First in scoring

Chapter 56 56. It seems that there is a real grudge (1 recommendation votes plus more)
The Hornets went on a rampage in the final moments of the season, winning five straight games. Yesterday, the Hornets defeated the Hawks in their final game, with a record of 5 wins and 47 losses.

The Grizzlies lost on the 15th, and their record became 47 wins and 34 losses.

After the Hornets defeated the Hawks, even Popovich felt that they would definitely play against the Grizzlies, as the Grizzlies did not play as hard as the Hornets in the last few games.

The Grizzlies and Hornets have played against each other four times this season, with each winning two games. In the Southwest Division, the Hornets have a record of 4 wins and 9 losses, while the Grizzlies have a record of 7 wins and 8 losses. If the records are the same, the Hornets will rank higher.

The Grizzlies' last opponent is the Thunder, who have a record of 54 wins and 27 losses. Popovich estimates that the Grizzlies will not fight to the death with the Thunder.

Unexpectedly, the Grizzlies fought hard in the last game, and fought the Thunder to the end, winning narrowly in overtime!

Popovich and Zhang Yang looked at each other and saw the confusion and surprise in each other's eyes.

Popovich had been through decades of experience, so he reacted faster and said to Zhang Yang, "Didn't I tell you? The Grizzlies are stronger than the Hornets. Our opponent must be the Hornets. Young man, you are still too inexperienced."

Zhang Yang: “…”

Shameless old thief, you have such a thick skin!
Who added positional warfare and defense training courses to the training in the past half month?
Was this training for the Hornets? Was he worried that Duncan couldn't handle the 206cm + 109kg David West?
Zhang Yang felt very sorry that he couldn't beat the two bears, but it was also good to be able to fight against Paul!

I'm just curious, why did the Grizzlies change their minds?

On the other side, at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, the game between the Grizzlies and the Thunder had just ended.

Fortunately, the game was won, but Hollins felt that his hopes for the playoffs were slim.

He doesn't want to play against the Spurs and the Lakers, but the fifth and sixth teams are too strong, with the Nuggets having 52 wins and the Trail Blazers having 50 wins. They can't catch up no matter how hard they try!
He first came up with the idea of ​​dropping to eighth place to play against the Spurs when the Spurs suffered four consecutive losses. He remembered that he was not at much of a disadvantage in the previous three encounters with the Spurs, so he investigated the Spurs' performance after the All-Star Weekend and discovered the Spurs' physical crisis... After thinking it over again and again, he decided to charge at the Spurs.

But I didn't expect the Spurs to suddenly start having 'fancy injuries', and in the end they even stopped acting, saying they were resting to prepare for the playoffs. Who were they preparing for?
And in the match at the end of last month, he found that the opponent had made targeted tactical preparations against them, which were not seen in the previous three matches!
Faced with this situation, at the last moment to decide the ranking, Huo Tu chose to slip away.

Let's go to the seventh place to play the Lakers. At least the Lakers look down on them. They acted like they had aristocrats' disease when they played against them a few times. Besides, Gasol was always particularly motivated when facing Gasol...

...

The regular season ended, and at noon on the 18th, the Spurs returned to San Antonio and had the afternoon off.

Zhang Yang did not go for extra practice this time. He just read the news and played League of Legends. After more than two months of tension, the regular season is finally over and it's time to relax.

He was not surprised to see that many media outlets had listed him as a candidate for the best sixth man.

He averaged 50 points in 11.6 games with the Warriors.

During his time with the Spurs, his scoring gradually increased, averaging 30 points per game in the final 16.6 games.

All in all, he averaged 80 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals in 1.4 games. As his performance got better and better, the criticisms became less and less, and the praises became more. He ended the regular season with the Spurs, the league's top team, so it was normal for him to be selected as a candidate for the best sixth man.

But it is impossible to win the award, as the Lakers' Odom has already secured the best sixth man award, averaging 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3 assists per game, with a 53% shooting percentage and 82 full appearances... Playing the sixth man is totally cheating.

If Odom were on the Spurs, Zhang Yang felt that Popovich would use Odom as a core player.

After resting for an afternoon, Zhang Yang came to the ATT Arena the next morning to prepare for the game with the team.

After the regular season, the Spurs got three days of rest and started the playoffs at home on the 3st.

Just as Zhang Yang expected, the team also made a preparation plan for the game against the Hornets.

Although the top imaginary opponent in the first round was changed to the Grizzlies, Popovich did not rule out the possibility of playing against the Hornets. He just focused on the Grizzlies and made all the necessary preparations against the Hornets, so he teased Zhang Yang with ease.

And he was indeed relieved that he could play against the Hornets. He was unwilling to take on the tough challenge of the Grizzlies.

Two days passed quickly, and April 4st arrived. The Spurs will start the first round matchup with the Hornets at home.

At noon, the Spurs received good news - Popovich received 60 votes, defeating Thibodeau who received 55 votes, and won the best coach of the season.

Zhang Yang's impression of Popovich can't be described as good or bad. Even though he is the head coach of his current team, he doesn't like him very much. They just have a normal relationship as colleagues.

But he really doesn't like Thibodeau.

