Chapter 169: Counterattack!
Evans controlled the ball to the halfcourt, and the ball went directly to Cousins, who was in charge, and when he was not sure whether the player's touch would return, the Kings still chose to let Cousins raise the high post to empty the inside, and let the players get more offensive opportunities through Princeton tactics.
Li Tian and Iguodala made a cross run from the baseline and rushed to the upper line, and next to him, it was still Eric Gordon, but it was clear that Gordon was not as close as he was in the first half.
Of course, it is normal for Gordon to have such a performance, after all, when the team leads by 37 points, it is obviously unrealistic to expect the players to maintain defensive focus.
Cousins also noticed this, and quickly sent the ball over when Li Tian ran to the right mid-range.
After all, Gordon still looked at Li Tian unpleasantly, and didn't want to see Li Tian have any offensive opportunities, and when he found that Li Tian took the pass, he immediately accelerated his pace and rushed forward.
Li Tian, who received the ball, seemed to be obviously not decisive enough in his shooting, and he didn't make the first shot after receiving the ball, which made Gordon laugh secretly.
"Hey, boy, don't you even dare to make a move?"
Seeing Li Tian raise the ball to jump, Gordon, who had already rushed to the front, quickly took a step forward and reached forward to interfere.
However, Li Tian did not jump up at this time, the knee that was originally going to be straightened was bent again, Li Tian's body was short, and when Gordon was completely on top, Li Tian jumped up, leaned forward, and leaned towards Gordon.
"Make a foul?" Gordon finally understood at this time, and was busy trying to contain his body, but it was too late.
"Tick!" Li Tian's body collided with Gordon, and the referee's whistle followed suit.
"Humph!" was whistled for a foul by the referee, Gordon snorted lightly in his nose, but he didn't care in his heart. "It seems that this kid didn't dare to make a shot, so he could only score by making fouls."
Adelman, who was on the sidelines, didn't think so, in his opinion, Li Tian's ball was played very smart, and his team needed to score, and Li Tian chose to make a foul to score through free throws when he was not sure whether his hand would return, which not only made the score more certain, but also helped to regain his touch.
"Very smart!" Adelman secretly commented in his heart.
In fact, Li Tian is indeed as Adelman thought, in the warm-up just now, he has begun to find some shooting feeling, if he can find the feeling in the game, he believes that the feeling should be able to return, and free throws are a very good way.
Li Tian's free throws did not have too many complicated movements, after dribbling the ball twice, he grabbed the ball and raised his hand to throw, the action was very coherent, and there was no too much aiming action, for Li Tian, such a rhythm is what he likes.
"Huh!" "Huh!" After hitting two free throws in a row, Li Tian's heart was settled, and the feeling of shooting the two shots was very comfortable.
Without much aftertaste of the feeling of these two shots, Li Tian quickly retreated to the half, for the Kings, the most important thing is to defend the opponent's offense, because only in this way can they play the counterattack task assigned by Adelman.
Li Tian was still opposite Gordon, at this time Gordon was standing outside the three-point line, looking at the opponent's slightly casual and loose movements, Li Tian was keenly aware that the other party was extremely unfocused at this time. Turning his head sideways, he looked at Holiday again, and found that the Pelicans' point guard was now looking at Gordon, who was defending himself.
"He's going to pass the ball!"
Li Tian secretly made a judgment, and then withdrew his gaze, only paying attention to the direction where Holiday was with the corner of his eye.
Li Tian's series of actions did not attract the attention of Holiday and Gordon at all, and when he found that Gordon had looked at him, Holiday pushed the ball out and passed it to Gordon, and at this time, the careless Gordon did not take the initiative to take a step like a normal catch, but stayed outside the three-point line and waited for the arrival of basketball.
"Chance!" Li Tian, who had long been ready to wait for the opportunity, was secretly happy in his heart when he saw this scene, and suddenly started to rush forward, and he rushed towards Gordon like lightning.
"Whoosh!" Gordon, who was about to catch the ball, felt a figure flicker, and then he realized that the basketball that was supposed to be in his hand was gone. By the time Gordon fully reacted, Li Tian, who had rushed forward, had already rushed out more than two steps.
