Basketball Legends: Strikers Are King

Raptors head coach Dwayne Casey shook his head slightly and requested a substitution when Qi Tian assisted Mahinmi for a layup to lead the score.

Lowry came on the scene to replace Rose, who had made two zero shots.

"coach?"

Seeing Lowry come on the court, assistant coach Brian Shaw quickly asked for instructions whether to replace him with the main player.

Vogel did not agree, let alone rotate personnel.

"Let Qi try it with a substitute."

Vogel said,

"Try to stagger the appearance time of Paul and Qi. Isn't this the plan we made before?"

The team's emergency signing of Sam Young was originally intended to fill Granger's vacancy. Only George and Qi Tian can truly appear at the small forward position.

"Then, let's take a look first."

Brian Shaw agreed to the coach's arrangement.

Lowry performed well when he came on the court, diffracting Augustin from the outside and leading the score.

"32-34."

"Kyle~Lori!!"

Led by the on-site DJ, the fans shouted Lowry's name and cheered in unison.

Last season, DeRozan was the only one the Raptors could trust, but as a swingman, he couldn't consume all the ball rights, and he tended to score, and he couldn't drive his teammates, so the Raptors could only be ranked in the Eastern Conference.

Fifth from the bottom, there is a gap of 12 games between reaching the playoffs.

Now that there is a point guard who can absorb the ball, freeing DeRozan, not to mention Lowry's own offensive ability cannot be underestimated, how can this not make the fans happy?

"Maybe this year will be our chance for the Raptors to make the playoffs!"

Raptors fans are very optimistic about the start of this season and are even more crazy.

"I'll do it!"

Qi Tian decisively reached out for the ball. Before the game started, Vogel stated that he would lead the substitute lineup. In the second quarter of the game, he was the absolute core of the substitute lineup.

Augustin passed the basketball in his hand and started running.

Qi Tian took the basketball, using his right foot as the axis and moving his left foot constantly, testing the opponent's defense.

"Now!"

Qi Tian took advantage of Alan Anderson's distraction, decisively collected the ball, jumped up, and threw the basketball.

"What?"

Alan Anderson was just about to take a look at his opponent's offensive position, but when he came to his senses, he saw that Qi Tian had already released the ball. He was a beat too slow and could only watch the basketball pass over his fingertips and fly towards the basket.

"Whoosh!"

Qi Tian hit his second three-pointer of the game.

"35-34."

"Awesome!"

"Too accurate!"

"Nice pen!"

The Pacers bench was in an uproar, and Granger, who was sitting in the front row watching the game, nodded slightly, expressing satisfaction with Qi Tian's performance.

Halfway through the second quarter, both sides gradually replaced their main players. Bargnani and Fields came on, and Vogel also replaced Hill and West.

The two sides have a tacit understanding to keep the starting small forward and starting center off the court to give them time to rest.

Hill held the ball and pretended to attack, assisting West to score, and then received a pass from Qi Tian and scored a jump shot;

The Raptors evened the score with 5 points from Lowry and Calderon.

"39-39."

"clang!"

Stephenson's jump shot missed.

"rebound!"

The insiders from both sides immediately came together and started fighting for the basketball.

But a figure suddenly appeared in the bottom corner. He jumped up and grabbed the rebound. Finally, he faced Amir Johnson and dunked hard. It was Qi Tian!

Qi Tian, ​​who had used the hanging frame to relieve his strength, landed smoothly on the ground, raised his arms and roared at the camera on the sidelines:

"Roar!!"

"handsome!"

"Oh selling cakes!"

The Pacers bench was even more chaotic.

"That's how it should be!"

When George saw that Qi Tian actually showed off his dunk, he also excitedly imitated Qi Tian's dunk action just now to cheer for his brother.

"Dudu!"

The referee's whistle sounded at the right time, indicating that Amir Johnson had committed a foul.

Qi Tian scored 2+1!

"Huh~~"

Qi Tian adjusted his breathing and smoothly threw the basketball in his hand.

"Whoosh!"

"42-39."

The Pacers' morale was boosted and they scored consecutively. Qi Tian scored 11 points in a single quarter and played a smooth offense.

Before halftime, Lowry miraculously fouled Hill on a three-point shooting, and assisted DeRozan to score 4 points in a row, forcing the equalizer.

"48-48."

Very rarely, fans of both teams were generally satisfied with the performance of their supporting teams.

The Pacers, who have lost Granger, still have a good fighting force. George and Qi Tian scored 12 points and 14 points respectively, which can almost be said to have replaced Granger's role;

The Raptors are also very satisfied with the deal that introduced Lowry in the summer. The starting point guard scored 13 points in the first half. Bargnani also led the point guard to score 11 points in the second half. The only flaw in the ointment may be that he made 2 of 7 shots.

DeRozan, who only scored 4 points.

"but……"

A Raptors fan wearing jersey No. 1 looked at DeRozan who was returning to the locker room along the tunnel and whispered,

"Why does it feel like DeRozan was restrained by his opponent?"

George made 6 of 11 shots from the field, not to mention his over 50% shooting percentage. His 7 rebounds and 2 assists, which were the highest of the two teams, completely destroyed DeRozan, who had 1 rebound and 0 assists.

After all, these two could be said to have been facing each other head-on in the first half.

In the visiting team's locker room, Vogel fine-tuned his defensive strategy for the second half based on the situation in the first half.

"The main thing is to strangle the opponent's outside scoring points, especially Lowry and DeRozan."

He looked at George and said:

"Paul, you still have to guard DeRozan alone. George, you keep an eye on Lowry."

"The strategy is to try to force them to the basket and let them face David and Roy."

He named West again.

"David, we focused on attacking inside in the second half. We have advantages inside but don't use them. It's really a waste."

Bargnani, who is facing West, is a standard defensive hole. Vogel believes that even if West is allowed to play alone against his opponent, he can penetrate the opponent's inside line.

Vogel then gave Hibbert a few more words.

"Roy, stay in position with the opponent's center and don't let him get to the basket."

The head coach had only one sentence for Qi Tian.

"Seven, maintain defensive intensity."

In the first half, Fields, the opponent's starting shooting guard, failed to hit any of his three shots. He was unable to score, so there is really no need to pay too much attention.

Vogel concluded:

"In the second half of the game, focus on attacking inside, strengthen outside defense, and give full play to your own advantages!"

"clear!"

All the Pacers shouted in unison and walked out of the locker room.

Brian Shaw felt like he had nothing to complain about.

George and Qi Tian scored more than ten points in the first half. You don't let them play and let them defend?

The inside line is indeed an advantage, but whoever has the better touch will take more shots. Isn't this something everyone knows? Why do we need to play the game of even distribution?

Brian Shaw felt a sense of unwillingness at this time:

"Mader, a person like this can also be a head coach. It seems that I can do it too. It's a shame that I didn't compete to be the head coach of the Lakers. I thought I still have a lot to learn."