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The sudden change of the Spurs team in the third quarter was considered by the media to be the biggest reason for the failure of the game. They put on such a lineup. They couldn’t even stick to their own tactical concept. The head of the defeat pointed to Popovich, and even the local media in San Antonio was no exception.

Now is the critical period of the playoffs, and it is still the semi-finals. If you don’t stick to your usual style of play, you dare to change the formation and change tactics at this time and let the players play unfamiliar tactics. Speaking of the previous changes, it was based on the fact that there was no change in the basic tactics. The lineup that the Spurs put out in the third quarter couldn't even play the original basic tactics.

Almost everyone believes that this is one of the few failures in Popovich's coaching career. No matter how successful his future coaching is, it cannot make up for his mistakes in this key game. The whole team, from the boss down to the ordinary employees, did not respond. Popovich has almost absolute authority in the Spurs.

This is also the second game in this series that the Spurs have lost, which means that the series will have to be played at least six games before the winner can be decided. If the Mavericks win the next home game, then the Spurs will be equal to Standing on the edge of a cliff, so most of the media almost agreed that Popovich will definitely win in the fourth game.

But do the Spurs have any other tricks that they haven’t used? There should be none. Being able to use such a stupid trick has proved that there are no new tactics on Popovich’s tactical board. What whimsy does he have that can change the whole situation.

Popovich is amazing by change, but also fails by change, this is the headline of a local San Antonio newspaper, and the commentary believes that if Popovich sticks to the first quarter of play, maybe this game will not be played at all. If you lose, Popovich loses because of his change.

Even "Little General" Johnson thinks so. Based on his understanding of Popovich, if there is no other way, he will never use such a lineup. The Spurs' tactics are always a combination of internal and external. Balanced, Popovich even gave up on this, indicating that he was sure that there was no good solution. In this way, Avery Johnson's heart was relieved.

What he is most afraid of is that Popovich will suddenly resort to a new tactic, and then defeat himself like a destroyer, but he has nothing to do. Johnson is most afraid of this, which proves his tactical ability. It is very likely that it will affect this hard-won job.

Assistant coaches are easy to find, but head coaches are hard to find. A team can have four or five assistant coaches, but the head coach can only have one. Assistant coaches do not require ability, as long as the head coach is satisfied. Some assistant coaches are even mediators. As far as the locker room is concerned, it is enough to eat, drink and have fun with the players. Being an assistant coach requires connections, but being a head coach requires ability.

A head coach has an annual salary of at least one million dollars, and an assistant coach with an annual salary of hundreds of thousands of dollars is a well-known level, such as assistant coach Thibodeau of the Houston Rockets, Carlesimo of the Spurs, and Los Angeles Lakers. Went from the Denver Nuggets and Glugulic from the Denver Nuggets can only get them, so Avery Johnson still cherishes this job very much.

Johnson, who was relieved, lost his vigilance. After a day's rest, the fourth game between the Spurs and the Mavericks started again at the American Airlines Center Arena. Before the game, everyone agreed that Popovich The team will definitely make adjustments, and the media even listed possible adjustments, such as putting Ginobili in the starting lineup, or letting Stephen serve as the team's center, etc. Anyway, the Spurs The team is already desperate, and it is very likely that any trick will be used.

The preparations for the Spurs are much easier than they imagined. In addition to the necessary training to maintain the state, Popovich allows the players to enjoy the leisurely and relaxing time. The players can listen to music and play games as they like. Play poker, surf the Internet, and do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the hotel where you live. Players are even allowed to drink a little bit of alcoholic beverages.

During this period of more than a day, the Spurs players have been greatly relaxed psychologically or emotionally. The effect of this relaxation on the players is obvious. The sense of urgency is gone, and so is the impatience to win.

In this state, the Spurs ushered in the fourth game. Center Nesterovic, power forward Duncan, small forward Stephen, shooting guard Michael Finley, point guard Tony Parker, the Spurs put on such a satisfactory The lineup surprised everyone.

Isn’t this the lineup that the Spurs used in the middle of the season? Except for Bruce Bowen who replaced Stephen, why did they come up with this lineup again? Why put Nesterovitch on it again.

