unfinished glory

Chapter 52

At the beginning of the second half, the Spurs took the lead in changing formation, which made D'Antoni restless.

Generally speaking, only the team behind will make more changes, and most of the leading teams will remain the same.

The Spurs' lineup this time is Duncan, Li Chongxiao, Bowen, Ginobili and Parker. This is a trick Popovich came up with to deal with the Suns. Now let's test it out.

The Suns are still the regular lineup, Stoudemire + Marion + Joe Johnson + Richardson + Nash, they serve first in this quarter.

The Spurs didn't engage in any full-court pressing tactics at the beginning, but waited quietly in the backcourt.

If you look at it from a two-dimensional perspective, there is no fighting spirit of the five players igniting a flame, or the defense of the five players condensing into a chain and linking each other to form a net.

For the Spurs, there is no such thing as a big storm.The opponent in this game is indeed worthy of attention, but it is just an ordinary regular season, winning or losing will affect the ranking, nothing else.

Such an aggrieved loss to the Rockets did not see the Spurs lose a piece of meat.But after being 0.4S in the playoffs, the Spurs suffered a crushing defeat.

Li Chongxiao, a rookie who should have been nervous, didn't think too much. He has always been focused and serious in playing, and he doesn't think about other things on the court.

The Suns' first attack was blocked. The pick-and-roll of Nash and Stoudemire was easily resolved by the Spurs. Parker changed positions very quickly, and Duncan was always stuck in Stoudemire's offensive line.

Nash continued to dribble, seeing that he couldn't get in, he could only retreat to the three-point line.At this time, Marion cut to the basket, but the line of receiving the ball was blocked by Li Chongxiao, so he had to run out again.

The attack time took 16 seconds, and the Suns couldn't make it fast, so Joe Johnson could only make a forced shot against Bowen's defense and missed.

In the Spurs' offensive half, their strategy was very clear, one on each side of the two corners, and one on each side of the bull's corner, allowing Duncan to face Marion with his back.

Parker gave the ball to Duncan, and Li Chongxiao in the corner on his side immediately took away Joe Johnson who was defending him, leaving Duncan to score easily one-on-one.

In the second round, the Suns still used the same offensive routine, but this time Stoudemire blocked Parker firmly and replaced Duncan with a single defense against Nash.

Nash didn't have any chance to make a shot and returned the ball to Stoudemire.Li Chongxiao immediately stepped forward to double-team and cut off the ball the moment Stoudemire turned around.

Like a running rabbit, Ginobili quickly rushed to the frontcourt, received a pass from Li Chongxiao, and made an easy layup.

The Suns, who failed to score in two rounds, did not call a timeout.It seems that D'Antoni is also a coach who is not good at on-the-spot adjustments.

Nash took the initiative to change on the court. Instead of calling Stoudemire to pick and roll, he directed his teammates to run.

The ball went to Richardson, but he was stuck by Ginobili and couldn't get away, only to turn the ball to Joe Johnson.

Johnson wanted to play singles after receiving the ball, but he was still a little guilty facing Bowen, and threw the ball to Marion who ran back to the bottom corner.

Marion runs out of space for a little bit, then with one of his weird shooting forms, pushes the ball out of his chest.But the starting point of the arc was too low, and was slapped away by Li Chongxiao's big hat who was chasing him straight.

It stands to reason that the Suns should have a timeout at this time, but D'Antoni still folded his hands and chewed gum.

The Suns' offense ended with Stoudemire's forced hook and strike. In turn, Duncan pressed his back into the inside and made a throw.

When the score reached 13 points, D'Antoni woke up like a dream and called a timeout. On the bench, he couldn't come up with a good solution. He could only encourage the players to stabilize their positions, play with style, and play at a high level.

Popovich is sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai. The current situation on the court is that the Spurs have a great advantage and initiative, so he only asks the players to follow the previous training to play steadily and not make mistakes.

Back on the court, the Suns' offense did not improve at all. The Spurs' defensive lineup is too restrained, and every position is right.

Watching the players on the field fail to attack for two consecutive rounds, D'Antoni became quiet, and he sat on the sidelines as if resigned to his fate.

Popovich also sat out, and his team continued to expand the lead.The Suns adopted a double-team strategy against Duncan. As a result, Li Chongxiao and Ginobili each made a three-pointer, and the point difference came to 19 points.

The Suns scored in the next round. Nash made a forced shot after the pick-and-roll and scored two points, but Ginobili broke in on the defensive end and made a successful layup.

The Spurs' offensive space on the court is actually larger than that of the Suns. For breakthrough players like Ginobili and Parker, it is like a mouse in the rice tank.In the next six minutes or so, the two continued to break through for layups or score goals, and jointly scored 15 points and 6 assists.

The Suns only relied on Stoudemire and Joe Johnson's difficult goals, plus an empty cut from Richardson, barely keeping face.

In 9 minutes, the Spurs scored a 27:8, and the point difference came to 24 points.

Substitute time, Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and Bowen off the court to rest.The Suns did not dare to slack off, and still kept Stoudemire, Marion and Joe Johnson.

Even so, the Suns not only failed to shrink the score, but were widened by the Spurs.

There was no good offensive opportunity for too long, and the player's touch was lost. Facing Nesterovic's defense, Stoudemire only made one of three shots, and Joe Johnson also made zero shots in two shots against Li Chongxiao. .

On the other hand, for the Spurs, Li Chongxiao ran out of position through tactics and scored two goals in a row, one three-pointer and one long two-pointer.Barry and Horry also hit a three-pointer each, and in the last time of the third quarter, they hit an 11:2 spurt, turning the fourth quarter into garbage time.

99:64, after three quarters, the Spurs led the Suns by 35 points, which surprised the commentators, basketball reporters and spectators.The agreed-upon top battle turned out to be one-sided.

Sitting in the commentary booth to broadcast this game is TNT's ace commentary combination: Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. This time, the two will not talk about the game on the field, but analyze the game. The formation of troops.

Both agreed that Popovich was superior, and believed that D'Antoni lost completely, whether it was on-the-spot adjustments during the game or preparations before the game.

Especially in the third quarter, the lineup sent by the Spurs was obviously an article aimed at the Suns' regular lineup.If the Suns can't develop two offensive strengths in the following regular season, then meeting the Spurs in the playoffs will also be a repeat of today's game.

Barkley also highlighted Li Chongxiao, thinking that his presence not only relieved Bowen's defensive pressure, so that the latter did not have to face the opponent's arrow every game, but also his three-pointers also enriched the Spurs' offense. Routine.

Barkley asserted that Li Chongxiao will be in this year's rookie lineup, and the Spurs are really good at finding treasures at low picks.

(End of this chapter)