Legendary star

Chapter 252 Watch My Performance With Wide Eyes

"This kid is really hard to deal with." After being infected by the "answer-ball" between Duncan and Garnett, Meng Xu jumped out unwillingly, but Meng Xu didn't choose who to confront. Offensive, because there is no player in the Timberwolves' perimeter who can attack him.So Meng Xu chose to be on the defensive end, pressing the Timberwolves point guard Trier Brandon, and by the way, assisting Anthony Peeler.After being pressed by Meng Xu close to him, Trier Brandon, a former All-Star veteran, found that it was extremely difficult for him to even play the ball.Meng Xu was like an octopus, clutching himself tightly.

At the same time, under Meng Xu's close pressure, Trier Brandon, not to mention passing the ball, even got rid of Meng Xu. Lil Brandon was even more surprised that Meng Xu moved faster than himself even though he was nearly 20 centimeters taller than him.Originally, Trier Brandon wanted to use his own experience to trick Meng Xu with some fake moves, but the guy on the opposite side didn't like his fake moves at all. If he didn't see Meng Xu, he would still be a little immature With his face, Trier Brandon thought he was being defended by an old fritter.

This time, when Trier Brandon turned sideways to Meng Xu again and tried very hard to protect the basketball in his hand, and at the same time was about to call his teammates for cover, Meng Xu behind him suddenly made a small move and made a secret effort. The All-Star The defender was staggered by Meng Xu, and the basketball was thrown out of his hand.

After seeing Trier Brandon being directly intercepted by Meng Xu and then making a fast break, Philip Sanders on the sidelines now looks very ugly. Originally, Garnett broke out and played against Duncan. After being inextricably linked, Philip Saunders once saw the hope of the team's victory, but when Meng Xu suddenly made an effort to press Trier Brandon, the core playmaker of the Timberwolves, Trier Brandon After Deng was still unable to break Meng Xu's press, the Timberwolves' hope of winning instantly became very slim.

"Meng Xu steals the ball again." When the game continued and Trier Brandon was intercepted by Meng Xu three times in a single quarter, Philip Sanders immediately called a timeout. The Timberwolves, who had just improved a little, After Trier Brandon was choked by Meng Xu, the offensive end immediately fell into chaos.

After the timeout, Flip Saunders looked at Chauncey Billups sitting at the end of the bench and decided to use a dual point guard lineup of Chauncey Billups and Terrell Brandon. Sanders also knew in his heart that Chauncey Billups, the No. 97 pick in [-], is a player with great potential, but the Timberwolves now have the All-Star guard Trier Brandon, and in this season In the few games that Philip Sanders arranged for Chauncey Billups to start this season, Chauncey Billups did not integrate well into the Timberwolves' offensive and defensive system. In the eyes of Philip Sanders, Chang West Billups is too sticky to the ball, even if Garnett doesn't have a good chance, Billups won't pass him the ball. The players who greet him must be sitting on the bench or being traded.Therefore, at the end of this season, Billups basically has no chance to play, and Billups is still very famous as a "parallel player". Few teams are willing to take this game, even those The conditions for a team willing to accept Billups are also quite harsh, almost like taking advantage of the fire.But when the team faced difficulties, Philip Sanders thought of Billups for the first time.

"Hey, Chauncey, how many points do you want me to score against you in this game?" The game restarted, and when he saw Billups playing against him this time, Meng Xu was immediately happy , In the first matchup between the Spurs and the Timberwolves this season, Meng Xu scored 19 points in the first half of Billups' head, and that game also led to Billups, who had just started two games, back again. to the bench.

Billups glanced at Meng Xu in front of him, moved his mouth, and finally gave up talking to Meng Xu. The game between the Spurs and the Timberwolves was indeed a heart problem for Billups. Before, everything was moving in a good direction. I have already become the main force in the Timberwolves, and I will be able to shake off the hat of parallel imports in a short time, but in that crucial game, Billups was accused of being a cameo. Wei's Meng Xu was blown away, and since then, as long as any media releases a so-called "parallel player list", he will be on the list.It was also from that time on, no matter whether he could play or not, Billups would work harder to train, and at the same time, he would watch Meng Xu's game video whenever he had time, hoping that one day when he met Meng Xu, To be able to avenge shame.

