dognovel Chapter 611 Jokic: You might as well just shoot me to death!
Chapter 611 Jokic: You might as well just shoot me to death!
With one second left in the first quarter, Wang Xiucheng made a near-buzzer-beating three-pointer.
With that three-pointer, the Nets led 31-29 by two points.
Udoka stood on the sidelines and clenched his fist.
This tactic was a success!
This result will make Malone, and other team coaches, more hesitant to use fouling tactics again.
beep!
The referee blew the whistle to start the first quarter just as Jokic received the ball on the baseline.
Wang Xiucheng patted Udoka's hand on the sidelines and then walked towards the bench.
Before he could even sit down, Wang Xiucheng saw Westbrook and Durant each hand him a towel.
Wang Xiucheng didn't stand on ceremony and took both towels, then plopped down in the chair.
"That was a beautiful three-pointer."
Fan Chengcheng, standing behind Wang Xiucheng, shouted at this moment.
The entire crew of the Running Man film crew sat behind the Nets' bench during the game.
This spot is usually reserved for the families of Nets players and tickets are not available to the public.
But today, Wang Xiucheng made all these people sit here.
Westbrook's wife, Towns' girlfriend, and other players' families were arranged to stay in VIP rooms upstairs.
This is a Christmas Day game, and many celebrities booked their tickets well in advance.
Therefore, Wang Xiucheng had no way to arrange front-row tickets for Fan Chengcheng and the others.
Wang Xiucheng extended his fist and touched it to the fists of Fan Chengcheng, Deng Chao, and the others. He then picked up his personal beverage and took a big gulp.
Sitting behind Fan Chengcheng, Deng Chao, Li Chen, and other female celebrities such as Dilraba and Yang Ying were staring at Wang Xiucheng's back, wishing they could pounce on him right now.
The exciting cheerleading performance quickly came to an end, and the second quarter of the game began.
Wang Xiucheng and Jokic were both resting on the bench.
The Nets are led by Durant and Westbrook.
The Nuggets are led by Murray and Porter Jr.
The two sides resumed their close competition and the score climbed higher.
Both head coaches seemed to have anticipated this tense situation, so neither called a timeout.
Jokic and Wang Xiucheng sat there for six minutes before returning to the court after the official timeout.
With both sides having a leader, their offense became much smoother.
However, neither side had any good solutions for defending against Jokic and Wang Xiucheng.
With Wang Xiucheng scoring another 3 points in the final minute, the Nets reached 32 points again.
Although the Nuggets also scored a high score of 30 points, they were down by two points in the first quarter.
At halftime, the Nets led 63-59 by 4 points.
The halftime show of the Christmas Day game will definitely not be dull.
Furthermore, this year, because Wang Xiucheng became a minority shareholder, the Nets' public relations department went to great lengths, even playing footage of Wang Xiucheng's previous appearances on a running show on the big screen during halftime.
Fortunately, Wang Xiucheng was in the locker room at that moment, otherwise he would have been embarrassed and would have had to find somewhere to crawl into.
On the contrary, the fans at the scene were having a great time and were very happy.
The second half of the game started on time.
Both sides continued to focus on physical confrontation, especially the Nets, who showed no weakness against Jokic.
Towns finally went to the bench to rest after playing five minutes in the third quarter.
He has already committed four fouls, three of which were against Jokic.
On the Nuggets' side, the situation wasn't much better.
Bang!
Wang Xiucheng found an opportunity when Jokic was on the perimeter, drove in, and then slammed home a dunk.
beep!
The referee blew his whistle and pointed at Pope.
Pope pulled Wang Xiucheng back as he jumped.
This was Pope's fourth foul tonight.
And this was also the third time that Wang Xiucheng had committed this offense.
Malone had no choice but to replace Pope with Braun.
But the situation didn't improve much.
Nets' backup center Claxton was completely unable to contain Jokic, who repeatedly scored inside.
On the Nuggets' side, neither Braun, who had just come in, nor Murray, nor Porter Jr. and Gordon, who had switched onto the defense, nor even Jokic, could stop Wang Xiucheng.
Porter Jr. and Gordon, who are taller than Wang Xiucheng, couldn't keep up with Wang Xiucheng's pace, allowing him to repeatedly penetrate the paint and then suddenly score with a floater while moving. Sometimes, this would even cause Porter Jr. and Gordon to collide with each other from behind.
Murray, who was more agile than Wang Xiucheng, was not as tall or long as Wang Xiucheng, so he could only watch helplessly as Wang Xiucheng shot over him.
If he encounters Jokic in a mismatch, Wang Xiucheng will run around the three-point line. Whenever Jokic can't keep up, Wang Xiucheng will either shoot or pass the ball.
Jokic was outmaneuvered twice, and eventually stopped following Wang Xiucheng altogether.
He looked like he was telling me to just vote him out!
At the end of the third quarter, Wang Xiucheng scored another three points at the buzzer.
In the third quarter, the Nets scored 33 points, while the Nuggets scored 30.
The Nets outscored the Nuggets by three points in a single quarter.
With the score at 96-89, the Nets have a 7-point lead.
The Nets' lead may not seem like much, but they won every quarter, putting considerable pressure on the Nuggets players.
This slow, gradual approach to winning is too agonizing; it's much better to win decisively and thoroughly like the Warriors.
The score difference doesn't look like much, and it seems like we could win back the score in just two or three possessions.
But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't close the seemingly small gap, and it even widened further.
This can easily cause some players to break down.
This is the state of the Nuggets' bench at this moment.
Even though Malone kept giving them pep talks, the rookies still looked pale and sickly.
And so the fourth quarter began.
Wang Xiucheng and Jokic continue to rest.
Murray led the team in delivering a series of assists, allowing the Nuggets to maintain their scoring momentum.
Durant's isolation plays also started to take effect on the Nets.
The two teams traded points again.
Sometimes, when the Nets go two possessions without scoring, it can make the Nuggets look like they're about to tie the game or even take the lead.
However, the Nuggets will make mistakes or miss shots in the next moment, allowing the Nets to regain their footing and widen the score gap again.
Even though Wang Xiucheng and Jokic quickly returned to the court, the situation did not improve.
Perhaps he was a little tired, Jokic also made an absurd mistake, passing the ball to Malone on the bench.
Finally, with the game entering its final minute, Jokic hit a three-pointer over Towns.
With this basket, the Nuggets narrowed the gap again, trailing by four points at 113-117.
The two sides were back to having two possessions of the ball.
However, time has officially entered the final minute, which means "the king's time" has come!
On the Nuggets' side, whether it was Coach Malone standing on the sidelines or the substitutes sitting below, everyone was on high alert.
This state of mind inevitably spread to the Nuggets players on the court.
Especially those responsible for defending Wang Xiucheng.
At this moment, Westbrook received the baseline inbound pass from Towns and used his body to push Murray aside to get to the frontcourt.
Wang Xiucheng slowly ran to the corner, seemingly wanting to rest there like he had in the previous rounds.
But the next moment, Wang Xiucheng pushed Pope and went straight into the paint.
With a sudden stop and a U-turn, Wang Xiucheng emerged, while Pope was completely blocked by Towns.
Jokic had no choice but to reach out and try to distract Wang Xiucheng, and try to follow Wang Xiucheng away from the paint.
However, it was clear that Jokic's speed was no match for Wang Xiucheng.
So Jokic could only watch helplessly as Wang Xiucheng received the ball from Westbrook and then drifted out to shoot a three-pointer from a meter and a half away.
Swish!
Before Jokic could even turn around, he heard the sound of the basketball going through the net!