With Xue Ding's three-point shot into the net, the score came to 5-2.

The Trail Blazers took the lead for the first time after opening the game, and the home crowd began to cheer.

The opening few rounds were fast-paced, and Paul wanted to rely on his pace to establish an advantage in the opening stanza.

However, after the next round, the shooting percentages of both sides were not bad, and the Hornets were not able to catch up with the score, and after the first half of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers led the Hornets 16-13 into the advertising timeout.

During the timeout, Paul was a little emotional about falling behind, and now that the Hornets have three games left in the regular season, they are one win away from eighth place in the West.

That means the Hornets will have to win at least two of their next three games, and the Nuggets, who are in eighth place in the West, will have to lose at least two games if they can catch up with the difference.

So in the face of falling behind at the beginning, Paul was obviously a little dissatisfied.

During the timeout, when the head coach of the Hornets was preparing to lay out the tactics, Paul stood aside and kept telling his teammates how to run and how to defend the Trail Blazers' top players, and the focus was naturally on how to defend Xue Ding in a targeted manner.

On the Trail Blazers' side, due to the team's serious injury situation this season, Aldridge was unexpectedly injured in the last game and reimbursed for the season, and head coach Pritchard let the players rest as much as possible during the timeout, and did not have much arrangement, in this situation, as long as they can ensure the health of all players.

Because the current situation of the Trail Blazers can say that as long as there is no very unlikely event, they can definitely enter the playoffs, and the rest of the game is just to pick the first-round opponent of the playoffs.

The timeout is over and the players from both sides return to the field.

The Trail Blazers possessed the ball and started the first offense on the court.

Blake served the ball to Roy in the backcourt, and Roy slowly dribbled the ball across the halfcourt, signaling his teammates to press the rhythm.

Obviously, Roy's knee was a little unbearable after playing the fastball for half a quarter with the Hornets.

Roy controlled the ball outside the top of the left arc for 14 seconds, then began to direct his teammates to run, and then passed the ball to Xue Ding, who faced Stojkovic in a disguised way and burst into the three-point line.

Seeing that Xue Ding easily got rid of Stojkovic, Paul saw this and thought that Xue Ding was going to make a layup, so he immediately came over and stood in a good position to prepare for an offensive foul on Xue Ding.

When Xue Ding took the ball and was about to rush in, he happened to see Paul standing over, trying to avoid Paul's layup, but it was too late at this time, and he was about to hit Paul!

Xue Ding then passed the ball to Batum who was empty outside the three-point line with his back, and he was unbalanced and sideways to avoid Paul, and the whole process took less than two seconds.

Even the baseline referee on the side already thought that Xue Ding would definitely take the ball and hit Paul, who was already in a good position, and one arm had been raised slightly, as long as Xue Ding and Paul made contact and knocked Paul down, he could immediately blow the whistle and blow Xue Ding's foul.

But he didn't expect that after Xue Ding passed the ball, he turned sideways to avoid Paul, and the two did not have direct physical contact.

Everything came too fast.

Batum, who was outside the three-point line, received a pass from Xue Ding and shot a three-pointer directly on the spot.

"Huh!"

Hollow into the net.

The cheers of the audience lasted for a long time, not only for Batum's three-point shot, but also for Xue Ding's beautiful back pass before.

In the first round after the pause, not only did not cause Xue Ding's mistake, but because Batum, who was opposite him, was let go by himself, he hit a three-pointer.

Paul looked a little frustrated, and after receiving the serve, he slapped the ball hard.

Paul carried the ball to the frontcourt, Collison came to cover, and Paul handed the ball to West.

West took the ball and probed it in the box before passing it back to Paul.

Paul took the ball, and after some changes of defense, Xue Ding appeared next to Paul.

Facing Xue Ding, Paul was obviously still worried about the ball just now, and motioned to his teammates to pull them all away, and he wanted to play Xue Ding alone.

You know, Paul came to prominence when he first entered the league, and under his leadership, the Hornets can enter the playoffs every year, in addition to wearing a good hand, Paul's mid-range is also a killer weapon, and in the previous games, there was also a stunning performance of the dunk monster Howard.

Now facing Xue Ding, a rookie who has just entered the league for a year, and a trailblazer full of injuries, not only did he fail to lead the Hornets to take the lead on the road, but let Xue Ding just show off a trick in front of him, and actually assisted Batum with three points with a back pass!

The Hornets players quickly opened up space for singles, and in the face of Xue Ding, Paul rhythmically dribbled under the crotch.

Suddenly, he started and wanted to break through from Xue Ding's right side.

Although the meniscus was removed, Paul's explosiveness was still there, and he did succeed in passing Xue Ding and slipping into the paint area.

At this time, in the three-second zone, the Trail Blazers' basket was empty, and Chandler saw Paul break through Xue Ding and was ready to come over to make up for the defense, but Stojkovic was entangled with him.

In the face of the empty blue, Paul chose the safest way, throwing and scoring.

This way of scoring is nothing for him.

But what happened next was something that Paul never expected, and it was enough for him to remember for a lifetime.

After Paul throw, he was already ready to return to defense, but at this time, Xue Ding suddenly jumped up from behind Paul.

The ball that was thrown out was already running to the basket in the air and was still in the rising stage, but from this arc, it was definitely a stable ball, and between the lightning and flint, Xue Ding's palm appeared above the ball.

Paul didn't even react from the joy of scoring, Xue Ding had already covered it with a strong palm!

"Wow~"

The audience at the scene applauded Xue Ding's wonderful block, and many viewers had already stood up from their seats and waved their fists at the venue.

Undoubtedly, Xue Ding's block greatly boosted the morale of the pioneers, and the passion of the audience was completely ignited by Xue Ding's block.

Xue Ding, who successfully took off the rebound, took the ball in his hand, and Paul, who was covered, was stunned for a moment, and immediately wanted to snatch the ball from Xue Ding's hand after reacting.

But how could Xue Ding, who was almost two meters tall, give Paul such a chance and pass the ball directly to Chandler.

Chandler transitioned and threw it to Batum, who had already gone down to the frontcourt, Batum held the ball and tried to break inside, and Chandler went down to the blue bottom.

When the ball arrives, Chandler gets the ball in the three-second zone and dunks!