NBA Legends Manager

Chapter 391 Veterans Don't Die!

Presti said in an interview after the game: "I am not satisfied with our performance tonight. We missed a lot of easyballs tonight. We will reflect on it. The Spurs played very well tonight!"

And Popovich said with a smile: "We should win the game tonight. After all, it is very rare for the Pelicans to miss outside. We will seize the opportunity in the next game! In addition, I want to say that I am jealous of Presti. How did he train players so well? Can you teach me a little bit?" The reporters on the scene suddenly laughed.

This is Popovich's emotional intelligence. He didn't directly say that the Pelicans are talented. To say this is equivalent to saying that his team's talent is not good. Instead, he said that Presti was well trained and took the responsibility for the loss on himself!
Presti responded with a smile: "Come to my team, I will teach you!" The reporter laughed wildly again.

Although they won the first game without any risk, this Presti reminded that the Spurs must not be underestimated!If it weren't for the Spurs Leonard not having a good backup small forward, and his physical strength was a little weak at the end of the game, the final result would be hard to say.

Presti didn't expect that the substitute who had been crushing other teams would be able to play as well as the Spurs' substitute, especially at the beginning, allowing Ginobili to score consecutively!Ginobili must limit this point!
After a day off, the two sides started the second battle in New Orleans!
In this game, the Spurs completely changed their tactics. The outside line began to pinch Curry and completely let go of Green. It doesn't matter even if it cuts, because there are Duncan and Splitter inside, and the outside line is speeding up the rotation, not giving them easy shots!
On the offensive end, the Spurs still play the pick-and-roll. After the roll, let Duncan go to the inside to single-play Green, or Davis.

The Pelicans, on the other hand, still use their own speed advantages of one big and four small ones to speed up the offense, shoot as soon as the opportunity arises, and increase the number of rounds. On the defensive end, they switch and rotate quickly. .

Curry, Thompson, and Paul George resolutely throw three-pointers on the fast break. Davis has a strong impact and directly kills the basket. Green cuts the ball at any time or serves as a pivot point. Once in a positional battle, Curry immediately picks and rolls with Davis.

The Spurs were a little uncomfortable playing at the beginning, and soon paused. After the timeout came back, once the Spurs missed the offense, they resolutely retreated, leaving no one to grab rebounds, unless they occupied a good position at the beginning.

Once in position, the Spurs speed up the rotation outside, double-teaming Curry, completely emptying Green, and letting him shoot!
And Green was also steady, unable to make dead shots, which directly disrupted the Pelicans' running and bombing rhythm. The point difference between the two sides was always maintained at single digits.

But then, Green missed an open shot again. There was no other way. Presti had to replace Green and try Jimmy Butler. After the replacement, the offense became smoother in an instant, but the inside defense was weak. Not only was Duncan unable to solve it after hitting the inside, but Splitter could also hit a hook under the basket!
After the first quarter, the Pelicans led by only 1 point!
In the second quarter of the rotation lineup competition, Presti asked Bradley to lead the defense of Ginobili and consume him, but Ginobili's experience is something Bradley doesn't have!He fell directly during the pick-and-roll again!It's very similar to the time when Harden and Ginobili played each other in the previous life, except that Bradley didn't fall down, and Bradley made an offensive foul!
The second time Ginobili forced a breakthrough again and got Bradley's blocking foul again!Because of these two fouls, Bradley didn't dare to stick to it defensively. This directly gave Ginobili a chance to play, passing Bradley to attract defensive points from outside Mills, and hit a three-pointer!
Afterwards, he had a pick-and-roll with Dior and attacked the penalty area again. When Gobert didn't make a strong move, he split the bottom corner to Dior, and Dior also rushed in with the ball, and then divided it with Baines, and Baines took the ball and hit the board!

Although the Pelicans had a problem with their defense, the offensive end was good. David West hit Dior with a throw from the inside, and Livingston made a mid-range shot when he hit Dior with his back under the basket.

In the first game, Presti did not let Green be on the bench, but still replaced him, because letting him sit on the bench at this time is undoubtedly a blow to his confidence!

