one-handed ball

Chapter 229
Just as it was agreed to break out together, James in the East also contributed an incredible performance when facing the Magic the next day.He scored 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists to help the Cavaliers beat the Magic, with a total score of 2 to 3.

The two top small forwards had their best performances so far in their conference finals, and their outbursts had fans in Cleveland and Minnesota cheering, expecting them to stage a comeback at the same time.It would be even better if they can meet in the finals. After all, if the two of them meet in the finals, it will be a bit of a fateful confrontation. This is what the fans hope to see, and it is also a big gimmick.

After Zheng Ke experienced this season's playoffs, he has officially entered the ranks of the league's top stars, and has a vague meaning of being compared with Kobe, James and a series of emperor superstars.At least on the Internet, Zheng Ke's fans have already started clamoring for the title of invincible duels.

Of course, Zheng Ke didn't know about all this. He himself rarely went online, especially during the critical time of the playoffs. He wanted to spend all his time in the arena.

The Rockets, who were defeated by a big score, held an emergency player meeting in the locker room after the end of the fifth game. Adelman and the coaching staff attended the meeting.Battier was the first to speak and apologized to all the players: "It's all my fault. I failed to defend Zheng Ke's offense, which caused the rhythm to be disrupted. I have to bear the greatest responsibility."

"No, I was wrong too." Artest said sincerely: "I also failed to defend Zheng Ke."

"Actually, I am also responsible." Yao Ming said in a muffled voice.

"I have it too."

"I have it too."

"Okay," Adelman stopped the meeting that was slowly turning into a self-blame conference, and he said: "The Timberwolves' current tactics in positional warfare are very simple, which is to let Zheng Ke play singles. Faced with this, we can fight against It's double-teaming!"

"Double-teaming, I'm afraid it's useless. We had already double-teamed in the first quarter of the last game!" said an assistant coach of the coaching staff.

"No, I mean" Adelman said with brilliance in his eyes, word by word:

"Off-ball double-team."

Double-teaming without the ball will put more pressure on the players, but at the same time it will let go of the pressure on other Timberwolves players.

In the arena of the Target Center, there are blue Timberwolves jerseys as far as the eye can see. When the Rockets players came out, they were greeted with a "welcome" sound from mountains and tsunami.

In the sixth game of the NBA Western Conference Finals in the 08-09 season, the Rockets played against the Timberwolves at the Target Center.

This time the Rockets chose a different starting lineup. McGrady, Artest, Battier, Scola, and Yao Ming formed the Rockets' starting no-one group today.

Whitman saw the Rockets' starting lineup and felt that something was wrong. In this way, the Rockets, all over 2 meters tall, had an absolute height advantage on the court.His only doubt is, with McGrady as the starting point guard, can he do it?Can he guard the agile Billups?
But anyway, the game started as scheduled, Whitman can only hope that the Rockets self-defeating.

The top priority of the Rockets is to do a good job of defense, not offense. Putting Battier and Artest together is to limit Zheng Ke's performance, which everyone can see.But what everyone didn't expect was that the Rockets actually used a double-team without the ball, and Zheng Ke could hardly touch the ball.

"My God, Jordan's Law!" TNT's host repeatedly exclaimed.

This is a relatively rare tactic in this year's playoffs. Even though James is like a god in this round of the series, the Magic still haven't used a similar tactic for him. This change of the Rockets is absolutely sudden.

Zheng Ke was forced not to catch the ball, but the other players of the Timberwolves performed quite well, and he was happy to be leisurely on the court.

At the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves led 29 to 26 by 3 points. Zheng Ke only scored 2 points in a single quarter. He only took two shots in this quarter, which was very different from his performance in the first quarter of the previous game.

If the game continued like this, Zheng Ke felt that the Timberwolves would win immediately, but after the second quarter, the situation on the field changed suddenly. The Rockets scored consecutively, but the Timberwolves kept hitting the iron.

Just a few minutes later, the Timberwolves fell behind 34 to 39 by 5 points.

"damn it."

At this time, Zheng Ke had to make a move. No matter whether someone was double-teaming or not, he had to stabilize the situation on the field.

After halftime, Zheng Ke suddenly changed direction and accelerated running. Like a nimble rabbit, he ran out of the encirclement arranged by the Rockets. Lowry had quick eyes and hands, and handed the ball to Zheng Ke.

