unfinished glory

Chapter 57

After killing the Suns, the Spurs ushered in their second back-to-back game in January.

The previous back-to-back games were in the Texas Civil War, with one win and one loss, and this time the back-to-back games had the same result.

On January 1, they challenged the Kings away, and the Spurs won 23-103 easily.

Earlier this month, the Kings had won a game against the Spurs, which seemed to be revived.But now, the one-sided situation on the court tells the king that you are no longer my opponent.

Duncan played 30 minutes, made 19 of 11 shots and scored 23 points.Nesterovic pulled a calf muscle in training and did not play.Tony Musenberg, who replaced him, scored 16 points.

All the other starters scored in double figures, and with the addition of Li Chongxiao's 12 points, the Spurs scored in double figures with six points.

But the Kings didn't play well. Today, the iron is not good. The team only scored 8 assists.

Last time against the Spurs, Stojakovic, who showed great power, was defended and made 12 of 3 shots. Sometimes he didn't even have a chance to make a shot.Webber also made only 13 of 4 shots and scored only 11 points.

This is how the two contenders for the top position behave.It is also reasonable for the king to lose.

After winning the Kings, the Spurs had no time to rest, and rushed to Portland, [-] miles away, to play against the Trail Blazers.

In the Rose Garden Arena, the Spurs played more difficult.

The insider of the Blazers is Zach Randolph. Although he smokes and beats his teammates, he is indeed a good player in offense. He scored 24 points and 12 rebounds against Duncan.

"Little Flying Squirrel" Damon Stoudemire also performed well. Facing Parker, he shot from left to right and scored a double-double with 23 points and 11 assists.

Darius Miles made a sudden breakthrough and scored 21 points. Coupled with the collective explosion of Joel Przybila, Ruben Patterson and Theo Ratliff, the Blazers took the 116:104 to win the game.

After the unexpected loss to the Trail Blazers, the Spurs only stopped for a while, and then in the home game two days later, they beat the Kings again, and then took the Hornets lightly.

The last game in January is a highlight. The Spurs have lost to two teams twice this season. One team is Yao Mai's Rockets, and the other is today's opponent, the Sonics.

Compared with the Rockets winning by fluke, the Supersonics' two victories have much higher gold content. They were head-to-head duels and defeated the Spurs head-on.

The Sonics, which won the Spurs twice before, are still repeating their tricks, using Reggie Evans to hold Duncan, and Jerome James took the opportunity to score 8 points.

Today Duncan's offensive desire is not high, and he scored two points on one of two shots.Ginobili is also out of shape, frequently hitting the iron.

Instead, it was two players who were not in the plan, which disrupted the rhythm of Supersonics coach McMillan.

The Sonics led 11:6 in the opening game. After half a quarter, Li Chongxiao replaced Ginobili. Then he and Bowen made 10 of 8 shots in the next half of the game, including 7 of 5 three-pointers. 21 points.

Even though Larry Allen, Shad Lewis, Luke Ridnour and Vladimir Radmanovic all scored three-pointers, they still couldn't stop the Spurs' attack wave.

In the first quarter of the game, the Spurs led by 32 points 22:10.

In the second quarter, Li Chongxiao, who was physically fit, was on the court first. Today, he was more active on the offensive end. Facing Radmanovich's defense, he first hit a three-pointer, and then completed a rare breakthrough layup.

Returning to the defense, he scored a block and a steal, received a pass from Ginobili in the fast break, came up with an alley-oop dunk, and played a 7:0 spurt by himself.

McMillan really didn't expect that GDP would be pulled to 17 points by a substitute before he stood up. If the game continues like this, the Supersonics can surrender at the end of halftime.

He replaced Lewis to deal with Li Chongxiao. In the previous two games he won, Lewis had a good defense against this rookie.McMillan doesn't believe that a rookie can change much in just one and a half months.

But people should treat each other with admiration for three days. Geniuses are naturally different from ordinary people. McMillan was not a superstar in his player days, so he naturally couldn't appreciate the happiness of geniuses.

Li Chongxiao has been playing the regular season for three months. If we say that in the first month, he was ignorant and followed suit; in the middle month, he was thinking hard and following cats and cats; and in the latest month, he has been watching six ways and drawing inferences from one instance.

Li Chongxiao learned the off-ball running of players such as Reggie Miller, Hamilton and Ray Allen from the videotapes, and carefully observed the offensive methods of the Suns, all of which he used for his own use.Although not so clever, it is still feasible to catch the opponent by surprise occasionally.

Relying on his running position and the cover of his teammates, Li Chongxiao still hit a mid-range shot under the defense of Lewis.

The Supersonic has become a test product today. Not only was it beaten in offense, but in defense, Li Chongxiao learned team defense through the encirclement and suppression of Tie Ke and Tie Mai, and turned around and used it to deal with Ray Allen.

And together with his teammates, Ray Allen only made 11 of 3 shots, which brought the Sonics' offense to a standstill.

The Supersonics, with the full main lineup, not only failed to regain the initiative, but lost points more seriously.By the time the game had 4 minutes left in the first half, it was already trailing by 20 points.

Fortunately, the Supersonics have the help of Ginobili. He first made a long pass out of bounds on the field, then gave the opponent two points for a shooting foul in defense, and then selected a three-pointer with a bad position in the offense. Didn't touch it, just fell off the bottom line.

Popovich was shaking with anger. He grabbed Duncan who was about to play and said, "Look at what he's playing? Go and tell him, I've talked too much, I don't want to talk to him anymore!"

Li Chongxiao watched this scene expressionlessly on the bench, this had happened many times.

Popovich loves and hates Ginobili: he loves the aura he shows, and hates that he always violates tactics on the court; wave.

With the gift from Ginobili, the Sonics pulled the score back slightly.At the end of the half, the Spurs 60:46, leading the Sonics by 14 points.

At the beginning of the second half, the Spurs rushed to the flower game.In the first five rounds of offense, Duncan personally scored 7 points, scored three goals, and caused a foul.

Ginobili realized his shame and was brave. He even made two three-pointers and scored 6 points.

The Supersonics scored one goal in these five rounds, and Ray Allen made a breakthrough and scored 2 points.

73:48, the Spurs' lead has been extended to 25 points.The Sonics were still dying, and Ray Allen turned on his personal offensive mode, hitting 7 goals in 4 shots and scoring 9 points.

But two punches can't beat four hands, and no teammate can score except him.On the other hand, for the Spurs, Li Chongxiao and Bowen once again blossomed. The former scored 4 points on 3 of 8 shots, and the latter also scored 3 points on 2 of 6 shots.

The Spurs scored 40 points in a single quarter, widening the point difference to 35 points, and the fourth quarter became garbage time.

Li Chongxiao created a new personal scoring high in this game. He made 13 of 11 shots and 9 of 6 three-pointers, scoring a game-high 26 points.

(End of this chapter)