basketball never sleeps

Chapter 284 Ballroom Dancing

There is a saying that goes, "I heard that you were riding in triumph, and I saw you riding a horse and seeing the beautiful flowers."

The double-digit score difference with only one quarter left was enough for the Spurs fans to determine who would win today.

Out of conservatism, Popovich did not replace Duncan, who played almost the entire playing time today.

"You can treat this series as the finals. I will give my all to maintain the score difference, defend San Antonio, and maintain the expectations of the fans!"

Yes, Duncan is his life, but at this critical moment, for the sake of happiness, he had to force his baby.

Duncan panted and threw the wet towel aside without objecting because he also felt uneasy.

Ever since he was sent off by the bald guy for joking with his teammates on the sidelines in April, nothing in the NBA can surprise or panic him. Just like an old cold leg can predict rainy days, his 4-year professional career has also given him an unusually keen sense of smell.

Apart from anything else, Mo Wen acted too normal tonight.

20+10 in three quarters, any other star would be able to hold his head high with a clear conscience, but he is Mo Wen.

His position on the field rarely faces Mo Wen head-on, but as a formidable enemy in the past, present and future, he has done a lot of research on him.

According to big data statistics, Mo Wen played fewer key shots in the first three years of his career than Kobe did in one year. That's not because Mo Wen is bad at key shots, but because Mo Wen never likes to drag the game to the end.

Anyone who has studied Mo Wen will know how Mo Wen scored his first 30 points in his career.

A first-year rookie dominated the deciding moment of a triple-overtime playoff game.

The video quality of that era was not very clear, but anyone who has seen that game will never forget the big heart, cold-bloodedness and desire for victory shown by the young boy in the third overtime.

Such a player can still pass the ball according to the tactics when the team is behind in the third quarter. If you listen carefully, you can taste the difference.

"That guy is about to explode, be careful." Duncan stroked the back of Ginobili's neck and warned him.

"Don't worry, you'll take care of everything." Ginobili patted his thigh...Duncan's thigh.

By now, his stamina bar was already being used as a loan for willpower, but fortunately, with the double-digit score difference and Duncan's backup, ten more minutes would be enough.

When the Spurs won the championship in 03, Ginobili was still Stephen Jackson's substitute, averaging more than 20 minutes of playing time and eight or nine points per game. At that time, his pressure was not as great as that of the main players, and he envied the playing time of the "Martial Saint". But when he took this position, he knew that not a penny of his salary was earned in vain.

Just endure it.

Soon the mahjong tiles were neatly rearranged.

"Defence!" "Defence!" "Defence!"

Not only did the Spurs players not let their guard down, but the fans were also very alert.

If you listen carefully, you can also hear many cordial greetings to Mo Wen and his family tree.

After adjusting his state, Mo Wen blocked out everything, looked at the Spurs' battle-ready formation, and licked his lips.

The abnormal personality developed by years of hanging out in dungeons has gradually broken free from the psychological constraints of "civilized people".

Zhang Yang could no longer suppress the smile.

The remaining rationality made him wave his hand. His teammates did not notice Mo Wen's difference and continued to run the tactics as usual.

Thanks to Mo Wen's passing-first style of play in the first three quarters, even though they anticipated that Mo Wen would start playing one-on-one, the Spurs players had to focus their energy on defending the players on the same side.

Ginobili, who was standing in front of Mo Wen, looked at Mo Wen, and his heart trembled. He immediately gave up the idea of ​​a 1V1 man battle, waved his hands, and signaled Duncan to pay attention to defense.

Capturing the tension of his prey, Mo Wen pushed the ball without hesitation, creating a gust of wind.

But after Ginobili turned his hips in response to the stress, the Tigers canceled their downward movement and instead raised their heads and roared like a lion.

I have to say that Ginobili has a good sense of positioning, and his arm was just between Mo Wen's line of sight and the basket.

A perfect scope.

Swish!
The clean three-pointer brought the volume of the home court down a notch.

Turning around, Parker received the ball and made a layup, but was interfered by Tyson. Milicic grabbed the rebound and threw it to the frontcourt.

Brent Barry, who was following Mo Wen, was knocked away in the confrontation. He staggered and tried to grab the corner of Mo Wen's clothes, but he lost the chance to regain his balance.

Parker ran very fast with his short legs, but after catching up with Mo Wen, he didn't know what to do next.

