I have a data panel in basketball

Chapter 187 Sweeping the Spurs
But a substitute is a substitute. The Spurs' substitutes performed well during the substitute rotation stage, but after all the main players of the Suns returned to the court, they were immediately suppressed. The Suns once again opened the point difference to more than 5 points at 34 minutes and 10 seconds of the second quarter.

But Popovich still didn't intend to put the main players back on the court. Looking at it, it seemed that he was planning to give up the game.

At the same time, the main players of the Spurs who were pressed on the bench looked more and more dignified.They have all been with Popovich for seven or eight years, so they naturally know what kind of temperament their head coach is. The longer they are left off the court, the more serious his anger is...

A situation like tonight's is at least the rage of a magnitude 5 earthquake.

This made them secretly make up their minds that they must perform well when they play later. If they still play the same way as before, they will have to peel off their skins if they don't die when they return to San Antonio.

Popovich has to put them down...

It is also because of Popovich's angry anger that these guys are so scared.

Of course, the most important thing is that no one took the lead in rebelling. Tim Duncan was a sufferer in front of Popovich.

Gentry has also been paying attention to Popovich's movements. He also doesn't think the Spurs will give up in this game. Popovich is not such a person.

He will definitely bring the "Troika" back on stage at the right time!

Gentry has been muttering so in his heart.

He is guarding himself with this sentence.

This is why the Suns have established a double-digit point difference so far and he has been emphasizing defense-as long as the Suns maintain a relatively high level of strength on both ends of the offense and defense, then even if the Spurs suddenly attack later, they will not be uncomfortable.

In Gentry's view, the Spurs are a team with strong adjustment ability. Don't look at them being beaten all the time, but when the "three carriages" return to the field, the rhythm of the game will definitely change.
So, nothing to say, we must always maintain a high intensity, which is the basis for confrontation with the Spurs.

Gentry knows Popovich well.

At 6 minutes and 34 seconds into the second quarter, Popovich, who hadn't looked at the "troika" and other main players, glanced at the bench at this time and called several main players to his side.

"Guys, I hope you know what to do next!"

It's just a simple sentence, but the expression of the "troika" is more serious now.

They knew that this should be their last chance, and if they didn't perform well when they played later, it would definitely be necessary to go back and practice more.

And the bigger the final score difference, the more training will definitely be serious.

They are all "old bones". The three people glanced at each other and saw two words in their eyes: fight!

Three old guys who have won three championship trophies together are here...

In the first round, the Spurs successfully blocked the Suns' offense. Fortunately, Gentry has been emphasizing defense just now, so the Suns are currently on the field with a high level of defense.

The two teams entered into a stalemate. The Suns' offense was no longer as smooth as before. Although the Spurs played all the main players, their performance was much better than when the substitutes were on the court, but the Suns were also very successful in restricting them on the defensive end, which made them a bit shaky on the offensive end...

Popovich watched Lin Ri protect the rebound with complicated eyes.

The Suns, which failed to even make the playoffs last season, returned to No. [-] in the Western Conference this year, which made many experts think that they are a "dark horse".

But no one thought that the Suns would be so strong this year, and they would directly win the No. [-] spot in the Western Conference.

This caused many media to shout "Quickly hit the whirlwind" again.

It's just that in Popovich's view, the Suns are indeed "running and bombing", but it's not just as simple as running and bombing, they also have defense now.

This is an ability that the Suns in Popovich's cognition do not have.

It is also because he knows that this team is difficult to deal with now, so he finds another way to try to stimulate all the motivation of the Spurs to start. In his opinion, only in this way can they have a chance to compete with the Suns.

He didn't think about the root cause of this Suns team's change at the beginning, but now, he has seen that what caused the fundamental change of this team is that this team has a defensive core on the defensive end!

The arrival of Lin Ri not only improves the support of the offensive end, but also the support of the defensive end. Even compared to the offensive end, Lin Ri's support on the defensive end is the biggest boost to this team.

After all, everyone knows that the Suns don't lack scoring points, what they lack is defense...

Then this game is difficult to play!

Popovich's complexion suddenly became ugly. At first, he thought that even if the Spurs lacked a main wing player, they could compete with the Suns. But now, in his opinion, it seems that there is no possibility of a competition.

This Suns team has almost no obvious weaknesses on both ends of the offense and defense...

Champion phase!
Popovich suddenly felt that this year's Suns could compete for the championship.

This guy Gentry really didn't suffer in vain!
He subconsciously glanced at Gentry in front of the Suns bench. After more than ten years of assistant coaching career, he had such a team right from the start. It has to be said that it was worth waiting for so many years.

However, the surprise was the surprise. Popovich did not give up the idea of ​​winning. He changed his tactics and let the Spurs start attacking Lin Rilai.

In 09, he saw the inactivity of Zhuangyuan Lang at the beginning of today's game. He knew that this was the effect of "back to back" ... and because he knew that Lin Ri's poor condition may be due to poor physical fitness and rest, so targeting Lin Ri more would definitely make the Suns more or less passive.

He can see that now the Suns are inseparable from Lin Ri on both ends of offense and defense, making him uncomfortable can definitely make the Suns uncomfortable.

Not to mention, Popovich's eyes are really vicious. His targeting of Lin Ri really caused the Suns to have some problems in the future. The Spurs took advantage of the situation to break the deadlock and narrowed the score back to 6 points before halftime.

