jdhmnovel Chapter 676 The Final Battle!
Chapter 676 The Final Battle!
Three days later, at the Barclays Center.
The second game of the 23-24 NBA Finals took place as scheduled.
The Mavericks, seemingly determined to win, took an early lead thanks to Doncic's drives and passes.
Durant's isolation plays kept the Nets chasing the game.
Doncic and Irving hit consecutive three-pointers in the latter part of the first quarter, giving the Mavericks a 10-point lead at one point.
Wang Xiucheng, who was somewhat undisciplined, scored 5 points in the last minute of the first quarter, leaving the Nets trailing by 3 points at 25-28 at the end of the first quarter.
Wang Xiucheng did not rest in the second quarter and continued to play.
Wang Xiucheng delivered three consecutive assists, leading the Nets on a 9-0 run that put them ahead of the leader.
The Mavericks relied on sudden bursts of play from PJ Washington and Gafford, who repeatedly scored inside, allowing them to stabilize the score.
Wang Xiucheng was substituted for a rest halfway through the game, and Thomas came on to start. However, Thomas might not be in good form today, or the Mavericks might have made specific arrangements to counter him.
Thomas took 6 shots in the second quarter but only scored 3 points, which was not very efficient.
Fortunately, Westbrook, Durant, and Towns performed steadily until Wang Xiucheng returned.
Wang Xiucheng scored 3 points in the last minute of the first half, giving the Nets a 54-51 lead over the Mavericks at halftime.
After a short halftime break, the second half of the game began as scheduled.
Just like in the first quarter, the Mavericks, playing away, were the first to launch an attack.
Thanks to the performance of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, the Mavericks once again took the lead in the score.
However, the Nets then mobilized all their players, going on a 10-0 run that forced the Mavericks to call a timeout.
The Nets maintained a lead of around 10 points for the rest of the game, while the Mavericks struggled to catch up. However, Irving and Doncic lacked support, allowing the Nets to focus their defense more on these two players.
As the competition intensified in the fourth quarter, the game became intermittent, but the point difference remained around 10 points.
In the final three minutes, Doncic scored on consecutive possessions and drew fouls, bringing the score back to within 5 points.
However, with Wang Xiucheng drawing fouls in the final minute and sinking a logo three-pointer, the game was effectively over.
Finally, when the game ended, the Nets defeated the Mavericks 105-98 at home.
With this, the Nets won the first two home games of the Finals and took a 2-0 lead over the Mavericks.
The next match between the two teams will be held in three days at the Dallas Air Lines Center.
After a day of rest in New York, the entire Nets team departed and flew to Texas on a chartered plane.
Of course, saying it was the whole team is a bit inaccurate. Wang Xiucheng had already returned to Houston that very night after the game to be with Ma Xiaoxuan and her son.
After spending two days in Houston, Wang Xiucheng went to Dallas to join the team.
Evening of the 12th.
The Flight Center was packed, with all the fans wearing white T-shirts gifted by the Mavericks, making the scene truly spectacular.
However, the scene was extremely quiet at this moment.
The score of 106 to 99 on the dome screen was extremely glaring at that moment.
The Mavericks lost to the Nets again at home.
We're already down 0-3!
The Mavericks have brought in many legends for this game, hoping to win at home.
Steve Nash, who led the Nets to the championship last year and is now coaching the Rockets this season, almost leading them to the playoffs, was also in attendance to watch the game.
However, the Mavericks lost again.
Doncic scored 27 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists in this game, before fouling out.
Irving played 45 minutes, resting for less than 3 minutes, and scored 35 points.
However, apart from these two, the highest scorer among all players was PJ Washington with 13 points.
The Mavericks' lack of firepower has once again been exposed.
Doncic also surpassed Jason Terry in this game to become the Mavericks' second-highest scorer in the playoffs, second only to Nowitzki.
For the Nets, Wang Xiucheng had 28 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals. Like Doncic, Wang Xiucheng also fouled out in the final moments.
Wang Xiucheng and Doncic stood in the player tunnel watching TV until the game ended.
Unlike the Mavericks, the Nets had five players besides Wang Xiucheng scoring in double figures, resulting in a very even distribution of scoring.
Even Thomas, who was on the bench, scored 13 points today.
With the Nets holding match point, everyone knows that they have effectively won the championship this season.
The only remaining question is whether the Nets will celebrate at the Mavericks' home court or return to New York to be crowned champions.
The answer was revealed two days later.
The Nets chose to hold the awards ceremony in their home arena, New York.
The Mavericks defeated the Nets 122-84 in this game, marking the first time in the Finals that they scored over 100 points.
The Nets did not spend the night in Dallas; the entire team flew back to New York that night.
Of course, Wang Xiucheng still left the team and returned to Houston to be with Ma Xiaoxuan.
The Las Vegas bookmakers provided the odds for the next game less than an hour after the match ended.
According to the odds, the Nets have a 70% chance of winning the series 4-1 against the Mavericks at home and defending their title.
If the Mavericks win the next game, then when they return to Dallas, no one can guarantee that there won't be any unexpected events.
If the Mavericks win again at home and tie the series 3-3, the Nets will be under tremendous pressure.
Even if tickets for Game 7 could be sold for extremely high prices, Las Vegas believes the Nets would never do that.
Therefore, the next game will be the last game!
Evening of the 17th.
Barclays Center.
As the well-known final match, ticket prices for tonight's game have risen again.
The cheapest ticket, with the best view and requiring binoculars to see the game, is priced at $998.
The prices of the front-row tickets at the sidelines are staggering to the average person.
Before the game, many Hollywood stars posted photos of their tickets on social media.
Bruno Mars even posted his bill. The seat wasn't the best, but it was the closest front-row seat to the Nets' bench. The ticket, which he called "Bruno's seat," cost $49990 today.
Nearly $5!
That's equivalent to over 300,000 Chinese Yuan!
With that money, wouldn't it be better to buy a car?
Many Chinese football fans have expressed similar sentiments.
But for these big stars, tens of thousands of dollars is too cheap!
Furthermore, Bruno's ticket wasn't even the most expensive.
The three seats in the middle opposite the technical desk were reportedly sold as a package two weeks ago for a total of $20!
Many celebrities only found out about this later when they called or tried to buy tickets through connections.
Everyone wanted to know who had bought those three tickets.
However, no one had appeared in that position by the time both teams started warming up.