NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 64: A Star-Studded Dunk Over Gobert – The Black 8 Miracle is Finally Born!

The home fans at Chase Center had already all stood up.

At this moment, they stand firmly with the Warriors' key players, hoping to win the game at home in one fell swoop and avoid any unforeseen complications.

"We believe!"

"We believe!"

There have been five instances of an eighth seed upset in NBA playoff history, and one of them belongs to the Golden State Warriors.

That was over a decade ago. In 2007, the Golden State Warriors, as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, eliminated the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks, becoming the first team in NBA history to achieve a "Black Eight" upset in a best-of-seven series. At that time, Curry hadn't even entered the league yet.

At that time, all the fans in the stadium wore gold T-shirts with "We Believe" printed on them, forming a "golden sea" and continuously chanting this slogan, which became a powerful spiritual driving force for the team to create miracles.

Time flies, and more than a decade has passed in the blink of an eye. The Warriors have changed batch after batch of new players, and even their home arena has moved from Oakland Stadium to Chase Center, but the fans' enthusiasm remains unchanged.

That's the cultural foundation of this city. They always believe that this is a team capable of creating miracles, a group of players capable of creating miracles!

Li Xingchen also believed it.

He believed in his head coach, his teammates, his fans, and most importantly, he believed in himself.

Curry's offensive gravity successfully drew away Mitchell's defense, allowing him to penetrate unimpeded into the mid-range and close-range.

Green was unable to completely shut down Gobert's position, so the expected long-arm sweeping defense came as predicted.

However, a closer look reveals that Gobert's outstretched hands are not very strong.

Although he still diligently guarded the Jazz's paint, whether due to declining physical strength or mental state, it was clear that his long arms had become weak and powerless, making him nothing more than a paper tiger with no real substance.

In the penultimate offensive possession of the previous game, Li Xingchen had to avoid Gobert's block and pull off an extreme reverse layup before successfully scoring.

After playing for so long, Gobert is clearly losing his fighting spirit, so Li Xingchen chose to confront him head-on!

Under the watchful eyes of the fans and his teammates on the bench, Li Xingchen dribbled the ball forward a couple more steps, then gathered the ball, pushed off the ground, and stretched out in mid-air, holding the ball with both hands and soaring into the sky facing Gobert.

Gobert is nearly 20 centimeters taller than Li Xingchen, so he only needs to make a light leap to reach the height where he can block Li Xingchen's shot.

But if you only have height but no strength, you're destined to become nothing more than a background element.

Gobert's hand was actually at a height that would have been sufficient to block Li Xingchen's dunk; however, due to a lack of concentration, his hand angle was slightly off, causing him to touch Li Xingchen's arm first instead of accurately slapping the basketball.

If that were all, at most it would just be a clear foul, at least Li Xingchen wasn't allowed to wreak havoc on their own rim.

Gobert's arms seemed to be weak and powerless. Although he slapped Li Xingchen's arm, he did nothing to stop the latter's soaring attack. Instead, the attack crumbled at the first touch and he was pushed away instantly.

With a loud "smack," after knocking Gobert's arms away, Li Xingchen's dunking motion was almost unaffected, and with an extremely brute force, he slammed the ball directly into the basket!

"Beep—"

At the same time, the whistle blew to call a foul on Gobert.

There was absolutely no controversy about the foul; everyone could see it clearly.

Li Xingchen, playing as a shooting guard, took off with a running start and dunked over Gobert, a center who is 2.16 meters tall, while also drawing a defensive foul from him!

The golden ocean boiled once again.

Once again, deafening cheers erupted at Chase Center.

The Warriors' bench players had already spread their arms in celebration when Li Xingchen jumped, and now they were all excitedly waving towels.

Curry, Wiggins, and other teammates on the court were all beaming with joy, and they all came over to give Li Xingchen a big high-five in celebration.

"MVP! MVP! MVP!!!"

When Li Xingchen stepped to the free-throw line, the chants for MVP rang out once again.

This is the second time he has received this honor in this series.

The Warriors played a good defense throughout the first half, but they were unable to pull away from the score, leaving the fans feeling anxious.

The Warriors' offensive surge in the second half began with Li Xingchen's fast break three-pointer after the steal, and it became unstoppable from there.

Now, Li Xingchen has once again dunked on the opponent's DPOY Gobert in such a domineering way in the positional battle, bringing the morale of the entire team to its peak.

With the free throw made, the Warriors now lead by a full twenty-seven points.

Some of the home fans started waving white towels, as if urging the Jazz to surrender quickly.

With one and a half quarters remaining in the game, and a difference of less than thirty points, there is still a chance to catch up.

But it's clear to anyone with eyes that the Jazz have actually lost their fighting spirit.

With a chaotic offense and a lax defense, the point difference will only widen.

If this continues, Chris Paul might have to turn on the TV again to see if the point difference in this game has a chance to break the 5-8 record.

But Snyder couldn't really surrender so early. After all, this was a do-or-die game for the team. Even if he knew it was probably hopeless, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep playing until he completely lost hope.

He called a timeout to give the players some time to adjust, but it clearly had little effect.

Li Xingchen's dunk perfectly achieved his goal, not only securing three points but also shattering the Jazz's already dwindling confidence.

For the remainder of the game, the Jazz's morale had crumbled, while the Warriors remained steady and methodical.

With only half a quarter remaining in the game, the Warriors had a 36-point lead, bringing the score to a lopsided 98-62.

Feeling helpless, Snyder had no choice but to call it quits early.

Today alone, the Jazz were completely outmatched by the Warriors.

If the game continues, the point difference will likely widen further. It would be better to give the substitutes a few minutes, firstly to let them experience the playoff stage, and secondly, to perhaps recover some points and make the final point difference look a little better.

After Snyder called a halt to the game, Curry and Li Xingchen, along with other Warriors starters, played two more possessions before being substituted by Kerr for rest.

As they left the court, they high-fived their teammates on the bench, celebrating their victory in the series after successfully defending their home court.

In the live broadcast room, seeing that the outcome was decided, the commentators were quite excited.

"So we can see that Jazz head coach Snyder has already given up on the game. In other words, the outcome is already decided."

"Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors for winning the first-round series 4-2 against the top team in the Western Conference."

"All of you here are witnesses to history."

"Together, we witnessed this team, after a full fourteen years, bring about the sixth 'Black Eight' upset in NBA history!"