From sparring to superstar

Chapter 182 180. The Magician of the Clippers
The Jazz sent a combination of Jacqui Vaughn, Deshaun Stevenson, Quincy Lewis, David Banteno, and Scott Padgett in the final quarter, and only Danny - Manning and John Crotty.

Of these seven, only Jacqui Vaughn and Danny Manning are members of the Jazz's rotation.

Knight scored 4 points and 7 assists in the final quarter, Li Ao scored 16 points, and O'Neal scored 7 points. The three dared to fight and led the Clippers to a 33-20 score in the final quarter.

In the end, the Jazz defeated the Clippers 100-92, giving the Clippers their 31st loss of the season.

The record has become 46 wins and 31 losses. Li Ao looked at the task "sprint, surpass" that added advanced goals after winning 46 the night before yesterday.

"Sprint, beyond:
……

Advanced goal: Lead the team to win 50 wins for the first time in team history.

Reward: 1 advanced attribute point. "

There are 5 games left and 4 of them must be won.

The difficulty is too great.

Of course he wanted to win this game tonight, but they were fooled at the beginning...

Their team had 9 assists in the first three quarters. The Jazz's ability to deal with point forwards was too strong, and both he and Odom were affected.

He can only shrink the cap to vent the veteran's vent.

He looked at another quest 'Genius'.

今晚他前三节拿到19分，第四节拿到16分，单场35分，外加7板3助攻4盖帽。

In the next 5 games, scoring another 135 points will increase the scoring average to 25 points per game.

You don't need to score 27 points in every game, you can score normally in regular time, and you can spread your hands if you have a chance...

...

The 12 consecutive away and home games are not without benefits.

At least, they can be too busy to care about winning or losing yesterday's game.

At noon the next day, they returned to Los Angeles and had a meeting in the afternoon to discuss tomorrow's game.

Everyone in the Clippers feels that playing against the Spurs is their easiest game of the season. Although the Spurs have a record of 33 wins and 44 losses, they are still a contender for the playoffs in the East and have the ability to win in the West. But looking at the first three matches, they think so.

But at this stage, the easier the game is, the less the Clippers players dare to be careless, and they must win the game steadily.

It's not just Li Ao who wants to win 50 games, the entire Clippers team wants to!

The reason why they didn't publicly shout for 50 wins is because they covered the mouth of a No. 0 player after playing the Bucks.

Now they feel that this decision is correct. After losing to the Jazz, they have to win 5 games in 4 games to get 50 wins.

The last 5 opponents are the Spurs, Kings, Timberwolves, Warriors, and Suns.

The Spurs and Warriors must be won.

The Timberwolves have to win no matter what.

In that case, the Kings and the Suns can just try to win one of them.

It's not just for 50 wins, it's for the playoffs.

This season, it may really take 50 wins to enter the playoffs.

The Clippers players even expected the Spurs to continue targeting Li Ao, and Li Ao also expected the same.

Then they can easily win the game.

Li Ao licked his face and spread his hands again when he played against the Jazz. To a large extent, he was worried that the Spurs would target him because he was handsome and brainless, which would affect his average of 25 points per game.

At the end of the meeting, Li Ao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and proposed another hypothesis.

"Is it possible for them to use our current thinking, predict our play style, and kill us in an upset?

If we lose tomorrow's game, we are very likely to lose our playoff tickets.

Letting our hard work go to waste for a season must make me more uncomfortable than my own bad statistics. "

The teammates and coaches were shocked!
Such a despicable and shameless conspiracy, can people think of it?

The Spurs' current record is not going up or down, it doesn't matter what they do, it is really possible to do so!

But... the coaches and teammates are all looking at Spider-Man... whoever can make this guess...

...

At 4 pm on April 9th, the Clippers played against the Spurs at home.

Seeing Li Ao firing in the middle distance from the beginning of the game, Gentry secretly rejoiced.

Fortunately, I made two-handed preparations!

The opponent really wants to snipe them into the playoffs!

Tonight Popovich dispatched a combination of Avery Johnson, Derek Anderson, Malik Rose, Samaki Walker, and David Robinson. At the beginning, he stepped up the intensity and strengthened the confrontation, using rough defensive actions, Consume the Clippers' long-range shots and actively shrink the basket guard.

Gentry didn't specifically study the Spurs before, and he didn't care about it when they played against each other for the first time. There was really no time for 17 games in a single month in the middle of the season, so they played casually afterwards, and the opponent only targeted Spider-Man.

