Chapter 1054
Next chapter is combined, I'll still charge in from this angle, try and stop me!
In the third quarter, although the Lakers took the lead, the game remained close overall. Neither team had a good shooting touch, which prevented them from scoring consecutively and quickly to create a scoring surge.
In many matches, when the game reaches this stage, both sides have to wait for or look for an opportunity or opening to break the deadlock and create a climax to secure victory.
If they can't find that opportunity, then they'll be entangled until the very last moment.
The event that changed the pace and course of the game came with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Lin Tian, whose shooting touch was off, had basically abandoned mid-range and long-range shots and opted to attack the basket more often.
This choice also meant he had already stepped to the free-throw line six times in this quarter.
In this play, Lin Tian once again shook off Conley from the wing and rushed straight to the basket. Just as Randolph came to help defend, he suddenly took a big step and changed direction, using a huge Euro step to dodge Randolph behind him.
Just as Lin Tian shook off Randolph and was about to dunk, Gasol, who was unable to help defend in time, did not hesitate at all. He knew he couldn't stop the ball and didn't want Lin Tian to boost the Lakers' morale with another dunk.
So he stretched out his arms and grabbed Lin Tian, then threw him away.
Lin Tian was held in mid-air, and even he couldn't maintain his balance completely. Fortunately, Lin Tian's core strength was somewhat ridiculously large, so he controlled his body before landing. After landing, he used small, quick steps to dissipate the force, and finally lay down on the floor and slid backward.
Lin Tian fell backward a good 3-4 meters, which was quite frightening, but those in the know understand that Lin Tian's self-protection during the fall was textbook-level.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!" Because the competition was extremely intense and both sides were constantly using dirty tricks, the referees were watching the game with complete focus.
At that moment, upon seeing Lin Tian fall to the floor, their whistles blared wildly as they rushed to the center of the court, surrounding Gasol before anyone could react.
"Calm down! Calm down! Relax! Everyone relax! We saw a foul, and we will make an appropriate ruling!"
"Step back! Everyone step back! Calm down, calm down! I won't let you down!"
"Everyone, keep your distance! Otherwise, I don't care which team you're on, I'm going to give you all a technical foul!"
The referees loudly urged the players to calm down, and all three referees kept their eyes fixed on Lin Tian on the floor, fearing that he might suddenly attack and injure Gasol.
A 40-year-old basketball god, he is still a god of war!
The referees were genuinely scared.
Even though Lin Tian hasn't personally fought on the court for at least ten years, they are still very worried.
What if he thinks it's exciting to beat up a giant who is nearly 220 centimeters tall and wants to give it a try?
Fortunately, Lin Tian's next words made the referees relax a little.
"It's okay, I'm fine." Lin Tian was very calm. He grabbed Kobe's hand, stood up from the floor, and said to his teammates, "I'm fine, you guys stay calm too. It's not worth getting a technical foul for this. Let's keep playing."
"I've matured!"
Lin Tian's words relieved the Grizzlies' players and referees.
Maturity is good! I'm just afraid that you'll say something like "Men are boys until they die" right now, and then roll up your sleeves to take revenge. If that happens, tonight's game will be over.
But now...
After the situation stabilized, the referees quickly made a decision, awarding Marc Gasol a Flagrant Foul 1, giving the Lakers two free throws and possession.
"If you use that kind of move again, we will definitely eject you! We definitely will." After issuing the ruling, the still-shaken referee didn't forget to continue threatening Gasol and his teammates: "And I guarantee I will tell the league afterwards that you should be suspended for that kind of move!"
"If you want to be sitting on the sidelines watching the last few games of your season, then keep playing like this! Everyone! Remember, I said everyone!"
After threatening the Grizzlies and seeing that no one responded, the referee turned around with satisfaction and walked to the scorer's table to demonstrate the ruling. Now that the referee had finished threatening, it was Lin Tian's turn.
Lin Tian walked directly up to Gasol and the other Grizzlies players and said, "Next round, I'll play like this again. You keep playing like a bitch and keep doing it. Come on! If the referee doesn't call a flagrant foul on you, then we'll continue playing like this in the round after that. Let's see who has more guts."
"If you're a man, knock me down again, then get the hell out of here. I'll respect you as a real man!"
"If you're a spineless bitch who only dares to stab people in the back, then just watch as I repeatedly ravage your basketball rims! We'll see!"
"Lin, what are you doing?" The referees reacted quickly. As soon as they saw Lin Tian coming over and talking to the Grizzlies players, they rushed over and stood between Lin Tian and the Grizzlies players.
"It's nothing. I just gave them a hint about our upcoming tactics. I hope they can seize the opportunity and not let us down."
Revealing tactics?
The referees looked at Lin Tian and the Grizzlies players with confusion, not understanding what Lin Tian was saying.