In terms of impact, Mo Wen, who weighs more than 90 kilograms, is definitely not as strong as James, who has the weight of a center and the speed of a small forward, but he is also not someone that Parker can match.

If he was willing to sacrifice his entire fortune to stop it, there would still be a chance, but he was not so selfless. He was going to marry Eva in the summer, and his wonderful life had just begun.

Fortunately, Parker's style of following Mo Wen all the way from the midline to the basket was still quite iron-blooded (chi han).

And his efforts were not in vain, at least the Spurs completed a quick serve because of him.

Duncan, who was always paying attention, did not waste this opportunity. After receiving the ball, he slowed down in the high position, handed the ball to Ginobili from behind to complete a moving screen. Ginobili faked a shot from outside the three-point line, mobilized Milicic to block the shot, and then passed the ball to Duncan who was running down the court.

Seeing Tyson coming forward, Duncan did not force his way in. Instead, he turned sideways, changed hands, and simply jumped forward to hit the rebound and score a goal.

Without any sluggish positional organization, the Spurs also scored in 7 seconds.

Mo Wen did not blame his teammates. Duncan's talent on the offensive end was one of the main reasons why he failed to win a DPOY award throughout his career in his previous life.

Human brain circuits are so narrow that the more dry they are in certain aspects, the more they can notice other people's shining points. The most typical example is that when a big bear appears, most people's minds will be covered with milky white snow.

Back to the Supersonics' turn, Popovich noticed Mo Wen's desire to attack and directed the team to set up a three-two zone defense, vowing to get Mo Wen back to the team.

"Double-team, double-team him, Manu, defend him, don't let him get the ball!"

Mo Wen observed the movement of people on the field but had no intention of passing the ball.

The lone figure outside the three-point line and the messy running and pulling inside the three-point line formed a sharp contrast.

The charm of tactics is gradually diminishing, because everyone can see who is the protagonist and who is the minor player at this moment.

"Look, the bottom corner is empty!"

Some Spurs fans on the sidelines "rebelled".

They would rather let Mo Wen pass the ball to teammates in open positions.

Without Ray Allen, the Supersonics had no other stars with explosive shooting from beyond the three-point line, so they would rather let Mo Wen pass the ball to teammates in open positions.

Mo Wen certainly saw the opportunity, but as the absolute core, now was not the time for him to pursue rationality.

Mo Wen doesn't like to say things like "I have trained longer than you, worked harder than you, and fought harder than you, so this ball should be given to me!" Because in real life, he really doesn't have as much time for basketball training as his teammates.

But in terms of quantity, the number of shots taken by his teammates at various positions in reality may not be as many as his number of shots in the copy game.

So, this ball is still his to shoot!

Milicic came to the elbow area and did a pick-and-roll screen. Mo Wen pretended not to see it, dribbled the ball with his back and turned sideways to find a screen to cut inside.

With his teammates backing him up, Ginobili didn't dare to be careless. He squeezed forward to confront Mo Wen, not wanting him to easily pass the screen. However, he didn't expect that Mo Wen only took half a step and then fell back.

Brent Barry thrust his chest out to meet the defense, while Mo Wen turned sideways without stopping to fight back with his back.

The white man was also able to fly when he was young, and now he relies more on experience and prediction in his play. He predicted Mo Wen's prediction and did not focus on blocking the path of the ball, but Mo Wen did not intend to play prediction games with him. He used his pure talent to crush his way to the inside.

Duncan's assist was timely. Mo Wen glanced at Milicic, but his feet started to dance like a wolf king, retreating one step into the three-point line and raising his hand to shoot.

Several people failed to keep up with the blockade, but the basketball popped out without giving any respect.

Gay flew up from the side and grabbed the rebound, and old Hill's roar sounded from the bench the next second.

"Give Mo the damn basketball!"

Guy saw the opportunity. Although he was dissatisfied, he knew that now was not the time to be willful, so he moved away with the ball.

While passing the ball back to Mo Wen, he also saw Mo Wen's signal to cut inside. His sudden start helped Mo Wen attract the attention of the people around him. Mo Wen did not waste the opportunity. He dragged his steps to the side, then jumped and seized the open space in the middle distance and finally scored.

When Duncan served again, Mo Wen suddenly stepped forward and pressed Parker. Parker's pass was slapped away by Tyson without warning, and Magloire rushed out from the side and grabbed the ball.

