NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 205: Full fire, 55+20 with injury to beat the Spurs
"Good job, everyone!"

Unlike the atmosphere in the Thunder's locker room, everyone in the Spurs' locker room was smiling.

Popovich patted Dio on the shoulder, smiled and said,
"It's you, Boris. You're so quick and accurate. Look, those guys on the Thunder didn't see any problem at all."

Dio puffed out his chest proudly and pointed his thumb at himself.
"You must, coach. The tasks you assign must be completed perfectly."

"Besides, if my movements are too obvious and I get discovered, then I'm done for. They'll tear me apart on their home turf."

Hearing this, everyone laughed in unison.

"Thanks to Dio for his efforts. I have to say, after Ibaka left the court, my offensive performance became much smoother. That Nick Collison couldn't defend against my offense at all."

Duncan said slowly, looked at Dio who was as proud as a rooster, smiled and continued,
"We finally caught up with the score. Although we are still 58:67 and nine points behind the Thunder, we will be able to catch up after the third quarter if we continue this trend."

Popovich touched his chin and nodded in agreement.

"That's right. And if we do this, Lin Chuan on the other side will consume more energy on the defensive end. Durant doesn't have much physical strength. He will be out of energy by the fourth quarter if we play like this. We have to be patient in the fourth quarter. We have a great chance of winning the game!"

At this point, Popovich spoke passionately.

"So, in the second half, we should target these two core points and defeat them in their home court!"

"rush!!!!!"

Everyone responded, and their momentum rose a lot, except Leonard.

He just felt a chill.

In the locker room, Dio was smug about injuring his opponent in secret, and others were not surprised and even happy about it.
For him, this was a clearly unsportsmanlike practice.

He felt awkward watching everyone so happy and excited about defeating their opponents.

He couldn't get over it mentally, and he couldn't cheer with his teammates.

Duncan noticed Leonard's mood was not right beside him, he turned around and whispered,
"Kawhi, what's wrong? You don't look very happy."

"Huh? No, nothing's wrong. This is normal for me."

Leonard was stunned for a moment when Duncan suddenly questioned him, and tried to cover it up by saying that he was usually taciturn and had no emotional fluctuations.

But who is Duncan? After being teammates with Leonard for more than a year, he can still tell whether he is in a bad mood or just silent.

A second later, he realized why Leonard was like this.

He leaned forward and whispered,
"Do you feel that what we did and how we reacted were beyond your expectations, and you feel a little uncomfortable about it?"

Leonard fell silent after hearing this. Under Duncan's gaze, he finally nodded reluctantly. Then he glanced in the direction of the locker room door.

Duncan understood what he meant, stood up and walked out of the locker room, followed by Leonard.

The two walked to the corner of the passage and stood side by side, hiding their bodies in the shadows. Leonard then spoke,

"That's right. I do think it's a bit too much... Others didn't do anything bad. They were just playing normally on the court. But we resorted to dirty tricks and hurt them just because our opponents played too well. This is really against sports ethics and goes against the concepts I have held for so many years of playing basketball..."

Duncan smiled and said in a calm tone,
"You used to play school basketball. At that time, everyone was really pure and just wanted to win and defeat the opponent with their performance on the basketball court. But now, we play professional basketball in the NBA, which is a commercial game. Playing well, getting honors, and winning championships are different from the school basketball you used to play. It is no longer just a false reputation, but is truly related to the actual interests of everyone on the team."

Seeing Leonard's puzzled look, Duncan explained,

"For example, many people's contracts include bonuses if they win the championship, or incentive bonuses if they achieve other goals. Star players don't care, but there are so many non-star players in the team. Their contracts are not big, and they will live better with this bonus. Moreover, the more championships you win, the more the league and sponsors will pay attention to you. The star players in the team eat meat, and others can also drink soup. This is why we have been striving for the goal of the championship every year."

After listening to what Duncan said, Leonard also understood some things.

In fact, many people do it for money.

He could also understand some meaning in Duncan's words.

And although there is not much prize money for winning the championship.

