basketball purple front

Chapter 1257 Continue to move forward and dismount the second place in the alliance

Because they are all strong teams in the Western Conference, there is no doubt that this is a national live broadcast.Many people came to the scene that night. The Lakers and Spurs are also rival teams. The collision of the playoffs has not stopped since the 90s.In recent seasons, because of Tang Qian's joining, the Lakers have also collided with the Spurs a lot.In the past five years, Tang Qian has fought two or three times in the playoffs with the Spurs, so the personnel on both sides are very familiar.

"Hot, tonight's home game, we will definitely win it. Unless you come to San Antonio." This is Duncan's opening remarks. Since he saw Tang Qian's potential, Duncan basically saw Tang Qian's potential. Qian was about to say it, and Tang Qian's ears were almost callused.In fact, since the last time, Duncan also knew that it was unlikely, but he just wanted to talk about it and see the helpless expression on the other side.He thought it was very interesting.

"I said Tim, can you change the opening line, it's like this every time, and the audience will get tired of listening to it."

"Sure, the future is yours." Duncan didn't show any expression, but it made people uncomfortable no matter how he heard it.

"Well, the future belongs to me. I will take this sentence." Tang Qian said: "Although you are no longer as brave as you used to be, but when you play, I will not show mercy. Don't blame me." Duncan heard Here also smiled and said: "Don't worry, it's natural, but I'm not that easy to deal with. Be careful to capsize."

Aldridge saw that the team's No. 21 and the Lakers' No. 29 were so "friendly", he turned his head and asked: "Tony, has the relationship between Tim and Dongfang Tang been so good?" Parker threw a ball and said: "Yes Yes, he has always wanted that Oriental to come over."

"Really?" Aldridge read aloud, but did not speak.

The two sides lined up the starting lineup. The Lakers are still Tang Qian + Randall + Ariza + Butler + Rondo. Although Covington is playing an increasingly important role in the team, Larry Brown still arranges him. on the bench.This intention is similar to that of Iguodala of the Warriors. One is to make up for the offensive and defensive thickness of the bench, and the other is to let the team's strongest killer move be used as a repertoire. Otherwise, it will be used at the beginning. If it fails, it is easy to lose backhand.Another person may not be willing to do this, but Covington started from the point where no one wanted him. Before coming to the Lakers, no one wanted him.So he is grateful to the Lakers, it is this team that gave him the opportunity to prove himself.In addition, he is quite comfortable here. Both the head coach and the boss value him more. The Lakers are also focusing on the defensive system this season. He weighed it and thinks that this place is very suitable for his future development.

He also knows now that his style of play is more suitable for a defensive team. Joining a small ball team may increase his scoring, but his greatest characteristics and advantages have also been diluted at the same time.So all things considered, it's better to stay with the Lakers.Since you have chosen to stay with the team for a long time, you must be willing to sacrifice a little bit for the team.And compared to the previous lack of opportunities to play, the game time has increased significantly now, and Covington doesn't have much resentment.

If he was a star player and had achieved fame before, it would be difficult to accept his current substitute status.It's not a big problem now.The ambition is also increasing step by step. Even if Covington has it, it is not now.

Popovich also had some basic negotiations with Larry Brown. The two are both teachers and friends, not like the "teacher-student relationship" in our traditional thinking.Sometimes two people are more "friends".So banter and a bit of old-fashioned humor is perfectly normal.

The Spurs' five-man team is Kawhi Leonard + Danny Green + Tony Parker + Tim Duncan + LaMarcus Aldridge.The power of this lineup is very good, especially in the regular season, it is very difficult to deal with.Coupled with the cultural system of the Spurs, Popovich is in charge, the entire team's locker room is very harmonious, and the team has a strong sense of teamwork.

