Starting from the last bus in the NBA

Chapter 159 The Key to Breaking the Game
"David, pay attention to the defense, Avery, and Mario, you need to retreat faster!"

Popovich stood up directly from the bench and shouted his arrangement.

That is to say, the game has not been played for a while now, otherwise, he would have called a timeout directly.

Sure enough, in the next few attacks, the Spurs almost gave up the fight for the second rebound.

Duncan at best, try it if you get the chance.

Everyone else will retreat immediately, which directly kills the Sonics' chance to play a fast break.

I have to say that the Spurs deserve to be last year's champions.

Among other things, this tactical execution alone is not comparable to other teams.

After the tactical adjustment, the Sonics played more and more difficult, but it is not impossible to score points.

If there is no help defense, Gary Payton hits Johnson, it is basically one hit.

And Wang Hao, facing Mario's defense, also took advantage of it.

This can demonstrate the strength of the Spurs inside, wipe the ass of teammates in various ways, and wipe it very well.

Of course, the rest of the Spurs are a little less purely personal and, in fact, pretty good.

At least, they can guarantee a certain hit rate when Duncan and David Robinson are double-teamed.

On the other hand, the Supersonics are a little hip.

Horace's ability to organize and attack is insufficient, Ruben Patterson will make an empty cut, and Wen Baker is directly pressed to death.

Gary Payton and Wang Hao split the ball many times, but the shooting percentage of the three is very average.

After playing for 10 minutes in the first quarter, the two sides rotated the lineup, and the score was fixed at 18:22.

The Sonics trailed by 4 points.

Don't underestimate these 4 points. In such a slow-paced, high-intensity defense, it is really not easy to catch up to 4 points.

Wang Hao walked off the field panting heavily. Although he had only played one quarter, he was already sweating profusely.

Not only that, looking at the red mark on the arm and the pain in the chest, it was like a fight.

It is indeed a fierce confrontation in the playoffs.

You thought Wang Hao suffered a big loss, then look at Mario again, at this time Mario also has a face of pain.

Of course, all of them were flawed injuries, and there was no such critical injury.

Not just the two of them, including Horace and David Robinson, hugged and wrestled almost the entire quarter.

As the saying goes, if you want to get the ball, fight first.

Although it's not to the point of fighting, but every few rounds of fighting, someone has to lie on the ground.

Real floor flow competition!

That is, Gary Payton, who took a lot of advantage in the confrontation with Johnson.

Of course, as long as he dared to break through to the inside line, what awaited him was a merciless greeting.

Throughout the first quarter, Wang Hao only scored 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, which doesn't look particularly bad.

It's just that he didn't score in a sports game, and only made 4 of 3 free throws. This is really not a normal performance.

There is no way, they are all fighting against each other.

Although I had expected the intensity of the playoffs, but when it came to the game, I was really overwhelmed.

Wang Hao is not bad, take a look at Ruben Patterson and Lewis.

Two air cuts entered the inside line and was pushed to the ground. Ruben Patterson no longer dared to rush in again.

As for Lewis, it was even more so. Under the fierce confrontation, he was a little unstable even holding the ball.

Thanks to Brent Barry hitting a three-pointer, otherwise, the score would have been directly opened.

No way, Paul Westphal had to send Gary Payton.

Don't think about it, Gary Payton's playing time in this game has to run for another 45 minutes.

Paul Westphal deliberately changed his seat and sat next to Wang Hao, as if he wanted to talk to Wang Hao.

"Wang, how do you feel about the first playoff game?"

Paul Westphal's tone was very kind, without the slightest feeling of burning with anger just now.

Don't look at how confident he was before the game, saying that the Spurs were unbalanced inside and outside and could only rely on two insiders.

In fact, the Sonics are the same. In the offense, they can basically only rely on Wang Hao and Gary Payton.

Therefore, he is also very clear that whether he can win this round of the series depends on the performance of the two in the game.

"Basketball game? I feel like I just finished a wrestling match!"

Hearing this, Paul Westphal was a little stunned, but he had to admit that this was the playoffs.

However, Paul Westphal obviously did not intend to continue this topic, but analyzed the situation on the court for Wang Hao.

"Wang, you also saw that we played very difficult, and the Spurs' defense was very tenacious.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for us to obtain easy shooting space, and we need to shoot in confrontation every time.

Now, we need someone to break the situation. In my opinion, this person can only be Ni! "

Paul Westphal looked at Wang Hao sincerely, but Wang Hao was a little calm.

This makes Paul Westphal very powerless. He is the head coach. Shouldn't you be a little excited to give such a player trust?
"So, Mr. Coach, what do you need me to do?"

Fortunately, Paul Westphal was not so stingy, and immediately focused on the game again.

"Breakthrough, and then shoot in the middle distance!"

Tear apart the Spurs' defense from this position in the middle, making them unable to look at each other from head to tail.

In fact, this was originally a tactic formulated before the game, but after the tactic was formulated, it may not be effective.

In fact, throughout the first quarter of the game, the Sonics tried many times to shoot in the middle distance.

Vin Baker, Horace, even Ruben Patterson, have all completed shots from the mid-range.

Unfortunately, the effect is not so good.

On the one hand, the Spurs' defense is very tough and did not give too much space. On the other hand, the Sonics' mid-range is unstable.

Having already scored two goals in a row, if they continue to score goals, they will surely be able to force the Spurs to adjust their defense.

However, in the next few shots, one missed.

It wasn't the Spurs who took the lead in adjusting their defense, but the Sonics took the lead in adjusting their offense.

In this way, it is naturally impossible to achieve the goal.

At this time, someone needs to stand up and break the situation, either Gary Payton or Wang Hao.

But today, Paul Westphal chose to believe in Wang Hao.

Naturally, Wang Hao also understands that it is not difficult to shoot in the middle distance, but the difficult thing is to throw the ball in and ensure the hit rate at the same time.

Looking back at the game, Gary Payton seemed a little alone, and the Spurs scored again.

Some people may say, isn't the Spurs only led by David Robinson?
This is the Spurs, or Popovich's ability.

Regardless of Popovich's creation of Bruce Bowen, the big killer, from a basketball perspective, Popovich is worthy of the NBA's top coaches.

Especially his ability to discover players, it is really not an exaggeration to say that he is the best in the league.

With a Duncan, coupled with the continuous discovery of players, the Spurs have been strong for 20 years.

(End of this chapter)