unfinished glory

Chapter 56
While losing to the Rockets, Ginobili was also injured. He didn't play in the next two games, but the Wizards and Clippers were not obstacles.

After two days of repairing, the Spurs defeated the Wizards at home 110:73. "General" Gilbert Arenas was defended by Li Chongxiao, who had realized the truth of defense, and Bowen, who was old and spicy, made 12 of 0 shots. Relying on free throws to score three points.

The game against the Clippers was full of twists and turns. Elton Brand—the No. 42 made Li Chongxiao suspect that he was the big man in the white basketball space before. He didn’t score much in this game, but he scored 18 in front of Duncan. rebound.

Until the last minute or so, the Clippers still led the Spurs by one point.But with goals from Parker and Duncan, the Spurs turned the score around.

In the end, Brand hit the iron once and was intercepted by Li Chongxiao once, ruining the fruits of victory he had obtained.

After winning the Clippers, the Spurs improved their record to 35 wins and 6 losses, and went to an away game to challenge the 31 wins and 9 losses of the Suns.

In this game, Li Chongxiao ushered in his first start.In the last game against the Suns, Popovich has already used this lineup, and there is no need to hide it this time.

Using Li Chongxiao as the starter and removing Nesterovic is to tell the Suns that I am targeting you, and then see if the opponent has any targeted strategies after suffering a loss last time.

At the beginning of the game, Ginobili took the lead. After resting for two games, he was fully fired. He scored three goals in the opening game and scored 7 points.

But the Suns were clearly prepared, and they changed their pick-and-roll strategy.Stoudemire's defense is no longer the same as in the previous game, just touch and go, looking for opportunities to go down or space for shooting, but to block Parker firmly behind him.

Duncan hesitated for a moment, and Nash shot directly without switching defenses quickly.

Nash turned the ball to Joe Johnson on the second possession, took advantage of Richardson's delay, and made a shot before Ginobili could help.

Popovich can see clearly off the court. The overall tactics shown by the Suns have not changed much, but they have worked harder on the details.

After D'Antoni suffered a loss last time, he understood that their whirlwind offense does not need to be so delicate when facing most teams in the league. With speed and exquisite cooperation, they can disarm their opponents and surrender.

But it's not good against the Spurs. A little bit of incoordination is easy for the opponent to catch and become an advantage on the scene.And the Spurs are a team that is very good at turning advantages into wins.

In addition to the richer tactics of pick-and-roll coordination, the Suns' singles have also become more determined. Once there is a dislocation or a one-on-one opportunity, except for Marion, who is not good at independent attack, everyone else will play singles.

And Marion's task is even heavier. On the defensive end, he is responsible for guarding Duncan and grabbing rebounds.On the offensive end, running positions and air cuts are required.

Relying on these details, the Suns played against the Spurs in the first quarter.

The protagonists of the Suns on the field became Stoudemire and Joe Johnson, both of whom scored 7 points.

马刺队这边吉诺比利得到12分，李冲霄得到6分。其他人得分都比较平均，4分、3分和2分。

Li Chongxiao contributed a lot to the defense in the first quarter. Marion's air cuts and catch-and-shoot shots were all resolved by him one by one, allowing the opponent to make 4 of 0 shots, and knocked out a point that D'Antoni expected to be able to perform before the game. .

On the offensive end, Stoudemire was defending him. Although his speed was not slow, he was still unable to defend against an outside player. Li Chongxiao ran out three open spots and hit two three-pointers.

After both sides replaced the main lineup, Stoudemire got a chance and scored another 4 points, so that his scoring in the first quarter was also in double figures.

The Suns scored 28 points in the first quarter, but their defense was not good, and the Spurs scored 31 points.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Li Chongxiao, who played the entire first quarter, rested off the court. The Spurs switched back to a big lineup, with Nesterovic and Malik Rose partnering.

Rose really couldn't defend Marion, allowing him to hit a three-pointer and make an empty cut layup.After playing for 2 minutes, he was replaced by Barry, allowing Horry to take the power forward position.

Stoudemire also turned the tide in the paint, singled out Nesterovic and scored 6 points.

Four minutes into the second quarter, the Suns turned the score over and led 4:40.

Popovich watched the Suns score every possession off the court, and there was nothing impatient.He has been changing lineups since halfway through the first quarter, just to verify how the Spurs players performed against the Suns.

This time he switched back to the main lineup headed by Duncan. With the support of his teammates, Ginobili broke out again and scored two goals in a row.

Then Duncan, facing the Suns' backup centers Steven Hunter and Jack Voskull, is simply a fancy teaching: a hook after a back hit, a board hit from the face frame, a small throw after a shake , the dunk after the pick-and-roll...

He scored 10 points in just over half a quarter, leading the team to a 16-4 run, and the Phoenix fans were completely silent.

It wasn't until the main lineup of the Suns returned that they formed an offensive tug-of-war with the Spurs again, and their goals were not as easy as the Spurs.

The guest commentator at the scene was Steve Kerr. He said that if the Suns didn't have any special tactics in this game, then the Spurs would be able to kill the Suns just by attacking instead of relying on defense.

At the end of the halftime game, D'Antoni didn't show anything. The Suns played an efficient offense for a period of time, withstood the situation, and let them trail only 54:61.

In the second half of the game, the formation of the Suns changed slightly. In the defense, Stoudemire no longer followed Li Chongxiao, but replaced it with Bowen.

In the offensive, Stoudemire began to go out, and he was always outside the three-second zone. The offensive method was mostly mid-range shooting, the purpose was to bring Duncan out, and leave the inside space for Richardson and Joe Johnson to break through.

In terms of pick-and-roll, the pick-and-roll between Stoudemire, Richardson and Joe Johnson has been increased, so as to create some one-on-one singles space.

And Nash and Marion began to ambush outside the three-point line, concentrating on being a shooter, and the two made 6 of 5 three-pointers.

This kind of play really worked, allowing them to score 35 points in a single quarter, but the Spurs also scored 35 points, leaving the suspense of the game until the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Spurs suddenly strengthened their defense and caught the Suns by surprise.First Duncan blocked Marion's air cut, and then Li Chongxiao cut Stoudemire's ball on the defensive end.

Then in the third round, the Suns were directly forced into a 24-second violation.

The Spurs' goals have never been broken. They scored 7 points in three rounds and widened the point difference to 14 points in one fell swoop.

In the next game, D'Antoni called two timeouts in a row, but still couldn't stop the decline of the Suns.Ginobili, Bowen and Li Chongxiao constantly switched positions and staged double-teams in defense, which disrupted the Suns' offensive rhythm.

More than the eighth minute of this quarter, the point difference came to 20, and the main players left the field to rest.

The two sides repeated the scene in the last matchup, D'Antoni was unable to recover and could only sit on the bench, while Popovich sat firmly on the Diaoyutai.

(End of this chapter)