Chapter 23: A Dunk Without Any Skill
Philadelphia offense.
Hornacek ran without the ball, and after receiving the ball, he shot from the right wing, but was blocked in the face by Dan Maalley. The ball went a little off, hit the basket, and bounced out.
Wang Tiejun stood firmly under the basket, protecting the backcourt rebound. Dan Maalli quickly ran down the court and completed a slam dunk after receiving a long pass from the former.
4:0, the Suns lead.
Head coach Paul Westphal nodded. He was very satisfied with Wang Tiejun's ability to rebound in the backcourt and initiate fast breaks, and his passing and receiving skills were also good.
In the game against the Magic, Wang Tiejun got 8 rebounds, including 7 backcourt rebounds.
But he also knew that Wang Tiejun was limited in his mobility and the rebounding area was not large. The most secure area was under the basket. As long as he stood in position, no one could squeeze him. He was fine within the entire paint area, but not outside the paint area.
Philadelphia offense.
Andrew Long pulled out of the paint and went to the left wing.
His playing style is too soft, his offensive position is biased to the outside, and he only shoots mid-range shots. As a center, he has only 1.6 free throws in his career, which shows how much he resists confrontation.
Wang Tiejun followed out to defend, took two steps, and then guarded on the left side of the paint area.
However, Philadelphia's offense was not handed over to Andrew Lang. Point guard Jose Hawkins broke through and made a quick stop jump shot, but he still failed to hit the ball under the defense of Kevin Johnson.
Wang Tiejun returned to the basket in time, but the rebound was grabbed by the faster Barkley.
The Suns attack and fight a positional battle.
Andrew Lang did not resist at all this time, he just went around to the front. Wang Tiejun was not polite either, he went straight to the basket, tried hard to push him away from the basket, and then asked for the ball at the top of the arc.
Kevin Johnson also gave face and lobbed the ball in again.
He jumped slightly and grabbed the ball with one hand, but at this time, Andrew Lang had turned around and stood between him and the basket.
But he didn't hesitate, he raised his hand high, jumped with all his strength, and slammed the ball with both hands.
Since joining the Suns, the team's trainer has had strict requirements on him, requiring him not to put the ball down after catching it under the basket and to try not to dribble. He began to develop this habit.
"boom!"
Amid the loud sound of the rim slamming, Andrew Lang, who was blocked by the dunk, fell to the ground, and the Philadelphia basketball stand was sunk more than a foot, as if it was about to collapse.
“Beep!”
Amid the fans' exclamations, the referee blew the whistle, pointed at Andrew Lang, and made a gesture for a foul.
"Old K, well done!"
An excited Barkley ran up and bumped his chest with Wang Tiejun in celebration.
“Wow…Wow…”
With the help of his teammates, Andrew Lang climbed up, panting, and walked away from Wang Tiejun as soon as possible. He thought he was fighting against a giant beast, and as a person who did not like confrontation, he felt it was too dangerous.
In the commentary booth, this brutal dunk made Roma and Venus look at each other in bewilderment.
After a long pause, Roma finally explained: "The Chinese coolie completed a slam dunk without any technical skills. Yes, any fool can do the same as him under the basket..."
At this point, he glanced at Venus, hoping that his partner would continue his conversation. The latter also said after a pause: "I bet he will miss the free throw."
“Swish!”
The water splashed.
Wang Tiejun laughed excitedly. He actually made a hollow free throw, which made him happier than completing a dunk.
"Well, it's luck."
The commentator Venus was slapped in the face as soon as he finished speaking , and said with some embarrassment.
"Kevin, step up your attack under the basket."
On the sidelines, head coach Paul Westphal excitedly shouted to guard Johnson.
"OK." Kevin Johnson nodded.
Looking back, Jeff Hornacek made a three-pointer, 7:3, and Philadelphia was still 4 points behind.
The Suns attacked, and Barkley was faster and entered the paint first.
Wang Tiejun lingered in the low post on the left wing and did not enter the basket immediately, avoiding wasting offensive time in the three-second zone and squeezing Barkley's space to move.
At this time, Kevin Johnson reached the top of the arc with the ball and made a pull-away gesture.
In addition to stretching the outside line, Barkley also immediately moved to the right wing, taking away the opposing power forward Tim Perry.
At the same time, Wang Tiejun immediately entered the basket according to tactical requirements.
"Andrew, hold on to that rookie, don't let him in."
At this point, Fred Carter, the rookie head coach of the Philadelphia Digital Team, was on the sidelines, waving his fist and yelling.
Andrew Lang, who dislikes confrontation, could only adopt a head-on defense and gave up the front-circling defense method.
One meter into the paint area and one step away from the basket, Wang Tiejun immediately turned around, leaned his back against the defender, and stretched out his hand to ask for the ball at the top of the arc.
Kevin Johnson passed the ball down, and after he caught it with his right hand, there was probably less than one and a half seconds left on the shot clock.
If it was O'Neal, from such a close position to the basket, a quick shark turn and a direct dunk or hook shot would be enough to end the attack.
If it's Dream, it's very easy for him to use dream footwork to shake the defender and then have a hundred ways to put the ball into the basket.
