NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 82: One steal and one block threaten to sink the ship, Los Angeles referees step in!

The exciting round that just happened was being broadcast live in Tencent's live streaming room.

Wang Meng: "Come check on Li Xingchen! Run the time! Don't cover for him!"

"A step-back three-pointer following a fake drive!"

"Another one-on-one! Facing Paul George's defense!"

"Another crucial goal!"

Su Qun: "That's a really tough hand! He's a true clutch player!"

"However, Li's long-range three-pointer brought his total to nineteen points, breaking his previous record of only sixteen points per game in the first round series and setting a new career high for playoff scoring!"

"Let's see if the Clippers should call a timeout?"

"No! Reggie Jackson has the ball across half-court! Hmm? Paul George seems to have approached Li Xingchen! The two are starting to compete!"

Besides the two somewhat unprofessional but passionate commentators, the live stream chat was constantly filled with comments.

"666, he hit a super long-range three-pointer against Paul George, why does this scene feel so familiar?"

George: So? Why is it always me?

"Pickled peppers are the GOAT of the background art world."

"Damn it, how did Xingchen get nineteen points today? The first law of Li Xingchen has failed!"

"Expel the mathematicians from Golden State University!"

"Hey guys, look! George seems to be actively targeting our Little Lee on offense. Looks like he's got a problem with that!"

……

During the game, the Clippers did not call a timeout, but immediately began their offensive possession.

Reggie Jackson dribbles the ball across half-court. The current matchup should be Curry guarding Beverley, while Li Xingchen is guarding Reggie Jackson.

Just past half-court, Paul George ran over to set a screen for Jackson, leaving Li Xingchen completely bewildered.

Even Reggie himself was completely bewildered, let alone Li Xingchen.

Who runs a pick-and-roll near the center circle? Not everyone is Curry, capable of hitting three-pointers from near the center circle!

The only explanation is that George and Li Xingchen clashed. George couldn't stop Li Xingchen on the defensive end, so he wanted to respond directly on the offensive end!

It seems that the slight provocation just now had a stronger effect than Li Xingchen had expected.

Given the Warriors' current roster, Li Xingchen's defense of George was not the optimal solution, so he still tried to continue guarding Reggie Jackson.

As a result, Paul George wouldn't let him leave, moving his body to try and block Li Xingchen, almost reaching out to grab him.

Logically, this should have been called a moving screen, but since it was too far from the three-point line and there was no shot attempt after the screen, the referee turned a blind eye and did not make any call.

With no other option, Li Xingchen had to "reluctantly" switch to guard George. At the same time, he glanced at Wiggins, who was not far away and had taken over Reggie's defense. Wiggins nodded to Li Xingchen, indicating that he could safely leave the defense to him.

At this point, logically, everyone's attention should be focused on two things: Reggie Jackson, who has the ball, and Kawhi Leonard, who is most likely to execute the offensive strategy in this crucial possession.

However, the reality was quite different, because the matchup between Paul George and Li Xingchen was far too dramatic.

In a normal off-the-ball matchup, either the player basically stays in place, creating space and the defender doesn't dare to leave them open; or the attacking team tries to make runs to find opportunities, while the defending player tries to chase them down.

However, the off-ball matchup between Paul George and Li Xingchen looked like they were just grappling in place.

Although their positions didn't change much, the physical contact was exceptionally intense. George's footwork shifted from left to right, whether he was trying to shake off Li Xingchen's defense or rehearsing a spectacular shot that might not happen in a moment.

The two were quite aggressive, constantly pushing and shoving each other.

Of course, Li Xingchen was not intimidated at all. As a shooting guard, he was not going to be bullied by George, a forward, with his footwork.

He has the advantage in speed, so no matter how much George shakes and sways, he can't find any opening to cut into the three-point line without a screen.

This makes it appear as if the two are spinning in place.

George was getting anxious when he couldn't break through, and his movements became increasingly aggressive as he kept tugging at Li Xingchen, as if he wanted to push him away.

Li Xingchen was not to be outdone, constantly blocking and pushing away the opponent's outstretched arms while trying to maintain her balance.

Finally, the referee blew his whistle.

