basketball kingdom

Chapter 69 The Awakened Beast

The inside disadvantage caused the Lakers to have several scoring shortages in the second and third quarters. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers trailed 76-92.

Xu Tian sat on the sidelines with a calm expression, watching Jokic gallop freely in the penalty area.

约基奇前三节上场24分钟，投篮9-8，拿下了18分7篮板6助攻，可以说是打爆了和他对位的布莱克。

Blake was like a wilting eggplant on the court, losing his former vigor, and his running speed made people feel that he was an old man suffering from rheumatism.

Although Alice didn't want to admit it, the most exciting part of the first three quarters turned out to be the conflict between the two sides caused by Nurkic's malicious foul when defending Nick Young.

Nurkic's style of play is not strong, but he has a lot of small moves in defense, which can easily arouse the emotions of opponent players. He is a center who is more able to use the opponent's emotions.

Fans at Staples Center watched the home team play helplessly and lost motivation to cheer, but instead of exiting early like fans in Miami and Houston, they watched in silence the drowsy Contest.

From the beginning to the present, Scott's legs were already numb, and he sat back on the coach's bench in pain.

The change of head coach of an NBA team often happens at the beginning of the season, so the opening record is very important to the head coach. Seeing that the team is about to suffer a second loss, how can Scott not be worried.

Huertas' nonsensical pass made Scott, who had just sat down, stand up again, and called a timeout helplessly.

Xu Tian was at the end of the bench. He got up and went to the periphery of the circle formed by the players to listen to Scott's arrangements.

Although exhausted, Scott chose to stand in the middle of the circle and drew a simple 3-2 zone defense on the tactical board with a marker pen.

The Nuggets took advantage of their inside advantage throughout the game, and Scott only adjusted his defensive tactics in the fourth quarter, which made Xu Tian lament his magical operation.

Madsen submitted the substitution list and replaced Huertas, who had just played, with Xu Tian, ​​trying to see if he could recover the point difference.

Nick Young, Xu Tian, ​​Bass, together with Louis Williams and Nance Jr., who were already on the court, joined the Nuggets to play the opening stage of the fourth quarter.

Marv Albert saw Xu Tian appearing again, and said: "The Lakers sent Xu at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It seems to be a risky move, but they have no good way other than doing so. Okay. , Ladies and gentlemen, let's watch the crucial decisive battle in this game!"

The host at the scene saw Xu Tian appearing on the stage, and led the fans to shout Xu, which made Xu Tian who was in possession of the ball feel embarrassed.

Xu Tian quickly withdrew his thoughts, and started to dribble the ball under Mudiay's crotch at the top of the arc, breaking through his defense forcefully.

Mudiay wanted to defend against the shot, so he was very close to Xu Tian, ​​so he couldn't retreat and follow up in time, and Xu Tian passed him clean.

Xu Tian knew very well that the restricted area was the Nuggets' world, so he collected the ball near the free throw line and took off, shooting from the weakest position of the Nuggets' 2-3 defense.

JUMP SHOT!

78-92!

The Nuggets quickly released the ball, and Mudiay dribbled the ball slowly across the half court.

Jokic was about to get to the inside and reached out to catch Mudiay's lob.

Xu Tian let go of JJ Hickson, who was defending him, and came to the inside to double-team Jokic, forcing him to pass the ball.

Jokic's organizational ability is among the best among big players. Even in the face of Xu Tian and Bass' strict defense, he still easily passed the ball to JJ Hickson on the sideline, allowing him to complete the attack in the open position .

Hickson didn't hesitate, taking advantage of the Lakers' lack of defense, he made a decisive three-point shot.

Xu Tian looked at the arc of the ball in the air, and predicted that this shot would not hit, so he squeezed into the inside box ahead of time, preparing to compete for the upcoming rebound.

Jokic heard from Mudiay that Xu Tian was very capable of grabbing rebounds, so he let go of Bass, who was supposed to get stuck, and went to grab the position with Xu Tian who rushed inside.

Xu Tian used all his strength, separated his legs, and stuck Jokic behind him with his body strength. When the rebound came, he took the lead in jumping, and grabbed the rebound with his right hand vigorously.

Louis Williams and Nick Young went down the front court quickly, running from the left and right respectively, making it impossible for the Nuggets players who retreated quickly to find a good defensive position.

Xu Tian turned around at the basket, swung the ball vigorously with his right hand, and passed it to Louis Williams on the left side of the frontcourt.

Lou Williams didn't rush to take the shot, but waited until the Nuggets defender jumped up and threw the ball near the basket.

Nick Young started from outside the penalty area on the right, quickly rushed into the penalty area to complete the aerial work, and pressed the ball into the basket with his right hand.

When Kobe saw Jokic and Xu Tian's positions, he really understood how good Xu Tian's lower plate strength is.Whether it is a back-up singles or an inside card position, the bottom plate strength is the top priority. If there is no good bottom plate strength, it will be difficult to win offensive space and favorable rebound positions in the interior.

Xu Tian could not move Jokicka just now, mainly because of his excellent foot strength.

