Chapter 207 - The first battle of the comeback
On January 5, 2009, the Heat finally welcomed the Spurs' troika at their home arena, the American Airlines Center.
And this game has also attracted attention from all walks of life, first of all, Li Yao, who was banned for 8 games because of the beating incident, has finally returned, and secondly, the battle between the 22-11 Spurs troika and the 22-10 Heat backcourt double gun.
When the DJ at the scene announced the Heat's starting five, when he passionately read Li Yao's name, all the audience in the American Airlines Center Arena immediately stood up and gave Li Yao the most enthusiastic applause to welcome their heroic return.
Li Yao himself did not expect that he would be so warmly welcomed by the fans after his comeback from ban, so a sense of pride suddenly rose in his heart, although today they will face the troika of the Spurs, but Li Yao also said that he would pull the troika off the carriage.
When the players on both sides stood in the center circle and jumped the ball, Mark. Gasol relied on his young physical fitness to overpower the aging Shi Buddha and easily turned the basketball to his side.
When Li Yao held the basketball steadily, he found that all the players of the Spurs at this time had retreated to their own half of the court for the first time, and they put on a defensive posture tightly.
Li Yao shook his head, in fact, he has been in the NBA so far, and only when facing the Spurs will he feel a sense of offensive powerlessness, just because this Spurs team is always so calm and steady, and their defense is running steadily like a precision machine.
Li Yao did not choose to try to use his breakthrough to impact the Spurs' defense at the first time, although he resumed training again in recent days, but after all, he has not played in 8 official games, so Li Yao still chose to steadily throw the ball to Wade on the side, he needs to re-familiarize himself with the rhythm of the game.
Wade confronts Roger. Mason's defense instantly accelerated and left it behind, but this time Wade was not able to break through the defender as he used to and then directly hit the opponent's interior, and the Spurs' experienced defense was instantly defeated by Michael. Finley stood in front of Wade.
This is actually the pre-game arrangement of Coach Vicky, and the shrewd Coach Vicky easily discovered the problem of this Heat, that is, their starting five Tigers are actually unstable in their three-point shooting ability except for point guard Li Yao.
The Spurs' defensive concept in this game is to narrow the defensive formation and limit the Heat's breakthrough.
But can things really go as Spurs want?
Apparently the facts did not give the Spurs their hope, as they faced Wade, who was in the ascendancy, and Wade made a Buddha-like breakaway, although the experienced Michael. Finley had already paid attention, but his body reaction made him can't help leaning forward a little, and at this opportunity, Wade made a long dribble, and in an instant, Michael. Finley's right side grazed into the Spurs' inside line.
Matt. Bonner's pull-away due to Haslem led to the Spurs' interior at this time, and only Shifo Duncan was left alone to face Wade, who had already been killed.
For a while, everyone's eyes were focused on the duel between Flash and Stone Buddha.
At this time, Wade suddenly took a step outward and put on a stop-and-go jump shot, but Shifo Duncan did not react, and just watched Wade like this.
Wade was also extremely helpless, if other insiders might have pounced on him as soon as possible, but this stone Buddha was not moved at all.
Just as Wade was about to really end the offense with a jumper, he spotted a figure rushing into the interior from the outside.
The corners of Wade's mouth curled up slightly, and he kept the jump shot to send the basketball in his hand.
Just after Duncan saw Wade's shot, he obviously felt that the force of the ball was a little wrong.
But before Duncan could react, a "boom" sounded behind Duncan.
Duncan turned his head to look, only to see that Li Yao, who was still outside the three-point line before, was hanging on the basket at this time, and his teammate Tony. Parker was shrugging his shoulders to himself and saying that he was helpless, and he didn't pay attention for a split second before he killed this guy Li Yao.
Duncan also shook his head, picked up the basketball on the ground and walked back to the baseline to serve.
And Li Yao also celebrated the goal with a fist collision with Wade, who assisted him, after landing on the ground.
Of course, the DJ at the scene also put up the air defense siren at the right time. In an instant, all the fans in the American Airlines Center arena stood up and gave their backcourt double guns the warmest applause.
"Hey, I didn't expect Lee's first comeback to bring fans a wonderful dunk now, and it seems that the period during Lee's suspension did not affect the tacit understanding between him and Dwyan, and the Heat's backcourt double guns are still so sharp." Barkley said on the stage of TNT, nodding his head.
