Chapter 413 413. It’s all the Spurs’ fault! (10,000-word chapter)

At 7:30 pm, the Trail Blazers' home game against the Spurs started.

Trail Blazers starting lineup: Payton, Liu Xiu, Raheem, Randolph, Kwame Brown.

Spurs starting lineup: Parker, Ginobili, Bowen, Horry, Nesterovich.

Kwame Brown won the jump ball. Liu Xiu advanced to the frontcourt and borrowed Kwame Brown's cover. Horry, who broke through the defense and changed defense, entered the inside and distributed the ball to Rahim. Rahim smashed the ball through Nesterovich.

Get into the basket!

Positive and irritable!

Duncan, who was on the sidelines, had no expression on his face, thinking: Rahim dunked, why was the parallel import No. 1 pick staring at me? No, what Rahim dunked was not the parallel import No. 1 pick, but the center of our team!

When the Spurs attacked, Parker advanced to the frontcourt and started accelerating just after passing the center circle. He drove the car passionately and moved forward... Liu Xiu decisively moved in the direction of Parker's breakthrough. Parker changed direction and moved towards the other side... Liu Xiu moved decisively in the direction of Parker's breakthrough.

Xiu followed Parker's footsteps with a faster lateral movement than before! Parker could only go off the line and rush forward with Liu Xiu's close defense.

This time Parker was prepared. Although he didn't believe this fact, the fact was that he couldn't get past Liu Xiu purely by relying on speed... But to avoid being flanked and blocked, he had specific preparations and rushed to close range to hit Kwame-

Brown made a quick throw before making the save, avoiding Kwame Brown's block... but unfortunately missed.

Parker's expectation that his teammates could grab the offensive rebound was in vain. Neither Horry nor Nesterovich could grab Randolph.

Parker began to suffer again.

Liu Xiu, who copied Payton's upgraded version of 'blocking flow', completely defeated Parker, whose current skills are not up to par;

Ginobili's performance in recent times has been quite satisfactory, just like an ordinary outstanding star in his early 80s with ability evaluation. Last month he averaged 14 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and tonight is about the same;

The Spurs' three frontcourts have no ability to attack independently...

In the first half of the first quarter, Liu Xiu led his team to a 12-7 run and entered the official timeout!

Without Duncan, the Spurs were effective in controlling the rhythm, but the Blazers were completely blown away by the rest!

But the Spurs are the Spurs after all. Officially back, the Spurs sent a combination of Udrih, Brent Barry, Bowen, Malik Rose, and Tony Massenberg to join the Trail Blazers' rotation.

The game was back-and-forth. Thanks to Glenn Robinson's buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the rotation, the Spurs led 13-12 in the second half, narrowing the gap by 1 point.

24 to 20, the Trail Blazers led the Spurs by 4 points heading into the break!

…

If Duncan plays, the Spurs have a high chance of ending the Trail Blazers' 9-game winning streak tonight!

but……

Does it matter to me that the Trail Blazers have won 10 consecutive games? - Gregg Popovich.

The Trail Blazers have been in great shape lately!

The sparks were almost coming out of the game against the Nuggets the day before yesterday, and I feel even more irritable tonight than that night.

The Spurs are also in good shape recently. At the end of the middle of the season, Ginobili's side is under a lot of physical pressure and can't show off. Their performance has been mediocre in recent times. As a result, the Spurs have lost that X factor, but it has also allowed them to

The status is continuously online, stable and powerful.

Against the Trail Blazers, the Spurs don't really need Ginobili to break out, especially as the season progresses and the players they picked up in the summer are getting used to it, even less so.

After the disbandment of the OK team, the Spurs became the top seed in the Western Conference, and there were many more supporters. Brent Barry took a salary cut and signed with the Spurs without permission.

In order to give the Spurs a chance to renew Ginobili's rookie contract for only two years without Bird Rights, and to help the Spurs sign Brent Barry... Robert Horry took a salary cut of $3.4 million and paid $1.1 million.

The contract was renewed for one year; Bowen also took a salary cut and signed a long-term contract with a starting salary of US$3 million.

It also introduced role players such as Tony Massenberg and Glenn Robinson, making the lineup far deeper than the previous two championship seasons.

Therefore, when Ginobili is not showing off or cheating, they have a higher probability of defeating the Trail Blazers, even the Trail Blazers, who are currently enjoying a nine-game winning streak.

After all, when Ginobili was cheating, he was really cheating. This season, he has played 5 games in which he took more than 5 shots and hit less than or equal to 1 goal, accounting for 1/9 of his games.

But! At this stage, going head-to-head with the Trail Blazers...Popovich said he was scared.

As the season progresses, Duncan's personal performance becomes more incredible - so far this season, his personal efficiency is a little higher than when he was the MVP in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, second only to his heyday in the 03-04 season.

stage.

There is a simple but intuitive data. Last season, Duncan's field goal percentage was 38.6%. So far this season, it is 41.7%. Last season, his long two-point field goal percentage was 37.2%. So far this season, it has reached 42.1%, and it is from the season

It has gradually improved since then! It seems that it is not the limit yet!

In the past, Duncan always had a hard time against Yao Ming, Kwame Brown, O'Neal and other insiders, but this season it was obviously easier. Moreover, for the first time in his eight seasons in the NBA, Duncan was able to occupy the matchup with O'Neal.

Clearly the upper hand!

It’s not that he hasn’t beaten O’Neal before, and it’s not that he hasn’t had games with better statistics than O’Neal. In the past, he tried every means to deal with O’Neal, but now O’Neal has a headache how to deal with him.