But as a member of the championship team, they will live more comfortably in their subsequent NBA career, at least their prospects in the NBA will be better, which will help them sign big contracts.

But even though Duncan explained so much to him, he still felt it was a bit too much.

"If we can't win by sheer strength, I think it's because we are not as good as them in skills. At worst, we can start all over again the next year, make up for the missing parts, strengthen ourselves in a targeted way, and we will win the championship again."

After listening to Leonard's speech, Duncan sighed and said seriously,
"It's easy for you to say, but how can reinforcement be so easy?"

"There are trade periods and free markets every year."

"But this is San Antonio! A city that can't be any smaller! It's not Los Angeles! It's not New York! Not everyone wants to come here!"

Duncan said in a deep voice,
"Even if we like a player, we often lose in the competition with those big cities, so most of the time we can only make small repairs. The draft is also difficult for us, because we have always won 50 games, and we are in the top half most of the time. The draft position is very late. Even you were selected early, and I traded with the Pacers to get you."

"Besides, I don't want to lose."

"Not only me, Parker, Ginobili, Popovich, we all don't want to lose. We are a combination that has won multiple championships together. Although we are older now, we still want to hit a few more championships before retiring."

After Duncan's sincere words, Leonard fell silent again.

Then he finally nodded vigorously, then looked up at Duncan.

"I understand. Although it's still hard on my mind, I will still try my best to help the team win on the court."

"That's good."

Duncan patted Leonard's head with relief and smiled.

The second half of the game finally began.

The Spurs team came on stage.

When Lin Chuan looked over, he knew that they were coming with great force.

After eliminating Ibaka in the first half, they were ready to defeat them with a winning momentum.

But Lin Chuan was only more powerful than them.

He has only one thought in his mind now.

The goal is to beat this hypocritical Spurs team and avenge the injured Ibaka!

In the second half, the Thunder launched an attack.

In the frontcourt, Reggie passed the ball to Durant, but he did not initiate an attack.

After the communication during the halftime break, he already understood Lin Chuan's idea and was willing to play a supporting role for him in this game.

Seeing that he was in a good position with Tim Duncan right behind him, Durant understood and passed the ball to him.

After Lin Chuan received the ball, he did not rush to back down.

Instead, he held the ball high and turned his head to look around.

"I thought you would be angrier, but I didn't expect you to remain so rational after your teammate was injured. You don't look like a rookie at all."

Duncan tried to distract Lin Chuan with words. Seeing the basketball exposed, he looked for the right opportunity to cut the ball, but Lin Chuan dodged it.

At this moment, Duncan's defense was flawed, and Lin Chuan turned around and came to the basket, making an easy layup.

"Observation is to find a more efficient way to attack, so that I can save my energy and continue to beat you in the next game."

Lin Chuan said this coldly and returned to his own half of the court.

Hearing this, Duncan was not angry. He didn't think that Lin Chuan could easily win the game on his own after losing a defensive stalwart.

In the next round, in order to implement the Spurs' mid-court tactics, Duncan asked for the ball in the low post to play against Lin Chuan, preparing to consume his physical strength. Duncan tensed his muscles and rushed back, preparing to tangle with Lin Chuan as much as possible.

After two consecutive collisions, Duncan only felt that he had hit a piece of steel plate, which made him feel a little exaggerated in his heart.

You have to know that he was the one who took the initiative, and Lin Chuan was the one who passively bore the brunt of the impact. Under this kind of impact, Lin Chuan did not move at all.

In a split second, Duncan decided to go all out.

The next moment, he rushed backwards with all his might.

But there was nothing behind him. He only felt the force hitting cotton and he lost his balance in an instant.

Out of the corner of his eye, Duncan saw Lin Chuan standing beside him and his two big hands reaching out towards the basketball.

Before he fell to the ground, Duncan had one last thought.
"Shit, the chair was removed..."

Amid the cheers of the audience, Lin Chuan grabbed the basketball, threw it to the front court, then received the pass and took big strides to make a layup!

"Wow! It seems that in the second half, Lin Chuan decided to go all out and use his personal strength to destroy his opponent!"

