Standing pretty old

Chapter 321 Announcement of the divisional final list

The next day, that is, May 2008, 5, US time.

Ruan Erniu, who turned 20 and one day old, is quietly waiting for the first division final of his career.

Chris Paul, who has just turned 23 and 13 days old, is still working hard towards the Western Conference Finals for the first time in his career.

Ruan Erniu, who turned 20 for one day, hugged and celebrated with his partner Ouyang Haotian at the Atlanta International Airport in the morning.

Chris Paul, who just turned 23 and 13 days old, ushered in the San Antonio Spurs at home in New Orleans.

It's also the tiebreaker. According to most media predictions before the game, the Celtics will beat the Magic, because BIG3 is more champion-like than the Magic.

But for the game between the Hornets and the Spurs, most people are divided into two completely different factions, and neither of them can convince each other.

One group of people believes that the Spurs, as a strong team in the league, are obviously more experienced than the New Orleans. They will eventually win this tiebreaker in the away game and advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Another school of opinion is completely opposite. Judging from the past three playoff games in the Eastern Conference, all the teams that have won the tiebreaker this season are home teams.Under the leadership of Paul, the Hornets are no worse than the Spurs in terms of strength. They have won the first three home games, and this fourth home game is no exception.

Well, no matter how the various media present data and talk about evidence before the game, the game must be played game by game, not by mouth.

Otherwise, why should the players play the game, just recall the past.

Popovich pretended to be fascinated before the game and did not announce the starting lineup for a long time. It was not until the moment before the game that people saw his final starting lineup.

Since the two consecutive away losses to the Hornets in G1 and G2, Popovich made a wonderful substitution. He used Manu Ginobili to top the starting position and replaced Mike Finley. to the bench.

Facts have proved that this is a magical substitution. In the next four games, the Spurs won 3 of them, and they finally reached the tiebreaker with the Hornets.

If the Hornets lost to the Spurs in this round of the series, then Popovich's change will be the most important reason for their failure.

And Popovich's lineup for this game finally continued the starting list of the first four games:
C Fabricio Oberto

PF Tim Duncan
SF Bruce Bowen
SG Manu Ginobili
PG Tony Parker
The Hornets' lineup is relatively stable, and they don't have a deep enough bench to form a second starting lineup:
C Tyson Chandler

PF David West

SF Peja Stojakovic
SG Morris Peterson

PG Chris Paul
After the start of the first quarter, the two teams quickly entered into a fighting state. The life-and-death battle of G7 cannot tolerate the slightest slack. The team that relaxes its nerves first means that they are about to go home to fish.

In the first quarter of the game, the best performance of the two teams was each other's PF. Tim Duncan scored 8 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in a single quarter. David West (David West) played even better and won the With 12 points and 4 rebounds, both power forwards shot over 60% in a single quarter.

Of course, half of the credit goes to TP9 (Tony Parker) and CP3 who pass the ball for them. The two PGs who are not showing off the mountains and not falling into the water are the leaders of the game.

At 23:20, the Spurs only slightly led by 3 points in the first quarter.

The second quarter is very important. Judging from previous games, if the two teams continue to tie in the second quarter, the Hornets, who hold the home court advantage, are likely to break out suddenly in the third quarter and defeat the Spurs in a wave.

The Spurs, who played routines and played out of the realm, did not let such a tragedy repeat itself. Mano Ginobili took the lead in this quarter of the game.He made 6 of 4 shots in a single quarter, including 4 of 3 three-pointers, scored 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.Leading the Spurs to lead the opponent by 28 points with a score of 22:6 in the second quarter.

In addition to the 3 points in the first quarter, after the first half, the Spurs led their opponents by 51 points 42:9 in the away game, occupying a leading position and a psychological advantage in the tiebreaker.

No, it should be said that the Spurs have always had a psychological advantage because they have a longer history and richer experience. In terms of background, they are indeed better than the Hornets.

This is also the reason why it is difficult for newly promoted teams to win in front of established strong teams.

If it wasn't for the fact that their strength has really been raised to a higher level, the new young people will always be defeated by the old guys after playing around.

In the third quarter of the game, the two teams completely entered a desperate state.The shooting percentages of both teams fell below 35%. The confrontation between Bowen and Stojakovic, and the mutual pushing between Chandler and Oberto all became hot spots in the game.

Faced with such a scene, it will test the determination and experience of the two teams to deal with complex situations.

In this regard, the Hornets are still no match for the Spurs.

At 20:14, the Spurs were on the road and once again took a 6-point lead in a single quarter.

At the end of the three quarters, the score of the two teams came to 71:56. The Hornets have fallen behind by as much as 15 points at home.

CP3 already has a bad premonition that the dreamed Western Conference floor is getting farther and farther away from him.

Paul is not the only one who has this premonition. The entire Hornets team feels that their playoffs this season may come to an end.

Coach Anxi, a famous anime character in Nibo Country, said: "Don't give up the game until the last moment. Once you give up, the game will end early."

On the surface, this statement seems to be correct, but in fact, when you think about it carefully, it is just nonsense!
Not giving up the game is the professional ethics of any professional player, especially in a G7 knockout match that determines the outcome.But does not give up the game, does it mean that you can win the game?

No one can beat this guarantee.

In the fourth quarter, the Hornets finally launched their final counterattack.On the Hornets' bench, an unknown pawn named Janello Pargo stepped forward. In the limited time he played as a substitute, he made 13 of 5 shots, 6 of 2 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and 16 of 2 free throws in a single quarter. Scored [-] points, [-] rebounds crazy data.

The score of the two teams even came to such a close point difference of 83:80.After a chaotic battle, the Hornets actually saw the hope of a comeback.

Popovich called a timeout at the last critical moment, pinning his hopes on the Argentine demon knife.

Ginobili did not live up to the trust of the old man. After the timeout ended, Ginobili started the soaring scoring mode, breaking through early fouls and free throws in a row, and finally helped the Spurs take away the G7 game.

In this section of the game, Ginobili got 8 free throw opportunities by making fouls, and got 7 of them.All his points in this section came from free throws.

But the magical Janeiro Pago was no longer magical at the last moment. After hitting the iron again and again, he finally let the Hornets lose the game.

But no one can criticize this surprise player who almost subverted the game. Without his terrifying 16 points in a single quarter, the game would have been spent long ago.

At 91:82, the Spurs finally won this exciting game. The twists and turns in the process are far from what this score can summarize.

But there is only one winner in the end. The San Antonio people advanced to the Western Conference Finals, and Paul's dream of the Western Conference Finals is still in the future.

I also don't know that Deng Dada didn't use "the future belongs to you" to stimulate Paul after the game.

No, both of them are Taurus, black-bellied guys, maybe they have more in common.

After that day, the list of the Eastern and Western finals was finally released:
East: Boston Celtics (1) vs Atlanta Hawks (2)

West: Los Angeles Lakers (1) VS San Antonio Spurs (3)

The climax of the playoffs is about to enter the final chapter!

(End of this chapter)