And this team likes to play routines very much, and they are also recognized as one of the best teams in the NBA to play "routines".Play routines and tactics with them, and most teams in the league will be killed.For example, in 2014, the team energy of the Spurs team reached the level of metaphysics. If it weren't for this time and space Tang Qian's descending to the world + Kobe's all-round peak, the combination of internal and external, and the respective desperate efforts of Gasol and Nash, it would be impossible to win the game. It is impossible.Of course, the San Antonio Spurs this season are not as good as they were that year, but they are not weak either, otherwise they would not be able to win so many games, and they would not be in the second place in the Western Conference's second league.

Sure enough, the Spurs started out with an unhurried "routine" style of play. The variety of running positions and passing the ball is dazzling. This is also the "starting style" of the Spurs for so many years.If you are frightened by his hand, then the first opportunity will be taken, and it will take a lot of strength to get back.The start was beaten 6-0 by the Spurs.Larry Brown immediately called a timeout, and when he got up, he yelled at his head and face, "Are you all just making planes? What did I say before the game? Don't be scared or confused by their tactical routines. What should I do?" How can you fight, are you all stuffed with dog shit? Be normal to me, and stop being led by the nose! Did you hear that?"

The scolding is scolding, and after the scolding is over, it still needs to be arranged. The Lakers quickly returned to normal, but after playing for a long time, Popovich also changed their tactics. They actually used a star singles tactic to face the Lakers.The Lakers were caught off guard and were beaten several times in a row.Leonard scored a few in singles, and then the Lakers adopted a defense method of increasing defense, and the Spurs immediately switched back to the previous team combat mode.After the Lakers were hit with a few balls, they were replaced by Aldridge singles!
The Lakers were beaten in a bit of a mess in the first quarter. It seems that the Spurs have worked hard for this game. The back-to-back fatigue also made the Lakers' performance in the first quarter not good, and the feel was very average.Rondo tried his best to organize. Tang Qian also held the ball to attract the defense and passed the ball out to his teammates in time. Unfortunately, the Spurs' rotation defense has always been very good, and the Lakers' outside feel is not good. It's 15 points.The Spurs scored 23 points, leading the Lakers by 8 points.

During the bench time, he was even more confused by the Spurs' team mode + routine tactics. It seemed that the Lakers had a bad start to this game.The Spurs' home cheer sounded from time to time.

You can't fight like this!Larry Brown also knows, but now the Lakers are "trapped" by the opponent, and they seem to be "manipulated" by the opponent.It's one thing to know, but another thing to get the Lakers out.Larry Brown didn't start with the Super Defensive Five, staggering Covington and the starters.Having said that, this ultimate move was developed by him to "guarantee" the Lakers, such as the "Five Deaths" of the Warriors.These are all extraordinary forms, um, the kind of Yu Yuyong can’t be counted, it’s too fierce, and the conditions are different.

So the team can't develop a sense of dependence. This Larry Brown's idea is similar to Cole's.

He knows that although the regular season is not unimportant, the most important thing is the playoffs.Playing well in the playoffs, that's the key.

It is also inconvenient to "play cards" too much now, so as not to be exposed too much and be frantically studied by opponents.Although Larry Brown is very confident in his coaching ability and on-the-spot response, it is naturally good to be able to reduce such troubles.The regular season is far less important to him than the playoffs.

Sure enough, the players were a little disappointed to see that Larry Brown was not on the "Super Unlimited Switch Lineup", but Larry Brown insisted, and no one said much.After all, the boss of the team is also supporting the former now.It's just that if you don't use the "ultimate trick", what method can you use to reverse and fight against the Spurs?It's not difficult, there is a way, it depends on whether the players can implement it.The first is to reduce the double-teaming of the Spurs, that is, try to stick to 1-on-1 defense, and the same is true after changing defenses. This will reduce the smoothness of the opponent's passing and make it less likely to be caught in a large space.Then there is the offensive end, let Tang Qian attack.

When the morale of the team is suppressed, someone needs to come out to break the game. If the offense is well played, the morale of the team will naturally rise.Now the defensive end is a bit "covered" by the opponent, so there is nothing wrong with choosing the offensive end to influence.A professional head coach is not the kind of "grass team", who considers things carefully and thoroughly.

