wade. war.

Iverson's tough performance seemed to let the fans see the lone hero who fought against O'Neal and Kobe alone back then.

It's just that in this game Iverson faced Wade and Marbury's offense in turn, but even so Iverson did not lose the wind in the slightest, which gave the fans a deep insight into the strength of the league's scoring leader.

In the last quarter, Iverson used his thin body to score 2+1 for many times. With two and a half minutes before the end of the game, he even beat Wade to six fouls and left the field, mobilizing the atmosphere to the extreme .

In the last few minutes, the Timberwolves only led the Heat by two to three points, and Wade's six offenders forced the Heat to put all the offensive burden on Marbury and O'Neal.

With only 21.4 seconds left in the game, Marbury scored a three-pointer against "Glove" Payton's defense on the right side, chasing the score to a tie again.

Marbury's performance in the final stage lived up to expectations, and even Luke off the court broke into a cold sweat with consecutive key goals.

The two sides drew at 21.4 seconds, and the Timberwolves still had two timeout opportunities, but just as Luke was about to call a timeout, Iverson gestured to Luger to signal that the ball should not be timed out.

Luke immediately understood what Iverson meant. Although the timeout allowed the team to arrange a complete offensive tactic, it also gave the Heat the opportunity to adjust.

Iverson intends to control the game by himself with this ball, and resolutely does not give the Heat any chance to adjust.

Holding the ball through halftime, Iverson dribbled the ball to suppress the time, and looked up at the numbers on the timer that kept going backwards. Iverson's face was full of determination, and he was not nervous about the lore ball at all.

Until there were only about eight seconds left in the time, Garnett wanted to come up and make a pick-and-roll for Iverson, but Iverson gestured continuously to pull him away.

Without fancy dribbling moves, Iverson directly made a signature shake and broke through from the right side, passing Marbury clean in one step.

When Iverson broke through to the free throw line, the Heat suddenly surrounded three people to attack Iverson. The fear of Iverson had reached an indescribable level.

Seeing that he attracted three people to defend at the same time, Iverson did not force a shot with high difficulty, but distributed the ball to Artest who was open on the bottom line.

After receiving the pass, Artest looked up at the defender who was rushing towards him with all his strength, and then gritted his teeth to complete the three-pointer.

"duo~"

"Shu~"

With the end of the game and the sound of the basketball hitting the net at the same time, the Timberwolves' home court instantly became boiling, and the fans immediately jumped from their seats and shouted wildly into the field.

At the same time, Artest, who made a lore three-pointer, was quickly surrounded by his teammates. Everyone ran in Artest's direction, pressing Artest under him excitedly, celebrating this Victory in the Christmas War.

When everyone was excited because of Artest's lore three-pointer, only Iverson leaned on the billboard with a smile on his face, looking a little tired sitting on the sidelines.

This high-intensity match made Iverson exhausted after playing for 39 minutes, but Artest's lore still made Iverson's face full of smiles. At least the efforts of this game were not in vain!
"How does it feel to choose to trust your teammates at the last moment."

Sensing that someone was patting him on the shoulder, Iverson turned around and found that it was the head coach Luke.

Compared with Lambiel and others who had rushed into the field to celebrate the lore goal wildly, Luke's face was still indifferent as always.

"This taste makes me happy." Iverson grinned after thinking about it for a moment.

"From now on, you are no longer fighting alone. You can choose to trust this group of teammates under any circumstances." Kneeling down and patting Iverson on the shoulder, Luke said meaningfully.

(End of this chapter)