"Sir Charles was right, I thought Lee who had missed eight official games might not get used to it after the game started, it seems that I was a little too worried, he is still so good." Kenny. Smith nodded in agreement.
And ccya5 is also constantly praising Li Yao's dunk this time.
"I didn't expect Li Yao's first comeback after the ban to be in such a hot state, and the opening was a violent slam on the head of Shi Buddha." Yu Jia's side let out a sigh of admiration as soon as she saw Li Yao's dunk.
"Seeing that Li Yao's state is still the same, I believe most fans can rest assured, after Li Yao was banned, many fans are worried about whether Li Yao can find the same state again after his comeback, and now it seems that this problem has been the best response by Li Yao's performance." Teacher Zhang Li also continued on the side.
But it's a pity that there were a few matchups during the ban that were originally high-profile, but because of the absence of his presence, there was also a little less color, among which the Lakers, Cavaliers, and Bulls The four games were the most important, especially the lack of Li Yao and Derrick. The duel between Rose, the two top players and the champion, is really regrettable. Teacher Zhang said regretfully.
"But you don't have to worry, after all, Li Yao and Derek. Rose is in the East, and there are still three matchups in the future, and I believe that the two will bring you another exciting matchup in the remaining three games. Yu Jia said comfortingly on the side.
Of course, the commentators' commentary did not affect the continuation of the game between the Spurs and the Heat.
Although the air connection between Li Yao and Wade this time was wonderful, it could not let the Spurs have any mental fluctuations, and the calm Spurs were still experienced in their offense.
Basketball has Tony. Parker handed over to Duncan, who punched Mark on the inside. Gasol at this point, although Mark. Gasol's youth kept harassing Duncan, who had just received basketball, but Duncan didn't care about Mark. Gasol's harassment.
Ben leaned his back against Mark. Gasol's Duncan, with his nimble footwork and feints, successfully shook Mark. Gasol, gently in Mark. After Gasol touched it, he threw the basketball out with his hand, the classic wipe shot, and after two consecutive "beeps" and "beeps", there was no doubt that Duncan made a 2+1.
Wade looked at Mark with a bewildered expression. Gasol, shaking his head, stepped forward to comfort this little brother, after all, he was facing Stone Buddha Duncan, not the unremarkable interior line that the Heat faced before.
However, Duncan's 2+1 free throw was surprisingly not scored. Gasol grabbed the rebound in front of the Spurs for the first time, and then threw it to the frontcourt without hesitation, believing that the Heat's backcourt double gun will definitely appear in the frontcourt at the first time.
The backcourt duo of Lee Ya and Wade did not fail Mark. Gasol's kindness at seeing Mark. The first time Gasol grabbed the rebound, the two started instantly.
Lee Yao grabbed Tony in pursuit. Parker picked up the basketball earlier, threw the ball directly at Wade without any extra movements, and continued to accelerate forward.
Wade received the ball directly and rushed to the Spurs' basket, and a powerful slam dunk ended the fast break in less than three seconds.
Air raid sirens sounded again over the American Airlines Center arena.
"Wow, the Heat's backcourt double shot once again showed everyone what they do best." Charles. Barkley's side was also amazed by the Heat's fast break just now, and in his eyes, the most ornamental fast break in the entire league is the Heat's backcourt double gun, and there is no one.
"Lee's comeback once again resurrected the Heat's fast break, although the Heat also had a few fast break opportunities in the previous game, but after the lack of Li Yao's point, it always makes people feel that something is missing, after this ball, I finally understood that what is missing is this kind of speed coordination, the classic 3-4 seconds fast break time and the ball does not land are their characteristics." Kenny. Smith also expressed his opinion.
After that, the rhythm of the game unconsciously fell into the rhythm of the Spurs, and after discovering this, Li Yao decisively applied for a timeout.
The Heat generals who returned to the court adjusted their state again and began to slowly find their rhythm back, and Li Yao also slowly found the feeling of the past in the game and gradually opened up.
Although the Spurs finally scored 5 double-doubles, they still couldn't stand the 57 points scored by Li Yao and Wade, Wade broke the point again and scored 34 points, and Li Yao also broke out in the first comeback game and scored a double-double of 23 points and 12 assists.
In the end, the Heat successfully slashed the Spurs 91-84 at their home stadium at the American Airlines Center.
Li Yao's first comeback was also very successful, which made Wade happy, and it felt great to be able to fight side by side with Li Yao on the field again, although his 33 points in this game were not much compared to the previous games, but it made him feel a rare sense of ease.