Super Role Player

After New Year's Day, the Spurs' opponent in the first game in 2013 was the Bucks. This game was still an away game, and the Spurs started a new round of their road trip.

Facing the Bucks, the Spurs won easily. Seven of them scored in double figures. Anxi scored 22 points. The Spurs had the highest score on the team. The second highest Tony Parker scored 20 points. The remaining Kawhi Leonard, Duncan, Ginobili, Boris Dior and Mills all scored in double figures. With this team performance, the Spurs beat the Bucks 117:100.

Then, the Spurs boarded the plane to New York. In this away game to challenge the Knicks, the Spurs took a lot of attention. The decline in the first half made the Spurs lose the first place in the Western Conference, so the Spurs must be sure in the second half. Try to fight back.

The Knicks have been in good form this season. They have played 21 wins and 10 losses this season, ranking second in the Eastern Conference. Carmelo Anthony's scoring average has always been in the league's top two with Kevin Durant, either Anthony first or Durant first.

With the Knicks in good form, the Spurs have to put in more energy if they want to win this game.

Half an hour before the start of the game, CCTV’s live broadcast room was already preparing for the game. Yu Jia and Su Qun will explain the game.

"This game, in addition to the second in the West and the second in the East, should be a battle between the best sixth man, Teacher Su, what do you think?"

Su Qun nodded: "Yes, Anxi is currently a direct competitor of the best sixth man with JR Smith. In the new forecast of the best sixth man in the United States, JR ranks first and Anxi ranks first. Second, this game can be regarded as a battle between the two of them. Whoever wins can have some small advantages in the selection of the best sixth man."

In the Spurs locker room, Anxi quickly changed his jersey and Popovich stood in the center of the court. In this game, he decided to make two small adjustments: "In this game, our lineup has been adjusted twice, and the point guard is still It's Tony Parker, shooting guard Danny Green, small forward Kawhi Leonard, power forward Tim Duncan, and center Thiago Splitter, Thiago. You enter this game and pay attention to protecting the backboard."

The improvement of the Knicks this season, in Popovich’s view, is nothing more than two reasons. One is the arrival of Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton, which activated Anthony and JR Smith, and the other is the new horse. Cus Camby and Tyson Chandler provided rebound protection for the Knicks' outside shooters.

So Popovich chose to let Splitter in to protect the rebound.

Spree said that he understood that soon the game began, and the passionate voices of the DJs of the players on both sides appeared one after another.

Madison Square Garden Arena is known as the mecca holy land of basketball, but for visiting teams like the Spurs, when they first entered the field, the holy land of Mecca was not at all like the holy land of Mecca, boosing everywhere, and even Enthusiastic Knicks fans cursed Spurs players and coaches loudly on the sidelines. It is no wonder that Reggie Miller would scold the fans here after making a three-pointer.

At the beginning of the game, the Spurs took the lead in scoring and took the lead. Tony Parker easily broke through the old Jason Kidd and hit a shot.

However, the Knicks quickly returned to color with Anthony's back and scored the opening score. Anthony seemed to be in good shape.

But then, Leonard's long-arm defense quickly put Anthony into a struggle. Fortunately, Mike Woodson reacted quickly and replaced JR Smith on the court, which immediately shared Anthony's scoring pressure.

The game reached the seventh minute of the first quarter, and it was the official timeout. Popovich replaced Manu Ginobili, but... did not replace Anxi...

The reason for not changing to Anxi is simple, because Leonard defended Anthony well, and the Spurs didn't need to change to Anxi to disrupt the current defensive rhythm.

So Anxi can only continue to wait for the opportunity on the bench. Perhaps this is the worst point of the substitute player. You can play first. If the condition is good, the substitute player’s playing time will be compressed. For example, Anxi in this game. Not surprisingly, Anxi didn't even want to play in the first quarter.

Sure enough, the game reached the end of the first quarter, the Spurs 25:22, leading three points to end this quarter, Leonard did a good job defensively, defending Anthony only scored 6 points in the first quarter, but the Knicks' sixth man JR Smith broke out. After Mike Woodson replaced him, he scored 13 points in most of the quarter, helping the Knicks to bite the score.

Before the start of the second quarter, Popovich began to change again. He glanced at An Xi, then thought about it, and said: "Ann, you play for Tony, Manu goes to play point guard, Danny replaces Kawhi. Ann, you go to play shooting guard, against JR Smith, Danny goes to play small forward, Boris goes on the field to replace Tim." After several substitutions and adjustments, this tragedy is Patrick Mills.

Originally in accordance with the Spurs' rotation policy, Patrick Mills should have played in the second quarter. As a result, at the beginning of the second quarter, Popovich decided to let Anxi and Danny Green play together in order to maintain the wing defense.

"By the way, Ann, your next task is to guard JR Smith, but you also have to take care of it offensively, understand?" Popovich turned to Anxi as if suddenly remembering something.

"I see, coach." An Xi nodded. There is nothing difficult to defend against JR Smith, but it is difficult to also take into account the offense. After all, JR Smith is in a hot state this season, and it is not so easy to defend. If Anxi puts most of his energy into defense, it will not be difficult to guard JR Smith, but the most important thing is that Anxi also scored part of his energy and put it into the offensive end, which is difficult to do.

But think about it, it's a good thing for Popovich to take care of the offensive end, so An Xi nodded and agreed.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Anxi played and faced JR Smith.

This is the first matchup between Anxi and JR Smith in a season. Anxi also played against JR Smith last season, but at that time JR Smith was not in such a good state as it is now, so Anxi easily He dealt with him, and then pushed forward. The two were still in CBA matchups. Anxi also passed the death prevention of JR Smith, and UU reading www.uukavanshu.com stepped on Smith.

Today, the two are still rivals for the best sixth man. Although Anxi has no idea about the honor of the best sixth man, JR Smith has it.

So as soon as he played, JR Smith stared at Anxi.

The first ball in the opening game was the Knicks' right to the ball. Jason Kidd slowly controlled the ball. Although he is old and Jason Kidd's scoring ability is getting worse, Kidd's passing is getting more and more devilish.

After dribbling the ball, Jason Kidd passed the ball directly, and then shouted: "Smith.jr (Little Smith)! Receive the ball!"

Jr. Smith is JR Smith's nickname, and JR Smith’s teammates like to call him that. When he shouted out, JR Smith went straight to the top of the arc to catch the ball, and then did not look at Anxi, who had come to the defense, and made a breakthrough.

Then an unreasonable shot, the basketball hit the rim from the top of Anxi!

The first ball was not guarded! JR Smith looked at Anxi when he returned to defense, and his eyes were quite provocative. (To be continued.)