unfinished glory

Chapter 29 The Regular Season Begins - Against the Kings ([-])

Before Li Chongxiao could finish analyzing the prospects of the Spurs winning the championship carefully, and had a dream of lying down and winning, the game began.

In the first round of offense, Ginobili used Duncan's pick-and-roll to make a jumper from inside the three-point line, but the shot missed.

Duncan grabbed an offensive rebound and missed a tip-up.

Back in the Kings' frontcourt, Stojakovic ran out of position, and Mike Bibby made a well-timed pass to help the former hit a three-pointer.

The Kings still played Princeton, but replaced Divac with Brad Miller.

Their rhythm is relatively fast, and an attack will be completed in ten seconds.Last season, they averaged 102.8 points per game, ranking second in the league.

The Spurs are taking it easy and grinding slowly.They are a defensive-oriented team, averaging 91.5 points per game last season, ranking only 19th in the league.But they restricted their opponents to score 84.3 points, ranking first in the league.

Halfway through the first quarter of the game, the Kings led 17:10, and the two sides began to make substitutions one after another.

The Spurs first replaced Nesterovic with Malik Rose, and then replaced Ginobili with Barry.

Then Horry replaced Duncan, and Li Chongxiao replaced Bowen.

The Spurs were led by Parker, while the Kings kept Stojakovic and Bibby on the court.

With two and a half minutes left in the first quarter, Li Chongxiao wanted to do a good job on defense. He recalled the analysis of the previous defensive coach.

Stojakovic's shooting ability is extremely good. Although his shooting movements are not standard, his shooting speed is fast and his shooting percentage is high. This is the stunt he is famous for.

With a height of about [-] meters, he has an advantage as a small forward, but his one-on-one singles ability is poor, and his ball-handling and ball-holding skills are below the average line, and his back-up attack power is almost negligible.

Therefore, Stojakovic's shooting space relies on the large range coverage and strong air cutting ability.

At the same time, he has poor confrontation ability. Whether it is offense or defense, he doesn't like too much physical contact.

The mental quality is also relatively average. In the tiebreaker of the Western Conference Finals in 02, he missed an open shot that decided the fate of the game.

Li Chongxiao doesn't like to talk trash, so verbal provocations can be skipped, but in defense, he can be tough and use more physical confrontation.

The main thing to pay attention to is the anti-shooting, and the anti-breakthrough can be slightly relaxed.Then you have to keep up and don't be easily thrown off.

With the passing skills of the Kings, Stojakovic ran out of the open space, and the ball basically passed.And he only needs a little space to make a shot.

The round that was replaced happened to be the offense of the Kings. Stojakovic attacked with the ball at the top of the arc, and Darius Sangueira came up to pick and roll.

Stojakovic took two steps to the left and shot a jumper inside the three-point line.

But the quality of Sanguela's cover was not good, Li Chongxiao easily bypassed the wall and passed with a big cap.

Matt Barnes gets the offensive rebound, takes a dribble and then makes a jumper.

After Li Chongxiao landed, he flew over and covered the ball again.

The Spurs burst into cheers. It is not common for outside players to block shots in a row.

This time the rebound was taken by Barry. He quickly went down to the frontcourt and passed it to Parker for a layup, leading the score to 20:19.

Immediately after the Kings attacked, Li Chongxiao kept following Stojakovic tightly, not giving him space to shoot, and finally Bibby missed a shot from outside the three-point line.

Turning to the Spurs' half, Parker took advantage of Malik Rose's screen and made a mid-range shot, but it was short.

The rebound was grabbed by Barry, and he passed it to Li Chongxiao who was ambushing in the bottom corner.

Stojakovic, who was defending him, rushed to prepare to grab the board just now, and he hasn't rushed back yet.Facing such a wide open space, Li Chongxiao easily made the three-pointer just like he usually trains.

This ball has already surpassed Yao Ming. Yao did not score in the first game of the NBA regular season.

Kings coach Rick Adelman called a timeout. In the past 2 minutes, their offense and defense had problems. They were chased by their opponents and overtook them. They also lost two defensive rebounds.

He must emphasize the concentration of defense with the players on the field, and at the same time, he needs to arrange some tactics to ensure the success rate and continuity of the offense.

As for the Spurs, Popovich is still satisfied with the team's performance.He just encouraged everyone to be tougher in defense.

In the offense, he asked the players to pass the ball more, and be firm when there is a chance.At the same time, the task given to Li Chongxiao is to stick to Stojakovic and run more during the offense.

Players from both sides played, the Kings attacked, and their "best sixth man" Bobby Jackson rushed to the inside with a pack of explosives and made a layup.

The Spurs are still unhurried, with Parker leading the offense on the court.After he broke through, he passed the ball to Barry outside the three-point line.

Malik Rosti covered an open corner, and Barry's ball arrived as Lee arrived.

Li Chongxiao threw the ball as soon as he caught it.

He has practiced this skill for two and a half years, especially after he decided to participate in the draft, he has undergone targeted intensive training, and his shooting stability and speed are no slower than Ray Allen.

When the ball was in the air, the person was knocked down by Stojakovic who rushed over. It was impossible for the referee to turn a blind eye to such an obvious foul.

When the whistle blows, the three-pointer is valid and one penalty is added.

The audience cheered again, one attack and one defense, both goals were excellent, and the Spurs fans began to like this kid.

The old pair of Kenny Smith and Barkley also appeared in the broadcast booth of the game.

After seeing the ball, Smith asked Barkley if he wanted to make another bet to see when the kid scored 20.

Barkley refused without even thinking about it, despite Smith teasing and saying, "This is just a substitute, and the playing time is limited", "The Spurs' game is slow, and Duncan may not be able to score 20 points", "This kid is obviously gone. Bowen's line" and so on, he was unimpressed.

Li Chongxiao made his first free throw in the NBA steadily. At 27:21, the Spurs led by 6 points.

With 1 minute left in the game, the Kings' offense became a little smoother, and Bibby made a mid-range shot.

But looking back, there was another loophole in the defense, allowing Parker to break into the basket and make a layup.

In the last 28 seconds, both sides had another chance to attack.

Matt Barnes blocked Li Chongxiao, allowing Stojakovic to run out of space.

Li Chongxiao rushed over in a hurry, but Stojakovic just made a fake shot, shaking his center of gravity, and then leaned forward.

Although the goal was missed, there were two free throws.

Li Chongxiao was very dissatisfied with his foul. Judging from the big screen, the opponent's fake moves were very rough, but he was still too inexperienced, so he rushed up to send a foul.

Stojakovic made two free throws, leaving the Spurs with 12 seconds.

The Spurs didn't even call a timeout, so they quickly sent it to Parker, and quickly went to the frontcourt.

Li Chongxiao and Barry crossed positions, leading the defenders into confusion.Parker hit the ball for Barry on the final shot of the first quarter.

The Spurs ended the quarter with 31:23.

The Kings' score was quite normal, but the Spurs scored 31 points in one quarter, and the team's defense made Adelman very helpless.

(End of this chapter)