freeallnovels Chapter 1119 1118. The Hope of the Spurs
Chapter 1119 1118. The Hope of the Spurs
Chapter 1119 1118. The Hope of the Spurs
The troika and Popovich's role player plan are indeed a powerful combination that can be ranked at the forefront of history. Rao is the best record in the history of the Eagles this season with 39 wins and 4 losses. With such terrifying strength, they cannot gain an advantage in the first match. The two teams can only die.
Just like in the playoffs, no matter how weak the team is, the weak team has a chance to win one or two games against the strong team, and it is often the first few games that have a better chance of being upset.
Now the Eagles are 39 wins and 4 losses, and the Spurs are 34 wins and 9 losses. In fact, there is only a gap of 5 wins.
In the first half, the two teams were evenly matched. The first match between the two teams was similar to testing opponents in the playoffs in terms of skills, tactics and performance. The Spurs had a little bit of the initiative because they were a changed team. On the Eagles side, the scoring habits of the players have definitely not changed. Under the circumstances, with the contingency, and the Eagles played an evenly matched anxious state.
But this state was broken by Liu Mang in the third quarter!
The Spurs used to rely on the troika and a group of high-quality role players to fight against the Eagles' Mihawks. With the addition of a number of role players, the performance of the two teams is similar in general.
But Liu Mang broke out suddenly and made three unbelievable three-pointers. After Liu Mang scored 10 consecutive free throws to open the point difference to 8 points, the stalemate on the field was instantly broken!
The previous regular performances of the two teams have achieved the ultimate offensive performance against the opponent's defense, and the defense of the two teams has also achieved the ultimate. According to common sense, it should be anxious until the end like many anxious games.
However, Liu Mang's out-of-the-ordinary performance sealed the victory in just 4 minutes!
The Spurs have changed from being able to steadily grind the rhythm to having to start using the personal abilities of Ginobili, Sprewell, and Finley to chase points!
Under the existing rules, a strong team of inside stars can directly affect the strength of a team, and in terms of continuity, the impact is much greater than that of outside stars.
But that is the impact on one season or several seasons, and for chasing points in a game, the role of inside players is far less than outside!This is true no matter what the rules are.
Moreover, it is difficult for Duncan's team to come back.
The characteristic of Duncan's team is stability. Duncan can adjust his style of play very well and affect the strength of the team for 19 years. Popovich built a stable system based on Duncan's characteristics and played Duncan's greatest role.
In the middle of the third quarter, Ginobili saw that the point difference could not be narrowed to less than five points for a long time, and began to confidently shoot wildly.
Although it is true that Ginobili is powerful, he is powerful. It is easy to hurt others, and it is easy to hurt yourself!
Originally, the point difference was narrowed by the Spurs to 6 points, playing steadily. The Spurs may reduce the point difference to less than 5 points before the final critical moment. In the end, they used Sprewell and Finley, two players who can shoot key shots signed last summer, and Ginobili's personal ability to try to make a final reversal. However, Ginobili's two three-point shots gave the Eagles a chance!
Give Liu Mang a chance!
In the 7th minute of the third quarter, after Liu Mang missed a three-pointer in the first counterattack, he seized the opportunity in the second counterattack and hit the sixth three-pointer of the game!
70 to 61, the Eagles extended their lead to nine points!
After the Spurs called the official timeout and came back, the defense against Liu Mang became stricter. In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang didn't get any good shots. He successfully received the ball and successfully threw the ball. Neither of these two points was very good. However, this allowed the rest of the Eagles to be in a 4-on-3 state for almost a long time, maintaining an efficient performance.
Although Duncan's high-post support, Liu Mang can't learn it, but the passing of the ball can still be learned by learning Duncan's way of passing the ball. Liu Mang made more use of his containment force on both sides of the top arc to direct his teammates' air cuts and off-ball pick-and-rolls.
……
……
In the third quarter, he "only" made four three-pointers, but it established the advantage of the game. Liu Mang did not regret that he missed so many shots in the third quarter. If he made a few more shots in the third quarter and made his 5-for-4 three-point shooting percentage 8-for-4 or 10-for-5, it is possible that although he scored a few more points and made one or two more three-pointers, he might not be able to narrow the point difference so much.