Popovich seems to use Aldridge to defend Tang Qian in order to let Duncan preserve his physical fitness. From the perspective of the Spurs, there is nothing wrong with this approach.Because don't look at the "dumb" Duncan's current data has dropped sharply, but as long as he is on the court, the team's ball movement and fluency will be greatly improved.This is also Duncan's hidden power after his early transformation. His low-post support, his movement, his overall view, and his understanding of Popovich's tactical thinking are all the first in the history of the Spurs.So even if he doesn't score much, standing on the court can still provide a lot of help for the Spurs.

And these things cannot be reflected in the data, and there is no way to reflect them.

Duncan's importance to the Spurs has grown old, and it's the same. Popovich would rather let Aldridge go up to defend the ball, and protect Duncan's physical fitness to explain the problem.Unfortunately, this decision is not very correct.Because now to defend the Lakers' No. 29, it's not just as simple as sacrificing the defensive end.Tang Qian's attack, Aldridge is too light, er, well, it's not very light, it's just that he himself is too strong. The 260-pound Adelaide is definitely a tonnage insider in this era, but...he met Tang Qian, a behemoth center who is close to 310 pounds.

Tang Qian's current game is a simple two-handed offensive routine. First, you are much lighter than me. Well, I will directly use strength and tonnage to fuck you. No matter how strong your defensive ability is, it is useless, because you can't show it.The insider of the Jazz before, the future DPOY was beaten by Tang Qian without any temper.Not to mention professional basketball courts, 2 pounds in ordinary field courts is an amazing concept, let alone the NBA.Tang Qian is now trying to force Aldridge, leaving the latter with nothing to do.As for the kind of tonnage and strength that are relatively large, and the strength is more tiring, such as Cousins ​​this season, the tonnage is similar to Tang Qian.what to do?It's easy to handle, just get it done at a direct speed.Tang Qian is now, the tonnage is larger than him, not as fast as him, and the speed is faster than him, the strength and tonnage are definitely not as good as him.In this way, a natural dislocation advantage emerges.

This dislocation advantage can be said to be very popular in the modern NBA.James and Durant are both of this type.Can form that kind of natural dislocation.Now there is another Tang Qian in the inside line.Although Aldridge's defense is not particularly good or excellent, it is still above average. Now he is trained by Popovich in the Spurs, and his defensive skills have improved a lot compared to before in the Trail Blazers.But it's useless. Tang Qian's flat face after scoring a goal can only explain one problem:
Too easy.

I didn't attack this ball, but I knew I was going to score with absolute confidence.

This kind of feeling is very solid for teammates, but it becomes very depressed for opponents.Aldridge didn't know how to defend himself.In fact, no matter how defensive it is, the Lakers are playing against him during this period.It was almost as if he was a "defensive black hole".At this scene, Ade was so angry that he was "silent and choked".

How did he become so strong now?When did it start?Aldridge looked at the back of No. 29, a little distracted.On the defensive end, because of Tang Qian's strength, the overall momentum of the Lakers began to pick up, so that the things Larry Brown just arranged can be slowly displayed on the court.To reduce double-teaming is to defend the Spurs' conduction of the ball and slow down the movement of their people and the ball.

Coupled with the Lakers' original defensive skills, the game began to change.

The Spurs missed 4 consecutive shots, but Duncan struggled to hit one, made a foul, and made 2 of 2 free throws to break the deadlock.Then, Popovich changed his tactics, saw that his own conduction ball was contained, and began to use star singles to destroy the Lakers' defensive system.This time, the Lakers didn't follow their example. They just insisted on a single defense. After switching defenses, they also played a single defense. I firmly believe that the star on the opposite side can't kill anyone.

