Chapter 150: A War Between Geniuses
Millsap came off the bench to add much-needed interior firepower to the sophomore team, and the Utah Highlands native was resilient and iron-chested enough to bolster the weaker sophomores.
After coming on the court, Millsap was confident that he was going to get the ball, and he was going to play Chamberlain under the basket.
Solid footsteps used to be the capital of Millsap's inner line in the league, even Sloane, who single-handedly created Carl Malone, a super power forward, couldn't help but admire after seeing his footsteps, but today met Chamberlain, whose single defense ability is very rebellious, Millsap's footsteps are useless.
No opponent is strong, no opponent is nimble, and as for the bounce, that's not to mention, so Millsap held on for a while, and there was really no chance to shoot, and finally transferred the ball to Guy on the outside.
Roy is off, he has to play the All-Star Game the day after tomorrow, and he also played the rookie game last year, and he doesn't take this kind of game seriously, and he gives his teammates the opportunity to perform.
Guy has the physicality of a superstar, squeezing into the box against Moon's defense and then hitting a two-point shot before Chamberlain could get back into action.
At the beginning of the game, the defense of the sophomore team was very loose, so Durant, who has superb shooting skills, took advantage of it. Unmarked, receiving a pass from Moon, Durant immediately hit a long-range shot and slapped back Guy.
"It's a provocation, Rudy, respond to him, you have to respond to him." Odenha, who was watching the game from the court, said with a smile, and Durant turned his head and shrugged his shoulders, making a helpless expression at him while constantly blowing on his hands, indicating that his hand was indeed hot.
Rudy Gay is not as calm as Roy, and when he encountered Durant's provocation, he was immediately angry, Nima Xiaoshu does not repair it, and it seems that Lao Tzu does not clean up you, you don't know how awesome our old bird is.
and Chamberlain are both known as the best rookies, and if they are frequently beaten by opponents, Durant will be too faceless. He and Guy were directly opposed, and the latter jumped together, and he followed, but he didn't pursue the block, because he didn't think he was a defensive pervert like Chamberlain, and instead put his hand over the other man's eyes.
The basketball bounced on the rebound, and Chamberlain bumped into Millsap to get the rebound and threw it to Conley, who was starting to go fast.
Conley also held back a lot of energy in his heart, Nima Lao Tzu was the fourth pick in the draft, as soon as he entered the team, he was treated as a starter, and he was known as the No. 1 point guard in the United States when he was in college, and today he actually let Lao Tzu come off the bench? Or is it insulting to give the Spaniard who is not as good as himself? Didn't say it, beat you!
Navarro may not be as physical as Conley, but his brain is definitely good, who is the second-year point guard? That's Rondo, known as the fourth big man of the Green Shirts! Rondo's offensive means are not good, the defense is absolutely tough, and you still want to play singles against him?
But Conley didn't think much of it, and the previous sophomore non-defense gave him a kind of blind confidence, that is, the opponent's defense was easily penetrable, so he wanted to dunk with the ball himself, but after jumping up, Rondo also followed and pulled the ball down.
Seeing this scene, Barkley, who was sitting on the sidelines for TNT's live broadcast, raised his eyebrows and shouted: "That's right, this is the All-Star Game, go fucking dunk show, fucking offensive show, if there is no defense, is it still called NBA?" No matter how beautiful the offense is, can it look good with the Harlem basketball team? Come on like that, fight the defense, boys, bayonets are red, and to hell with those so-called All-Stars! ”
Although they have only practiced two games together, there is always a sympathy between geniuses, Chamberlain has already had a tacit understanding with Durant, and the two heavenly pride have formed the most powerful offensive and defensive core of the first-year team, and they shine all over the court for a while.
As soon as Chamberlain got the ball, Durant turned and ran to the frontcourt, Chamberlain threw the ball out of the court, just in front of him, received the ball, Durant strode into the interior and showed a small windmill dunk.
The first-year team played with great momentum and performed very well. The key is that the first-grade team is full of dunks, and it can't be done if you don't want to perform, there are four people in the slam dunk contest tomorrow, and there are three people in the current first-year.
