bayedsolid Chapter 516 Murray: I feel like Wang Xiucheng has some kind of premonition!
Chapter 516 Murray: I feel like Wang Xiucheng has some kind of premonition!
Bruce Brown dribbled the ball up the court, Jokic blocked Wang Xiucheng, and Murray came over to receive the ball.
The next moment, Jokic moved into the paint, and Murray passed the ball to him.
With a loud bang, Jokic unleashed a rare powerful dunk, scoring two points.
At this point, the Nets did not have a true center.
To put it simply, it's about letting Jokic into the paint.
Compared to having Jokic orchestrate the passing game from the top of the key, having him attack on his own will definitely consume more of his energy.
Both are worth two points, but the latter is clearly more worthwhile.
Nash then gestured to the referee to call a timeout.
The referee blew the whistle to stop the game and gave a timeout.
This made Bruce Brown, who had already reached out his hand, very frustrated.
He was ready to foul Ben West as soon as the Nets inbounded the ball.
Now that the Nets have called a timeout, they will definitely substitute Ben West out, so his biggest contribution when he comes back on will be lost.
Sure enough, when the game resumed, Seth Curry replaced Benci.
Wang Xiucheng gave Murray a push, turned around to receive Zeng Fanbo's serve, and then lowered his shoulder to place the ball between his legs.
Murray immediately withdrew his hand, showing no intention of stealing the ball.
He would have tried it if it were anyone else.
But this is Wang Xiucheng!
As long as he dares to reach out, Wang Xiucheng will definitely dare to make a big backhand, and the referee will definitely dare to call it!
He has tried this process many times in this series.
Seeing that Murray didn't reach out and even took a half step back, Wang Xiucheng first made a probing step, but Murray didn't move.
So Wang Xiucheng didn't waste any time, took a step forward after passing the ball, and then leaned against Murray with his back to him when Murray came close.
The next moment, Wang Xiucheng turned around and pulled the ball, moving behind Murray.
Slowing down slightly, Wang Xiucheng leaned against Murray as he turned to chase him, and the next moment he jumped up and shot the basketball when he was still a big step away from the three-point line.
Murray quickly raised his hands to show his innocence, and at the same time, he looked at the referee as if afraid that the referee would call a foul on him.
Bang!
The sound of a basketball hitting the rim could be heard.
Murray quickly looked over.
Wang Xiucheng missed that three-pointer!
The referee didn't call a foul on himself!
This round is a win for me, right?
Murray, who had just been thinking this, hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Wang Xiucheng rush into the paint at some point.
With one foot on the floor, Wang Xiucheng flew high towards the basketball.
Jokic was alone in the paint, and no one was going to contest the rebound with him, nor was he planning to jump.
But just as he was about to touch the basketball, he felt a hand appear on his head.
Then, that hand touched the basketball even faster than his own.
The basketball changed direction and flew towards the basket.
Swish!
The basketball floated lightly into the net.
Jokic finally sensed the person behind him.
With a loud thud, Wang Xiucheng crashed into Jokic in mid-air.
Jokic was fine, but Wang Xiucheng was bounced back three or four steps before falling to the ground with a thud.
“Andone!” Wang Xiucheng shouted at the referee from the floor.
Upon hearing Wang Xiucheng's words, Jokic immediately went to the referee, took his mouthguard in his hand, and said to the referee as calmly as possible, "You saw it, I was going for the rebound with my back to him, and he bumped into me. I didn't even move..."
Scott patted Jokic on the arm, said nothing, picked up the basketball, and went to the baseline to inbound the ball and continue the game.
When Wang Xiucheng saw this, he knew that Scott had no intention of calling the foul.
Jokic is an MVP-caliber superstar, so it won't be easy for me to gain an advantage over him in terms of calls.
So Wang Xiucheng didn't hold it against Zeng Fanbo and immediately grabbed Zeng Fanbo's hand to stand up.
