Chapter 159: The Second Whistle Kick
Watching through the TV as Yiyang completed an aerial relay guided by a ground-hitting pass, Stevens only showed a faint smile of his own, and was not surprised at all.
When Yiyang first joined the bulldog team, the fancy moves that this guy practiced on the street were simply dazzling. If it weren't for Stevens' suppression, Yiyang's style of play might be very different from what it is now.
Through the trial of the university, although Yiyang's movements have become regular, this does not mean that Yiyang has completely abandoned the set he practiced on the street. The miraculous elbow pass and the shocking ground-hitting air catch just now are the result of Yiyang's interspersed fancy in the regular.
In the past, Yiyang's too fancy actions were just flashy, but now, Yiyang can combine practicality and good-looking.
In Stevens' opinion, there will be passes like this today. As long as he can effectively deliver the ball to the opponent, as long as he can confuse the opponent, Yiyang is willing to try any move.
Although Stevens knew that Yiyang's ground-to-air catch was not accidental, for those who didn't know Yiyang as well, the ball would undoubtedly be deeply imprinted in their minds. Even the Trail Blazers players who played against Yiyang on the court were no exception.
Others think back to that pass just now, maybe they just think it was a wonderful and memorable one. But the Trail Blazers' players recalling that scene can only bring them endless shame.
After continuing to defeat Roy, Yiyang's kid helped the team take a ten-point lead as soon as he came up in the second half of the game. This blow after blow has made the Trail Blazers' military heart begin to waver.
"Pressure them with our counter-attacks! Can't let the Mavericks play so easily anymore, the strength on the court has nothing to do with rankings, but depends on your hands! 'Coach McMillan keeps reminding his boys not to give up, but it's really hard for the players to get up when you have an opponent who can play you around at will.
In addition to setting up some defensive positions, McMillan spent more time encouraging his players.
Thankfully, Aldridge, who was desperate to win today, hadn't given up yet.
Under the shouts of the Mavericks fans, Aldridge leaned on Nowitzki and yelled, and asked Miller for the ball. You know, this taciturn and quiet forward rarely yells like this.
Miller didn't dare to slack off, and seeing Yiyang raise his arms to block the road, Miller Sr. used a ground-hitting pass to deliver the cannonball to the Trail Blazers' most threatening "weapon" now.
Even though the second half had barely begun, Nowitzki was already sweating profusely. The German has played Aldridge many times before, but not on any occasion has Aldridge's style been so tough.
Aldridge held the ball with his back to the basket and shook his shoulder. Nowitzki didn't know if the guy was going to roll over for a jumper or a breakaway, so his center of gravity swayed from side to side following Aldridge's feints.
Aldridge's sensitive back clearly felt Nowitzki's struggle, and after turning around and making a jumper after the momentum deceived Nowitzki into completely losing his position, Aldridge suddenly changed his center of gravity, turned in the opposite direction, and broke through directly!
This time, the experienced Nowitzki was cleaned up. Aldridge still chose to dunk in the face of Chandler, who came from the defense! Under Chandler's onslaught, Aldridge dunked the basketball hard. But the referee also blew Chandler for a foul.
Although the ball was not dunked, Aldridge's tough attack was still very imposing. Yiyang knows very well that as long as this No. 12 does not fall, the Trail Blazers will never admit defeat!
At the free-throw line, Aldridge may be more composed than Yiyangdu. Amid the boos of the Mavericks fans, the big man who didn't talk much still hit two free throws, and his scoring stats had completely shaken off Dirk.
What's the best way to crush an opponent? Let him be defeated by his own counterpoint, of course. In the second quarter of the game, Yiyang used this almost cruel way to beat Roy, who had just been cheered up, to the cold bench again.
So this time the Mavericks' offense, Nowitzki also wants to have another one on the head of Aldridge. Seeing that the Germans rarely have such a strong desire to hold the ball on the offensive end, it is natural that the Mavericks players will serve their star players.
"Location, location!" Seeing that Nowitzki's ass had been sitting back, McMillan was also shouting on the sidelines, reminding Aldridge to carry it! Before the ball was scored, the hand-to-hand battle between the two big forwards had already entered the white-hot stage.
Yiyang shook a gap through a quick change of hands behind his back, and this gap was enough for him to send the ball to the hands of "Nuo Tianwang".
Nowitzki didn't hesitate after holding the ball, and now Aldridge sat down in the lower set to prevent his back from playing. Therefore, it is difficult for the center of gravity to pounce forward quickly, so Nowitzki made his signature move, and the golden rooster retreated independently!
The German's moves were done perfectly, and Mavericks fans were already cheering in advance. But Aldridge's desire to win today was much beyond Dirk's imagination.
I saw that the big man No. 12 jumped forward desperately, and it looked like he couldn't wait to press the whole person on Dirk.
With Aldridge's hard defense, the basketball that was thrown by Nowitzki swam in the basket twice, but it still came out!
"LaMarcus' defense was successful! Unyielding Fighters! The Trail Blazers counterattacked, Miller Sr. got on the ball quickly, and Wesley. Matthews chased a three-pointer directly after receiving the basketball! YesοΌ The ball is in! The Trail Blazers' counter-attack was so effective that they have now managed to close the deficit to 5 points! β
Looking at everything that happened on the field, McMillan couldn't help but let out a shout of excitement. At the time of the timeout, the morale of the players was not very high, and he himself thought that the Trail Blazers would be in big trouble next. However, it turns out that it is often not the head coach who can drive the morale of a team, but the leader on the basketball court!
Aldridge's toughness turned the entire Trail Blazers into an unyielding chaser. In the following games, although the Trail Blazers did not complete the comeback, the Mavericks could not shake off the opponent who had been chasing after them all the time.