Although it was not the first time he played against Chamberlain, Millsap was still not used to his very efficient kraft gum defense, and even if he wanted to get the ball, hitting Chamberlain with his back had no effect, so he simply pulled out the interior line and began to help the team with mid-range shots.
However, after halfway through the first half, Chamberlain was no longer so vengeful, he had already shown himself in front of Roy and Aldridge, in front of the fans, so he lowered his profile a lot, let go of the interior defense, and the players of both teams began to perform.
Durant made a successful steal of Brewer near the midcourt and then a tomahawk dunk from inside the free throw circle, then Millsap blocked Horford's layup and passed a long pass to Gibson, who responded with an even more flashy dunk.
Chamberlain's successive offensive mistakes made Chamberlain a little dissatisfied, and although he relaxed on the defensive end, he increased his energy on the offensive end. He jammed Millsap and raised an eyebrow at Durant, who pretended to break through to the basket and shook his body a few times before throwing the ball directly over the hoop.
Millsap stood behind Oxlade-Chamberlain waiting for his back to hit, obscured by the opposition's broad shoulders, and he didn't see the flying ball.
Chamberlain hit Millsap hard, got the gap and jumped up, caught the ball with one hand, hit it forward with his powerful body, and smashed the ball into the hoop on Millsap.
Millsap was a little dazed by Chamberlain's dunk and paid a foul for it, and the second-year head coach saw that he was not comfortable with this kind of show game, so he replaced him with Alderland and replaced Roy at the same time, so that the Portland twins were on the court again.
Chamberlain and Durant hook up shoulder to shoulder, the height of the two is not much different, but the strength is almost two extremes. Holding Durant, Chamberlain pointed to Roy and Aldridge, who were walking side by side, and said, "Kevin, I think this is a provocation, what do you say?" ”
Durant is now a game-high scorer, scoring 18 points in less than half time, and he is now in high spirits, shouting, "Then let's teach them a lesson!" ”
However, the head coach of the first-year team also made a substitution, Chamberlain went down, Scola stood inside to partner Horford, in addition to Moon, Green came on, and the first-year team still has countless dunks.
At this point, the first-year team held a firm lead, and it took only fifteen minutes to score an efficient 55:40.
As soon as Roy came on the court, he stole Green's random pass and made a long pass to Rondo, who dribbled to the front court and threw it into the air, and Rudy Gay, who cut in on the right, flew high to catch a dunk to help the sophomore chase the score to 42:55.
Conley entered the NBA with the aura of the nation's No. 1 point guard, but his debut season was not satisfactory, so he was scrappy today. Just as Chamberlain wanted to prove that he was better than Oden, Conley also wanted to prove that he was more worthy of the team than Durant and Chamberlain, so that while Chamberlain was not on the court, he began to play singles frequently.
Singles has always been the theme song of the All-Star Game, so no one can blame Conley, after all, this is still an All-Star, Chamberlain's previous mobilization in the locker room has long been ineffective at this time, and the players' blood has calmed down after the initial boiling.
In Conley's eyes, the sophomore star is not his opponent, his opponent is Chamberlain and Durant, who take turns dominating this season's Rookie of the Week without his share in it, and every time he thinks about it, he grits his teeth with hatred.
It's okay for him to want revenge, it's okay for him to show himself, the problem is that the defense of the first-year team was too fierce after the opening of this game, and the second-year team was caught off guard, and now it's reacting, and this is going to take revenge.
Kang used his speed to get past Rondo's defense, then swooped inside and threw a shot through Durant's cover.
Millsap, who had been ravaged by Chamberlain, was eyeing the basket and when Conley jumped up and threw it, he slammed out of the wing, leaped hard, and slapped the racket off the court, sending the ball directly into the arms of a fan.
There was no Chamberlain in the first-year team's restricted area, and with the defense of Horford and Yi Jianlian, Roy was not afraid at all, so he began to go berserk, showing the toughness of the 2006 NBA rookie king. He first broke through Green's defensive jump shot to score, and after a round, he beat Yi Jianlian, who had just come on the court, played a small and big game, turned around and broke through the dunk and caused the opponent to foul again, playing "2+1".
