As he thought this, He Xi Meng bent down and increased the frequency of his dribbling, presenting an image of preparing to drive straight through.
Dewayne Harris, who was guarding him, immediately tensed up, his muscles tightening to brace for He Xi Meng’s onslaught.
He Xi Meng faked a drive, pulled back, changed direction for another fake drive, and pulled back again...
After two fierce feigned drives, the distance between Dewayne Harris and He Xi Meng had unconsciously stretched from half a step to a full step!
Dewayne Harris didn't notice it himself, but this was exactly the effect He Xi Meng wanted to achieve!
For the second time, He Xi Meng feigned another drive, pulled back, pretended to change direction, but instead, with his left hand controlling the ball, he suddenly retreated, chaining together a very sudden step-back!
Dewayne Harris's center of gravity had already been thrown off by He Xi Meng's feigned directional change. Coupled with the distance that had been unconsciously created in the previous play, Dewayne Harris, by the time he reacted and lunged forward, was completely unable to disrupt He Xi Meng’s step-back three-pointer...
From two steps beyond the three-point line, He Xi Meng calmly took the shot, showing no signs of nervousness or impatience, despite this being the final possession of Game Six of the Finals, the last attack in overtime for the Celtics!
And as the basketball arced through the air, precisely hitting the rim as the 24-second shot clock sounded!
Facing this buzzer-beating three-pointer, He Xi Meng couldn't help but raise his left wrist, gently tapping it with his right index finger, as if checking his watch...
This shot was not a game-winner, but it felt like one!
Because after He Xi Meng made this three-pointer, he helped the Celtics extend their lead to 5 points!
But only 9.1 seconds remained in the game!
For the Mavericks to overturn a 5-point deficit in 9.1 seconds, there was only a theoretical possibility.
The entire Dallas crowd fell silent.
Only Michael Jordan's unrestrained laughter remained, along with his celebratory gesture mimicking He Xi Meng checking his watch...
Did the Mavericks still have a chance?
Head coach Johnson was naturally unwilling to give up. As a player-turned-coach who had risen from the bottom, Johnson didn't know what giving up meant until the game was definitively over.
With 9.1 seconds left, he devised an isolation three-point play for Nowitzki.
In the final moments of the regular season, Nowitzki's isolation three-pointer had missed, but Johnson still didn't give up, continuing to entrust this opportunity to Nowitzki.
As the team leader, Nowitzki was indeed the player most qualified to decide the Mavericks' fate.
And as the newly crowned Three-Point Contest champion of this year's All-Star game, Nowitzki truly had the ability to bear this responsibility.
This time, Nowitzki didn't place his hope in drawing a foul, but instead went all out, locking his gaze onto the basket.
He ran, used a screen, received the pass, dribbled twice diagonally forward towards the middle, released the ball while on the move, still employing his favorite "horse-riding archery" shot!
Nowitzki executed it all in one fluid motion, shooting the basketball with the utmost speed!
On the Celtics' side, besides Dion Waiters providing close defense, He Xi Meng immediately rotated to assist Waiters in trying to steal the ball from Nowitzki's dribble.
But Nowitzki gave He Xi Meng no opportunity, choosing instead to gather the ball immediately and shoot...
He Xi Meng had seen plenty of isolation three-pointers.
But to persistently use the "horse-riding archery" motion to shoot a three-pointer, truthfully, Nowitzki was unique in the entire league!
This shot was extremely difficult, a forced shot while on the move, under the double-team of the Celtics, yet Nowitzki shot it decisively. The basketball grazed the rim, eliciting a gasp from the entire crowd, but as it came down, it miraculously rolled back into the basket, causing another cheer from the fans!
The Dallas fans experienced extreme highs and lows in an instant! Fans with weak hearts could have already been reaching for their nitroglycerin pills...
In a critical moment, Nowitzki truly hit a life-saving three-pointer!
120:122, the score difference was once again narrowed to just two points!
With this possession, the Mavericks used only 6 seconds, leaving 3.1 seconds in the game.
The Mavericks needed to foul intentionally, sending the Celtics to the free-throw line, hoping that the Celtics would miss their free throws, which would then give the Mavericks a chance for a counter-attack.
But this opportunity was, again, only theoretical.
The Celtics were not short of elite free-throw shooters. He Xi Meng, Yao Ming, and Vince Carter all had free-throw percentages exceeding 80% on average.
Yao Ming was the ceiling for active center free-throw shooting, with an average of 85%!
He Xi Meng was the ceiling for active guard free-throw shooting, with an average of 91%!
Carter was slightly behind his two teammates, but still had an average free-throw percentage of 83%!
Theoretically speaking, regardless of which of the three coach Kurt Robinso chose to take the free throws, the probability of missing both was extremely low, and even the probability of making one and missing one was not high.
Kurt arranged the sequence of players receiving the inbound pass based on their free-throw percentages from highest to lowest: He Xi Meng first, Yao Ming second, Carter third!
Dion Waiters inbounded the ball from the sideline.