If it is other super centers, they all have their own ways.
But his ability to finish near the basket is too poor, so there is only one way, continue to play with his back to the basket, continue to push horizontally to the basket, and then end the attack with a dunk.
Due to the three-second offensive limit, he only has one chance to make a move.
At this moment, he burst out with all his strength.
“Bang!”
While dribbling the ball, his feet suddenly stopped, the force rose from the ground, and the core muscles of his waist and abdomen twisted. The six forces suddenly combined into one, turning into a huge hitting force, using the left shoulder and back as the attack point, and hit Andrew Lang's chest.
"Well!"
Under the instant violent crushing, Andrew Lang's chest collapsed, and the gas in his chest cavity was compressed rapidly, causing a sharp scream to come out of his throat passively.
And his body fell down and landed heavily on the floor.
At this time, the basketball bounced from the floor. Wang Tiejun grabbed it with his big hand, turned around, stepped over Andrew Lang, and then jumped up.
"boom!"
During the one-handed dunk, the entire basketball hoop shook violently, as if it had been greatly frightened.
"oh!"
The whole audience exclaimed, and then fell into dead silence.
All the Philadelphia fans were staring at the giant beast hanging above the basket. A strong sense of oppression came from the beast. The invisible sense of oppression weighed on their hearts, making it hard for them to breathe.
"Old K, one day, you will become our super center." On the court, Barkley rushed over excitedly and shouted.
"Rookie, you will catch my pass again, get ready." Kevin Johnson also shouted excitedly.
Wang Tiejun held his head high with his chest puffed out, "looking down" at Philadelphia's home court. A sense of confidence rose in his heart, uncontrollably.
The feeling between playing against a center like Andrew Lang and playing against O'Neal is completely different.
When confronting O'Neal, he had no advantages except to restrain O'Neal and consume his physical energy, and was beaten on both offense and defense.
Even though he reduced the opponent's efficiency and was of great help to the team, he actually felt a great sense of frustration in his heart.
This sense of frustration comes from the fact that O'Neal's talent is overwhelming his and the difference in statistics is too huge.
However, when playing against a blue-collar center like Andrew, he felt his advantage in the low post. Even if his other skills were not good, his low-post back-to-the-basket shooting alone was enough to deal with such a blue-collar center.
This advantage immediately gave him the confidence to gain a foothold in the NBA.
At Wang Tiejun's feet, Andrew Lang was breathing in pain. He felt that his right chest had been collapsed, and there was a faint smell of blood between his breaths.
With the help of his teammate Tim Perry, he stood up, then immediately gestured to the bench for a substitution, as he was no longer able to do it.
"Shit!"
Head coach Fred Carter cursed, called a timeout, then turned and glared at the bench, unsure of who to send into the game.
Of all the inside players of the Digital Team, from the main force to the substitutes, center Andrew Lang has the largest tonnage, but he couldn't withstand the giant beast several times. Who else can withstand it? What he needs now is a meat shield that can withstand the giant beast.
At the commentary booth, the two commentators swallowed hard but were unable to speak.
Rom grunted for a long time before saying, "I have to admit, his post-up play is too brutal, really too brutal! No wonder even the top draft pick O'Neal couldn't stand up to his post-up play."
"It seems that O'Neal took a break right after the fight with him. It should be because his body was exhausted!"
Venus nodded and continued, "As far as I know, in the history of the league, there has never been a super center who can play with his back to the basket like him in the past few decades."
Roma nodded and said, “Even Shaquille O’Neal, the rookie who just made his debut this season, didn’t have such a violent and brutal back-to-the-basket move.
But in fact, his post-up play is just about strength, and the technical content is very low. "
"Yeah, yeah, no technique."
Venus quickly agreed, thought for a moment and said, "We need to trade in a meat shield. All our inside players are too weak in front of him."
"Yes, I think so too." Rom nodded.
The Digital Team finally sent out substitute center Almon Guillem, who can play at the four or five positions. He is 206 cm tall and weighs only 105 kg.
Gilliam is no small figure. His nickname is Hammer. He was the second pick of the 1987 Suns, the same year as David Robinson and Pippen. He has explosive athletic ability. He scored 15+8 in his rookie season. He has good scoring and rebounding abilities and is a star player. However, he suffered a serious injury in his third season and played only 16 games. His performance, potential, and player value declined severely, so he was traded to the Hornets.
In the 90/91 season, he was traded to Philadelphia again. Last season, he partnered with Barkley in the interior and once again played 17+8 quasi-All-Star data as the main center. Unfortunately, due to injuries this season, he entered the bench lineup, and his playing time and performance were greatly reduced.
In fact, if it weren't for the injuries, he would definitely have become an All-Star, but unfortunately the recurring injuries ruined him.
What's even more terrifying is that in 2011, he died suddenly in an amateur competition.
"Hey, Almon."
The timeout ended, the game began, and when Gilliam came on the court, Barkley came over with a smile and extended his hand.
"Hey, Charles."
Gilliam smiled and offered a high-five.
The game begins and Philadelphia attacks.