Aldridge went crazy on both ends of the floor today, and Yiyang has broken through his rookie wall, but Aldridge hasn't proven himself yet.
This scorching situation continued until the last moments of the game. When people thought that the Trail Blazers were about to end, Aldridge would always lead the team to continue to persevere.
In the final 40 seconds of the game, Aldridge received the ball in the middle distance. Nowitz basically thought that this guy would hit himself with his back, but unexpectedly, the No. 12 suddenly broke through!
The German took his own big stride sideways, but Aldridge forced his way to the basket with Dirk on his shoulder.
In order to pull away Tyson. Chandler and McMillan were fielded by veteran center Joel. Purzbilla. Although the white center's mid-range shooting is not stable, at this critical moment, Chandler did not dare to completely empty this 2.16-meter-tall "short-range battery". β
Between Chandler's hesitation, Aldridge had successfully entered the penalty area and won a one-handed dunk against Nowitzki's physical confrontation!
"Ahh After the successful dunk, Aldridge raised his head to the sky and roared, and his shouts could not be concealed even by the tens of thousands of fans at the scene.
"LaMarcus played a bloody game! Win or lose, after today's game, no one will question this guy's leadership in the Trail Blazers! Even the fastidious "Fliggy" praised Aldridge today.
That dunk just now allowed Aldridge to score his 35th point of the game! Nowitzki, who has missed all 4 three-pointers so far, has only "only" scored 21 points. At least in terms of today's performance, Aldridge is really above Nowitzki.
At this point, with 30 seconds left before full-time, the Trail Blazers trailed by two points. As long as they can defend this goal, then the Trail Blazers will have a chance to equalize or even kill!
Now, the Mavericks' guard line is partnered by Kidd and Yiyang, two guards with deep playmaking skills that are destined to make this critical defense difficult for the Trail Blazers.
Kidd's skillful possession of the ball made McMillan extremely nervous off the pitch, and although Kidd was nearly forty years old, his passing was still like a sharp dagger, ready to cut the throat of the enemy.
Kidd slowly walked across the halfway line and then stopped at the Mavericks' logo and gestured to direct the offense. Stalling for time, the last thing the Mavericks need right now is time!
But McMillan wasn't afraid of Kidd's drag, and even if it was a full 24 seconds, the Trail Blazers still had six seconds to execute the final attack. With a timeout in hand, as long as the ball can be defended, Kidd will be fine for as long as he wants.
On the rebound, the timer is slowly dwindling. Tall and strong Wesley. Matthews has been staring at Yiyang to death, for fear that this Tanhuaxiu will suddenly leave in front of his eyes.
When the offensive time on the rebound became 10, Yiyang, who was standing in the bottom corner of the left side, suddenly started!
"Stop him!" McMillan pointed to Yiyang's back and shouted, he didn't know if Yiyang's run was a feint or if he really intended to receive the ball. Either way, McMillan won't allow the in-form defender to run into space.
Matthews is clinging to Yiyang, as an inspirational role model who has gone from being undrafted to an NBA starter, Matthews' indomitable spirit and tight defense are one of the important reasons why he can stand in the NBA.
Yiyang slipped past the baseline, and Chandler immediately turned sideways and set up an off-ball cover for Yiyang.
Matthews hurriedly bypassed the pick-and-roll and continued to pursue. Although he still bites hard, Yiyang does distance himself from him a little.
Yiyang ran wildly all the way, running from the bottom corner of the left to the corner of the right side. At this time, the Trail Blazers' defensive formation is stretched very open, because they don't know who will be the endpoint of the last shot on the Mavericks' side, and that's the terrible thing about the Mavericks, everyone can be the endpoint!
Seeing that Yiyang was in place, Kidd started to pass the ball! But Kidd's hand was pushed straight forward, and everyone thought that Yiyang's running was a feint, and Kidd still planned to pass the ball to Nowitzki!
A surprising scene happened, although Kidd pushed his hands straight forward, the basketball flew towards Yiyang, who was standing on the right side! Kidd used a little trick on his wrist to play everyone!
In terms of the confusion and ornamentation of passing, Kidd is Yiyang's teacher!
The unexpected pass made Matthews fail to react in time, Yiyang caught the basketball steadily, and then pulled his leg to break through to the inside!
Matthews spread his strong arms, and he wouldn't let Yiyang break through his defenses so easily. But Yiyang didn't slow down, he seemed to be about to crash into the "wall" of Matthews.
Just when the two were about to collide together, Yiyang suddenly stopped suddenly, and changed direction in front of one body, intending to break through to another route!
But how could Matthews be thrown off so easily? He immediately changed his center of gravity, moved sideways quickly, and blocked again.
No one isn't applauding Matthews' brilliant defense, with the exception of Mavericks fans, of course. However, after Matthews changed his focus to block, Yiyang has not given up. He immediately changed hands behind his back and hit the ball to his right again, and after that, the whole person immediately passed by Matthews!
Yiyang's frequency of changing direction twice in a row was so fast that Matthews didn't have time to react a second time! In this way, Yiyang broke through this outside defensive spearhead.
Yiyang is like a high-speed train, directly piercing Matthews. The audience was in an uproar, such a domineering speed!
Seeing this, Aldridge rushed towards Yiyang like crazy. But Yiyang had already completed the emergency stop, and the basketball grazed Aldridge's fingertips and flew towards the basket.
McMillan's movements froze, and he could even hear his heart pounding.
"Beep~~~" The electronic beep resounded throughout the court, and the red light around the rebound suddenly lit up.
"Huh!" This crisp sound made the hearts of all the players of the Trailblazers team be hit violently!
Yiyang's whistle shot at a critical moment, the rookie's second whistle shot today, almost killed the game!