unfinished glory

Chapter 112 Closing
After the All-Star Game, the teams aspiring to the playoffs have entered the sprint stage, and the teams aspiring to be the No. [-] pick have also accelerated their decline.

At this point, the Spurs are still two games behind the Mavericks. After Duncan returned and his state stabilized, they continued to maintain the pressure on the Mavericks.

According to the current situation, if nothing else, the No.1 in the West will be produced between the Spurs and the Mavericks.

The winner is first in the Western Conference, and the loser can only be fourth in the Western Conference.

Judging from the overall situation in the West, no matter which team ranks fifth or eighth in the lower half, it is difficult to shake the dominance of these two teams.

Once these two teams get past the first round of the playoffs, they will meet again in the semifinals, repeating the story of last season.

The winner will take glory and enter the Western Conference Finals.

The Mavericks this season have brought a different pressure to the Spurs. Among the three confrontations, the Spurs lost two games.

This makes the Spurs very concerned about the top position in the Western Conference, because one more home game means one more point.

During the month from the All-Star break to mid-March, both teams started to make rapid progress, and the Spurs had a record of 3 wins and 12 loss, which is already quite a good record.

The Mavericks are even more exaggerated. They have a wave of 14 consecutive victories, leading the Spurs by 3.5 wins.

The Spurs put their last hope on March 3. On this day, there will be a "battle of cattle and horses". Only by winning this game will the Spurs have a chance to compete for the top spot in the Western Conference.

If they lose, not only will the record be 4.5 games behind their opponents, but the relationship between the two sides will also become 1:3, which basically declares that the Mavericks will win this competition.

Popovich attached great importance to this game. He conducted targeted training in two consecutive training sessions, experimented with several formations, and ways to deal with the Mavericks' strange move.

But the biggest surprise came from the Spurs themselves, Duncan was injured!

When he led the main lineup and Li Chongxiao brought the substitute lineup to fight, he accidentally stepped on Muhammad's foot and slightly sprained it. The doctor advised him to rest for about a week.

Losing the core before the decisive battle ruined all the preparations the Spurs had made, and they could only take the remnant formation to Dallas.

The Spurs were in trouble in the opening stage. Even if Duncan was on the court, he couldn't completely limit Nowitzki's point, let alone Duncan's absence.

In this season, the German's offensive ability has been maximized, and his shooting skills have been perfected.

Facing the defense of Muhammad or Nesterovic, he played calmly, shot consecutively, and scored 15 points in a single quarter.

Even the momentum of the Mavericks was very high, with waves of attacks coming one after another.

Terry, Josh Howard and Stackhouse, driven by Nowitzki, also played a high-hitting game. The precise shooting made the Spurs' defense lose sight of one another.

Only by relying on the players' strong personal defense ability, the Spurs barely managed to stay out of the game.

At the end of the first half, the Mavericks had a 15-point lead.

In the third quarter, Li Chongxiao, unwilling to lose the game like this, took the initiative to ask Ying to switch to the power forward position to defend Nowitzki.

He used the defensive methods he learned from last season's Rockets and Mavericks playoffs to defend the opponent, and he didn't imagine that he could completely seal Nowitzki's goal, but made him play uncomfortable.

Li Chongxiao used his flexibility to block Nowitzki's offensive line, forcing him to finish with a shot.Then give full play to the advantage of the wingspan, constantly interfere with the opponent's dribbling and shooting movements, and destroy the rhythm of the opponent's jump shot.

His defensive style is called "Spider-style" defense by commentators, and some fans nicknamed him "Spider-Man".

And this season, many people began to call him "helicopter", which originated from the game when he flew over Bogut.

There are also nicknames based on his shooting characteristics, such as "shooting machine", "Mr. 200%" and so on.

Every time Li Chongxiao played against the Mavericks, he always performed well, and this time was no exception. He exploded amid Cuban's clamor.

When the team was in trouble, he turned on his personal attack mode, made continuous breakthroughs, made strong shots, and made fouls. He scored 20 points in a single quarter and chased the point difference to 5 points in one fell swoop. Cuban shook his head and was speechless, and the scene was silent. .

Mavericks fans seem to see Kobe this season.

"Little General" quickly resorted to double-team tactics in the fourth quarter.Li Chongxiao is not quite used to this kind of superstar-level treatment, and his singles efficiency began to decline, allowing the Mavericks to stabilize the situation.

At this time, the team needs to have a second point to stand up and continue the firepower.But other Spurs players including Ginobili, today's performance can only be said to be fairly normal, there is nothing outstanding.

This kind of state can be said to be stable when leading, but it is difficult to chase points when facing a backward situation.

Since there is no second breaking point, the Spurs can only maintain a stalemate with the Mavericks, but the score has been suppressed and unable to come back.

At the end of the game, the Mavericks only led by 6 points.

Today's MVP is Nowitzki, who personally scored 43 points and won the battle for the top spot in the Western Conference.

After this game, he consolidated his No. [-] ranking in the regular season MVP list, pushing Nash, James, Yao Ming and Kobe below.

……

After the disappointed Spurs returned to San Antonio, another bad news came. Duncan's plantar fasciitis showed signs of recurrence.

This injury that has appeared since Duncan started to gain weight has been entangled with the number one player in history for almost two seasons since last year.

Under repeated blows, Popovich completely lost his focus on competing for the top spot this time. He began to focus on the rotation and prepare for the playoffs.

The Spurs' record already has enough winning advantage for the teams behind in the West.Even in the league, except for the Mavericks and Pistons, it is difficult for other teams to catch up.

In the next game, the Spurs started the journey of "letting the water go". They were merciless when facing the weak teams, and the strong teams also selectively picked their opponents. If they couldn't win, they wouldn't force it.

The Rockets have benefited from this strategy and squeezed into the ranks of the playoffs.

In the two games against the Spurs, Yao Ming played well and led the team to win the game.

The Spurs are also willing to let such a powerful team enter the game to spoil the situation, and they rotated Duncan in both games.

When facing weaker opponents such as the Lakers, Clippers and Kings, the Spurs were not so polite. Duncan won the game in less than 20 minutes.

This also indirectly helped the Rockets, widening the win gap.

In these few games, Li Chongxiao performed extremely bravely. Faced with Duncan's doubts, he confidently stated that he was doing it for a big contract and had nothing to do with the call from Yao Ming.

(End of this chapter)