With three points at the start, Nash begged for a maximum salary to renew his contract

Chapter 48 The Unstoppable Driver
(Having a headache, I don’t want to check typos anymore, I’ll check and modify it later when I get better.)
It is really the first time that Wang Chao will give suggestions on the team's defensive tactics.

The entire locker room was silent for two seconds because of Wang Chao's abrupt words.

After being stunned for two seconds, D'Antoni nodded and said.

"Of course, Dirk is our key target to limit. As long as we can limit his performance, then we can win the game, but the opponent is one of the most powerful offensive power forwards in the league after all. It is not so easy. It can be prevented."

Wang Chao knew that what he could say was limited to this, and if he said more, it would only make the head coach feel that he was dictating.

To get through the next second half, relying on the team or teammates is not realistic, and Wang Chao still has to play himself.

Soon, the third quarter began.

As Wang Chao expected, Nowitzki began to show off, frequently using his signature golden rooster independent mid-range shot to score in the mid-range position, and successfully caused fouls, and his free throws were also very stable.

Dirk Nowitzki's attacking turns made it difficult for the Suns to parry, but the Mavericks did not regain their advantage.

Because on the Suns side, there are also people who keep scoring.

Wang Chao!

Wang Chao, who had consumed a lot of physical energy through a lot of running positions in the first half, continued to run desperately without the ball in the third quarter. Up to now, even Josh Howard is a little tired. There is nothing he can do. Continue to follow Wang Chao's footsteps as in the first half. After all, unlike Wang Chao, Howard not only has to follow Wang Chao for a long time on the defensive end, but also has to share the worries of Nowitzki on the offensive end.

Josh Howard also scored 13 points in the first half, second only to Dirk Nowitzki in scoring for the Mavericks, and even higher than Terry.

This led to the entire third quarter. Wang Chao relied on running positions to find open opportunities many times, scoring 8 points on 4 of 12 shots from beyond the three-point line.

In addition to Wang Chao, Nash also had 6 points and 4 assists for the Suns, Marion 7 points, Diaw 4 points, and the team scored 31 points in a single quarter. On the Mavericks side, only Nowitzki maintained a stable scoring efficiency. Only scored 26 points.

The point difference changed from 1 point at halftime to 6 points.

For the Suns, they have already grasped the opportunity to win in this crucial battle of Tianwangshan.

But Wang Chao knew that the real trouble was still in the final fourth quarter.

About to fall into desperation, Nowitzki finally broke out.

As soon as the game started, he immediately scored two goals in a row, including a three-pointer, directly closing the point difference to 1 point.

D'Antoni had to call a timeout and looked at Nowitzki with a headache.

"That guy is really difficult to deal with..."

At this time, Nowitzki has scored 33 points, and looking at the momentum, he will continue to take over the Mavericks' offense for the rest of the fourth quarter.

They must find a way to contain Nowitzki's offense. After all, the current Suns do not have a player with scoring explosiveness that can compete with a top star like Nowitzki, not even Nash.

"Next, we can only use double-team tactics..."

D'Antoni, who was thinking like this in his heart, couldn't help but startled. He suddenly heard the suggestion made by Wang Chao during the intermission.

At this moment, Wang Chao was still resting off the court. After three quarters of the game, he ran wildly without restraint, and his physical energy was almost exhausted, and he was unable to continue to play in the fourth quarter.

But his comeback isn't meaningless.

In the three quarters, Wang Chao made 19 of 10 three-pointers and scored 30 points, which is the most stable and efficient scoring point for the Suns.

The 10 three-pointers also tied the record for three-pointers made in a single game in the playoffs set by Wang Chao not long ago.

It seems that Wang Chao's scoring efficiency is no less than that of Nowitzki, and even the overall efficiency value of 52.6% three-point shooting rate is higher than that of Nowitzki.

Of course, this kind of comparison itself is not fair. Nowitzki's defensive attention is far from comparable to that of Wang Chao, and Nowitzki has to participate in the team's defense, rebound protection and other work.

On the other hand, Wang Chao, apart from shooting three-pointers from the outside, hardly needs to undertake any other work.

After Wang Chao defended Josh Howard and was scored 29 points by the opponent in the second game, D'Antoni gave up and let Wang Chao defend the opponent.

Although the Suns are a team that doesn't pay attention to defense, they still attach great importance to single-point defensive ability, otherwise Raja Bell will not become the team's starting shooting guard.

Wang Chao bears less pressure than Nowitzki, and does not need to take on more responsibilities. The only purpose on the court is to try to find open opportunities, and then Nash's master pass will pass the ball extremely accurately. into his hands.

In this case, it is not surprising to score 30 points in three quarters.

only……

"At this stage, I am afraid that the upper limit is limited to this."

Sitting on the bench, Wang Chao watched Nowitzki continue to go crazy after the timeout. Even if the Suns used two-team tactics, it was difficult to completely prevent the opponent from scoring. He couldn't help feeling anxious and helpless.

He really couldn't run anymore. Even if he barely stood on the field, he could only be used as a fixed-point fort. Even because of his severe physical overdraw, it was hard to say whether he could guarantee a hit rate.

However, Wang Chao still has a chance to play in this game. As long as he sits on the bench to rest and wait until the last few minutes of the game, his recovered physical fitness should be able to support him in several rounds.

And in this process, the Suns can only resist Nowitzki's attack!
Fortunately, Wang Chao was relieved that at this critical moment, someone from the Suns still stood up. This person was naturally the only leader of the team, Nash who had just won the regular season MVP.

Nash didn't feel particularly good throughout the game today. He made 8 of 3 shots in the first half and failed to make 2 attempted shots in the third quarter.

After entering the fourth quarter, Nash's touch still did not recover, and he only made 3 of the first 1 shots.

But when it was about to be directly related to the outcome of the game, Nash still did not hesitate.

Since the hand feel is not good, can I not fight for the hand feel?
Nash immediately began to frequently rush to the basket with the help of his teammates' pick-and-rolls to force fouls and win free throws.

Although it feels bad, Nash's free throw percentage is still online, 5 of 5 free throws, 100% of the free throws help the team cling to the score.

The game passed minute by minute, the scores of the two teams were still rising alternately, and the hearts of the Suns fans at home began to hang.

Nowitzki's state in the fourth quarter was really hot. If this continues, the Suns may not be able to win this game.

"Shh!"

The crisp sound of brushing the net sounded!

The referee raised his hand to indicate that the three-pointer was valid, and Nowitzki, who was standing outside the three-point line, raised his hand high, like a swan.

And with this three-pointer, the hearts of all the fans couldn't help but sink.

Because with Nowitzki hit this three-pointer, his personal score in this game has reached 50 points, and this three-pointer also successfully gave the Mavericks a 2-point lead. It's been less than 2 minutes since the end.

(End of this chapter)