NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 209: Intensity escalates, tearing off the mask of hypocrisy
Duncan was still retreating, and the referee immediately ran up to warn him.
"I don't want to see that kind of hurtful action again. I hope that was the last time in this game. If you do that again, I will call a foul immediately."

Duncan spread his hands, saying that he was completely innocent.
"It's all about turning around and following the flow, that's all."

The referee didn't bother to listen to Duncan's explanation, he just pointed at him and indicated that he was keeping his eyes on him.

"Wow, what was that just now!"

Seeing Duncan's elbow swing just now, O'Neal's eyes immediately lit up, and he pointed at the live screen excitedly.
"Charles, did you see that? What is he doing?"

As an old rival of Duncan in the Western Conference for many years when he was still playing in the NBA, O'Neal was delighted to see Duncan being so impatient.

"I didn't expect Duncan to be so anxious. Look, he's been warned by the referee. He should be more restrained!"

Barkley was indeed surprised, and he moved his huge buttocks to sit up straight.
"Damn, I never thought that even an honest man like Duncan would resort to such dirty tactics in the game. If Lin Chuan hadn't reacted in time, his elbow would have definitely hit him in the face."

"Of course not. And don't forget, Lin Chuan had his nose broken by their team in the first two games. Today he is completely not pretending anymore."

O'Neill showed a meaningful expression and said,
"There are so many things you don't know. Don't think that just because you look honest, you are really honest. If you really play so cleanly, you wouldn't have won four championships before and still maintain this competitiveness until now."

Barkley touched his chin thoughtfully.

You know, he and Duncan are players of the same position, and the opponent not only has the MVP that he has, but also the championship trophy that he has fought for his whole life but ultimately could not reach.

It is precisely by virtue of the hexagonal honor that the opponent has undisputedly become the No. 1 power forward in NBA history.

On the court, the opponent was always tough but not dirty, giving his all to the game but without getting too anxious or too excited.

He also had great respect for the player who started the game after him and never questioned him.

but……

At the beginning of the game, Duncan's performance surprised Barkley.

O'Neal's words also made him start to wonder if he had pretended to be too good before.

And this time, he really couldn't hold it back and revealed his true colors?

Inside the stadium, Duncan's dangerous move just now caused dissatisfaction among the home fans.

Some fans immediately shouted,

"Hey, you're so fucking dirty! Stop playing basketball and go to WWE and UFC! That's where you should perform!"

"Referee, blow the whistle! This dangerous action must be severely punished!!!"

Listening to the fans' shouting and cursing, Duncan had a blank expression on his face, not affected at all.

For him, winning is more important than anything else.

"Give me the ball!"

Lin Chuan ran to the front court and quickly got into position, then stretched out his hand and shouted to Reggie.

"Snapped!"

The ball was quickly passed to Lin Chuan, who used his back to feel Duncan's position. Just as Duncan was preparing to back up, Lin Chuan suddenly turned around after dribbling the ball, shook off Duncan, and went directly to the other side of the basket. With his back to the basket, he raised the basketball with one hand and was about to make a layup.

"impossible!"

Duncan gritted his teeth and turned around to face Lin Chuan again, trying to block this layup.

However, this time it was a fake move. Hearing the movement behind him, Lin Chuan immediately pulled the ball back, then waited for a time difference and chose to jump up directly!

"Wtf!!! Is Lin Chuan going to dunk?!"

Barkley's eyes widened in disbelief.

You know, Lin Chuan is not facing the basket now.

next moment!
Lin Chuan pushed his legs hard, and as the rocket took off, he jumped into the air!

"Boom!!!!"

He grabbed the basketball with both hands, drew a semicircle in front of his body, and passed over his head. As if he had eyes behind his head, he accurately bypassed Duncan's outstretched big hand and dunked it directly into the basket!

"Thank you so much! This goal was too strong!"

O'Neal was so excited that he slammed the table, causing Barkley's cup on the long table to bounce.
"But Lin Chuan's fight was still too clean! He should have fought back against his opponent who wanted to play dirty tricks on him! He should have secretly elbowed his opponent so that he couldn't breathe while turning around!"

