I am Really an Insider

The San Antonio Spurs in the 15-16 season is a season that even Spurs fans themselves often ignore.

Whenever the Spurs in the 15-16 season are mentioned on basketball forums, many Spurs fans will sigh: "Oh, what a pity, what a pity. I hate Zaza, if he hadn't stepped in."

At this time, he will often get a reply: "Brother, you are talking about next season. The Spurs and Warriors did not meet in the playoffs in the 15-16 season."

You see, everyone only remembers that the 13-14 Spurs won the cup with their gorgeous team basketball, and remember that Kawhi was eliminated in the 16-17 season.

But in the 15-16 season, the Spurs' presence was too low.

But in fact, the Spurs in the 15-16 season achieved a terrifying 67 wins in the regular season - the best record in team history!

And throughout the entire season, the Spurs only lost one game at home, and that was to the strongest Warriors!

Logically speaking, this is a pretty brilliant regular season record, and it shouldn't be so insignificant.

Unfortunately, even though the Spurs won 67 games that year, they only had one loss at home.

But what's weighing on them is the 73-win Warriors who broke the Bulls' record.

People's eyes are on the 73-win Warriors, and the whole world is bragging about how powerful the Warriors are, while ignoring the Spurs, who have an equally outstanding record.

In fact, if it weren't for the Spurs pressing behind them, the Warriors might not have won 73 games.

But being suppressed by the Warriors in the regular season is only secondary. The biggest reason why the Spurs did not have a strong presence in the 15-16 season was because they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.

Think about it, the Thunder were fierce enough back then. They first beat the 67-win team and then the 73-win team, and caused huge trouble for both teams.

It is indeed the king of fried combinations.

There are many reasons why the Spurs were eliminated, but one thing is for sure, the Spurs are an underrated team.

Even in the regular season, losing only one game at home is very difficult.

The Warriors in the regular season that year only lost 9 games in a season. Most of the losses were actually due to factors such as fatigue, luck, injuries, etc.

But the only loss to the Spurs was that they were truly suppressed in terms of strength.

So, Popovich is by no means arrogant.

Although he has many shortcomings and is ruthless, he is by no means an arrogant person.

He confidently wants to deal with Wayne in the Rose Garden because his Spurs are really strong.

In Ugly Country, as soon as he got off the plane, Popovich was very arrogant when faced with reporters' questions.

"Coach, how do you feel about returning to the Rose Garden? What changes has Wayne's return brought to the Blazers?"

The old thief faced the camera with disdain: "I don't have any special mood, the Trail Blazers are just like other opponents. I don't know what Wei's return will change. I only know that the world has changed a lot in the two years since he left. "

After saying that, the old thief looked at Kawaii proudly.

FMVP last season, DPOY last season, and second in the MVP rankings this season.

Kawaii's growth can be said to be step by step, and he is simply the pride of the old thief!

In the past, the Spurs have never had a player who could compete with Wayne.

Now he has it!

The old thief just feels lucky that he was a draft pick and snatched Leonard away from the Blazers.

Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.

Kawhi is the real superstar of this era, and the old thief believes that kid will make Wayne feel weak.

"So do you think Portland fans will still boo you crazily when you return to the Rose Garden this time? After all, every time you played away games in Portland before, you were easily emotional."

"You know, I'm getting older and my hearing is getting worse. I can't hear boos anywhere."

The old thief replied coolly, thinking he was being humorous.

But a few hours later, when he stood on the sidelines of the court, listening to the boos from the fans, and seeing Wayne standing on the court, the old thief admitted that he was a little panicked.

Two years later, when he saw that devil on the basketball court again, the old thief was suddenly filled with painful memories.

The history of Wayne's success is simply the history of the suffering of an old criminal.

He still clearly remembers how Wayne destroyed the powerful Spurs in just five games in 2013.

Wayne also turned to look at the old thief on the bench at this time. The old thief immediately took a step back like a reflex, subconsciously preparing to hide behind Budenholzer.

"Mike, escort, escort!"

Vicki shouted in horror, but when she turned around, she realized that Mike was no longer around her, and only female assistant coach Becky Harmon remained.

