unfinished glory

Chapter 88 Drag

The second Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and the Suns begins on May 5.

In the first game, the two teams were evenly matched, and the winner was not decided until the last moment, which made experts and fans think that the second game would also be a game full of sparks.

This was indeed the case in the first quarter of the game. The two sides were attacking each other, and the double-doubles were tied at 35.

But at the beginning of the second quarter, Ginobili, who can always seize the opportunity, turned on the runaway mode again. His performance of 20 points in a single quarter was like rubbing Richardson on the ground.

Not only offensive, the Spurs also played a super high level of defense in this quarter under the leadership of Ginobili, limiting the Suns to only 18 points in a single quarter.

At the end of the first half, the Spurs led by 14 points.

Popovich benched Ginobili to start the second half, then unleashed the hungry Tigers on the bench.

In the 13 minutes of the third and fourth quarters, the Argentine scored 18 points again, widening the point difference to more than 20 in one fell swoop.

Then the Spurs played steadily, finished calmly, and made another victory at home.

Li Chongxiao sneaked another 18 points. He found that accurate shooting is really easy to use. As long as there is a chance to throw it, the score will increase very quickly.On the other side, Duncan dug and chiseled inside, and he only scored 19 points after exhausting himself.

And he also found that the referee seemed to be friendly to him. The shooting fouls that he had difficulty enjoying in the first few games of the playoffs were given 3 times today.

Faced with this situation, Li Chongxiao was a little puzzled, and asked Duncan for advice after the game.The old driver told him that this is the only way for most star players in the league, except for the proud ones.

After showing a certain potential, the league will start to take care of him, just like Parker and Ginobili in the previous two seasons.

……

On the same day as the Spurs and Suns game, the NBA held a lottery ceremony for the 2005 draft pick. The Bucks won the No. 6.3 pick with a [-]% probability.

The Hawks and Trail Blazers received the second and third picks, respectively.

The first fourteen picks belong to teams that have not entered the playoffs. The top three picks are obtained by lottery. in reverse order of record
The next draft picks are New Orleans Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats, Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Charlotte Bobcats (exchange) ) and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Spurs rank first in the league this season. According to the rules, they have the last place in the first round and the last place in the second round, which is 30th and 60th.

However, they traded the second-round pick, so there is only one pick left this year.

These things are all operated by the team's uniform team. I heard that Tang Zhengdong was observed, but Li Chongxiao didn't pay attention.

……

In a blink of an eye, on May 5, the third game was held in Phoenix.

The Suns, who are playing at home, have no way out. For them, this is almost a battle of life and death.

Judging from previous NBA statistical records, the team behind 3:0 in the series has never had a successful comeback.

The Suns, fighting to the last ditch, took out the momentum of breaking the boat, aiming at the Spurs' basket and bombarding them at the beginning of the game.

The 4-day interval between the second and third games not only gave the Suns enough time to adjust, but also helped the players recover their physical strength for the small number of players they played.

Although the Spurs had anticipated the outbreak of the Suns and practiced defensive tactics in advance, they still lost in the face of the Suns' wild momentum.

The Spurs also performed well on the offensive end, scoring 28 points, but they were blown up on the defensive end.In the first quarter of the game, the Suns scored 80 points with a super high shooting rate of more than 40%.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Suns continued their fast and efficient offensive style and scored 33 points again.

The Spurs simply let go of the game, and after a chaotic battle, they actually scored two more points than the Suns.

In the third quarter, the Suns did not stop attacking. Seeing that the Spurs were unable to defend, they also followed the opponent's rhythm. In the single quarter, both sides tied and scored 35 points.

The Suns lead the Spurs 108:98 at home. This is only the score of three quarters. The two teams played crazy today.

But in the fourth quarter, the madness of the Suns didn't last long, because there was not enough fuel in the sports car.

This game has been playing fast. Except for the main force of the Suns, only Jim Jackson can keep up with the rhythm. Steven Hunter and Leonard Barbosa played for 2 minutes. was replaced.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, the six players in the main rotation of the Suns played an average of more than 34 minutes each, and they were running for 34 minutes.

In contrast, the eight-man rotation of the Spurs averaged just over 26 minutes per player.

The Suns still led by 13 points, but their shooting percentages began to decline.

Fans who thought Popovich was crazy at first and dared to fight against the Suns will understand what it means to be cunning and cunning.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, Popovich waved his hand, and Ginobili and Bowen, who had been recharging their energy for a long time, came on the court, and continued to drag the sun to run wildly, while increasing the harassment.

Two or three minutes later, the Suns' offensive speed was severely delayed. The 3-second offense became 7 seconds, and it almost became 14 seconds.

Their defense has always been unable to stop the Spurs' offense, and even the offense will not be able to break through the Spurs' defense.

Iron after iron and iron after iron, the hearts of the fans on the scene trembled.The fans who cheered loudly before and their voices were almost hoarse, now their voices slowly dropped.

With 2 minutes and 23 seconds before the end of the game, Li Chongxiao scored a goal to overtake the score, and the scene became silent.

Anyone who knows a little bit about penalty kicks can see that the general trend is over, and the Suns have no ability to comeback.

Next, Nash struggled to score a two-pointer, which saved the Suns a bit of dignity, but was quickly submerged in the Spurs' goals.

On the next ball, Parker passed to Ginobili, Ginobili passed to Li Chongxiao, Li Chongxiao passed to Duncan, and then crossed positions with Bowen under the basket to the other side.

Duncan handed the ball to Bowen, Bowen passed it back to Ginobili, and then the Suns players were stunned. Li Chongxiao passed the ball to Parker again, and no one was defending in front of him.

With Parker's goal, the Spurs played a super-efficient 11:2 attack wave in two and a half minutes. At the last moment of the game, they overtook the Suns by 8 points and won.

The final score was 128:136.

The Suns scored more than 30 points in the first three quarters, and only surrendered 20 points in the last quarter.

On the other hand, the Spurs have been playing with the Suns, recharging their energy until the last quarter, and suddenly exerted their strength, scoring 38 points in a single quarter.

In this game, the Suns were exhausted to death.

The Spurs' physical madman Li Chongxiao played only 38 minutes, while Marion, who played the most minutes for the Suns, even played 46 minutes.

The situation in the Western Conference became clear all of a sudden, and it was only a matter of time before the Spurs entered the Finals.

(End of this chapter)