He shook his head with some regret, looked at Barkley and said,

"If it were our era, anyone who dared to strike would definitely be prepared to be counterattacked by the opponent. If you don't fight back, you will not only be regarded as a softie by others, but you will also be subjected to more violent tricks. Don't you agree, Charles?"

Barkley nodded, but his eyes never left the picture on the screen.

Seeing that the other party was a little perfunctory, O'Neal was a little angry, and then he heard Barkley say with a smile,

"Shaq, we are not from the same generation. We are at least ten years apart. Besides, how do you know he didn't do this?"

Barkley's words stunned O'Neal, and then he looked back in the direction of the other party's finger.

The other person was pointing at the large screen the two were facing.

In the picture on the screen, in this round, Lin Chuan received the ball at the free throw line and made a layup, which resulted in a foul and a penalty. The official inserted the highlights of the previous round at the right time.

At this moment, the footage of Lin Chuan's one-on-one match against Duncan was being replayed from various angles.

After Lin Chuan dribbled the ball, he held the ball with both hands and turned around. In a hidden place where the referee could not see, his left elbow scratched Duncan's chest.

It looked very light in the camera, but Duncan paused immediately before turning around to defend Lin Chuan's back dunk.

"Hiss... this kid is really sinister."

O'Neill gasped.

You know, although that elbow didn't seem to have much force, it even seemed that because of the turn around when holding the ball, the elbow had to rub Duncan's chest in a natural movement.

But don't forget Lin Chuan's terrifying weight and his swift speed when he turned around.

Even though it was shot in slow motion just now, you could still see a hint of afterimage.

Even if the elbow didn't hit him completely, it was as sharp as a knife, and Duncan would definitely not feel good about it.

"If you've ever watched the Olympics, you'd know that."

Barkley laughed.

"Yeah, how could that guy let off an opponent who didn't play honestly so easily? He would always fight back and not let the opponent find any handle."

"Very cunning."

"Then it seems that Dio, who is at the power forward position, must have become nervous as well. After all, it was because of him that Lin Chuan's nose was broken."

The facts are just as O'Neill thought.

On the court, Duncan was guarding the paint, and before the Thunder point guard dribbled across half court, he frowned and rubbed his chest under his jersey. Although half a quarter had passed, he still felt very uncomfortable.

Seeing Lin Chuan running into the inside again, Duncan could only endure the discomfort and move forward to defend.

Lin Chuan received the ball again. This time, he chose to turn around after receiving the ball, turned over and made a fadeaway jump shot.

Duncan realized Lin Chuan's movements and tried his best to keep up, but the sudden piercing pain in his chest slowed him down a bit.

Damn... I didn't expect this momentum to last this long...

Duncan gritted his teeth and frowned, but could only watch helplessly as Lin Chuan scored another goal.

This was also the fifth goal scored by Lin Chuan after that round.

Before the end of the first quarter, he had already been scored twelve points by Lin Chuan in a one-on-one match.

After scoring again, Lin Chuan was about to go back to defend, but he heard Duncan muttering to himself,
"Fuck, if it weren't for the pain in my chest..."

Hearing this, Lin Chuan was not in a hurry to retreat. Instead, he sneered and said "You lose the rice even more than you gain" before running back to his own half.

Duncan was speechless and could only pretend he didn't hear and go to the baseline to serve.

As for the Spurs, Leonard's layup missed again, and Durant grabbed the rebound and made a layup, and the first quarter came to an end.

Seeing the intermission, the two TNT anchors became busy again.

O'Neal finished his argument with Barkley, stared at the data on the screen and said,

“In this Western Conference Finals Game 7, the first quarter is as follows:
Score: 24:32.

The Thunder lead by eight points at home.

Among them, Durant took the initiative to play a supporting role in the first quarter, only took four shots, made two goals, and scored 6 points in a single quarter.

The protagonist of the first quarter was undoubtedly Lin Chuan. He faced Duncan's six heads alone and scored 16 points, accounting for half of the team's total score. "

"Damn, this kid scored so easily. He was able to score almost 20 points in a single quarter without making any noise. This guy must have jumped out of 2k."

