Legendary star

Chapter 124

When Meng Xu once again assisted Avery Johnson to hit a three-pointer with a breakthrough, Popovich felt that he was not well. How bad was Johnson's three-pointer?Johnson, who has played in the league for 10 seasons, only made 30% of his three-pointers in the season with the highest shooting percentage. Since last year, Avery Johnson has rarely even shot three-pointers, because Popovich In tactics, it is not allowed to make a move when you know you can't make a move
, and in the 82 games of the regular season this season, Avery Johnson made a total of 19 three-pointers, but only hit three times. The three-pointer percentage is basically the lowest in his career.In this game, Johnson made 5 of 2 three-pointers. You must know that in the previous ten seasons, Johnson has never hit more than two three-pointers in a game. A modest career record.

The Spurs are not a team that is good at three-pointers. Last season, whether it was an average of 10.3 shots or 3.6 hits per game, they were the bottom of the league. The scoring has directly improved a level, but the 14 shots and 5.7 hits per game are only in the middle of the league.

In this game, due to Meng Xu's continuous breakthroughs, the Lakers were forced to start shrinking the defense in the third quarter, allowing the Spurs to get a lot of outside shooting opportunities. In the past, the Spurs must have been helpless, but today's game In addition to Meng Xu who still hasn't found the touch, the other three of the Spurs' outside four irons, Sean Etterio, Mario Elli and Avery Johnson, have already made shots so far in this game. 8 three-pointers, which also put the Lakers in a dilemma now. If Duncan does not shrink the defense line, Duncan's deterrence in the interior is quite large. In addition, Meng Xu's continuous breakthroughs and damage to the Lakers' interior, Robert Holly was fouled 3 times by Meng Xu, and AC Green was also fouled twice in the third quarter.If the contraction continues, with the current three-point shooting rate of the Spurs, sooner or later they will be killed by the Spurs.

"Mayley, should we call a timeout?" Just as Mayfair Jackson was still debating whether to shrink or not, the Spurs hit a three-pointer again, 73 to 65, and the point difference between the two teams was close to [-]. up.

"Just wait." Looking up at the timing board, there is at most one more round until the official timeout time, Mayfair Jackson rejected the assistant coach's suggestion, and at the same time, he was also thinking quickly about the next game to cope.

Looking at his rising assists and the stats getting closer to the first triple-double of his career, Meng Xu was also very refreshed. Compared with the simple self-satisfaction of scoring, assists are a whole team. It's all cool, hello, I'm good, everyone's good.In order to achieve the goal of a triple-double as soon as possible, Meng Xu not only gave up his chances to shoot and constantly pass the ball to his teammates when attacking, but also worked hard to protect every rebound on the defensive end. After the forward, the height of the Spurs' interior has dropped sharply, and the rebounding is also at a slight disadvantage. Although the current position on the field is the shooting guard, it is also Meng Xu's glorious responsibility to protect the rebound. After all, a backcourt rebounds 3 points and 3 points Experience doubled in the playoffs.

Since the Spurs have never been able to limit O'Neal in this series, and Popovich pushed Sean Etterio to the position of power forward in this game, the Spurs, who are the first in defense in the regular season, are now It is entirely relying on the personal abilities of Duncan and Meng Xu to barely maintain the Spurs' defense.The Lakers' defense is also at the forefront of the league in the regular season, but this round of the series between the Spurs and the Lakers is not like last year's Finals, when the Spurs met the Knicks. The two teams fought crazily and played extremely dull.On the contrary, the Lakers and the Spurs also fought against each other. The Spurs could not find a way to limit the triangle offense. Similarly, whether it is the Spurs' twin towers or sudden points, the Lakers have no good way so far.

. . . . .

In the last round before the official timeout in the third quarter, when Meng Xu held the ball again and appeared between the center circle and the three-point line, Kobe let Meng Xu go further this time.He let Meng Xu take a step and a half away, and his body leaned slightly to the right. In the previous game, the first change of direction Meng Xu broke through was from left to right. Maybe he found Meng Xu's Breaking through the rules, Kobe directly made the above-mentioned defensive choices.

After Meng Xu held the ball and swayed to the right side of his body for a while, he then chose to break through to the left, and then changed direction to the right while Kobe was following him, so he easily wiped out Kobe's defense and rushed over this time A.C. Green, who made up the defense, and after being thrown off by Meng Xu, Kobe was also chasing after him.

Almost when AC Green was standing, O'Neal moved to the left side behind AC Green's body. At this time, if Meng Xu wanted to continue to change direction and break through AC Green, he would definitely plunge into O'Neal's arms.

As if he had seen O'Neal's intention clearly, or had other ideas, Duncan left the basket directly and ran two steps near the sideline, but O'Neal did not follow, but was waiting in the paint area just like before. edge.

Although Duncan was already unguarded at this time, the passing route between Meng Xu and Duncan had been strictly sealed by Kobe and AC Green.

Resisting the pain from his ankle, Meng Xu changed direction twice in front of AC Green, and appeared behind O'Neill. Facing Fox who was defending him, Meng Xu was at the end of his strength. He had no choice but to lift the basketball and lean towards Fox. Meng Xu has become very proficient in using the trick of cheating fouls.

The moment Meng Xu bumped into Fox, Meng Xu felt that something was wrong. This time, the cheating foul might not succeed, because at the moment Meng Xu rushed past, Fox seemed to be in position before Meng Xu started.

The referee blew the whistle twice, and Meng Xu was also pleasantly surprised. The referee on duty blew Fox's blocking foul.

"Maybe this is the home whistle?" Meng Xu, who is on the free throw line, is still thinking about this question. In the Lakers' home game, he played in almost the same position and in the same way, but the referee blew Avery Johnson. offensive foul.

(End of this chapter)