masters-orleans Chapter 231
Chapter 231
Chapter 231
For the Spurs' backcourt duo, defense has never been their strong point. Ginobili is a little bit better, and Tony Parker has no defense at all.
As someone once joked, this is why the gdp trio has Tim Duncan as one of the core reasons.
Because Tim Duncan's defense is very good.
Although Popovich criticized Tony Parker during the timeout, to be honest, he knows very well that even if Tony Parker goes all out on the defensive end, it may be difficult to perform well.
Sometimes, you can only expect players to perform exceptionally well, but you absolutely cannot ask them to perform exceptionally well. Just like at this moment, defense itself is not Parker’s strong point. If Parker is not good enough on the defensive end, there is nothing he can do about it. matter.
Of course, aside from Tony Parker, the Spurs' defense is not weak. They have Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen, two top defenders in the league, one inside and one outside.
Tim Duncan was selected to the first team of the All-Defensive Team this season and is the player with the highest defensive efficiency inside.
This is rare, because unlike other pure defensive players, Tim Duncan is also the core of the Spurs' offense while standing on defense.
Maybe that's why he was able to win the best defensive player award this season.
As for Bruce Bowen, he has been a frequent visitor to the best defensive team in the past few seasons. In fact, his defense this season is as good as ever, but in the end he just lost to Kobe in the same position and fell to the second team of the best defensive team .
For this reason, some time ago, some people complained about Bruce Bowen.
There are many defensive teams in the league, such as the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston Celtics.
But in the true sense, only the Spurs can be called the top team, and maybe the Lakers have to be added.
The Spurs' defense has always been their foothold.
Even though the team has formed an offensive lineup with GDP as the core in the past two years, Gregg Popovich has never abandoned defense, and even emphasized defense again and again.
Of course, there is a reason why Popovich attaches so much importance to defense. In the 2002-2003 season, the Spurs were in the Western Conference semifinals with the Lakers. At that time, the reason why the Spurs could defeat the Lakers led by the OK combination was defense. .
Three days ago, when the two teams that advanced to the Western Conference Finals were finally announced, many people were optimistic that the Lakers would have the last laugh.
Of course, everyone has also given some confidence and possibility to the Spurs. Everyone generally feels that if the San Antonio Spurs play that suffocating defensive basketball in the upcoming series, they have a chance to upset the Lakers.
.........
When the game resumed, the Spurs unsurprisingly increased their strength on the defensive end, which made Li Hao and the others feel tremendous pressure on the offensive end.
However, the Lakers' No. [-] did not become in a hurry. To be honest, he experienced the overall defense of the Spurs last season.
He even has some experience in cracking this kind of overall defense. The simplest and rude way is to shoot unreasonably.
That's right, it's random and irregular sudden shots. Li Hao has to admit that his teammate Kobe Bryant is better than him in this regard.
For the Lakers' offense, when Li Hao just passed the center line with the ball, he saw the Spurs in front of him put on a defensive posture ready to fight.
From the perspective of the aesthetic layout of basketball tactics alone, Li Hao has to admit that the San Antonio Spurs are a team with high tactical quality.
But it's a pity that Li Hao is not the stunned young man who easily fell into the trap.
Li Hao, who was still far away from the three-point line, glanced at the basket casually, and opened his hand to make a three-pointer.
"brush"
"oh, the three from the lakers' number [-], he's so confident"
"What are the people of San Antonio doing. How dare they take Lee's [-]-pointer"
The entire Staples Center was in an uproar.
Few people thought that Li Hao would be so confident and suddenly shoot a long-range three-pointer.
"The Spurs are in defensive trouble. They feel like they're punching a ball of cotton now. When Lee chooses to deal with your defense with that kind of scoring defense that shoots cold arrows, your defense looks so fragile."
Charles Barkley talked eloquently, and he seemed very excited. Also, as Li Hao's real supporter, of course he had to cheer a little bit at this time.
"Yeah, Greg is indeed going to have a headache. Strictly speaking, this is the most difficult scene for him to deal with the Lakers. You know, Kobe is even better at this than Lee."
Kenny Smith spread his hands, he felt helpless for Popovich.
"Lee reads the game so well, this guy always surprises us, and honestly, man, I'm finding myself less and less able to read Lee"
Perhaps at this time, it's not just the fans who feel incredible, even the Lakers coaching staff, at this time, the inner shock is not little.
Offensive coach Judy Brucher laughs at Rudy Tomja Norwich.
"Yeah, Li is working hard to become an excellent field control master. What I admire the most is his learning ability. This kid's growth rate looks like a rocket that goes up into the sky. Accelerate and accelerate again."
Perhaps this is the truest feeling in Rudy Norwich's heart. Facing Li Hao, he can't be as calm as water. Rudy Tom Norwich admits that Li Hao is the one he has encountered in his coaching career. The strongest rookie.
Compared with the cheers of the Lakers coaching staff at the moment, the Spurs are much more deserted.
To be honest, Gregg Popovich is a bit bitter in his heart at the moment. What he fears most is this kind of player. He is not afraid to play team and system basketball with other players. Reasonable player.
Popovich knows very well that almost any tactic is useless against this kind of player.
Until now, Popovich's mind is still showing the picture of them being reversed and eliminated by the Lakers last season.
That's it.
A Lakers No. [-] relied on his unstructured and irregular offensive choices to pull the Lakers back from the cliff.
"God, please save the San Antonio Spurs"
Popovich longed for it.
Perhaps Popovich's piety moved God, and the situation on the field suddenly changed again in the next period of time.
"Stone Buddha" showed its power.
As the core of this team, Tim Duncan knows very well what the team needs most at this stage.
