NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 40: Miguel, the core of the defense, makes a 1-on-1 tackle!

At this moment, Mitchell clearly had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation.

Because Curry immediately sank a three-pointer, Mitchell, as the Jazz's star player, naturally wanted to respond.

Mitchell breathed a sigh of relief, especially when he saw that it was Li Xingchen, not Wiggins, who was guarding him; he even seemed a little pleased.

In the previous two games, Mitchell and Li Xingchen faced off quite a few times. He felt that although Li Xingchen's defense was good, he seemed unable to grasp his offensive rhythm, so his success rate against Li Xingchen was quite high.

It's much better than when I faced Wiggins.

Mitchell was thinking to himself that the Warriors had started with a small-ball lineup, which clearly meant sacrificing defensive intensity for maximum offensive power.

In that case, today's game will definitely be a high-scoring affair. Mitchell, as the offensive core, should shoulder the responsibility of increasing the output, especially when he gets matched up against anyone other than Wiggins. He must seize the opportunity.

Including Li Xingchen right in front of me!

Following the same logic he used to score against Li Xingchen in the previous two games, Mitchell first made a feint and then broke through with a low ball. However, he failed to fool Li Xingchen at all, who still firmly blocked his path.

Hmm... Why does it feel like his lateral movement speed is faster than before?

That must be an illusion. It's impossible for someone to make visible progress between two matches that are only two days apart.

When his speed failed to break through, Mitchell then utilized another advantage of his: his excellent strength in physical confrontations with others in the same position.

After bumping into Li Xingchen, who was blocking his path, with his shoulder, Mitchell suddenly stepped back quickly, attempting a step-back three-pointer.

At this point, if it were a more cunning defender, like Dillon or Smart, they might use the force of the contact to throw themselves backward, potentially drawing an offensive foul.

However, it's not guaranteed to succeed, since the NBA does have rules against flopping, and Mitchell didn't actually use his elbow, so the outcome is uncertain.

Of course, Li Xingchen disdained such underhanded tactics. In his basketball philosophy, competition should be fair and square, and if there is a foul, then there is a foul. There is absolutely no such thing as faking a foul.

Therefore, he would never fake a fall.

Mitchell had already learned this from the previous two games, so he chose to engage in a tough battle with Li Xingchen, trying to create some space and shoot directly.

However, it seems that Li Xingchen's improvement is not only in his lateral movement speed, but also in his combat strength, which seems to be much stronger than before.

Despite Mitchell's collision, Li Xingchen remained completely still.

He could even go against the tide because he had anticipated Mitchell's step-back shot, so he jumped up and tried to block it!

Mitchell, who had already jumped, was completely dumbfounded.

Looking at Li Xingchen, whose long arms were outstretched, completely blocking his attack space, Mitchell had only one thought in his mind at this moment.

Is this a person?

However, since Mitchell had already jumped into the air, he was now in a complete dilemma.

Keep shooting, but you're completely blocked by the opponent, so you're bound to get a bad block. It's like dying before you even get started.

Let's pass the ball; at least we'll have a chance to reorganize the attack.

However, as is well known, passes that are intended to be shots but are suddenly changed halfway through often do not yield good results.

Mitchell forcefully twisted his body in mid-air, attempting to pass the ball back to point guard Conley.

But Curry immediately saw through the passing route, and with lightning speed, he leaped out and intercepted the ball!

While Curry's defensive performance is relatively average due to his lack of physical attributes, he is still at least above average for his position.

His stealth instinct is particularly sharp; he even won the steals title once during his MVP season.

How could he possibly miss such a great steal opportunity created by Li Xingchen?

The Jazz were also caught off guard when Mitchell's perfectly good one-on-one shot suddenly turned into a pass, which was then stolen by Curry, so no one was able to react and chase after him.

Curry dribbled the ball alone, quickly advancing to the frontcourt, creating a fast break opportunity with a one-on-one chance, and he calmly made the layup.

It's a pity it wasn't the All-Star Game, otherwise we would have seen Curry's barely-dunked moment, or that classic scene of him slipping and falling on the basket.

In less than a minute, Curry had already scored five points, giving the Warriors a 5-0 lead!

Of course, being down by only two rounds wasn't enough for Snyder to call a timeout, especially since less than a minute had passed in the match.

The Jazz continue to inbound the ball.

After Conley advanced the ball across half-court, he handed it over to Mitchell to play.

One mistake doesn't mean anything.

On the court, everyone has their own opposing player and running route, so Conley didn't pay too much attention to what the offensive and defensive situation between Mitchell and Li Xingchen was like in the previous play.

But when Mitchell received the ball again, he seemed a little nervous.

What just happened? It must have been a coincidence, right?

That prediction is way too exaggerated. I bet Li Xingchen was just faked out by me and wasn't on the right rhythm at all. I just accidentally blocked his shot. That must be it.

Mitchell refused to believe it and decided to try again.

This time he used Conley's favorite breakthrough technique, making a hesitation step before suddenly accelerating to break through.

However, in Li Xingchen's eyes, Mitchell's hesitant steps were so slow that they seemed like a deliberate performance, and no one could be fooled at all.

In the end, after Mitchell's combo, he only managed to advance two steps before being completely locked down by Li Xingchen.

He tried all sorts of breakthrough techniques: crossover dribbling, changing direction dribbling followed by a step-back, sudden stop-and-go crossover...

Then he almost broke down.

Those deceptive feints were almost completely ineffective against Li Xingchen. Even if they managed to fool him a little, his opponent could immediately make up for it with his terrifying lateral movement speed, ensuring he never lost his position.

As for the speed of changing direction and starting, since Mitchell is not a player who relies entirely on speed to break through, he is no match for Li Xingchen at this moment. No matter which way he tries to break through, Li Xingchen can always take up a defensive position in advance, making it virtually impenetrable.

Finally, after several unsuccessful attempts to break through, he tried to force his way forward with a back-to-the-basket move, but after a few collisions, Li Xingchen remained completely unmoved.

They are neither as fast nor as strong as their opponents.

When it comes to dribbling and breaking through defenses, I'm clearly the player who always makes things the most difficult for opponents, a player with both speed and power.

The result is that neither is as good as the other. So this is the method of combining both, right?

With more than half of the offensive time gone, Mitchell still couldn't find a single opportunity to shoot against Li Xingchen's defense.

They can't even take a shot, let alone make a shot or score.

Helpless, Mitchell had no choice but to call Gobert to set a screen for him.

But just as his attention had been slightly diverted elsewhere, he felt a sudden coolness on his wrist, as if a gentle breeze had blown by.

The subconscious dribbling motion resulted in hitting thin air.

Looking at the basketball again, it had already been rapidly moving towards the frontcourt in Li Xingchen's hands.

Li Xingchen was assigned to defend against the opponent's offensive core, Mitchell, and made a one-on-one interception!