The commentator on the scene said loudly that based on the performance of these two rounds alone, he asserted that the Spurs were going to be in trouble.
"Next, I just want to say that you should just admire Lin Chuan's performance. As for the Spurs, just sit back and let them slaughter you!"

On the court, the third quarter is still over.

Popovich looked at the score with a grim face.

From 58:67 at halftime, it has changed to 76:93 now.

The original plan to tie the score in the third quarter and overtake in the fourth quarter was completely ruined by Lin Chuan.

In Popovich's eyes, the situation in this quarter was that the Thunder launched an attack, Lin Chuan received the ball, and scored against Duncan.

The Spurs attacked and passed the ball to the inside, but was interfered/blocked by Lin Chuan, who grabbed the rebound and launched an attack. Lin Chuan received the ball and scored.

It went on and on, and even though he called two timeouts and used different strategies, it was of no avail.

Lin Chuan, on the other hand, continued to fill in his personal data in this section.

So far, he has scored 47 points, 19 rebounds and 4 blocks, and has beaten Duncan to less than ten points and rebounds.

On the bench, Popovich's eyes fell on Dio again.

In the fourth quarter, the game started again.

After the Spurs' attack failed, Lin Chuan grabbed the rebound and made a three-pointer to extend the score difference to 20 points.

It was this goal that further broke his own playoff scoring record, reaching 50 points and 20 rebounds.

The whole audience cheered loudly.

Taking advantage of this momentum, Lin Chuan once again back-passed Duncan, turned around and made a fadeaway jump shot, leaving the Spurs no chance at all.

Knowing that there was no hope of catching up and winning the game, and that a big deficit was likely to become a fait accompli, Dio became active again.

He still remembered that Popovich had just assigned him another task.

"If he doesn't play, the chances of a tiebreaker are very high..."

Seeing the opponent launching another fast break, this time Lin Chuan rushed towards the middle.

And the ball came into his hands.

"The opportunity has come!"

Dio bent his legs slightly, waited for the right moment and jumped up, jumping higher than Lin Chuan.

His right hand blocked the basketball like a palm-leaf fan.

In the air, Lin Chuan pulled the ball to the other side with a pull that no one expected.

However, Dio did not follow the ball, but instead put his big hand straight down towards Lin Chuan's face.

"Snapped!"

The next moment, the ball went in and the whistle blew.

2+1!

Lin Chuan's huge body also fell to the ground.

"WTF! What happened!"

Seeing Lin Chuan fall to the ground, everyone in the audience started to curse Dio who was defending.

Durant also rushed forward at the first moment.

Lin Chuan lowered his head and covered his face.

A few drops of blood fell on the floor.

"No, it's okay, it's my nose, it must be broken..."

Lin Chuan said while holding back the pain.

"Let's go down and let the team doctor take a look."

Lin Chuan waved his hand to decline Durant's kindness and forced himself to walk to the free throw line.

He stared at Dio, seeing the guilty conscience beneath his disguise, but did not step forward to argue.

Now Lin Chuan was dizzy from the blow and no longer had the energy to argue with him.

Enduring the dizziness and pain, Lin Chuan made the free throw.

Brooks immediately called a timeout and asked Lin Chuan to go off the court for treatment.

Although Lin Chuan left the court, the Spurs' hole was too big.

Durant took over the baton from Lin Chuan in the remaining time of the fourth quarter and scored 12 points in a single quarter to win the game.

The whole game is over.

100: 123.

The Thunder defeated the Spurs by 23 points and won the decisive battle.

After the game, Brooks harshly criticized the Spurs' style of play in an interview.

"It's obvious that their team used some tricks on the field, causing two injuries on our team. I hope the league will conduct a thorough investigation!"

Stern acted quickly this time. The next day, he gave Dio two first-degree flagrant fouls, suspended him for one game, and fined him $50,000.

This was an explanation to the Thunder.

That being said, this treatment does not give the Thunder the compensation they deserve.

Because Ibaka and Lin Chuan are already injured, this is an established fact that cannot be changed.

This also cast a shadow over their subsequent games.

(End of this chapter)