When Billups came on the court, the Timberwolves' offense did improve a lot. After all, Meng Xu could lock up Trier Brandon, but he couldn't control Trier Brandon and Billups. And in Meng Xu's view, Billups' sense of rhythm is much better than that of Trier Brandon. This is a player who can adjust the rhythm of the game according to the situation on the field. In the past, when Trier Brandon organized , The Timberwolves fell into the Spurs' slow-paced positional warfare and couldn't extricate themselves, and after Billups was on the court, he continued to speed up the pace of the game.

"Meng, let that kid on the other side slow down." When the Spurs' offense ended, Meng Xu, who was retreating to the backcourt, passed by the sidelines, and Popovich pointed at Bilu who was dribbling. Pusi yelled at Meng Xu.

Because in the final stage of the first quarter, the Timberwolves sent two point guards, Trier Brandon and Billups, and at the same time in order to save energy, Meng Xu also gave up on Trier Brandon. Don's full-court press, because in this situation, it is meaningless to press Trier Brandon who has given the ball to Billups.

And when Meng Xu began to press Billups closely, Billups, who was afraid of making mistakes, also decisively handed the basketball to Trier Brandon, and after that, the Timberwolves had the ball. It was also transferred from Billups to Trier Brandon again. Although Trier Brandon's personal ability is much better than that of Billups, Trier Brandon did not Billups' ability and talent to control the rhythm of the court, after Trier Brandon took over the ball, the Timberwolves once again fell into the Spurs' defensive quagmire.In the end, when the first quarter ended, the Spurs led the Timberwolves by 23 points 16 to 7. If Garnett hadn't made 7 of 4 shots and scored 8 points in the second half of the first quarter, the Timberwolves would still It will be worse.

In the first quarter of the game, although the Spurs' offense could not be played out, especially the three outside players, Meng Xu, Mario Elli and Sean Elliott, only got a total of 3 points in the first quarter. 4 points, but when the Spurs players left the field, Popovich still gave them his appreciation, because in Popovich's view, the performance of the Spurs in the first quarter was completely in line with the Their own strategy and requirements, and the Spurs have completely played their own tactics and arrangements, and even their performance is somewhat unexpected in Popovich's view. Compared with this morning's training session, their state All have improved a lot, especially Duncan, who is not far from his best state.

After the start of the second quarter, in order to recover the score that fell behind in the first quarter, Philip Sanders continued to dispatch all the main lineup, while the Spurs only had Meng Xu as the main force. During the game, Meng Xu's hand feeling was very poor, and both shots were shot with iron, so Popovich also thought, let Meng Xu lead the bench, and find the hand feel by the way.

"Chauncey, it's time for my performance, please keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully." Meng Xu, who was holding the ball below the center circle, started to play directly after teasing Billups. The ball accelerated, and after several consecutive changes of direction, Meng Xu completed the attack with a pull-up layup under the defense of Timberwolves center Dean Garrett.Ever since a big joke was made in the All-Star Game, Meng Xu has been practicing his layup now. Compared with before, it can be described as a huge improvement, but Meng Xu still has some problems with his layup. Not so satisfied.Because Meng Xu's ugly layup posture is really not suitable for him after the upgrade, compared with his aggressive big change of direction and fingertip dribble. Another very important reason is that Meng Xu The current layup percentage is really not that good. In training, even when no one is defending, Meng Xu often misses layups, let alone in fierce confrontational games.

With Meng Xu's breakthrough ability, it is too easy to break through Billups' defense, so when Meng Xu threw off Billups in a row and broke through to the inside of the Timberwolves twice, Garnett began to attack. Relaxed the defense against Samaki Walker and shrunk to the inside. As the Spurs' most threatening player on the field, the Timberwolves' defense will definitely focus on Meng Xu.Although Meng Xu's 3-pointer is also very good, but because Meng Xu's touch in the first quarter is really not very good, the Timberwolves' defense against Meng Xu is now tilted towards defensive breakthroughs.

(End of this chapter)