When Barkley heard Lin Chuan's data, he just felt it was outrageous.

Although he is good at scoring, he is often dragged into the mud by his opponents in such high-end games and his performance is not amazing.

Even if he can score high points occasionally, his efficiency will not be as good as Lin Chuan's. It is no different from shooting training.

He said with a smug look.

"If you had just turned on the TV and seen this data, who would have thought that this would be achieved in Game 7 of the Conference Finals?! I'm afraid only Jordan could do this!"

O'Neill nodded in agreement, and then continued,

"There are no outstanding players on the Spurs side, but there is one person who must be mentioned, and that is Duncan. In this quarter, after he provoked Lin Chuan and was counterattacked, he did not even do his job of defense very well, and was hit and scored by Lin Chuan repeatedly. It can be seen that he was a little embarrassed."

"Doesn't Popovich know how to replace him? He let him stand on the court even after the game was so bad."

"I can only say that if they were replaced, there would be no more play. Game 7 is a life-and-death struggle. We have to die standing on the court."

In the rest area on the sidelines, Duncan automatically blocked out the insults from the fans behind him, and instead opened his jersey to look at the spot where Lin Chuan had elbowed him.

The other team members couldn't help but come over to check on Duncan's injuries.

There was a long bruised blood mark on Duncan's chest, and the mark even showed signs of turning purple and black.

"Hiss, it looks too scary."

Ginobili took a breath, then touched his bald head and said in fear,

"If this hit me, I would fall over."

"If you want to fight, fight me!"

Dio was also terrified.

After all, he was the culprit who caused Lin Chuan to be injured and wear the black mask.

"No, this boy is too dark!"

Parker was so angry that his teeth itched.
"Duncan hasn't done anything to him yet, but he's so cruel?! Fuck! If it weren't for their home court and the referee's bias towards them, if it happened to us, he would definitely be given a flagrant foul!"

Popovich couldn't help but shook his head.

"This young man was ruthless. It seems that we are too kind to them. They think we are soft persimmons and can bully us at will."

Hearing Popovich say this, several Spurs players pricked up their ears.

"So, Pop, what do you say we should do? Just swallow this breath or return it."

Duncan's voice was very calm.

But everyone could hear the lurking anger in it.

"Of course I returned the favor."

Popovich glanced at Duncan and said slowly,
"Since we have offended our opponents to this extent, we don't have to worry about the last game. The Knicks and Heat on the other side are much weaker than the Thunder and us. Victory and defeat will be decided in one fell swoop. If we can win, we can enter the finals. Duncan, your fifth championship is just around the corner!"

Duncan nodded, and then continued to ask,
"So, what should we do? Should we destroy one of the opponent's players?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Dio, staring at him and making him feel uneasy.

He waved his hands again and again begging for mercy.
"Duncan, let me go. I was so covert in Game 5, but I was still punished by the league. I was suspended for the last game. The referee was watching so closely in this game. If I injure the opponent's players again, my future career will be hopeless!"

Popovich glanced at Dio and said disdainfully,
"Look at you! Do you have any backbone for a Spurs player? Are you afraid of what the league will do? It's still our team that pays the salary!"

"Never mind, what Dio said makes sense."

Duncan interrupted Popovich's reprimand and PUA and said,

"The referee will definitely focus on our behavior in this game. I was warned by the referee when I swung my elbow to hit Lin Chuan in the nose at the beginning of the game. If there is any intentional action to hurt others, the referee will definitely blow the whistle. In this case, let alone winning the game, the few players who are not sent off will be lucky."

"So what do you think?"

"In that case, let's not deliberately hurt anyone, but increase the intensity of our actions."

Duncan replied,
"The Western Conference Finals is the playoffs, so it's reasonable to raise the defensive intensity. The league can't target us just because we defend tougher. We should increase the intensity to the maximum. We won't hurt anyone, but we can make as many big moves as we want!"

That's a really good idea.

After hearing Duncan's idea, everyone on the Spurs nodded. Seeing this, Popovich also made the decision.

"Just do as Duncan said! In the next three quarters, let them see how powerful our Spurs are! Let them know what a four-time champion is!"

(End of this chapter)