Carlisle called a timeout.

A nine-point difference was a very dangerous margin.

"I take back what I said earlier."

Barkley said with a loud laugh at the commentary desk.

"The Mavericks and the Pelicans are not in the same league."

His change of tone was quite fast.

O'Neal and Smith couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Barkley's skin was now thicker than a city wall, completely unafraid of being proven wrong.

"Because there's only one Tang Tian, and the Mavericks don't even have a superstar."

But what he said next was reasonable and convincing.

Kenny Smith also nodded in agreement.

Tang Tian's improvement in ball control had made up for his only weakness; he was now unstoppable.

Moreover, although the Mavericks' starting lineup was strong, they didn't have a superstar who could deliver the final blow.

At this point, Butler had to be mentioned again…

Well, they could be considered to have once had him!

When the timeout ended, the Mavericks executed a beautiful play in the frontcourt.

Using Holiday's backdoor cut as a diversion, Harris ran free with the help of Jokic and Embiid's successive screens.

This play showcased Carlisle's tactical prowess and the Mavericks' execution.

Harris was also sure to make this kind of shot.

Conley made a quick pass.

But just then, a figure darted out from the side, swatting away what would have been a certain Mavericks score out of bounds!

Butler!

Butler had made three excellent defensive plays in a row.

The crowd was in an uproar.

They had witnessed Butler's toughness in the playoffs last season, and it was truly impressive!

Now they were seeing it again, but the former darling had now become a "buffalo lady"! (a derogatory term for an ex-lover)

With the Mavericks' offensive time running out, Embiid's strong attack inside was defended by Davis.

The Mavericks' offense after the timeout was still unsuccessful!

They were now facing a situation where they couldn't score and couldn't defend!

Tang Tian held the ball again in the frontcourt. After his teammates spread out, it was still the No. 1 isolation play.

"Defense! Defense!"

The fans at the stadium spontaneously cheered for the Mavericks.

They had managed to keep pace with the Pelicans for a quarter and a half, and they weren't willing to give up!

Tang Tian glanced at Holiday, and then did a series of wide crossovers, shaking Holiday off.

Embiid came out to help defend from the inside again.

After being shaken down by Tang Tian earlier, he had lost face and was determined to defend this play.

Moreover, Holiday was chasing after him from behind.

Sandwiched from the front and back, the chances of stopping him were high!

Even if Tang Tian passed the ball to Dedmon under the basket, he would have time to get back on defense!

Tang Tian reacted quickly with a fake move to the left, pulling the ball back with his right hand and straightening his body before accelerating to break through on the right, the movement incredibly smooth.

Embiid was caught between a rock and a hard place, and ended up frozen in place, watching Tang Tian breeze past him and score an easy layup.

The shouts from the crowd instantly turned into an uproar.

Embiid had come on strong, but was bypassed again like a wooden stake!

Tang Tian's ball control and breakthroughs were vastly different from last season!

"Who do you think his movements are like now?"

Barkley suddenly said at the commentary desk.

"Kyrie Irving?"

O'Neal said tentatively.

Tang Tian's Sam Cassell, which shook Embiid down earlier, had left a deep impression on him.

"Yes, that last play of his was very similar."

Kenny Smith also nodded in agreement.

But Barkley shook his head at the two of them.

"Don't you think his breakthroughs are very similar to someone else? Wide changes of direction, and he really likes to break through on the right."

Under the puzzled gazes of O'Neal and Smith, Barkley spoke.

Just then, Butler once again mismatched and defended Jokic's strong attack under the basket.

The Pelicans launched a set play in the frontcourt. After Tang Tian got past Holiday, he once again faced Embiid.

Embiid was positioned far to the right this time. After several tries, he knew that Tang Tian basically broke through on the right.

However, Tang Tian was very close to him when he broke through, and with a wide change of direction to the right, he couldn't keep up with the speed at all.

As a result, Tang Tian broke through him again from the right and easily scored a layup.

The fans at the stadium were both excited and annoyed.

They seemed to remember such a person, who had once made visiting fans feel this way every night.

"Allen Iverson."

Kenny Smith said after watching this play.

Barkley nodded with a smile, and O'Neal also suddenly realized.

Knowing that you were going to go to the right, and even guarding against you going to the right, but still not being able to defend against it!

Wasn't that Iverson!

But even Smith, after saying that, couldn't help but shake his head.

Iverson was a point guard, and Tang Tian was a swingman!

The two were too different!

But, it felt like the same feeling.

It could only be said that anything unreasonable became reasonable when it happened to Tang Tian!

They were no longer surprised!

The Mavericks couldn't score and couldn't defend against Tang Tian, so they could only watch as the point difference was widened bit by bit.

Before Stevens started playing the No. 1 tactic, they were only 3 points behind, but by the end of the second quarter, they were already behind by a full 23 points!

Tang Tian had single-handedly collapsed the game!

The fans at the stadium were quite helpless.

Xiao Hua was very despondent.

His expectations for the Mavericks had ultimately been shattered by Tang Tian's individual effort, like a bubble!

For a moment, he felt a little regretful.

How could he have been so irreconcilable with Tang Tian in the first place!

If he had a good relationship with Tang Tian and vigorously supported him, his position as president would have been incredibly secure.

But, the world had everything, except regret medicine.

His relationship with the Pelicans and Tang Tian was impossible to ease, just like the pressure he was now facing from the team owners, it was all irreversible!

Despair!

Despair from the depths of his soul!

When the second half resumed, the Mavericks, led by Embiid and Holiday, launched a wave of counterattacks, at one point narrowing the point difference to within 15 points.

But after Stevens saw that the momentum was not right, he once again used the No. 1 tactic, and forcibly turned the situation back around!

With five minutes left in the game, and the Mavericks still trailing by nearly 20 points.

Carlisle saw that there was no hope of winning, withdrew the main players in advance, and surrendered.

In the end, the score on the field was frozen at 109 to 89.

After the game, the Mavericks' players couldn't help but look up at the score, their eyes full of helplessness.

Although they had been highly anticipated by the fans, they ultimately fell in front of the Pelicans!

To put it in a very vivid way, they were the people who encountered a tiger in the wild.

They didn't choose to run away, they fought back hard, and at one point seemed to have the possibility of facing the tiger head-on.

But in the end, they realized that it was just a more imposing way to die…

Holiday had the Mavericks' highest score of 21 points, Embiid had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Harris and Conley each had 15 points, and Jokic had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

On the Pelicans' side, Walker and Davis each had 18 points, and Butler had 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 steals.

Tang Tian had the best game of the season, scoring a game-high 37 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists.

However, what was very different from the past was that he scored a full 20 points from breakthroughs in this game!

According to Tang Tian's math teacher's calculations, he successfully bypassed his opponents to score 10 times in the game!

Just like Barkley and the hotline fans said, tonight he was Tang Iverson!