unfinished glory

Chapter 59

After losing to the Wizards, the Spurs returned to their third game of February against the New Jersey Nets.

Combined with the game in Seattle at the end of last month, this is also their fourth consecutive away game.And before the All-Star Game, there are still three away games waiting for them.

This is not the league against the Spurs, but San Antonio's annual "San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo" will be held at the SBC Arena.

The show, which runs for three weeks, has been a local tradition since its inception in 1950.The Spurs were the Dallas Bushes before 1973, and they merged from the ABA to the NBA in 1976 after moving to San Antonio.

Hearing that the junior gave up his seat to the elder, Li Chongxiao was stunned: Is there such a thing?

But in any case, this away game has already played more than half.

In the fifth away game, facing the opponent in the Finals three years ago, the Spurs also won easily.

Kidd, a player that Li Chongxiao has always liked, is really anxious on the offensive end. He took 16 shots before barely scoring in double figures, with 11 points.

Duncan, who had been recuperating for a week, caught up with the team and got a Kidd-style stat: 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and a triple-double in 29 minutes.Li Chongxiao helped a lot and scored all 5 balls passed by Duncan.

Carter scored 43 points. He beat Bowen and Li Chongxiao who were facing up, but he couldn't save the Nets.They didn't do a good job defensively, and Nenad Kostic, another double-figure scorer, committed six fouls in 25 minutes.

The Spurs are playing egalitarianism again, with 6 players scoring in double figures and 10 players playing more than 10 minutes.

In this game, watching Vince Carter, the former "Canadian Flyer" put on the Nets jersey, gave Li Chongxiao some understanding of the trade.

After a day's rest, the Spurs faced the Miami Heat. O'Neal showed his demeanor during the three-peat period and asked for anything in the paint.Nesterovic quickly got 4 fouls in the defense, and his personal score was only a poor 4 points.

No one else on the Spurs was as tall as O'Neal. Popovich was forced to use Duncan to defend O'Neal for two quarters, and the effect was mediocre.Direct matchups between superstars are basically evenly matched.

邓肯出场时间受到波波维奇控制，34分钟拿下24分10个篮板的两双。奥尼尔拿下32分8个篮板，罚球19罚12中。

Both Parker and Ginobili performed very well today, and they also scored 20+ points, and their shooting percentages were quite impressive.

But the Heat's sophomore Wade's breakthrough was also undefendable. The nickname "The Flash" given by O'Neal was well-deserved, and he scored 28 points.

However, for the Spurs, the role players played in general, and no one scored in double figures except for GDP.The two Joneses on the Heat's side played well. Eddie Jones and Damon Jones scored 14 and 12 points respectively.

At the last moment of the battle between the two sides, Popovich resorted to the "shark-cutting tactic". O'Neal made 6 consecutive free throws and hit 4 of them.With Manu Ginobili's three-pointer missing, the Spurs still lost the game by 3 points.

With 44 wins and 9 losses, and two losses in less than a week, no experts and media have speculated whether the Spurs can break the Bulls' record of 72 wins and 10 losses.

The last game before the All-Star break was against the Hornets, and the Spurs won without a hitch.In this game, 8 players scored in double figures, and everyone was in the range of 10 to 15 points.

At the end of the third quarter, the Spurs' lead reached 30 points, and the main lineup didn't play at all in the fourth quarter.

Recently, Popovich seems to be obsessed with egalitarianism. When playing against weak teams, everyone plays evenly.

For Li Chongxiao, the significance of this game is that he finally got his first double-double in his career.Played 25 minutes and scored 12 points and 12 rebounds.

JR Smith, who competed with him for the best rookie of the month in the Western Conference in January, scored 25 points. The data looks good, but 12 points were scored in garbage time.

If it is a famous star, it would be somewhat embarrassing to brush up data during garbage time.But for rookies, it's not so harsh.

But Popovich didn't have the slightest intention to put Li Chongxiao up, let him play only 2 minutes, and then watched JR Smith complete the fourth quarter on the bench.

Playing the last game before the All-Star Game, the Spurs finally breathed a sigh of relief. In 18 days, they played 7 consecutive away games, and the players were very tired.

After returning to San Antonio, the team went straight to the holiday.Most players have a week to rest, only Duncan, Ginobili and Li Chongxiao need to travel to the Denver plateau for the 2005 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Of course, accompanied by Popovich and the Spurs' chief assistant Don Newman.The Spurs topped the league, Popovich automatically became the head coach of the Western Conference in the All-Star Game, and Don Newman became the head coach of the first-year team in the rookie game.

Prior to this, due to Okafor's injury and unable to play, the league announced that Al Jefferson of the Celtics would be replaced.

The list of the three-point contest was also announced: Ray Allen (Sonics), Joe Johnson (Suns), Wash Leonard (Nuggets), Kyle Korver (76ers), Kun Tyn Richardson (Suns) and Li Chongxiao (Spurs).

According to the rules of the league, players who participate in the three-point shooting competition every year, the previous champion can basically get a spot, it depends on whether they are willing to participate.

Then the league will send invitations to some players based on their performance in this game.If players who have not received an invitation want to participate, they can also sign up by themselves, and then the league will make a selection.

The players invited and selected are given priority to be selected from the players with the highest three-point shooting percentage this season.

The last three-pointer champion was Leonard, who was injured at the beginning of the season, basically didn't play much games, and had no technical statistics.But because he is the defending champion, and this All-Star Game is held in Denver, the NBA officials still allow him to participate in this year's game.

Li Chongxiao's three-point shooting rate so far this season is 44.7%, ranking second in the league, second only to Joe Johnson.And there is a huge market behind him. As a player at the end of the draft, he has a gimmick, so he can naturally be selected.

Players like Richardson's three-point shooting rate is not high, only 36%, because the Suns' offense is very impressive this year, and the league is also invited for viewing.

Ray Allen is famous enough, if he signs up and wants to participate, the alliance will not only give him face, but also ask for it.

If Kobe, Iverson, Tracy McGrady and Carter said they would participate in the three-point contest, Stern would wake up laughing when he fell asleep.

If O'Neal, Duncan, and Yao Ming also want to participate in the three-point contest, it is estimated that the league will also pretend to be difficult and agree with a smile.

In the final analysis, the NBA is a business league, and everything is business.

(End of this chapter)