NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 52 Two Attacks and One Defense Lead to a Deadly Victory: Golden State Overcomes Salt Lake Ci

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Countless eyes were fixed on the basketball that Li Xingchen had just thrown, wondering if it would fall into the net.

Among them, the closest to the front line is undoubtedly the Jazz's defensive trio.

That's right, of the five Jazz players on the court, three participated in defending Li Xingchen's shot, but none of them managed to stop it.

Li Xingchen seemed to have calculated everything, and amidst the endless defensive interference, he found the most suitable position to shoot with unparalleled precision.

As Li Xingchen's direct defender in this play, Ingles was undoubtedly one of the most nervous players on the court.

No one wanted Li Xingchen's attack to succeed more than him; he even prayed to every deity he knew in his heart for this.

However, watching the arc of Li Xingchen's shot and the trajectory of the basketball, he felt utterly desperate.

These aren't newcomers to the NBA; most professional players can tell whether a shot will make or not.

The more precise and accurate the shot, the closer it is to a swish, the more noticeable the difference becomes.

Li Xingchen's shot this time had an incredibly accurate trajectory...

Without any surprises, the ball obediently fell into the basket, barely touching the net.

Despite being surrounded and blocked by three Jazz defenders, Li Xingchen made a perfect pull-up mid-range jump shot.

That was originally a weapon of the gods, yet this young man from the East is wielding it with such skill that it is astonishing.

Moreover, the red timer light on the edge of the backboard lit up just as the basketball went into the net.

This means that Li Xingchen's attack perfectly consumed the entire offensive possession, leaving the Jazz with not even half a second of time.

104-103, the Warriors have successfully taken the lead by one point.

With only 1.8 seconds left in the game!

Li Xingchen, a near-decisive strike!

The huge smart home stadium, which was filled with uniform shouts of "Defense!" just two seconds ago, has now fallen completely silent.

Away stadium silencer!

The noise from the stands had subsided, but the arena was far from quiet.

Having hit such a perfect, near-game-winning shot, Li Xingchen himself could not hide his excitement.

He jumped up on the spot, waving his fists and kicking in celebration, while also shouting.

Looking at the entire series, Li Xingchen may just be a defensive specialist on the Warriors' perimeter, an offensive player who can consistently contribute no more than sixteen points, and a 3-and-D wing player who, although contributing significantly on the court, is not the main protagonist.

But at this moment, this incredible, perfect goal, along with this familiar signature celebration, makes everyone feel that they can see the shadow of another person in him.

The God of Basketball.

Snyder used the Jazz's last timeout of the game.

With only 1.8 seconds left in the race, no one was going to give up.

Let alone 1.8 seconds, there have been many miracles in NBA playoff history where a game-winning shot was achieved in less than a second.

For the Warriors, those 1.8 seconds were equally important.

From trailing by three points to leading by one, Li Xingchen's two crucial offensive and one defensive plays gave the Warriors a significant advantage.

But they had to hold on for those last two seconds!

The pause ended quickly.

Kerr still opted for the defensive lineup.

Looney guarded Gobert under the basket, while Wiggins and Bazemore were responsible for defending Bojan and Royce O'Neal as usual.

As for Li Xingchen, he naturally took on the important task of locking down Mitchell.

With his hands free, Draymond Green went straight to the edge of the court to disrupt Conley's serve.

Although it's unknown what kind of tactics Snyder will devise, the Warriors' defensive matchups are basically enough to leave the opponent helpless.

1.8 seconds is enough time for a catch-and-shoot shot, but it's impossible to have any opportunity to pass the ball around.

The person receiving the ball has almost no time to adjust and must shoot immediately without hesitation in order to achieve an effective shot.

On the Jazz's side, Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O'Neale, and even Rudy Gobert, do not possess strong independent offensive capabilities. Only Donovan Mitchell is their most reliable primary scorer.

However, Mitchell has barely made a shot against Li Xingchen since the last game. His decent scoring and efficiency in today's game were only achieved by constantly switching onto other players.

Now there are less than two seconds left, and even if you add the three or four seconds to prepare to serve, it's hard to have enough time for him to create mismatches for the opponent through movement.

The whistle blows, the game begins.

Even though Li Xingchen had just experienced the excitement of making the game-winning shot, he had now completely calmed down.

He also knew that only by securing the final victory would his previous brilliant performances be meaningful.

With the sound of the whistle, his footsteps began to follow Mitchell's movements. His exaggerated lateral speed, even with his arms outstretched, was almost comparable to Mitchell's running speed, keeping his opponent firmly locked within his defensive range, leaving Mitchell helpless.

In less than two seconds, Mitchell couldn't possibly run to the backcourt to receive the ball, could he?

Seeing that Mitchell had no chance, Conley had no choice but to abandon his plan to give him the game-winning shot and instead prepared to lob the ball to Gobert in the paint to see if he could use his size advantage to score!

In this round, Green finally displayed some of the skills he had when he won the Defensive Player of the Year award five years ago.

Seeing that Mitchell hadn't created any opportunities, Green immediately deduced that Conley would likely lob the ball directly to Gobert under the basket.

Since we anticipated this in advance, we couldn't possibly refrain from taking action.

With the five seconds left before the inbound pass expired, Green jumped early, his right hand blocking Conley's passing path!

Of course, because Conley's lob pass to Gobert had a very high arc, Green was unable to make a direct steal or block, and only lightly grazed the ball.

But for such crucial shots, even the slightest error can lead to disastrous results.

Even though Green only lightly touched the ball, Conley's pass was altered, and the final landing point was slightly further forward than he expected.

Therefore, Gobert was unable to regain control of the ball immediately and instead got into a contest with Rooney in front of him.

With less than two seconds left in the game, time would run out immediately if Conley's serve wasn't caught.

The Jazz, of course, lost their chance for a last-minute game-winning shot.

From the scene, after Mitchell was locked down by Li Xingchen, Conley tried to pass the ball inside, but Green slightly disrupted it, and then Looney under the basket blocked Gobert's position, preventing him from receiving the ball smoothly.

In the midst of the scramble, the final whistle blew.

The referee did not call any foul.

The Warriors' bench players swarmed onto the court, surrounding Li Xingchen, Green, and others once again to celebrate this hard-won victory.

The thrilling Game 5 between the Warriors and the Jazz ended with Li Xingchen's game-winning shot and the Jazz's failed inbounds play.

The Golden State Warriors narrowly won 104-103!

----------

Tomorrow is Tuesday, the day of the competition. I humbly beg all my readers to be sure to read tomorrow! Your Majesty, I thank you!