NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

After Nowitzki finally scored the goal, there wasn't even much cheering or shouting in the American Airlines Arena; the fans didn't celebrate or revel much.

Their first reaction was to let out a long sigh of relief.

it is finally over!
The long scoring drought and the painful, depressing, and embarrassing feast of missed shots have finally come to an end.

We can finally catch our breath.

"Give it your all! Get tough! Our goal remains the same!" After scoring, Nowitzki clapped his hands with all his might and roared to boost his teammates' morale.

"Yes!"

The team leader shouted loudly, and finally broke the scoring drought with a score. The Mavericks players naturally gave him face and shouted almost at the same time. The team's morale was finally boosted and they were no longer listless.

Allen even slammed his fist on the floor to show his determination as he retreated to a defensive position, and also hurled a few trash words at Kobe.

"I'm not afraid of you! Come on, again!"

"Keep defending! I'll help you defend!" Bogut shouted loudly, demonstrating his status as the guardian of the basket.

"I'm here for you!" James shouted back, "I'll stand behind you! We're a team!"

"pause!"

Just as the Mavericks were showing their determination, their anger rising and their morale soaring, ready to capitalize on the momentum and turn the tide of the game, Lin Tian, ​​who was leisurely dribbling the ball to the frontcourt, cheekily stretched out his hand and made a technical foul.

He requested a pause.

Then, turning back to the Mavericks players, he said, "You guys are too fierce, you scared me. I need to take a break during this timeout."

Did I scare you?

The Mavericks' five starters were all speechless.

Do you think we can scare you? If we were that capable, would you have beaten us to 15-2 by now?

fart!

You can't believe a single word that bastard says!

Frustrated, frustrated, and helpless.

The Mavericks' morale had just been boosted, and they had just had a chance to turn things around and narrow the gap, but before that could even begin, Lin Tian's timeout interrupted it all.

The feeling is like the engine suddenly shutting off just when the piston is in the final moments of its motion, and you're about to step on the gas and launch yourself.

That feeling of frustration could drive a person completely insane.

"What perfect timing for that timeout!" Van Gundy exclaimed. "Johnson could really learn from Lin about timing his timeouts. His timeout just now was terrible—too late and too slow!"

"As for Lin, really, if he had called earlier, Nowitzki wouldn't have started to boost the team's morale yet, and the disruption to the Mavericks' rhythm wouldn't have been maximized. If he had called later, by the time this possession was over, the Mavericks might have already had a successful offensive or defensive possession."

"But it's precisely at this crucial juncture that the Mavericks are forced into an incredibly uncomfortable, limbo-stalemate. Genius! Truly a genius!"

Miller chimed in, "I think Lin was waiting for Nowitzki. He was waiting for Nowitzki to finish calling the play and boost the team's morale before calling a timeout. He did it on purpose."

"That bastard's specialty is waiting for you to make a mistake, waiting to find your weakest point, and then seizing that weakness to attack! Countless players and teams have fallen victim to Lin's ability!"

"The Mavericks might really be in deep trouble tonight."

"There's nothing to say about this timeout," Jackson said, spreading his hands and smiling. "How about we all give ourselves a round of applause? Our performance over the last three minutes was perfect! Absolutely flawless, flawless!"

"Then, let's give Lin another round of applause. His timeout call was absolutely brilliant, absolutely brilliant! I've never seen a more perfect timeout. So, let's give Lin a round of applause."

After two rounds of laughter and applause, Jackson gestured for everyone to be quiet before continuing with his instructions.

"In the upcoming matches, all we need to do is maintain our previous intensity and style of play, continue our previous form, keep our passion and rhythm, and crush them! Keep crushing them!"

"Next, they will definitely change their offensive focus, making James and Nowitzki the main scorers, and bringing their offensive rhythm back to the normal pattern."

"Everyone, get yourselves together! Pay attention! If we can stop those two, we've got the game in the bag tonight!"

"At halftime, let's try to turn the game into garbage time by the second half! Let's completely crush them!"

"Last night, the Cavaliers blew up the Heat from a distance. They were showing us their power, trying to prove they're better than us! And what we're going to do tonight is do the same thing, and do it even better than them!"

"Go! Destroy the Mavericks! Let's put an end to this series tonight!"

"Yes!"

The Lakers players shouted together, and all five starters stood up at the same time, and the game continued!

After this timeout, neither side made any substitutions; both teams fielded their original starting lineups.

The Lakers inbounded the ball, and Lin Tian could feel that Williams' defensive aggression had noticeably increased.

But it didn't affect him much.

If Lin Tian's normal defensive ability is 8, and his full-power mode when he's fully in form is 10, then Williams' usual defensive ability is about 2, but now that he's unleashed his full potential, it's estimated to reach a level of 3.

For Lin Tian, ​​there is basically no difference, except that he has to make a crossover or a between-the-legs dribble when passing him.

Lin Tian also noticed that the Mavericks' defensive intensity and performance had improved significantly, making it much harder for the Lakers to get open looks again.

