After the ball went in, the referee's whistle sounded.

It was a 2+1!

The crowd erupted, many fans burying their faces in their hands in disbelief.

With about 30 seconds left, the 2+1 practically killed the game.

D'Antoni could only shake his head helplessly on the sidelines.

Even with tight defense, Tang Tian still managed to score, which was purely individual skill.

Tang Tian made the extra free throw, extending the lead to 6 points again.

D'Antoni called another timeout.

At this point, the Rockets had to score, and they had to rely on 3-pointers.

If they couldn't, the game was over.

When the timeout ended, the fans in the arena stood up.

"Let's go! Rockets!"

Their shouts were louder as they stood, and a tide of cheers echoed through the Toyota Center.

Paul brought the ball to the frontcourt, and the Rockets executed an off-ball screen.

Harden ran out to receive the ball, but Tang Tian's defense was quick, and he didn't get a chance to shoot.

He had to pass the ball back to Paul.

Paul quickly flicked the ball to Morris in the corner, where there was an opportunity.

Morris shot, and Ariza jumped to contest.

The ball's trajectory was a bit off.

"Clang!"

The ball hit the front of the rim and bounced out.

The clutch ability of role players was still different from that of superstars!

At that moment, there was a small interlude under the basket.

Davis, who originally had a chance to grab the rebound, didn't reach out. Seeing Tang Tian not far from him, he used his body to block Tucker, who was about to fight for the rebound.

Tang Tian successfully secured the defensive rebound.

The fans sighed, the Rockets' offense failed, and the game was over.

Just then, something unexpected happened. Paul, seemingly unwilling to give up, rushed to foul Tang Tian.

The choice wasn't a problem, but his movement was relatively large, fouling Tang Tian from behind and pulling him to the ground.

The Pelicans' players reacted and rushed over, and the two teams pushed each other, causing chaos on the court.

In the chaos, Paul took an elbow from someone and his brow bone was bleeding.

The referee calmed the conflict. Then someone noticed Tang Tian's painful expression after being helped up, indicating that he was injured.

The game entered a technical timeout.

Although the game had little suspense left, Paul's impulse made the game much longer.

Tang Tian sat on the sidelines while the team doctor examined his back.

After the technical timeout, the referee gave the verdict: Paul received a Flagrant Foul 1.

Tang Tian also ended his conversation with the team doctor. His expression still looked painful, indicating that the injury wasn't light.

"Back spasms, he needs about one to two weeks of rest."

The team doctor also gave Stevens a preliminary diagnosis.

Not injuring the vertebrae and ribs was good news, but muscle spasms weren't a minor injury either.

In layman's terms, it was the kind of pain you'd get after your back muscles were hit a thousand times.

Even a normal person with a muscle strain wouldn't be able to bend over, let alone someone with spasms.

Just like the team doctor said, even with NBA-level medical treatment, it usually took one to two weeks to rest.

"Tang, can you still shoot free throws?"

Stevens confirmed with Tang Tian that if Tang Tian couldn't play, he needed to apply to the scorer's table to replace him for the free throws.

Tang Tian nodded to indicate that it was okay.

Being pulled down by Paul caught him off guard, and he wasn't prepared when his back hit the ground. It was painful at the moment of the injury, but it was a little better after sitting for a while.

The team doctor glanced at Tang Tian in surprise, but didn't say anything.

Tang Tian endured the pain and walked onto the court to take the free throws.

Including the free throws for the flagrant foul, there were a total of four.

He missed the first free throw.

At the moment of the shot, he felt like his entire back was burning.

But he gritted his teeth and made two of the next three.

After the free throws, he was replaced by Stevens, and the game ended soon after.

In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Rockets 104-95 on the road.

For the Rockets, Cousins ​​had a team-high 30 points and 15 rebounds, Harden had 21 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and Paul had 16 points and 11 assists, and Gordon had 13 points and 3 assists.

For the Pelicans, Holiday had 21 points and 5 assists, Davis had 17 points and 7 rebounds, Jokic had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Williams had 9 points.

Tang Tian scored a quadruple-double with 38 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals.

After the game, discussions on social media about Tang Tian's quadruple-double hadn't stopped, but because of the conflict at the end of the game, the quadruple-double was no longer the only topic of discussion.

"Losing the game and losing sportsmanship? Paul's last play was really unethical!"

"Isn't Paul always like that? Otherwise, where do you think the nickname 'Dirty Paul' came from? Haven't you seen his small moves in the game?"

"I think these two are different in nature. Small moves are because he's short, and I don't think there's anything wrong with them within the rules, but this one was aimed at the person!"

"This is the consequence of the change in the penalty scale. The referee only called that action a Flagrant Foul 1. If it was the Xiao Hua era, he would definitely have been directly ejected!"

"I also think there's a problem with the referee's penalty. Tang is the number one player in the league. That ball should have been called a Flagrant Foul 2 and he should have been ejected directly!"

"Xiao Hua is still better, right? Tatum is basically a shadow of Stern. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to beat Xiao Hua in the first place."

"Isn't your topic discussion a bit biased? I think the problem now isn't who's the president, it's how serious is Tang's injury!"

"It seems like we have to wait for the MRI results the next day, or wait to see if the reporters have any follow-up reports. I hope he's okay, he just got a quadruple-double!"

"Pray for Tang, nothing else matters!"

...

After being replaced by Stevens, Tang Tian was helped back to the locker room by the team doctor before the game was over.

He was going to have an MRI tomorrow. Before that, he rested by lying down as the team doctor said, minimizing strenuous exercise.

He didn't go to the post-game press conference. Davis and Holiday went instead.

Some reporters who were unwilling to give up wanted to interview Tang Tian privately, but they were stopped by Tang Tian's teammates.

At the scene of the post-game press conference, reporters also asked about Paul's last foul.

"I can understand that Paul wanted a foul at the last moment to get Tang to the free throw line, but his movements were indeed very dangerous. I believe the league will handle it well."

Stevens was relatively experienced in dealing with the media.

Moreover, the current league is the Tatum era, not the Xiao Hua era. There is still freedom of speech in the league.

"AD, we noticed that you gave up the rebound at the end of the game. Did you want to give that rebound to Tang?"

In addition to the problem of Paul's malicious foul, Tang Tian's quadruple-double was also the focus of the questions. A question from a local media reporter was a bit special.

"Yes, I didn't know Tang had a quadruple-double. We haven't secured the victory yet. My attention was all on the game. My impression of Tang's data was still two minutes ago, but when that rebound appeared, we had already secured the victory, so I thought I had to do that."

Davis' honesty made all the reporters laugh.

Originally, Paul's malicious foul and Tang Tian's injury made the atmosphere of the press conference a bit dull, but this answer made the atmosphere suddenly relaxed.