Li Xingchen thought to himself, "This referee has finally shown some humanity. Such a blatant off-the-ball movement should have been called a foul long ago!"

When he turned around, he saw the referee pointing at him, indicating that number 31 had committed a foul.

Li Xingchen retracted his absurd idea and slowly typed a question mark above his head.

What the hell? How can this be called a defensive foul?

If the referee is blind, he should get his eyes checked! It was clearly George who was shoving me the whole time!

Cole on the sidelines was also furious, mainly because he had already used up his challenge opportunity for the game, so he could only unleash his fury on the referee.

But as you can imagine, it was of no use, and the referee immediately called a technical foul on them!

I don't know what's wrong with Kerr. He won five championships as a player and has been the head coach of the team for so many years. Logically speaking, he should be able to remain calm and composed no matter what happens.

However, whenever faced with unfair calls, he still couldn't control his emotions, and it was common for him to receive technical fouls and give the opponent free throws.

After being called for a technical foul, Cole wanted to continue criticizing the referee, but he was held back tightly by the assistant coach.

The scene gradually returned to order, and Leonard took the free throws for the Clippers after a technical foul.

Fortunately, the Clippers hadn't reached the foul count in the fourth quarter, so the foul that Li Xingchen was called for didn't require a free throw. Instead, the offensive timer was recalculated, giving the Clippers a few extra seconds on their possession.

Free throws are naturally a piece of cake for Kawhi Leonard.

The score is 113-111, with the Warriors still leading by two points.

Reggie Jackson inbounds the ball, and George once again looks for Li Xingchen.

The favorable ruling just now seemed to embolden him and give him even more confidence that he could reclaim the three points he had just lost against Li Xingchen.

Seeing George's impatient expression and the system's prompt, Li Xingchen smiled.

With five seconds left on the serve, Li Xingchen continued to guard George.

But along the way, he seemed to stumble slightly and was suddenly left a step behind by George.

George was overjoyed when he saw this. He ran to the right 45-degree angle of the three-point arc and immediately raised his hands high to ask for the ball.

Reggie Jackson, who was serving from the left sideline, also spotted a good opportunity for George and immediately passed the ball to him.

Who knew that Li Xingchen, who seemed to have lost his balance and was staggering just a second ago, suddenly regained his balance the moment Reggie passed the ball.

Instead of rushing to help defend George, he seemed to have a premonition or eyes in the back of his head, and jumped up directly and flew with incredible precision toward Reggie's passing route.

Then, they intercepted the Clippers' inbound pass high in the air and launched a fast break forward at lightning speed!

The first to catch up with Li Xingchen's speed were Brother Zui and Xiao Ka.

Since Li Xingchen's steal was about a step inside the three-point line, and he took half a second to regain his balance after landing, there was not an empty space in front of him at that moment.

Kawhi Leonard had caught up to almost the same position as him, while Wiggins, who was already in the high post, was even further forward, almost touching the basket.

Without hesitation, Li Xingchen passed the ball directly to Mouth Bro.

Logically speaking, a fast break of two against one and a fast break of one against zero are basically not difficult.

A defender has to guard two people at the same time, especially while moving at high speed. It's impossible for him to cover both at the same time, and he will only end up covering one and neglecting the other.

But Kawhi Leonard actually did it.

He guessed that Li Xingchen would choose to pass the ball under this positioning, so he did not slow down at all and directly passed by Li Xingchen, chasing after Wiggins!

In such a crucial round, Wiggins made the same mistake that fans have been criticizing him for – playing too conservatively and not tough enough.

With such a great fast break opportunity, given Wiggins' height, wingspan, and amazing jumping ability, why not just dunk it?

It's an absolutely relaxing and enjoyable experience.

But he chose to go for a layup, even when someone was hot on his heels!

As a result, the basketball had only flown a short distance from his palm when a whooshing sound was heard, and it seemed as if a white figure had swept past. Immediately afterwards, a huge hand slammed the basketball hard onto the backboard.

A clean and tidy nailed hat!

The only pity was that Kawhi's speed was too fast, so he couldn't stop in time. After making the block, he was thrown off the court by inertia and naturally had no chance to participate in the rebound battle.