Hey, this persistence really worked. The Spurs' singles performance declined compared to the first quarter.That's right, Leonard has just started to play the leading role on the offensive end this season, and his scoring ability is still growing.At present, his scoring ability is comparable to Butler of the Lakers, and his defense is much stronger. Although there are differences in the scoring methods he is good at, his average of only 21 points per game is also a moderate proof.The Lakers made a small dislocation here, replacing Butler and Ariza, because the former's defensive ability and physical strength are much stronger than Ariza, he is more suitable to deal with Leonard's singles.As for the Spurs' other outside line, Danny Green, the main threat is the three-pointer. The ability to attack independently is insufficient, and Ariza is more than enough to guard.

Butler has also been called a "weakened version of Leonard" by the outside world, which makes him very uncomfortable.Nonsense, both of them were rookies in the same year, so being called that is obviously looking down on Butler.Butler is not the kind of person who can sit idle. He has strict requirements on himself, and he trains absolutely hard. This means that Tang Qian is extremely strong, and he can hold him down. Either grab the class and seize power, or take the drinking fountain players to blow up the main team, so that the management has to trade.

How could a person with such a personality be so content with such a thing?Turn a blind eye?impossible!
So the best way is to compete with Leonard.

Butler has always believed that he has suffered a loss in his wingspan, after all, he is almost 20cm shorter than his opponent.This is simply a classic manifestation of talent disadvantage.The height is the same, with a wingspan of 202CM and a 221CM.Hell.Such a large gap is enough to make Leonard's defense and interference much easier than Butler's.At least you want to rely on top shots to attack Leonard, the result is definitely not working.But Butler is easy to be eaten to death by this.

Of course, Butler is thinking too much on his own. He is indeed not as good as Leonard, but it is not difficult to reduce the latter's shooting percentage this season.On the offensive end, Butler just doesn't play.Leonard is now recognized as the strongest perimeter defense in the league. Many experts believe that if there is no No. 29 of the Lakers, Leonard will have a chance to win the DPOY.

So Butler will not take the initiative to attack his opponent foolishly.He has this self-knowledge.

And the Lakers don't need him to do that.

After Leonard was entangled by Butler, the Spurs relied more on Aldridge for singles, which is why the Spurs can improve their regular season record so much this season.One bite reached the peak season of Popovich's coaching.Gives people the illusion of rebuilding invincibility.It depends on the fact that there is a situation of singles stars again.From a relatively pure team attack in the past few years, it has become a combination mode of team + singles. In this way, the requirements for the team's tacit understanding are also reduced, and the team has more ways to break the game.

In addition, there are two of them. During the regular season this season, the fans of the Spurs will pass out happily.

You must understand that this situation has not happened in the Holy City for a long time, and it is impossible for Duncan to exert too much force in the regular season.Based on this kind of card, this season, the people in the Holy City will once again shout the slogan of wanting to hit the Larry O'Brien Cup.It seems that the regular season is not impossible, and it seems to be a strong team second only to the Warriors.Besides, the Spurs have the habit of "playing dead" in the regular season and doubling their combat effectiveness in the playoffs, so calling out to win the championship, at least during the regular season, is not empty talk.

It's a pity that they all overestimated the singles ability of these two players this season.

Aldridge is 18+ this season. Compared with himself, he is not in the peak state.

It's really overthinking to rely on singles to kill the Lakers in this way.

Coupled with Tang Qian's high-energy basket protection on the inside, Aldridge's offense is not very comfortable, and he is too afraid of the deterrence of the Lakers' No. 29 inside.After all, during this period of time, he has read the data. This guy averaged more than 7 blocks per game in 10 games!This is still the situation where the Lakers played a lot of three quarters!In addition, he just went in and suffered a big hot pot, so he would naturally feel jealous.

In this way, Aldridge's face basket was useless, except for the occasional sitting on his back, the rest of the time he was floating and shooting.In terms of shooting, he is not weak, in fact, he is quite accurate, with more than 4% of the mid-range and mid-to-long distance!This is the absolute top level of the league.It's just pure shooting, it's hard to kill people, and the same is true for Aldridge. His scoring explosiveness is not his strong point. Once the touch drops, something goes wrong.

