Legendary star

Chapter 698
"I hit again!"

When Meng Xu got rid of Josh Howard's defensive mid-range jumper again, Avery Johnson couldn't sit still on the sidelines. He couldn't remember how many timeouts he had called in the third quarter , and I don’t even remember how many points Meng Xu scored after his appearance in the third quarter. Anyway, the point difference on the scoreboard is getting bigger and bigger. Jerry Stackhouse’s three-pointer was scored by the Mavericks. The only lead in the game, and the Mavericks have never seen any hope of leading since then.

"Is there really no way to limit him?" Watching Meng Xu face Josh Howard and Adrian Griffin in this offense is a very unreasonable step-back jumper , Avery Johnson, who had stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, felt his heart beating wildly now. Every shot Meng Xu made seemed to be on Avery Johnson's heart. Like stabbed.

Avery Johnson arranged a lot of things before this game. From offense to defense, Avery Johnson made very careful arrangements, and even prepared several plans, but the game has been played so far. However, the strategies and tactics prepared by Avery Johnson failed to play out, especially the defensive arrangement around Meng Xu, which has almost failed so far.

Looking at Meng Xu who was still scoring, Avery Johnson didn't know whether he should call another timeout, because Avery Johnson knew that even if he called a timeout again, he didn't know what to do. To arrange the defense against Meng Xu, how to change the situation on the court, when Meng Xu's scoring efficiency alone exceeds the Mavericks team, any adjustments are futile, just like Phil Jackson once As I said, the only one who can guard against Meng Xu is himself.

So when the third quarter was over and looking at the 69-63 scoreboard on the scoreboard, Avery Johnson felt powerless for the first time, even when he was behind 0-2 at the beginning. Now, Avery Johnson has never felt this way, because he always believes that he and his team can get the score back, but today's game is not over yet, Avery Johnson's confidence has already shaken.

"Damn!" Looking at the former teammate wearing the No. 5 jersey of the Pacers, Avery Johnson is really uncomfortable now. In the past two seasons of coaching the Mavericks, Avery Johnson has created one after another. record, the best head coach, a super high winning percentage in the regular season, one step at a time, two years into the finals, in the face of one victory after another, Avery Johnson was even touted by the media in the United States as the future No. [-] in the NBA Coach, this is undoubtedly a very high evaluation and praise.

It’s just that Avery Johnson is a very realistic person, and no one can say for sure what will happen in the future. In addition, Avery Johnson doesn’t want to wait until ten or twenty years later, so what Avery Johnson pursues is Now, after eliminating the powerful Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, Avery Johnson has only one goal, and that is the championship, especially after adjusting the team lineup and killing the Suns at the same time. -Johnson's confidence is even higher than ever, as if he is the protagonist in the novel, and he is the "knight" who is expected by everyone to kill the Pacers. However, after the finals began, the reality hit Ai hard. Free - Johnson a stick.

From the beginning of the season, Avery Johnson has been studying Meng Xu and the Pacers, and before the first game of the finals, Avery Johnson also specifically asked his mentor Greg Popovich Wei Qi, and based on his own knowledge of Meng Xu, formulated several sets of strategies to restrict Meng Xu, but the facts told Avery Johnson that all his hard work was in vain, no matter what tactics he used, he would not Whether it is single defense or double-teaming, Meng Xu is still the same Meng Xu. Meng Xu, who scored only 7 points in the first half, scored 24 points in a single quarter in the third quarter. The Mavericks' defense is very important to Meng Xu It was completely useless, or in other words, as long as Meng Xu wanted to score, no one could stop him.

Although the score is behind and the situation on the court is not good for the Mavericks, after all, the game is not over, and as long as the game is not over, then everything is possible, so after hesitating for a long time, Avery Johnson decided to play After the start of the fourth quarter, all the main lineup will be dispatched for the final game. The main Pacers who have pressed the Mavericks for two quarters in the first and third quarters will definitely be in the fourth quarter. They had to rest for a while at the beginning of the quarter, otherwise their physical strength would not last until the last moment of the game.

"The Pacers and Mavericks deployed their respective main lineups at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It seems that the two sides are going to a decisive battle in advance." Seemingly seeing through Avery Johnson's thoughts, after the timeout ended, Rick -Carlisle also dispatched the main lineup very tacitly, preparing for an early decisive battle with the Mavericks.

"Meng Xu still has the strength to press Jason Terry?" As the whistle sounded at the start of the fourth quarter, Meng Xu, who was pressing Jason Terry in the backcourt , whether it was Michaels in the commentary booth or the audience at the scene, they were obviously a little surprised. The first quarter was tight, and the third quarter was still tight. Pressing the defense, is Meng Xu a perpetual motion machine?

At this time, Jason Terry, who was pressed by Meng Xu, was really tired. He was pressed by Tony Allen in front of him. After finally waiting for Tony Allen's physical strength to be exhausted, Meng Xu came again Now, and different from Tony Allen's relatively clean defense, Meng Xu, the No. Li was very annoyed. If it wasn't for the concern that this was the finals, and he obviously couldn't do it with Meng Xu, Jason Terry really wanted to compete with Meng Xu.

If Tony Allen's pressing defense still has a flaw, then Meng Xu's pressing defense is impenetrable and has no flaws at all. After dribbling for a long time in the backcourt, Jason Terry did not Trying to pass the middle circle, he was almost intercepted by Meng Xu. In desperation, Jason Terry had to call his teammates to cover and dribbled the ball through the middle circle before the 8-second violation.

However, after Jason Terry dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, he found out that Meng Xu's press in the backcourt was just the beginning. Under Meng Xu's impenetrable defense, Jason Terry would not talk about implementing the coach's arrangement. Even getting the ball was a bit difficult. After the basketball was dribbled back and forth by Jason Terry for more than 15 seconds, it was passed to Josh Howard on the left side of the three-point line under the cover of his teammates.

"The Mavericks' offense stopped again!" Several consecutive offenses, Jason Terry needed the cover of his teammates to advance the basketball to the frontcourt, and after reaching the frontcourt, Jason Terry was defended by Meng Xu It is difficult to play the ball. Under such circumstances, the Mavericks' offense is basically at a standstill.

Jason Terry's ability is actually not bad. A player who has been the boss of a team, even if the team is a big one, his strength will not be so bad, but Jason Terry After all, he is not a first-class point guard like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd. Facing Meng Xu's level of defense, Jason Terry is really at a loss. With the help of his teammates, he got rid of Meng Xu, but the more times he did, the more he would inevitably walk by the river without getting his shoes wet.

"Meng Xu stole the ball again, the Pacers launched a fast break, Meng Xu passed the ball to Tony Allen, Tony Allen passed back to Meng Xu, a beautiful alley-oop, the point difference between the two sides has reached 10 separated."

"Looks like the Mavericks are done."

After the point difference between the two sides was expanded to 10 points, the morale and fighting spirit of the Mavericks continued to decline at a speed visible to the naked eye. Several Mavericks players on the field, except Dirk Nowitzki, treated the game Attitudes have clearly changed.

After being intercepted by Meng Xu twice in a row, Jason Terry didn't even dare to advance with the ball in the backcourt, and the rest of the Mavericks players were obviously not as active as the front when running without the ball. The situation on the court is already like this, and Michaels and Magic Johnson can naturally see that the Mavericks are really going to die this time.

(End of this chapter)