After Green came up, the defense has improved significantly, especially inside!The Spurs' scoring efficiency in the interior has dropped significantly, but the Pelicans' offense has problems again. Green has no touch tonight, 6 of 1, and one of the goals is still a miss at the basket. The two sides once again stalemate until the second half of the final quarter!

At this time, Presti boldly adjusted his tactics and used the twin towers!Let the restricted area become an absolute restricted area, forcing Ginobili, Duncan, and Leonard to only shoot from the outside, and there is no way to score inside!
And Popovich also knows that if he can't fight the inside line, he will fight the outside line, and then Ginobili, Danny Green, Leonard, Diaw, Duncan are always on the table!Only one Duncan is left on the inside, and the remaining four are on the outside, so bet on the feel of the outside!
Ginobili handles the ball at the top of the key, Diaw and Duncan occupy the two elbows, and Danny Green and Leonard ambushes in the two corners.After getting in position, Ginobili passed the ball to Duncan, and then cut into the penalty area with the help of Diaw's screen, and then Duncan passed the ball to Diaw,
That's when Ginobili is in the paint and Leonard and Duncan are high on the weak side.Ginobili immediately ran outside the 3-point line on the weak side, and Leonard and Duncan were like the two doors of the elevator. After covering for Ginobili, they quickly closed it. At this time, Dior quickly passed the ball to Gino who was free from the defense.Ginobili takes the ball and makes it! !
Presti frowned, "Isn't this the refrigerator tactic of the Spurs in the previous life?"

While the Pelicans attacked here, the Spurs decisively let Leonard defend Curry alone, and Danny Green defended Paul George!
Seeing this, Curry directly wanted to give the ball to George, but Leonard's "Death Coil" directly broke the ball, and he held the ball and directly accelerated a one-stop dunk!This steal became the straw that crushed the Pelicans!
After Curry got the ball, he knew he couldn't be careless in front of Leonard, so he wasted a few opportunities. When the ball was given to Paul George, Paul George broke through Green, and after he went in, he was blocked!

After the Spurs took the lead, they fought defensively. If you break through the inside, I will double-team you. The contraction is very firm.

In the end, the Pelicans lost to the Spurs 101 to 105 at home, and the series score came to 1:1! ! !

After the game, Presti took the responsibility on himself and didn't blame any one player. In fact, only Thompson and substitute David West performed well in this game, and the others were very average.

Especially Green, it can be said that he played very poorly. As long as Green puts in one of the 5 open spots, the game will be different. Obviously Green also knows his own reasons. After the game, he practiced three-pointers crazily by himself!

This is why Presti is willing to keep him on the court even when he knows that he is making the offense stagnant. He has passion and refuses to admit defeat!Strong plasticity. Many players have good physical talent when they first entered the league, but eventually faded out of the NBA. Presti believes that the most important reason is the attitude problem. Just imagine, you can be selected from thousands of people. The talent has surpassed most people. As long as the rest is willing to work hard, the basic problem is not a big problem. Why is Kobe so good? Apart from talent, isn’t it just crazy training?

The third game started in San Antonio, and this game was obviously as Presti expected, a big victory!

In fact, the tactics have not changed at all. The only change is that Green, who was short, made a three-pointer. After Green scored a three-pointer, the five Pelicans were really unstoppable!
The defensive end rotates quickly, puts the ball down, and immediately goes on a fast break. The Spurs can't let anyone go, but in the fast break, it is very difficult to defend one and one. The ball is given to Thompson, Curry, or Paul George, and the three are thrown out!
If these few are dead, Green can immediately pass the ball to Davis, and Davis catches the ball and rushes to the inside for a dunk!When the Spurs were defending the Pelicans' fast break before, they gave up Green directly, and they couldn't make a shot anyway, but this time Green didn't dare to let go. After not letting Green go, one person can't defend at all!

After the rotation lineup, Presti did not use Bradley anymore, but decisively went up to Ray Allen to run to open up space. Although Bradley's defense was fierce, he suffered too much when defending Ginobili, and Bradley's three-pointers and running awareness were far inferior to Ray Allen's!