Well, Budenholzer went to the Hawks to start his own business in the summer of the year Wayne retired. He is now the head coach and president of basketball affairs of the Hawks.

Size is an executive.

Last season, Budenholzer also won the best coach award.

So, it’s always right to go out and explore.

Putting aside the honors Budenholzer has received for the moment, in the Hawks, at least he does not have to be used as a human shield!

Harmon looked at the old thief in confusion. Why did this usually calm old man look so frightened?

"Escort? What escort?"

Becky Harmon asked at a loss, is this a new tactic?

The old thief couldn't embarrass himself in front of Xiao Nizi, so he pretended to be calm and straightened his tie: "Well, Becky, what I mean is, don't be nervous even if you face the Trail Blazers. Although Wayne led the team for five games after his comeback, Winning streak, but nothing spectacular.

Wayne is just a paper tiger, we don’t have to be afraid of him! I have a hundred ways to get him! "

As soon as the old thief finished speaking, he felt as if the light in front of him had been blocked.

He looked up and realized that Wayne had walked in front of him at some point.

"Fuck!"

The old thief who had just said righteously that Wayne was nothing to be afraid of was suddenly convinced and instantly frightened. He was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost knelt down in front of Wayne.

Wayne hurriedly held on to avoid being bowed by the old thief.

It's not that Wayne is a pitiful old thief, it's mainly that this white-haired man kneels down to a black-haired man, and his life will be shortened.

"Good friend, long time no see." Wayne stared at the old thief with a wicked smile. His fearful expression was simply Wayne's best spiritual food.

"Don't keep thinking about kneeling down. No courtesy, just sit down."

The old thief stared at Wayne in fear, his legs were still weak: "It's okay, it's so comfortable."

Wayne shook his head and forced the old thief to sit on the bench.

Then, Wayne stretched out a hand, indicating that he wanted to shake the old thief's hand.

The old thief glanced at Becky Harmon and found that she was staring here.

She just established a new trend in front of her. If she doesn't even dare to hold Wayne's hand, how can she lead the team in the future?

So, the old thief also stretched out his hand and shook Wayne's hand.

Sure enough, the moment he held his hand, Wayne suddenly used force and squeezed the old thief's palm hard.

The old thief wanted to scream in pain, but the young man was watching from the side. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to scream?

"Craig, you know? I really miss you. I heard you say that a lot has changed in the past two years? I just heard that you have a hundred ways to deal with me?"

"Yes, a lot has changed in the past two years! As for one hundred methods? Hehe, it's just a metaphor.

Just like some authors say that they promise to update 10,000 words a day, but most of them are just metaphors, and only a very few conscientious people actually update 10,000 words a day. "

"Hahahaha, everyone is so familiar with it, so there is no need to explain so much. Use whatever tricks you have. I will let you know that your situation is actually no different from two years ago."

After speaking, Wayne let go of the old thief's hand.

Looking at Wayne's back as he turned and walked away, the old thief's heart was still beating fast, and his previous arrogance was completely gone.

Becky Harmon also stood up at this time, very surprised: "I always thought you and Wayne had a bad relationship, but I didn't expect you to be so close."

The old thief rubbed his hand that was almost broken: "No, the relationship between us is extraordinary!"

Wayne and Popovich, the level of mutual hostility between these two people cannot be eliminated in just two years.

Generally speaking, in this league, few players and coaches have the level of hostility between players and coaches that reaches the level of Wayne and the old thieves.

Wayne destroyed Bowen, broke Popovich's teeth, and caused the Spurs to experience a dark decade.

And Popovich's repeated tricks in the past also made Wayne hate the old man.

You know, if it weren't for the body protection of the Man of Steel, Wayne's rookie season would have been ruined by Popovich.

Isn’t it often said in TV dramas? If apologizing works, why do you need uncle?

What's more, Popovich didn't even apologize, or even wash it off shamelessly.

Do you think the level of hostility between these two people can be easily smoothed over?

Wayne continued to go back to warm up and found that old Carter was also frowning.

The San Antonio Spurs are definitely an unusual opponent for Carter.

Carter has suffered many hidden losses with the Spurs.