Michael Malone beckoned Faried to his side and told him to wait on the technical table, ready to play when the ball was dead.

Mudiay slowly advanced across the half, using Jokic's screen to start, and dribbled towards the Lakers' penalty area.

The Lakers sit in the penalty area with Bass and Nance Jr., both of whom have assumed a standard defensive posture, ready to block Mudiay's shot at any time.

Mudiay did not attack blindly. He used a European step outside the penalty area to change direction. Facing Nance Jr.'s defense, he wanted to pick the basket with his left hand to complete the offense.

When the basketball came near the backboard, a powerful big hand slapped it on the backboard, causing it to bounce out quickly.

Marv Albert admired this block very much, and explained passionately: "Xu used this powerful block to tell Emmanuel that Staples is my territory, don't try to play wild here!"

Reggie Miller shook his head again and again, and said: "There is a beast hidden in Xu's body, don't provoke it easily, or he will make you hungry."

Nick Young picked up the rebounding basketball, dribbled it quickly, and formed a three-line fast break with Louis Williams and Xu Tian.

Jokic saw Xu Tian's speed as he ran back, and thought to himself, "Damn it! What the fuck is that speed."

Nick Young drove into the penalty area from the right and threw the ball to Lou Williams who came running from the left.

Lou Williams caught the pass in the air and nudged it with his right hand, sending the ball flying right in front of the rim.

Is there anyone there?The answer is yes.

Xu Tian jumped high, grabbed the basketball with his right hand, and dunked it over the head of JJ Hickson who was trying to block him.

JJ Hickson felt a strong physical confrontation, and without support, he was directly knocked out of the court.

The referee was a little dazed looking at Xu Tian who was hanging on the basket, and when he finally came to his senses, added JJ Hickson's defensive foul.

JJ Hickson didn't pay attention to the yellow-skinned Xu Tian. He had no idea that he had such great strength. He lay on the floor and looked at the expressionless Xu Tian in disbelief.

Xu Tian directly ignored Hickson who was lying on the ground, and walked to the free throw line to prepare for a free throw.

JJ Hixon couldn't stand Xu Tian's gaze, so he quickly got up from the floor and rushed towards him.

The referee immediately noticed Hickson's move and ran over to intercept him on the way, preventing the conflict from breaking out.

Seeing his teammates running behind him, Xu Tian turned around and saw Hixon being hugged by Jokic, and of course the referee pushing Hixon with both hands, and quickly understood what happened.

Kobe stood up from the bench and shouted to Xu Tian not to be impulsive and to keep calm.

Ci Shiping stood beside Kobe and did not enter the field.

The NBA has a clear rule that when there is a conflict between players on the court, the players on the bench cannot step on the court, otherwise they will be suspended.The origin of this regulation is the notorious Auburn Hills Palace incident. The protagonist at that time was Ron Artest, who was renamed Metta World Peace. He was very familiar with this fact.

Xu Tian stood steadily at the free throw line, did not go to tangle with Hickson, but concentrated on waiting for the free throw to be executed.

The salary of NBA players is calculated according to the game. If there is a suspension or technical offense, the loss is a lot of dollars.Although Xu Tian is currently on a rookie contract, he doesn't want to pay a fine for such a trivial matter.

The referee still favored Hickson, did not call a technical offender, and asked Xu Tian to execute an additional free throw.

Faried replaced Nurkic and let the big man who had been playing for a long time go to the sideline to rest.

Xu Tian's shooting is called "textbook shooting" by Kobe. It is perfect from hand shape to power point, so as long as it is not too much interference, he can often score the ball.

In the first three games, Xu Tian's shooting percentage was 57.6%, and he didn't take many three-pointers, but his shooting percentage was as high as 51%, and his free throw percentage was 91.2%, an efficient 180 club member.Because of this, he was under the care of Michael Malone.

Xu Tian's basketball shot drew a perfect arc and hit the net accurately amidst the fans' MVP calls.

81-92!

Michael Malone had just made substitution adjustments. He didn't want to call a timeout prematurely, and stood on the sidelines nervously watching the Nuggets attack.

Mudiay felt that Xu Tian wanted to get up, and after dribbling the ball through half court, he quickly released the ball, allowing Jokic, who was about to get inside, to attack.

Jokic swayed Bass away with solid fantasy footwork, faced an empty basket, and scored two points with a one-handed dunk.

81-94!

Xu Tian dribbled the ball across the half court and called Nick Young to pick and roll at the top of the arc, and asked JJ Hickson to switch on him.

JJ Hickson gave Xu Tian a strong physical confrontation, trying to block his attack with all his strength, so as to get back the place where he was dunked just now.

Xu Tian dribbled the ball to the free throw line, leaned back to collect the ball, turned with his right foot on the pivot foot, adjusted his left foot and right span to a position facing the basket, and made a shooting fake, pointing to Hickson who was defending him.

JJ Hickson lost his defensive position, so annoyed, he hit Xu Tian hard with his right hand in the air, causing Xu Tian who was jumping to fall heavily on the floor.

(End of this chapter)