NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 44: Spike Block Penalized, Steve Faces a Key Challenge!

After the timeout, the Jazz continued with the same offensive strategy they had drawn up for Mitchell.

However, before he could even receive the ball, Li Xingchen sidled up to him with a mischievous grin, locking down Mitchell from the moment he was off the ball.

Mitchell was so angry he wanted to say something, but he felt that nothing he said would be appropriate, so in the end he could only grit his teeth and fum.

Li Xingchen remained silent. He would not provoke others, but if someone did provoke him, he would retaliate without hesitation.

Ultimately, the Jazz's post-timeout tactics fell apart because Conley, after seeing the positioning and condition of Li Xingchen and Mitchell, was even hesitant to pass the ball to Mitchell again, feeling that it would only waste an offensive opportunity.

Without Mitchell's offensive threat and defensive pressure, the rest of the Jazz struggled to score. After all, their offensive strengths mainly consisted of open three-pointers and easy baskets; in other words, they lacked the ability to develop their own offense.

It all seemed to have returned to the first game of the series between the two teams, the game in which Mitchell was absent, and they suffered a crushing defeat.

The Mitchells are on the field now, but they're practically useless.

On the other hand, when Curry and Li Xingchen returned to the court at the same time, the Warriors' offense became noticeably smoother.

Almost every offensive possession either sees Curry score as the primary scorer, or Curry draws the defense and passes the ball to his teammates, creating open three-point opportunities or simple scoring chances with a numerical advantage under the basket.

Aside from wasting opportunities like teammates missing wide-open three-pointers, the Warriors scored on almost every offensive possession.

With Curry and Lee absent, the Jazz quickly gave back the few points they had managed to close the gap, and the deficit even widened.

By the middle of the second quarter, the score difference between the two sides was approaching thirty points.

Finally, the Jazz seized an opportunity.

After Draymond Green set a screen and rolled to the basket, it was an excellent open layup opportunity, but his offensive skills were comparable to those of a high school basketball team. He managed to make a layup that went over the bar without any interference...

That wasn't all. He even picked up the offensive rebound himself, and when he tried to put it back in, Gobert slapped him back!

Seeing that Gobert had come into play to help defend, Green, who didn't dare to continue challenging Gobert's defense under the basket, decided to pass the ball to the outside to reorganize the offense.

The result was a pass that was so crooked it was an eyesore, like he was passing the ball to the opponent – ​​pure undercover work.

The Jazz certainly didn't waste this hard-won opportunity. Conley intercepted the ball and quickly passed it up the court, where a figure was sprinting towards the basket – it was Mitchell, who was making a fast break!

After playing almost half the game, Mitchell has only taken four shots and scored just two points, only managing to score when he switched onto Bazemore.

Now that he finally had a chance to score easily on a fast break, he naturally wanted to let off some steam and release the emotions he had been suppressing for almost half the game.

As the basket drew ever closer, he resolved to execute a spectacular dunk.

Despite being only 1.85 meters tall, his wingspan and jumping ability are incredibly impressive. He even won the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest in his rookie season!

For him, fast break dunks are an incredibly easy and effortless thing.

Stepping into the free-throw line, one step, two steps, three steps, take off!

Swing your arm in a wide arc, and deliver a one-armed tomahawk chop!

Mitchell felt a surge of exhilaration.

Although he only scored two points, his offense was constantly suppressed in this half of the game, and his shots were often forced.

A player's performance sometimes depends heavily on their feel for the game and their current form. He felt that the reason he struggled so much today was largely because he wasn't prepared at the start of the game and didn't anticipate Li Xingchen's tight defense. Li Xingchen perfectly defended his two attacks in a row, which affected his confidence.

But this dunk is his best chance to get back into form!

Perhaps after this, he will be able to get into attack mode.

However, just as he was about to put the basketball into the basket, he suddenly felt a whooshing sound in his ear.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to see a blue figure flash by.

Immediately afterwards, he felt an incredibly powerful force coming from the basketball in his hand. Then, the basketball slipped from his control just inches from the basket and slammed hard against the backboard with a loud "thud!"

The two landed one after the other.

Mitchell snapped out of his daze and looked closely.

It's Li Xingchen.

It's Li Xingchen again!

How did he catch up? I was several body lengths ahead of him when I started my fast break!

Not only did he catch up, but this guy's jumping ability was just as good as mine; he even managed to bring down a dunk that was already in the air...

The fans at Chase Center erupted in cheers once again.

However, at this very moment, a discordant voice rang out.

"Beep—"

The referee made a shooting foul gesture.

Li Xingchen was stunned.

Not only was Li Xingchen stunned, but even Mitchell was dumbfounded.

Others might not be able to see what was happening in mid-air, but he could feel it very clearly. In his perception, Li Xingchen hadn't touched him at all, and the enormous force was transmitted to his hand through the basketball.

This……

Mitchell's expression was somewhat complicated. Of course, he couldn't object to a call that was in his favor, but this foul was really outrageous.

What's more, it was a delayed whistle, sounded only after both sides had landed.

The most outrageous thing is that if you wanted to keep the game suspenseful, then you should have given the Jazz a biased call earlier. What were you doing all this time?

They're already down by 30 points, so what's the point of this kind of officiating?

Not to mention Li Xingchen, even Mitchell himself was speechless.

The Chase Center fans were silent for only a moment before they began hurling insults at the referee.

Li Xingchen didn't hesitate at all and made a challenge gesture.

He shared the same thoughts as Mitchell and knew that the reason Mitchell was so well defended was largely due to his own poor condition.

Therefore, we absolutely cannot give him any chance to regain his form, not even a free throw opportunity!

Countless star players have regained their touch with just two free throws, going on to dominate in subsequent games.

The question is whether Kerr will fully trust him and support him in challenging the ruling.

Li Xingchen looked towards the coach's bench.

Because he had a challenge to face, Cole didn't go on a rampage like before.

Seeing that Li Xingchen had given a clear signal, Cole challenged the referee almost without hesitation!