Chapter 323: A game-winning shot against the Thunder is just an easy thing

Neither the Thunder nor anyone else wanted to be reversed by Fan Xi.

Head coach Scott Brooks held the tactical board and emphasized passionately that they must block Fan Xi, strengthen defense, and take the last 35 seconds.

Kevin Durant was set as the offensive core, and the final offensive tactics would revolve around him.

This is an unquestionable result. Although Westbrook performed very well tonight, this is Durant's team. When the name was still SuperSonics and the team was still in Seattle, Durant was already the leader of the team.

As long as Durant is still there for a day, unless he leaves voluntarily, the ball at the last moment must be dominated by him.

Westbrook is very strong, and James Harden is also very talented.

However, Durant is their boss.

The Thunder reached a consensus.

On the Clippers' side, after the coaching staff discussed, they took Yao Ming off the court, DeAndre Jordan and Nowitzki partnered in the interior, the small forward became Leonard, the shooting guard was Butler, and Fan Xi was the point guard.

This was a risky move. The three newcomers in this game all played below their standard. However, Fan Xi supported the team's resolution.

Billups whispered his concerns.

As a championship guard, Billups' court perception is very strong; he thought this was a risk, and other veterans had the same thoughts.

Fan Xi said: "It doesn't matter even if we lose this game. We need to let the young players absorb more experience at the real critical moment."

Fan Xi chose to trust his young teammates.

This moved the young players; after all, Fan Xi had just spent a lot of effort to tie the game.

Beep!

The whistle blew, and the game continued.

The Energy Arena resounded with the Thunder's cheering slogans.

Fan Xi stared at Westbrook. After Westbrook arrived at the front court, he quickly passed the ball to Durant on the wing.

The other players spread out, Leonard went up to meet him, opening his terrifying wingspan to match up with Durant.

Durant is the player with the strongest offensive ability in the league today.

God gave him unique height and wingspan, as well as the speed and coordination of a small guard.

Although Leonard's defense made him very uncomfortable, he stopped and jumped to shoot after a quick attack step... Leonard tried his best to block, but was still half a beat short... Bang!

The ball hit the iron.

But the head referee blew the whistle.

Leonard touched Durant's wrist.

This was an undisputed foul.

Leonard shook his hands in annoyance, but Fan Xi gave him a thumbs up.

Swish!

Swish!

Durant hit both free throws.

But when Durant hit the second shot, DeAndre Jordan fell to the ground in the paint.

When he and Perkins were actively fighting for position, Perkins suddenly pulled the chair, DeAndre Jordan received uneven force and fell to the ground.

Perkins laughed and mocked on the side: "You actually want to grab Durant's rebound, there is simply no one more stupid than you in the world."

Perkins' expectation was extremely sarcastic.

DeAndre Jordan's face was iron-blue.

Fan Xi told him to pass the ball to himself.

There were 23 seconds left in the game.

The Clippers trailed by 2 points.

Every ball is a matter of life and death.

This ball, the Clippers must score.

Otherwise, they would lose the victory.

It is crucial.

Fan Xi took a deep breath.

The pressure was all on his shoulders, but he took firm steps forward.

When Fan Xi arrived outside the 3-point line, he didn't deliberately suppress the offensive time.

The person defending him changed from Westbrook to James Harden.

This was a change by the Thunder coaching staff; they thought James Harden was a better defender for critical shots.

James Harden stood in front of Fan Xi, opening his arms to block Fan Xi's way. He kept muttering in his mouth: "Jack, you can't make a game-winning shot against me. I study you every day, I know you like to break through from the left..."

Harden kept chattering.

Fan Xi remembered that Harden joined the league one year earlier than himself; he was the third pick in 2009, the same class as Curry.

However, since joining the Thunder, he had only just begun to show his talent.

Just in the process of consuming time, Fan Xi suddenly accelerated, his body drilled into the 3-point line incomparably sharply, cutting in from the left.

Harden hurriedly chased after him.

He had a smile on the corner of his mouth; he knew his strategy had succeeded.

There was an ambush on the left.

But just as Fan Xi killed into the 3-point line by one step, not yet reaching the free-throw line, he suddenly stopped, and Harden hurriedly stopped his pace.

But at this time, Fan Xi suddenly circled his body and galloped into the paint from his right.

Fan Xi's stop-and-go created a time difference.

Rich experience allowed him to deal with the enemy calmly and dismantle the Thunder's defense.

