nycdaug Chapter 519 Welcome to "The King's Time"!
Chapter 519 Welcome to "The King's Time"!
At the start of the second half, Wang Xiucheng unexpectedly switched to assist mode.
Wang Xiucheng, who ate three bananas in midfield, delivered three assists in four minutes.
Durant and Westbrook each made a three-pointer.
Claxton scored inside and added a layup by Wang Xiucheng after a drive.
With 4 minutes remaining, the Nets scored 10 points in one go, forcing the Nuggets to call a timeout.
If the Nuggets could score like the Nets, Malone wouldn't have called a timeout so early.
The problem is that in those four minutes, the Nuggets only managed to score two points, thanks to Jokic's back-to-the-basket drive into the paint.
Everyone else missed their shots.
If he doesn't call a timeout soon, Malone might not need to call timeouts anymore.
After the timeout, Malone saw that it was working, and Porter Jr. finally started scoring.
Murray's drives to the basket became sharper, which relieved Malone.
However, with 6 minutes remaining in the game, the Nuggets made a series of mistakes again.
Wang Xiucheng stole the ball again during a one-on-one defense against Murray and then slammed it home from the free-throw line for a powerful dunk.
Then, on the way back, Jokic's pass was too long, Gordon couldn't catch it, and the ball was directly picked up by Durant behind him.
Durant took only one step before passing the ball to Wang Xiucheng, who came over to receive it.
Wang Xiucheng dribbled into the paint again, turned and dribbled past Porter Jr., then slammed home a two-handed dunk for another two points.
Malone had to call another timeout.
Like a frog being slowly boiled in water, the Nuggets have fallen behind by 11 points, 66-77, thanks to two inexplicable turnovers.
An 11-point difference is not the largest margin of victory in this series.
But Malone knew that this was the most dangerous time for the Nuggets.
With three minutes left in the third quarter, if the Nuggets cannot quickly catch up, they could collapse in the final minute!
"Hey, focus." Malone tapped his temple. "Are we supposed to just stand here and watch our opponent ascend the throne?"
"Be careful to control mistakes and don't give Wang Xiucheng a chance to launch a fast break."
"Strangle Wang Xiucheng for me. Don't let him connect Durant and the others."
"Don't be afraid of fouls. If you are, then see you next season."
"come on!"
Finally, he shouted one last thing, and Malone reached out his hand.
Everyone stretched out their hands and covered Malone's hands.
With three minutes left in the game, neither Durant nor Westbrook left the court this time.
It seems the Nets want to end the suspense in the third quarter.
With a beep, the game resumed.
Jokic passed the ball to Porter Jr., then went inside himself.
Jokic leaned against Claxton and immediately returned to the top of the key to receive the pass from Porter Jr.
In an instant, Jokic passed the basketball to the basket inside.
Murray blocked Wang Xiucheng behind him, caught the ball, and made a successful layup.
Although Wang Xiucheng jumped up to block, Murray intentionally shot quickly, and Wang Xiucheng ended up hitting nothing.
Murray was pushed to the ground by Wang Xiucheng and yelled at the referee, trying to commit a foul.
But the referee did not call a foul, and Murray, without saying a word, immediately caught up with Wang Xiucheng.
Westbrook had the ball and almost lost it against Pope's tenacious defense, but luckily Durant was right next to him and caught the ball.
Durant used a probing step to shake off Porter Jr., and then entered the paint on the other side.
Emergency stop and pull-out!
Swish!
The ball goes in.
The two sides went back and forth, and things seemed to have returned to normal.
With one minute left in the game, the Nets led 83-72, still an 11-point advantage.
Durant and Westbrook were substituted out.
With one minute left, it meant the basketball team would be in Wang Xiucheng's hands.
Whether Durant and Westbrook are there or not makes little difference.
Why don't you go off the field and rest?
Claxton had just served the ball to Wang Xiucheng.
Pope then came over and hugged Wang Xiucheng.
beep!
Pope commits a foul.
The Nuggets resorted to fouling tactics again.
Even if they give Wang Xiucheng two free throws, they won't give him a chance to shoot a three-pointer.
