The invincible kryptonite of basketball

"no problem, no problem!"

At this moment, Tang Tian shouted at Whiteside in the same tone.

Whiteside's defense on this ball has been better than before, and it is more because Ariza has no good players on his side.

At this time, Ariza also reached out to Whiteside to signal that it was his responsibility.

Leonard adjusted his breathing and made two free throws.

The Spurs lead 9-2.

The Pelicans attacked the frontcourt, and Tang Tian also continued to call Davis to mention the high pick-and-roll.

This time Davis went out, Tang Tian went in.

The Spurs chose to clamp Tang Tian.

After these few games, Popovich already knew that Tang Tian's finishing ability had improved significantly compared to last season.

Giving Tang Tian a chance is worse than giving the rest of the Pelicans a chance.

Tang Tian saw the double-team and threw the ball back to Davis.

Gasol quickly returned to the defense, and Davis shot first.

The ball traced a parabola in the air.

"Shh!"

This time Davis seized the opportunity and shot up and down.

Popovich reached out and stroked the beard on his chin.

Davis has made great progress in the past year, and already has a relatively stable middle distance.

This makes it harder for the Spurs to defend the Pelicans than before.

Davis smiled and pointed at Tang Tian while retreating.

In addition to strength, shooting has the greatest impact on mentality.

The few words Tang Tian said seemed insignificant, but they were like a reassurance to the young Davis.

In the Spurs' offense, Leonard misplaced and hit Holiday, turned around and broke through to the basket.

Holiday defends well, but he is a defender after all, and there is a gap in confrontation.

Leonard made a drift shot after reaching the basket to confront.

At this time, Whiteside on the inside suddenly jumped out, stretching his long arms and rushing over.

Leonard was caught off guard, and it was too late to adjust the shooting angle.

"boom!"

Whiteside slapped Leonard's shot back with a big cap!

This is revenge for being fouled in the previous round.

In the scramble for the ball from the three-point line, Ariza rushed to the ground to save the ball. He grabbed Parker and gave the ball to Tang Tian.

The Pelicans defended the round.

After Parker got up and looked at Ariza, his mind was full of Tang Tian's image when he was with the Spurs.

Now Tang Tian has become the core of the team, and his "Tang Tian" is also on the team.

The Pelicans attacked the frontcourt, still in the same position.

Tang Tian was at the three-point line, and everyone else sank to the bottom line.

Tang Tian waved to Davis again.

In the high pick-and-roll, Tang Tian made a breakthrough move to the right this time, forcing Gasol and Green to double-team him.

He hit the ground to Davis.

Davis took the ball and rushed to the basket. This time he chose to force a dunk.

Duncan jumped out, and the two had a confrontation in the air.

The referee blew his whistle to signal Duncan's foul.

Davis' dunk was blocked, but he threw the ball after a fight.

The ball hits the board and bounces into the hoop.

A 2+1!

Duncan shook his head expressionlessly.

Although his competitive state this season is much better than last season, he is already a bit powerless in the face of a rookie of Davis' level.

Everyone has to admit that they are old.

Davis yelled excitedly after seeing the goal, and then turned back to give Tang Tian a high-five.

He scored this goal beautifully, but Tang Tian also hit the ground beautifully.

Popovich was thoughtful at this time.

I had a drink with Tang Tian yesterday, and he said that Tang Tian can win the MVP, which means a lot.

There are expectations for former disciples, and regular milk as opponents.

But looking at his performance in the past, he felt that Tang Tian really had the strength in this area.

MVP, the most valuable player, the so-called most valuable is not for the individual, but for the team.

The intuitive performance is good personal data and high team record.

But when it comes to details, it can make teammates and the team better.

Tang Tian performed very well last season, but Popovich didn't really feel much.

Because Tang Tian is basically trying to score, this is the least efficient way to help the team.

But now, Tang Tian's personal desire to attack has clearly subsided.

He was looking for his teammates at the beginning of the game, and he stood up and scored when his teammates couldn't play.

And even when he saw his teammates performing poorly later, he didn't blame but encouraged him until he brought his teammates' state into play.

This is what Popovich understands, what a most valuable player should do.

Davis wanted an additional penalty, and Tang Tian was standing on the side of the free throw line.

