NBA: Rising Superstar!

Chapter 483 - 395: Duel with the Rockets (Part 3)

Once the space opened up, seeing no one coming to double-team.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Zeng Xingyang adjusted his dribbling rhythm, but this wasn’t to shake off the opponent!

What’s there to shake off with someone as short as Paul? Just adjust your own rhythm and shoot.

Paul continued to reach out to interfere.

It had no effect.

"Swish!!"

Paul was very frustrated.

Harden felt the same, watching Paul unable to do anything about this shot.

Paul usually has numerous ways to interfere when guarding taller players, such as disrupting their rhythm, making them uncomfortable when shooting.

But he had no way of dealing with Zeng Xingyang.

The main reason is that Zeng Xingyang has too many offensive moves, rendering his rhythm disruption ineffective.

"Zeng, keep playing like this." Mike Malone clapped and celebrated from the sidelines.

Rockets’ offense.

Harden wanted to use a pick-and-roll to play against Jokic this round.

However, Jokic and Brogdon double-teamed him.

Harden made a clever bounce pass to Capela rolling down the middle.

Normally, Capela would step up and dunk it on a roll.

But just before Capela raised the ball high enough, a figure rushed to his side.

"Slap!"

Zeng Xingyang swung his hand fiercely.

The basketball was blocked down.

Jokic turned around and controlled the ball.

Jokic dribbled past the half-court.

Jokic passed the ball to Zeng Xingyang.

Zeng Xingyang facing Paul’s defense, after a probing step, directly pulled up.

This was a very difficult shot, but it went in.

"Swish!"

The Nuggets’ terrifying firepower was displayed at the Toyota Center.

Rockets’ offense again.

Harden went one-on-one against Brogdon, after several directional changes, he drilled through.

Right now, Harden is almost unstoppable on offense, even Zeng Xingyang could only slightly limit him, unable to completely stop him.

After Harden’s breakthrough, he attracted Nuggets’ defense and passed to Tucker at the baseline corner.

Tucker received the ball and quickly attempted a three-pointer.

But just as the ball left his hand, Gordon flew in to block it.

"Slap!"

Gordon gave Tucker a block.

The shot was blocked.

Restart the offense.

This time Paul received the ball and initiated the offense.

Paul and Capela’s pick-and-roll.

Zeng Xingyang was delayed, Paul with a low dribble on the right side drove through.

Though Paul broke in, he was too short, with not many finishing options, he rounded and had to pass the ball back to Harden.

Harden got the ball, took a step, and shot a three-pointer.

The shot missed Brogdon’s rhythm, but it didn’t go in.

"Clang!"

The rebound was grabbed by Zeng Xingyang.

Zeng Xingyang passed to Jokic fast-breaking down the court.

Jokic executed a nimble behind-the-back dribble to shake off Capela and strode towards the basket.

While Capela was sliding across, he stumbled a bit.

"Shook him off."

"Jokic shook Capela off."

Jokic didn’t stop but strode into the lane, leaned on Tucker, and spun again to score steadily.

"Timeout!!"

D’Antoni quickly called for a time-out.

The cheers of the entire audience fell silent.

The Nuggets were playing too elegantly on the court, even a center could easily pull off such dribble moves.

So far, the teams have gone back and forth in the first half, with the Nuggets having a certain lead, but not by much.

"71 to 65, the Nuggets lead by 6 going into the locker room." Coach Zhang glanced at the stats, Zeng Xingyang had 25 points and 5 assists, Harden had 21 points and 7 assists, and Jokic and Paul had 14 and 12 points respectively.

The core players from both teams did their jobs.

Although Zeng Xingyang’s score hasn’t exploded yet, Coach Zhang thinks Zeng Xingyang might increase his offensive attempts next.

The Nuggets’ usual playstyle is that when the team’s offensive efforts can’t solve the problem, Zeng Xingyang uses his individual offense to explain.

In the home team locker room.

Paul gritted his teeth, dissatisfied with the team’s first-half deficit.

He thought the Rockets should’ve been leading.

D’Antoni quickly laid out tactics.

"Chris, you keep limiting Zeng in the second half, don’t let him easily shoot threes."

"If Zeng breaks through, don’t double team, focus on limiting other offensive points."

"Don’t let him get the entire team’s momentum going."

"OK!"

"No problem."

The Rockets players shouted.

After the start of the third quarter.

An unexpected situation for the Rockets occurred.

Zeng Xingyang saw that Paul was always guarding him, so he increased his isolation plays.

minutes and 2 seconds.

Zeng Xingyang isolated Paul on the right side.

He received a pass from Jokic, made consecutive probing steps, then took a mid-range shot.

Paul tried to swipe the ball from Zeng Xingyang but failed.

"Swish!"

Zeng Xingyang easily scored.

Rockets’ turn, Harden and Capela pick-and-roll broke in.

Harden bounced a pass to Capela.

Capela directly intended to finish, but Gordon and Siakam double-teamed him.

Capela’s layup missed.

Fortunately, Ariza rushed in and snagged the offensive rebound.

Ariza passed the ball to Tucker at the corner.

Zeng Xingyang flew in to interfere, but it didn’t have much effect.

Tucker took a rapid-fire three-pointer.

"Swish!"

Nuggets’ offense.

Zeng Xingyang continued dribbling to the frontcourt, signaled to spread out the space.

Once the space spread, Zeng Xingyang again faced Paul.

Paul was sticking very closely, Zeng Xingyang feigned a move then got past him, reaching mid-range.

Capela was defending inside, Zeng Xingyang sped up and charged, stepping through Capela, then made a banked layup after gaining the advantage.

Capela’s defense caused interference, but such interference didn’t affect Zeng Xingyang much.

The basketball rebounded into the basket.

Rockets’ turn to attack.

Harden dribbled up himself, faced Brogdon’s defense, with a fake left move, followed by a step-back to create space.

Harden unleashed a sharp shot!!

The three-pointer went through the net.

The Rockets’ defense struggled to hold off the Nuggets’ offense, but the Nuggets also had a hard time defending the Rockets’ offense.

Now Harden is in his prime, indeed very strong.

Plus, the Rockets’ overall shooting range is very large, which gave them significant offensive spacing.

Limiting their offensive was also challenging for the Nuggets.

Now Nuggets attack again.

Brogdon dribbled to the frontcourt, passed to Zeng Xingyang.

At this moment, Ariza became Zeng Xingyang’s defender.

Zeng Xingyang didn’t attack immediately but quickly found where Paul was.

Where was Paul hiding? This guy was jostling for position with Siakam.

Zeng Xingyang didn’t let Siakam attack Paul but chose to set up a screen with Siakam.

Continue to switch defensively.

Paul looked miserable, Zeng Xingyang made continuous behind-the-back dribble moves then broke through on the right.

Paul caught up, but was bumped aside by Zeng Xingyang’s body.

As Paul was bumped off, Zeng Xingyang made a step-back, quick-stop close-range jump shot.

"Clang!"

"Swish!"

Easy score.