When Fan Xi killed into the paint, Perkins immediately leaned over with tiger eyes.

Fan Xi immediately jumped up, without any hesitation, and made a dunk posture against Perkins' defense. This was a narrow road meeting.

Perkins also hurriedly jumped into the air; he wanted to forcibly pull Fan Xi down.

However, just as their bodies collided and Perkins used small tricks to pull Fan Xi, Fan Xi made an air-change-hand action, and in the situation of losing his center of gravity, he threw the ball towards the rim with his left hand... Swish!

The ball fell into the net.

Fan Xi staggered and fell to the ground.

Beep!

The head referee blew the whistle.

This call was indisputable, although the Energy Arena was full of boos and curses.

The Clippers overtook by 2 points.

And got 1 free throw opportunity.

At this time, there were 8 seconds left before the end of the game.

Fan Xi didn't press the buzzer this time.

This was an opportunity for the Thunder.

So, Westbrook walked up and said to Fan Xi: "If you don't make the free throw, you will lose the victory of this game."

Fan Xi smiled.

He didn't expect Westbrook to say such trash talk to himself.

Then, Fan Xi raised his head and asked DeAndre Jordan: "DeAndre, if I don't make the free throw, can you grab the rebound?"

Fan Xi was full of smiles.

DeAndre Jordan glanced at Perkins, who was full of ferocity on the side, and then he said very firmly: "Can!"

Fan Xi smiled.

Because of Fan Xi's words, when he was shooting free throws, the positioning under the basket became more active.

And, when the Clippers brought Kwame Brown on, the Thunder also took advantage of the situation to take Harden off and brought on Collison, using three interior players to ensure this rebound.

Because for the Thunder, getting this rebound meant they still had a chance to win.

And if they didn't get this rebound, the probability of losing was very high.

In fact, they hoped Fan Xi would hit this shot, because with a 3-point advantage, Durant was very confident in fighting back; he wanted to enter overtime.

Fan Xi stood on the free-throw line.

He glanced at the rim, took a deep breath, and in the process of inhaling, he made a decision.

He aimed at the front of the rim.

Suddenly, he slammed the ball out with force... Bang!

Everyone was caught off guard as the ball bounced high.

And just the moment Fan Xi threw the ball out, Butler behind him rushed to the basket quickly.

DeAndre Jordan, Kwame Brown, and Leonard squeezed together with Perkins, Collison, and Ibaka, and Kevin Durant.

But Butler was like a desperate man. In the situation where no one could jump because of the squeeze under the basket, he almost flew out... DeAndre Jordan blocked Perkins while tapping the ball up again. This time he didn't fear Perkins' small tricks.

In fact, his physical fitness at this time completely surpassed Perkins. Perkins' physical strength had long been exhausted; he was just an exhausted paper tiger.

Thanks to his wonderful tap.

Butler, who flew out, tapped the ball before Durant, threw the ball hard outside the 3-point line, and his body fell directly onto Collison and Kwame Brown.

When the ball flew out of the 3-point line.

While most people on the court were still accepting this message, Fan Xi rushed over.

Fan Xi bet right.

He caught the ball, there was no defense in front or behind him, he quickly got up and jumped to shoot, just like the first 3-pointer he threw when he first logged into the NBA.

The ball slid across a beautiful arc... Swish!

Fell into the net.

The point difference expanded to 5 points.

After Fan Xi landed, he whistled; this was an easy job.

Although in the anchor rooms of all TV stations broadcasting this game in the world, they were all making earth-shattering roars: "Game-winning shot! Game-winning shot! Game-winning shot! Jack made a game-winning shot against the Thunder, the Duke expanded the point difference to an irrecoverable situation, the Thunder must lose! The Thunder can raise their hands and give a French military salute..."

There were 3.9 seconds left in the game.

In this game, the Clippers' young people were always out of state, but in this last round, Fan Xi bet with them, and they created this amazing rebounding battle while almost playing with fire.

If it were the leader of any team in the league, facing this situation, they would steadily hit the 3-pointer.

But Fan Xi wouldn't; he trusted his teammates, he wanted his teammates to save themselves in a desperate situation, and he brought out his authority to bet.

He bet right.

The confidence boost this ball gave to DeAndre Jordan and Butler was incomparable.

The Energy Arena was wailing.

Arenas on the bench screamed to Billups next to him: "This is simply a lunatic. When we were playing, whoever dared to do this would sit on the bench for a lifetime. Who would dare to play like this."