Although Wang Xiucheng only scored 3 points in the last minute of the second quarter.
However, the Nuggets still do not intend to allow Wang Xiucheng to shoot three-pointers.
Swish!
Swish!
This time, however, Wang Xiucheng made both free throws.
The score was 85-72, bringing the difference between the two teams to 13 points.
Jokic received Pope's baseline inbound pass, then dribbled the ball up the court and started running down the clock.
With 4 seconds left on the shot clock, Jokic once again backed down Claxton and pushed into the paint.
Jokic took the buzzer-beater with a slight lean back as the shot clock was about to expire.
Swish!
The ball goes in.
The point difference has returned to 11 points.
And the time was only 34 seconds.
This timing is very awkward for the Nuggets.
If the Nuggets foul Wang Xiucheng immediately, even if they use up the full 24 seconds on their next offensive possession, they will still leave Wang Xiucheng with about 10 seconds.
Stubbornness might lead to another foul.
But the Nuggets didn't dare let Wang Xiucheng have the ball, because for Wang Xiucheng, he could cross half-court in just three or four seconds.
Once he crossed halfway, Wang Xiucheng immediately dared to shoot.
In one of its programs, ESPN drew a diagram of Wang Xiucheng's shooting range during "Wang's Time".
To put it simply, Wang Xiucheng's shooting range overlaps with the half-court line.
In other words, the entire half of the court was Wang Xiucheng's shooting range.
From the intersection of the farthest sideline and the midline to the corner of the backboard at a negative angle, Wang Xiucheng has made three-pointers at various locations.
If you dare to shoot, you can still make it!
This is "the King's Time".
The Nuggets players on the court are accumulating too many fouls right now.
Ma Long didn't dare to bring on a pure substitute and foul Wang Xiucheng.
Because once a pure substitute enters the game, the Nets will immediately bring in Durant to handle the ball and break through defenses.
In the end, Coach Malone nodded to Pope.
This means that Ma Long will still have to foul Wang Xiucheng.
However, to Coach Ma Long's surprise, it wasn't Wang Xiucheng who received the ball this time.
It was Seth Curry.
Pope hesitated for a moment.
Should we foul Seth Curry?
Seth Curry has a very high free throw percentage, which is comparable to his older brother's.
Seth Curry's free throw percentage this season is an impressive 93%.
Fouling him is equivalent to giving the Nets two points.
Fouling Seth Curry is not worth the effort.
Coach Ma Long also frowned slightly.
In that instant, Seth Curry had already rushed out and headed towards the center line with the ball.
Murray clung tightly to Wang Xiucheng's clothes, wishing he could stick to Wang Xiucheng.
Wang Xiucheng stood at the top of the arc, hands on his hips, looking at Seth Curry.
Murray had already decided that he would foul Wang Xiucheng immediately if Wang dared to receive the ball.
Seth Curry moved up to the frontcourt, seemingly also trying to run down the clock.
He made a few attempts to break through, but Pope didn't give him a chance, and Seth Curry didn't force it either.
With 5 seconds left on the shot clock, Claxton, Zeng Fanbo, Joe Harris, and Wang Xiucheng all got moving.
The inside game instantly descended into chaos.
Zeng Fanbo and Claxton had somehow gotten to the vicinity of the free throw line.
Wang Xiucheng made a ghostly turn, shook off Murray's hand, and then ran from the free-throw line toward the three-point line.
Zeng Fanbo and Claxton immediately "closed the door".
Wang Xiucheng reached out and caught the basketball passed to him by Seth Curry. He only had time to take one step beyond the three-point line before someone grabbed his arm.
Wang Xiucheng was facing the center circle at this moment.
The basketball hoop was behind Wang Xiucheng.
However, Wang Xiucheng immediately lifted his back foot, and then casually tossed the basketball over his head with his other hand, which was not being held.
With a whistle, the referee blew the whistle first.
This means there was a foul.
Then, the next moment, the sound of a basketball swishing through the net rang out.
This means the basketball went in!
Welcome to "The King's Time"!