NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 28 Durant gets into foul trouble

"What an exaggerated performance. Durant alone stopped the Heat at the start. It seems that the Heat will target this scoring champion even more next time."

"No team can withstand a player like this once he starts to get into the groove."

"Let's see how the Heat respond next."

"If it were you, how would you defend Durant in this game, Mr. Wei Ping?"

At this time, Ke Fan suddenly asked Zhang Weiping a question.

"Hmm? If it were me, I would probably keep switching defenses and let the ball handler hit Durant, draining his energy and causing him to miss shots."

"Teacher Wei Ping has a good idea. Let's go back to the court and see how the Heat will play!"

Timeout ends, Heat have the ball.

James held the ball, faced Durant, took two steps back, and tried to use the old-fashioned method of stepping on the accelerator to break through.

But Durant not only had a strong desire to attack today, he was also full of passion on defense. Although James stepped over him by half a body length, he still turned sideways to defend against James' shot.

Rushing into the paint area, James tried to get into the air, but Durant collided with him, creating a little space.

Taking advantage of this subtle space, James turned his upper body to face the basket and found the most comfortable layup angle.

Durant on one side was waving his long arms, looking for the ball to block the angle, but James took the initiative to seek a second confrontation, jumped up, and bounced towards Durant.

This move occupied the position in front of Durant, and Durant did not have enough space to exert force for the second jump. He could only reach out to try to interfere, but he missed the ball and hit James' upper arm instead.

There was a snapping sound, and even Lin Chuan who was standing by could hear it clearly.

Despite such a heavy blow, James' arm was as steady as a rock and he sent the ball into the basket steadily.

At the same time, it caused Durant to foul.

At the free throw line, James took a deep breath, dribbled the ball twice, spun the ball in his hands, and then shot.

Bang! The basketball hit the back frame and was caught by Lin Chuan.

Looking at Durant, whose eyes were still full of fire, Lin Chuan didn't hesitate and threw him over.

The ball hit the center line and flew accurately into the hands of Durant who had already rushed into the three-point line.

After receiving the ball, he did not slow down. Seeing James was catching up with him, Durant increased his speed, stepped into the paint area, flew up, held the ball with one hand and used both hands to slam it down heavily.

The dunk was so powerful that the basket was almost shaking.

After hanging in the air for a while, Durant jumped down.

The referee quickly stepped forward to warn Durant that if he hung the ball on the rim again, he would be given a technical foul.

Durant nodded and retreated without saying a word.

"Wow, the god of death has really arrived."

Seeing Durant's domineering aura, Zhang Weiping couldn't help but make a joke.

Westbrook stood beside Lin Chuan with his hands on his hips, looking at Durant who was returning to defense and said,
"It seems that we have nothing to do in this section."

Lin Chuan wiped his sweat and agreed.
"Yes, let's take advantage of his good touch in this quarter and let him take more shots to widen the score gap."

It's the Heat's turn.

James failed to single out Durant and missed the shot, but he shot and grabbed the rebound from Lin Chuan and Ibaka, then took the ball to the outside and passed it to Wade.

Wade waited for a while, waved his hand and called a pick-and-roll. Ibaka was ready to follow Bosh, but he found that it was not just Bosh.

And it wasn't just Bosh, even another inside player, Heat center Haslem, didn't move.

How is this going?

Before Ibaka and Lin Chuan could react, James, who had just grabbed the rebound, ran over and made a high pick-and-roll. Sefolosha did not bypass the pick-and-roll and thought to himself that he was in trouble.

But Wade dribbled the ball in front of his body and pulled back to the other side, facing Durant who was moving forward, while Sefolosha was restrained to the top of the arc by James who came up to pick and roll.

In this round, the defense changed, and Durant was switched to defend Wade in the pick-and-roll.

Looking at Durant, who was much taller than him, Wade did not show any nervousness, but rather seemed happy.

He is really good at punishing Durant, who is not an elite defender.

Wade dribbled the ball low, reading Durant's defensive moves.

The posture was too low, and when Durant bent down, it was almost 90 degrees.

Seeing Durant staring at the basketball nervously, Wade suddenly changed his dribbling rhythm, dribbled the ball with force and accelerated, and stood up directly, intending to shoot a long two-point shot while Durant had no reaction.

But Durant was highly focused at this time, and he jumped up and was about to hit the ball directly in the air.

The expected block did not happen, and Wade's ball stopped abruptly after passing his head.

It was all a shot fake.

Durant, who had already jumped, realized that Wade's move was a complete trap.

Oops!

Durant wanted to withdraw his hand and twisted his body in the air to avoid Wade.

But Wade was like a thorn in his side at this time, and he jumped up and shot right beside Durant.

Beep!
The referee's whistle sounded quickly, as soon as Wade shot. Even though he knew it was a foul, he still had to whistle according to the rules.

Looking at his hands, Durant cursed himself for being careless and clapped his hands to encourage himself.

"Black whistle!"

"Damn it, this is also a foul, no shame at all!"

Standing at the free throw line, listening to the abuse from the home fans, Wade's expression remained unchanged and he made both free throws.

Brooks on the sidelines looked at Durant with some concern. In fact, according to the normal rotation, he could have been substituted out after two fouls in the first quarter.

But Durant was in such a hot hand in this game, if he was replaced rashly and his hands got cold, it would be more difficult to play later.

Brooks was in a dilemma.

In the next round, Lin Chuan found the gap again and made a pass with surgical precision that flew past James and landed in Durant's hands.

Durant showed no mercy and scored two more points with one stroke.

He is cold-blooded on the offensive end, but completely different on the defensive end.

With James holding the ball, Durant was under increasing pressure. Looking at James's poor fake moves, he even seemed hesitant. James decisively broke through and relied on Ibaka to force a layup and scored two more points.

Durant seemed to be fixed in place, and there was no change in his defensive moves for this ball.

Brooks on the sidelines shook his head, sighed, called a timeout, and replaced Durant.

Durant lowered his head with a somewhat unwilling expression until the referee came to take him off the court. Durant then walked off the court reluctantly.

It wasn't because he played badly, but because he got into foul trouble.

Damn!

Durant left the court and Harden replaced him and prepared to come on.

(End of this chapter)