Clearly, when Johnson called the timeout, he gave his players a good talking-to, telling them to start with defense.

Since you're starting with defense, I'll start by dismantling your defense! As for the target, it's the Mavericks' worst defensive position right now, the one where they can most easily gain an advantage.

Lin Tian has his sights set on Williams!
Lin Tian used two consecutive crossover dribbles and upper body feints to deceive Williams' defense, then suddenly accelerated and once again managed to blow past Williams in one step.

This is the result of Williams' focused and dedicated defense: Lin Tian made an extra feint, then accelerated and got past him cleanly.

As soon as Lin Tian drove into the three-point line, he immediately felt the Mavericks' defensive pressure was much stronger than before. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by several Mavericks players.

Without hesitation, Lin Tian glanced at the ball and immediately determined who was open on the court, who was in the best position, who had the biggest opening, and who was in their best scoring area.

After quickly assessing the situation on the court, Lin Tian delivered a bounce pass to the baseline, where Barnes, who had gained space due to being double-teamed, made a rapid cut to the basket.

On the Lakers' court, the most overlooked person is also the one with the lowest presence!
Meanwhile, the player Barnes was guarding was another vulnerability on the court besides Williams, which the Mavericks needed to improve their defense.

Nowitzki!

Nowitzki's defense wasn't as useless or terrible as Williams's.

Nowitzki is generally fine guarding traditional power forwards, at least passable most of the time. However, after Jackson largely abandoned Turiaf and started using Barnes more often, Nowitzki's defensive weaknesses immediately became apparent.

Nowitzki's lack of speed, especially against players with good awareness, off-the-ball movement, and a knack for cutting to the basket, makes his defensive problems even more apparent!
In this round, Lin Tian not only targeted one of the Mavericks' weaknesses, but also attacked both of their weaknesses simultaneously.

The results are naturally outstanding!
With a crisp "swish," Barnes made a floater near the basket, scoring 2 points for the team!
Jackson couldn't help but say, "The vision and instinct of a top-tier guard! That's what makes Lin so formidable. He can always find the opponent's weaknesses immediately and attack them in the first instance, delivering a fatal blow!"

"If I had Lin's ability to find an opponent's weaknesses and then attack them, I would definitely win the championship!"

"Keep dreaming. If you had that ability, we wouldn't have had to wait for Lin to join us to win the championship back then. We would have crushed Michael and the others long ago!" Miller naturally showed no mercy in refusing to criticize his old partner's boasting.

Meanwhile, on the court, the Lakers were relentlessly attacking the Mavericks' weaknesses, and the Mavericks were not to be outdone, launching their own attacks on the Lakers' weaknesses as well.

Nowitzki's one-on-one!
After the timeout, the Mavericks finally pulled out their trump card, sending Nowitzki to the low post to match up against Barnes and isolate him.

Nowitzki simply couldn't keep up with Barnes' speed and was easily outmaneuvered by his cuts.

However, there isn't a single player on your entire Lakers team who can match up against Nowitzki!
Nowitzki can play with ease and dominance against the Lakers' entire frontcourt!
For example, in this play, Nowitzki easily drove to the basket with a spin move and made a strong move. After a fierce confrontation with Barnes in the air, although Nowitzki's layup missed, the referee quickly blew the whistle and gave Barnes a foul for hitting his hand.

Nowitzki gets two free throws!
"That's what the Mavericks should do," Van Gundy said. "Keep it simple! Keep the game simple! Focus on their key players, let James and Nowitzki handle the game!"

"Of course, I'm not saying that Johnson shouldn't make changes, or that the rest of the Mavericks are completely incompetent. It's just that even if the Mavericks want to make changes, they need to be quick and responsive."

"If you encounter difficulties, make changes; if you can't win, switch tactics; if your tactics aren't working, change tactics. You are currently in a completely disadvantageous and adverse situation, so you must be quick, instead of stubbornly sticking to the same tactics until the opponent pulls you back before slowly thinking about changing tactics and tactics."

"Then it will be too late."

"The Mavericks' current situation doesn't allow them to experiment so slowly; they're on the edge of a cliff! The Lakers will kick the Mavericks into the abyss whenever they get the chance, and the Mavericks' job is to not give the Lakers that chance!"

"In the first half of the first quarter, the Mavericks did a terrible job, while the Lakers did almost perfect in that respect! This is the real reason why the score difference was more than 10 points so early on!"

"Fortunately, there's still plenty of time in the game, and the Mavericks still have a chance. Let's see how they make up for the mistakes they made earlier."

After two clean, crisp sounds, Nowitzki made both free throws, successfully narrowing the score gap for his team.

But the Mavericks were clearly not ready to relax at all. After Lin Tian came to the frontcourt again, he immediately called for a pick and roll.

This time, the one who came to cooperate with Lin Tian was Barnes!

