Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 1070 If you miss your free throw, you know who'll be out tonight.

Facing Durant's defense, James dribbled the ball a little longer in place, then made his decision, suddenly accelerated, and drove aggressively toward the paint.

Although Durant maintained proper distance and moved laterally to block James, his slender body couldn't withstand James's bull-like impact and he was forced to retreat repeatedly.

James eventually drove to the basket, then pulled up forcefully, glided through the air to avoid the block, and scored with a one-handed layup!

"FUXX! You think you can stop me? You think you can stop me? FUXX!" After scoring, James unleashed another furious tirade against Durant, spewing profanities everywhere: "Go to hell, you nigger! Go to hell! You'll never stop me!"

James got completely excited with the ball, yelling and retreating. This time, the Mavericks didn't retreat as before, but left Williams to closely guard Lin Tian to prevent him from rolling the ball up the court again to save time.

When Lin Tian saw Williams closing in, he stopped looking for any opportunities to steal the ball and instead received it and accelerated forward, charging towards the frontcourt.

Williams gritted his teeth and followed closely, but Lin Tian dribbled all the way to the frontcourt. Then, with a sudden stop and a hesitant step to change the rhythm, he accelerated again. Williams, who was already struggling to keep up with Lin Tian, ​​was immediately left behind and could no longer catch up.

Ray Allen, standing nearby, had no choice but to step back and try to disrupt Lin Tian's breakthrough, but he had barely moved his feet when Lin Tian had already passed the ball out.

Kobe received the ball after being given less than 0.2 seconds of space by Allen, and he didn't hesitate at all. That amount of space was more than enough for him!

Kobe pulled up beyond the three-point line, completely ignoring Allen who was turning around to rush him, and launched a three-pointer!

"Whoosh!"

With a crisp click, Kobe's three-pointer went in!

Lakers, keep narrowing the gap!

4 points!

The gap between the two sides is now only 4 points!

This time the Lakers took a little longer; after Kobe made the shot, there were still 61 seconds left in the game!

It really took a little over a minute.

"The Lakers are catching up really fast! They just scored 5 points in the last minute. If they keep this up, they can score another 5 points in the next minute and take the lead!" Van Gundy couldn't help but do some basic math on the sidelines.

Miller said, "Especially the Mavericks, there was really no problem with them! They scored on several possessions in a row and almost used up all the offensive time each time."

"Nowitzki and James, as leaders, stepped up at this time, and their performance was impeccable. Even the Lakers' baskets, apart from Bogut's somewhat stupid foul, were all unstoppable superstar plays."

"When a superstar meets another superstar, this is the result."

Jackson added, "But overall, the Mavericks still have a clear advantage. To put it another way, if they can make just one three-pointer, they'll basically have the game in the bag."

"Because a three-pointer means they can prevent the Lakers from effectively closing the gap in a single possession; they're just one three-pointer away! But even if they don't make the three, as long as they continue to score two-pointers at a time without rushing, they'll likely win the game!"

"Let's see if the Mavericks make any mistakes."

Van Gundy said, "The Mavericks are hard to make mistakes! Their whole team was in impeccable form tonight. Look, James has once again reduced the shot clock to 8 seconds; he's about to launch an attack."

"Still the pick-and-roll with Nowitzki!"

As the commentators analyzed the play, James had once again used Nowitzki's screen to create space. Then, after a slight pause, he saw Kobe immediately switch onto Nowitzki and Durant not give him space like he did in the previous play.

James figured out that the Lakers' current defensive strategy was to not allow three-pointers under any circumstances, so James immediately accelerated and drove towards the basket again, pushing past Durant!

Playing the most rational basketball and making the decisions that coaches like best—that's one of LeBron James' most prominent trademarks.

It may lack a bit of passion and excitement, but most of the time, it won't disappoint.

After James drove to the basket, he used his shoulder to push Durant away, and then jumped again to force the ball into the basket.

But Bynum arrived at that moment, his large, fan-like hands swinging fiercely at James.

Knowing he wouldn't have time to interfere or block, Bynum acted decisively, aiming directly at James' arm.

Since I can't stop you from scoring, I can at least prevent you from making an easy 2-pointer, and I can guarantee that you won't be able to get a 2+1 play no matter what!

With that thought in mind, Bynum slapped James hard on the arm.