In the past few years, Carter's attitude towards the Spurs has softened a lot because he has given up competing for the championship.

But this season, when Carter returns to the championship ranks, he will think of his experiences back then.

What the Spurs did to Carter was, to paraphrase Mousse's famous saying, "not once, not twice."

Mousse: I won the championship in Cleveland, so I can’t get past this article, right? ?

Before the game started, Carlisle reminded everyone that this may be the most difficult opponent the team has encountered so far this season. He hoped that everyone could maintain their condition and not take it lightly.

This is a change of direction to remind all the idiots: "Those big pots who played the first position in the last game have all used their magical powers today!"

Big McGee and Tucker nodded seriously. The coach was definitely not talking about us. As blue-collar workers, what bad intentions could we have?

Before the game started, Wayne also had a boxing showdown with the primary school students to boost each other's morale.

Wayne knew very well that this game could never be won by just playing casually like before.

In the first game against the Thunder, although the Thunder had strength, Du Xiaoshuai was still on the hook.

So to put it bluntly, half of the Thunder's strength was not used.

But the Spurs are different. They started with a five-game winning streak and were in great shape right from the start.

Never expect to wait for the other party to fall on their own.

Today is the first opponent Wayne has encountered since his comeback.

Moreover, neither Wayne nor the old thief wanted to lose to each other.

This pair of enemies will never make it easy for either party.

The old thief was staring at Wayne fiercely from the sidelines, completely losing his cowardly look just now.

A real man must be able to bend and stretch!

He placed all his expectations on Kawaii, but he must give me a long face!

The starting five for the Spurs are Parker, Green, Kawhi, Aldridge and Duncan.

On the Trail Blazers side, it's still Curry, Tony, Butler, Wayne and McGee.

Carlisle's plan in this game was simple: cut off the connection between the Spurs players, force the Spurs to play alone, and prevent them from playing a smooth team offense.

In the matchup, Butler will face Kawhi, while Wayne will face Aldridge.

In Carlisle's expectation, this shouldn't be a problem.

However, as soon as the game started, Carlisle found that his wishful thinking was not so satisfactory.

After McGee won the basketball for the Trail Blazers, Wayne immediately prepared to execute the first attack.

After making several triple-threat moves in the mid-range, Wayne tried to break through to the penalty area.

But after Wayne broke in, Duncan immediately stepped in to defend.

Wayne then handed the ball to Biggie.

After catching the ball, Biggie took a big step and was about to dunk, but Duncan returned to the basket in time and raised his arms, which interfered with McGee's shot.

McGee's dunks and empty baskets are fine, but when he encounters interference when attacking the frame, he will struggle very much.

The first goal didn't go in, and Aldridge picked off the rebound.

After Parker pushed over, he originally wanted to play a pick-and-roll with Duncan.

But Curry immediately squeezed Duncan away and blocked Parker again.

You know, two years ago, Parker was still the core figure of the Spurs and the absolute leading scorer.

At that time, when Parker played Curry, he was accurate every time.

But now, the improvement of Curry's own defensive level coupled with the decline of Parker's speed has made the pick-and-roll between him and Duncan less threatening.

In the past, he could easily get rid of Curry, but now it is difficult for him to get rid of the Trail Blazers' No. 30.

There was no other way, so Parker had to hand the ball over to the facially paralyzed No. 2.

Carlisle was very happy. Wasn't this the tactic of forcing singles?

Butler, a unit of measurement of length, stood in front of Kawaii conscientiously and reached out to cover Kawaii's eyes.

But Kawhi showed no expression. He called Duncan for a pick-and-roll again, but in the end he hit my uncovered side instead.

Butler was deceived, but quickly adjusted and continued to block Kawhi's path.

At this moment, Kawhi stepped back, opened a slight distance and shot a jumper directly.

I have to say that Kawaii at this time is completely different from Kawaii two years ago.

That Kawhi two years ago could only be regarded as a rising star.

And now Kawaii is second in the MVP rankings.

Artest: I was in the top five of the MVP rankings back then, so it was nothing special.

Kawhi's current skills are not yet at the level of perfection, but they are already at the top level of the league.