Therefore, he took the risk of injury to reappear the former "Flying Devil", and dunked several times at the basket to close the point difference. Until the end of the first half, the Spurs were only 2 points behind the Lakers.
"It seems that the San Antonio Spurs are still one of the biggest obstacles for the Lakers to successfully defend the championship after all. They have not panicked because of the temporary lag. Maybe they have not found a way to deal with the purple and gold stars until now, but it seems that Ru Norwich can't do anything about Tim Duncan"
"Yes, Tim Duncan gives people the impression that he is not reticent, but to be honest, his ability to lead the team has always been recognized by people. If it weren't for the injury in 03, the Flying Devil would no longer be a luxury picture."
"Basketball fans all over the world may be focusing on this game at this time. Maybe for a long time, the Western Conference finals between silver gray and purple gold will become a norm. Look at the core players of both sides. They are too young. For the team, this may be a kind of sadness.”
"I very much agree with your point of view. We all know that before this, from the perspective of the entire league, the Zijin and Green Jerseys are absolute rivals. From the perspective of the East in the Michael era, Chicago and Detroit have countless grievances. Love and hatred, then when the time enters the 21st century, it seems that Zijin vs Silver Ash will evolve into a new rivalry model, we can recall carefully, these two teams have been facing each other in the playoffs in recent seasons..."
Perhaps the ratings of TNT in the last two years can rise rapidly, which is definitely inseparable from Charles Barkley.
As a "qualified" big mouth, Barkley can always find topics that fans are very keen to talk about.
Just like the NBA rivalry theory he put forward during the halftime break.
Many people deeply agree with this.
Because the Lakers and Spurs seem to be moving in this direction. Since the Spurs eliminated the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals in 03, this trend has even accelerated.
Just like what Barkley said, the cores of these two teams look very young at present. Whether it is the Lakers' Zijin Gemini or the Spurs' gdp, they will be at their peak as always within five years. Now, the stage of the Western Conference Finals seems to have been booked by these two teams, and few other teams can get involved.
Even though the whole world knows that there are no weak teams in the West, in the eyes of the Lakers and Spurs, other teams are weak teams.
.........
"We have to play at our own pace. Listen, we don't need to compete with our opponents in individual combat capabilities. We even have a chance to win this series as long as we can perform our duties in the ant tribe... "
No one knew that at halftime, Gregg Popovich called a brief players meeting in the locker room.
At the beginning of the third quarter, the Lakers took the lead in making adjustments on the defensive end. Rudy Tom Norwich gave up the strategy of pinching Tim Duncan in the low post. Rudy Tom Norwich gave a simple reason, that is, let go If you Tim Duncan votes, I don't believe you can win this game by yourself.
Turning around, the Lakers invested heavily in defense on the outside, Li Hao went down to rest, and Kobe led the team. Caron Butler and Derek Fisher were in charge of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. It is easy for the outside line to get a chance to make a shot.
I have to admit that Rudy Tom and Norwich's hand is very beautiful. The Spurs have indeed achieved some results on the offensive end by relying on Tim Duncan, but this effect does not seem to be profitable no matter what, because Tim Duncan's physical strength consumption in the eyes.
For this reason, Tim Duncan can only save energy on the defensive end. In this way, Lamar Odom is liberated.
Kobe + Odom, the Lakers relied on these two points in the third quarter to support the offensive end.
Just like how he dealt with Li Hao before, Popovich also used the same tricks in dealing with Kobe, but there is no doubt that it was not very useful.
81: 72!
After the third quarter, the Lakers took a 9-point lead.
When the game came to the decisive game, the situation on the field changed a lot. For example, the main players of both sides returned to the field.
After giving up Phil Jackson's triangle offensive tactics, the Lakers have successfully transformed into a team that likes to play sports under the leadership of Rudy Tom and Norwich in the new season.
Contrary to the Lakers, as a veteran coach, Gregg Popovich has always advocated positional warfare.
Therefore, in this case, whoever takes the lead in controlling the rhythm of the game in the fourth quarter will take the initiative.
Shuang knows this very well. Therefore, from the first ball in the fourth quarter, the concentration of the players on both sides has been rising.
The first to attack was the Lakers. Kobe took the initiative to lean on Bruce Bowen after advancing to the frontcourt with the ball. However, he was not sure of completing the singles against Bowen, and then handed the ball to Li Hao who stepped forward to respond. , Li Hao is facing Manu Ginobili at this time.
Although Ginobili's overall ability on the defensive end is average, his stealing ability is still very good.
Therefore, after Kobe's pass in the street, Li Hao neither passed the ball presumptuously nor chose to shoot directly.
Instead, he took the initiative to observe the overall situation on the field.
Li Hao played very patiently. He knew that with the team leading by 9 points, the Spurs should be more anxious at this time.
Sure enough, Ginobili couldn't bear it any longer. He stepped forward to force Li Hao. Ginobili hoped that Li Hao could pass the ball, because he was more afraid of Li Hao's shooting than Li Hao's passing.
The reason is simple, Li Hao's shooting percentage in this game is very good.
It is impossible for Li Hao to get into trouble just relying on Ginobili's persecution alone. Therefore, Tony Parker rushed over from the other side to help defend, and they chose to double-team Li Hao's Venus.
This is the time.
When Li Hao saw Parker running over, his pupils shrank suddenly, and he quickly threw the ball to Caron Butler at the free throw line.
After receiving the pass from Li Hao, the latter quickly handed it over to the high-ranking Odom without any hesitation.
Tim Duncan was too late at this time, so he could only watch Odom complete his shot.
brush.
Popovich shook his head helplessly on the sidelines. In good conscience, Ginobili and the others did a good job on the defensive end just now, but the Lakers' No. [-] handled it even better.
(End of this chapter)