The rebound Duncan was not there, he went out again, basically impossible, the Lakers protected the rebound, Tang Qian attacked and killed inside, and played a 2+1.

The score difference was gradually widened to 8 points. Seeing that the situation was wrong, Popovich immediately replaced Duncan, but he still didn't let Duncan defend Tang Qian.The consequence of this is that Aldridge consumed much more physical energy than usual on the defensive end, and naturally felt the impact on the offensive end, and began to hit the iron continuously.

The Lakers are still playing steadily, and the score difference continues to expand to more than 10 points.

The Spurs are a bit embarrassed. They want to adjust, but they lack a strong point to take the lead in killing and improving morale, such as Tang Qian of the Lakers just now.Larry Brown is very satisfied with this point. It is the best result to reverse the win and suppress the opponent without using the "hole card".Waiting for a direct wave of "high-energy defense" can completely stop the Spurs.

Tang Qian faced Duncan's defense with the ball. He didn't pass the ball. He chose a small jump. After stabilizing his core, he forcibly pulled up from the ground!Then, with one arm raised, he dunked towards the Spurs' basket!Boom~ Neither Duncan nor Aldridge blocked the ball. Tang Qian's ball made the morale of the Spurs even worse.

Duncan felt an incomparable aura on No. 29's body with this ball, and he once had this aura.

That is absolute confidence in one's own physical strength.

From the bottom of my heart, I feel that I am one of the strongest players in the league.

Since he is such a player, how could he be easily blocked?
This kind of aura is very hard to say, not to say that there are stars, you are like Aldridge, you are a star, but in him, this feeling is very weak.Popovich is also a little bit stuck now. He doesn't know whether he should continue to stick to singles until the Lakers change, or go back to the team to conduct basketball.After a little hesitation, the game is already irreversible.

It's not that Popovich didn't think of a way. He made a few fancy pick-and-roll tactics to turn the situation around, but Larry Brown was no longer ready to give his "disciple" any more chances.What he wants the team to do, the Lakers have already done it in this game, and since that's the case, let's start the harvest game.With a wave of his hand, the Lakers replaced the lineup of Tang Qian + Covington + Ariza + Butler + Rondo, and then the super infinite switch formation started, the Spurs could not break the attack, and the game was over.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 89-80 with a 9-point advantage, and they were second in the West, narrowing the gap by one more game.In this game, none of the Spurs scored 20 points. Leonard had 15 points and Aldridge had 14 points. At the same time, it took 14 shots and 4 free throws to get it.The rest Parker scored 12 points, Manu Ginobili 9 points... Duncan played very average in this game, only 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists were recorded.

With the decline in long-range shots and the decline in strength, he is indeed a bit "powerless" on the offensive end.It's okay to play inside in ordinary space, but it's too difficult to play under the basket guarded by Tang Qian.In addition, after Duncan's mid-range and long-range baskets have degenerated to the lowest point of his career this season, his scoring firepower can be described as falling again and again.Although there are still many loyal fans who think that he is still "playing dead" in the regular season, Duncan himself knows that this time, this is no longer the case.

He finally entered the final chapter of a superstar after his 19 NBA seasons.

The fault is falling.

But he is fortunate that the Spurs have completed the replacement of the old and the new, and they will still be a strong team for at least the next 10 years.

That's enough.

Unfortunately, both Duncan and Popovich underestimated the future and overestimated the team.

After defeating the Spurs, the Lakers' record improved to 36 wins and 10 losses, and the Spurs became 37 wins and 7 losses.

The win gap is shrinking.

In the early morning of the 23rd, ESPN announced their selection of the top ten power forwards in history.At the same time, the official website of the NBA League also announced the final voting situation of this year's All-Star.

PS: I have come back late these days, and the updates will be very late. If you can’t wait, you can watch it in the morning~ I’m going to bed~ Xiaozi is going to be tired~~~ZZZ~~~6k chapter, please support ~~~
(End of this chapter)