Chapter 799 3 Points at the Buzzer
Chapter 799 Three Points at the Buzzer
The cheers were like surging waves, constantly washing over the entire stadium. If it was an ordinary person, facing the deafening cheers, they might not be able to stand still.
After all, the players on both sides had experienced hundreds of battles and had never seen any scenes before. They remained motionless amidst the cheers all over the sky, and focused all their attention on the game.
At this time, the Rockets players were under tremendous pressure, because they had been lagging behind in the score since the first quarter.
The Warriors who returned to the home court seemed to be on the hook. From the beginning of the game, they played far better than the Rockets.
Among them, in the middle of the first quarter, under the leadership of Li Weisi, the Warriors played a wave of 11:2 offensive climax, directly pulling the scores of the two teams to double digits in the first quarter.
Since then, although the Rockets have worked hard to chase points under the leadership of Olajuwon, the effect is not obvious, and the point difference has always hovered around 10 points.
In this way, the time soon came to the end of the first half. At this time, there were more than 30 seconds left before the end of the half. The score was 61:50, and the Rockets were still 11 points behind.
In order to create one more offensive opportunity for the team, Smith, who received the serve, dribbled the ball quickly across the half court, trying to grab a quick two points.
However, Li Weisi's figure was always by his side. No matter what method he used or how he disguised himself, he couldn't get rid of Li Weisi's defense.
It's no wonder that Smith's breakthrough in disguise in front of Li Weisi is equivalent to playing a big knife in front of Guan Gong, playing an ax in front of Lu Ban's door, and pushing a dung ball in front of a dung beetle.
In desperation, Smith could only hand the ball to Drexler, who was not far away from him. This was not a dumping, but a passing of hope.
Throughout the first half, except for Olajuwon, the Rockets did not play very well, including Drexler.
As the core of the Rockets' outside line, Drexler only scored 5 points in the first half. In this most critical tiebreaker, this is really unreasonable.
Therefore, after getting the ball at this time, in order to prove himself, Drexler also vented his dissatisfaction in the first half.
First, a change of direction got rid of Mullin's defense, and then he went inside, one step away from the free throw line, and took off directly on one foot. Mullin, who is obviously one year younger than Drexler , Seeing Drexler's gliding dunk, he could only pay attention, there was nothing he could do.
Mullin, who was not good at bouncing, has almost lost all his bouncing after several major injuries. Not only that, but his explosive power and lateral movement speed have also weakened a lot, and this is also Drexler. The reason why Mullin can be passed in one step, because he really can't keep up with Drexler.
After gliding in the air for a certain distance, the basket was close at hand. Drexler, who had already rounded his arms, smashed the basketball in his hand into the basket.
With a score of 61:52 and 28 seconds left, the Rockets achieved their goal.
Immediately afterwards it was the Warriors' turn to serve. Compared to the Rockets' race against time, the Warriors were less in a hurry. attack.
Soon, the number on the timer reached "9", and Li Weisi was ready to start.
Divac raised the pick-and-roll for Li Weisi, and Li Weisi took advantage of the situation to make a breakthrough, but encountered a front and back attack from Olajuwon and Smith. Just when Li Weisi was hesitating whether to give the ball to Divac now or wait, suddenly Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mullin running out of space.
It turned out that as early as the moment Li Weisi was about to start, Mu Lin also started. Although his physical talent has declined sharply, his golf intelligence and experience are still there. Therefore, he used his slow but elusive off-ball Running, he successfully created a small space for himself.
Li Weisi and Mullin, who have worked together for nearly ten years, are very familiar with this kind of cooperation. In the crowd, Li Weisi's pass accurately found Mullin, but after receiving the ball, Mullin only made a shot Feint, and did not immediately shot.
It turned out that Drexler jumped out first and tried to block Mullin with his hands, but after Mullin swayed Drexler away, he moved laterally one step to the right, and only then did he calmly complete the shot.
After the basketball fell into the basket, the time left for the Rockets was the last 5 seconds. The reason why Mullin didn't shoot right away just now was because of the time-consuming consideration.
In 5 seconds, whether it is long or short, if you serve the ball from the backcourt, an ordinary guard in the NBA can rush all the way to the frontcourt to complete the shot.
But the Warriors obviously wouldn't give them such an easy chance to attack. Facing Olajuwon who was about to serve from the baseline, Divac raised his hands and kept bouncing around to interfere with Olajuwon's free throws.
At the same time, both Smith and Drexler have become the focus of defense. It is not easy to get the ball.
Although Olajuwon looked anxious in his eyes, fortunately, he can run left and right on the baseline free throw, so in the process of repeated horizontal jumps, Olajuwon really found a chance.
At this time, Drexler pushed Mullin away, and Mullin fell directly because he did not stand firm, and the referee did not blow the whistle at this time. Therefore, Drexler received Olaju Wang's pass.
After receiving the ball, Drexler ran with the ball all the way, and Mullin, who got up from the ground, followed closely. Not only that, but Richmond, who was defending Maxwell near the center line, also Judgment, resolutely gave up Maxwell, came to attack Drexler.
However, under this pincer attack, Drexler completely ignored the two of them, and directly chose to force himself up, facing the arms of the two, and threw the ball out.
Drexler's three-point shooting rate this season is only about 35%, and the average number of shots per game is less than 5 times. But this time, in an emergency, his shot is like adding a scope. Very precise running to the basket.
As the clock ticked to zero, the basketball hit the net, and Drexler hit the buzzer three-pointer before the end of the first half.
The halftime score was fixed at 63:55. With Drexler's three-pointer at the buzzer, the Rockets successfully narrowed the point difference to 8 points. The cheers were much smaller.
To be honest, in the first half tonight, the Warriors played very well. The 63 points in the half are already their highest scoring game in this round of the series, but even so, their lead is still limited.
It can be said that this Rockets team is the strongest opponent the Warriors have encountered this season, none of them!
(End of this chapter)