Healing Basketball

   Chapter 721 721. The strongest Duncan, the weakest Popovich

   On the evening of June 2, the Eastern Conference finals with a score of 3 to 1 ushered in the fifth game.

  The Pistons, holding the match point, sit at home against the Heat.

  As expected, the Eastern Conference finals did not end so quickly, 112 to 107, the Heat narrowly beat the Pistons by 5 points.

  Yao Ming scored 24 points and 10 rebounds, Carter scored 29 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Billups scored 13 points and 8 assists, and Amir Johnson scored 15 points... The overall offense was very good, but the opponent went berserk.

  Anthony Walker scored 18 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists, plus Wade's 37 points, O'Neal's 26 points, White Chocolate's 13 points... The whole team worked together to bring the Eastern Conference Finals back to Miami.

   After Liu Xiu watched the live broadcast, he clearly felt that the performance of Yao Ming and O'Neal declined with the decline in physical strength.

  Carter and Wade have taken over the banner of the confrontation, and Liu Xiu can clearly see that Wade's performance is better than Carter's.

  Just to say that Wade's desperate energy is what Carter doesn't have.

   But should I say it or not, Liu Xiu thinks the referee really gave the call. This is the home court of the Pistons. Wade's 15 of 19 free throws are a bit outrageous.

  Thinking of this, Liu Xiu's eyes suddenly widened—no way, no way, this is 1 to 3!

  …

   Liu Xiu just thought about it for a while, he didn't have so much time to pay attention to Yao Ming, and he was too busy here.

  After the two-day break, at 8:00 pm on June 3, the battle between the Trail Blazers and the Spurs at Tianwangshan began!

In the first quarter, Liu Xiu continued to hit the ground running, hitting three goals in a row and triggering 'Kobe time', and then scored a three-pointer after a pick-and-roll. After a wave of 10-3 by himself, he didn't make a single successful shot in the next 9 minutes. Got 4 free throw opportunities and hit all of them.

   Made 4 of 4 shots in a single quarter, including 2 of 2 three-pointers, plus 4 of 4 free throws, scored 14 points, plus 1 rebound and 4 assists, leading the Trail Blazers to 37 points in a single quarter!

   With the help of his containment and passing, Ray Allen scored 8 points on 3-of-3 shooting in the first quarter, and Randolph scored 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting. Both of them were moved to tears.

The Spurs began to adjust their style of play after Liu Xiu played a wave of 10-3 calls for a timeout. It seemed that they were ready. During the timeout, Popovich did not make many adjustments. I am emphasizing persistence.

   In the next 9 minutes, the Spurs scored 24 points, which was no qualitative difference from the Trail Blazers who scored 27 points in the next 10 minutes. Of course, the overall gap still came to 10 points.

  After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers lead the Spurs 37 to 27!

   In the second quarter, the offense of the two teams was full.

Liu Xiu scored 8 points and 5 assists in a single quarter, and Ray Allen scored 12 points. It was the battle of Tianwangshan, and the role players of the Trail Blazers finally made a shot. Outlaws, Payton, McDyess and others The mid-range shot was swish.

   Throughout the second quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 35 points in a single quarter!

  However, the highest scorer in this quarter was not Ray Allen, but Duncan... 4 of 6 shots and 5 of 7 free throws. Duncan scored 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in a single quarter.

  Add Ginobili's 6 points, Parker's 4 points, Bowen's 7 points... The Spurs also scored 35 points in a single quarter.

   After halftime, the Trail Blazers were 72 to 62, still leading the Spurs by 10 points!

  …

   The game ended in this situation, Popovich began to panic!

  He has never played like this!

   and the Suns also had soaring points, but he did not arrange to play offense against the Suns. He has been strengthening the defense and constantly adjusting the defense. A good offense is a troika.

  Although they scored 62 points in the half and survived the stage where Liu Xiu scored 10 points in a row, their performance was not weaker than the Trail Blazers, but he was still afraid.

  During the intermission, he still couldn't hold back and changed his style of play back to defense.

  The Spurs players are used to whatever the coach says, so there is no problem, just adjust.

  Duncan hesitated to speak. Although he felt that such a sudden change of style of play was not good, the start was adjusted smoothly. He only played for 3 minutes, and now it's halftime, but he still didn't say anything.

After returning from the halftime break, the Spurs directly filled the defense and successfully contained the Blazers' offensive momentum in the third quarter. Ray Allen scored 10 points in a single quarter, and the Blazers only scored 27 points. 8 points lower than in the second quarter.

  However, the Spurs offense was even worse. Duncan scored 7 points, Parker scored 5 points, Horry scored 5 points, Ginobili 6 points, a total of 23 points, and no one else scored.

   After fighting for a quarter of defense, the Spurs fell behind by 3 points.

   After three quarters, the Trail Blazers lead the Spurs 99 to 85 by 14 points!

   At this time, Popovich knew he was cheated, but there was nothing he could do. It would be crazy to change players, and it was not so easy to get back that offensive feeling, so he had to go all the way to the dark.

  The Spurs managed to limit the Trail Blazers to 20 points in the final quarter. Barkley, who explained the game, ridiculed that the highest and lowest points in a single quarter were scored by the Trail Blazers, and the offense fluctuated too much.

  The Spurs scored 26 points in the final quarter, narrowing the 6-point gap, but it didn't help.

Liu Xiu scored 27 points, 6 rebounds, 15 assists and 3 steals, Ray Allen had 32 points, Zach Randolph had 23 points and 9 rebounds, Kwame Brown had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal... 119 to 111, the Trail Blazers defeated the Spurs by 8 points and won the battle of Tianwangshan!

  The top scorer tonight wasn't Ray Allen...

  The big screen gave the data of the player who performed the most tonight.

   14 of 26 shots, plus 13 of 19 free throws, Duncan scored a career-high 41 points in the playoffs, plus 15 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks...

  After the game, Liu Xiu accepted a rare post-match interview, and only said one sentence - "Welcome the most powerful striker in history to join the air-cut group."

  …

   Started 0 to 1, and won the Tianwangshan battle with a big score of 3 to 2. The performance of the Trail Blazers stunned the crowd.

  The Spurs' performance fluctuated greatly in G5, and Popovich was scolded.

   Everyone is saying that Popovich doesn't know how to play offense and has to change his formation blindly. Duncan is in such a good state for nothing.

  The last time Duncan played so hard in a series was when he won the championship in 2003.

  Popovich felt aggrieved when he saw these remarks. If he didn’t seek changes, if he didn’t put Ginobili on the bench, and didn’t prepare for tactical changes, what would they use to fight against the Trail Blazers?

   They made these adjustments under the pressure of losing to the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals last year and being swept by the Trail Blazers in the regular season this year.

   But don’t say it, although he was forced to change by pressure, after a few tries, Popovich felt pretty good.

   It's just that the changes he prepared in advance have almost been used up in G3, and there is nothing new in G4.

   These preparations took a lot of time, and now let him continue to adjust his style of play, he really can't do it... No, he was completely led by the nose by Maurice Cheeks in the battle of Tianwangshan...

  (end of this chapter)