Chapter 356: Pressure
"This guy is really tough!" Seeing Zhang Kong hit a three-point shot from the outside again, Howard's face was as ugly as it was, this was Zhang Kong's sixth three-pointer in this game, and he had already scored 18 points in this game for three points alone, plus the previous two points and free throws, Zhang Kong had already scored 29 points when there were 8 minutes and 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
At the same time, there are 9 assists, 8 blocks and 7 rebounds, if Zhang Kong is allowed to shoot a quadruple-double on the face of the Magic, then the Magic team will have no face to speak of, but unlike the Pacers playing the Bulls, the score on the court is not open now.
Zhang Kong has scored so many points so far, not with the wind, but forced out by the Magic, since Howard came on the court, the Magic team has started a tug-of-war with Zhang Kong again, Zhang Kong is attacking on the outside, and the Magic will definitely score on the inside, Howard's strong offensive power on the inside, so that the Pacers' inside line can't find the north at all, and can only be beaten passively.
And Zhang Kong's hit rate, also after a while, began to fall steadily, after all, it is the second three-point reincarnation, the hit rate is only fifty percent, Zhang Kong's first four three-pointers, only one went in!
And this one of them also made Howard really uncomfortable, if there is anything they are most afraid of now, it is the sudden recovery of the Pacers' hand, if the Pacers let them shoot the three-point shot, then the Magic team will die.
You must know that the current Pacers are the league's No. 1 team in hitting three-pointers per game, averaging 12.7 three-pointers per game, and the second-ranked Magic only averages 10.1 three-pointers per game, and the 2.6 three-pointers in the middle are all real scores.
Although the Pacers' three-point game is very strong, but they still have to look at the feel of the ball, as for their current feel is obviously not very good, although they are playing at home, but among these players of the Pacers, except for Dundee Jones and Luther Hyde, no one has entered the playoffs again, especially those main core players, who have not been fully exposed when they played the Bulls in the first round, and when they played the Magic in the second round, their nervousness slowly dispersed.
As soon as a person is nervous, the body will become hard, the body becomes hard mainly because the muscles have hardened, and the most important thing in shooting is the degree of muscle tension, which is the so-called feel.
In such a situation, it is almost impossible to hit a three-point shot, and Zhang Kong is shooting three points here now, mainly to let his teammates slowly find their familiar feelings, and then shoot three-point shots.
He is not arrogant to think that he can defeat the powerful magic team by himself with his own three points, and he knows the strength of the magic team very well! So Zhang Kong is not in a hurry to attack by himself now, and is still slowly combing his teammates' feelings!
"If you want to win the Cavaliers, the easiest way is to separate James from the other four players, and James's head is also very stupid, if you provoke him, he may come himself, a triple-double, 30+, 40+, 50+ are possible, but he only wins everyone's data at most, but it is difficult to win the game! But it's impossible for you to deal with him like this, because his sense of the overall situation and cooperation is too strong, even if he is in a completely headwind situation, he can try to help his teammates score and find a touch on the premise of maintaining his offensive efficiency! "ESPN's host Van Gundy Jr. has a thorough understanding of Zhang Kong, and he sees Zhang Kong very clearly, Zhang Kong is such a player.
In fact, he doesn't know Zhang Kong, in fact, Zhang Kong is working so hard to help his players find their touch, the most important thing is because he is lazy, and the offense is obviously not as easy as passing, so in the case that his teammates can shoot, Zhang Kong would rather not attack and help his teammates attack, and by the way, brush up the assist, as long as his score is above ten points.
Zhang Kong's lazy approach recently, in the eyes of some people, has become a selfless performance, which makes Zhang Kongqing embarrassed!
In this way, the two sides have been facing each other, playing on one side, and when there are 3 minutes and 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the score on the court became 108-106, and the Magic led the Pacers by two points away, and at this time it was also the Pacers' possession, which was originally a good opportunity to overtake the score, but the nervous mood was a big deal, and after Murphy was about to get to the position on the inside, Zhang Kong directly hoisted the ball in.
At this time, the Pacers have given up the No. 5 position, and let Al Jefferson, a guy with the same tonnage, go to top Howard, today Al Jefferson only played well in the first quarter, and the rest of the game was like sleepwalking, playing so far only scored a total of nine points, of which seven points were scored in the first quarter, such a state can't blame Jim O'Brien put him in the No. 5 position as a coolie to top Howard, at least let his defensive talent shine on the inside, can't just forget it! Murphy, who has more offensive ability, has been brought to the position of power forward, and the 211-centimeter Murphy has a certain advantage over Lewis, both in height and in his weight, so now he can also be in the restricted area like an insider.
