The American Airlines Center in Dallas, compared with the home stadium of the Kings, is undoubtedly much higher in attendance, which has a lot to do with the Mavericks' good record in the past ten years.

However, since winning the championship in 11 years, the Mavericks' record in the past two years has declined significantly, last season they were only ranked seventh in the West, and this season it continues to decline, so far, their record is 17-24, a winning rate of less than 50%, and such a winning rate is obviously impossible to enter the top eight in the West.

This season's Mavericks' roster is indeed the weakest in years, with Dirk Nowitzki's form on the inside German declining from the year he won the championship, and inside big turn Tyson Chandler also left the Mavericks for New York last season, and the team's commander Kidd Sr. is no longer there.

Center Chris Carman, power forward Dirk Nowitzki, small forward Sean Marion, scoring guard OJ Mayo, point guard Darren Collison, this is the current lineup of the Mavericks, such a set of lineup is obviously lacking in athleticism, the first three are not young, and the two on the guard line are not good at athleticism.

On the bench, the Mavericks also have former star players like Vince Carter and Elton Brand, but they are also old.

Against such a lineup, Smart's tactics are to use excellent athleticism to impact, and among the five Kings starters, Cousins, Thorton, Evans, and Thomas have very good impact, and Jason Thompson's impact is not too weak.

Under the impact of the Kings' group of young players, the Mavericks were very passive on both offensive and defensive ends, and after the first 3 minutes, the Kings played a wave of 9:2, forcing the opposite Mavericks to call a timeout.

"Continue to maintain this kind of offense, Isaiah, and Demarcus play more blocking and dismantling......" Standing behind his teammates, Li Tian listened to Smart arranging tactics, and muttered in his heart, it seems that Smart really likes Isaiah Thomas, and in terms of tactical arrangement, Isaiah Thomas has more possession.

Although it is not too much to say that Isiah Thomas has so much ball possession as a point guard, the team's other guard Tyrek Evans is the core of the team, and he is also a two-way guard, but he does not have as much ball possession as Thomas, which makes Li Tian extremely puzzled.

Li Tian looked at Evans and found that Evans did not have too many expressions on his face, but Li Tian did not believe that the former best rookie, the first player who could get 20+5+5 in his rookie season after Michael Jordan and LeBron James, would have no idea about such an arrangement.

The timeout ended quickly and the game resumed.

The Mavericks were hoping to change the passive situation after the timeout, while the Kings were hoping to continue the pressing performance that they had done before, and the experienced Mavericks got their goal.

After the timeout, the Mavericks chose to shrink the defense and deal with the impact of the Kings well, and the Kings' players obviously didn't think about it that much, and they continued to implement the strategy of attacking the basket, resulting in frequent offensive losses. On the offensive end, the Mavericks also began to find their senses, and in the face of the Kings' desperate defense, they used good passing balls to get a lot of offensive opportunities.

Just four minutes later, the difference between the two teams was tied, and Smart had to call a timeout.

The strength of the two teams is not much different, and each has its own advantages, and the score on the court has become stalemate, until the end of the first quarter, the two teams are still tied.

Throughout the first quarter, Li Tian sat on the sidelines, and Smart made four substitutions in the first quarter, but Li Tian did not get a chance to play.

Smart arranged the lineup for the second quarter, but Li Tian still didn't hear his name, which made him sit back on the sidelines with a little loss.

Looking at the several teammates on the court, Li Tian's brows moved inadvertently, could it be that Smart really completely ignored his performance in the last game, and continued to press himself on the bench today without giving a chance?

Sighing secretly in his heart, Li Tian turned his gaze to the court, paying attention to Robinson's performance.

For Robinson, it was a good opportunity to play against the Mavericks, because the Mavericks no longer have very tough interior players on the lineup, which is just the right space for Robinson to play.

As soon as Li Tiancai thought of this, Robinson completed a block with Evans in the middle of the court, Evans dribbled the ball towards the basket, and Robinson also cut in from the middle to the basket.

"Good chance!" On the sidelines, Li Tian's eyes lit up when he saw this scene on the court, and it was Brand who followed Robinson, but because he was going to stop Evans, Brand was obviously unable to keep up with Robinson's footsteps at this time.

Evans on the court has also seen clearly, his body is pressing Darren Collison, and the ball in Evans' hand is pushed out and sent to the front of the basket.

Robinson, who was fully impulsed, jumped to his feet and took the basketball in the air, and the man came to the basket at this time.

"Bang!" Holding the basketball with both hands and pressing down, Robinson dunked the ball into the basket.

"Beautiful!" On the sidelines, Li Tian stood up, waving a towel and yelling at the sidelines, cheering for his brother's wonderful goal on the field.

In the middle of the court, Robinson and Evans were also excited about this open reception, and the two hit their chests hard.

Robinson and Evans' aerial relay gave the Kings a morale boost, and in the next few rounds, the Kings completely overpowered the Mavericks, and although the Kings only had Evans and Jason Thompson on the floor, the Kings re-established a six-point advantage.

The Mavericks then called a timeout to adjust, and Robinson was able to stay on the court with the performance of the first few minutes.

Obviously, Robinson was worried that he might not make it to the Rookie Challenge, and he immediately turned this frustration into motivation, and he was very active on the court.

There are only two minutes left in the second quarter, and Robinson continues to stay on the court, he has not yet rested in this quarter, and has contributed 8 points and 4 rebounds in a single quarter, and is still making free throws.

"Thomas did really well today." Whiteside, who was sitting next to Li Tian, spoke at this time, and there was envy in his tone.

Li Tian turned his head to look at the big man who had been in the alliance for almost three years, and was about to speak, when Whiteside muttered again: "Hell, how come I can't get such an opportunity." ”

After hearing this, Li Tian swallowed what he was about to say, Whiteside is now in a similar situation to himself, basically at the very edge of the team, but in the first two seasons, he still got some opportunities to play, but did not take them.

It is said that opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared, and Li Tian believes that Whiteside is obviously not prepared for this, at least Li Tian can rarely see Whiteside being too active in training.

"If I have the opportunity to play, I have to take it." Li Tian secretly reminded himself that Whiteside next to him is undoubtedly the best example, if you don't seize the opportunity to play, you can only wait to be marginalized, this is the cruelty of the NBA, a competitive league.

While Li Tian was thinking about these things, on the court, the second quarter of the game was also over, and with the performance of the second quarter, the Kings ended the first half with a 57-52 lead.

"Dude, how did you do today...... Awesome! Walking to the locker room together, Li Tian naturally would not be stingy with his praise for Robinson's performance today.

This made Robinson, who was already in a good mood because of his good performance on the court, grin, "Yes, it feels great today, Lee, I really hope you can play today." ”

Li Tian did not speak, and he also hoped that he could get the opportunity to play in the second half.

Li Tian hoped that he would have a chance to play in this game, and also guessed that his performance in the last game should be able to impress Smart a little, and after seven minutes of the third quarter, Li Tian finally waited for the head coach to call his name.

"Lee, come on, replace Isaiah."