Yesterday he deliberately studied the Spurs, only to find that the Spurs played very well defensively this season, averaging only 93 points per game.

Although the scoring average is only 91 points per game, the team's three-point shooting rate is as high as 41%, the only team in the league with a three-point shooting rate of more than 4%.

He averaged 6.2 three-pointers per game, third in the league, only lower than the Bucks and Celtics, and even higher than the Mavericks.

Gentry wanted to go over and ask the head coach who had all white hair in just one year-didn't you say that you hate three-pointers the most?
The Spurs' style of play tonight is to defend hard + shoot outside, and the shots are quite accurate!
Derrick Anderson, Antonio Daniels, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Terry Burt, Ira Nubell, Jalen Jackson, 7 players the Spurs have this season The three-point shooting rate exceeds 39%.

首节李敖打了10分钟，7投4中拿到10分3助攻，快船队25比26落后1分。

In the second quarter, Li Ao played the full game and connected with Odom. Li Ao scored 8 points and 2 assists, and Odom scored 6 points and 4 assists. Go-ahead Spurs entered the intermission with 28 points.

Seeing that their attack became smoother and smoother, while the ferocious firepower on the opposite side gradually weakened, Gentry breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the 7 excellent three-pointers on the opposite side, he was going to ask Wally Walker to check after the game to see if any of the contracts expired.

Dig people!

In the third quarter, the veterans of the Spurs played even harder. While scoring 23 points, the Clippers only scored 21 points.

After three quarters, the Spurs chased the score to 72 to 74!

好在末节李敖和马特-哈普林中投表现稳健，李敖6投3中，加上2中2的罚球拿到8分，哈普林4投2中，加上2中1的罚球拿到5分。

Relying on the outstanding performance of the two, the Clippers scored 24 points in the final quarter. At the same time, Li Ao blocked three shots in the final quarter, leading the team to reduce the Spurs' score to 3 points.

李敖22投13中，其中三分球3中1，加上6中6的罚球，拿到33分3板8助攻2抢断6盖帽，率领快船队以98比91险胜马刺队！
Watching the opposite Spiderman make 9 mid-range shots in a single game, Popovich's mentality exploded.

It's better to continue to respond to this hateful Spider-Man!

...

Narrowly defeated the Spurs, this victory, the entire Clippers team is very happy.

There's the joy of 'beating an evil plot'.

With the joy of victory, at noon the next day, the Clippers came to the state capital Sacramento. After a night's rest, at 4 pm on April 11, the Clippers' away game against the Kings began.

The Clippers played extraordinarily energetic tonight, with a very relaxed mentality.

Li Ao felt very strange.

After they defeated the Spurs, their record came to 47 wins and 31 losses. If they successfully beat the Warriors and Timberwolves, then they only need to beat one of the Kings and Suns to win 50... These are obviously if, but Now the whole team seems to feel that they have "successfully defeated the Warriors and Timberwolves", "the Kings and the Suns must win a game".

However, although Li Ao felt that this way of thinking seemed wrong, he also felt that the future was full of hope, and he was unwilling to deny this feeling.

And, such a relaxed and confident attitude, it worked tonight!
The most affected was Odom, he played like a magician, with 8 points and 4 assists in the first quarter, leading the team to score 26 points in a single quarter against the strong defensive Kings!
The Kings actually played very hard on the offensive end in the first quarter, but the Clippers' top ten defense in the league was not for nothing, and it didn't make the Kings soar.

26 to 27, the Clippers trailed the Kings by 1 point in the first quarter.

李敖首节4投2中，加上2中2的罚球，拿到6分1板1助攻。

Seeing that the defense could no longer be suppressed, Adelman changed his mind - soaring offense!

This change made Odom on the opposite side take off!
In the second quarter, Odom scored 7 points and 8 assists, leading the team!
李敖8分、马盖蒂6分、小奥尼尔6分、大Q5分、马特-哈普林和克里斯-米姆各2分，快船队第二节狂飙36分，力压拿到33分的国王队。

62 to 60, the Clippers overtook the Kings by two points at halftime.

Adelman readjusted his style of play at halftime and continued to knock on defense in the second half.

For the Clippers... Gentry can do nothing, it's up to him.

In the first half, the Kings defended for a while and played offense for a while. Who can guess how the devil coach on the opposite side will change. It seems like a big uncle came tonight.

