The Mavericks are struggling at the Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets had two different styles of play from the first quarter.
They speed up the transition between offense and defense, and after a successful defense, they quickly push for a fast attack and counterattack.
The Nuggets are very athletic inside, especially Kenyon Martin, who is an out-and-out "brutal" power forward.
Not to mention the "answer" Allen Iverson, a master of counterattack, Anthony can also run.
On the other hand, the Mavericks, their insiders Eric Dampier and "King" Dirk Nowitzki are both slow-moving players, and they can't keep up with the Nuggets' rhythm.
In addition, on the defensive end, the Nuggets' overall size does not suffer.
They are able to restrain the Mavericks' face-to-basket breakthrough very well. Nowitzki does not have much advantage against Kenyon Martin in terms of speed and size.
The Nuggets gradually took advantage of the situation.
In Li Yan's view, this is not unexpected. The Mavericks were outplayed by the Warriors this season, and the Warriors defeated the Mavericks by relying on quick transitions between offense and defense.
At this time, Nowitzki's "Golden Rooster Independence" has not yet reached the level of "proficiency". When facing high-intensity confrontation, his offensive efficiency will be greatly affected.
Li Yan took a break with 4 minutes left in the second quarter.
Although Li Yan's physical fitness has now reached 85, it is still not enough to support him to play the whole game with such a waste of skills.
In this game, in order to make his teammates' offense smoother, Li Yan used the "Cake Master" in many rounds.
The Nuggets played with amazing offensive efficiency, but it also took a huge toll on Li Yan's physical strength.
After Li Yan came off the court, the Nuggets' smoothness of running the ball dropped significantly, which gave the Mavericks a breath of relief.
After all, the Mavericks are number one in the league, and the people of Dallas are very resilient and they haven't given up yet.
Before halftime, they got within 10 points.
Li Yan scored 6 points and sent 9 assists.
Iverson and Anthony's scores have also reached 10+, and the system's tasks seem to be going smoothly.
Anthony was still somewhat resistant to letting Li Yan take control of the ball.
Where Iverson's historical status lies, Anthony can barely convince himself.
But for Li Yan, this young man's performance was great, but because of this, he gave up the ball, which made "Melon" feel a little unwilling.
As an offensive "kaleidoscope", Anthony wants to shoulder the burden of the Nuggets' offense.
In the final analysis, Anthony grew up watching the NBA in the 1990s. In his mind, it was necessary for the leading star to implement singles tactics.
For this reason, there is also some friction between Anthony and coach George Karl.
George Karl wanted Anthony to share the ball more and invest more on defense, but Anthony wasn't too keen on it.
In the first half of the game, Anthony's thoughts changed a lot.
Li Yan's pass gave Anthony many opportunities to score easily. Anthony is not stupid, so he will naturally not refuse if he can score easily.
"It turns out that Li Yan is the "lubricant" between Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. The Chinese magician can solve the Nuggets' ball distribution problem."
Smith explained: "As long as the Nuggets maintain this style of play, they will be very competitive, otherwise they will not be able to go far relying on singles."
Barkley agreed with Smith that basketball is a team sport and even Michael Jordan needs Scottie Pippen.
Soon, the second half of the game began.
The Nuggets' defense maintains good intensity.
Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby didn't let the Mavericks take advantage in the paint.
Li Yan's defense on the outside also gave the Mavericks a lot of containment.
Even Anthony, who has never done much defensively, is very focused.
There's nothing that can be done about it. "Melo" plays very easily in the offense. If he "fishes" again on the defensive end, he doesn't even feel like he's sweating.
The Mavericks' offense was stagnated in this way, and they fell into the Nuggets' stranglehold.
After trading away Nash, the Mavericks have been lacking a playmaker.
Now stuck in this predicament, they chose to hand the basketball over to Nowitzki for a ton of isolation plays.
Nowitzki shook Kenyon Martin away, but when he was about to take the shot, Marcus Camby's long arm stretched out from the side again.
Nowitzki's shot was greatly interfered with. He adjusted the angle of his shot. Although he avoided Camby's long arm, there was obviously something wrong with his sight.
"DUang!" The basketball hit the rim and bounced out.
Anthony got the rebound, and he started looking for Li Yan at the first opportunity.
Human nature is like this. When Li Yan kept sending assists to Anthony, "Melon" had already recognized Li Yan's ability to control the ball.
"WOW! It's so surprising that Cameron has such defensive enthusiasm." Barkley was very shocked.
In his impression, "Melo" Anthony's defensive attitude is not good. He often misses people because of his lack of concentration.
But now, Anthony has been changed, and the arrival of Li Yan has changed the Nuggets' ecology.
George Karl smiled on the sidelines. Li Yan's growth was immediate, and even old problems like Anthony were changed.
In the transition between offense and defense, Li Yan controlled the rhythm with the ball.
Kenyon Martin pulled out to give Li Yan a screen, and Li Yan cooperated with Kenyon Martin.
Li Yan took advantage of the opportunity to get inside. He pretended to pass the ball to Kenyon Martin, but with a flick of his wrist, he passed the ball to Allen Iverson who was sliding down the baseline.
Iverson easily completed the layup.
Anthony on the side could see clearly that when he was holding the ball, he often only saw the defender and the basket. Anthony was very surprised by Li Yan's pass.
No wonder Iverson keeps telling himself that Li Yan handles the ball very reasonably, and Anthony completely understands it now.
The Mavericks were completely suppressed, and "Little General" Johnson immediately requested a timeout.
In order to chase points, the Mavericks replaced the big center and replaced him with Stackhouse.
But the Nuggets also replaced JR Smith by coincidence.
Under the fast-paced collision, the Mavericks lost miserably.
Li Yan's talent has been fully utilized, and his scalpel-like precision passing is simply like "cooking a ding to untie a cow".
The Mavericks' defense was cut to pieces, and Li Yan continued to provide assists to his teammates.
Iverson and Anthony are naturally the ones he takes care of.
Anthony's shooting skills have always been superb, but he never expected to play like he does today.
In his past games, offense with the ball was the mainstream; but today, Li Yan can always find him through the gaps, and Anthony only needs to send the ball into the basket.
With 3 minutes left in the game, the Mavericks, who were 20 points behind, withdrew all their main players and announced that they had surrendered.
Anthony, who returned to the bench, felt that his basketball philosophy had been impacted. He received 8 assists from Li Yan in the game.
Anthony scored 28 points in the game, so easily that "Melon" didn't even feel like he was sweating.