It may have something to do with O'Neal losing the defender who can best pass the ball to the center, but the core reason must be that Duncan has changed from a super insider whose close range lethality is second only to Shaya Yao to a floor technique that can be used both inside and outside.

Halfway through the season, some experts analyzed that if Duncan's attendance this season reaches the bottom line for selection to the All-NBA Team, he will not be able to make it to the double first team.

The reason for this analysis, and the reason why Popovich is too timid to confront the Trail Blazers who are in full form at this stage, is because Duncan has been absent from work 9 times so far this season! The number of absences accounts for the Spurs' total number of absences.

1/4 of 45 games played!

Duncan worked hard on mid-range and long-range shooting in the summer, improved his playing style according to his actual situation, maintained his dominance, and maintained his performance on the court, but he could not avoid the continued invasion of plantar fasciitis and the absence due to injury.

Popovich really didn’t expect that Duncan could adjust well when he suffered a career-destroying injury like plantar fasciitis!

The reason why this injury destroys a player is not because it is "hard". It is not as direct as a fracture, ligament, meniscus or Achilles tendon rupture. It can be controlled and cured. Its impact is to make a player suffer from injury.

During the illness, athletic ability is destroyed, leaving players who rely on physical fitness to play without knowing how to play during or after injury.

Even if this player with good physical fitness has good skills, his skills must be supported by athletic ability. No player with excellent explosive power and excellent bounce speed will choose to abandon the advantage of physical fitness and have to say 'I don't want to.

When the physical quality flows, it does not rely on the body'.

Duncan's previous style of play also relied heavily on physical fitness, which can be called a model of the combination of physical fitness and technology.

Popovich was very excited that Duncan was able to adjust so quickly. From his perspective, Duncan can continue to fuck for at least another five years!

In this case, of course, Duncan must be protected as he is struggling with injuries.

At the end of the middle of the season, the most tiring stage of the season, Popovich did not dare to take the risk and go head-to-head with the team that was in the best shape in the middle of the season.

Even if the star player is not allowed to play in a strong matchup, the star player is still an All-Star starter... Popovich truly loves Duncan.

As long as this sultry man doesn't sneak into his office and drink his red wine.

…

In the second half of the first quarter, the Spurs showed their lineup depth and stability, but Duncan couldn't play, and the Spurs' stability was illusory.

In the second quarter, facing the Spurs' defensive strategy of blocking three-pointers and shrinking the basket, the Trail Blazers also became fierce and directly engaged in hand-to-hand combat to draw out the confrontation!

This was a serious blow to the Spurs. Without their most stable scoring point, the only one they could point to was Glenn Robinson, who came to hug their thighs!

The devil's home atmosphere of the Rose Garden Arena also began to take effect at this time.

When the Spurs' false stability was still maintained, the manic atmosphere had little impact on them. However, after the crazy hand-to-hand combat in the second quarter made the Spurs players think, 'We can't do it without Duncan,' the atmosphere on the scene changed.

The impact is obvious.

Although the Trail Blazers only scored 16 points in the second quarter, they defended the Spurs and only scored 13 points!

After halftime, the Trail Blazers led the Spurs by 7 points 40 to 33 heading into the intermission!

If they can win, Popovich definitely wants to win. They are currently in the midst of a five-game winning streak. If they lose to the Trail Blazers, they will fall to third place in the Western Conference.

In the second half of the first quarter, seeing the players holding the situation back, Popovich felt hopeful!

As long as the score is tight, you can still look forward to the demon sword being unsheathed in the end. Although the demon sword has not been unsheathed for a long time, it is still okay to look forward to it.

But who knew that the Trail Blazers could do such a great job! Taking advantage of Duncan's absence to fight with iron-blooded tactics!

This Popovich has no choice but to hit hard and then be beaten...

In the third quarter, the Trail Blazers continued their iron-blooded tactics and scored 21-17 in a single quarter, leading the Spurs by 11 points 61-50 entering the final quarter.

In the final quarter, Popovich asked Parker, Ginobili, and Glenn Robinson to go all out. As a result, only Glenn Robinson completed the first time in his Spurs career. He scored 8 points in the final quarter and completed the game.

Scored 20 points in a game for the first time in his Spurs career.

The Trail Blazers performed steadily in the final quarter. Randolph scored 6 points and 2 assists with 4 offensive rebounds in a single quarter, helping the Trail Blazers score 19-18.

In the end, Randolph had 24 points, 17 rebounds and 3 assists, Liu Xiu had 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 1 block, Payton had 5 points and 3 assists, and Kwame Brown had 6 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal and 7 blocks.

, Flying Squirrel’s 7 points and 3 assists, Raheem’s 8 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block... The Trail Blazers defeated the Spurs 80-68!

The most dazzling thing about the Trail Blazers tonight is not the 24+17 butcher, nor the 4 times 5 warden, nor the self-sacrificial glove, flying squirrel, or bishop in a supporting role, but the parallel import No. 1 pick!

Kwame Brown was particularly irritable tonight, blocking more shots than scoring!

The Spurs couldn't even score 70 points, and Kwame Brown must bear half of the responsibility.

Playing 36 minutes and getting 5 fouls requires careful attention, but this is just a slight flaw and does not affect Kwame Brown being selected as the best of the game by Chaotingtai tonight. After the game, he was invited by Chaotingtai for a post-game interview.

.

Just like Yao Ming, when Yao Ming first entered the NBA, the Imperial TV station wanted to interview him every day. But after he established himself, the Imperial TV station began to focus on interviewing the people around him, hoping to create a picture of Yao Ming that they wanted the Chinese to see.

The living environment of the NBA is often reported in an exaggerated manner, which makes the Chinese people pursue Mosaic with an intensity that even the American basketball community cannot understand.
To be continued...