God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 375 Master and Disciple Showdown
In the second half, Popovich took the lead in changing the lineup. In fact, he couldn't help but stay the same. Although Robinson played well at the fifth position, and played 78 games in the regular season, averaging 26.2 minutes per game, he is still a 37-year-old player. Veteran.Fighting against the Sharks is already a hard job, and Popovich will definitely not let him start the game again in the second half.

Robinson was replaced by Mark Bryant, a 2-meter-06 big man.The No. 1988 pick in 21 averaged only 1.9 points and 1.5 rebounds per game this season, and his shooting percentage was only 45.5%. However, there are not many players in the Spurs who can reach the inside. Spectrum.Moreover, Popovich just hopes that he can stay on the court until Robinson recovers, and it is still young but powerful Duncan who is still fighting O'Neal in the paint.

However, how could the Zen master not seize this opportunity?Although Popovich really wanted Duncan to play against O'Neal, under the instruction of the Zen master, O'Neal deliberately found Bryant every time, and then used his good post-up singles to defeat his defense.This made Popovich feel very helpless, but when he saw Robinson panting heavily, he gritted his teeth and allowed O'Neal to score consecutively under Bryant's defense, driving the Lakers to gradually catch up. .

At this time, the Spurs' sixth man Malik Rose stepped forward.Szczerbiak's defense in the third position can only be regarded as better than nothing. Under his "marking", Rose is like a fish in water. He made consecutive quick counterattacks and forced Zen Master to call a timeout. A strong response, and it didn't allow the Lakers to further narrow the gap.

When there were 5 minutes and 31 seconds left in the third quarter, Robinson, who had had enough rest, finally went into battle again. He hit two shots from almost the same position in the mid-range as soon as he played, helping the Spurs expand their advantage.Although Robinson is old, he still has experience and skills. With Duncan holding O'Neal in check, it will not be too easy for him to beat Walker.

Robinson almost tried his best throughout the game. He hopes to help the team win another championship in his last season.He played 31 minutes, scored 18 points and 11 rebounds, and also had 3 assists and 2 blocks, while Duncan scored 27 points and 21 rebounds again. 5 blocked shots, the two teamed up to dominate the restricted area.With their efforts, although O'Neal, who was regarded as a nuclear weapon by the Lakers, scored 30 points and 14 rebounds, his shooting percentage was less than 50%, and he made 7 turnovers. Overall, the Spurs still had the advantage inside.

Another core player of the Lakers, Kobe, was subject to Bowen's personal defense throughout the game. Although he was not angry enough to apply for a technical foul, his shooting percentage was already appallingly low, and he also made 5 turnovers.When the "OK combination" both performed abnormally, even Szczerbiak hit 7 three-pointers and couldn't save the Lakers.

In the end, the Spurs defeated the Lakers 107-99 without any risk, and reached the Finals again after two seasons. They all hope to replicate the story of easily defeating the Knicks 1998-99 in the 4-1 season to win the championship.But compared to the Knicks led by Camby and Houston, the 76ers are much stronger. This is not an opponent that the Spurs can easily beat with a disparity.

Of course, after the Spurs struggled to advance to the finals, major media across the United States began to hype the concept of the master-student duel. Everyone wanted to see whether it was the teacher teaching the students another lesson, or the students proving their original learning in front of the teacher. , and the teachers and students in their mouths are naturally 76ers coach Brown and Spurs coach Popovich.

As a well-known head coach in the NBA, Brown started his coaching career in 1973 and began coaching the NBA team in 1976 after coaching the ABA team for three years.In fact, the relationship between Brown and Popovich began in 1976, when Brown was the head coach of the ABA Denver Nuggets, and Popovich went to the Nuggets for trial training through Hank Egan's recommendation.Although Popovich was eventually cut by the Browns, he left a deep impression on the Browns.

In 1979, Popovich accepted the employment of Pomona College in Southern California and became the head coach of the school's basketball team and assistant coach of Soviet Russian history. Brought to the conference finals and won the league title in 1986.In the same year, he went to North Carolina to become an intern assistant. Three months later, he went to Brown again and became an assistant under him, while Brown was the head coach of the University of Kansas at the time.

In July 1988, Brown became the head coach of the Spurs. He invited Popovich as an assistant coach, and the latter's NBA career kicked off.But the good times didn't last long. In the middle of the 7-1991 season, Spurs owner McCombs fired Brown and his entire coaching team. The unemployed Popovich joined the Golden State Warriors through Brown's recommendation and became Nelson's assistant coach.The Warriors' ubiquitous mismatches opened up a new field for Popovich, and he studied here for two full seasons.

In 1994, new Spurs owner Pete Holt invited Popovich to return to the Spurs as general manager. At that time, Popovich returned to San Antonio with a team he built, including RC Bufo Germany, Hank Egan and Budenholzer, this is also the original team of the Spurs in the league.At that time, Popovich hoped to recruit Nelson to coach the Spurs, but the Warriors refused to let him go. In desperation, he had no choice but to choose Bob Hill as his first coach.

However, Robinson suffered a back injury at the beginning of the 1996-97 season. The Spurs only achieved a 3-15 start. The first peak of his career-selecting Duncan with the No. 1996 pick and helping the Spurs win the first championship in team history.

To some extent, Brown is the leader of Popovich's coaching career. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is his teacher. Popovich did learn a lot under Brown. A disciplined and defensive team is inseparable from Popovich's experience as Brown's assistant coach.

And in this year's finals, the pair of master and apprentice finally met again. Both of them are very familiar with each other, and it is even more eye-catching who can win the final victory.In fact, neither Brown nor Popovich wanted to lose, but there was only one winner in the end. Either Brown showed his apprentice his strength, or Popovich successfully challenged the master's authority.

This is the finals full of topics that all media reporters and fans want to see!
(End of this chapter)