At this time, it was once again reflected that the Pelicans players had begun to relax, whether it was Gordon or Holiday who did not go all out to chase Li Tian, but just followed slowly behind him, and even followed behind Evans, who started later, obviously giving up this defense.
Since the opponent is so generous, Li Tian will naturally not be polite, he rushed to the court, adjusted his pace and stepped into the three-second area, Li Tian raised the basketball in his right hand and took off!
Knowing that momentum is the most important thing for the team at this time, Li Tian completely gathered the strength of his whole body in the right hand that grabbed the ball!
Gliding in front of the basket, Li Tian's tight right hand seemed to turn into a giant axe at this moment, and slashed down at the basket in front of him!
"Bang!"
With a slight ** sound from the basket, the basketball smashed into the basket passed through the net and smashed into Li Tianxia's falling body.
"Roar!" Standing under the basket, Li Tian let out an excited roar, coupled with the basketball that popped up on him, full of momentum!
"Shh Li Tian's action immediately drew boos and laughter from Pelican fans at the scene.
"Haha, what the hell is this guy excited about, doesn't he know that his team is still 33 points behind?"
"This guy can probably only get excited at this time, it's so pitiful."
"Hey, man, don't laugh at others, we need to give others a chance to show a little bit too, don't we, the guy on the other side has been depressed all night."
Unlike the performance of the Pelicans fans, the Kings' players, both on and off the court, shouted excitedly at this time.
"Lee, well done!" "Well done, man!"
For the Kings guys, they have indeed been depressed all night, coupled with Adelman's high-pressure policy, they are even more breathless, after seeing the team finally play a beautiful offense, they also began to find an outlet for depression, and began to become excited!
"Those guys on the other side aren't focused enough, our chance has come!" It wasn't just Li Tian who realized this, the king was aware of it.
When the Pelicans started to attack again, the five Kings players on the court began to show their defensive determination and oppression, and the nonchalant Pelicans were obviously very uncomfortable in the face of the Kings' strengthened defense, and they made another mistake.
This time it was Iguodala who completed the steal, and Ryan Anderson of the Pelicans wanted to use his height advantage to force Iguodala, but he was accidentally cut off by Iguodala.
Counterattack!
By the time Iguodala picked up the ball inside, the remaining four Kings players had fully rushed to the other half, and Adelman, both in midfield and during the previous timeout, repeatedly emphasized the need to increase the speed of the counterattack, and the Kings players knew that this was indeed the most effective way to score.
Iguodala, who picked up the ball, did not choose to carry the ball forward on his own, which was too slow, and after rushing out of the step, he pushed forward with both hands, and he sent the ball to Evans, who was already two steps outside the three-point line.
The Pelicans still didn't have enough focus at this time, whether it was Evans who received the ball, or the rest of the Kings players, the Pelicans players didn't choose to cling close, and they quickly paid the price for such a lack of focus.
Dribbling two steps forward, stepping on the three-point line, Evans, who saw the opportunity, picked up the ball and pushed it into the air!
The basketball took off from outside the three-point line and flew straight into the air in front of the basket, and at the same time, a figure jumped high, DeMarcus Cousins!
Taking the basketball in the air with both hands, Cousins smashed it down to the basket in front of him!
Strength! Absolute power!
Unlike Li Tian's desperate efforts to release his strength just now, the strong Cousins held the ball in the air and pressed down, which looked like a relaxed action, but it made people feel full of power, as if his smash was enough to smash everything in front of him into pieces!
"Bang!" Empty hands to catch the buckle!
"Oh!" All the Kings players were excited again, roaring from the mouths of every Kings player, and after two consecutive successful counterattacks ended with dunks, the momentum of the Kings, who had been suppressed for the entire half, began to rise, even the Pelicans players and fans could feel it.
"Kill them!"
"Attack, finish the attack, let these guys die!" ……
The fact that the Kings players were still acting so aggressively when they were so far behind was undoubtedly a big upset for the Pelicans fans, who were thinking about leaving the court just a few minutes ago.