Chapter 19: The Premiere of the Century
After the score difference was reduced to 10 points, the game began to fall into anxiety, and the shooting percentage of players on both sides began to drop, and the sound of iron began to sound.
Boom~
With just over three minutes left in the game, Gugliotta received a pass from Kidd, but his shot missed the basket due to McDeis's interference.
Lafrenz took the initiative to card Chi Liang and gave up the defensive rebound to Chi Liang.
This is also Ji Liang's eighth rebound, and in the offense just now, Ji Liang also assisted Billups to score, and his assists have successfully doubled.
The game was about to end, and Chi Liang was afraid that he would be replaced by the coach halfway, and he would fall short at that time.
What Chi Liang didn't know was that D'Antoni had already noticed Chi Liang's data. He also knows the importance of the debut triple-double to Chi Liang, so naturally he doesn't want to be a villain, there is only so much he can help, as for whether Chi Liang can get the triple-double, it depends on his creation.
When it was the Nuggets' turn to attack, Van Exel advanced with the ball and soon came to the opposing half.
"Nick!"
At this point, McDyce took his position and began to beckon for the ball.
Without hesitation, Van Axel hoisted the ball to McDyce.
McDece skillfully stuck Gugliota in the back, and after the basketball started, he felt Gugliota clinging to his back, and McDyce completed the turn, and instantly paralleled Gugliotta.
Gogliotta was so frightened that he wanted to entangle McDyce. Unexpectedly, McDyce immediately stopped and opened up the shooting space.
"Be careful!"
Suddenly, Lafrentz's voice rang out, and a figure appeared in front of McDyce, also jumping, but it was Danny Manning.
The two are similar in height and bounce, and although Manning is a beat slower, it is very difficult to get a block, but it still has a distracting effect.
"Rebound!"
At the moment of landing, McDeyes yelled and entangled Manning to prevent him from snatching the rebound.
Boom~
The basketball smashed on the inside of the basket and bounced off less, and Lafrenz similarly tangled up Gugliotta and handed over the rebounding task to his teammates.
"Mine!"
Chi Liang reacted the fastest, mastered the landing at the first time, and got stuck in the best position.
Kidd wanted to snatch it, but he couldn't squeeze Ji Liang away, and watched Ji Liang grab the offensive rebound.
Without hesitation, Ji Liang jumped up, ignored Kidd's defense, and forcibly dunked the basketball into the basket.
Honk~
As the whistle blew, the referee announced that Kidd had committed a foul and Ji Liang added a free throw.
Brush~
There was no accident, and Chi Liang hit the penalty steadily.
The current Suns team has fallen into a predicament, even if the shooting rate of both sides has declined, the Nuggets can still continue to expand the point difference through positional battles.
At this time, Danny Ainge called a timeout again, and he was full of jealousy about Ji Liang's performance, but it was difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and the Suns did not effectively limit his forward.
By the time the timeout was over, the Suns' offense eased up a bit, and the players began to play success rates and score in quick succession.
It's a pity that Ji Liang still got a chance, and with the assist of Van Exel, he used the mid-range shot to get two points, only missing the last rebound.
It was also this goal that made the Suns feel desperate, and they would rather give up the game than get a triple-double for Ji Liang.
As long as Ji Liang debuts a triple-double, then the Suns will be nailed to the pillar of shame. In the future, whenever someone talks about the debut triple-double, or the youngest triple-double, they will think of this game.
At this time, Kidd specially suppressed the rhythm, and when the offensive time was about to end, he barely made a three-point shot.
Boom~
The goal didn't go in and bounced off the basket, but Ji Liang was also entangled by Gugliotta and Milic and didn't grab the rebound.
Eventually, the rebound was grabbed by McDyce and passed the ball to Billups.
At this time, Van Exel started to start and rushed towards the opposition half.
Without hesitation, Billups launched a long pass, but his passing accuracy was not as accurate as Ji Liang, and Van Exel had to slow down in order to catch the basketball before starting to take three steps.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kidd caught up and began to count silently as Van Exel took three steps.
One, two, three!
On the count of three, Kidd jumped up from his side and slapped his straight right arm at the basketball.
Van Exel was shocked, and hurriedly changed his stance, barely avoiding Kidd's block.
Even so, Van Exel was still affected, missed the layup, and ended up on the rebound.
Bang dang~
But when Kidd landed, the sound of a slam dunk suddenly sounded, and he hurriedly looked up to find that Ji Liang was hanging on the basket.
It turned out that after Van Exel's start, Ji Liang also followed closely behind, and finally seized the opportunity, scoring two points and taking the most important rebound.
At the end of the game, Ji Liang played a total of 20 minutes, shooting 6 of 8, including 2 of 3 three-pointers and 1 of 1 free throws, with extremely efficient efficiency, he made his debut with 15 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and did not make a single turnover.
After Ji Liang broke the record, D'Antoni finally replaced him and let him feel the glory.
Unfortunately, this is not the home court, only some generous Suns fans gave applause and cheers, and the rest were boos.
It was also at this time that the big screen at the scene began to show a comparison of the data of Chi Liang and the original record holder, Sharif Abdul Rahim.
Raheem, a member of the '96 Golden Generation, had his first triple-double at the age of 20 years and 129 days.
On April 19, 1997, the Vancouver Grizzlies defeated the visiting Suns, and Raheem had a triple-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
I don't know if it's a coincidence or fate, the bitter master last time was also the Suns!
Ji Liang set a new record at 20 years and 57 days, pushing the record of the youngest triple-double by 72 days.
For the NBA, this is only a dispensable record, and it is bound to be broken in the future.
However, this record is very useful for Ji Liang now, at least it can increase his status in the team.
On top of that, it was Ji Liang's debut, and it was enough to be one of the most amazing debuts in the NBA.
After Ji Liang went off the court, the Suns finally gave up resistance, and the Nuggets finally won their first game of the season.
In this game, the Suns' Kidd still performed well, scoring 15 points and 12 assists and 8 rebounds in a quasi-triple-double, but unfortunately the limelight was all covered by Ji Liang.
In the post-game press conference, the Nuggets still allowed the media to interview the players, although they still had to play back-to-backs.
Although it was only a regular season, because of Ji Liang's debut of the century, it naturally attracted the attention of the media.
Regarding the reporters' questions, Chi Liang's answers are relatively old-fashioned, and most of them are mainly official words and clichés, that is, they don't give the other party a chance to seize the flaws.