Rose, Luol Deng, and Noah, these three talented players, all suffered serious injuries many times during Thibodeau's coaching. They all collapsed before the age of 30 and became classic junk contracts. The worst was Rose, who collapsed at the age of 23.

Zhang Yang liked Noah very much at first. He laughed every time he saw the scene of the Heat fighting among themselves and Noah clapping beside them. In 06, the general manager of the Bulls wanted to trade the entire team for Kobe; Thibodeau played the luxurious lineup of Rose, Luol Deng, Noah, and Boozer to the point that all four of them had junk contracts... Maybe the God of Basketball really used up all the luck of this team.

At 7:40 p.m., at the ATT Arena, the Hornets and Spurs entered the court one after another.

Zhang Yang was very excited to see Paul, as he was one of his favorite basketball players. Just like he had a deep love for the man in overalls, he had a deep love for him.

Once upon a time, whenever he encountered something unfair, he would reply with this emoticon pack:

Unfortunately, his teammates were very indifferent and did not make any gesture to greet or exchange pleasantries with the opposing players. Zhang Yang could only bury his love deep in his heart...mainly because the Spurs themselves were not well-liked and no one paid any attention to them.

Over time, they comforted themselves by thinking that they were just aloof and didn't bother with their opponents.

This also has its advantages, as the Spurs players are very focused in their pre-game preparations.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the first game of the series between the Spurs and the Hornets began!
Duncan beat Okafor to win the jump ball and the Spurs took the first attack.

Spurs starting lineup: Parker, Zhang Yang, Richard Jefferson, Duncan, Split.

Hornets starting lineup: Paul, Marco Belinelli, Ariza, Carl Landry, Emeka Okafor.

David West ruptured his cruciate ligament in March and was ruled out for the season, making the already short-handed Hornets' lineup even more stretched.

Parker advanced to the frontcourt, started a pick-and-roll with Duncan, and passed the ball to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang went around the basket to the left baseline to receive the ball, Okafor made a layup in the three-second zone, Zhang Yang passed the ball to the middle, Paul failed to stop Duncan, Duncan cut in to receive the ball and made a layup...

Okafor tried hard to make up for it, but it was too late. Duncan made a layup and assisted Zhang Yang.

Okafor, who is only 28 years old, looks as slow as 38 years old in front of Duncan.

In his rookie year, Okafor was seen as a taller, scoring version of Ben Wallace, with explosive physical fitness, desperate defense, and top-notch defensive fundamentals and awareness... But he suffered a devastating injury in his sophomore year. After returning from a year out, although he was still a double-double machine, he never played like he did in his rookie season. The promising future that seemed limitless at the beginning was gone.

In the transition of offense and defense, Paul used Landry's pick-and-roll, faced Duncan's switch defense, played small against big, accelerated one step, stopped suddenly, stepped back, and shot a fade away mid-range shot... and it hit!
Duncan relied on the team and Paul relied on his personal ability, and both scored a goal, opening the curtain of this series.

The way the two team leaders scored also announced the offensive style of the two teams in this game.

In the next few rounds, the Spurs played a beautiful team offense with a high offensive success rate. They scored 6 goals in 3 rounds and got 7 points with a hit rate of 50%. They played very well.

However, Paul made 3 of 2 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers. While scoring 5 points, he also gave Belinelli a three-point assist and helped Ariza who cut in to score 2+1.

比赛进行到4分11秒，黄蜂队以13比9领先马刺队4分！保罗以一己之力压着马刺队打！

Popovich stood up with a sour look on his face.

Do these super point guards have a grudge against the Spurs? They are playing so hard!

Suddenly, Popovich remembered that there was a real grudge. In the second round of 08, they defeated the Hornets 4-3 to reach the Western Conference Finals. Bowen also pulled down Peja who was making a layup in that series...

On the court, the Spurs were attacking. Paul, Ariza, and Landry worked together to cut off the connection between Parker, Duncan and the basket. Fortunately, Zhang Yang was aware enough to move in advance, otherwise Parker almost made a mistake.

When Popovich saw this, he was ready to call a timeout and replace Ginobili in advance to stabilize the situation with one-on-one plays. If the situation continued like this, something might go wrong.

At this moment, Zhang Yang, who received the ball, turned around and shook off the chasing Belinelli and entered the three-second zone. He took a step to the right to avoid Okafor's defense, and after landing, he immediately jumped to the left front, avoiding Paul's double-teaming, came behind Okafor, jumped, and made a layup... and it went in!
One against three!

When the Hornets attacked, Paul broke through to close range, turned around, dribbled past Split who was defending, and made a low layup.

Popovich, who was about to call a timeout, hesitated and stopped.

In the offense-defense transition, Parker passed the ball to Zhang Yang who actively asked for the ball, and then went to the left baseline, maintaining the threat of cutting into the basket.

Zhang Yang broke through with the help of a screen, but Ariza was blocked by Duncan.

Landry defended the pick-and-roll well and followed Zhang Yang's advance closely. Zhang Yang came to the right side of the three-second zone, suddenly grabbed the ball, and took a quick step toward the left front.

Okafor and Landry rushed towards Zhang Yang at the same time. Zhang Yang turned around and took a step to the right. With swift movements, he avoided the two and made a layup... and it went in again!
(End of this chapter)