Legendary star

Chapter 21 Francis on the Brink (2)

As a rookie last season, one of the team's important substitutes, Cutino-Mobley can play two positions of shooting guard and point guard. Due to his strong body, various offensive methods, and excellent defense, Cutino Mobley -Mobley is also one of the team's key training targets.And Mobley did not live up to Tomjanovich's expectations. When Francis was restricted by Meng Xu and Olajuwon Barkley was exhausted, Mobley faced Avery Johnson, who was half a head shorter than himself. , and scored 5 points with sudden shots, which greatly relieved the pressure on the team.In the end, the Spurs and Rockets ended the first half with a score of 50 to 44.

"Meng, take the time to rest first, and Malik Rose will take your place in the second half." And Samaki Walker replaced Meng Xu and David Robinson. Malik Rose and Samaki Walker are both players with certain shooting ability and excellent mobility.After this adjustment, Tim Duncan will serve as the center forward, and the Spurs will play a big and four small tactics. At the same time, they must also speed up the pace of the game. Well, the stamina of these old players is already running out, and the outcome of the game depends on the third quarter.

After the start of the second half of the game, Tomjanovich was also relieved to see Popovich's personnel adjustment. Old guys are worn out.However, during the timeout at halftime, Tomjanovich also made adjustments, giving up the tactic of playing defensively against the Spurs, and instead discharged Charles Barkley, Walter Williams, and Shanton in the second half. -Anderson, Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, such a purely small lineup, want to achieve unexpected effects by speeding up.

After seeing Tomjanovich's adjustment, Popovich also cursed in his heart: "Old fox."

When he saw Meng Xu sitting on the sidelines, Francis was also ecstatic. The pressure Meng Xu put on him in the first half was too great. That guy who looked like a dog skin plaster almost broke himself.

Both teams wanted to defeat each other through the third quarter, and the Rockets also resorted to their own trump card after the beginning of the third quarter, the run-and-bomb tactic, to be precise, the tactic of running and fighting. Originally, the Rockets had always played One big and four small, a combination of internal and external tactics, but as Olajuwon, the core of the team's tactics, gets older and his athletic ability gets worse and worse, the Rockets can't find a player who can take over Olajuwon's tactical position Players, this tactic will also gradually come to a dead end. After the team selected two defenders with outstanding speed in a row, Tomjanovich is planning to change the team's tactical system. Tomjanovich The first thing that comes to mind is the small ball tactic. After a summer of practice, although it has not yet reached the point where it can be used as a regular tactic, it is enough to use it occasionally as a backup tactic.

After the start of the third quarter, the style of the two teams changed suddenly. Both the Rockets and the Spurs played high-speed rotation sports. In the third quarter, the two sides finally played the beautiful basketball that Mr. Stern hoped for. The scores of the two teams It also rose alternately. Seeing that Francis made 3 mid-range shots in a row with the cooperation of Mobley and increased his score to 3 points, Meng Xu couldn't sit still.

"I can't wait anymore." Seeing that Francis was about to score more than 10 points, Meng Xu became more and more impatient. Just when Meng Xu wanted to speak, Popovich also called a timeout.

After the timeout, Popovich made a substitution. This substitution also meant that Popovich's adjustment at the beginning of the third quarter failed. After the game restarted, the Spurs started a slow-paced offensive , Either keep passing the ball on the outside and patiently look for opportunities, or give the ball to Duncan, use his height, and play slowly against Barkley in the interior. The Rockets are also not allowed to play fast breaks and counterattacks. It is normal for an attack to take 3 seconds.Although Duncan's height and wingspan are much stronger than Barkley's, and he is younger than Barkley, but as an old ruffian who has been in the league for more than ten years, Barkley's defense also makes Duncan very uncomfortable. Under the man-marking, Duncan's success rate is also very low.After Duncan finally scored the goal sitting on Barkley, Duncan wiped the sweat from his forehead expressionlessly, and began to retreat to the backcourt.

Barkley quickly sent the baseline ball and passed the ball directly to Cutino Mobley near the 3-point line. Mobley dribbled forward with a big stride, while Francis accelerated directly towards the basket.Cutino Mobley passed Avery Johnson easily with a change of direction, ignoring Johnson behind him, Cutino Mobley slammed the basketball directly towards the basket.

Francis, who had already rushed to the free throw line, took a big step inward with a tacit understanding, and jumped up, completely oblivious to the fact that Meng Xu had chased after him.

"Steve, be careful." Seeing Meng Xu running all the way and rushing to the basket before the basketball was passed, Mobley behind Francis also shouted loudly.

At the moment Francis took off, Meng Xu also jumped towards the left side of the basket, which is the necessary route for Francis to make a layup. After Francis caught the ball in the air, his mind was full of thoughts of dunks , Such an offensive opportunity is also an excellent offensive opportunity for Francis, but when he heard Mobley shouting behind him and saw Meng Xu flying in the air in front of him, he wanted to attack in a hurry He made a lever in the air, but was slapped on the basketball by Meng Xu. He immediately lost his balance and fell heavily on the floor.

When Johnson picked up the flying basketball and launched a fast break, Francis still hadn't recovered from the shock just now. Until now, Francis couldn't figure out how Meng Xu caught up with him. When he rushed up just now, Meng Xu was still 2 meters behind him.

"It's an astounding return to defense speed."

(End of this chapter)