From today on is the king

Chapter 976. Stepping into Tianwang Mountain

The third game will start on time at 6:3 pm on June [-]rd.

Like the second game, the two teams started a defensive battle from the beginning.

Purely relying on personal ability to score and play tactically is a rational style of play that cannot be used at all when encountering the most reasonable Spurs.

On the Spurs side, facing the Eagles with Liu Mang, Tracy McGrady, and Prince on the outside, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown, and Mourning on the inside, Korver, a good outside defense, and Josh Smith, a young player who is a good inside defense, the Spurs basically rely on three stars.

For the Hawks, Liu Mang, McGrady, and Jason Terry scored in the most effective ways they played in the finals.

In terms of talent, this Spurs team obviously cannot be compared with last year's Lakers team, but judging from the strength of their play, the Spurs team is even stronger!
After returning to the home court, the Spurs, who had the advantage on the whistle, took the initiative in turn!

The Spurs' defensive moves became stronger, and it was not easy for Liu Mang to cause fouls when he rushed to the basket.

In the first game back at home, the Spurs were desperate. Ginobili even dared to stick his head against Liu Mang's arm to trick Liu Mang into an offensive foul.

In this game, Manu Ginobili scored 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Duncan scored 14 points and 10 rebounds, Bunche Wells scored 17 points and 11 rebounds, Robert Horry made 3 of 3 three-pointers in the game, but only made 3 of 1 free throws and scored 10 points. that kind of score.

The Spurs scored 85 points!
For the Eagles, only Liu Mang scored 21 points, Tracy McGrady scored 14 points, Jason Terry scored 13 points, and Kwame Brown scored 10 points. A total of four scored in double figures.

The total score was tied 1 to 2 by the Spurs, and the Eagles failed to directly lock the championship 3 to 0.

In this game, the Eagles can only avoid their edge. The Spurs played too hard, because as long as the Spurs lose one more game, they can directly declare the championship. If they want to win the Eagles four times in a row, Popovich, Duncan, and Ginobili don’t have such confidence.

The Eagles did not fight the Spurs recklessly, and directly locked the championship 3-0... The Eagles players and coaching staff were not so ambitious. They tried their best to fight for the victory and the Spurs grinded to the end. Unfortunately, they lost the third finals by only 6 points.

……

Lost in the first away game, the Eagles are within an acceptable range, and there are two more away games. The Eagles never thought about sweeping the Spurs 4-0 at the beginning.

Winning the next game in the away game is a guarantee task, if it can be 4 to 1... Anyway, there is still hope!
Losing the first game, Liu Mang regretted not being able to directly 3-0, but this is also something that can't be helped.

After returning to the hotel, several core players did not go back to their villas to sleep immediately, but came to the living room of Liu Mang's villa together to hold a small team meeting.

Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Jason Terry, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown, and Mourning, seven guys who can be called stars, plus Iguodala, who was in the meeting, held a small player meeting together.

After some discussion, I summarized the reasons for the loss of this game.

First of all, the most important thing is that the Eagles had 20 free throws in the last game. This game has only 11 free throws. The whistle is the biggest problem.

The referee didn't blow the whistle, which is not a problem, and the Spurs only made 13 free throws.

The main reason is that the referee's whistling scale is more inclined to the rhythm of the Spurs, and the tolerance for physical confrontation is very high, which is the most critical.

Although the referee did not favor the Spurs and gave the Eagles the same whistle at home as the Spurs did, the Eagles made great defensive moves and didn't call too many fouls.

The bigger problem is that the Eagles are not as used to it as the Spurs when the Spurs are desperately defending and the referee's penalty scale becomes larger.

Also, in terms of outside three-pointers, the Spurs made nine three-pointers, while the Eagles only made five three-pointers, two of which were made by Liu Mang's strong outside shots...

Each of the eight people present raised some questions. Most of them said that they did not play well, so they took the initiative to take the blame and conducted a rather meticulous analysis. Several players listed each item on the scoreboard borrowed from the coaching staff.

The Eagles players are very calm, they have such a tone, they are so stable and delicate, and they analyze each one with clarity.

Then, on June 6, Game 6 of the Finals came.

It is easy to talk on paper, and the reasons for the loss have been analyzed, but can you make up for those weaknesses when you lost?This is a very hurtful topic.

The weaknesses seen by the players have been seen by the coaching staff long ago, but there is nothing they can do!
Just like the first two games, Popovich saw what the Eagles wanted to do in the second game, but he just couldn't break the barriers set by the Eagles.

It's another defensive battle, just to see which star plays better!There are no other tricks, it depends on which of the "Big Three" of the two teams is more accurate!
It has to be said that this year's Eagles are not as strong as when they won the championship last year, and the team structure was restrained by the Spurs.

