unfinished glory

86 Disadvantage
With a "boom", the audience exploded, and the Spurs' emotions that had been suppressed for three quarters at home would explode.

The cries of "Daye Lee!" came from nothing, from small to loud!
Li Chongxiao raised his hand to signal the audience, and then took advantage of the timeout of the Suns to high-five his teammates one by one.

Popovich took the tactical board, stared at Li Chongxiao with a serious expression for 5 seconds, and suddenly parted his lips and laughed: "Good job, kid!"

The point difference was reduced to 12 points, and there were 10 minutes left, which was enough for the Spurs.

Popovich's next tactic is just one word-grind, use defense, hit success rate, and slowly bring the score back bit by bit.

Li Chongxiao didn't have any dissatisfaction at this meeting. He knew that he just caught his opponent by surprise just now, and he would never have such an opportunity in the next few minutes. The head coach who can lead the team to the Western Conference Finals must not be an elm-headed man.

However, his goal has also been achieved, and his spirit is already in a state of excitement.

In the next few rounds, the Suns really didn't give the chance, and they didn't hesitate to use Stoudemire to defend Duncan, but they wanted Marion to "take care" of Li Chongxiao.

Li Chongxiao was also happy on the offensive end, pulling Marion aside to watch Duncan use textbook inside skills to single-handedly beat Stoudemire.

However, Stoudemire's state today is also very explosive, he can respond every time, and he doesn't play anything else, just CIC.It is also impossible for Duncan to defend too far. Stoudemire's breakthrough with the ball in the playoffs has also reached the top level.

After half a quarter of the game, the Spurs' offensive efficiency was very high, but the Suns still maintained a 10-point lead.

Popovich called timeout again, replacing a panting Ginobili with Horry.Anyway, Stoudemire will be in good shape, and no one will be able to guard against it. It is better to go to Horry, which can also increase a shooting point.

The Suns have no players to change, and other players D'Antoni is not at ease.

In the playoffs, D'Antoni began to play the main force. There were often only six players in a game. Three of the five main players played for 40 minutes, and the other two were close to 40 minutes.

As the main substitute, Jim Jackson also averaged more than 30 minutes. Among the other players, only Steven Hunter had more than ten minutes of playing time, and the rest did not add up to double figures.

The same is true for the scoring situation. The Suns averaged 114 points per game in the playoffs, and the players other than the six main players added up to only 6 points.

The Spurs are slightly stronger here, and they have eight players who can play.

Popovich also extended the playing time of the main players, not to mention Duncan, Parker and Bowen. Even players with weak physical strength like Ginobili played a full 3 minutes more than the regular season, reaching the 32 minutes.

For a stamina monster like Li Chongxiao, each game has 10 more minutes than the regular season, 23 minutes in the regular season, and 33 minutes in the playoffs.

As far as the playing time of the main players is concerned, it is still based on the Spurs' many big wins.

The playing time of substitute players was severely reduced. Nesterovic was robbed of the starting position by Muhammad, and his playing time was even reduced to less than 10 minutes.

A few regular-season substitutes, like Devin Brown and Udrih, are now playing minutes, while Tony Masenberg doesn't play at all.

But players like Horry and Barry who have experienced the test of the playoffs actually got more playing time than the regular season, averaging more than 20 minutes per game.

……

Horry was entrusted with another important task, and he wasted Stoudemire's physical strength on the court. At this point, the referee turned a blind eye to the hand-to-hand defense.

Stoudemire was really not used to the first ball, and the mid-range shot was disturbed, but later on he was not limited to shooting, breaking through dunks or hitting layups, and various throws after jumping.

But after two shots, the Spurs began to double-team. Li Chongxiao and Bowen took turns to grab the ball. Stoudemire only made one of the difficult passes. The others either missed or hit iron.

Duncan is still meticulous here, playing steadily, either scoring goals or attracting double-team assists, slowly narrowing the gap to 6 points.

With less than 4 minutes left in the game, Duncan also caused Stoudemire's fifth foul. The Suns called a timeout, and it was estimated that they had to substitute someone to defend Duncan.

