NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 30: The clutch three-pointer keeps the team alive; the final chapter of offense and defense!

Having just finished a scramble for the loose ball and then several adrenaline-pumping offensive and defensive exchanges, Li Xingchen didn't immediately realize that he still had three points left to use in this game.

He only snapped out of his daze when the perfect scoring strategy for the next round automatically appeared in his mind.

Thankfully, the passive function of this system is triggered automatically.

This is really interesting. As long as he hasn't scored sixteen points before, he has a chance to unleash his full potential at crucial moments!

Perhaps in the future we can consider how to better utilize this mechanism to ensure that crucial shots are made at critical moments...

But that's something to think about later. Right now, all he needs to do is seize this opportunity and sink that damn three-pointer!

Since neither side called a timeout, after Gobert made his free throw, the Warriors quickly inbounded the ball from the baseline, with Curry carrying it up the court.

This process must be done as quickly as possible, because they can take advantage of the chaos before the Jazz's defensive formation is fully set and see if they can find a good shooting opportunity.

Therefore, apart from Green being slightly slower in inbounding the ball, the Warriors' other four players who posed a shooting threat rushed to the frontcourt as quickly as possible.

Of course, the Jazz's defensive transition was also quick; they were basically in position by the time the Warriors' players had all rushed to the frontcourt.

However, due to the time constraints, there was a slight oversight in the communication between the defensive positions. Although no player was left out, a mismatch was created. Royce O'Neal was still closely chasing Curry, but Li Xingchen was standing in front of Bojan Bogdanovic!

That's the white forward who's great at shooting but has a clear weakness in defense, the one who got called out by Li Xingchen in the last game and scored a three-plus-one!

Bojan's only decent performance was defending the forwards' drives, but he was very poor at defending against fast guards and disrupting outside shots. His shot-blocking ability was historically poor, even setting an absurd record of going 80 games without a single block for a total of 2,485 minutes.

Li Xingchen, a guard-shooter, is practically his nemesis.

What's more, in the last game, Li Xingchen had just singled him out for making a three-plus-one play!

The psychological advantage is too great.

Upon realizing that he was facing off against Li Xingchen in such a crucial round, Bo Yang began to panic.

When your mind is disturbed, it becomes even harder to concentrate.

It was already impossible to defend against, and now it's only made matters worse.

As a veteran who has played in the NBA for more than a decade and won three championships, Curry's ability to read the game is naturally top-notch.

Five years ago, when he was only 28 years old, he might have made a behind-the-back pass in Game 7 of the Finals, ultimately losing the championship due to this fatal mistake.

But now, at the age of thirty-three, he will surely make the right choice on the field at crucial moments.

There are 41 seconds left in the game.

After assessing the situation on the court, Curry decisively passed the ball to Li Xingchen, who had already created a mismatch for the shot.

Li Xingchen had known this would happen all along and had made preparations.

When he received the pass from Curry, he was at the top of the arc at a 45-degree angle, which is one of his most familiar shooting spots.

After receiving Curry's incredibly accurate pass, he felt he was in excellent form and his shooting position was extremely comfortable.

He didn't even dribble, let alone sink the ball; he shot it almost the instant he received it.

Without the slightest hesitation, he was utterly confident!

Bojan hadn't even reacted yet. He was probably still thinking that if Li Xingchen received the ball and tried to exploit the mismatch, he absolutely couldn't be fooled by the opponent's fake move like last time. He had to create enough interference for the opponent's three-point shot...

Unexpectedly, Li Xingchen didn't make any feints at all, or even move at all. Curry's pass to him was like being bounced by a spring with a built-in aiming system, heading straight for the basket!

By the time Bojan reacted and jumped to contest the shot, the basketball had already passed its highest point, making Bojan's defensive attempt look particularly comical.

Of course, it can't be entirely blamed on him. It's mainly because Li Xingchen was just too fast. If it were anyone else, the result would probably be the same.

In the end, the basketball seemed to have just passed through Li Xingchen's hands swiftly and silently, and now it fell into the basket again without a sound.

Even the net didn't fluctuate much.

A crucial three-pointer, swished through the net!

104: 106!

Li Xingchen's crucial three-pointer helped the Warriors close the gap to just two points!

The fans at Chase Center cheered again, just like in that miraculous playoff a week ago, when Li Xingchen, this young man from the East, brought them hope for a comeback!

Domestic fans were equally excited.

In the live stream, Wang Meng started shouting "Heavens above!" and "Amazing!" again.

Shu Hai had a new twist: "That play was absolutely crucial. Curry's three-pointer and Li Xingchen's three-pointer—those two key baskets were lifesavers for the Warriors!"

"With 38 seconds left in the game, they don't need to foul yet and can defend the Jazz for a full 24-second offensive possession. If they can stop them, the Warriors will have a chance to win or tie the game!"

……

During the game, the Jazz used their last timeout.

From a timing perspective, if neither side makes any mistakes or steals that lead to a change of possession, this will be their last offensive possession.

Therefore, Snyder naturally had to use the timeout to set up offensive tactics.

If this offensive possession goes in, whether it's a two-pointer or a three-pointer, it will basically seal the victory.

However, this is not necessarily true. In the last play-in tournament, the Grizzlies were leading by twelve points with about forty seconds left, but they were still overtaken by this Warriors in an unprecedented and epic comeback.

The thought of this made Snyder feel anxious and irritable.

He doesn't want to become the backdrop for someone else's dramatic comeback, or be nailed to the pillar of historical shame.

On the other side, on the Warriors' bench, not many people praised Li Xingchen. After all, the team was still behind, and even though Li Xingchen had just made a crucial three-pointer, now was not the time to talk about such things. At most, they would just smile and pat him on the butt to express their encouragement or praise.

Kerr carefully laid out his defensive tactics because he also had the last timeout. So, in this defensive possession, he would normally substitute all his strong defensive players and bring in the center to protect the rebounds, so that Curry could be substituted back in after the defensive possession ended via a timeout.

Unfortunately, with Oubre sidelined due to injury, the Warriors' roster didn't have many available options, so there wasn't much room for adjustment.

The players who ultimately took the court in this round were: Li Xingchen, Bazemore, Wiggins, Green, and Rooney.

The main reason for bringing on Looney is to protect the defensive rebounds, which is crucial if the Jazz miss their shots.

Before Li Xingchen had made his mark, Cole would usually bring in Toscano Anderson for these kinds of rounds. However, while Anderson was good at help defense, his ability to defend pitchers one-on-one was far inferior to Li Xingchen's.

Therefore, Kerr ultimately decided to field this defensive lineup with Li Xingchen for the final defensive possession of the game!