The world of basketball

Chapter 101 Another Defeat

The Toyota Center was full of joy. Just now Harden used a step-back three-pointer to lead the score by two points.

James Harden, one of the strongest offensive firepower in the league, may be called a historical-level combo guard, a player who has developed the retreat shot to the extreme, and once used his personal ability to save the team.

The MVP of last season is naturally well-deserved. Not only did he contribute 50+ performances many times, but he even had a 60+ triple-double super performance that has impressed fans so far.

But the loss of touch in the playoffs, especially in the final moments of the two games after Paul was injured in the Western Conference finals, made him have some regrets when he received the MVP trophy.

But this year, although fans and the media during the regular season are more likely to use James, Antetokounmpo, Davis, Durant and Curry as MVP candidates again, it makes people feel that he seems to be a bit forgotten, but the season He played a tougher performance in the post-game.

Facing Davis, who was very popular for MVP in the first round, Harden's key ball performance at the last moment was impressive, although it was only a tie-break victory in the end.

And today, he once again announced to the world that James Harden is the top player in the league, and even the top combo guard in history.

The pressure is on the Spurs side. Popovich said that he should still play the traditional pick-and-roll pass-and-cut tactics.

The whistle sounded, and there were 44 seconds left in the game.

Mu Xiaobei picks and rolls for Jeremy Lin in the high position, and then cuts outside.

The Spurs' pick-and-roll cooperation is very familiar, and then Jeremy Lin sent a back pass to Mu Xiaobei at the top of the arc. Mu Xiaobei received the ball without hesitation, and directly pulled out from outside the three-point line.

There is still a lot of time, Mu Xiaobei's idea is very simple - to grab one, to ensure that he has two chances to attack.

The ball was spinning, but came out of the basket.

"It's a pity," Wang Zixing said, "It was just a little bit. Capela didn't go up for the grab. This is already a good shot space."

Capela protected the rebound and gave it to Harden.

"Defend, defend, come back," Popovich yelled.

Harden made a big long pass and threw the ball directly to Paul in the frontcourt. Paul had a lot of numbers and didn't rush to grab one. After all, he was leading by two points, so he didn't need to rush, but needed to hit a success rate.

Paul dribbled the ball slowly on the outside and waited for Harden and Capela to come back, and then called Capela to pick and roll. Paul went to the right, Mu Xiaobei went up to make up, and Capela went down to the basket.

Paul played the ball very quickly, a base pass accurately found Capela, Capela received the ball, Adelaide had already defended to the basket, and Capela scored the ball to the bottom corner.

Capela's goal was not the basket, but Tucker on the outside.

Tucker received the ball from the bottom corner, raised his hand up, and Kuzma, who was defending, was swayed away.

Then Tucker took a step to the left and shot a three-pointer directly.

Swah——

The ball went hollow into the net.

"Good shot Tucker!" Wang Zixing shouted: "Taker has really big legs, both offensive and defensive ends are as stable as ever."

"Now that the Rockets lead by five points, it looks like the Spurs are not going to play well," Su Qun said.

Popovich called the last timeout and arranged the final tactics. The ball had to be fast and it had to be a three-pointer, so Popovich took Bullock and Belinelli.

Mu Xiaobei made a free throw from the bottom line, and Paul put a lot of pressure on Jeremy Lin to hold the ball as soon as he came up.

Jeremy Lin led Mu Xiaobei's pick-and-roll to the frontcourt, and then took a step away from the three-point line. He pulled it up and shot. The three-pointer was like a cold arrow, hitting the target.

"Strike Jeremy Lin, this three-pointer gave the Spurs a ray of life." Wang Zixing said.

"Let's see how the Rockets' free throws are now," Su Qun said.

The Rockets sent the ball to Harden, and Mu Xiaobei fouled decisively.

Harden took a deep breath, made the first free throw, and then made the second free throw amidst the shouts of "MVP" from the audience.

With Mu Xiaobei's three-point miss, the Spurs were sentenced to death.

A sea of ​​red and cheers at the Toyota Center, celebrating their second home defense, and the Spurs walked out of the locker room with their heads bowed.

0-2.

For the best-of-seven series, it is already on the edge of a cliff, because if they lose another game in the Holy City, their situation will become extremely difficult.

So the next game, they have to win.

Stress, stress.

With the pressure comes endless regret.

Why didn't he make that three-pointer?Why couldn't his defensive rotation be faster?

Mu Xiaobei felt as if he had returned to the time when he was on the high school team. At that time, Mu Xiaobei was the absolute core of the school team. The outside core he partnered with was called William. Yanjing people.

At that time, everyone in the team had a sense of belonging to the team. Every time they lost, everyone would regret and feel very uncomfortable.

It was with this sense of belonging that they were able to reach the national finals, but in the end they lost to the High School Affiliated to Yenching University.

Mu Xiaobei felt that his feeling this time was very similar to the feeling of missing the championship at that time. The score was always very anxious, and he and his teammates were in good condition, but they just couldn't win.

Harden scored 36 points in the game, Paul scored 16 points, Zhou Qi scored 14 points, and Anthony scored 28 points in a hot state.

而马刺这边库兹马砍下16分，阿德砍下27分，木小北砍下20+11+4+2的数据。

In the locker room, Popovich was very silent. Obviously, the result of this game made the old man feel the pressure. He and D'Antoni are old opponents, and they have played against each other many times.

The players couldn't leave after taking a shower. Instead, they followed Popovich in the video room and watched the video of the two games, looking for their own problems and studying the next defensive routine.

Regardless of whether it was a big defeat in the last game or a narrow defeat in this game, the Rockets' perimeter has put a lot of pressure on the Spurs, and they are also telling Popovich that the defense that shrinks the rotation is too late after all. The routine doesn't work.

Mu Xiaobei turned over, and the two slippery bodies were covered in sweat. It seemed that the two of them had just completed some indescribable exercise. Carlin casually grabbed Mu Xiaobei's T-shirt and put it on to take a bath. Xiao Bei grabbed her hand and refused to let her go.

"Don't make trouble, you still have a game tomorrow." Carlin said.

Mu Xiaobei looked at the ceiling and let go.

At this time, Karlin lay down in Mu Xiaobei's arms again: "There is always a winner or loser in a game, isn't it?"

Mu Xiaobei patted a certain part of Karlin's roundness and said, "I understand the truth, but I'm just a little unwilling. It seems that we won't be able to win if we continue to play like this, but I can't think of any good way."

"Of course, the old fellow Popovich has to figure out the solution. You don't need to think of a solution, you just need to implement Popovich's idea." Carlin chuckled.

These words seemed to suddenly make Mu Xiaobei figure out something.

Yeah, I'm just a player, I'm just an enforcer, figuring it out is not what I need to do.

I just have to trust Popovich.

Having figured this out, Mu Xiaobei swept away his dull mood, turned over again and put Keren under him.

For a while, the red waves rolled.

(End of this chapter)