Lin Tian needs to continue exploiting the Mavericks' defensive weaknesses at positions 1-4!
After Lin Tian and Barnes made a crossover, the Mavericks' defense once again encountered communication problems.

Nowitzki and Williams both felt that Lin Tian was a greater threat, so they both rushed towards Lin Tian, ​​completely ignoring Barnes's cut.

At this point, it was too late for the two to make amends. They could only continue to flailing their arms and legs to interfere with Lin Tian's pass, but obviously, it was useless!
Lin Tian seized the opportunity and made another one-handed bounce pass, but the basketball did not fly towards Barnes.

Because Barnes was blocked by Bogut who came to help defend! The Mavericks' defensive rotation caught up with this!
But he couldn't keep up with Lin Tian's attack.

Lin Tian seemed to have anticipated that Bogut would come to help defend, and his bounce pass was directly aimed at the position where Bogut would come to help defend.

Even the most people couldn't tell whether Lin Tian passed the ball first or Bogut moved his feet to help defend first.

In short, almost at the same time, Bynum was missed, and then the basketball came into his hands. All of this happened at the same time, giving everyone a sense of temporal dislocation.

"An artistic pass!" Fellow point guard Jackson always delivers the best praise at this moment: "It gives me the illusion that Lin passed the ball to Bynum, and then Bogut immediately moved aside, giving Lin an open shot!"

“But we all know that’s impossible! The truth is that Lin anticipated that Bogut would help defend Barnes, so he passed the ball directly to Bynum.”

"Incredible! I can only say incredible!"

It wasn't just the commentators and fans who found it unbelievable; Bynum himself was also a little incredulous.

No, I was just about to raise my hand to indicate that I had missed, but before I could even raise my hand, the ball came over?
Is it possible to do it that fast?
This moment of surprise almost caused Bynum to lose his grip on the ball. Fortunately, after a stumble, Bynum managed to grab the basketball, but he also lost the opportunity to dunk directly. It was only because Bynum had a good touch that he managed to bank the ball into the basket even when it was almost out of his hands.

"Mine!" After scoring, Bynum didn't celebrate. Instead, he quickly returned to defense while apologizing to Lin Tian: "I really didn't expect the basketball to come to me so quickly."

"Stay alert!" Lin Tian and Bynum high-fived. "We haven't won yet, stay alert! Everyone, pay attention, stay alert! Don't let your guard down, don't relax even for a moment!"

"Yes!"

Lin Tian's call to action immediately received the support of all his teammates, with the other four responding in unison, once again demonstrating the Lakers' unity and confidence.

For the Mavericks, after Nowitzki scored, it was immediately James' turn. He once again used his signature drive, forcefully pushing past Durant and scoring 2 more points under the basket.

However, Lin Tian once again exploited the Mavericks' weakness. This time, he set a screen with Barnes, and the Mavericks' defense was fine this time. After a quick switch, Nowitzki was matched up against Lin Tian.

Fighting big guys with small ones is Lin Tian's specialty!
With continuous stationary dribbling and subtle changes of direction, Nowitzki was so shaken by Lin Tian's rhythm that he could barely keep up.

Then Lin Tian suddenly pulled up and decisively launched a mid-range jump shot from the spot!
Normally, a smaller person fighting a larger person wouldn't be so arrogant as to just pick up the ball and throw it.

That's practically a hat-finding exercise.

Smaller players should use their constant changes in rhythm and speed to create absolute space before shooting or driving to the basket.

But this time, Lin Tian made several movements almost on the spot, and then just nimbly pulled out his hand.

Normally, Nowitzki would be able to jump immediately to interfere or even block the shot.

But since Lin Tian is confident that he can pull it up, then this situation must be abnormal!

Sure enough, as Lin Tian pulled it up, Nowitzki acted as if he hadn't seen it at all. He only barely stretched out his hand as a gesture, while the rest of his body remained completely still, not following Lin Tian's movements at all.

Anyone who knows basketball can immediately see that Lin Tian completely fooled Nowitzki by dribbling in place, which prevented Nowitzki from even making this most basic reaction and could only watch Lin Tian shoot.

I can't keep up, I really can't keep up!

Nowitzki even felt that if he tried to jump and block the shot, he would most likely lose his balance and fall awkwardly onto Lin Tian.

Therefore, between committing a foul that would give Lin Tian free throws or even a 2+1 play, and watching Lin Tian shoot, he reluctantly chose the latter.

Can't we bet on him missing the shot?

Unfortunately, Lin Tian's gambling luck is renowned throughout the league!
Anyone who gambles with him is guaranteed to lose!

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, the Lakers' score couldn't be stopped!
Fortunately, the Mavericks responded with a three-pointer, narrowing the gap by one point.

Then, when Lin Tian found Barnes again and asked him to use his speed and cuts to exploit Nowitzki's lack of speed, Barnes' layup was interfered with by Bogut and ultimately bounced off the rim.

After Barnes' layup, the Lakers' shooting accuracy finally began to decline. (End of Chapter)