The teammate's incompetence gave Conley a reason to play singles, he ignored the previous block, played a butterfly through the flower step again, and then rushed to the basket after shaking Rondo, as if he was strapped to a dynamite bag, that indomitable momentum, with the previous AI-style outstanding beauty.
But he underestimated Rondo, how could Rondo let him break through so easily? After Conley passed him, Millsap came out from the inside to make up for the defense, and just when Conley was about to play a trick and pass again, his body stopped and Rondo forced up from behind, reached out to cut off Conley's ball, turned around and played a fast attack, and played a wonderful defensive ****.
These few attacks are just a microcosm of the later games, the fifteen-point difference seems to be not small, but the defense of both sides is not good, and everyone on the court is a good attacker, especially Roy, who is simply a scoring machine, hitting the outside one after another, and slowly catching up with the score.
If the Warriors play like this, Chamberlain will be on the court no matter what, but this is an All-Star, a feast of joy. Since the head coach doesn't call himself, Chamberlain is as steady as a Tarzan on the bench, cheering and howling like the fans.
The highlights continued, and without Chamberlain, the intensity of the game dropped a lot, and both sides began to fight offensive battles.
Although Roy has a good temper, he feels that the first-year rookie is a little too ignorant and wants to play some moth in front of him, so he has a strong desire to attack after this appearance.
Rondo, who played against Roy many times in college, knew the old brother's ability and temper, so he saw Roy waving for the ball and passed it, pulling out the three-point line to watch Roy's performance.
Roy asked for the ball in the low post this time, Aldridge and Bagnani are both good at mid-to-long range shooting, not the kind of restricted area beast, so the two of them pulled out of the ball, Horford and Yi Jianlian could only follow out of the ball, and the inside line was empty.
In the face of Green's defense, Roy turned to face him and smiled slightly, then he was short, and slapped the ball with his right hand to kill him from the right side.
Green hurriedly grabbed his shoulder with his hand and followed him back to his left side, but as soon as he stepped back, Green's shoulder, which was advancing, twisted his shoulder, hit Green's chest with his left shoulder, pulled his right shoulder back, and the basketball slapped heavily on the floor, and then received the ball with his left hand, passing Green into the restricted area.
Taking a step in the penalty area, Roy grabbed the ball in his lower abdomen and jumped vertically from the floor like a spring.
Horford, who was next to him, saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly pushed Aldridge to make up for the defense, he jumped up after Roy, pressed his big hand on the ball raised by the latter, and tried to fly the racket with a hard wrist.
Roy saw Horford pounce on him with his peripheral vision, he did not choose to make a hard layup like Chamberlain, but turned around, leaned on Horford's body with his back, stretched his arm flat under the basket, flicked his wrist, and threw the ball out.
The basketball crossed a semi-circular arc in the air and landed into the hoop with precision, a beautiful pull-down lever.
The first half of the game was about to end, and the sophomore team actually completed the comeback with 68:66, and played a terrifying scoring frenzy in the last five minutes, cutting down more than 20 points in a row.
With 22 seconds left before the end of the first half, Durant was about to pass the ball and stand still, apparently about to shoot the whistle.
Roy suddenly winked at Aldridge, and the two ran forward without warning, surrounding Durant and pressing hard against the ball in his hand.
Durant hurriedly picked up the ball and hurriedly threw the ball to Yi Jianlian, who saw that there was no one in front of him, hesitated and did not shoot, but stepped into the restricted area to use a more secure layup to score.
Just as Durant picked up the ball, Rondo, who had been watching from the outside, didn't care about him anymore, but turned around and ran towards the restricted area. In this way, when he rushed into the inside, Yi Jianlian just received the ball, and as soon as the latter dribbled, Rondo reached out from behind and stealed directly!
Roy quickly retreated, Rondo suppressed the rhythm, suddenly started five seconds later, rushed into the penalty area but distributed the ball to the outside, Roy received the ball above Green's head and shot decisively, at this time the beep sounded, and the basketball also crossed an arc and fell into the hoop accurately!