unfinished glory

Chapter 73 The Playoffs Begin

Soon the Spurs ushered in the first playoff game of the 2004~2005 season at home, against the Grizzlies in the same division.

The Spurs took the lead in changing the lineup. Instead of using the regular Nesterovic who has been the starting center, they replaced Mohamed.

Muhammad moved to the Spurs after the national team. He played 23 times for the Spurs, including five starts during Nesterovic's rest due to injury.

The reason why he was replaced during the playoffs, Popovich mainly fancy his tough defense and level of athletic ability.These can not only help the team improve the defensive system, but also become a line of defense in front of Duncan, preventing Duncan from being targeted and consumed prematurely.

To put it bluntly, the Spurs just found a bodyguard for Duncan on the defensive end. Li Chongxiao estimated that Yao Ming would definitely envy and hate him.

The Grizzlies are still their longest-serving main lineup: Lorenzen White, Pau Gasol, Mike Miller, Sean Battier and Jason Williams.

The Spurs lost the jump ball, and the Grizzlies attacked first.Although their core player is Gasol, the team's philosophy is teamwork, and the offensive distribution on the field is relatively even.

Mike Miller ambushed in the bottom corner, received a pass from Gasol, and fired first. Unfortunately, the angle was wrong and the rebound was taken by Duncan.

Back in the Spurs' offensive half, Duncan singled out Gasol with the ball outside the penalty area. hit.

Although Gasol has height and wingspan, but his confrontation ability is weak, so his defense is average, and he can't handle the "black and tough" general NBA starters, let alone Duncan's level of super giant inside.

Their style of play by European insiders is not very confrontational at the basket. It is the same as Nowitzki's floating style of play. At present, they are criticized by many celebrities, old-school commentators, and fans.Gasol and Nowitzki are often called "soft".

But Li Chongxiao watched the video of Gasol, and felt that this player has solid footwork around the basket, outstanding inside offensive skills, and a good mid-range shot.

More importantly, he has a high basketball IQ and plays very smartly.Li Chongxiao thinks that Yao Ming should learn from Gasol, that is, "hold high and fight high".

Gasol is very good at using his height and wingspan. On the offensive end, as long as he appears under the basket, the ball is basically lifted up, and he rarely puts the ball below the waist, so that he can quickly invest in the offense.

Especially when grabbing offensive rebounds, this technique is very practical.Take advantage of height and wingspan, play a time difference, and launch a second attack when the opponent's defender has just landed and failed to take off.

This technique is especially useful for the inside line. Yao Ming often takes the ball down habitually, thus being intercepted or blocked.

However, Gasol didn't have many opportunities to perform in this game. After Duncan was deflated in singles, it was very difficult for him to get back against Muhammad.After all, his body is not strong enough, and he is always pushed out of the three-second zone by the Spurs center.

Halfway through the first quarter, Gasol only got 2 shots, and all of them hit the iron.This is the performance of the core players, let alone other players.

The Spurs lead the Grizzlies 15:6 at home.

Li Chongxiao came on to replace Ginobili, and the Grizzlies player he faced was his senior Sean Battier.

To some extent, I have many similarities with this senior, such as Duke background, defense, three-pointers, and team.

But the two have completely different characteristics. Battier is a very selfless player who is willing to obey the needs of the team.And Li Chongxiao also played a very team role, but unlike Battier's simplicity, he was always very passionate on the court, willing to meet challenges, and also had the desire to express himself.

Judging from the present, Battier is the more mature one, but Li Chongxiao has even greater potential.

Li Chongxiao gave the senior a big blow when he came up. He used Duncan's pick-and-roll to hit a three-pointer when Lorenzen White didn't follow.

This ball made Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello's frown tightened, not only because the Spurs had already led by 12 points, but Li Chongxiao's style of play was rare in the regular season It turns out that the Grizzlies are not prepared to deal with tactics.

It's okay if it's just one ball, but it's troublesome if there are more.Mike Fratello decided to take another look, to delay the timeout, to figure out if the ball was just an occasional shot or if it was planned.

In the next round, the Grizzlies still failed to score. After Li Chongxiao came up, instead of defending Battier, he ran to Mike Miller, successfully intercepted his ball, and assisted the French small guns. basket succeeded.

The head coach of the Grizzlies had to call a timeout. He didn't emphasize defense any more, but said that the team's offensive problems were more serious, and asked the players to run more and play more patiently.

After playing, the Grizzlies pushed Gasol to the center position, replaced Lorenzen White, and replaced James Posey. While widening the offensive space, they added an outside offensive point.

As a result, in this round of offense, Duncan also pulled to the center position, and Muhammad defended and blocked Posey's shot.

Seeing that the time was approaching, Posey could only hastily pass to Gasol, who gave Duncan a block data for nothing.

Li Chongxiao picked up the rebound and wanted to play another fast break, but Battier was delayed, so he could only hand the ball to Parker and organize slowly.

After halftime, Parker gave the ball to Li Chongxiao at the top of the arc, and then ran away.When Mike Fratello saw this scene, he felt a "thump" in his heart.

Then he saw Duncan come out again to pick and roll. This time Gasol came out of the defense, but Duncan went down to the bottom of the basket and crushed Mike Miller who came to make up the defense.

In the next round, Posey finally got a shot, but missed.Turning around, Duncan and Li Chongxiao completed the third pick-and-roll again, and Duncan easily scored two points.

The Grizzlies offensive player replaced the defensive player. For two consecutive rounds, both offense and defense failed. This is also the epitome of their first half.

The Spurs played the Grizzlies in the playoffs more calmly than they did in the regular season. Whether it was the offensive end or the defensive end, they all hit the opponent's weakness.

The entire situation in the first half was one-sided, and the players, commentators and spectators did not find excitement.So calmly until the end of the second quarter.

The Grizzlies only scored 32 points in the half, while the Spurs scored 60 points, and the point difference came to 28 points, which can basically declare the end of the game.

In the second half of the game, the Spurs' main lineup played for half a quarter, opened the score to 37 points, and then began to replace the substitute lineup one after another.

Li Chongxiao played half of the game, made a two-pointer, made two free throws, and raised the score to 13 points. The third quarter was over, and the point difference was still 36 points.

Seeing that there was no hope of chasing points, the Grizzlies also gave up.In the fourth quarter, the substitutes of both sides were on the court, but the Spurs were chased back by some points.

114:88, the Spurs made a good start at home.

Li Chongxiao didn't feel anything yet, and the first playoff game of his career passed like this.

(End of this chapter)