Legendary star

Chapter 81 The Lost Streak Ends
"Boy, your shooting is really bad. I don't know how your coach tolerated you." After the start of the last quarter, Meng Xu missed three consecutive shots under Sprewell's interference, while the previous In the game, he made 3 of 7 3-pointers in the second quarter and 4 of 1 in the third quarter. A total of 14 of 4 3-pointers was already quite low.

"Status, understand? Do you want to say that if you dare to make such a shot, you will definitely be replaced by the coach, right? This shows what your status is in the Knicks." Meng Xu looked at Sprewell Then he said: "If I remember correctly, you only scored 5 points in this game. This is not in line with your personality."

"jerk."

"You have to know that as long as there is a chance to make a shot, it will be a shot sooner or later. If you don't make a shot, you can only stare blankly. Look at what I'm doing to defend you, but you don't dare to shoot." Meng Xu gave up and spoke with Sprewell. The entanglement, ran to defend Alan Houston.

"They ignored me." After Meng Xu went to defend Alan Houston, who was holding the ball, Mario Eli appeared in front of Sprewell. From the second half, Sprewell put almost all his energy on defending Meng Xu. Xu has basically nothing to do on the offensive end, but fortunately, both Alan Houston and Ewing Larry Johnson are players who can score 20+ in a game.

Some Sprewell, who was irritated by Meng Xu, directly reached out to Alan Houston for the ball. Alan Houston, who saw Sprewell asking for the ball, also breathed a sigh of relief. Weir can average nearly 19 points per game this season, but Sprewell basically didn't attack much in this game, and he was a little bit alone under Meng Xu's defense. This season, his mid-range shooting percentage reached 53%. Alan Houston has only made 12 of 4 shots so far in this game, and his 3 turnovers in the first 6 quarters also tied his career record.

After holding the ball, Sprewell swayed and wiped out Mario Eli, facing Samaki Walker who was defending and made a jumper.

"Boy, I heard that you don't know how to make a mid-range shot. How about my mid-range shot?" Sprewell, who passed by Meng Xu's side when he retreated, still taunted him.

"That's it, it's a little worse than Alan Houston's." Meng Xu ran towards the left bottom corner after speaking.

From the left bottom corner along the bottom line to the right bottom corner, after Sprewell was blocked by Samaki Walker, Meng Xu was completely empty at this time, after receiving the basketball from Duncan from the inside , Meng Xu adjusted and shot, the basketball hit hollow.

After hitting this shot, Meng Xu felt relieved a lot. Meng Xu obviously doesn't have the mentality of being cold-hearted. Even if he misses the first 10 shots, he will take the 11th shot decisively. Xu dare, Popovich will not allow it.

"It's funny, I really don't remember to play." One minute later, when Meng Xu made a provocative move to the Knicks bench after another 1-pointer, Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer Also a little speechless.

Seeing that the Spurs played a 7-2 spurt and chased the point difference to only 1 point, Jeff Van Gundy called a timeout. After the game restarted, Jeff Van Gundy was a little surprised to find that Popovich After replacing most of the main players, only Duncan was left with a group of substitute players on the court. The tactics he arranged during the timeout were completely useless.

Popovich, who was on the bench next door, looked at Jeff Van Gundy, whose hair was getting thinner on his head, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if to say, "Xiao Wang, play with me, you are still young."

Just 1 minute later, Jeff Van Gundy called a timeout again and replaced the substitute player. There are still 7 minutes in the game, and it is time for the main players to rest.

Although the score is still leading, watching Duncan wreaking havoc on the field, the team's substitute insiders can't do anything about it, and Jeff Van Gundy also looks anxious.Ewing and Larry Johnson have played more than 35 minutes in this game. Larry Johnson is better. Ewing is a 38-year-old veteran. By the end of the game, there was basically no physical strength.

Regarding the rotation of the main players, Popovich can be said to be the best in the entire league. Since Popovich took over the Spurs, the average playing time of the main players of the Spurs has basically been controlled at about 30 minutes. , and began to take targeted rotations from the middle of the season, which also allowed a group of Spurs veterans to have sufficient physical strength to deal with a full season.Jeff Van Gundy, on the other hand, wished every main player could play a full 48 minutes. Under Van Gundy, averaging 40 minutes per game was commonplace.This is why Popovich is better at discovering and cultivating rookies than other head coaches in the league. No matter how good a talent is, if there is no playing time, it will be wasted sooner or later.

With 5 minutes left in the game, Tim Duncan hit a half-turned mid-range shot, and the Spurs regained the lead 83 to 82.

After the score was overtaken, Jeff Van Gundy couldn't sit still and immediately called a timeout and replaced all the main players. However, Popovich remained very calm and did not make targeted substitutions.

After the substitution, the situation on the court changed slightly. Although Tim Duncan was still unstoppable inside, the Knicks' backcourt double guns Alan Houston and Sprewell also broke out at the same time. It is inextricably linked, and the score is also leading alternately.

90 to 89, with the last 2 minutes left, the Knicks still lead by 1 point, Popovich called a timeout, pulled all the main players to his side, and made the final tactical arrangement.

"Jeff, what's wrong?" After the game restarted, assistant coach Thibodeau looked at Jeff Van Gundy who was rubbing his eyes and asked with concern.

"It's okay." For some reason, after the timeout, the eyelids suddenly jumped a few times, and Jeff Van Gundy rubbed them subconsciously.

After the game started, the Spurs still hit Duncan at this point. Duncan held the ball and hit Ewing with his back. After Ewing was pushed into the paint, Larry Johnson's double-team was also in place. This time Duncan did not forcefully turn around and shoot, but After a half turn, the ball was given to Meng Xu who was on the 3-point line.

After receiving the ball, Meng Xu continued to take a slight step to the left, and then retreated instantly. Sprewell, who was defending Meng Xu, was blocked by Avery Johnson, and Alan Houston, who was defending, was also thrown away. , hit a 3-pointer, and the Spurs once again overtook the score.

Alan Houston's mental quality has always been very good, but I don't know why Alan Houston has always felt restless in this game, especially now, maybe because he was a little embarrassed by Meng Xu's defense in the previous game, at this critical moment Alan Houston actually hesitated after holding the ball.

"Alan, here." Looking up, after Sprewell got rid of Mario Eli's defense, he asked for the ball to himself, and Alan Houston immediately passed the basketball.

"Not good." After passing the ball, Alan Houston subconsciously glanced at Meng Xu behind him, but found that this guy had appeared beside him at some point, and the basketball he passed to Sprewell was just in time. Caught by this guy.

"Meng Xu steals the ball, Avery Johnson makes a layup, and the Knicks are in danger."

94 to 90, the Knicks trailed by 4 points, Jeff Van Gundy used the last timeout, and Alan Houston bowed his head on the sidelines, accepting Van Gundy's reprimand.

After the game started, the Knicks threw a sideline ball. After Sprewell got the ball, he passed it to Larry Johnson inside. The pass assisted Meng Xu to score a dunk, 96 to 90, with less than 1 minute remaining, and the Knicks were powerless.

The final score was fixed at 102 to 94. The Spurs ended their three-game losing streak after defeating the Knicks in an away game, and the gap between the Knicks and the Pacers was further widened.

(End of this chapter)