Legendary star

Chapter 260
On May 2001, 5, the second game of the series between the Spurs and the Mavericks was basically the same as the first game of the two teams. The Mavericks played a slow-paced positional battle with the Spurs throughout the game, and the result was naturally unspoken. In other words, after the Mavericks collapsed at the last moment in the last game, Nelson still wanted to do the same in this game, but the Mavericks collapsed again at the last moment of the game.Originally in the first 7 quarters or even most of the 2th quarter, the Mavericks, who were inseparable from the Spurs in the positional battle, were suddenly beaten by the Spurs after the game was officially suspended in the 3th quarter. In an 4-4 spurt, the Mavericks lost to the Spurs 8-0 in the away game, and fell behind the Spurs 79-91 in the big score.

"When did Donald become so stubborn?" As an old opponent of Old Nelson, Magic Johnson knew about Old Nelson quite well. In Magic Johnson's heart, Old Nelson has always been a wise man with flexible tactics and unconstrained style. However, in these two consecutive games, the performance of the old Nelson made Magic Johnson a little unbelievable. Is this stubborn old man in front of him still the "mad scientist" old Nelson?
"Ervin, I think it's not Donald's problem. The Spurs have too much rhythm. No team in the league will be dragged down unknowingly when facing the Spurs." Get into the rhythm of the Spurs, and the only way to defeat the Spurs is to have a chance in a positional battle. I think everyone has seen the result of the Mavericks' change of formation at the last moment in the last game. The Mavericks, who maintained a delicate balance with the Spurs during the war, fell into a chaotic rhythm that wanted to be fast but couldn't get up, and wanted to be slow but couldn't slow down after a sudden hundred years of truth. Entering this rhythm, then losing is the inevitable result." When Magic Johnson paid tribute to the old Nelson's tactics, Michaels immediately came out to refute him. In Michaels' view, he was better than Magic Johnson. Learn more about the Spurs and Old Nelson.

"El, maybe you're right. But what I want to say is that the Mavericks are a very capable team. They have players like Finley and Nowitzki. Even if they can't beat the Spurs, they will It is too difficult to play out your own tactics and characteristics in this round of the series, instead of blindly trying to adapt to the Spurs' rhythm and defeat them in areas where the Spurs are good at." Seeing that there is nothing on the court The morale of the Mavericks players, Magic Johnson also shook his head very regretfully. Perhaps in Magic Johnson's view, I can lose the game vigorously, but I must not lose the game in humiliation.The Mavericks averaged more than 100 points per game in the regular season, but in the first two games of this series, the Mavericks did not score more than 80 points in a game. Is it because the Spurs are too good at defense? ?of course not.

In these two games, the Mavericks' leading players, Nowitzki, Finley and Nash, three of them put too much energy on the defensive end, but even if they put all their energy into defense , can play a limited role.Old Nelson has never paid much attention to defense, so the players under his command are also the kind of players who are stronger in offense than defense. According to Magic Johnson's thinking, it is better to follow the tactics of the Mavericks in the regular season and play on the defensive side. Go, play a vigorous match, even if you lose, it's better than being led by the nose by the Spurs now.

But old Nelson is much clearer about the status quo of his team than the magician. Compared with the Spurs' Duncan Mengxu, the two core players of the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki and Finley, can be said to be inferior in all aspects. One point, although Nowitzki and Duncan are both "Four Power Forwards", the old Nelson knows better than anyone that the current Nowitzki is worse than Duncan in his rookie season, not to mention that he is now at his peak. of Duncan.And Meng Xu is obviously stronger than Finley now. Whether it is offense, defense, or team organization, Meng Xu can be regarded as an enhanced version of the current Finley.Therefore, if the Mavericks fight the Spurs recklessly according to the tactics in the regular season, they have no chance of winning, and they are likely to be swept away by the Spurs.So the old Nelson's current choice is actually a gamble. He is betting that the veterans of the Spurs will no longer be in shape, and betting that the Spurs will underestimate the opponent in the game against the Mavericks.

"Dirk, don't be discouraged, we still have a chance." Looking at Nowitzki who was a little frustrated when he walked into the player tunnel, the old Nelson also quickly followed him, patted his back, and comforted him.

