Legendary star

Chapter 643 The Battle of Gods and Buddhas (2)

"Tim, I will definitely kick your ass hard today." Although he knew that Tim Duncan was joking with himself and was deliberately angry with himself, Meng Xu still pretended to be irritated by Duncan, turned and left At the time, he said something like a declaration of war to Duncan viciously.

"That's exactly what I want to say to you!" For some reason, Tim Duncan, who usually doesn't bicker with others, always talks a little too much every time he plays against Meng Xu. After he declared war, Duncan responded unceremoniously.

"Then let's wait and see!" After Duncan finished speaking, Meng Xu curled his lips, and then turned around and walked towards the Pacers' bench without even looking at Duncan.

"This bastard is really disgusting." Regardless of whether Meng Xu did it on purpose or not, and regardless of Meng Xu's current mood, it was Meng Xu's disdainful expression that happened to be suppressed by the crowd on the Spurs bench. After all, these people are not as polite to Meng Xu as Duncan and Popovich. They were very upset when they saw Meng Xu enter the field and the fans in the SBC Center cheered and applauded Meng Xu, so when they saw Meng Xu After Meng Xu and Duncan exchanged "trash talk", these guys became even more furious.

In today's game, the Pacers' starting lineup has not changed much. It still maintains the lineup from the previous game. Point guard Tony Allen, shooting guard Tyshawn Prince, small forward Meng Xu, Power forward Jermaine O'Neal and center NN Hilario.

The Spurs' starting lineup has undergone obvious adjustments. The first is Tim Duncan, who basically plays the fourth position. The position is Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen is still the small forward, and at the shooting guard position, Manu Ginobili, who was unstoppable last season, did not start today and replaced him Michael Finley, who was bought out by the Mavericks and then joined the Spurs with a basic salary as a veteran, played the game. The point guard is still Tony Parker. The Spurs' lineup today is a typical one. The deterrence at the basket and Bruce Bowen's strong perimeter defense make the Spurs don't have to worry about the team's defense even if they deploy such a lineup.

After the Spurs won the championship last season, many veterans who have not yet tasted the taste of the championship, but do not want to go to the Pacers, have come one after another. Among these people, Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel are the most famous. As an All-Star who still has the power to fight, Nick Van Exel and Mike Finley, who only need a veteran's basic salary, are undoubtedly the favorites in the free market. An invitation was issued, but the Pacers' invitation was rejected very simply. Joining him if they can't beat him is undoubtedly an insult to these proud people, especially the only time in their career that they were defeated by Meng in the finals. Mike Finley, who was beaten up by Xu, even said, "Even if there is no championship in his entire career, he will not go to the Pacers."

"The battle of gods and Buddhas has officially begun!" When the players from both sides finished warming up and Tim Duncan and Jermaine O'Neal, representing the jump balls of the two teams, walked into the center circle and prepared to jump balls, Magic on the sidelines Master Johnson shouted uncontrollably.

"The Battle of the Gods and Buddhas?" Michaels was surprised at first when he heard the title given to this game by Magic Johnson, and then he nodded and agreed.Like all superstars, after entering the league, Meng Xu has had multiple nicknames, and the most famous of them is "Odin". The sneakers designed by Nike for Meng Xu are also named "Odin". series, and Odin is the king of the gods in Nordic mythology. As for Tim Duncan, he successively has the titles of Stone Tower, Great Basic Skill, Stone Buddha, etc., so Magic Johnson put the relationship between Meng Xu and Tim Duncan It is entirely possible to call the duel the "Battle of Gods and Buddhas", and such a title undoubtedly adds a little more gimmick to the duel between the two.

Although every time he meets Tim Duncan, Jermaine O'Neal will be suppressed without any suspense, but as a "jump ball finisher", Jermaine O'Neal still beats Tim Duncan in this jump ball , Gained the first opportunity for the visiting Pacers to attack.

The Spurs retreated very quickly and did not give the Pacers any chance to play a fast break, so the game fell into a positional battle at the beginning. Tony Allen, who received the ball in the backcourt, dribbled the ball through the middle circle, and put The basketball in his hand was handed over to Meng Xu, who had already reached the left side of the three-point line. Relying on his outstanding performance in the playoffs last season, Tony Allen replaced Sarunas Jascovitius this season and became the As the starting point guard of the Pacers, Tony Allen does not have as much tactical authority as Sarunas Jaskovicius. Tony Allen is also aware of this, and he is far behind in terms of organization and offense. Not as good as Sarunas Jaskovicius, and what the coach valued him was his defense and good open three-point ability. Therefore, after handing over the basketball to Meng Xu, Tony Allen did not hesitate to Physical strength wants to get rid of Tony Parker who is defending himself, and find a suitable open opportunity.

As for Meng Xu, Bruce Bowen followed Meng Xu closely at the beginning of the game and defended Meng Xu closely. After Meng Xu received a pass from Tony Allen, he should have defended Jermaine. - O'Neal's Robert Horry immediately gave up on Jermaine O'Neal's defense and rushed to double-team Meng Xu. One is tall, has excellent wingspan, one has excellent footwork, and has a tough personal defense. There is no doubt that The Spurs have put a lot of effort into their defensive strategy against Meng Xu.

"Hey, kid, I know your shooting is very accurate, come on, come on and shoot!" Robert Holly, who was helping to defend, focused on every movement of Meng Xu, while still not forgetting to taunt, He wanted to disrupt Meng Xu's rhythm with this.

Compared with Robert Hawley, who still has the energy to provoke Meng Xu, Bruce Bowen, who is in charge of defending Meng Xu, is facing an enemy at this moment. Bowen has fought against Meng Xu many times. For this all-round Crushing his opponent, Bruce Bowen didn't dare to take it lightly, because it only takes a small mistake, and the guy in front of him can easily break his defense, and he doesn't even need to show any flaws himself. You can use your body to directly crush yourself, so Bruce Bowen kept harassing Meng Xu with small movements, while staring at Meng Xu's every move with concentration, trying to predict Meng Xu's next move in advance.

In the face of double-teaming, generally speaking, the safest choice is to pass the ball. After all, as long as the opponent chooses double-teaming, there will be a player on his side who is unguarded, but for a player of Meng Xu's level Generally speaking, the difference between double-teaming and non-teaming is actually that when attacking, the difficulty is a little higher and the physical exertion is a little bit more.

So after Robert Hawley taunted, Meng Xu gave up his plan to pass the ball. Although it was irrational to do so, Meng Xu still chose to be willful. After all, for a player of Meng Xu's level, if someone provokes him If you don't call back, that is absolutely unacceptable. This time he provoked you, but you didn't respond, then his provocations will definitely become more unscrupulous in the future.

After making up his mind, Meng Xu first made a forcible turn, then used his right foot as the axis, swayed left and right on the spot, and then leaned against Bruce Bowen to forcibly turn around. Lean back and shoot directly outside the line.

"Big man, this ball is for you!" Meng Xu responded to the gloomy Robert Holly after the shot was made.

(End of this chapter)