novelraw Chapter 498 - 410: Leading by a Wide Margin, 2-0!
Chapter 498 - 410: Leading by a Wide Margin, 2-0!
G2, the Nuggets still faced tenacious resistance, the Rockets were not willing to easily hand over victory.
At the start of the first quarter, Jokic was repeatedly fouled by Harden, forcing him to rest on the bench.
Jokic’s absence caused a slight dip in the Nuggets’ strength, but fortunately, Zeng Xingyang was in good form, keeping the team on the offensive.
The Rockets’ problem was that their defense was very slack, they couldn’t completely lock down the Nuggets’ offense.
Zeng Xingyang took on the main role of connecting the plays, then handed over the second lineup to Butler.
Butler was very active and proactive on the court, knowing the team was in a relatively dangerous situation.
The Rockets were still playing around Harden and Paul, both almost alternately controlling every offensive possession for the Rockets.
The Rockets still used their usual "Moreyball" strategy, the tricky part of defending against the Nuggets was that whether it’s Paul or Harden, their one-on-one abilities are very strong.
As long as they create a gap through their personal abilities, the Nuggets’ defense becomes very passive.
The two teams were still neck and neck until the last two minutes, the score was 120-120, Jokic had already committed his sixth personal foul and was on the bench.
Mike Malone substituted Zubac for Jokic.
The Nuggets’ offense.
This time, Zeng Xingyang landed in a low post, and Butler threw a high lob pass inside.
Zeng Xingyang had Harden against him in the low post.
Despite being a guard, Harden’s core strength is outstanding, he withstood two hits from Zeng Xingyang.
However, Zeng Xingyang wasn’t just brute forcing, after two hits he turned around and made a jump shot.
Harden tried hard to contest the shot, but didn’t have much impact.
The ball flew at an extremely high arc, drawing a beautiful curve.
"Swish!"
"Snap!"
"Beep beep!"
Right on target.
to 122
This shot, Harden caught Zeng Xingyang’s wrist, and the referee decisively called a shooting foul, signaling the basket counts with an additional free throw.
Zeng Xingyang used his strong personal offensive capabilities to score again.
"I didn’t hit his hand," Harden pretended to be innocent, arguing with the referee.
But the referee saw through Harden’s disguise and ignored him, signaling to the scoring table about Harden’s hand foul.
Zeng Xingyang didn’t bother with Harden, instead, he stepped to the free throw line, taking a deep breath.
The MVP chants filled the arena.
Zeng Xingyang calmly took the free throw.
"Swish!"
to 123.
The Rockets’ offense.
The game reached a critical moment, it was the time for king versus king.
Zeng Xingyang actively took the responsibility to guard Harden.
The Rockets’ players were trying to spread the floor as much as possible.
Harden wanted to set up a pick-and-roll but didn’t succeed, Zeng Xingyang preemptively maneuvered around Capela’s screen, trailing Harden.
Harden could only pull Zeng Xingyang away.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
Harden performed continuous dribbles between the legs facing Zeng Xingyang.
Zeng Xingyang lowered his center of gravity, spreading his arms wide.
Harden was already a bit tired, and Zeng Xingyang’s athletic ability was daunting to him.
Harden couldn’t find his rhythm after adjusting, he opted to pass the ball to Paul on the other side.
By the time the ball reached Paul, there were only 4 seconds left.
Paul could only hurriedly go for a contested fadeaway step-back jumper from the right side against Butler.
The shot wasn’t in Paul’s rhythm, it was too difficult to score against such defense.
"Clang!"
The basketball slammed heavily on the rim.
"Box out!"
Zeng Xingyang shouted, and Zubac tightly boxed Capela out.
Pope dashed in to secure the rebound.
Zhang Weiping said: "In critical moments, you can clearly see the core players of both teams and their ability to solve tough problems, in this aspect, Zeng Xingyang has an edge over Harden."
On the court, Pope passed the ball to Zeng Xingyang.
Zeng Xingyang slowly dribbled past half court.
Zeng Xingyang’s speed wasn’t fast, for now, the priority was to stabilize the score.
Zeng Xingyang dribbled to the frontcourt to observe, Ariza was on defense against him.
Originally, D’Antoni wanted Harden to do the defending, but Harden wasn’t confident in his ability and let Ariza defend instead.
Zubac came up to help with a pass, transitioned the ball back to Zeng Xingyang.
Then the Nuggets’ players quickly spread out the space, letting Zeng Xingyang face Ariza.
At this moment, no matter who’s trying to individually guard him, Zeng Xingyang would opt for a one-on-one challenge rather than passing.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
After two successive crossover dribbles, Zeng Xingyang exploded the ball towards the right side, then quickly stepped back to create space.
Zeng Xingyang swiftly took a jump shot for three, there was only a slight space created from Ariza, he wasn’t completely shaken off.
Zeng Xingyang just increased the shot arc.
"Swish!"
Sliced through the net.
to 126.
A continuous three-pointer scored.
The crowd erupted in cheers, Jokic and the substitutes howled from the sideline, Zeng Xingyang’s performance in crucial moments was trustworthy.
The Rockets’ offense.
After Harden dribbled up, Zeng Xingyang continued to guard him, forcing Harden to pass the ball to Paul.
Harden showed his not-so-clutch state in this game.
Paul could only attempt to drive by Butler with crossovers himself.
A very difficult move, Paul broke through on the left, finishing with a flying high bank shot.
Both Zubac and Butler almost blocked the shot, but Paul estimated these blocks with a high arc throw, and the basketball fell into the net.
to 126.
The momentum slightly subdued momentarily.
The Nuggets’ offense.
Zeng Xingyang dribbled up, and this time the Rockets employed a double team.
Zeng Xingyang passed the ball to Butler on the right side.
Butler held the ball and observed, even though Zeng Xingyang stood still on the left side, Butler knew the ball ultimately had to go back to Zeng Xingyang.
Butler and Zubac set a pick-and-roll, slightly drawing the Rockets’ defensive attention before bouncing a pass back to the outside to Zeng Xingyang.
After receiving it, Zeng Xingyang faked a shot, Ariza’s defense caught up.
Zeng Xingyang took a step to the right, then stopped to fake again, Ariza caught up without jumping, arms raised.
Zeng Xingyang took a second jump, a fadeaway three-point shot.
The difficulty of this shot was extremely high.
Ariza tried hard to cover it but still couldn’t get his hand on the ball.
The basketball sailed over Ariza’s head.
Finally.
"Swish!"
Pierced the net.
to 129.
Nail in the coffin.
After scoring, Zeng Xingyang made a bow-and-arrow shooting gesture in celebration.
The crowd at the Pepsi Center in Denver erupted into howls.
The fans loved seeing this.
Zeng Xingyang dominated the crucial moments on the court.
"OMG!!"
"He even made that!"
"That’s crazy, no one is better suited for clutch moments."
"Unbelievable performance."
"Zeng Xingyang is going through the prime of his career."
"Awesome."
The fans shouted.
Zeng Xingyang’s consecutive three-pointers clinched G2.
In the end, the series score became 2-0.
The Nuggets won two in a row at home.
Both games almost reached the critical moments, the audience on site had a great time, the fans at the sideline continued to ask Butler: "Jimmy, will we see more of your games?"
Butler smiled and said: "Of course, we’ll definitely make it to the finals!"
Butler didn’t boast this time about sweeping the Rockets.
These two games felt like the Rockets were very close to beating the Nuggets.