"So, he is the Los Angeles Duke, the Miracle Child, the legend who is never defeated at critical moments." Billups' eyes were far-reaching. He had played basketball by the rules and executed the coach's orders all his life. But at the end of his career, he instead accepted Fan Xi's "acting on impulse" style.

Basketball has no standard answer.

However, Fan Xi might be the standard answer.

Mike Brown knew nothing about this offense, but it didn't prevent him from raising his hands high and roaring for the players. He is a good assistant coach, a good defensive coach, and also a very good person.

Except for his bad relationship with Griffin, he gets along well with everyone.

"We can open champagne tonight." Stephen Nash said to Nowitzki with a smile.

Nowitzki raised his eyebrows: "The Thunder team has no chance in this series."

Nowitzki is super confident.

The Thunder returned to the court after a 20-second short timeout. The Clippers players had already pounced like tigers that had been hungry for ten days, and every player was staring at the prey in front of them.

Ibaka stood on the outside to inbound the ball and was almost about to violate the rules.

Durant finally jumped up and stretched his arms to receive the ball, Leonard tangled up, he didn't give Durant a chance to put the ball down at all, but time was passing.

Durant could only throw the ball out quickly and forcibly... the arc of the ball was very exaggerated.

Bang!

Even so, Durant still gave the Clippers a scare after the final whistle of the game. In such an unfavorable situation, he still hit the rim, just didn't make it.

It can be seen how terrifying this guy's shooting accuracy is.

The Energy Arena let out a final collective wail.

For more than 20,000 fans on the scene, this was a game that fell short of success.

But their faces still carried confidence; it was just losing one game. The Clippers couldn't be so lucky every time, and Jack Fan couldn't be so magical every game.

"In this game, Westbrook led for 46 minutes, but in the last 2 minutes, Fan Xi told him what the standard of a superstar is."

TNT host Earl Johnson said convincingly after the game was settled: "If there was no Duke Jack in this game, the victory would have been locked in the Oklahoma people's safe."

"That's right." Kenny Smith said joyfully: "This is why I am still so confident and optimistic when trailing."

"The Thunder need to find a real way to limit Jack, otherwise, they may lose this series. If the second in the West is destroyed like this, the Oklahoma people will have no face."

Charles Barkley suggested.

Obviously, the pressure was now all on the Thunder's three young stars.

Before leaving the court, Kevin Durant pulled Westbrook and James Harden to his side to discuss a few words, and then they left the court together.

They told the TV audience and the live audience with a united posture: We haven't lost confidence yet, we still have infinite possibilities of winning.

That's right.

When Fan Xi accepted the TNT interview, he praised the Thunder: "They are too talented, we haven't been so embarrassed for a long time, they played too wonderfully. This victory is very tragic for us, we used up all our bullets. Salute to them."

Fan Xi praised very sincerely.

This made the local reporters on the scene very satisfied. Who doesn't want to hear such comfort after losing a game?

However, people who usually understand Fan Xi will understand that Fan Xi only praises his opponent in one situation: when he no longer treats his opponent as an opponent.

Kobe Bryant in front of the TV heard this flavor.

Their playoffs hadn't started yet; they would only face the Jazz from Salt Lake City tomorrow.

Kobe finished watching the whole game and realized that this was a standard Fan Xi-style game, although Nowitzki played the protagonist for a long time.

However, at the critical moment, it was still solved in Fan Xi's way.

And most importantly, Fan Xi let his little brothers who had lost their rhythm take on heavy responsibilities at the last moment and regained their confidence.

This is what Kobe considers the real turning point of the series.

As long as DeAndre Jordan establishes a psychological advantage over Perkins in the paint, and Butler and Leonard further adapt to the intensity and rhythm of the playoffs.

There won't be much suspense about the Clippers taking down the talented Thunder.

Talent is indeed very important.

But a strong leader is more important.

What's more, is the Clippers' talent really worse than the Thunder's?

The new talent might be a little bit worse, but they still have so many old talents sitting on the bench.

"Hoo!"

Kobe took a deep breath.

He made up his mind to take down the Jazz within four games. Then strive to take down the Spurs in 6 games.

Only then will there be a chance to end the Clippers in the Western Conference Finals.

It's just that when he turned off the TV, he suddenly had a question: In this game, it seems like something was not quite right.

Where was it?

... ===== CHAPTER 324 =====