Even with James's superhuman strength, he immediately lost control of the basketball, which flew out of the air. Although he didn't fall to the ground, there was no way he could put the ball into the basket.

"Hand foul! Two free throws!"

The referee immediately gave a correct and straightforward ruling: two free throws.

"Well done, Andrew, decisive enough! That's exactly what you need at this point in the game!" Lin Tian immediately stepped forward and gave Bynum a high five.

Although the foul was a waste of 20 seconds in the end, it would have been more cost-effective to foul when the Mavericks had just started their offense. But for the Lakers, since the foul was committed, there was no need to consider cost-effectiveness or things like "if I had known it would end in a foul, I would have committed it sooner."

It will only make everyone lose confidence.

That's a good play! A good play deserves praise.

Bynum nodded, then suddenly gave James a sly smile and said in a voice that James could hear, "Because it's LeBron going for the layup, I'm definitely going to foul him! Because this guy won't make the free throw."

"If it were Nowitzki going for a layup, I definitely wouldn't foul him; I'd just let him go for the layup."

"Smart!" Kobe and Durant joined in, giving Bynum a thumbs up at the same time.

"Our little brother really trusts your free throws," Lin Tian said casually, looking at James. "You won't let him down, right?"

"Oh, right, there's one more thing." Lin Tian suddenly stepped forward and leaned close to James, whispering in his ear, "If you miss your free throws, do you know who we'll leave an extra pair of chopsticks for at our victory celebration tonight? Oh no, I mean, knives and forks."

After Lin Tian finished speaking, he patted James on the head before turning around and leaving, standing where he was supposed to be.

"He's trash-talking! Lin definitely trash-talked James!" Miller yelled. "Hahaha, I'm so curious, what did Lin say to him? Was he encouraging him?"

"What I'm more curious about is, will Lin's trash talk even work against a player of LeBron James' caliber?" Jackson said. "Let's see what James does on his first free throw..."

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, James' first free throw bounced off the rim.

"They just can't score!" Van Gundy shook his head helplessly. "Missing a penalty at a time like this can be fatal."

Miller, always eager for drama, remarked, "I'm even more curious about what Lin said. Hopefully, there will be a shot of Lin's mouth, and then we'll need a lip-reading expert!"

Jackson said, "I think James should take a deep breath, calm down, completely forget about that missed free throw, and prepare for a while longer before taking the shot again."

"He has 15 seconds to calm himself down, that's more than enough time. Don't rush, stay calm as much as possible, FUXX!"

Jackson couldn't hold back and blurted out profanities because James didn't use his method at all; James didn't even wait a moment longer.

I don't know what this guy was thinking, but after the referee gave him the ball, James just patted it once and then raised his hand to shoot the ball.

"Bang!"

Then, there was another muffled thud.

Bynum grabbed the backboard and then passed the ball to Lin Tian.

Lin Tian sprinted with the ball at lightning speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had reached the low post area of ​​the Mavericks' half of the court, almost parallel to the basket.

The reason Lin Tian didn't attack the basket directly was because the Mavericks' defensive retreat this time was truly exceptional.

The entire Mavericks team chased back, fighting tooth and nail to finally stop Lin Tian's fast break and prevent him from driving directly to the basket for an attack. The person who successfully blocked Lin Tian head-on was Allen.

Despite Allen's blockade, Lin Tian remained composed. He suddenly stopped, turned around, and pulled back, as if to move towards the outside, as if to re-establish a three-point line for the offense.

But after turning around, he only took one step, and then suddenly turned around again. This turn was incredibly fast, and Alan couldn't react in time. He could only watch helplessly as Lin Tian disappeared from his sight.

"Andrew!"

All Allen could manage was to yell, hoping his teammates behind him could provide backup.

"I'm here!" Bogut shouted, spreading his arms wide, baring his teeth and claws, looking at Lin Tian with a triumphant air, as if to say, "If you dare to come, I'll take you down."

"What good are you!" Lin Tian sneered, and then the basketball was suddenly passed to the side. A huge figure was rapidly approaching from the middle. It was Bynum, who had grabbed the rebound and was running like crazy, hoping to participate in the team's offense!

It was rare for the young man to participate in the fast break so enthusiastically, so Lin Tian certainly wouldn't let him down. With a low pass, Bynum caught the basketball, stood up, gathered his strength with both hands, and slammed it towards the basket!

"boom!"

