With Butler in mind, Xu Xin had no intention of watching the game. Trust the players. He sighed secretly, got up and left the field. He was going to the locker room to see Butler's situation.
On the court, Jeremy Lin organized the offense, and Meeks never left.
Bickerstaff is smart.
Since Harden and Butler are unable to continue the game, the Rockets' most threatening player is Jeremy Lin, followed by Livingston.
So Bickerstaff chose to let Meeks guard Jeremy Lin, let Kobe Bryant guard Livingston, and Nash, who had the weakest defensive ability, guard Ariza.
Jeremy Lin observed the movement of his teammates. Parsons and Ariza used Asik's cover from the two wings to cross the baseline and move out from both sides.
The aging Jamison cannot keep up with Parsons in terms of speed or flexibility. Jeremy Lin looked at Ariza's running direction and passed a straight pass to the other side at a 45-degree angle to Parsons, who was open.
When the ball came to the man, Parsons took the ball without making any adjustments and shot a three-pointer.
"Uh-huh!"
The basketball went straight into the net, 102:100.
On the other side, Xu Xin walked back to the locker room, where the team doctors were conducting a more detailed examination on Butler.
Harden paced back and forth anxiously beside him. When he saw Xu Xin come in, he greeted Xu Xin:
"Manager, you are here."
Xu Xin nodded, and without waiting for a reply, Harden continued:
"I'm sorry, I was impulsive."
Xu Xin patted Harden on the shoulder:
"There is nothing to be sorry for. What you did was right, very right. If it were me, I would rush up and beat him up."
"But what I said I'm sorry for is that I never fought..."
Harden lowered his head.
Xu Xin wanted to make an impassioned speech, but was choked up by Harden's "never played before". He was speechless and didn't know what to say.
Turning to look at Butler,
"Jimmy, how do you feel now?"
Butler raised his head slightly,
"Manager, I feel good. No more tests are needed. I want to play basketball."
The team doctors also completed the examination at this time, and the most senior middle-aged men Thomas Clanton and Xu Xin said:
"It's amazing. Jimmy fell so hard and his bones are intact. He doesn't have a concussion. He can continue to play."
Xu Xin was very excited, but he still forced himself to calm down and confirmed with the team doctor:
"are you sure?"
Clanton nodded heavily and said seriously:
"I'm very sure that nothing happened to him. He needed help when he was walking just now. It was just a mental disorder after a heavy fall. He has recovered now."
Butler sat up and looked at Xu Xin eagerly.
Xu Xin was completely relieved and said with a smile:
"Let's go, tonight is destined to belong to Houston, Jimmy, you also go to perform the return of the king!"
"okay!"
Butler tidied up his shoelaces, walked out of the locker room door and walked to the court.
Harden and Xu Xin were by his side. Although Harden was ejected, he decided to stand in the tunnel to cheer for his teammates.
On the court, Kobe assisted Meeks in a three-pointer.
The Rockets' one-man-on-four zone defense uses a 22-zone defense with a square position. Asik is too slow and has almost no interference with Meeks in the bottom corner on his side.
The score on the court came to 104:105.
With 8 seconds left in the game, the Rockets had another chance to attack. McHale called the last timeout. At this point in the game, they were almost out of ammunition.
When he was considering who to give the final attack to, a familiar and slightly magnetic voice said:
"To Jimmy!"
McHale turned around and saw Xu Xin and Jimmy coming back. He looked at Butler excitedly and said:
"How are you feeling? Can you continue playing?"
Butler nodded,
"I'm fine. Leave the final attack to me. I'm confident of a sure kill!"
McHale no longer hesitated and called Butler over to arrange the tactics for the final attack.
The timeout ended, Butler replaced Asik and returned to the court.
"Oh, we see Butler is back. Butler is such a tough guy. He was fouled like that and still managed to come back to the game. Let's see who will handle the Rockets' final attack."
Yang Yi explained.
The audience stood up and applauded. This moment had nothing to do with the outcome of the game, or the home and away teams. They just expressed their appreciation and admiration for Butler's return as the king, just like they did for Yao Ming.
Parsons served a sideline ball, and Butler used the cover of Ariza and Livingston to run from the baseline to the center circle and successfully received the ball.
Kobe is guarding Butler. For Kobe, he doesn't care what kind of fouls you suffered before or whether you were injured, because he has experienced all these!
Now that you're on the court, let the ball do the talking.
Butler dribbled the ball forward from his hip, but Kobe did not rush forward. After all, the Lakers only led by one point and had to defend two and three points.
All the fans stood up and stared at the two people in the field.
Xu Xin stood on the Rockets bench, and Harden stood in the tunnel, watching Butler closely, counting down in his mind, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
After Butler combined the ball, he took a step across to the right and shot a fadeaway jumper.
Kobe did not lose his position and stretched out his arm to interfere. Although he did not cover the ball, it definitely blocked Butler's view.
The two took off at the same time and landed at the same time, watching the flight path of the basketball at the same time.
"Beep!"
"Uh-huh!"
As the timer ran out, the sound of the end of the game sounded, and then the basketball went hollow into the net.
107:105.
Butler faced Kobe's defense and made a three-pointer to win the game!
Butler ran into the backcourt, raised his arms and roared, venting all his emotions at the moment.
Rockets players swarmed over Butler, and Harden ran out of the tunnel, lifting tonight's hero and throwing him into the air.
In the live broadcast room, Yu Jia was extremely excited and said loudly:
"A leopard's tail swings through a painted halberd, and a hundred thousand soldiers take off their uniforms! In terms of heroes, who is the hero?
Facing the leader of the Purple and Gold Army, the son of Houston used a three-pointer to kill the game and staged the return of the king. Tonight, Jimmy Butler is the real hero! "
Butler himself also had tears in his eyes. He did what he had dreamed of growing up and saved Houston.
Kobe acted very gracefully, walked up to him, hugged him, and congratulated him:
"It was a beautiful shot, but next time, I will have the last laugh."
This is very Kobe, he is always the guy who refuses to admit defeat.
Butler smiled and nodded,
"Let's fight again next time!"
Then he walked towards Xu Xin and McHale. Of these two people, one recognized him for trading him, and the other trusted him to give him the chance to win.
He could no longer hold back the tears in his eyes, so he cried and said in a crying tone:
"Manager, coach, I don't know when your moment of glory will be, mine is now!"
After saying that, he hugged the two of them tightly, enjoying the moment that belonged to him.
