In the 2001 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Wei Guo with the 58th overall pick in the second round, from Georgetown University. With that statement, Wei Guo became the second Chinese pla...
Having just won the championship ring, if they lose this game...
It's quite embarrassing...
......
The timeout ended, and Van Horn stood on the sideline to serve.
The 76ers players started running, and McGee came out to receive the ball. After receiving the ball, McGee turned his back to the three-point line and used his body to block the defender.
Iverson made a sprint and got the ball from McGee.
McGrady guarding Iverson!
Iverson made two consecutive crossovers, stepped back to the three-point line, and launched a fadeaway shot!
McGrady couldn't block Iverson's shot!
The basketball's time in the air was both very short and very long. Even Wei Guo stood up, watching the basketball with some tension.
"Whoosh!!!"
The crisp sound rang out.
"It's in! It's in! It's in!"
The 76ers' bench erupted in cheers, as if they had already won the game.
97:98!!
The 76ers are now down by only one point.
In less than two minutes, the 76ers narrowed the gap from a 9-point deficit to just a 1-point deficit. This success wasn't solely due to the 76ers scoring 8 consecutive points; their key contribution lay in several successful defensive plays against the Magic.
......
The Magic have 21 seconds left on the shot clock.
It's not a long time, since each offensive possession lasts 24 seconds, but it's not short either. If Wei Guo is given an opportunity, it wouldn't be difficult for him to score 13 points in 35 seconds.
The Magic didn't call a timeout after all!
Perhaps they were overconfident, or perhaps they guessed that the 76ers would use a fouling tactic, and that inbounding the ball from the baseline would be better at delaying the game.
Grant's baseline serve...
As soon as McGrady got the ball, McGee and McLoach suddenly turned around and sandwiched him tightly, not even giving him a chance to dribble. McGrady thought the two were going to foul him, but they didn't.
Armstrong immediately circled out, jumped up, and stretched out his hand, signaling McGrady to pass him the ball.
Without hesitation, McGrady jumped up and headed the ball towards Armstrong's position. Armstrong was just about to grab the ball...
Allen Iverson suddenly appeared out of nowhere!
*Smack!!!*
Iverson appeared in front of Armstrong and stole the ball.
"Fuck..."
The Magic's head coach cursed.
That's not how the script was written...
Iverson stole the ball, dribbled straight to the basketball, and slammed it home with a two-handed dunk!
99:98!!
With 13 seconds left in the game, the 76ers took a one-point lead.
......
The Magic had to call a timeout.
"Yay!"
"Yay!"
"Yay!"
The 76ers' bench players came up and gave Iverson and his teammates a high-five.
In just over a minute, they went from trailing by 9 points to leading by 1 point. If Wei Guo hadn't been sitting on the sidelines, they might have already given up on the game.
"We're only leading by one point, so we absolutely can't let our guard down because the Magic still have 13 seconds left on the shot clock."
Make sure to defend well and don't let anyone slip through...
The timeout lasted only twenty seconds; Brown didn't say much before the time was up.
"Be careful to protect the rebounds!"
Wei Guo reminded him again.
......
After the timeout, the Magic inbound the ball from the sideline.
McGrady circled out, but McGee kept running close to him, preventing him from receiving the ball comfortably.
"McGrady is drawing the defense..."
As the saying goes, the onlooker sees most of the game. Wei Guo saw through the Magic's head coach's tactical arrangement and stood up to shout, "Watch Hill's position!"
Just as expected!
Hill made a run and found himself in open space; Burke passed the ball to Hill.
Hill takes a mid-range shot.
"Whoosh!!!"
The basketball went through the net cleanly.
The Magic's twin stars, McGrady and Hill, have been on fire for the past two seasons, while Hill has suffered a major injury, making him seem almost invisible in this game.
But...
Even if she's invisible, she's still Hill, and she can never be ignored.
99:100!!
The Magic regained the lead by one point and left the 76ers with only 5.7 seconds to attack.
What was initially thought to be just an ordinary regular season game turned into a nail-biting affair in the final minute.
The 76ers rallied from a 9-point deficit to take the lead.
With 13 seconds left, the 76ers neglected Hill on defense, allowing him to hit a mid-range jumper and give the Magic the lead.
Now...
With only 5.7 seconds left on the shot clock, can the 76ers win the game?
......
"76ers request a timeout!"
Brown called one last timeout.
With 5.7 seconds left, it was the decisive moment. When the player returned to the sidelines, he first looked at Wei Guo.
Wei Guo shrugged. "We've been behind by only 2.1 seconds before. This time we have 5.7 seconds, so what's there to worry about?"
How can they be the same?!
The 76ers players wanted to complain that they were down by two points with 2.1 seconds left. This did happen last season. The tactic at that time was for Wei Guo to circle to midcourt to receive the ball and then shoot from midcourt.
How many coaches would dare to deploy such tactics?
How many players would dare to use a half-court shot to win the game at a moment like this?
Only Wei dared to...
But then Wei Guo hit that three-pointer from half-court, sealing the victory.
The final play was simple: when Wei Guo was with the 76ers, the ball was given to him; now... the ball was given to Iverson. Brown simply set up an inbound play to ensure that Iverson could get the ball.
......
Van Horn inbounds the ball, and Iverson makes a run.
McGee moved to the left and set an off-ball screen for Iverson, who received the ball smoothly.
As he received the ball, Iverson gripped it with both hands.
The basketball was almost touching the floor when Iverson lowered his center of gravity and adopted a triple threat stance against McGrady's defense.
First, a tentative step...
Then, Iverson dribbled with a crossover step, broke through McGrady's left side, and stopped abruptly in the middle of the court.
Time flies by in an instant...
5!
4!
3!
2!
1!
0.9!
0.8!
0.7!
...
0.3!
The basketball left Iverson's fingertips and flew towards the basket.
The timer's red light is on!
"Whoosh!!!"
The basketball went through the net cleanly.
The crowd erupted in cheers, "We won! We won! We won!"
Iverson let out a long sigh of relief and smiled.
"Beep!!!"
The referee blew his whistle, and the match ended.
101:100!!
The 76ers won a regular season game thanks to Allen Iverson's game-winning shot.
Match statistics:
Allen Iverson: 35 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks
McGrady: 31 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
Wei Guo: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks
......
The 76ers players excitedly high-fived each other, and some even tried to lift Iverson up.
"Brother Wei!"
McGee wanted to hug Weiguo tightly, "Aren't we awesome?"
You're covered in sweat...
Wei Guo dodged away with a look of disgust, rolling his eyes and saying, "It's so hard to beat the Magic, what's there to be excited about?"