After a loud bang, Bogut, who was forced to face Bynum sideways due to his defense against Lin Tian, ​​fell out in a very awkward manner. How could he possibly defend against Bynum's dunk when he was facing sideways?

Bynum, meanwhile, was hanging on the rim with one hand, letting out ferocious roars!

These two points, while not enough to kill the Mavericks, were absolutely enough to bring the game back to life!

2 points!

The gap between the two sides is now only 2 points!

There are 30 seconds left in the game!

The final 30 seconds!

If the Lakers choose to defend again at this point and do everything they can to stop the Mavericks' offense, they will have a chance to deliver a decisive blow and win the game against the Mavericks!

If the Mavericks score another basket, the gap between the two teams will once again reach a distance that requires two baskets to close, which would be quite bad for the Lakers.

"Mavericks or Lakers?" Van Gundy asked. "The Mavericks have called their final timeout of the night! They were just leading by 9 points, but now they're facing a do-or-die situation!"

"If they slip up this round, they might face an unacceptable and humiliating defeat!"

Jackson said, "All I can say is that James's missed free throws were absolutely crucial and incredibly disheartening! Even Shaq wouldn't miss two free throws at a time like that."

"That's an insult to O'Neal," Miller said. "O'Neal never falters in crucial moments. I remember one game in the Western Conference Finals where he made six consecutive free throws in a clutch situation, making the opponent's fouling strategy a joke. And after losing to us in the Finals the following year, O'Neal learned his lesson and his free throw shooting improved significantly the following year!"

"But LeBron James, after all these years, his free throw shooting hasn't improved much. Sure, his free throws aren't exactly a weakness; there are plenty of players who are even worse at it. But you're LeBron James!"

"You can't compare yourself to those Tom, Dick, and Harry; you're not in their league, are you?"

"I don't need to say much about the rest of the game, do I?" Jackson said with a smile. "You all know how crucial the next 30 seconds are, just like me. So, give it your all on defense! Completely shut down the Mavericks' final offensive possession! And then, hit the game-winning shot!"

"In addition, assuming we can defend for the full 24 seconds, and assuming we can run out of time and then serve, then we will have 6 seconds to launch the final attack."

"Lin, this decision-making power is yours! If you think a timeout is needed, call it immediately, and we'll make arrangements. If you're confident and think it's okay, then use these 6 seconds to go for it! If you win, it's yours; if you lose, blame it on my old eyesight forgetting to call a timeout!"

"There's no way we can lose," Lin Tian said confidently. "We're going to win!"

"Let's go, guys! We'll defend that last possession and then show those Mavericks what it means to win until the very end!"

"Let them know how powerful we are!"

"yes!"

The Lakers roared again, scoring 7 points in 1 minute and 30 seconds. The Lakers' morale was now at its peak, and they were 100% confident that their team would be the winner tonight!

Van Gundy said, "The game continues! The Mavericks' Nowitzki inbounds the ball. Neither team has made any substitutions. The Mavericks are still using their five starters, while the Lakers have brought in Barnes to increase the team's mobility."

"The most crucial possession of the night is here! This possession could absolutely decide the outcome of the game! Lakers or Mavericks?"

"The Mavericks are inbounding the ball! Run! The whole team is running! Let's see who will be the hero, will it be LeBron James?"

As the commentator sped up his commentary, the entire Mavericks team scattered and ran around, everyone looking for an opportunity.

James was tightly guarded by Durant and tried to receive the ball several times but failed to get the chance. Just when it looked like he was about to commit a 5-second violation, Allen suddenly ran out and reached out to receive the ball on the sideline. Although Kobe quickly closed in, the Mavericks managed to stabilize the situation temporarily and get a chance to catch their breath.

Allen used his butt to hold Kobe in place, his eyes fixed on the timer, killing time. The other Mavericks players also started running, each heading towards their preferred direction and area.

With 14 seconds left, Allen suddenly waved, and James immediately ran towards him. Even though Durant was following closely, he couldn't stop the two from making a hand-off pass.

"No trade!"

This time, Durant made the decision by shouting. There was still plenty of time on the shot clock, and James certainly wouldn't initiate the attack directly. So, after going around the screen, he was still able to stick to James again.

James dribbled the ball in place, waved for Allen to move aside, and continued to watch the time tick by.

In this possession, the Mavericks' two most important tasks are: running down the clock and avoiding turnovers to prevent the Lakers from launching fast breaks. (End of Chapter)