Chapter 107: Preseason Debut (Part II)
Tang Shuai's luck is still good, playing with him, and the partner in the backcourt is Stephenson, who is the most familiar with him, which makes him have a lot less pressure on the ball on the field.
The Nuggets also made personnel changes at this time, but they replaced the team's starters, the backcourt combination of Moodier and Harrison, and it can be seen that they have no intention of just giving up the game.
"Doug, Don is a good defender, he played really well in Summer League." Cassel said to Reeves with a smile.
"Oh, really?" Reeves looked at the court with a hint of suspicion and said meaningfully, "I hope he doesn't have the same unstable ball as he did in training." β
Cassel smiled wryly and didn't say anything, he didn't know about the little grievances between Reeves and Tang Shuai, but he could still feel that Reeves had colored glasses for Tang Shuai, after all, in this league, there are not many guards who can still dribble the ball in the face of Paul, let alone rookies.
He then turned his head to look at the field.
The Clippers' offense.
Tang Shuai slowly pushed the ball forward and Moodier put some defensive pressure on him, but he had no intention of stealing.
"Hey, Don, ball!"
As soon as Tang Shuai advanced to the frontcourt, Stephenson shouted at him.
Tang Shuai glanced at Moodier, who was defending in front of him, and after pulling out a certain safe distance, he passed the ball to Stephenson.
"He's smart." Reeves leaned back in his seat and said meaningfully.
Cassel turned his head to look at Paul, who was also looking at him, and both of them smiled tacitly.
After Tang Shuai handed over the ball, he then began a long running route, starting from the top of the arc, around the three-point line to the three-point line on the left, then from the baseline to the three-point line on the right, and then back to the 45-degree angle on the right wing.
The reason why Tang Shuai is willing to give the ball to Stephens is that in addition to his relatively weak ball control, there is another reason, which is Stephenson's passing.
Aside from those comic behaviors, Stephenson is actually a very inspirational player, he was selected by the Pacers with the 10th pick in the second round in 2010, and it is not easy for a second-round pick to get a foothold in the NBA, let alone make a name for himself.
But Stephenson seized the opportunity, and when he played for the Pacers in 2013, he contributed three triple-doubles in a single season and broke his career scoring record again and again, eventually helping the team reach the division finals.
That year, he averaged 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and shot 49% from the field.
The blame was only on his agent, who eventually left Charlotte due to a failed contract negotiation with the Pacers, which changed his career from a player with unlimited potential to a problematic locker room cancer.
But Tang Shuai knows from this period of contact that Stephenson is not really a cancer, according to the Chinese, he is just a joke, a player whose mood has a great impact on performance, but even so, his ability is undeniable.
Scoring, defense, rebounding, are all his forte, and Tang Shuai knows, passing.
Tang Shuai has successfully made a big circle in the half of the Diggers, and in the process, Moodier, who defended him, and Harrison, who was on the defensive side, had already been blocked by the Clippers players.
He managed to get rid of all the defenders and ran outside the three-point line at a 45-degree angle on the right.
Stephenson's pass arrived in the first place.
Tang Shuai's eyes were empty, and the nearest defender turned out to be Darrell Arthur, who was just about to run out under the basket.
He glanced at it, raised his hand and threw it.
Novak Triple Subpack Activation.
Standard posture, perfect hand shape, textbook shooting.
The ball was thrown out of his hand and arced through mid-air in a perfect arc.
"Enter!"
Tang Shuai's eyes burst out with a burst of light, and he still maintained the posture of shooting, watching the basketball fly over the highest point and fall straight towards the net bag.
"Huh!"
With a crisp sound, the ball hollowed into the net.
βyesοΌβ
Tang Shuai waved his hand violently.
"Well done, Don!" Stephenson gave Tang Shuai a thumbs up.
Tang Shuai smiled and made a pistol gesture to Stephenson, and then began to defend back.
The difference between the two sides further expanded, and in the next few rounds, both sides scored each other's points, Tang Shuai hit a three-pointer again with a reverse run, and assisted Smith and Johnson to complete the layup, and only played four minutes to get 6 points and 2 assists, which can be called efficient.
Kassel kept nodding, after the baptism of the summer league, Tang Shuai seemed to have matured a lot.
With 25 seconds left before the end of the second quarter, Moodier was on the ball outside the three-point line at the top of the arc, and the Nuggets had one last chance to attack, and he had to press as hard as he could until the last 10 seconds before attacking.
Time was ticking by, and he looked up at the integrator above him.
At 35:54, the Nuggets still trailed by 19 points.
The game entered the final 11 seconds, and the Nuggets still had 10 seconds to attack, and he beckoned, and Arthur pulled out from the inside to block him.
Tang Shuai defended Moodier at the top of the arc, although he doesn't have a high-enough defensive skill package now, but he has a brain, he has been observing Moodier's movements, after seeing Moodier waving his hand, he glanced back and immediately understood the Nuggets' offensive coordination.
When Kassel trained the players, there was a special explanation of the NBA's skills and tactics, which mentioned the offensive options for the last attack in the single quarter, and there are generally two options, pulling away from the single, or blocking and dismantling, of course, sometimes the players throw it blindly.
Coupled with the fact that he had already scanned it off the court, Moodier's shooting bag was all green, which was extremely lame, so he could guess with his toes that Moodier was going to do this at this point.
With anticipation, the moment Arthur's block came up, he shrank back sharply.
Moodier accelerated and began to rush forward, purple breakthrough in hand, and he believed in his own abilities.
Tang Shuai went back to retract, Arthur's block was only half blocked, and at the moment when Moodier accelerated, he suddenly stretched out his hand.
"Smack!"
Tang Shuai slapped the ball away from Moodier's hand.
Moodier stumbled and nearly tripped over himself.
Tang Shuai also almost fell to the ground, although the judgment was accurate, but there was no defensive skill package, and this action was not aesthetically pleasing.
But fortunately, there was a successful steal.
The ball rolls towards the Nuggets' backcourt.
He sprang away.
There were less than six seconds left in the second quarter.
He was speeding up and reaching out half a meter from the ball.
There are less than 5 seconds left.
He picked the ball up from the floor and slammed it forward.
Yuki Fujian broke through the bag activation, and he dribbled forward with his head down.
Kassel slammed up from his seat, his eyes looking straight at Tang Shuai on the field.
Tang Shuai is in a race against time.
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