Therefore, Li Xingchen directly received possession of the ball that had bounced off the backboard near the free-throw line.

But Kawhi Leonard's incredible block bought valuable time for the rest of the Clippers to get back on defense.

When Li Xingchen secured the rebound, he was surrounded by the long arms of Clippers players.

Left with no other option, he had to pass the ball back to Draymond Green at the top of the three-point arc to allow him to reorganize the offense.

Regardless, Li Xingchen's steal just now, although it didn't result in a fast break, at least helped the Warriors gain possession of the ball once more!

At this moment, only 45 seconds remain in the game, and the Warriors are currently leading by two points and have possession of the ball.

Everything happened too fast, and the pace only slowed down again when the basketball returned to Draymond Green's hands at the top of the arc.

At this moment, as the team in the lead, the Warriors' natural task is to run down the clock as much as possible. Therefore, after Draymond Green received the ball at the top of the arc, he did not make any moves for the time being.

The chat room continued to be flooded with comments.

"Holy crap, Los Angeles referees! How could they call a foul on my Star Bro? And they even gave Kerr a technical foul!"

"That's outrageous. George made a bunch of dirty tricks in that last possession. Maybe that's home-court advantage."

"Kerr is really something. At such a crucial moment for the team, he still manages to give the opponent a technical foul and free throws. Unbelievable."

"Don't worry, don't worry, believe that justice will prevail!"

"It's a sure win! Xiao Li made the steal at the crucial moment again. He's really born to play in clutch situations. It's like he's got a cheat code."

"Since you've already broken the sixteen-point mark, why don't you just go for a twenty-plus game, Star Bro!"

"But to be fair, Kawhi's all-court defense and his block shots on fast breaks were really impressive. He played the whole game and his stamina is still so good. He can still run so fast and jump so high. It's terrifying."

"It's because Mouth Bro played too passively. This was a 2-on-1 fast break, how could he not dunk? ... Seriously, I'm speechless. He has no fighting spirit at all. He deserved to get blocked."

"As expected, the real Golden State mathematician is still Wiggins. He's absolutely unwilling to give more than a single point from 1 to 18!"

"It's alright, there are less than two possessions left, and the Warriors are still leading by two points. I guess there shouldn't be any major problems..."

……

The scene of the game.

Li Xingchen didn't participate much in this attack; he was only responsible for creating space on the weak side.

With more than ten seconds left, Draymond Green at the top of the arc prepared to launch the offensive strategy for this round.

Judging from their gestures and positions, they seem to be preparing for a classic hand-to-hand, two-person skit.

However, a system notification suddenly sounded in Li Xingchen's mind.

His expression changed slightly, and then he began to retreat almost imperceptibly, shifting his center of gravity backward as if he were ready to launch a defensive maneuver at any moment.

Because the system had already anticipated the unfavorable scenario that would occur for the Warriors...

The pick-and-roll tactic between Curry and Draymond Green is so classic that almost every player in the league with some seniority has experienced it more than once, and some can even recite their movements by heart.

The reason this tactic is still effective is mainly because Curry's offense is unstoppable for most defenders. Even if they know how the defenders want to play, they still cannot effectively interfere or respond.

However, this vast majority of people do not include Kawhi Leonard today.

In this matchup, Beverley was entangled with Curry, while Leonard was guarding Draymond Green.

As an offensive black hole, Draymond Green is personally guarded by Kawhi Leonard for only one reason: everyone in the world knows that he is about to run a pick-and-roll with Curry.

Curry moved up and set a fake screen for Draymond Green, who had the ball. The two then performed a fake handoff, but the ball remained in Green's hands.

According to normal tactical understanding, if Kawhi Leonard was slightly blocked, Draymond Green theoretically had the opportunity to break through to the inside.

But Kawhi knew in his heart that this was not something he could do while pursuing his dreams.

So after being blocked, Kawhi remained calm and composed. He neither switched defense nor double-teamed Curry with Beverley, nor did he pay attention to his out-of-position opponent, Draymond Green. Instead, he changed his path and cut directly towards the middle between Green and Curry.

Sure enough, he intercepted Draymond Green's pass to Curry!

His interception of the ball didn't involve any jumping, unlike Li Xingchen's interception which required him to land and regain his balance.