Li Chongxiao was amazed at the beginning of this quarter, and then remained silent. The Suns gradually relaxed and prepared to replace Marion to defend Duncan, allowing the best defensive player in the team to enter the decisive battle mode.

Duncan missed the second free throw. Marion blocked Li Chongxiao, let Stoudemire get the rebound, and passed a long pass to Nash.

Parker retreated in time, but Nash made a fake pass to Richardson outside the three-point line, tricked Parker into a layup, and re-established a 7-point lead.

In the next round, both sides scored again, which is not good news for the Spurs.

There are more than two minutes left in the game, and the Spurs still don't have many ways to narrow the point difference.And the Suns are not playing fast anymore. The last round was to pass the ball patiently, and Joe Johnson succeeded in singles against Parker.

Popovich looked at Manu Ginobili, who was still panting on the bench, and could only call Parker, signaling that he would lead the attack from behind.

Parker took the ball across the frontcourt and handed it to Li Chongxiao, ready to make a transition. Who knew that Li Chongxiao didn't pass back the pass at all, but directly shot a three-pointer.

Seeing this scene, Popovich pulled his hands out of his chest and walked forward quickly, ready to swear, but the goal was scored again, so he could only hold back the dirty words.

Li Chongxiao curled his lips, Stoudemire's position was so far back, and he didn't shoot the ball, which blinded his 50% three-point shooting percentage in the playoffs.

The Suns' offense was not successful, and the rebounds were well protected by Duncan.When Li Chongxiao took the ball this time, Stoudemire learned his lesson and got very close.

Li Chongxiao dribbled the ball, and then made a shooting motion. Just as Stoudemire jumped out, he thought of five fouls on his back, so he quickly stopped the car, and his awkward posture almost tripped him.

Seeing that he hadn't cheated the opponent, Li Chongxiao was not upset, so he dribbled the ball into the inside lane.

Marion had to step forward to defend, Li Chongxiao passed the pass to Duncan, Stoudemire didn't dare to make a move, so he could only watch Duncan make a layup.

With 1 minute and 7 seconds left in the game, the Spurs chased the point difference to 2 points, and the Suns called a timeout. They had to make arrangements to try to score the goal and gain more advantages.

After the ball was sent, the Spurs adopted a man-to-man defensive strategy and did not give the Suns a chance.

Nash dribbled with the ball for more than ten seconds. Under Parker's defense, he couldn't find a chance to pass or shoot.Seeing that the 24 seconds of offense were approaching, he gritted his teeth and faced Parker at the free throw line and then lay down and made a strong shot.

The ball hit the neck of the basket, bounced out, and Marion caught Duncan, allowing Stoudemire to get the rebound over Horry's head and dunk it.

With 47 seconds left in the game, the Suns regained a four-point lead.

The Spurs called a timeout, replaced Ginobili, replaced Bowen, the Suns also replaced Joe Johnson, replaced by Steven Hunter to protect the rebound.

As soon as Duncan received the ball inside, the Suns' defense immediately shrank, and Stoudemire was always ready to double-team.

Seeing that there were no chances in the interior, Duncan could only hit the ball out, Parker took the ball, and then switched positions with Ginobili, Horry came to block, the ball was in the hands of Li Chongxiao, and faced Stoudemire's defense again .

Li Chongxiao received the ball without hesitation, and was ready to break through. Stoudemire's footsteps were fast, forcing Li Chongxiao to walk towards the bottom line.

Li Chongxiao pulled up, but Richardson cut off the passing line of Ginobili who came to meet him. At this time, he had to come by himself.

He made a crotch transition with his right hand to his left hand, and then brought his left hand to the left, as if about to break through, and Stoudemire's center of gravity moved accordingly.Then Li Chongxiao pulled the ball back with his left hand, made a small step back, collected the ball and prepared to take off and shoot.

Stoudemire rushed forward on a conditioned reflex, and when he realized that Li Chongxiao was making a fake shot, he couldn't hold back his body, so he simply hit Li Chongxiao's left arm hard.

Li Chongxiao took off with Stoudemire, his shooting posture was distorted, he straightened his right arm, and threw the ball with one hand.

"Swipe", the ball goes in!

"Beep", additional penalty!

(End of this chapter)