"Coach, I..." Nowitzki obviously can't accept the result of this game. In these two games, although the Mavericks seem to be on par with the Spurs, the team's leader Player Dirk Nowitzki is clear that the Mavericks have no chance on the court.Originally, before this round of the series, Nowitzki was confident that he already had the ability to challenge Duncan, but after these two games, Nowitzki discovered that he, together with Zhu Wan Howard is not Duncan's opponent. Whether it is on the offensive or defensive end, Duncan can play with himself as he wants.

"Dirk, I know what you want to say." Just as Nowitzki was about to speak, Old Nelson interrupted him directly: "Although you are not as good as Duncan now, sooner or later, you will be able to become one with him." level player, and what you have to do now is to break your shackles. You are the future of the Mavericks and the hope for all of us."

. . . . . . .

On May 2001, 5, the third game of the series between the Spurs and the Mavericks was held at the Mavericks' home reunion stadium. In this game, the old Nelson finally changed his tactical strategy in the first two games and restored the Mavericks. The style of play in the regular season, but compared to the previous two games, this game is the worst loss for the Mavericks in this round of the series. After the end of the 9rd quarter, the Spurs lead the Mavericks 3 to 78 As much as 53 points.Maybe it’s because I’m used to the slow-paced game, or maybe it’s because Popovich has been prepared for this kind of change to the Mavericks. In this game, most of the Mavericks’ players didn’t quite adapt to the game. None of the 25 starters made a hit. Those with a scoring rate of more than 5%, especially Mike Finley, under Meng Xu's defense, made 35 of 22 shots in the game and only scored 5 points.Moreover, in this game, the Mavericks made 10 turnovers, including 25 turnovers in the first 3 quarters. Meng Xu alone made 21 steals from Finley and Nash.In the end, the Mavericks lost to the Spurs 7-90 at home. After losing this game, the Mavericks basically had no hope of advancing.

On May 2001, 5, the Mavericks, who had lost 12 games in a row before, were now facing the fate of being swept away. Just when the Mavericks were about to put all their eggs in one basket and fight with their backs, the Spurs unexpectedly gave up the game In this game, David Robinson, Mario Elli, and Sean Elliott all played for only a few minutes before resting, and most of the rest At that time, the Spurs' main lineup was center Duncan, power forward Malik Rose, small forward Derek Anderson, shooting guard Jalen Jackson, and point guard Meng Xu.

Just like the Mavericks will never be able to beat the Spurs in the rhythm of the Spurs, the Spurs have very little hope of winning in the rhythm of the Mavericks. Therefore, although Duncan scored 38 points and 17 rebounds in this game , Meng Xu also scored 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists, but the Spurs lost to the Mavericks 108-116.And this game is also the best performance in Nowitzki's round series. He scored a total of 3 points in the first 47 games. Nowitzki won the first 30 points in this year's playoffs in this game. +.

Perhaps it was because of the old Nelson's assistant coach, Popovich was unwilling to sweep the Mavericks directly, and didn't give any face, but the old Nelson was very dissatisfied with Popovich's obvious behavior of letting go After the game, when Popovich ran over to shake hands with Old Nelson, Old Nelson also shook his hand very shamelessly, turned around and left, only Leaving Popovich standing there awkwardly.Perhaps because of Popovich's anger, Old Nelson didn't even attend the press conference after the game.

And when he was interviewed by the media the next day, Nelson also unceremoniously criticized Popovich.For the old Nelson who has been coaching in this league for more than 20 years and has been called a legend, Popovich's behavior is undoubtedly an insult to himself. It was difficult for old Nelson to accept.

After the fourth game against the Mavericks, the Spurs all returned to San Antonio to prepare for the last game against the Mavericks. Although they have basically won the game, the Spurs are not very happy now. When the game was over, when the Spurs players were playing around in the locker room, Popovich kicked open the door of the locker room, and sprayed wildly at almost all the players, saying that they had nothing to do. Shame, I'm so happy after losing, and it's hard to hear, these Spurs players are not interested, or dare not show any interest
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(End of this chapter)