He noticed someone behind him looking at him, and when he turned around, it was Popovich.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

If he knew what Popovich was thinking at the moment, he didn't know how he would feel.

Chapter 589 Road to Champion (First Update!)

Davis adjusted his breathing and made an extra penalty.

7:9.

After getting lost in the opening game, the Pelicans finally got their game back.

Parker's spinning top layup that broke through the basket was interfered by Davis and missed, and Whiteside protected the defensive rebound.

Ariza's three-pointer was blocked by Leonard, and Gasol blocked Whiteside to receive the rebound.

After the mutual offense and defense in the opening stage, the situation on the field began to fall into a stalemate.

The Spurs are strong this season, but the Pelicans' ability to rank second in the West depends on their own strength.

As long as they play normally, they have the capital to fight the Spurs.

After the first quarter, the two sides tied at 23.

If the teams played before are not enough to explain the problem, then the performance of the Pelicans in this quarter is impressive.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the main players on both sides rested off the court.

The Spurs are led by Ginobili, plus Joseph, Belinelli, Diaw and Baynes.

Jokic led the Pelicans, plus Cole, Gordon, Morrow and Aminu.

The Spurs came up to attack first, and Belinelli's catch missed a three-pointer.

Jokic protected the defensive rebound.

In the frontcourt, Jokic responded from the free throw line and passed the ball to Gordon for a layup.

"beep!"

At this moment, a whistle came from the sidelines, and it turned out that the Spurs called a timeout!

The teammates on the field were stunned for a moment.

It took less than half a minute to play two rounds in the second quarter, and the Spurs called a timeout? !

Sitting on the sidelines, Tang Tian was also a little dazed, but when he turned around and saw Popovich with an unhappy face, he seemed to understand again.

This old man has done all the things that cut O'Neal in the first 6 seconds, and there is nothing he can't do.

Because the tactics were just arranged during the intermission, Williams only reminded the players to pay more attention to defense at this time.

Pause back, Spurs offense.

They suddenly stopped playing the hammer tactics. Joseph directly called Baynes' pick-and-roll, and after the dislocation, he rushed to Jokic.

Jokic has been losing weight during this period, and he has poor control over his body. When chasing and defending, the block hit Joseph.

Joseph gets two free throws.

He made two free throws against the interference, and the Spurs tied the score again.

Back on the defensive end, the Spurs focused on the Pelicans' off-ball coordination. Jokic's support failed, and he turned to play Baynes.

Baynes is strong in size and tough in defense, defending against Jokic's strong attack.

The Spurs advanced to the frontcourt, Ginobili also pulled Baines to pick and roll, and the misplacement faced Jokic and continued to rush.

His serpentine breakthrough successfully shook Jokic and scored at the basket.

Once fouled and once shaken, it is obvious that Jokic was placed by the Spurs.

When Jokic came to the Pelicans, Tang Tian worried that he would be targeted because of defensive problems, so he let him start losing weight early.

Now that the weight loss has not been completed, Popovich gave him a "rookie wall" gift against the Spurs ahead of schedule.

Cole's catch and layup was interfered by Embeth, and he turned around and recreated one of Jokic's thugs under the basket.

Williams called Reggie Evans up.

In this game, Jokic was too obviously targeted by the Spurs, so he shouldn't have too many opportunities.

Although Popovich called a timeout after two rounds in the second quarter, looking back, the timing of the timeout was just right.

Jokic was unable to play, and the firepower of the Pelicans' bench was a bit out of reach. The Spurs extended their lead to 8 points with several consecutive waves of offense and defense.

Williams called a timeout. After the timeout came back, he replaced the main players one after another.

Tang Tian hit a pull-up three-pointer when he reappeared, but Gasol immediately responded with a large two-pointer at the free throw line.

Davis's strong attack at the basket succeeded, and then Green also made a three-pointer with a hand-off pass from Gasol.

After a season of training last season, both Green and Leonard have grown to the strength of the 13-14 Spurs in history.

Coupled with Gasol, this year's Spurs are really strong.

After halftime, the Spurs led the Pelicans 53-41.

This was the toughest half the Pelicans have faced since the start of the season.

During the intermission, players from both sides returned to the locker room one after another.

The atmosphere in the Pelicans locker room was a bit dull.