Legendary star

Chapter 833 Victory
"Meng, after you play, no matter whether the Thunder have changed their lineup and strategy or not, you still need to properly strengthen your personal offense."

During the break in the first half of the first quarter, Popovich, who was sitting next to Meng Xu, watched the ongoing game on the field, and at the same time arranged for Meng Xu the deployment after the official timeout.

"I understand." Since Meng Xu mainly supported and attracted the defense in the first quarter, the Thunder's double-teaming of Meng Xu is bound to slack in the next game, especially when Kevin- After Durant was promoted to the power forward position, Kevin Martin was in charge of double-teaming Meng Xu. Because his body is too thin, Kevin Martin is definitely not as good as Durant in terms of defense. Kevin Martin does not have Durant's height and wingspan, so when Kevin Martin cooperates with Sabo Sefoloza to double-team Meng Xu, it will definitely not be as good as Durant's double-team. kind of effect.

After Kevin Martin came to double-team Meng Xu, it was equivalent to the Thunder releasing Durant, so Popovich asked Meng Xu to step up his offense after playing and beat Durant back.

Since the Thunder fell behind too much in the first quarter, after the start of the second quarter, the Thunder's main lineup did not rest, but continued to play all of them, but the Spurs were still dominated by Manu Gino. Billy played with a team of substitutes. With Ginobili on the court, the Spurs will basically not have a scoring shortage in a short period of time, so Popovich is not worried even if the substitutes are against the main players.

It has to be said that under the leadership of Ginobili, these young people on the Spurs bench played quite desperately, whether it was Gary Neal facing Westbrook or Thiago S. Preet’s performance against Kevin Durant was remarkable. Of course, the most important thing was Ginobili. As the core of the bench lineup and the main offensive point on the field, Ginobili After debuting in the second quarter, he was chased and intercepted by the Thunder many times and succeeded in breakthrough layups. Not only that, Ginobili also grabbed Kevin Martin, the only defensive shortcoming of the Thunder on the court, and played continuously. This is the reason why the Thunder's main lineup has always occupied the advantage on the court, but it has always been able to beat the Spurs to death.

48 to 44, when the official timeout of the second quarter came, the Spurs still maintained the lead, so when the bench lineup came off, the head coach Popovich got up and walked to the sidelines, and gave a slap to the bench players who came off the field. A meal of encouragement.

As for the head coach of the Thunder, Scott Brooks, his face is not very good now, because Scott Brooks originally expected to use the main force to catch up with the score, but the result is not ideal now, although they also recovered A few points, but far from meeting the requirements of Scott Brooks, because Scott Brooks' bottom line is to equalize the score before the Spurs' main lineup, so for the result that the difference between the two sides is still 4 points, Scott Te - Brooks is very dissatisfied.

"Damn, it really is!" When the Spurs' main lineup returned to the field, what Scott Brooks worried about happened. Meng Xu was double-teamed by Tsapo Sefolosha and Kevin Martin After making consecutive shots, the Spurs quickly widened the point difference between the two sides to nearly ten points.

After the double-teaming of Kevin Martin and Thabo Sefolosha was almost useless, Scott Brooks had to replace Kevin Martin and let Durant cooperate with Thapo Sefolosha against Meng again. Xu double-teamed, but after Kevin Martin left the field, although Meng Xu's scoring momentum was contained, the Thunder's offense also became sluggish. Kawhi Leonard defended Westbrook, Meng Xumeng Xu defended Durant, and the Thunder's two offensive strengths were once again targeted by the Spurs.

And when halftime ended and the away Spurs led the Thunder by as many as 66 points 54-12, even the die-hard Thunder fans at the scene realized what the Thunder might face today.

"This is an endless loop." After handing over the task of arranging tactics to his assistant, Scott Brooks sitting in the locker room has been thinking about the strategy against the Spurs, but the more he thinks, Scott - The more Brooks feels that there is no strategy to follow, not to double-team Meng Xu, with Meng Xu's scoring ability and scoring explosiveness, the Thunder will undoubtedly have the same ending as the Warriors, but to double-team Meng Xu, the Thunder not only have to sacrifice offense, but also Facing the situation where the gourd is pressed and the ladle floats.

"Forget it, never mind." After contemplating for nearly 10 minutes, Scott Brooks decided to break the boat, give up the double-teaming of Meng Xu, and dispatched the Thunder's strongest offensive lineup. In the third quarter, the last fight, Anyway, they are now 12 points behind, and the Thunder have been pushed to the edge of a cliff by the Spurs. How can the situation on the court be worse?
"This guy is really bold." After the game restarted in the second half, after seeing the Thunder's lineup and the tactics used in the first round, Popovich got up and walked to the sidelines, turning his head and looking at him. Scott Brooks, who was also standing on the sidelines in the distance, originally thought that Scott Brooks would hesitate to double-team Meng Xu, but to Popovich’s surprise, Scott Brooks simply Just gave up the double-teaming of Meng Xu, and this also means that Scott Brooks finally chose offense between defense and offense.

In this league, no matter which team it is or who it is, as long as it is one-on-one defense, it is an excellent offensive opportunity for Meng Xu. Tzapo Sefolosha's one-man defense is top-notch Yes, but when defending Meng Xu, it is obviously not enough, because no one can defend a player who surrounds himself with all attributes and abilities in all directions.

Before deciding to give up double-teaming Meng Xu, Scott Brooks had made enough mental preparations, so when Meng Xu staged a personal scoring show again at the beginning of the third quarter, Scott Brooks was also strong Resisting not to make changes, the Thunder, which strengthened their offense, still couldn't narrow the gap between the two sides.

The difference of about 10 points is not an irreparable point difference, so the Thunder players on the field have been clenching their teeth and chasing after the Spurs. However, when the third quarter ended, the gap between the two sides When there were still 12 points left, the confidence of the Thunder began to waver.

Because their physical fitness had problems after the end of the three quarters, and because a big hole was dug at the beginning of the game, the Thunder's main players had almost no rest in the first three quarters. The intensity of the game is far higher than before, so the two cores of the Thunder, especially Kevin Durant, who has to work hard on both ends of the offense and defense, are already too tired to move after the end of the third quarter. , Such a point difference, if there is no miracle, it is impossible for the Thunder to win this game.

In the end, when the game ended, the Thunder lost the first game of the Western Conference Finals 107 to 122 at home, and also lost their home court advantage.

(End of this chapter)