If someone commits a malicious foul against you, what does it mean to reveal your tactics to them?
Did you hit your head?
Despite their confusion, the referees, seeing that neither side intended to engage in further conflict or contact, did not dwell on the matter and quickly allowed the match to continue.
Lin Tian made both free throws, and the Lakers inbounded the ball directly to him, then everyone spread out.
Fans with good memories immediately noticed that the position where Lin Tian received the ball was the same position he stood in during the last attack!
Then Lin Tian dribbled between his legs twice in a row, and then made a wide sideways movement to shake off Conley. He suddenly accelerated and once again got past Conley!
"Same! Exactly the same! The dribbling move is exactly the same as before!" Miller immediately noticed Lin Tian's breakthrough trajectory and shouted, "This is Lin's style! You pull me down once, I'll do it again! I'm not afraid! But do you have the guts to take me down again?"
The answer is no!
This time, Randolph failed to get back on defense in time, and Lin Tian certainly wouldn't do a Euro step with no one guarding him just for the sake of a so-called 100% replica. He simply gathered the ball, started moving, and slammed it towards the basket with one hand!
Meanwhile, at the other end of the three-second zone, no one knew whether Gasol was too slow to react or too afraid to react. In any case, he watched as Lin Tian jumped, exerted his strength, and finally slammed the ball into the rim!
"boom!"
After a loud bang, Lin Tian, using the momentum from his dunk, jumped right in front of Marc Gasol: "Coward!"
A simple and easy-to-understand swear word was clearly and directly sprayed onto Gasol's face. Coupled with Lin Tian's disdainful expression, it was clear how arrogant Lin Tian was.
Faced with Lin Tian's provocation, Marc Gasol decisively chose to remain silent.
Without replying or making any physical gesture, he turned around, grabbed the basketball, and took the inbounds pass.
But anyone who has faced Lin Tian knows that a single dunk is not enough to quell his anger.
If you really stand up to him, he might find that his tactics aren't working after a few rounds and change his approach.
But you chickened out?
Then he'll definitely bully you to death!
In the next round, he'll still be at a 45-degree angle to the left, still facing Conley.
This time, Lin Tian's actions were exactly the same as before.
With two consecutive crossovers, followed by a sharp change of direction, and accompanied by Conley's feeble 'FUXX,' Lin Tian once again flashed past him.
Conley was truly unstoppable and couldn't keep up.
He couldn't believe he was going up against a 39-year-old veteran. Why couldn't his defense even allow the opponent to do one more between-the-legs pass?
Why was it passed over so decisively?
While Conley was questioning his own conscience, Lin Tian had already driven to the basket again! This time, Gasol was finally back; he couldn't just stand by and watch. The Grizzlies' so-called strongest defense had become a complete joke.
This time, Gasol positioned himself ahead of time, spreading his arms to try and intercept Lin Tian's breakthrough.
But to everyone's surprise, while Gasol had already taken his position, Lin Tian decided not to confront him!
Just as the two were about to make contact, Marc Gasol was prepared to fall down and draw an offensive foul after being tackled, but Lin Tian once again used the Euro step.
He took a step that just barely dodged Gasol's defense, then jumped to the side, facing the basket, and even did a windmill dunk with his left hand holding the ball.
"boom!"
With another loud bang, Lin Tian, facing sideways to the basket, slammed the ball in with one hand!
"You fouled me maliciously, you coward!" After landing, Lin Tiancai didn't give Gasol any chance to recover and said directly to him, "You don't even have the courage to foul? Coward!"
“My grandma has more courage than you, you coward.”
"Keep that flagrant foul in your grave. You'd never dare to use it again, right? Because you're afraid of going back to the locker room alone after being ejected. You're afraid of being alone!"
"Do you think there are ghosts in our locker room? I think you'd wet your pants!"
After landing, Lin Tian unleashed a fierce barrage of attacks in the few seconds before returning to defense. He didn't care whether Gasol could absorb the damage or not; all he said was, "See you next round!"
See you at the usual spot!
Sure enough, 20 seconds later, it was here again, on the flank again, and Conley again!
"Here it comes! The fourth time! Lin is attacking from the same spot for the fourth time in a row! Is it another crossover dribble followed by a change of direction and a direct dribble past the defender?" Miller was completely fired up by Lin Tian and shouted excitedly, "Let's wait and see!"
Once again in his designated spot, Lin Tian looked up and noticed that the Grizzlies still hadn't come to double-team him.
This isn't entirely the Grizzlies' fault, because the Lakers' current roster consists of Kobe, Durant, Barnes, and Bynum.
With all four of them spread out at the far end, the Grizzlies really didn't dare to double-team Lin Tian.
Otherwise, even if those guys have a terrible shooting touch, they'd be hard-pressed to miss when they have an open shot.