Jokic breathed a sigh of relief; if he had committed another foul, he would have been hampered in the rest of the game.
Jokic received the ball from the referee, passed it to Murray, and then ran up the court himself.
He set up a screen for Murray, who then broke through, bringing Wang Xiucheng into the penalty area before passing the ball to Jokic.
Jokic faced Zeng Fanbo, who was guarding him, and immediately shot a three-pointer.
The basketball seemed to float away.
Swish!
The basketball goes into the net.
The Nuggets led 23-21.
At this point, it was the last minute of the first quarter.
This signifies that "the king's time" has come.
All the fans stood up at this moment, stopped eating and drinking, and focused on the last minute of the game.
Zeng Fanbo picked up the ball and passed it to Wang Xiucheng.
Wang Xiucheng didn't move; he was well aware of the opponent's tactics.
Sure enough, Bruce Brown immediately came over and hugged Wang Xiucheng.
With a whistle, the referee blew his whistle, Bruce Brown committed a foul, and Wang Xiucheng was awarded two free throws.
Wang Xiucheng threw the ball to the referee and walked towards the frontcourt.
The Nuggets' current tactic is to foul themselves directly during "King Time".
In other words, it's about getting yourself to take free throws, not just shooting.
The Nuggets believe that it's more worthwhile for them to take free throws than to shoot three-pointers.
Wang Xiucheng didn't know how the Gold Rush calculated things, but was it really worth it to do this?
Swish!
Swish!
Wang Xiucheng made both free throws.
23 to 23, tie.
Cai Congxin and Yao Ming next to him were talking about something, but they kept pointing at Wang Xiucheng, seemingly quite satisfied with his free throws.
The Nuggets have possession of the ball.
Murray dribbled forward, and Jokic positioned himself at the top of the key, seemingly setting up a screen for Murray.
With 7 seconds left on the shot clock, Murray began moving toward Jokic.
But at that moment, Wang Xiucheng took a step forward and stretched out his hand.
With a snap, Wang Xiucheng's palm sliced into the basketball.
Instantly, the basketball rolled to the side.
Wang Xiucheng took a big stride to catch up with the basketball, then threw it forward and dashed off.
All the fans stood up; everyone knew that Wang Xiucheng was about to perform again.
However, the expected free-throw line dunk did not occur.
Wang Xiucheng slowed down after crossing the center line, and almost stopped when he reached the top of the arc.
Without making any adjustments, Wang Xiucheng took the opportunity to shoot the three-pointer.
The basketball flew towards the hoop like a shooting star, leaving a trail of flame.
Swish!
The shooting star crashed into the net!
Bang!
The basketball bounced off the floor without any obstruction.
"Guaranteed Three-Point Shot Card" activated!
With 17 seconds left in the first quarter, the Nets led 26-23.
Wang Xiucheng turned around, looked at Coach Ma Long, and smiled.
It's like saying, if you won't let me have the ball, then I'll steal it myself!
Ma Long pretended not to see the somewhat smug Wang Xiucheng, waved his hand, and told his players to refocus.
Murray's shot just now looked like it was deliberately delivered to Wang Xiucheng.
Fortunately, Murray didn't lose his temper and foul Wang Xiucheng.
Otherwise, the Nets would have only gotten one free throw and possession, and Wang Xiucheng might have been able to score four points!
Murray has reached the baseline and is ready to receive the ball.
He was also very annoyed. He hadn't noticed Wang Xiucheng's advance movement, and by the time he did, it was too late to do anything else.
He didn't know why, but he had several turnovers in every game of this series. After recalling it carefully, he felt that Wang Xiucheng seemed to have a premonition.
Shaking his head to stop thinking about it, Murray received the ball that Jokic had specially passed to him and advanced forward.
With 15 seconds left, Murray knew he had to shoot at the last minute and couldn't give the Nets any time.
Just as Murray was thinking this, he suddenly saw another Chinese man hidden behind Wang Xiucheng rush over like a tiger and hug him tightly.