unfinished glory

Chapter 190 Christmas Battle
When the two sides were warming up, the inside of the arena was more uneventful than Li Chongxiao imagined, and now the audience no longer had the feeling of gnashing their teeth like the previous game.

However, the tension between Li Chongxiao and the Spurs players became tense.Scoring 60 points in the last game made many people very embarrassed, and some new players are still resentful.

Moreover, Li Chongxiao has scored two 60+ points in a row. Everyone does not want his record to continue and become a legendary footnote.

In this game, John Salmons, who defended Li Chongxiao, a player who was traded from the Kings after the start of the game, gradually replaced Bowen.

Today's Spurs, after Duncan is getting old and Li Chongxiao left, the offensive vitality is not enough, and the scoring has dropped very sharply.

They still maintain a very strong defensive ability, and the game can always be dragged into their slow tempo.But many times they can defend the opponent, but their own offense cannot be opened.Grinding around, dragging myself to death.

As a result, Bowen, Li Chongxiao's defensive leader, was gradually marginalized. Last season, he was the candidate for the first defense. This season, he played a few starts and then sat on the bench.

In this game, Popovich deliberately asked Bowen to defend Li Chongxiao to prevent him from scoring high points, but after learning that Gasol could not play, he wanted to win again.

Fortunately, Salmons' defense was also good, which made Popovich think that his team was capable of both, so he modified his tactics and chose a regular lineup.

……

At the beginning of the game, when Li Chongxiao was attacking, he did find that the Spurs were targeting him.

When Li Chongxiao got the ball, it was Salmons who defended alone. When he was preparing to play singles at the corner, Roger Mason in the corner and Parker on the other side gave up their defenders and came to double-team.

If Li Chongxiao directly broke through and wanted to go inside, Duncan and Bonner's attention would be concentrated, ready to step forward to block and interfere.

In this case, Li Chongxiao didn't force himself, he only shot two balls and broke through once, and chose to pass the other balls to his teammates.

In the first half of the first quarter, he only scored 4 points, but had [-] assists.Many times when he attracts double-teams, he will pass the ball out immediately.

But he is not a point guard after all. Sometimes the rhythm is not very good, the timing of passing the ball is wrong, and his teammates are still out of form today, so the team still tied with the Spurs at 14:14.

During the timeout, Carlisle was satisfied with the situation. At the beginning of the game, he discovered that the Spurs got the strategy today, and was very worried that Li Chongxiao would act recklessly regardless of his anger.Now it seems that the core of the team still takes the overall situation into consideration, instead of being reckless, but slowly trying to share the ball.

Although the Spurs stimulated him in the last game, Li Chongxiao also wanted to take revenge, but he knew very well in his heart that the prerequisite for hitting the opponent was not how many points he could score, but to lead the team to victory.

Winning an opponent by 60 points is definitely more disappointing than scoring 60 points yourself.

It is relatively easy to score 60 points by yourself, let alone 60 points to win against the opponent, even 30 points are difficult.It is definitely not enough to rely on one person alone, you must mobilize your teammates.So in the first quarter, although he was capable of dealing with double-teams, he chose to pass the ball.

The effect came out, but the teammates failed to grasp the opportunity.

Before laying out the tactics, Carlisle affirmed Li Chongxiao's approach, and then straightforwardly told the other players to score the ball that should be shot.

After some mobilization, everyone continued to play.It's just the player's touch, and it doesn't depend on anyone's will.The other players of the Grizzlies still couldn't shoot.Even Battier, who has always been steady, missed all three shots from the bottom corner.

Fortunately, their defense is not bad, and the Spurs on the opposite side are also "bang bang bang".Li Chongxiao was facing off against Salmons, who was 4 for 0 shots and had two turnovers.Ginobili was also entangled badly by Battier, unable to break through or make a shot.

In this lineup, Bonner has nothing to do on the offensive end. The Grizzlies' Warrick has good physical fitness and can defend out, destroying the Spurs' corner tactics.

Only Parker and Duncan are still normal, scoring intermittently.

The Grizzlies also had one goal but one goal. Li Chongxiao made one of two shots and contributed two points before leaving the field. The two sides replaced the bench and continued to fight on the field.

Facts have proved that blacksmithing is also contagious. When Li Chongxiao left the court, the score was 21:24, and by the end of the first quarter, it was only 23:27.

In 3 minutes, the Grizzlies only made one foul and scored two free throws, while the Spurs made 6 of 3 free throws, and neither team scored in sports.

……

In the second quarter, the Grizzlies were Milicic, Matt Barnes, Brewer, Mike Miller and Lowry's offensive lineup.

The Spurs still put Salmons on the court, trying to use his chaotic ability to hold the team's lead during the bench time.

The Grizzlies lineup did not have any players who could guard against him. Out of the "claw" of Li Chongxiao, he turned around all of a sudden. Not only did he score 6 points, but he also brought his teammates to become active. Bonner and Yu Duka made a three-pointer.

The bad feel of the Grizzlies here has continued, only Milicic and Mike Miller scored 2 points each.

After one substitute time, the Grizzlies lost by 8 points.When Carlisle couldn't stand it anymore and replaced the main players such as Li Chongxiao, they were already 12 points behind the Spurs.

As soon as Popovich saw Li Chongxiao play, he immediately replaced Bowen.He knew that the opponent was chasing points, so he used his defensive strengths.

After Li Chongxiao came on the field, before the Spurs could react, he took a mid-range shot and hit it, replenishing blood for the team.

Salmons had been playing for a while now, but now he will face Li Chongxiao, and he still wants to repeat the old trick. He thinks he has got rid of his opponent by running backwards, cuts in, takes the ball and throws it at the basket without making fake moves.

In the face of this kind of fool, Li Chongxiao was not polite, and a big hat slapped the bottom line.

After serving the ball, Salmons was still not convinced, and after receiving the ball, he wanted to play Li Chongxiao with his back.

Li Chongxiao saw the opponent's supplementary defense, deliberately sold a loophole, and lured Salmons to turn right to shoot, and then made another big cap to fan out the bottom line.

On the third ball, Salmons went up and asked Parker for the ball. The latter ignored him and passed it to Duncan with a single hit. Gasol threw the ball in.

The point difference was still 12 points. After Li Chongxiao received the ball from the backcourt, he ran all the way and hit the Spurs with an unsteady foothold and went inside.

Salmons's head was hot, knowing that he couldn't defend it, he stretched out his hand and let Li Chongxiao score the goal, and got the chance to add a penalty.

Popovich immediately called a timeout, replaced Salmons, asked him to calm down, and then scolded the players, telling them not to forget the tactical arrangements before the game, and not to be distracted at critical moments.

(End of this chapter)