But before he could be happy for even a second, a figure rushed out from the side and appeared in front of him, then bit and tore the basketball from his hand without saying a word.

That’s right, Magloire felt like he was bitten!
In a trance, he only remembered the bloodthirsty eyes, the sharp white teeth, and the bite force that seemed to tear off his hands and arms.

Gay used his 19-year-old reflexes to turn around and stab into the basket, forcibly triggering Mo Wen's assist passive. The basketball, which had been away from the basket for 3 seconds, was once again thrown into the arms of the Nets.

In the hotel, Ray Allen waved his fist excitedly. He had felt a little guilty when he saw Mo Wen not passing the ball when he saw the baseline was open. If he was there, he could at least help Mo Wen create space for one person, but now he relaxed.

I forced Mo Wen to be such a NewBee!

"Time Out!"

The Supersonics' 9:2 offensive wave directly stopped the Spurs.

After this timeout, the Spurs only had one timeout left, but Popovich didn't dare not call it. The double-digit score difference was "resolved in an instant", and if he didn't call it, he might not have another chance.

Budenholzer, who is still an assistant coach for the Spurs, wanted to tell Popovich that blindly defending is not advisable. Mo Wen's condition is obviously uncontrollable, so it is better to try to strengthen the offense.

But Popovich, who was in an excited or red-hot state, had no intention of listening to the advice.

Faced with the stadium that was starting to get noisy, Popovich just wanted to use defense to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible and buried his head in his comfort zone looking for answers.

Just like the protagonist in The Shining uses the same sentence over and over again to fill in his epic work - all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
There is nothing wrong with the Spurs' defensive strategy. The problem is that this strategy has an unsolvable bug.

People who often play street basketball usually think that there are too many people on the court, but Popovich only thinks that there are too few people at this moment.

He even had a bold idea - if Mo Wen continued to be so accurate, then he would give up the three-pointers from everyone except Mo Wen and let other players of the Supersonics also participate in the "defense" against Mo Wen.

But he didn't dare speak.

If the Supersonics were really given this opportunity, if the other players of the Supersonics were more accurate, they might have died faster after a rain of three-pointers.

However, this idea still influenced him.

In the Spurs' round, the No. 21 rookie used his own influence and the outside line to unexpectedly create an opportunity for Magloire to attack the basket, which made many fans breathe a sigh of relief.

Back to the Supersonics' turn, Mo Wen held the ball on the outside, Ginobili and Barry were in front and back defense, and on the other side there was Duncan following Milicic, Parker following Earl Watson, and Magloire guarding the basket. The Spurs' overall lineup was quite compact.

Under Popovich's command, the Spurs still gave Mo Wen's teammates more opportunities.

This time it was not the bottom corner, but there were a lot of gaps on both sides. Gay was almost completely ignored, Milicic also had a good chance to follow up, and Watson would also have a big stage if he received the ball.

Having lots of bait is like a fisherman’s bait (for feeding fish). He can put dozens of kilograms of corn in it without worrying that you won’t take the bait.

It’s a pity that Mo Sigma Dugu Wen had no intention of taking the bait and continued to use his teammates as tools.

With the help of Earl Watson's small screen, Mo Wen seized the loophole of Parker and forced his way in. He stood at the free throw line and ignored the defense of the little guy and made another quick stop jump shot.

Popovich really wants to live in Bengbu.

You are the assist king and your teammates are given all the opportunities. What are you doing if you don’t pass the ball?
He really wanted to go across and grab old Hill by the collar and ask him how he coached his players.

Old Hill also noticed his gaze and smiled at him. He had realized the true meaning of a championship coach.

In turn, the Spurs continued to play screen and pick-and-roll, using frequent passes to mobilize the Supersonics' defense.

But the Sonics players are not there to just sit there and do nothing. They don't need to worry too much on the offensive end. With their talents, the energy they can exert on the defensive end is amazing.

In the next round, Brent Barry clearly had a chance in the bottom corner, but Gay used his running and jumping talent to force Barry to raise the arc of his shot.

84:89
86:91
89:91
……

93:93
Six minutes into the fourth quarter, the Supersonics finally tied the score again.

beep.

The official pause, that is, the necessary advertising time has come.

"Do you want to take a break?" Old Hill asked with concern.

In half a quarter, Mo Wen had scored 13 points. This was not the most violent scoring performance in Mo Wen's career, but this was the playoffs and the opponent was the Spurs.