This lineup was beyond everyone's expectations. Everyone thought about how Popovich would adjust and think in a new direction. No one thought that Popovich would adopt this lineup that had been abandoned. Isn't this a step backwards? Who would have imagined it?

But with such a lineup, the Spurs took the lead, especially Nesterovic. When facing Diop, who was about the same height as himself, he scored again and again. Diop didn't score a point, and he already had three There was a foul, and one was caused by Duncan. The scared "little general" Johnson hurriedly replaced Dampier, but he was wondering, didn't this Nesterovic hear that Popovich put him in the sidelines? , Why let him out again, and this guy is still in such good condition.

No one thought that the Spurs would resort to a surprise player like Nesterovich. How could an old guy who hadn't played for a long time be so light-hearted? Could it be that Popovich gave him youthful pills and stimulants? , Just when everyone's eyes were attracted to him, no one noticed that the other players of the Spurs were also playing well.

The Spurs scored 33 points in the first quarter, more than they scored in the first quarter of the previous game. Who would have thought that the Spurs were a defensive player after seeing such a score? After four quarters, do you want to score 120 points? , This is not more than the Suns.

Among all of this, the Spurs' highest scorer is still Stephen, who scored [-] points, followed by Duncan's nine points, two three-pointers, Michael Finley's eight points in a mid-range shot, and an offense with free throws. Five for Nesterovic.

Tony Parker in the starting lineup did not score a single point. After he missed all two throws, he did not try again, concentrated on passing the ball to his teammates, and became an extremely professional point guard. The Spurs can achieve such The high score is also due to Tony Parker's rectification.

However, the Spurs scored so many points, but they didn't make the gap to the extreme. The Mavericks also easily scored 28 points, with only a five-point gap. This surprised many people. The Mavericks' offensive performance It's not particularly good, why do you get so many points?

At this time, "Little General" Johnson seemed to have a feeling. He turned his head and glanced at Popovich who was sitting there arranging tactics, and said in his heart, could it be said that in this game, the Spurs played offense instead of defense? Otherwise, how could he score such a high score and let the opponent score so many points at the same time, which is not in line with Popovich's consistent philosophy.

"Little General" Johnson was very skeptical, but he couldn't see it in this quarter of the game alone, so he continued to watch the final to see what Popovich's idea was. This was the first time in three days. In the second game, Johnson believes that the Spurs will still be troubled by physical problems. He wants to see what kind of lineup Popovich will put in the second quarter.

In the second quarter, after playing for a while, Popovich replaced Duncan, replaced Robert Horry, replaced Michael Finn, replaced Ginobili, "Little General" Johnson slowly Affirming his own guess, from Popovich's substitutions, it seems that he basically gave up defense in this game and concentrated his main energy on offense.

After a while, Popovich replaced Nesterovic with Bruce Bowen. This is the most time Nesterovic has played in the past month. It is close to the playing time of his entire game in the past, and he also scored nine points and six rebounds.

In this case, Stephen is at the center position again. Although he is not as eye-catching as his performance in the last game, he is still very good. "Little General" Johnson also took the time to replace Josh Howard to rest. Anyway, he does not need to go at this time. Defend Stephen.

Anyway, it was Dampier who felt uncomfortable at this time. He was dizzy from Stephen's footsteps of turning left and right, but he was much stronger than last time. Steven a big hat.

At the end of the first half, the Spurs just led the Mavericks by 63 points. The score between the two sides was 53 to [-]. Although he knew what Popovich was up to, "Little General" Johnson had no good way to solve it. The Spurs just downgraded the team's defensive intensity, the players' individual defense is still the same, Duncan still makes Dirk Nowitzki very uncomfortable, and Michael Finley doesn't let Jason Terry shoot casually. The problem now is the Mavericks. The offensive firepower of the Spurs is not as good as that of the Spurs, and the defense of the Mavericks needs to be strengthened.

Because now the Spurs' offense is open, it will not be so easy for you to overtake the opponent in offense, you must use defense to contain the opponent's offense, and then slowly overtake the score, so during the intermission, " "Little General" Johnson deliberately emphasized the importance of defense and asked the players to strengthen their defense.