And this change also had an effect. Although the defense of the rotation has declined, the Spurs' offensive level is the same, and they haven't scored many more points than before, but the Pelicans' offensive level has improved significantly. The Spurs are on the defensive end.And without the congestion on the inside, Gobert's rebound directly robbed the Spurs!
In the end, the Pelicans beat the Spurs 119:105!

In this game, Green made his first victory. He only played 38 minutes, made 9 of 7 shots, 7 of 5 three-pointers, 4 of 3 free throws, scored 22 points and contributed 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals! , swept away the haze of the previous game!

Curry scored 24 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal. Paul George was still a little uncomfortable being defended by Leonard. Although he only scored 14 points, he contributed 4 steals on the defensive end.

In the fourth game, all the Spurs were desperate. Leonard no longer defended Paul George, but focused on taking care of Curry. At this time, Leonard's defense was already extremely good. In his previous life, Leonard relied on single defense this season to embarrass James!

Curry has no advantage over Leonard at all, and Leonard's defense is almost a nightmare for the entire league outside!Curry tried to block Leonard with the pick-and-roll, but was directly cut off by the long arm of the chasing defense, stealing a one-stop dunk!

The second time was with the help of a pick and roll, but was directly intercepted by Leonard's "V" shape!Curry wanted to catch the foul, but couldn't catch it, and scored easily again!

At this time, Paul George and Davis had to stand up, but the result was not satisfactory.

Popovich decisively used Duncan to defend Davis. As a result, Davis faced the 17-year-old Deng, but was at a disadvantage. On the offensive end, Davis turned around and was directly blocked by Duncan!

Then when defending Duncan on the defensive end, Duncan turned around and hit the board with a low footstep and also caused a foul by Davis.In this period of PK, Duncan had the upper hand. He scored the Spurs' first 10 points in the third quarter and led the team to a big counterattack!
At the end of the fourth quarter, Splitter was forced to play singles with the ball in the penalty area. He moved continuously near the baseline, but he couldn't get rid of Davis. In the end, Davis blocked the shot from behind!
But when Davis attacked back, moved the ball to the top of the arc in the collision zone and then shot, Duncan slapped the ball to interfere!Ginobili launched a fast break and transferred to Dior on the right side of the frontcourt. Dior raised his hand from outside the three-point line and made a hit! !

The Pelicans still had a chance, but at the last moment, after Paul George went inside, he was blocked by Duncan!This is the sixth block of the game!Then with 1 minute and 20 seconds left, he received an assist from Ginobili and succeeded in a one-handed dunk, and then he received a pass from Diaw for a layup, giving the Spurs an 8-point lead into the final minute.

最终邓肯交出一份26分9个篮板球6次封盖的数据，一人之力击溃了鹈鹕的禁区！系列赛变成了2：2！

After the game, Presti highly praised Duncan's performance, he is the Optimus Prime of the Spurs!
Returning to the fifth game at home, both sides are desperate, after all, the battle of Tianwangshan is very important!The Pelicans are still catching the Spurs' weaknesses, rotating quickly, pushing and counterattacking to increase the speed, while the Spurs are on the ground, playing pick-and-rolls and changing defenses, letting Leonard hit Curry!

When it comes to the rotation lineup, the Spurs know that the third position on the bench is not strong enough, so they continue to use Leonard, starting to defend Curry, and defending Jimmy Butler as a substitute, and Leonard also carried it down and did a good job!
The two sides once again fought to the last moment!In the final stage, Presti played Ray Allen and replaced Green. Curry took the ball and quickly sent it to Paul George. Paul George singled, lowered his center of gravity and rushed in!Carrying the defense to layup, but Duncan appeared again and slapped him to the backcourt!

At this time, the Pelicans fans lamented, thinking that it was over, but Thompson jumped up to catch the ball, and then quickly moved to Ray Allen in the bottom corner!Ray Allen took the ball and made a three-pointer!The lights are on and the perfect arc hollows into the net!Pelicans won! Duncan in G4, Ray Allen in G5, veterans don't die!

(End of this chapter)