NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 328 Taking down Tianwang Mountain

Bogut went down and never came back.

Jia Fei felt quite regretful. He really liked the way Bodog jumped up and down in a panic, and he really wanted to throw him a few freshly made starch sausages to eat.

After Bogut left the court, the Warriors' offense did indeed pick up. This proves that when your guards have shooting weaknesses, you'd better not put an inside player without shooting ability on the court, otherwise the team's offensive spacing will be compromised.

While the Warriors have the Splash Brothers, one of the league's top shooting guards, they also have a guard like Livingston who never shoots a three-pointer.

In this era, guards who don't shoot three-pointers really have a tough time because opponents will target them relentlessly. Teague and Black aren't exactly accurate from three, their volume and quality are both mediocre, but they're not completely avoiding them!

Livingston simply doesn't shoot three-pointers, and DeRozan, one of the Raptors' "trash brothers," gave him a thumbs up for that!

The Hawks have fallen behind...

Scott and Sefolosha couldn't make any three-pointers, and they didn't have the ability to attack the basket, which caused the opponent to concentrate their defensive forces on Jia Fei's side.

Jia Fei passed the ball out, but the outside shot missed. The opposing team grabbed the rebound and launched a fast break, gradually chipping away at the score...

The situation changed a bit too quickly, and Coach Buden immediately called a timeout to stabilize the situation.

After the timeout, the Hawks brought in Carroll and Mills to bolster their shooting. While these two weren't exactly accurate, opponents were less likely to open the shot so blatantly.

As it turns out, of all the wing players the Hawks amassed last summer, only Carroll was truly effective. The others, whether it was Sefolosha or Cup Cat, either had offensive or defensive issues. Carroll was the only one with a somewhat balanced offense and defense.

Coach Buden is not a coach who likes to rely heavily on his starters, but when the team faced a life-or-death situation, he couldn't hold back and started increasing the playing time of his starters.

Jia Fei believes that as long as players don't play the full 48 minutes, increasing the playing time of key players is actually quite normal. In the finals, everyone has to give it their all, and as long as their stamina allows, playing a little longer is perfectly acceptable.

With the Hawks fielding their full-spread lineup, the Warriors dared not double-team him again. Jia Fei came alive once more, starting to isolate and attack Iguodala on offense, targeting Curry, and using off-ball movement to draw the defense and create opportunities for his teammates.

The Hawks' offense returned, which also curbed the Warriors' counterattack momentum, achieving two goals at once.

The Hawks maintained firm control of the game's tempo, and at halftime, they led 41-53, still holding a double-digit lead.

贾飞半场得到26分6个篮板2次助攻2个抢断2个盖帽，表现继续强势。

During halftime, Coach Buden walked over to Jia Fei, carefully took his hand, and asked with concern, "Are you tired? Do you need to rest a little longer in the second half?" His voice was really gentle, not at all like he was talking to a player on the team, but more like a sycophant talking to a goddess.

"I'm not tired, coach, don't worry about me. We have to win this game! Just keep pushing me, I can play the whole second half!" Jia Fei replied seriously.

"It's good that I'm not tired, it's good that I'm not tired!" Coach Buden seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Jia Fei's statement that they would play the entire second half boosted the confidence of the Hawks players, like a shot in the arm. This game was crucial; a loss, with a 2-3 deficit heading to the away game, would be extremely risky.

Jia Fei smiled slightly; things were developing as he had envisioned. Why was Iguodala's defense ineffective against him tonight? Because he wasn't just a larger version of Iverson, he was also Jia Fei. Iverson's skills made him invincible throughout the league, but he encountered "Little AI" and suffered a setback. But Jia Fei also possessed skill; his offensive habits combined with Iverson's techniques left not only Iguodala bewildered, but aside from Art Mayok and Kemba Walker, who were familiar with him, few others would truly understand how he used to play.

This is where Beverley's teasing of him truly lies... Beverley made him realize that Iguodala knew Iverson far better than he thought, and that he, after all, was not the real Iverson.

So, does that mean Iverson couldn't beat Iguodala? Actually, no. Iverson possessed two sets of skills and two offensive habits. And skills and habits can be integrated and combined.

Iguodala didn't actually stop Iverson; he understood him. So when Jia Fei added variations to his game, the opponent couldn't stop him.

Ultimately, to defend against 90% of the techniques used by 2-meter defenders, the only option is to rely on instinct derived from extensive experience. Once the game changes, experience becomes less meaningful, and the effectiveness is greatly reduced.

The away team's locker room.

Cole found Iguodala and asked suspiciously, "Andre, can you tell me what happened? Jia Fei feels different from the previous few games. You were guarding him, what did you notice?"

Iguodala still looked puzzled: "To be honest, I don't know anything... He's like a different person. He's still fast, but the technique I'm using isn't the Allen I know. I think he knows I understand Allen well, so he made adjustments. I can't defend him now, I admit I can't stop him!"

Kerr's heart sank. Iguodala was his most relied-upon perimeter defensive specialist, and if even he couldn't stop him, then his one-on-one defense strategy was likely to fail. But there wasn't a better option at the moment; double-teaming would most likely be broken through by the opponent's fast ball movement, and the chances of successfully defending without double-teaming were slim.

Kerr is really struggling with a decision; how should he handle it?

The third quarter began quickly.

The Warriors still opted to use Iguodala to defend Jia Fei one-on-one. They had to stick to the strategy they had set before the game, as Kerr didn't believe Jia Fei could really be transformed.

No one can truly be reborn; he didn't believe Jia Fei really possessed a second personality.

But as it turns out, Kerr made the wrong bet...

Iguodala still couldn't stop Jia Fei. If Curry hadn't exploded for 17 points in a single quarter, the game might have been decided by the end of the third quarter.

But Curry's outbursts could only keep the Warriors alive, not help them win.

In the final quarter, Jia Fei played the entire quarter without rest, ultimately helping the team maintain their lead until the very end through his integrated offensive and defensive efforts.

Ultimately, the Hawks won this crucial Game 5 at home with a score of 89:101!

With the victory in Game 5, the Hawks ended their two-game losing streak and brought the series score to 3-2!

贾飞本场比赛天神下凡一般地砍下全场最高的44分，外加11个篮板4次助攻3个抢断3个盖帽，炸裂的表现直冲云霄！