In the third quarter, Liu Mang scored 15 points and 3 assists in a single quarter, and a total of 33 points and 6 assists in the three quarters, which helped the Eagles establish a stable lead. Whether it is for the team's victory or for Liu Mang's mission to continue the winning streak before the All-Star Weekend, it has a positive effect.
After the three quarters, Liu Mang made 6 three-pointers, which was two short.
In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang used his threat to help his teammates score, allowing the Spurs to consciously adjust their defense against Liu Mang and the rest of the Spurs after the start of the fourth quarter.
Seeing that Liu Mang received the ball and passed it to teammates who had a chance, it seemed that Liu Mang played a few shots on purpose in the third quarter, just to increase his threat and help his teammates score. The Spurs' defensive tendency began to change.
In the minds of the Spurs players, the biggest role of three-pointers is not to score, but to open up space to contain the defense, so that others have better opportunities to score within the three-point line. They don't know how many three-pointers Liu Mang must make in this game, so they guess the purpose of Liu Manglang's goal of helping his teammates score after a while, and use their own understanding to guess.
Popovich played for nearly 3 minutes in the fourth quarter, and called a timeout when the point difference was still eight points. He arranged a tactical strategy for the Eagles to play singles and not let them cooperate.
The Eagles' three-hawk open shot is really scary. I would rather let them play one-on-one, and there is still a little way.
In the 3rd minute of the fourth quarter, after returning from a timeout, Liu Mang originally wanted to use his containment power to attract a pincer and then pass out after receiving the ball from Jason Terry in the frontcourt, and then help his teammates score.
But this time, only Sprewell came up to defend him, and it was not the kind of defense that forced him to go to the uncomfortable zone and give him a chance to break through, or the normal rough action defense!
The Hawks lineup is three eagles plus twin towers, and the Spurs are the strongest lineup of the troika plus Sprewell and Muhammad. Seeing that Liu Mang is not double-teamed, Jason Terry pulls to the left corner, McGrady goes to the right 45 for vacation, Rasheed Wallace goes to the right corner to meet, and Kwame Brown holds Duncan's defense on the left side of the three-second zone.
Liu Mang's perfect singles opportunity!
Liu Mang immediately understood the opponent's thoughts. This was to target him and hadn't shot a three-pointer for nearly 8 minutes of the game, and to defend against his singles!
Liu Mang looked at Sprewell. The Spurs have always been very interesting. The strongest individual defense is either Bowen who has almost no offensive skills, or a veteran like Sprewell.
Liu Mang held the ball with his right hand, his right foot took a step forward to the right, his left foot didn't move, and his right hand swung the ball from the bottom right to the left to make a giant loop. Sprewell immediately dodged it, but after Liu Mang's giant loop completed a circle, he posted it immediately.
Much better than Ginobili's defense!
Players who can be selected to the best defensive team in the second grade are really not covered. Even if they are 35 years old, their defense is still very good.
However, this momentary opportunity was seized by Liu Mang!
Sticking to Sprewell, he broke through from the right side. As soon as Sprewell pressed up, he quickly stepped back to block Liu Mang's breakthrough. As long as he stood in front of Liu Mang, it was enough to put pressure on Liu Mang's shot.
Liu Mang took the initiative, took a step in, and then retreated abruptly, bouncing back to the top arc!
Sprewell didn't hit the big loop and was not fouled, Liu Mang broke through, and Sprewell also followed, but in the end, the 35-year-old veteran couldn't keep up with the step back!
Liu Mang's iconic step-back and sniper three-point shot!
Continuing the fiery touch, Liu Mang slammed a three-pointer on the basket and fell into the frame!
85 to 74, the Eagles widened the point difference to 11 points!
Liu Mang's three-pointer made the Spurs feel discouraged for the first time, and the point difference was finally opened to more than 10 points!
However, the Spurs did not give up, and then started a wave of fierce offense. Ginobili came out of his body at a critical moment. With the Eagles holding on to an 11-point difference, in the middle of the fourth quarter, he broke into the inside twice in a row and made a fairy-like layup.
吉诺比利单场拿到24分了，邓肯那边到了第四节中段，也已经稳定的拿到18分10板3助攻3盖帽，斯普雷维尔也拿到了15分。
The stable performance allowed the Spurs to keep the point difference within [-] points with five and a half minutes left, even with Liu Mang's explosion in the third quarter.
The Spurs feel there is still a chance!
(End of this chapter)