Butler reacted immediately and raised his arms to interfere with the shot.

But it doesn't matter whether he raises his arm or not. Compared with Kawaii's length, it's like a large social death scene.

With almost the same height but slightly shorter arms, Butler's interference had minimal impact on Kawhi.

Just like that, Kawhi's step-back mid-range shot hit steadily. In the first round, Kawhi defeated the Trail Blazers' strongest outside gate!

"Okay, okay!" Popovich clapped his hands like a sea lion. He knew that the kid would not let him down!

"The ball went in. Leonard's skills are indeed very delicate now."

Butler gritted his teeth. If it had been anyone else, he would have defended it, because there was no problem with his judgment.

The problem lies in the length.

Carlisle also didn't expect that Butler would be defeated so easily.

But this is just a round, it doesn’t mean anything.

In the second round, Wayne gave Curry the ball, but Curry's three-pointer was blocked by the interference of former teammate Green.

Green is still very powerful on the defensive end this season, and he is very suitable for defending off-ball attackers.

In the Spurs, the two ghosts of Huang Amar and Kawhi shoot the goal, one to defend the opponent's point with the ball, and the other to defend the opponent's point without the ball.

Green does an even better job of pressing people without the ball than Kawhi.

Curry missed, and Wayne almost got a rebound over the heads of Ade and Deng Shu.

But just when he was about to touch the basketball, Kawhi jumped in and took the rebound away.

Then, he turned around and quickly counterattacked.

Butler hurriedly stopped him, but his speed was not more advantageous than Kawhi's, so he could only stay close to Kawhi's side.

Kawhi kept winning and carried Butler to the three-second zone, then used a beautiful European step layup to avoid the defense, and then used his wingspan advantage to flick the ball.

"brush!"

"Basketball again, Leonard was very active today, scoring 4 points in a row as soon as he started!"

"Fuck!" Butler blamed himself. You know, it is difficult for a player like him to accept being beaten twice by the opponent.

Carlisle also frowned. He did force the Spurs to play in isolation, but he didn't expect Butler to be unable to guard him.

Wayne shook his head. In fact, he had been worried about this for a long time.

The most talked-about confrontation between Butler and Kawhi was undoubtedly the year the Raptors won the championship.

In that Eastern Conference semifinals, the 76ers also used Butler to defend Kawhi at the beginning.

However, the effect is very disappointing. Kaguya shot a terrifying shooting rate of nearly 70% on Butler, almost getting everything he asked for!

It's really impossible to defend, and Butler is visibly inferior to Kawhi on both offense and defense.

In fact, the two people's playing styles are almost the same. Now it's time to compete for talent.

Butler's physical talent was completely overwhelmed by Kawhi.

Later, the 76ers still used Simmons to defend Kawhi, and they barely limited Kawhi's shooting percentage to 53%.

Well, only 53% now know why Kawhi was praised as the contemporary Jordan that year.

Butler, on the other hand, mainly defended Van Jordan, causing Van Jordan to lose the entire series.

In other words, the 76ers didn't dare to let Butler face off against Kawhi!

Again, Butler is suitable for guarding defenders, but it is difficult to guard tall and long-armed forwards.

This is one of the reasons why Butler has never been considered a superstar.

Originally, his offense was not even at the top of the league, and his defense, which he was proud of, had such limitations.

As for Antetokounmpo's team being defeated when he met Butler, it was not Butler's defense alone. Antetokounmpo's main reason was due to zone defense.

Antetokounmpo's skills are not as superb as Kawhi's, so he is afraid of zone defense.

In short, Butler's effectiveness in defending Kawhi has never been better.

It's just that Kawaii hasn't evolved into a complete form yet, so Wayne was taking a chance before.

However, Butler also did not enter the perfect body.

Therefore, the gap between them is still the same.

These two goals are enough to prove the gap between the two.

4-0, the expressionless Kawhi will definitely not stop there, Butler will continue to suffer.

What's more, Aldridge, one of the double virtues, hasn't started to show off yet.

The old thief smiled slightly, my pride is indeed strong!

Here’s the first update, begging for votes!