The mentality of the Clippers players is very calm. The opponent can play whatever they want. Their current thinking is very strange. They think that the opponent is much stronger than them, and they also think that they can definitely win one of the Kings and Suns. .

The Kings successfully suppressed the Clippers' scoring in the third quarter. The Clippers' scoring dropped by 14 points from the second quarter, only scoring 22 points. The score in the three quarters was only 23 points. After a quarter of defense, he failed to overtake the score!

84 to 83, the Clippers continue to maintain a 1-point lead!
At the end of the quarter, Adelman also played badly and continued to knock on defense.

This time the Kings defended very successfully. In the first 11 minutes, the Clippers made 21 of 6 shots, missed a three-pointer, and made 8 of 6 free throws to score 18 points.

But in the last minute, Maggette, who was in danger, rushed into the inside and caused damage, and made all 1 free throws!
Maggette scored 4 points in a row, chasing the score to a 106-106 tie!
The Kings did not score well in the final quarter. When Maggette tied the score, the Kings made 22 of 8 shots in a single quarter, including 5 of 1 three-pointers and 6 of 6 free throws. They only scored 23 points!
In the last 7 seconds, under Li Ao's pursuit, Peja missed a three-pointer and entered overtime!

With 14 points in the first half and 22 points in the game, Li Ao looked at his stats and felt his scalp tingling because of the defensive continuity of the Kings' 8-man rotation.

After a short break, overtime began.

Li Ao, who has played 39 minutes in regular time, can only stand at a 45-degree angle on the right side with a two-point area to restrain him in overtime, leaving his energy on the defensive end.

He believed in his teammates as much as he believed in Maggette in the last minute.

But for the first attack in overtime, the opportunity came to Li Ao.

Boykins broke through on the right, and when Li Ao took a step back and pulled out of the three-point line, Doug Christie pinched Boykins. Li Ao was emptied and received the ball from Boykins!
Li Ao didn't hesitate, he couldn't hesitate at this time, he could do anything with iron, he had to vote!

Takeoff, shot, Klay Thompson's catching three-pointer, coupled with Li Ao's slender figure and handsome face, when the close-up of his shot appeared on the big screen, all the female fans turned away and cheered.

Accompanied by the cheers of the female fans, Li Ao's three-pointer hit the box!
109 to 106, the Clippers took the lead in overtime!
When retreating, Li Aobi pointed his gun, and between kisses, he 'shot' at the female fans cheering for him behind the technical stage.

In this scene, other female fans are not calm, one after another there are female fans shouting 'Spiderman'.

Sacramento, the capital of California, also has many fans of Li Ao's college days in this city!
Male fans firmly support their team, but female fans still pay more attention to face!

Peja was somewhat affected by the defection of the female fans.

The Kings used Webber to cut in to attract Li Ao to shrink, creating an open shooting opportunity for Peja. Peja caught the ball and made a three-pointer!
Li Ao stuck to the rebound and couldn't hold Weber, but he relied on his wingspan advantage to shoot the ball from Weber's head.

Giving the opponent a chance to shoot again from outside cannot allow Weber to make a second attack inside.

Luck is also a part of strength, and it was Boykins who grabbed the ball!

Boykins grabbed the ball on the right side of the free throw line and counterattacked directly. Bobby Jackson slowed down after catching up to the middle circle. He would not be slower than Boykins who was dribbling the ball, but Boykins Sri Lanka only played 11 minutes in regular time, and he played 30 minutes!

Boykins rushed to the front court and hit a layup, 111 to 106, and the Clippers led by 5 points!
This 5-point advantage sealed the victory!

In the next 4 minutes, the Clippers only relied on Jermaine O'Neal's tip-up 2+1, Maggette scored 5 points on a breakthrough layup, and all other shots were all-iron.

But that's enough, the Kings only relied on Bobby Jackson to make a step-back three-pointer to get 3 points, and no other points!

The 8-man rotation Kings were exhausted in overtime!Weber was stuck in the position and failed to grab the offensive rebound from Li Ao's hands, which has already exposed this problem.

And the more this time, the less Adelman will make substitutions.

At 9:33 p.m., the final whistle blew.

上半场15分3板12助攻1抢断，下半场6分6板3助攻1抢断，加上加时赛的3板1盖帽，奥多姆今晚化身魔术师，拿到21分12板15助攻2抢断1盖帽，力压拿到41分的韦伯。

116 to 109, the Clippers upset the fully-stacked Kings and improved their record to 48 wins and 31 losses!
(End of this chapter)