His interception was a simple forward slap that firmly secured Draymond Green's pass, allowing him to initiate a fast break!

It really is true that fortunes can change in an instant.

In the previous possession, Li Xingchen made the steal, disrupting the Clippers' offense and helping the Warriors secure crucial possession.

This time, however, things were completely reversed. Kawhi intercepted Draymond Green's pass and launched a fast break from the top of the backcourt arc towards the frontcourt!

This is undoubtedly very dangerous for the Warriors.

At this moment, they only have a two-point lead.

Once Kawhi Leonard scores on that fast break, the score will be tied immediately, and the advantage he maintained throughout the game will be completely wiped out!

Everyone on the Warriors team, especially Curry who watched helplessly as the pass was intercepted midway, felt a pang of anxiety.

Because he knew that if Kawhi Leonard launched a fast break from this position, theoretically no one could stop him.

Forget about stopping him, maybe no one would even have time to react...

But while we may think about it, we still need to try our best to defend.

As someone in a high position, Curry was relatively closer, so even though he had given up hope, he still started walking and chased after Kawhi Leonard.

But upon closer inspection, he noticed a blue figure belonging to the Warriors standing in front of him, with the number 31 written on its back.

It's Li Xingchen!

His position was clearly not very advantageous, so how could he react so quickly?

Moreover, he's so fast, he's about to overtake Leonard!

Kawhi Leonard is absolutely not going to give Wiggins the same opportunities, so he will definitely choose to dunk on this fast break.

Li Xingchen was aware of this, so he started moving before the steal was even completed. In addition, he was slightly faster than Kawhi Leonard, and after a quick effort, he finally arrived at the basket first and secured a favorable defensive position.

Jump with all your might!

At the same time, Kawhi Leonard also took off and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands.

Li Xingchen's right hand was raised straight, and his palm precisely slapped the basketball. Even from a distance, it was clear that it was a clean block, with absolutely no extra physical contact between him and Kawhi Leonard.

Therefore, the referee did not call a penalty.

However, it must be said that the power of the run-up and take-off dunk was really too great, especially since it was Kawhi Leonard who performed this series of actions. Li Xingchen only felt an irresistible force coming from his hands.

Then, after the basketball slipped from his hands, Kawhi Leonard used the momentum to crash into him, and the two of them landed on the ground together in a very intense scene.

Even though Li Xingchen couldn't push the ball back directly, he had already provided enough interference.

The moment his hand precisely slapped the basketball, Kawhi Leonard's dunk was essentially doomed, as his anticipated trajectory had been altered. Moreover, the basketball had already slipped from Li Xingchen's grasp almost the instant it hit him.

Ultimately, the basketball, battered by the two immense forces, gently bumped against the side of the rim. Instead of bouncing into the basket, it fell normally, awaiting the scramble of both players.

Draymond Green and Paul George arrived at the same time.

In terms of rebounding, Draymond Green is not as good as Looney, after all, there is a difference in height and wingspan, and the same is true when facing George.

In the blink of an eye, the referee's whistle blew again.

Li Xingchen, who had just stood up from the ground, was unaware of what had happened when he saw the referee call another foul on the Warriors.

It was Draymond Green's rebounding foul.

This time, he has committed enough fouls and will be sent to the free-throw line.

An unnamed fire surged within Li Xingchen.

I fought hard, chasing and defending for half the court, even getting knocked off the court, before finally blocking the opponent's fast break and saving the Warriors from being tied.

As a result, you casually blew your whistle and gave the Clippers two more free throws?

If George makes both free throws, the score will be back to square one!

Li Xingchen narrowed his eyes slightly, clenched his fists, and quietly suppressed the anger in his heart, so as not to suffer the same loss as Cole.

However, he will use his strength to defeat all the demons and monsters.

He still has three points left in this game.

With only twenty seconds left in the game, just enough for one offensive round!

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1. Congratulations to the Spurs for advancing to the Western Conference Finals in Game 7! Justice will prevail!

2. It will be available tomorrow. I'll post my thoughts later!

3. Thank you all for reading this far. This 6,000-word chapter is an extra chapter for the official release. I'm begging for a first subscription!