Seeing that Murphy was actually in the position, Zhang Kong did not hesitate, it was his duty to help his teammates find their touch!
So he hoisted the ball directly into the inside, but this time Murphy was stupid when he caught the ball...... He caught it, but because of the nervousness of his hand, he took it off, saw the basketball fall, Nelson in front of Zhang Kong immediately turned his head and copied the basketball in his hand, and then dodged Zhang Kong's desperate steal, Nelson's dribbling, not to be snatched away by Zhang Kong's steal of only 50 people, seeing Nelson pass himself, Zhang Kong knew that the ball must be scored!
Sure enough, Nelson was not slow to dribble the ball, and after breaking into the Pacers' interior line, he made an easy layup.
Zhang Kong, who was chasing back, could only look at the ball and sigh! And this serious mistake also allowed the Magic to extend the advantage of the score to four points.
"Hold it down, please be steady!" Zhang Kong stretched out his hands and asked everyone to slow down their pace as much as possible.
But the nervousness of this kind of emotion, not to say that it is so easy to slow down, sometimes it may be better away from home, because the loss is also a shame outside, now the Pacers are at home, facing the expectations of more than 17,000 spectators, under their eyes, all the players of the Pacers feel the pressure on their bodies, and it is already good to play without turning in such a situation! It's not an easy thing to calm down, but Zhang Kong has no other way.
It was Murphy who made a mistake just now, and this time when the Pacers attacked again, the one who made the mistake became Granger, and after Granger received the ball from Zhang Kong, he rushed forward with the ball, but when he changed direction, the ball got out of control and hit his foot directly and popped off the sideline.
The referee's whistle followed and kicked the ball...... Once again, the Pacers put the ball in the hands of the Magic.
There are only 2 minutes and 30 seconds left before the end of the game, and with Nelson using a double block and another shot, the Magic has led the Pacers by a full six points, and the nightmare is not over, when Zhang Kong dribbled the ball through the half court for the third time and then handed the ball to Dundee Jones, Duntai Jones, who was originally empty, did not shoot, but chose to break through with the ball.
And it was still a strong burst, Carter, who was defending him, just resisted and fell to the ground, the referee's whistle sounded again, the offense was fouled, and the ball was returned to the hands of the Magic again, this time it was Carter himself, who hit a layup, and the difference reached eight points...... Mistakes are like a cold, in every three short rounds, so that the three players of the Pacers fell into the cycle of mistakes, looking at the current situation, Zhang Kong could only helplessly pat his head, after halftime, he called a timeout, now the Pacers need to sort it out, Jim O'Brien can't let this thing continue to happen!
But Jim O'Brien couldn't have taken the nerves off the Pacers' side in just thirty seconds.
Thirty seconds is a short time, such a short time can only make him make a decision, a gambling decision...... "Zhang Kong, all the ball below is in your hands, now there is a difference of eight points, you are our last hope!" Looking into Jim O'Brien's eyes, Zhang Kong knew that this was the time for him to stand up.
"Okay......" After calculating his current three-point shots, Zhang Kong nodded affirmatively.
At present, Zhang Kong's three-point shots are a total of 14 shots and 6 shots, the first ten shots and five shots are canceled, and the new round of ten three-pointers, Zhang Kong is 4 shots and 1 shot, and there are six three-pointers, a total of four, which is why Zhang Kong dares to nod at this time!
"Please!" Seeing Zhang Kong nodding in agreement, Jim O'Brien also silently added in his heart, now he is useless as a referee, and the most important person has changed from himself to the young Chinese in front of him.
"Come on!" Zhang Kong let out a loud shout and returned to the field! After the timeout, the Pacers' tactics changed completely, and once again became their tactics at the end of the third quarter, opening the ball to take the ball and shoot three points directly! However, his first three points were not scored.
Skyan Van Gundy, who was watching the sidelines, breathed a sigh of relief, but Zhang Kong didn't care, this goal didn't go in, and the next one was allowed to score!
But Zhang Kong may have overestimated his population, Zhang Kong's three points after breaking through or brushing out of the basket, seeing this, Skyan Van Gundy felt victorious, already holding it in his hand, because at this time there is only 1 minute and 49 seconds left before the end of the game, is such a short time enough for Zhang Kong to drop three points? There are also Magic players who feel that way, so they didn't make any shots on their side, and this ...... I gave Zhang Kong a chance! A chance to kill the Magic!
(To be continued)