Legendary star

Chapter 90 The first game of the playoffs (2)

After the Spurs successfully jumped the ball, the first offense in the first game of this season's playoffs, the basketball was passed from the outside several times, and finally it was handed over to the team's boss Tim Duncan.

Duncan, who received the ball from outside the penalty area on the right, with his back to the basket, Tim easily pushed away Cliff Robinson who was defending himself, then turned around and shot, taking the lead for the Spurs with a signature rebound shot.Cliff Robinson is a typical small forward power forward. He is 2 meters tall and weighs only 08 pounds. He is at a disadvantage in the interior confrontation, but his mobility is very good, so his offensive range It is also very outside, and the scoring methods are mainly based on mid-range shots and 225-pointers.

The Suns quickly served the ball in the backcourt. After Hardaway received the ball, he easily wiped out Mario Elli who was defending himself. Soon the Suns formed a 3-on-2 advantage in the frontcourt. Except for Meng Xu and Johnson retreating In addition to defending quickly, the rest of the Spurs players have not returned to the half court.

Facing Johnson, who was defending himself, Hardaway passed the ball to Livingston who had rushed to the edge of the free throw line without the slightest sloppiness. Throwing in the direction of the basket, Marion, who was unguarded, jumped high in the air and dunked the ball into the basket.

"Boy, do you see it?" After landing, Marion opened his eyes wide and protested at Meng Xu in front of him.

"You country bumpkin who has never seen the world, why don't you just dunk it, see if you can do it." Meng Xu muttered a few words at Marion, and then ran to the bottom line to serve the backcourt. At this time, Popovich on the sidelines Already started yelling at the arena.

"I've worked hard enough, okay?" Hearing Popovich blame the players on the field for retreating slowly, Meng Xu also slandered in his heart.

After Meng Xu slowly sent the baseline ball, Avery Johnson slowly dribbled the ball across the center line like a snail. After the basketball passed several times in a row, David Robinson, who was unguarded, caught the ball and hit it.

The Suns still want to repeat the old plan, and send out the baseline book quickly. In order not to be sprayed by Popovich, this time the defender of Hardaway became Meng Xu. Under Meng Xu's containment and interception, Hardaway took 6 seconds It was only halftime, and at this time the other Spurs players had already returned to their defenses, so the Suns had to fight the Spurs in a positional battle.

After halftime, Meng Xu switched positions with Mario Elli again, and went back to defend Marion. It was really a disadvantage to use Mario Elli to defend Marion.The current Hardaway is no longer the omnipotent successor of Jordan before. After several major injuries, Hardaway’s breakthrough threat has been greatly reduced. The current offensive method relies more on CIC, but Hardaway Weiwei's ability to connect teams is still very good.

The Suns' power forward Cliff Robinson was always hovering near the free throw line and had no intention of going inside, and the Suns' center Luke Langley was also very close to the bottom corner. In this case, Duncan and David Robinson had no choice. Unexpectedly, it is very outside, Duncan is better, and now David Robinson has obviously slowed down his turn and movement. If the Suns have a good breakthrough player now, they will definitely make the Spurs full of holes.

For a small-ball team like the Suns, playing positional battles is undoubtedly to attack their strengths with their own shortcomings. After the basketball circled around the perimeter, the somewhat helpless Hardaway had to hold the ball and attack the Spurs' interior. After seeing Hardaway's obvious intention, Duncan had no choice but to give up Cliff Robinson and turn around to defend Hardaway. Hardaway, who has a very good overall view and field vision, sent a ground pass with ease and freehand, trying to pass The ball goes to Cliff Robinson who is already empty behind Duncan.

"Oops, the ball is going to be stolen." Just as the basketball passed through the gap between Duncan and Mario Ellis and bounced off the ground, a black shadow appeared in front of Cliff Robinson.

Meng Xu, who was entangled with Marion, saw Cliff Robinson, who was already empty at the edge of the free throw line, and subconsciously went to defend, not wanting to make a mistake. Hardaway passed the basketball to Cliff Robinson. Meng Xu hugged him directly in his arms.

After Meng Xu stole the ball, he didn't directly launch a fast break as usual, but stayed where he was protecting the ball.

"Idiot, retreat quickly." Seeing Marion who was still pestering him, Meng Xu said angrily.

Meng Xu's average steals per game this season is close to 4. He is the league's steal leader this season. Fast break dunks after steals are also one of Meng Xu's main scoring methods. However, Meng Xu did not play fast breaks after steals in this game. It is to wait for all teammates to pass halftime before going to battle. The audience is also a little confused about Meng Xu's performance today.

"The Spurs are forcibly slowing down the pace of the game. They want to pull the Suns into the rhythm of the Spurs. In this way, the original advantage of the Suns will become a slight advantage." After only a moment of contemplation, George Gervin understood. Popovich's tactics.

The Suns are one of the teams with the fastest game pace in the league, while the Spurs are one of the slowest. The Suns have young players and play small ball tactics, while the Spurs are a bunch of old guys who play the Twin Towers Tactics are also 1 minute, the Suns can complete more than 5 or even 6 offenses, and the Spurs have not enough time to play 4 offenses.

Before the start of the game, Popovich's tactic in the locker room was to slow down and play positional warfare. Isn't the sun fast?Just let him not get up fast, it is best to play more than 20 seconds in a round, as long as the sun can be dragged into the familiar rhythm of the Spurs, then the Spurs will win, Popovich also deliberately pulled Meng Xu, instructing Meng Xu not to Impulsive, slow down your pace, even if you steal the ball, you can't make a fast break, you would rather not score in the positional battle, and you can't pull up the rhythm of the game.

"Why does Meng like to grab offensive rebounds so much in this game?" As the game progressed, Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer gradually discovered that Meng Xu was different. Meng Xu had never been so active in the regular season. After rushing to grab the offensive rebound, Meng Xu was basically the first to retreat regardless of whether his teammates made a shot or not.

If Meng Xu heard what the assistant coach said now, he would definitely say, "Nonsense, an offensive rebound is worth 8 points. If you don't grab it, it will be a big loss."

"Meng is very excited about this game!" For Meng Xu's performance on the court, Popovich can only understand that Meng Xu is too excited, after all, it is the first playoff game of his career.After a season of observation, Popovich also knew that Meng Xu's judgment on rebound placement was not good, and he relied entirely on speed and bounce to grab rebounds.

In the first quarter of the game alone, Scott Skiles called a timeout four times and tried every means to speed up the pace of the game, but they all failed. Not only that, but the Spurs' pace was getting slower and slower. It is obvious that he can score easily by playing inside, but if he insists on passing it there, the mistakes will only increase, and there was even a 24-second violation, which is really dumbfounding.

In this game, the Spurs did everything they could to delay the Suns' attack time. I have seen the team that scored in a football game get the ball from the goal, but they made a shot, and then grabbed the basketball with the defender and held it in their arms. If you don't let go, it also appeared in this game. Fortunately, after the referee on duty blew a technical foul on the Spurs, the Spurs players stopped this shameless behavior.

(End of this chapter)