The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 71 Giant Axe Logging
"Bang!"

Turning around, Miller missed a three-pointer.

Tang Bei grabbed the rebound over Schmitz, and the Hornets went on offense.

Muggsy Bogues drove to the basket, weaving through defenses like a mouse, tearing apart the Pacers' already weak defense.

He broke into the penalty area from the left wing, drawing Schmitz's defensive attention.

"boom!"

Tang Bei seized the opportunity to cut behind Schmitz, received a pass from Bogues, and completed a dunk, knocking Schmitz down under the basket again.

This time, it took Schmitz even longer to get up from the floor.

"hehe!"

Alan Bristol was in a very good mood.

Last season, the Hornets had no available center and had to use 203cm tall Kenny Gatsisson at center. He got beaten by everyone he touched, which frustrated him.

Now that he has Tang Bei, a powerful center with overwhelming dominance under the basket, he can beat anyone he sees, which makes him very happy.

In contrast, he preferred to replace Larry Johnson with Tang Bei because Larry Johnson was too short, and Tang Bei's contribution to the team, in his opinion, would be greater than that of Larry Johnson.

Reggie Miller made several runs and, using his teammate's screen, got a small open shot on the left wing beyond the three-point line. He immediately passed the ball from the top of the arc.

"Squeak..."

In the penalty area, Tang Bei went all out to cover, his shoes practically smoking from all the effort.

Reggie Miller caught the ball sideways, then immediately turned and jumped to shoot, his pace quick and almost without pause.

Just then, a huge figure flew over. Before the person even arrived, the shadow and the strong wind were already hitting us.

"what?"

Reggie Miller was shocked.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

The next moment, amidst a series of loud slaps, Tang Bei first slapped away the basketball that Reggie Miller had just thrown, then slapped downwards again, landing another slap on Reggie Miller's face.

"what!"

Reggie Miller screamed and fell backward to the ground.

"WOW!"

The entire stadium erupted in a deafening roar of cheers.

"..."

Zhang Heli was stunned in the media section.

"You bastard! Fuck you! You did this on purpose! You bastard..."

Reggie Miller angrily rolled over and got up, his face bearing several clear finger marks, and began to curse Tang Bei.

"Fuck you!"

Tang Bei retorted with trash talk without any expression, and as he walked towards Reggie Miller, the latter was so frightened that he immediately ran away.

"mock up!"

He snorted coldly, "I did it on purpose, so what can you do about it?"
He knocked the basketball off the court, and the referee had already ruled that the Pacers had possession. His block was not a foul because he hit the ball first, and hitting Reggie Miller afterward was a continuous motion and therefore not a foul.

Although they retaliated against Reggie Miller, the rest of the game, as the commentators said, turned into a high-scoring battle between the two teams. At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets led by 5 points, 33-38.

Although Reggie Miller was humiliated, he was in excellent form and had a strong offensive desire. In order to get revenge on Tang Bei, he took a lot of shots and scored repeatedly, scoring 17 points in the first quarter alone.

Small forward Schrempf was also in good form, making shots frequently.

Meanwhile, the Hornets didn't seem to be affected by the back-to-back games, and several substitutes who stepped up to take over the starting lineup played quite well.

Tang Bei led the team's offense in the low post, rendering the double-teams of Schmitz and Davis ineffective, scoring 14 points in the first quarter. He also gave the two defenders a headache on the defensive end, delivering 2 blocks in the quarter and holding them to a combined 2-for-6 shooting performance.

The Hornets' other players were also in good form, especially Dell Curry, who came off the bench and had an explosive performance, scoring 8 points in 7 minutes in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Pacers brought in a lineup of half reserves and half starters, but they maintained their form and scored another 33 points.

Reggie Miller was in increasingly better form, scoring another 16 points and racking up 33 points in the first half with a shooting percentage of over 5%.

The Hornets were in good form, but due to a severely depleted roster, their offensive firepower was ultimately insufficient, and the score was slowly tied at 66-66.

Tang Bei played 10 minutes in the second quarter and scored 12 points, bringing his halftime total to 28 points.

After a 15-minute break, the second half begins.

The Pacers were still in excellent form and slowly began to take the lead, while the Hornets fell behind.

With seven minutes remaining, the Hornets were down by eight points.

Muggsy Bogues dribbled down the right wing, drawing the defense before passing the ball to Tang Bei.

Tang Bei received the ball on his left side, took two quick steps, and then flew up towards the Pacers' starting center, Rick Schmitz, under the basket.

Schmitz's expression changed drastically. In order to avoid injury, he tried to avoid strong confrontations with Tang Bei tonight, but now he was finally going to face Tang Bei's ferocious dunk.

"boom!"

"Oh!"

The sound of the basket exploding and the impact of the body rang out almost simultaneously. At the same time, the 224-centimeter-tall Schmitz fell to the ground under the basket like a broken bamboo pole.

The host, Hossm Tom, jumped up excitedly and shouted:

"Severe fear has transformed into a lumberjack. He used a giant axe to fell Pacers' starting center, Rick Schmitz. He is destroying his opponent's will and body. He is instilling fear in his opponent, severe fear!"

"WOW!"

As MC's rousing voice echoed throughout the stadium, a huge cheer also resounded simultaneously in Charlotte Arena.

This time, Schmitz was finally unable to get up.

He was quickly substituted off the field due to a strained lower back muscle.

However, the Pacers' performance was not affected by the absence of their starting center; they remained hot and scored 32 points in the quarter.

An enraged Reggie Miller unleashed a superhuman performance, scoring another 11 points in the quarter and racking up 44 points in three quarters, tying his personal single-game scoring record while maintaining a 58% field goal percentage.

The Hornets, playing back-to-back games, began to decline due to fatigue, trailing by 6 points at 98-92.

Tang Bei scored 10 points in the third quarter, bringing his total to 38 points in three quarters, tying his personal single-game scoring record, while maintaining a shooting percentage of 65%.

He has already delivered 5 blocks and 1 steal, but he doesn't have a good way to deal with the Pacers' accurate outside shooting. The Pacers' offensive tactics are good, but his help defense is still lacking, especially on the weak side.

Back on the bench, Bristol came over and asked, "Don, do you still want to play in the fourth quarter?"

"Of course we have to play, we have to win, we absolutely have to win. We've put in so much effort tonight, I can't accept losing, even if it's a back-to-back game."

Tang Bei answered without hesitation, then stared at his teammates and asked in a deep voice, "What about you? Do you accept the result of losing the game?"

Everyone was silent for a second, then shook their heads.

Bristol and Tvortske, who were standing next to him, exchanged a glance. They both saw a leader's aura in Tang Bei at that moment.

Larry Johnson has never displayed this kind of temperament.

Alan Bristol nodded and said, "Tonight we're playing back-to-back, everyone's not in good shape, and we can't commit much defensively. You'll have to figure it out when you get on the court."

He then said to backup point guard Tony Bennett, "Tony, you need to control the pace and play slower."

Tang Bei looked around at his teammates, and they were all panting with their mouths open, which showed that they were extremely tired.

They used all their limited energy on offense, which is one of the main reasons why their defense was so poor today.

In addition, Kendall Gill was absent, and the defense against Reggie Miller was ineffective, allowing that foul-mouthed guy to score too many points.

(End of this chapter)