Chapter 118: The Christmas War (2)
The Bulls got the first wave of offensive possession, and Hinrich dribbled through the front court without hurrying. Sun Xiaotian came out from the bottom right corner to catch the ball, and Noah hurriedly stepped forward to block it.
Sun Xiaotian understands that today's game will not only be a competition of strength, but also a competition of physical strength and willpower, what he has to do is to connect the team first, and now raise the feel of his teammates, and it will be difficult for the Heat team to take care of it at that time.
It was James who defended Sun Xiaotian, James gave Sun Xiaotian a left hand, and used a strong body to cling to Sun Xiaotian, after all, there was a gap between the two in weight, and Sun Xiaotian failed to break through smoothly.
Pulled out again, there were only 8 seconds left, and Sun Xiaotian signaled that he wanted to play singles. A cross step, and then a quick start of the first step, this step is extremely fast, James is a little stunned, he has been half of Sun Xiaotian's position, Bosh hurriedly stepped forward to fill the position.
"Haha, great, Gibson is empty!" Sun Xiaotian was secretly happy.
Sun Xiaotian's wrist suddenly flicked, and a very low pass was about to pass under Bosh's armpit.
"Smack!" The ball was actually shot.
James breaks the ball.
Seeing this, the Heat team has already had three people on a fast break. James gave the ball to Kerr as soon as possible, with Haslem on the left, Miller on the right, and James himself on the back. The Bulls have also stepped back, with Hinrich staring at Kerr and Butler following Miller. Cole saw that Haslem was slightly in front of him, and with a flick of his wrist, it was a blow to the ground. After Haslem received the ball, he was about to go to the basket when he suddenly saw a figure on his side, it was Sun Xiaotian. Haslem didn't get hard up, and by this time James had already plugged in from the middle, and the Haslem team made a copy and gave it to James. By this time, Butler had already arrived to interfere with James, but it was just ...... Miller is completely empty!
Miller receives a pass from James and hits it with an open hand!!
The Heat went from breaking the ball to Miller hitting a three-pointer. As Thibodeau said to the players before the game, the Heat must not be given a chance to miss the fast-break team, and in the playoffs last year, the Heat's fast-break scoring was second only to the Thunder.
When he came back, Sun Xiaotian was a lot more careful in the face of James, he didn't stick to the ball too much, and the other players also moved.
Butler had a physical advantage over Miller's defense, and Thibodeau told Butler to increase his active offense before the game. Facing Miller's old arms and legs, it is a good offensive option.
Butler sat Miller on the right side, Sun Xiaotian passed the ball to Butler in a timely manner, Butler topped it twice, I went, it didn't move at all, it turned out that Miller lowered the lower plate, and the unbelieving Butler was a little competitive, and he didn't see Sun Xiaotian reaching out for the ball. When Butler made another effort, Miller collapsed.
"Toot!!"
Offensive foul!!
Butler spread his hands and expressed helplessness! Miller is really smart!
Back to the time when the Bulls' defense was tested. Cole's responsibility is to bring the ball to the front court smoothly, James took the ball, Bosh stepped forward to block and dismantle, after blocking Bosh went down, James ball arrived immediately, Sun Xiaotian wanted to come forward to interfere, but he was afraid of missing his defensive Miller. In hesitation, Bosh passed the ball to Miller, who was 45 degrees on the left side, and Miller didn't look at it and shot directly.
"Huh!"
Three points in the bag! ――
6 to 0 -
came back, Sun Xiaotian simply came by himself, he still used Noah's front cover, stepped back and made a half-volley shot, and successfully scored two points.
The Heat seem to be willing to feed Miller the ball at this time, which may be the characteristic of a pitcher, one by one.
James held the ball, Bosh and Haslem double-screened at Miller's favorite left 45 degrees, but he didn't expect Miller, who had already dragged half of the injured retreat, to run faster than a rabbit, and Sun Xiaotian was really left behind.
Miller came out, James fed the ball smoothly, shot comfortably, and Gibson, who was making up the defense, blocked it with all his might, almost covering Miller's vision.
"Huh!"
The third 3 points.
The American Airlines arena was boiling, and Miller opened his arms and stretched out three fingers, domineering.
……
In less than three minutes of the opening game, Miller made 3 of 3 three-pointers, mobilizing the atmosphere of the American Airlines Center early.
When it comes to Miller, what Sun Xiaotian remembers most is related to Maddie. When they were on the Magic team, the two were extremely good friends. In 2000, Mike. Miller joined the Magic as the No. 5 pick in the first round, and that season he took advantage of Hill's injury, starting only seven games in the first two months, and never lost the starting spot after Christmas, averaging 11.9 points per game to make the playoffs with the Magic and win the Rookie of the Year award. On many occasions, he has said that Maddie is one of the best friends of his career, because he has taken care of him, and he has not been upset by the team's veterans in his rookie season.
When the Magic management traded Miller away in 2003, Maddy was extremely angry, and he gave his anger to the Bulls when he had nowhere to vent, facing the former dynasty Bulls who scored 52 points in less than three quarters, and never played again in the latter part of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter. ”
At this point, Maddie had the idea of leaving the Magic team, which led to the later MM classic combination!
(haha...... It's a bit far, I can't help it! )――
Thibodeau didn't rush to call a timeout, and when Sun Xiaotian ran past him, he just said, "You need to fight back!" ”
Sun Xiaotian understood that there was no problem with the team's defense, and Miller just made a shot.
Sun Xiaotian added ball-handling attacks. He carried the ball past midfield, with Gibson and Noah on the line for double cover. Sun Xiaotian started suddenly, passing between Noah and Bosh who grabbed it, James couldn't catch up, but fortunately, Miller made up for it in time, and Sun Xiaotian had no room to shoot.
"Here!"
When Sun Xiaotian heard the voice, he didn't even look at it, his right hand shook, and the ball flew to the far bottom corner of Butler's hand, and Butler opened his hand to hit.
Next, the Heat used the same tactics, but this time Miller's hand was broken. In this way, as the game deepened, the first quarter was tied at 14-13 and the Bulls trailed by one point. Sun Xiaotian only took two shots, scored two points and handed out three assists.
After the timeout, both teams rotated their personnel. The Bulls removed Noah and replaced him with perimeter shooter Belineri. The reason is that the Heat ripped off Miller and Haslem and sent in Ray Allen and Battier.
And this lineup is the most murderous lineup of the Heat team, whenever the situation on the court is unfavorable to the Heat, the Heat will sacrifice this lineup, which can not only score, but also have TM to defend, which makes many teams complain. The finals against the Spurs also reached the top of honor with this lineup.