unfinished glory

Chapter 173 Opening Battle ([-])
Seeing that his teammates performed well, Li Chongxiao was also happy and relaxed. He played the role of an organizer and helped his teammates score.Although he didn't score, the Spurs didn't dare to relax their defense and let Bowen follow him all the time.

During the timeout, seeing that the home team was too far behind and still in front of the old general, the drum noise on the scene became louder.

The team's plight was fully exposed as early as the preseason. The Spurs played seven games without a single win.

The team not only changed several tactics, but even changed the lineup, and there was no improvement.

Duncan was forced to play center, and at the power forward position, Popovich had to use Matt Bonner, who was accustomed to shooting three-pointers from the outside.

At the small forward position, the Spurs have to continue to rely on the aging Bowen, and the shooting guard is the little-known Roger Mason.

Fortunately, Parker and the best sixth man Manu Ginobili at the point guard can bring comfort to the Spurs fans.

This lineup is not considered weak, but it is not enough for the Spurs who are interested in "winning the championship in odd years".

When the fans discovered that the team's lineup hadn't changed much, it suddenly changed from strong to weak.This kind of change happened when Li Chongxiao left the team, and the Spurs fans naturally didn't like him.

Coupled with the team's intentional or unintentional guidance, and the sporadic boos on the scene, it is already a great compliment to Li Chongxiao.

……

The Spurs re-entered the field after calling a timeout. Parker's passing route was judged by Li Chongxiao. The latter blocked the ball and flew all the way up the field.

The anxious Mason forgot that there was no one in front of him, and hugged Li Chongxiao.

"Drip!" The referee accurately awarded a two free throws and one throw.

Li Chongxiao stood on the free throw line, preparing for the first free throw of the new season.After the referee threw the ball over, he blew his whistle.

Li Chongxiao took the ball and dribbled it habitually. When he raised his hand to shoot, several harsh voices suddenly sounded in the arena:
"Traitor (traitor)", "Traitor (traitor)" "Traitor (traitor)"!
The shouting went from small to loud, at first it was a few people, then it became a crowd, and finally the whole arena was shouting.

Li Chongxiao was stunned, his blank expression was displayed on the big screen.He really didn't expect that Spurs fans would give him such a title.

Seeing his shocked expression, the fans at the scene burst into laughter and shouted even more vigorously.

Under the urging of the referee, Li Chongxiao took a deep breath and threw the ball hastily.

After the ball was shot, he knew that the ball would not go in. He closed his eyes in pain and did not look at the basketball that bounced out of the frame.

Duncan got the basketball, opened his mouth, and didn't know what to say.He looked at the bench, and Popovich folded his hands expressionlessly, pacing.

Li Chongxiao thrust his waist, turned around and walked slowly to the middle circle, and then turned back.

The fans at the home court saw that he missed the free throw, which was always accurate, and they shouted more and more vigorously.

The scene of the home crowd shouting frantically was shown on the big screen at the scene. Li Chongxiao looked up and saw the little girl who was delighted to meet him when she got off the bus, and she was also among a group of adults, raising her arms and shouting.

His mood suddenly calmed down, he turned his body sideways, and raised his hand to signal the coach not to call a timeout.

After receiving the ball from the referee, the gradually rising voice of "Traitor" disappeared in his mind.

Li Chongxiao raised his eyebrows and hit the second free throw to help the team widen the point difference to 15 points.

After the free throw, the ball was still in the hands of the Grizzlies. Li Chongxiao was not disturbed by the audience. He calmly used the breakthrough to attract double-teams, and passed to Battier to hit a three-pointer from the bottom corner.

In the next round, he helped Gasol Jr. defend Duncan and defended the Spurs' last attack in the first quarter.

Then Conley made a mid-range shot, leading the Spurs by 20 points to end the first quarter.

Of the team's 32 points, Li Chongxiao only scored 6 points, which was quite different from Popovich's pre-match guess.

He originally thought that when Li Chongxiao became the core of the new team, he would choose to make crazy shots to improve his statistics.Therefore, the tactics he arranged focused on defending Li Chongxiao's singles, just like he did against Kobe in 06 and 07.

The tactical failure caused the Spurs to lag too much in the first quarter, but Popovich is a famous coach after all, and he quickly adjusted.

At the beginning of the second quarter, when Li Chongxiao was absent for more than three minutes, the Spurs regained their offensive ability and achieved a 9:2 offensive climax, recovering the score a little.

Li Chongxiao went into battle again. He didn't play a single on the first ball, but hit the ground and assisted Gasol Jr. for a layup.

Seeing that Li Chongxiao still hadn't lost his mind, Popovich frowned, thinking that this game would be difficult to play.

There are usually two ways for the Spurs to win. In the past, they mainly relied on a stable team structure and tactical system to grind their opponents to death.In some close matches, Popovich was able to find the opponent's biggest shortcomings and chase after him.

In the past, the Grizzlies were a team team that rarely showed their flaws, so they could always compete with the Spurs in the regular season.

In the playoffs, because no one stood up at the critical moment of the game, he was killed by the sudden increase in intensity of the Spurs.

Now Popovich has created an unstable explosive in the opponent's lineup, who knows that it didn't explode.

He gestured on the sidelines, conventional tactics.

Li Chongxiao has been in the Spurs for four years, and he has long been familiar with Popovich's tactics.Although the tactics of the Spurs this time are somewhat specious from before, the essence has not changed, and it can be seen through at a glance.

After the Spurs fought back, Li Chongxiao took the ball and made a posture that he still wanted to pass the ball, which confused Bowen all of a sudden.

The latter changed his defensive posture slightly, but was caught by Li Chongxiao, and it was a three-pointer.

In the next offensive round, he stunned Bowen with several disguises, went straight to the inside, and after confronting Duncan in the air, he scored the ball and caused Duncan's shooting foul.

Seeing Li Chongxiao fell to the ground, Duncan stretched out his hand habitually.Only halfway through, I saw the Gasol brothers running over, pulling Li Chongxiao up with each hand.

When Li Chongxiao made a free throw, the voice of "Traitor (traitor)" came over again, but it did not affect the goal at all, keeping the point difference at 17 points.

In the future, every time Li Chongxiao got the ball, the audience would shout this slogan, big or small, endlessly.

Li Chongxiao expected that he would not get applause when he came to the Spurs home court, and he planned for the worst to be booed all over the court, but he didn't expect to be labeled a traitor.

This also stimulated his nerves a little bit, adding some singles rounds.

He took six more shots and made four for eight points before the end of the first half.

He scored 14 points in this quarter, plus the 6 points in the first quarter, he has scored 20 points in the entire half of the game.

Driven by him, the Grizzlies also scored 67 points in the first half.In contrast, the Spurs' offense was a bit weak, scoring only 40 points.

On both ends of the offense and defense, the Spurs do not have an advantage.In this game, if the home team wants to win, they will face many difficulties.

(End of this chapter)