Mo Wen’s outburst looks very cool, but the consumption behind it cannot be ignored.

"I'm very tired." Mo Wen sat down on the bench and said leisurely, "So there's no way I'm going to win the game."

History has changed a lot because of his existence. Compared with the Spurs, who were restrained and weakened by him, the Warriors and Cavaliers in the last two rounds are also opponents that require time to study.

Since we cannot study the next round of opponents in advance, we should get rid of the current opponents as soon as possible.

After taking a breath, the Spurs set sail again with the expectations of 2 home fans.

But in the swamp created by the Sonics players, the power contributed by Parker who was against the wind, Ginobili who was forced to hide, and Duncan who had no outside support was too little.

Mo Wen used his all-around attack to illustrate whose era this was.

"Wade said in an interview before that Mo was very talented in technical learning, so he usually spends most of his time exercising. Looking at his performance today, I think no one should doubt it. After playing for 40 minutes, Mo was able to run and break through against Manu!"

"Nice pass. Tim once again used his influence to help his teammates create... Damn, MVP swatted Parker's shot away. The Frenchman should probably consider developing his long-range shooting during the holidays."

"God, the Sonics can still perform an alley-oop at this time?! The Spurs' reserves on the front line are too poor. With Bruce suspended, Barry can't even hold off the rookie, let alone Mo!"

"With an 8-point difference and 2 minutes left, what San Antonio needs now is a Reggie Miller or T-mac? T-mac is a really good candidate except for his high salary. Considering that Mo still has a long time to peak, I sincerely hope Buford can consider trading T-mac."

On the court, there was 1 minute left before the end of the game.

Duncan pushed Tyson Chandler away, twisted his features and put the basketball into the basket.

The referee blew the whistle at the right time, 2+1.

As Duncan made the free throw, cheers broke out from the audience.

Many people stopped and left the field. With a 6-point difference and 50 seconds left, it seemed like they still had a chance?

Looking at the Spurs players who had rekindled their hope, Mo Wen raised the corner of his mouth in a mocking manner.

He signaled to Hill that there was no need to call a timeout, as the Spurs no longer had any timeouts, and all he had to do now was to lead the Spurs smoothly.

Having seen a lot of things in the dungeon, he has absolute dominance over how to handle the ball at the last moment. At this moment, he did not feel any nervousness. Instead, he quite enjoyed the nervousness shown by the Spurs players.

The Spurs players had no intention of dying standing, but chose to retreat and allow Mo Wen to slowly advance and play with time and their emotions.

Milicic and Tyson both pulled out, standing still like two goalkeepers, leaving no chance for the referee to call a screen foul.

With only 5 seconds left, Mo Wen suddenly started.

Go around the pick-and-roll - turn around - face Duncan - back-to-the-basket and turn around to break through - face Horry, with Duncan behind him - turn around and change hands to get the rebound.

Mo Wen seemed to be dancing a ballroom dance, turning around several times to make his "interpersonal relationships" very clear.

The basketball seemed to be possessed during several turns. Although Mo Wen's shot was straight up and down, the basketball bounced accurately into the basket after hitting the backboard.

art.

This word popped into the mind of everyone who saw this goal.

But the Spurs players had no time to appreciate this wonderful goal, nor did they have the time to explore the humiliating meaning behind it.

There was an 8-point difference and 28 seconds left. If I didn't try harder, the fishing rod would be unsealed and fly away like Harry Potter's broom.

Duncan quickly turned over, Parker tried his best to advance, and 4 seconds later, Horry received the pass in the sweet spot.

bass!
Looking at Horry's horrified eyes, Mo Wen felt a little bored for some reason.

He once felt panic when he realized that he, a little butterfly, had brought changes to the world. He was afraid that the world would become something unfamiliar to him and that his foresight would become useless.

But now he just wants to make everything a little more chaotic. The world needs more people dancing to be interesting enough.

Parker picked up the basketball that was blocked by Mo Wen, and shot again from the three-point line, but missed. When the rebound was controlled by the Supersonics again, there were only 13 seconds left.

Horry hugged Milicic and tried to struggle.

But Duncan looked at the time and score difference in both directions and lowered his head helplessly.

After the free throw, the ball fell to the ground. Duncan patted it and ignored it, watching it lose momentum and bounce lower and lower.

At the end of the game, the Supersonics beat the Spurs 109:100, killing the suspense of the decisive game in the cradle.

(End of this chapter)