Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 2 We are champions, and I am also a champion

Kawhi Leonard is a rookie in the NBA's 2011 class and one of the best future players in this class, or can get rid of this one.

After the loss in this finals, the Spurs made a comeback the next season, and Leonard went one step further, winning the FMVP with his outstanding performance, and he was only in his third year at the time.

Leonard is only a second-year rookie this year, but he has already firmly settled in the team's starting small forward position. Everyone knows that he has a bright future, and he is regarded as the future of the team after GDP.

On the offensive end, he is not the Spurs' first choice for the time being, but because of the integrity of the Spurs, his advantages can also be fully utilized.

On the defensive end, he and Tim Duncan have built the most solid defensive line in the NBA in the past two years from the outside to the inside, which is exactly the implementation of the head coach's concept of focusing on defense.

Last year, the Spurs entered the playoffs with the No. [-] record in the Western Conference, and finally fell under the iron heel of the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

The Spurs are also making a comeback this year. After his rookie season, Leonard has made great progress this season, and his GDP is also strong. They swept the Grizzlies who eliminated the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals and successfully entered the Finals, temporarily leading by a big score of 3:2.

This was Leonard's first trip to the Finals and a valuable learning opportunity.

In less than six games so far, Leonard has also made progress step by step. In this game, he has reached a new high in the finals. It seems to be a milestone that will be taken away by winning the game.

But Li Sheng knew that there would be a free throw that would determine the final outcome of the series. If Ray Allen's three-pointer pulled the Heat and James back from the cliff, then Leonard's free throw would kick the O'Brien Cup away from the Spurs.

Although he will come back with the team next year, Li Sheng doesn't know where he is next year. What he wants is the present.

However, Li Sheng himself is not very sure about this substitution suggestion, because although Neal has made all free throws so far in the finals, he has only made two free throws, and his shooting efficiency is relatively average except for the third game.

So he is also gambling. It is best to succeed, and the worst result is to fail.

Of course, if Popovich doesn't listen to him, and puts Leonard on it, and then repeats "history", Li Sheng, who is a prophet, will also be impressive.

In the end, all eyes were on the silent Popovich, and even Leonard looked at him.

Then finally, at the end of the timeout, Popovich walked over and patted Gary Neal, obviously.

Neil was nearby and heard their discussion just now. He didn't expect the head coach to listen to the words of the Eastern assistant coach and replace himself on the field at such a time.

To be honest, he is also quite stressed, but he is relatively old and has experienced ups and downs, and his psychological quality is still better. In addition, he has not played much time and has relatively abundant physical strength.

GDP went up and patted his head alone to cheer him up. Li Sheng saw Duncan's big palm lingering on Neil's head for a while, and silently prayed for Neil's future hair.

"Beep!"

"The timeout ended, the game restarted, and we saw... Hey, the Spurs made a substitution?!"

Not only the commentator was stunned, but the audience, as well as the Heat's players and coaches were also stunned.

Especially Spoelstra, although he is the new champion bishop, he still hasn't shaken off the shadow of "Godfather of the Heat" Patricia, so he tries hard to prove himself.

At present, the Heat are two points behind at 92:94, and there are still 20 seconds left. There is no doubt that they need to foul once, and they must foul quickly. If the Spurs make two free throws, their chances will be even greater.

So he formulated a strategy during the timeout, which was aimed at the rookie Leonard of the Spurs.

Although he performed well in this game, and the young man is not as physically exhausted as GDP, at least he recovered faster, but mentality is a big problem.

In the final round of the finals, as long as he is under a little pressure, his movements may be deformed, and he may even miss two free throws. Then the balance of victory will be tilted towards the Heat.

But he never expected that at such a critical moment, the Spurs would actually make a substitution.

However, the five players on the Heat field have all been baptized by the championship after all, and their mentality can still be stable, and they chose to continue the original strategy.

After all, Neil's previous performance was mediocre, and his mentality may not be much better than Leonard's when he just changed.

Duncan served, Neal received the ball, Miller fouled, it was called a coherent process.

At this time, Li Sheng's heart suddenly rose, and he could only hope that Neil would be able to stabilize himself.

Neal walked to the free throw line and made the first free throw amid boos from the audience.

The Heat were a little disappointed here, and Spoelstra even took a special look at Popovich here.

