NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 172: The buzzer beater, 3:0
Fuck..., what are you thinking about?

Harden shook his head and threw the thought out of his mind.

Now at the Toyota Center.

This is their home court.

Don't think about how to win the game. Why think about these messy things?

During the halftime break, McHale walked up to the crowd.

"He's the only star player left on their team, so let him play one-on-one. He can't beat us alone."

Harden agreed.

There is only one core left in the team.

Even if he breaks out, it will be difficult for the team to win.

After all, this is a five-on-five basketball game.

It's not a one-on-one fight.

The second half begins.

As usual, Lin Chuan took a rest first.

Sitting on the bench and watching teammates perform.

But due to the transition phase, no star player was present.

The five players on the court are Reggie Jackson, Kevin Martin, Nick Collison, Ibaka, and Perkins.

The strongest one is the former boss of the Rockets.

The Thunder's fighting power seems to be insufficient.

Only three minutes had passed.

The Rockets tied the score again.

Brooks had no choice but to call a timeout again and replace Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan received the ball in the high position and faced Asik's defense. Just as he was about to think about his strategy, Parsons, who was not far away, immediately stepped forward to double-team him.

Double-team so soon?
Lin Chuan felt helpless.

Before the double-team formed, Lin Chuan quickly passed the ball to Kevin Martin in the corner.

On the wing, Martin drew his gun and shot!
"clang!"

But in this game, he seemed to have missed the target in front of his former team. After missing several times before, he missed again in this attack.

Ibaka grabbed the frontcourt rebound and passed it to Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan held off Asik and finally scored with a low hook shot amidst his loose defense.

"Fuck! Control the rebounds!!!"

Saw the team lose the rebound and be forced into a second attack by the Thunder.

McHale on the sidelines angrily scolded the two incompetent inside players.

Although the Rockets' inside shooting was a bit weak, they had a hot touch from the outside in this quarter.

Parsons immediately made a mid-range shot.

A response goal brought the score back to the previous level.

In this quarter, teammates were unable to provide strong defensive support.

Lin Chuan was severely interfered with several times when he was shooting, and he started to miss shots.

At the end of the third quarter, the Thunder were still trailing by 6 points.

"We need to let the others play more."

During the intermission, Lin Chuan had an urgent communication with Brooks.

"Let teammates get their hands hot, so that if they are double-teamed at a critical moment, others can also seize the open opportunities."

Brooks nodded in agreement.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Rockets showed a more determined defensive posture.

Lin Chuan passed the ball to open space several times, and the Rockets were able to quickly make up for the defense and not give the Thunder any chance.

After a fierce battle for most of the quarter, the Thunder did not catch up much.

With 2 and a half minutes left, Harden made an accurate three-pointer and the Thunder fell behind again.

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

At this time, cheers rose one after another in the audience seats.

They seemed to have seen the dawn of victory.

Reggie Jackson took advantage of Lin Chuan's screen and chose to break into the inside for a layup, but was interfered by Patterson who came to defend and missed the shot.

In the frontcourt, Parsons made another three-pointer.

The Thunder attack.

Martin received the ball and the defense quickly followed up. Seeing that the opportunity was not good, he immediately passed the ball to Lin Chuan in the low post.

As the basketball hit the ground, it was intercepted by Jeremy Lin who suddenly rushed out.

The Rockets took the opportunity to push the fast break again, and Harden hit another three-pointer. For a moment, the Thunder were beaten 6-0 and the situation was precarious.

Brooks paced back and forth anxiously on the sidelines. If the Thunder continued playing like this, they would have no chance.

"Defend! Defend!"

On the court, when the Thunder was attacking, the Rockets fans on the sidelines had already started shouting loudly in unison.

The home atmosphere immediately became thicker.

Lin Chuan stands
He began to signal his teammates to run tactics.

Martin came out from the bottom corner, bypassed Ibaka's screen and ran to the free throw line.

With no one defending in front of him, Lin Chuan immediately passed the ball. This time he finally scored a goal, temporarily stopping the bleeding for the Thunder team.

However, the Rockets did not show any weakness!

In the frontcourt, Beverly tactically moved to the elbow area and made a mid-range shot to return the favor!
There was not much time left, the Thunder quickly served the ball, Lin Chuan shot directly from the top of the arc and made a three-pointer!

Patterson's close-range shot was blocked by Lin Chuan again, but the Thunder's fast break failed. The Rockets quickly retreated and did not give the Thunder any chance.

Lin Chuan held the ball in the high position and started to play one-on-one with his back to the basket.

Patterson was immediately attracted and went forward to double-team.

At the critical moment when the ball was about to be snatched away, Lin Chuan raised the ball high and suddenly turned around to create a little space from the double-team.

He keenly observed that Ibaka was standing in an open space two meters away and decisively passed the ball to him.

There was one second left in the shot clock! After receiving the ball, Ibaka shot a close-range shot without any hesitation.

The basketball drew a beautiful arc and fell steadily into the basket.

With 30 seconds left, the Thunder took the lead again!

The Rockets immediately requested a timeout.

After the timeout, Harden advanced with the ball.

He kept his eye on the clock, and when there were 6 seconds left, Harden dropped the ball and started moving.

Harden dribbled through and Sefolosha immediately stepped back to defend.

Trailing by one point, we can’t let the Rockets score two points easily.

However, Harden suddenly grabbed Sefolosha's arm, raised his hands, twisted his body and forced a layup.

The referee immediately blew the whistle and penalized Sefolosha for a foul.

He was a little shocked. He didn't expect Harden to choose to commit a foul at the last minute, and even use this action of holding his arm.

Sefolosha couldn't even pull it out.

He suddenly fell into a state of annoyance.

Harden made two free throws and the Rockets took the lead.

With 8 seconds left, the Thunder attacked. Brooks immediately called a timeout.

The last chance to attack was given to Lin Chuan. However, the serve from the center line could not be passed to Lin Chuan smoothly, so he requested a timeout again.

The Rockets obviously knew the Thunder's tactical intentions and kept a close eye on Lin Chuan, preventing him from catching the ball.

Seeing that a violation was about to occur, Ibaka had to pass the ball to Reggie Jackson first.

Reggie observed Lin Chuan's position and found that he was double-teamed, so he decided to break through to attract the defense.

However, Beverley also seemed to be going crazy, pressing hard on defense and not giving Reggie any chance.

In the last three seconds, Reggie was forced to take a long two-point shot.

Lin Chuan and Ibaka were also stuck by their respective defenders and could not move.

In front of him, there was only one step away from the basket, but Asik's legs seemed to be embedded in the ground.

No matter how hard Lin Chuan pushed, he couldn't push him away.

The basketball flew towards the basket under everyone's gaze.

"clang!"

The basketball hit the front frame and bounced out.

"Fuck! Are we going to lose?!"

Brooks held his head in his hands, in great pain.

We fought until the very last minute, but lost by one point due to the opponent's free throw.

Since you can't pull it open, just jump up!
Lin Chuan gritted his teeth, exerted all his muscles, and jumped up behind Asik.

Relying on his long arms span, he still reached the basketball at the last moment.

Use two fingers to gently flick the bottom of the basketball.

When the lights came on at the end of the game, the basketball slowly rolled back into the basket.

"Beep!!!"

"Shh!"

Last minute!
The basketball was pushed into the net by Lin Chuan!

Tip-in with 0.3 seconds left!!!

(End of this chapter)