Chapter 538: Death Buckle
After Yang Mo turned around gracefully, the Heat immediately reorganized their offense and LeBron James became the ball handler. Spoelstra is a cautious person, and he also knows Yang Mo very well. Yang Mo is obviously the kind of guy who will take advantage of your weakness to kill you. If he does not make changes, Yang Mo will definitely continue to force Carlos Arroyo in the second round.
Deep down, Spoelstra had always dreaded a confrontation with Yang Mo. Yang Mo's ruthlessness had left a deep impression on him; his hostility and murderous intent were unlike anything he had ever seen. However, there was no other way. Now that Yang Mo had led his army to confront him, he had to react. Of course, surrender was an option. But how could the Heat allow him to surrender?
LeBron James brought the ball upcourt. Yang Mo waved his hand, and Jeffries and Ronnie Brewer pressed forward, immediately employing a double-team. It was done with extreme decisiveness. Yang Mo was not one to procrastinate; he was more decisive than anyone else.
As soon as James was double-teamed, the ball was quickly passed to Wade. Yang Mo had already made up for it and was defending him with great concentration. "Dwyane, I regret to tell you that I won't let you score anymore. You have to understand that I'm a selfish person. When I'm performing on offense, I won't allow others to do the same."
Yang Mo's attitude was clear, but Wade wanted to give it a try. He immediately started a fake move, quickly stepping forward with his left foot, trying to fool Yang Mo, but Yang Mo didn't move at all, looking at Dwyane with a smile on his face: "Brother, you know me very well, but I know you better. Usually when you stand on the left side, taking the first step with your left foot is a fake 75% of the time. This is your habitual movement, how could I be fooled?"
Yang Mo's bluntness made Dwyane Wade underestimate him. He was about to continue his attack when Yang Mo completely pressed him. He had no way to break free from the defense, no space to break through, and no escape to shoot. Ultimately, he could only pass the ball, turning around and throwing it to Carlos Arroyo behind him.
Arroyo received the ball, and Ronnie Brewer quickly filled in. Arroyo instantly lost his offensive position, and after struggling for several seconds, he finally lobbed the ball to Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the paint. Zydrunas Ilgauskas caught the ball and shot a jump shot... bang!
Tyson Chandler, who had been planning this for a long time, slapped him out of the three-point line. LeBron James still tried to pursue... Ding! Twenty-four seconds were up.
The defense this time was devilish, and the Heat were completely stuck in the quagmire.
Coach Sloan, standing on the sidelines, couldn't help but stand up and tip his hat to the Knicks. This defense had played out exactly as he'd imagined it. Everyone was in the system, smart positioning, well-timed double-teams, and the opponent was forced to have no choice but to pass the ball into a pre-set trap, only to be ruthlessly blocked.
After the ball was reinstated, Yang Mo briskly dribbled to half court. Before attacking, he even teased Spoelstra on the sidelines, "Hey, Coach, are you ready to defend? I'm about to attack. If you can play the same level of defense the Knicks just played, there's at least a 50% chance I won't score. But... can you Heat really do that?"
Yang Mo's provocation was mocking, and Spoelstra was speechless. He had indeed prepared a special double-team defense, but... compared to the Knicks' previous defense, it was truly nothing. Theirs was airtight. He could only resign himself to his fate.
While Yang Mo was teasing, Carlos Arroyo had already come close to her. He even put his head on Yang Mo's chest. He was ready to fall to the ground as soon as Yang Mo raised her elbow.
Unfortunately, Yang Mo didn't fall for his ruse at all, and didn't even attack him head-on. Instead, he turned around and aimed his butt at him... bang! With a single thrust, Carlos Arroyo was knocked back two steps. By then, even Dwyane Wade's attempts to close in were too late . Yang Mo had already swept past him like a gust of wind, passing right under his nose before he could even get into a defensive position.
There was no way around it. This guy's explosive power and speed meant he could exploit gaps to the extreme. Wade could only sigh in despair. He couldn't even imagine how immature Yang Mo was two years ago. Back then, he couldn't even dribble the ball, and his driving strokes were limited to one method: just charging headfirst. He'd taught him that. Unexpectedly, his current versatility had already surpassed his master. He was like the Pacific tide, swept to the shores of Hawaii, unable to contend with it.
