NBA: The God of Basketball Begins with Precise Scoring

Chapter 17: Commanding the interception and counterattack, Xingchen turns the tide of battle once ag

Possession changed, and the ball went to the Jazz's offense.

Gobert passed the ball to Conley, who carried it across half-court. Ingles and Royce O'Neal then ran towards the two bottom corners to create space.

Mitchell is positioned high up, ready to run and receive the ball at any time. He and Conley are currently the Jazz's absolute offensive initiators.

Looking at the opponent's positioning, Li Xingchen suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He had a strong intuition about what kind of tactics the opponent wanted to execute in this round!

The expected sequence should be Conley with the ball, initiating a pick-and-roll between the center and center positions with Gobert. Mitchell on the other side would be a decoy, with Conley faking a pass to Mitchell before suddenly lobbing the ball high to Gobert cutting down the court. At this point, Draymond Green's defensive attention would be drawn to Mitchell, ready to help defend him. By the time he realized what was happening and tried to box out Gobert, it would be too late, and he could only watch helplessly as Gobert easily dunked the ball.

How could Li Xingchen be so specific and clear in his predictions and imagining of the opponent's tactics?

Of course, it wasn't because of the system's help, but because Li Xingchen vaguely sensed that the Jazz team seemed to have executed this tactic in the previous rounds, and the current positioning and feeling were almost the same as back then!

Because Li Xingchen was watching the game very attentively from the sidelines, not missing a single second, and constantly comparing the various tactics executed by both sides on the court with the tactics he had practiced during shooting training in the past few days, striving to improve his court awareness as much as possible.

As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly. What the four starters on the field were unaware of, Li Xingchen was aware of.

Perhaps the coaching staff on the sidelines could also see it, but they couldn't predict the opponent's specific tactics for each round during the timeout, and when the opponent got right in front of them, there was simply no time to communicate.

Only Li Xingchen, who was on the field, had time to make some changes.

Before the opponent could fully set up and start running their tactics, Li Xingchen quickly ran towards Mitchell's side, asking to switch positions with Wiggins, and whispered to Wiggins as they passed each other to be careful to intercept high lob passes.

Wiggins was still a bit confused, but he couldn't possibly compete with Li Xingchen for defensive position on the spot, so he quickly moved to help defend Conley.

Li Xingchen's move was extremely risky. Without the coach's arrangement or prior communication, he took it upon himself to adjust the matchups and defensive strategies on the court. If he succeeded, that would be fine, but if he failed or encountered problems, he would inevitably have to pay the price.

After all, he's not a team leader like Curry, nor is he a so-called "defensive core" like Draymond Green. He's just a substitute player who was promoted to the starting lineup at the end of the season and has only played two serious games. He can't possibly have a team status where he can freely direct offensive and defensive tactics on the court anytime soon.

He arbitrarily adjusted his matchups and defensive strategies on the field. If something went wrong, he would very likely be criticized by the head coach after leaving the field, or even be dropped from the game in the following matches.

However, Li Xingchen trusted his judgment and believed his intuition was correct.

This stems from his deep understanding and appreciation of various tactics during training over the past few days, as well as his meticulous observation of every player on both sides from the start of the match.

From the positioning, subtle movements, and eye contact of Conley, Mitchell, and others, he intuitively felt that the other side wanted to execute the same tactic that had just been used to score too much against the Warriors!

The Jazz players were genuinely a bit bewildered when the Warriors suddenly changed their matchups.

However, they all knew that Li Xingchen's perimeter defense was also quite strong, perhaps slightly inferior to Wiggins, but definitely not by much.

Mitchell can hold anyone back, and the effect won't be too different, so they don't need to change their tactics and can just play according to the original plan.

As for why Li Xingchen didn't choose to try to steal the ball himself since he had anticipated the opponent's tactics, but instead switched positions with Wiggins, it was because he judged that his height and jumping ability might not be enough. Only a gifted genius like Wiggins could be most confident in intercepting a high lob pass!

This is a man with a vertical jump of 1.12 meters, a maximum reach of 3.84 meters, and the ability to jump to shoulder level with the rim when grabbing a rebound. His talent is even more freakish than Jordan's!

Conley called Gobert for a pick-and-roll.

Green stepped forward to help defend without hesitation.

Gobert then moved toward Mitchell, seemingly wanting to set an off-ball screen for him, blocking Li Xingchen's defense and creating an opportunity for Mitchell to receive the ball and shoot.

Green was indeed drawn away and went to help defend Mitchell.

At that moment, Conley also looked in Mitchell's direction, seemingly preparing to pass the ball to him.

Logically, Wiggins' attention should be drawn to Mitchell's direction at this moment, and he should try to intercept the pass in that direction.

However, because Li Xingchen had reminded him beforehand, Wiggins kept his attention completely focused on Conley's hand movements.

At this moment, he also noticed something. Conley seemed to be looking in Mitchell's direction, but his hand movements seemed to indicate that he was preparing to pass the ball to the basket!

She's really cunning.

As for who to pass the ball to under the basket, you can figure that out with your eyes closed.

Gobert's off-ball screen is definitely a feint. He will surely change direction suddenly and launch a surprise attack towards the basket, then score a layup!

Now that we've predicted it, things will be much easier from here on out.

Wiggins didn't even glance at Mitchell or Gobert's position. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the basketball in Conley's hand. Just as Conley was about to throw it, Wiggins seized the opportunity and leaped up, grabbing the ball in mid-air at an incredible height!

Because it was a high-arcing pass, it looked a bit like Conley was shooting, but Wiggins jumped up and blocked it!

Even though this was the Jazz's home court, Wiggins's explosive steal drew gasps from the audience!

However, this is not over yet.

Because Wiggins' steal was entirely anticipatory, he was exceptionally steady both when catching the ball and when landing.

Meanwhile, Li Xingchen, who had orchestrated all of this, had naturally anticipated this outcome, so he sprinted towards the frontcourt almost before Wiggins had even landed.

After landing, Wiggins made a long pass, directly to Li Xingchen, who had rushed into the opponent's three-point line and was completely unmarked, helping him soar into the sky and complete a powerful two-handed dunk!

In an instant, the momentum of the match was completely reversed!