"Call~"

Zheng Ke's sneakers made a violent friction sound on the smooth and clean floor. After catching the ball, he turned around and used Love's pick-and-roll to wipe into the inside of the Rockets!

This is an opportunity!
Zheng Ke patted the ball on the ground and quickly dribbled it twice, then rushed to Hayes, and then stood up.

"Whoever stops me will die!"

Although he didn't yell out, Zheng Ke's posture, which was obviously about to dunk, seemed to be accompanied by this word. Hayes knew that he was not good at bouncing, so he stepped aside early.

"boom!"

Zheng Ke hung obliquely on the basket and roared to the surroundings.

The fans at the scene immediately rejoiced. Many fans waved cheering slogans for the Timberwolves and shouted Zheng Ke's name loudly. The sound of whistles and applause merged into a joyful symphony.

This is a signal for Zheng Ke to attack in the second quarter.

Zheng Ke is very clear in his heart. He knows that when other Timberwolves players feel down, he must stand up and assume his responsibilities like a leader. Scoring is what he should do at this stage.

The tight double-teaming of Shane Battier and Artest still has a certain impact on Zheng Ke. If he does not attack hard, it will be difficult for him to get excellent shooting opportunities. Usually he will use his speed to get rid of the two, or use The extremely strong force breaks through a little space, and then attacks with the ball, the efficiency is not very high.

On this point, it was not until the second half that Zheng Ke's embarrassing situation eased.Billups, Efflalo and Mike Miller spooked Adelman with a barrage of [-]-pointers from the perimeter.This rain of three-pointers directly caught up with the Timberwolves' trailing points and quickly surpassed the Rockets.

Billups finally showed his power.

In the Western Conference finals, Zheng Ke's light was so dazzling that others began to forget that the Timberwolves still had an All-Star player and a player who was selected to the best third team.

In the third quarter, Billups soared into 4 three-pointers, helping the Timberwolves lead by as much as 5 points at the end of the third quarter.Adelman's tactics seem to be cracked.

No one expected that the Rockets, leading 3 to 1, would be forced into such a situation by the Timberwolves!

"It's too exaggerated. We scored 7 three-pointers in this quarter! I'm not dreaming!" A Timberwolves fan pinched his thigh and screamed in disbelief.

"Who asked them to double-team our "nuclear weapons" like this? This is just a joke. Do they think that Zheng Ke is the only one responsible for the Timberwolves' fight today? Do they think our Timberwolves have a group of shooters on the outside? Do they all eat dry food?"

"Dry the rocket, dry the rocket"

Yao Ming missed the inside attack, the rebound was taken by Love, and the Timberwolves quickly counterattacked.

This is the best scoring method of the Timberwolves. Zheng Ke is like an arrow from the string. At the end of the fourth quarter, he still maintained his peak speed and ran to the front of all the players in an instant!

Just after halftime, Billups was directly near the empty basket!
Zheng Ke yelled, caught the basketball in the air, and with a "bang", he simply poured the ball into the basket with both hands.

The Timberwolves lead by 10 points!
The Rockets lack the ability to chase points in the fourth quarter, which is the consensus of all teams in the league.The Timberwolves have always staged a comeback, and their toughness is rare in history, and they are also famous for it.The two teams struggled for fighting spirit and blood in the fourth quarter, and the Rockets were at a disadvantage.

Two minutes later, Zheng Ke intercepted McGrady's pass, and made a one-stop European layup in the frontcourt, causing McGrady to foul and score the ball!

Zheng Kejia made a free throw and scored five points in a row!
In fact, Zheng Ke seldom uses the European step when laying up. It’s not that he can’t, but he doesn’t need these fake moves. He can only rely on his super strength, bounce and speed to get the ball in. There is no need to waste time doing these If you move, you might be chased by someone.But when he was laying up just now, he actually used a rare European step, directly deceived McGrady's defense, and hit a layup with his left hand.

As the physical strength of the Rockets' main players declines, the hope of a comeback is getting slimmer.

In the end, the Timberwolves scored in double figures with 7 players at home and defeated the Rockets again 106-92.Zheng Ke rested for the last minute and scored 1 points and 21 assists. The statistics are average, but he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear.But Billups scored a game-high 7 points. He made 29 of 8 three-pointers and 6 of 4 in the third quarter. He became the biggest contributor to today's victory over the Rockets.

(End of this chapter)