"If I had known he was this good, I wouldn't have let him be the boss. Why would I compete with him? I can't possibly compete." Dwyane Wade suddenly felt that his previous caution was naive, even ridiculous. But then again, no one could have imagined Yang Mo would grow to this point. Back then, Wade was worried that Yang Mo would steal his ball. And now, under his guidance, Stoudemire has become the scoring leader. It's a perfect combination of one plus one being greater than two.
Yang Mo ignored Dwyane Wade's sighs, sprinting through the three-point line. Facing Yang Mo's charge, Zydrunas Ilgauskas was the first to get out of the way. His aging frame couldn't handle the impact, and he still wanted to play a few more years to earn enough for retirement. Deep down, Chris Bosh wanted to escape, but he'd already made a threatening statement in the tunnel. Wouldn't running away now seem like a coward?
He hesitated for a moment before finally making up his mind. At that moment, Yang Mo had already shot up like a cannonball, the impact so powerful that Chris Bosh, seeing this, reacted almost instantly. He automatically retracted his giraffe-like neck and prepared to evacuate.
But just as he was about to evacuate, Yang Mo was already charging towards him. Seeing himself completely enveloped by the shadow, he suddenly felt a sense of unease. He thought he would definitely be knocked away. But… something unexpected happened. The shadow disappeared so quickly that he was not knocked away.
Just as he was feeling relieved... bang!
There was a thud behind his head, and at the same time, the entire American Airlines Center was filled with screams.
At this moment, he suddenly remembered: Yang Mo seemed to have passed over his head.
Oh my god! He actually surpassed me?
Chris Bosh instantly felt extremely humiliated. Meanwhile, Yang Mo had already landed from the basket. He ran to the sidelines, habitually placed his right hand over his left ear, and loudly asked, "Miami friends, are you feeling good?"
"Awesome!" Almost immediately, the American Airlines Center erupted in earth-shaking roars, and more than 20,000 fans shouted out a Chinese chant in unison. Yes, they were having a blast.
He hadn't felt this good in a long time. They had never dreamed that Yang Mo would actually give them such a huge paintball less than a minute into the second half. Although it was their player who was leapt upon, their feelings for him were not even a ten-thousandth as strong as Super Yang's. Of course they cheered, of course they shouted, of course they were having a blast!
Compared to the fans' exhilaration, the Heat's morale suffered a crushing blow. Everyone froze in place, some even craning their necks to watch the replay. Yang Mo had leaped over Chris Bosh's head like a hawk. While it wasn't an in-your-face dunk, it was far more humiliating than that, as Chris Bosh's head didn't even touch Yang Mo's balls.
"Chris, didn't you say you were going to knock me out of the air?" Yang Mo, after stirring up the roar of the American Airlines Center, turned around and provoked Chris Bosh: "Why don't you do it?"
In response to Yang Mo's sarcasm, Chris Bosh just had a dark face and didn't say a word.
"I thought my balls would hit your head, but they didn't. It seems... your head retracted quickly, even more sensitive than a turtle's reaction." Yang Mo continued to mock, "I think you can change your nickname to, King of Turtle!"
"You...don't go too far." Faced with Yang Mo's increasingly harsh insults, Chris Bosh immediately retorted with a red neck, "You only succeeded by chance this one time."
"I've gone too far, what can you do to me?" Yang Mo stepped forward, tilting his head and said arrogantly, "How dare you, a coward like you, hit me?"
"You..." Chris Bosh roared, raising his fist to hit Yang Mo's head. But just as he stretched out his fist, Dwyane Wade had already hugged him with incredible speed, and then pulled him back tightly, while quietly reminding him: "Chris, calm down, calm down, think about the robber whose head was blown up, your head can't withstand his heavy blow..."
Chris Bosh heard Dwyane Wade's persuasion and subconsciously recalled a creepy image. His impulsiveness instantly dissipated without a trace. At this moment, the referee made his fair and strict punishment. He walked over to Chris Bosh and gave him a technical foul.
The referee just saw him swinging his fist. Although he did not hit Yang Mo, this behavior constituted a flagrant foul.
drop!
Seeing the situation escalate, Spoelstra quickly called a timeout. He knew Yang Mo too well. With Yang Mo's unyielding personality, he would definitely provoke Chris Bosh into further anger, and then quickly receive his second technical foul and be ejected.
After Spoelstra wisely requested a timeout, Yang Mo smiled at the Heat bench and said, "Guys, who do you think is better, my dunk or Vince Carter's death dunk?"