For the second free throw, Neil took a deep breath. To be honest, he was a little nervous about the ball just now, but after he went in, his mentality slowed down instead, so the ball was thrown high and landed smoothly with a swipe.

"Yes!" Li Sheng is the most excited at the moment, not only because his team is in the lead, but also because he is basically sure to win the victory, but also because he has changed "history".

This sense of accomplishment, other people can't understand, so he jumped three feet high at this time, which directly attracted the attention of everyone on the Spurs bench.

But everyone knows what happened just now. It was Li Shengyi who strongly advocated replacing Neil. Although no one knows whether Leonard can make two free throws, at least the result is good now.

Leonard still had no expression on his face, and just clapped his hands twice. As one of the parties involved, this reaction was really a bit annoying.

But the next step is the test of the Spurs' defense. The Heat did not pause and served directly from the backcourt.

There are 19.1 seconds left!
James pushed forward with the ball. After the 11-year finals, the Heat began to establish James' sole core position. At this critical moment, the ball is of course more secure in the core hands.

It's just that the Spurs' defense is top-notch. Although Duncan and Leonard, the inner and outer cores, have been replaced off the court, but relying on the rapid rotation, they did not give the Heat a chance to shoot three-pointers from the outside.

In the end, James had to do it himself!
But he didn't choose to shoot threes...

"James goes to the hoop, the tank breaks through, Diaw comes to help - foul! The ball... a bit of luck, James going to the free throw line, two free throws..."

James' disappointment is visible to the naked eye. For this sake, the Spurs' side is not good, and the Heat's side is not much better. James' breakthrough is too exhausting. Even if he is talented, it is difficult to put the ball in under the defensive pressure of two people.

As for shooting three-pointers from the outside, he is not confident in his three-pointers. If he misses a shot and fails to grab an offensive rebound, the game will be over with a four-point difference.

There's at least some hope now, with only seven seconds left in the clock, as long as he makes both of those free throws.

state!
As soon as I thought of this, everyone was awakened by a striking iron strike, and people from both teams looked at James in surprise.

James' face turned dark...fortunately, it was already dark enough, so it couldn't be seen clearly.

The second free throw was made, but trailing by three, the Heat had to foul again, this time sending Diaw to the free throw line.

Diaw made two free throws and Bosh protected the rebound, but the time was less than four seconds. There was no timeout on the Heat's side, so they could only serve from the backcourt and failed to find a good pass opportunity.

In the end, it was given to James. After James passed halftime, the final whistle just sounded.

Three-point shot, missed.

The game is over!

"Let us congratulate the Spurs, they defeated the Miami Heat 4:2 and finally won the championship again!"

"That's right, and congratulations to Li Sheng, the assistant coach of the Spurs. He won the NBA championship in the first season of joining the Spurs coaching staff. We look forward to the day when he can coach."

The Spurs won the championship at the Heat's home court. The audience quickly left, and the Heat's players also left the field quickly, leaving the stage to the Spurs.

Before the president announced the results, the Spurs were still congratulating each other and celebrating.

Li Sheng was also in a very excited mood at this time. He hugged each other with the big men around him, and then he covered his head and came to Duncan, saying, "Tim, congratulations. The future belongs to James, but the present is still yours."

Duncan looked at his actions very strangely, but he was very happy to hear his words again.

Fortunately, the game is over now, the referee can't chase him and give him a technical offender.

Then Li Sheng talked to Ginobili, Parker, Green and Mills for a while. In his previous life, he could only watch it on TV, but now he is a living person standing in front of him. It feels quite unreal.

As a "hero", Neil came over and said "thank you" to him at this time. No matter what reason Li Sheng advocated changing him, it would be good for him to pursue a good contract.

You must know that Vujacic of the Lakers is remembered by making free throws. Everyone outside the court only knows that he is Sharapova's ex-boyfriend.

And Neal made two free throws at a critical moment in the finals, which was enough to greatly increase his worth.

Of course, it's not just him. After this finals, the value of everyone on the Spurs team has risen, including Li Sheng.

Especially when Popovich was interviewed after the game, when the host asked why he replaced Leonard with Neal at a critical moment, and bluntly said that it was the idea of ​​assistant coach Li Sheng, he was destined to be noticed by some interested people.

(End of this chapter)