Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Last Hour (Part 2)
Johnson controlled the basketball, he didn't rush to attack, began to wait for his teammates to get in place, and after some passing, Duncan soon received the basketball, causing McDyce to foul, make two free throws, and recover two points.
In the following time, Duncan began to explode, and he scored in many ways, hitting the board and shooting, breaking through the dunk, hooking hands, etc., which completely blew McDyes.
By the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets not only did not take advantage of the bargain, but were chased back by the Spurs for three points.
86:81
With the home team in front and the away team behind, the Nuggets have little advantage, and the Spurs can catch up with just one shockwave.
At the start of the fourth quarter, both teams played their main forces, and according to the rules, the Spurs had the ball.
Duncan remained on the court, a little out of breath at this point, and he stayed on the court for the rest of the time except for a two-minute break.
Ji Liang stood near the restricted area, with his speed and agility, except for the three-point line, the rest were all in his range.
Johnson held the ball past half court and the Spurs' perimeter players began to move, drawing away the opposing players, at which point Rose stepped forward to receive the ball.
Chi Liang can only follow Rose, as long as the other party makes a move, he can react immediately.
After luring Ji Liang out, Rose paused slightly, and instead of holding the ball too much, he handed it to Elliott in a hand-to-hand manner.
With Rose's cover, Elliott began to break through with the ball. Ji Liang hurriedly gave up Rose and followed Elliott closely, now he is in a dynamic vision state, and his reaction has reached the extreme, as long as Elliott has a shot, he can interfere as quickly as possible.
In the blink of an eye, Elliott managed to get into the box and remembered to shoot a jumper.
Ji Liang hurriedly took two steps, raised his right hand high, and slapped the basketball from the side.
Elliott was shocked, his reaction was not slow, in order to avoid Ji Liang's block, he hurriedly raised the range of shots, but his strength was obviously not mastered well, and he bounced in the basket, and it looked like it was about to pop out.
However, at this moment, Rose, who had been down from the cover, rushed up and jumped to the basketball.
With this force, the basketball stumbled into the basket and narrowed the margin to three points.
"Don't squeeze to the right, give me the ball!"
After switching between attack and defense, Ji Liang ran to the horn position, commanded his teammates to vacate the right side, and then asked Alexander for the ball.
As soon as he received the basketball, Rose kept up with him, and at the same time, the Spurs' defense began to shrink inward, beware of Ji Liang's breakthrough.
Ji Liang dribbled the basketball and glanced at the penalty area, he found that the penalty area was very blocked, and once he broke through from the front, he was bound to encounter the bag.
The next moment, Ji Liang made a choice, first using a tentative step, suddenly transferring the ball from the left side to the right, wanting to break through Rose.
Rose was not slow to react, and used sliding steps to block Ji Liang's breakthrough direction, but before he could gain a foothold, Ji Liang dribbled under his crotch, handed the ball to his left hand, and completed the breakthrough from the other side.
Rose wanted to move, but he couldn't keep up with Ji Liang's pace at all, so he had to turn around and chase back.
In the Spurs' penalty area, Duncan, who was originally targeting McDyes, had to step forward and wanted to help defend.
Suddenly, Ji Liang raised his right hand and made a gesture of passing the ball to McDyce. Duncan subconsciously moved to the side, and when he found out that this was a feint, Ji Liang suddenly accelerated, passed Duncan in one step, jumped with both legs, and dunked the ball into the basket with force.
In the later time, his teammates' hand declined, and Ji Liang had to focus on singles, and for a while his shooting rate remained high, and neither Rose nor Elliott could limit him.
Compared to the Nuggets, the Spurs have a better fit, but with the help of Ji Liang, their efficiency has decreased, but due to Duncan, the point difference is still within the trailing range.
With the clock ticking down, with two minutes left in the game, the Nuggets led the Spurs by seven points, 109:102.
At this time, the Spurs opted for a timeout.
"Ji Liang, continue to strengthen the outside defense, don't give them the opportunity to shoot easily. But don't miss your opposing player, and if not, send him to the free throw line with a foul! ”
During the timeout, D'Antoni made the following set-up, and in order to maintain the advantage, he had to let the team strengthen their defense, and if they only needed to defend one or two shots, the Nuggets would surely win.
At the same time, D'Antoni has also stepped up his efforts to keep an eye on Duncan, who has caused a lot of trouble for the Nuggets tonight, and he has scored 32 points so far.
After the timeout, David Robinson continued to play, recovering some energy and enough to ensure the rest of the game.
The Spurs possessed the ball, and after a pass, Duncan received the ball with both hands, and due to Robinson's relationship, his opponent became Ji Liang.
For both sides, this goal is crucial. But even in a state of dynamic vision, Chi Liang did not dare to guarantee that he could completely restrict Duncan.
The next moment, Duncan slapped the basketball, took advantage of the Sikma step to complete the turn, followed by a step up, one hand set up Chi Liang, and the other hand was about to use the hook.
At this time, McDyce hurriedly let go of Robinson and rushed towards Duncan, but Duncan flipped his wrist and passed the ball to Robinson.
Bang dang~
Robinson dunked hard to reduce the gap to five points and re-stabilize the situation.
In order to avoid being beaten into a fast break by the opponent, Robinson hurriedly let go of the basket and quickly returned to defense.
After serving, Alexander dribbled past half court and glanced up at the timer to kill time.
With more than a minute left, the Nuggets, who have a five-point advantage, can completely reduce the tempo and increase the winning rate.
But the Spurs couldn't wait, and it was extremely bad for them to drag it any longer, Johnson hurriedly lifted up, and his small movements began to increase, adding a little bit of aggression.
Johnson's small action made Alexander feel very uncomfortable, and hurriedly handed the ball to Stich, who came to pick it up.
The moment Steic received the ball, Elliott immediately discarded the opposing player and unleashed a trap on Steich.
Stich panicked and tried to pass the ball, but before the basketball could be passed, Jackson flew and poked the ball off and rolled to the floor.
Elliott, who was on the side, was quick to grab, grabbed the basketball as soon as possible, and immediately threw the ball to the frontcourt.
It turned out that at the moment of Jackson's steal, Johnson spotted the opportunity for a fast break and immediately rushed forward as fast as he could.
In the off-ball state, he is the fastest in the whole game, coupled with early reaction, by the time the Nuggets players want to chase back, it is obviously too late.
Johnson scored on a layup to close the gap again.
109:106
In the last minute, the Nuggets still had a three-point advantage, and everyone could win.