The first two games relied on the advantage of the home court, plus they caught the opponent by surprise, and they didn't win many points in the two games.

In the fourth game of the finals, the Spurs continued to rely on defense to withstand the impact of Liu Mang and McGrady's game. Liu Mang scored 26 points, McGrady scored 24 points, and the two scored 50 points together. But Jason Terry withered in this game and only scored 6 points.

The Eagles scored a total of 87 points, and the Spurs played well in the two games back home. Duncan scored 18 points and 17 rebounds, making Kwame Brown only 5 points and 8 rebounds.

The Spurs defended the home court again, and the big score was tied 2-2 by the Spurs!
……

The fans are going crazy!

The Spurs are too stable!

There is a pessimistic atmosphere among the fans: Is the evil Spurs going to let the NBA be shrouded in darkness again?Is the championship trophy about to be 'tainted' again?

Public opinion on the Internet suddenly took a turn for the worse.

After the third game, when the Spurs defended the first home court, the fans were still calm, but now they are tied 2-2 by the Spurs, and it feels wrong all of a sudden!

The battle of Tianwang Mountain is the key!

If the Spurs hold three home games in a row, the psychological pressure on the Spurs will be much less for the remaining two away games.

As for the Eagles, if they lose three games in a row... Although they have home court advantage, the psychological pressure will be overwhelming!
It's not that Coach Kruger doesn't know where he lost in the two lost games. The key is that it's useless to know!

As strong as Popovich, in the original time and space and the Pistons played in the finals, Popovich completely understood his teacher's defense, but knowing it did not mean that he could break the defense. In the end, he relied on the personal abilities of Duncan and Ginobili to win the tiebreaker.

At this time, it depends on the performance of the team's star players, there is no other way.

The Spurs played so hard on defense, Coach Kruger could only discuss with Mike Woodson how to play defense harder.

For the rest, we can only rely on the strength of the players!
……

……

"Don't be in a hurry, the world is so beautiful, but I'm so irritable, it's not good..." Liu Mang tried his best to calm his frizzy state of mind with the lines he remembered from which movie he watched.

2 to 2!
2比0的时候小小的期待着3比0，2比1的时候也没着急，期待着3比1，现在一下子2比2了！
It's time to grab the battle of Tianwang Mountain!

On the second day after the fourth game, that is, on the 7th, Liu Mang got up and checked the Internet, read the newspaper, and had dinner with his teammates. From the media, fans, coaching staff, and teammates, Liu Mang felt some negative emotions.

Liu Mang has nothing to do with the media and fans, but although the coaching staff and teammates did not express it, Liu Mang can clearly feel the heavy pressure on them!

The pressure on Liu Mang himself is the heaviest, the defending champion, the task of King's Landing, and many, many things.

Mourning and Persson came to hug their thighs, and Liu Mang was under more pressure. Although the renewal of McGrady's contract was well negotiated, but the contract has not yet been renewed, which is another pressure.

From Liu Mang's point of view, McGrady may have made up his mind to stay, but there must be a reason to stay!
If McGrady comes, the Eagles fail to win the championship, and McGrady has no face to stay, it is not a question of whether McGrady wants to stay, but McGrady replaced Raheem, causing the team structure to be too outside.

Public opinion is an invisible dagger.

Liu Mang is also under a lot of pressure, but he has to look relaxed when eating and chatting. He is the soul of the team and he cannot fall down.

After returning to the room, Liu Mang began to curse, and then comforted himself.

Liu Mang looked at the star cards, a bunch of gorgeous superstars and star cards of top stars, but against the Spurs, except for Jordan's card, the others are unlikely to have a good effect.

Wade's star card this season has no long-range shots, and Nash's style of play was restrained by the Spurs...

Liu Mang seems to be planning a tiebreaker at this pace!Even if it was going to be a tiebreaker, Liu Mang didn't want to fall behind 2-3 and defend two home games. The Tianwangshan battle must be won!

whatever!
In the three games from the second to the fourth, Liu Mang played more tactically, using the threat of killing at the basket to deal with the Spurs.

But after arriving at the Spurs' home court, although this style of play had an effect, Liu Mang scored 20+ in both games, but the effect was not as obvious as the second game.

The Battle of Tianwang Mountain is about to usher in, on June 6th...

Facing the almost unsolvable defense played by the Spurs back home in the finals, Liu Mang has been trying to combine his threats with his teammates' strengths.

Now it seems that this trick will not work!
If the third away game is also lost, it will be 2 to 3 behind, Liu Wei can't accept it!Liu Mang doesn't want to play under pressure when he has the home field advantage and returns to the home court!

That being the case, Liu Mang thought about it!Just do it!

　Around 12 o'clock in the next chapter,
　　
　
(End of this chapter)