There are still fights!

Popovich was very satisfied with the final score of the first half. He waited for the Spurs to leave the court and give their mother high fives one by one.

Several starters of the Spurs looked at Popovich, whose expression had eased a lot, and heaved a sigh of relief.

Let alone other things, as long as the old man is in a good mood, it is "worth it in the world"!
"Man, I only let you play for 7 minutes in the third quarter. I hope you can adjust to play in the last quarter!" Gentry told Lin Ri about his second half arrangement during the intermission.

It is a very helpless thing for inside players to be targeted, because inside players will go inside no matter what, there is only so much space, as long as they get entangled, it will be more or less consumed.

What's more, the Suns need Lin Ri to stand up on both ends of the offense and defense. He can't rest if he wants to be lazy on the court.

But Gentry is also a ruthless person. Since he can't reduce the consumption of Lin Ri, he simply reduces Lin Ri's time on the court. In the third quarter, he allows Lin Ri to play for 7 minutes, and then gives him 5 minutes plus inter-section breaks so that he has a relatively sufficient time to rest, so as to ensure that Lin Ri can have enough physical strength to play in the fourth quarter!

This tactic sounds very good, and judging from the overall effect of the second half, it is also very good. Although Lin Ri's overall expression was a little tired when he played in the fourth quarter, his movements on the court were still very brisk. Obviously, his physical fitness was maintained quite well.

From the point of view of the score, the Suns are still leading by 5 points. Lin Ri was out of the court for 5 minutes in the third quarter. During this vacuum period, the strength of both offensive and defensive ends of the Suns has declined visible to the naked eye. It is not easy to have a point difference of about 5 points!
Of course, one thing I have to say is that the Spurs are playing tonight. It is true that Lin Ri is not on the court for the last 5 minutes of the third quarter, but similarly, Tim Duncan and the others have to rest, otherwise, their physical fitness in the fourth quarter cannot be guaranteed.
This allowed the Suns to successfully defend the point difference.

And if this is another young team, it will be difficult to keep this point difference!

Fortunately!
Gentry also said something in his heart.

At the same time, the expression on his face relaxed a lot.

He believes that the Suns have fully grasped the initiative.

This is the conclusion he has accumulated from his experience as an assistant coach for more than ten years!

In the final analysis, the main reason is that the Spurs' No. [-] position is a loophole. In the most critical fourth quarter, this is enough to become the most fatal weakness of the Spurs!
"beep!"

The fourth quarter of the game officially started with Gentry's firm eyes.

As he expected, the Suns played a very smooth offensive wave from the very beginning. With a 7-3 scoring climax, the point difference was successfully opened to 9 points. With another 1 point, the Suns can establish a double-digit advantage.

Now that the game has reached the fourth quarter, the score has been stretched to double digits. Even if this is not a seal of victory, it is not far from victory.

I will say it!
Gentry fell back tactically.

He is so confident in the Suns now!
But just when he thought the game was going to end like this, the Spurs showed a wave of resilience and narrowed the point difference back to less than 4 points with more than 5 minutes left in the game...

The suspense of the game suddenly increased.

"ball!"

Lin Ri received the ball decisively at this time, and then launched a strong attack against Tim Duncan who was defending him. There were more than 4 minutes left in the game. His physical fitness was not good, but similarly, Tim Duncan's physical fitness was not very good, which gave him a reason to attack Tim Duncan!

As for the reason...Youth is capital!
Tim Duncan probably didn't expect Lin Ri to be such a "stunned young man". At this critical moment, he was still panting, and he dared to attack with the ball like this.

If I ask someone to double-team you at this time, can you break free in your current state?

Tim Duncan thought so, and he did the same. He quickly called for supplementary defense, but Lin Ri's reaction to him didn't mean to retreat at all, and he rushed straight towards him.

This appearance made Tim Duncan a lot nervous.

He decided to make up for it in advance.

Lin Ri was blocked one step outside the reasonable impact zone, and Tim Duncan carried his impact.

Resisted?
Tim Duncan froze for a moment.

That's it?

He felt that the impact of Lin Ri's breakthrough was not as great as he had imagined.

Physical fitness is like this and still break through?
But the next moment Tim Duncan felt something was wrong, Lin Ri, who was stopped by him, took a crossbody step from the right side, and then hooked his hands and threw the ball.

This is an extremely weird posture... But it was this posture that precisely stuck Tim Duncan, making him afraid to move, because Lin Ri was sticking to him at the moment, and it would be an offensive foul for him to move at this moment.

And Lin Ri solved the problem of insufficient layup distance by hooking.

In addition, the speed of the hook is fast enough, and the Spurs' subsequent defense did not cause any interference at all.

"Shh!"

Go in!

Lin Riyong's seemingly reckless forced breakthrough finally completed the score with a skillful hook shot, helping the Suns to reopen the point difference to more than 5 points.

After this goal, the Suns also continued their advantage until the end. 108 to 99, the Suns defeated the Spurs at home and won the second game of "back-to-back".

At the same time, after defeating the Spurs this time, the Suns also won the Spurs for the third time this season, which allowed them to complete the feat of "sweeping the Spurs".

The auditorium at the scene also became extremely excited when the final whistle sounded.

For this team that was eliminated by the opponent whenever they met the Spurs in the playoffs in the past few years, being able to sweep the Spurs this season is really an extra boost to morale!

We are really strong!

(End of this chapter)