Chapter 393: The Blue vs. Purple Showdown (2)
“Is this an invitation to go full run-and-gun?”
Standing on the sideline, Malone muttered to himself.
It didn’t take long for him to figure it out. He glanced at Kerr with a hint of admiration.
Kerr’s stance was already crystal clear.
He was laying everything out in the open, openly inviting Malone to take him on.
I can’t beat you in overall strength anymore, so let’s just trade punches on offense. Let’s see who’s got more firepower.
“What do I have to be afraid of?”
Malone smiled faintly as he looked across the court at Kerr.
“With the team I’ve got right now, there’s nothing you can throw at me that’ll beat us.”
With that thought, Malone let out a sharp whistle toward the court and flashed a hand signal to his players.
“Now?”
Durant asked, a little surprised when he saw the signal.
That gesture meant only one thing: no more holding back—go all in on offense.
Usually, Malone only called for this when the game got tight or when he wanted to blow things open in the third quarter. But this was still the first quarter. Was it really necessary?
“Why think so much?”
Butler said casually.
“Coach says go, so we go.”
Before Durant could even respond, Butler already had his hand up calling for the ball.
Catching Dejounte Murray’s pass, Butler used a quick fake to shake Klay Thompson by half a step, drove inside the arc, and calmly knocked down the mid-range jumper.
That basket was the Kings’ clear answer—they had accepted the Warriors’ invitation.
From that moment on, both teams eased off defensively and went straight into a shootout.
Both squads were loaded with offensive firepower, and this all-out scoring battle instantly sent the fans into a frenzy.
“Swish!”
Curry drove into the lane, forced the Kings’ defense to collapse, then kicked the ball out to Thompson in the corner.
Thompson caught it and went straight up—no hesitation, no wasted motion—and buried the shot.
“They’re getting hot,”
Durant said as he watched the ball drop, glancing at Butler.
“That one on me?”
Butler smiled faintly, then shouted toward Murray.
“Turn up the pressure!”
“Got it!”
Murray nodded hard, locking his eyes onto the Splash Brothers, his fighting spirit impossible to hide.
As Murray and Butler both cranked up the intensity, the Warriors’ perimeter shooting efficiency visibly began to dip.
Curry tried to force a shot under Murray’s relentless pressure. He managed to get it off, but Murray’s defense completely threw off his form.
The shot clanged off the rim—no surprise there.
Jokić sealed his man in the paint, grabbed the rebound, and immediately spotted Butler sprinting ahead on the break.
With a quarterback-style pass, he fired the ball straight downcourt.
Butler caught it in stride and charged toward the rim.
Trailing him closely, Green sensed danger and reached out, trying to commit a tactical foul.
But Butler was already fully committed. He exploded upward, determined to finish at the basket.
The moment Butler left the ground, Green’s hand caught him on the upper arm.
Butler instantly lost his balance in midair.
The ball slammed into the backboard and ricocheted away.
With his body completely out of control, Butler came crashing down.
“Ah!”
A sharp cry of pain rang out as Butler grabbed his ankle and collapsed to the floor.
Everything happened in an instant, and for a moment, no one fully processed what had just occurred.
But Chen Yilun, standing on the sideline, saw it clearly.
As Butler came down, all of his weight collapsed onto his left leg. The instant his foot hit the floor, his left ankle twisted violently, bending at an angle close to ninety degrees.
Almost immediately, the arena’s big screen began replaying the sequence.
When the replay zoomed in on Butler’s ankle, the entire crowd sucked in a collective breath.
“That’s attempted murder!”
Cousins exploded off the bench, fury written all over his face as he tried to charge onto the court toward Green.
The instant he moved, Gay’s powerful arms locked around him.
“Don’t lose your head!”
Gay practically clung to Cousins, lowering his voice as he spoke into his ear.
Even so, the anger boiling beneath Gay’s calm exterior was obvious.
This was the playoffs. The league’s scrutiny of this game was already at another level.
Sensing things getting out of hand, the referees immediately blew the whistle and stopped play. Several officials stepped in together, quickly separating players and preventing a larger confrontation.
“That was absolutely a non-basketball move!”
Malone was already at the scorer’s table, shouting furiously at the league officials.
“That’s a flagrant foul!”
The officials at the table looked equally troubled.
From the replay, it was clear that Green had committed a foul—but how severe it should be was up for debate.
One side argued that Green continued the foul after Butler had already taken off, a clear violation of sportsmanship that warranted a Flagrant 2.
The other side countered that Green had initiated the foul before Butler jumped, and that the grab afterward was simply an extension of the original tactical foul, making it a Flagrant 1 at most.
“How could you be this careless?”
On the Warriors’ bench, Kerr frowned as he looked at Green, who sat there with his head lowered.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t mean it?”
Green suddenly looked up from his water bottle and met Kerr’s gaze.
“I was just trying to stop the fast break with a tactical foul. I didn’t expect Jimmy to go that hard.”
After thinking for a moment, Green added,
“He probably wanted to recreate that LeBron ‘human cape’ moment… just didn’t pull it off.”
Intentional or not, the result was already set.
Butler was helped off the court by his teammates, unable to put weight on his leg.
One thing was certain—he wouldn’t be returning tonight.
“Guys!”
Before play could resume, Durant pulled everyone together.
“You all saw what happened to Jimmy. We need to be ready for the worst,”
Durant said grimly.
“He might be back soon, or he might be done for the season. Either way, don’t panic. Injuries are part of the game.”
“When we go back out there, stick with me. Give me the ball,”
Durant finished firmly.
“We’ll be fine.”
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