Chapter 130

In the first quarter, both teams achieved a 50% shooting accuracy rate. The camera from the TV station shifted back to the commentator on site. Yu Jia glanced at her laptop and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the first quarter is now over. Let’s first analyze the performance of both teams’ players in this quarter! Coach Zhang, what do you think of their performance in the first quarter?” Coach Zhang looked at the camera and said, “Actually, both the Pistons and the Trail Blazers played very well in the first quarter! Especially Greg Monroe and Greg Oden, along with Zhou Yi and Brandon Roy—these four players drove the rest of their teammates throughout the quarter. It was these two players, Zhou Yi and Brandon Roy, who delivered outstanding performances at the start of the game, inspiring the rest of their teammates to play hard and cooperate effectively. That’s why both teams’ shooting accuracy rates exceeded 50% in the first quarter.” “Indeed…” Yu Jia nodded in agreement. “Then do you think the Trail Blazers or the Pistons will win?” “I can’t be sure,” Coach Zhang replied without hesitation, shaking his head. “The Pistons are definitely stronger than the Trail Blazers, but the Trail Blazers are a young team, and a fearless one at that. They’ve always been a thorn in the side of stronger teams—teams like the Lakers and Mavericks have suffered losses at their hands. However, in the forward position, the Pistons have a clear advantage. After all, Andre Iguodala’s skills are far beyond those of the Trail Blazers’ forwards. As everyone saw, in the first quarter, Andre Iguodala took on the Trail Blazers’ forward, Nicholas Batum, several times, and Nicholas Batum wasn’t able to stop him once. I think if the Pistons really want to win, they can use Andre Iguodala’s individual skills to take on their opponents one-on-one. That’s the only way they can break through the Trail Blazers’ defense and bring it down completely.” “Oh, so you mean John Kuester might use Andre Iguodala as the main attacker in this game?” “Yes!” Coach Zhang nodded firmly. “If I were John Kuester, that’s exactly what I would do!”

“Makes sense.” Yu Jia turned her gaze back to the camera in front of her and smiled. “Alright, viewers watching at home, please stay tuned. After the ad, we’ll continue to bring you the second quarter of the game between the two teams…”
“Haha, Zhou was absolutely amazing in the first quarter!” Will Bynum exclaimed excitedly, punching the air.
“9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal! In one word—great!” Taylor Hansbrough gave a thumbs up.
Zhou Yi smiled shyly and said, “Actually, Andre is not bad either! He scored 7 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in the first quarter! And Greg and Tracy—both of them performed exceptionally well. All the players who took to the court did well, and we did well too, all for the sake of winning for our team!”
Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.
Zhou Yi sat down, drank some beverage, and quietly regained his strength, feeling completely relaxed both physically and mentally.
“Ding~~~” The second quarter of the game began.
After driving across half-court, Will Bynum didn’t head straight for his partner Ben Gordon as usual. Instead, he passed the ball to Andre Iguodala right away and quickly moved to create space, opening up a clear path for Andre to drive past defenders—this indicated that the Pistons had adjusted their tactics.
John Kuester once again made Andre Iguodala the team’s offensive core.
Andre Iguodala vs. Nicholas Batum!
There’s a clear gap between them!
There’s no doubt—although Nicholas Batum is a decent player, there’s still a huge gap between him and Andre Iguodala. Offensively, he has no chance of matching up with a defensive expert like Andre Iguodala! Everyone believes that if Andre Iguodala wants to, he can easily score against Nicholas Batum.
Now, with Andre Iguodala once again as the team’s offensive core and the help of his teammates, he no longer has to worry about being double-teamed. Thus, Andre Iguodala can now fully unleash his strength as the undisputed core of the 76ers.
Andre Iguodala performed two consecutive dribbles under his arm, then suddenly pulled to the left, breaking through Nicholas Batum’s defense in an unconventional way.
Nicholas Batum wasn’t quick enough to react and was immediately beaten by Andre Iguodala.
Using cover from his teammate Taylor Hansbrough, Andre Iguodala rushed into the Trail Blazers’ basket and dunked powerfully with both hands.

“Wow…” Roaring applause and cheers filled the arena. Andre Iguodala seemed to have regained his sense of being the leader on the 76ers once again.
Patrick Mills drove past half-court. This time, instead of passing, he decided to attack on his own. Using his teammate LaMarcus Aldridge to set a screen and distract the defense, he took decisive action and smoothly scored a three-pointer.
33:36—the score gap was still 3 points.
It was the Pistons’ turn with the ball, and Andre Iguodala still held it.
Andre Iguodala slowly moved to the 45-degree angle outside the three-point line on the left wing, where he began dribbling slowly, neither attacking nor passing, as if deliberately wasting time.
As the 24-second shot clock approached, with eight seconds left, Andre Iguodala finally moved.
He accelerated suddenly, using his speed and strength to slip past Nicholas Batum’s defense from the left side, like an unstoppable sword charging straight into the Trail Blazers’ basket.
“Damn!”
Nicholas Batum felt a chill and quickly turned to chase after Andre Iguodala. But by then, there was already a meter between them—catching up was impossible.
Andre Iguodala entered the Trail Blazers’ basket area, with the team’s hoop and their backup center, Joel Przybilla, right in front of him.
Andre Iguodala gritted his teeth, his face showing determination. Holding the ball in his right hand, he leaped above Joel Przybilla, stretched his body in mid-air, and raised his right hand high.
Seeing that Andre Iguodala wasn’t afraid of him at all, Joel Przybilla became furious. He jumped up right after Andre Iguodala, raising his arms high in an attempt to block him.
Andre Iguodala frowned, staring intently at the basket behind Joel Przybilla’s strong, massive hands. With an unstoppable resolve, he relied on his exceptional explosive power and air control to fly toward the basket.
Andre Iguodala collided with Joel Przybilla in mid-air, and the impact caused him to lose his balance and fall backward.

But Andre Iguodala didn’t give up on his attack this time. Instead, as he collided with Joel Przybilla, he used his long right arm to slam the basketball hard into the basket. “Thud!” The basket let out a pained groan, and the ball went inside with that loud impact. 33:38—Andre Iguodala gave the Pistons a 5-point lead once again. “Amazing!” The fans erupted in excited, frantic cheers. Iguodala’s dunk over the defender was truly astonishing; its force and impact were self-evident. After landing, Iguodala lost his balance and staggered backward, but he didn’t fall because Taylor Hansbrough, who was coming up behind, caught him. “Impressive!” Taylor Hansbrough gave Iguodala a thumbs up. Iguodala smiled, patted Zhou Yi on the back, and ran back to the backcourt with him. In the rest of the game, since Iguodala became the Pistons’ offensive core, he found himself trapped in double-team situations. However, this didn’t mean the Pistons would be defeated. When Iguodala was double-teamed, it meant other players had opportunities to shoot. Ben Gordon, Taylor Hansbrough, and Spencer Hawes all scored thanks to Iguodala’s clever passes. Six minutes into the second quarter, the Pistons began making adjustments to their lineup. Zhou Yi was replaced by Will Bynum, McGrady replaced Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva replaced Iguodala, and Greg Monroe replaced Taylor Hansbrough. In the following minutes, due to Brandon Roy’s intense close defense on Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi didn’t perform well. But the other Pistons players did well, maintaining an overall shooting percentage of around 50%, thus keeping ahead of the Trail Blazers. In contrast, the Trail Blazers’ overall shooting percentage was only about 38%. If not for their higher number of attempts, they might have widened the score gap long ago!