"Come on! I won't..." Conley, who had been passed over three times in a row, mustered up his courage and shouted, but before he could finish speaking, Lin Tian walked past him.
This time, there were no crossovers or changes of direction.
Accelerate directly and force your way through.
Lin Tian arrived at the basket once again, and this time the Grizzlies increased their number of players collapsing under the basket.
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph stood under the basket with their arms outstretched, trying to completely block the angle and distance between Lin Tian and the basket.
Regardless of their defensive abilities, these two players certainly have plenty of defensive experience! Their positioning is perfect, making it virtually impossible for Lin Tian to get past them and attack the basket.
Even Lin Tian couldn't do that!
Gasol and Randolph have that confidence!
We can't let him dunk anymore!
This is also the sentiment of all the Grizzlies players.
To achieve this goal, the Grizzlies' twin towers were positioned way too far forward, practically leaving the entire basket exposed behind them. If Lin Tian were to pass the ball behind the basket, the Grizzlies' rim would be completely undefended!
If Lin Tian can pass the ball over, then even Phil Jackson could score those 2 points if he were on the court.
With Lin Tian's passing ability, how could he not see such a huge space? How could he not capitalize on it?
Of course not!
There was no passing gap that Lin Tian couldn't capitalize on.
Lin Tian has plenty of ways to get the ball directly behind the two players, whether it's between their legs, in the gap between their defenses, passing it over their heads, or even adding a spin to the ball and sending it on a curved pass from out of bounds.
But if it can be passed on, does that mean it must be passed on?
Faced with the Grizzlies' twin towers protecting the rim together, Lin Tian had countless options, but he chose the most aggressive and irrational way to forcefully challenge them.
Lin Tian forcefully jumped outside the three-second zone, his entire body fully extended like a bow. The Grizzlies' double rim protector didn't even jump in order to prevent Lin Tian from having a chance. They knew that the most important thing for them to block Lin Tian's dunk was to maintain their position and distance so that Lin Tian could not touch the rim.
And those standing on the floor are the walls that can best stop Lin Tian from dunking!
Unfortunately, when the city walls encountered Lin Tian, they were destined to be breached!
"Oh!"
Lin Tian and Gasol collided head-on, while Randolph, who was closer to the baseline, was cleverly avoided by Lin Tian with a slight change of direction. He was going to be reckless, but he wasn't stupid!
From a slightly higher position, he can fight against only one person!
Jump, rise, and keep rising!
The entire Staples Center held its breath, staring incredulously at Lin Tian as he rose higher and higher!
"My God! Is he going to Mars?" Miller cried out in shock and despair at that moment.
Finally, Lin Tian had climbed to an incredible height, and Gasol's 211-centimeter-tall head was completely pressed down by Lin Tian.
Lin Tian's upper thigh was almost level with Gasol's head.
Lin Tian's entire upper body had already exceeded Gasol's defensive range, and his arms were much higher than Gasol's.
Then, Lin Tian roared again, strained his upper body, leaned forward as much as possible, and slammed the ball toward the basket with all his might!
"boom!"
With another loud bang, Lin Tian slammed the basketball into the basket over Marc Gasol!
“God! I don’t know how many times I’ve cried out to Lin for God!” Miller exclaimed frantically. “But this time I’m truly certain that God has yellow skin!”
"An incredible shot! An incredible shot! The gliding distance, the jump height, the crazy dunk after the jump, I'm sorry, I don't know how to describe this shot."
Van Gundy said, "From a technical point of view, the two Grizzlies players did not intend to completely defend Lin's shot. They were positioned too far forward, and they could let Lin pass the ball behind them and let Lin make a floater or a pull-up jumper or something like that."
"Their goal is simple: you can score, but we won't let you dunk anymore! If Lin keeps dunking like that, the Grizzlies' morale will be completely destroyed."
"So their defense was like that, but Lin is Lin. Even though the Grizzlies absolutely forbade him to dunk, he still chose to dunk. That's Lin! That's Lin!"
“But Jeff, you still haven’t figured out how Lin did all this,” Jackson said with a laugh. “Didn’t you want to analyze it from a technical perspective?”
“I’m only responsible for analyzing the Grizzlies’ part.” Van Gundy shrugged and smiled. “There’s not much to analyze about Lin. If you insist on hearing it, then fine.”
"He jumped up, jumped really high, and then slammed the ball in, just like that."
"The good news is, it's on hold, the game is paused." Miller suddenly interjected, "This means that for the next minute, we can enjoy the replay of this play and slow motion from various angles."
"I love that shot! I love that shot so much! Even though Lin has countless spectacular dunks in his career, this one is definitely in the top three! Crazy, absolutely crazy!"
"I call this shot the 'slicing dunk'!"
"That dunk is absolutely enough to get Lin captured by some scientific lab and dissected for research! It's terrifying!" (End of Chapter)