Reborn in 96, I started by taking charge of the Dallas Mavericks.

Greg Anderson gets the ball and goes for a one-on-one in the low post.

Although he is not as tall as Zydrunas Illustrious, his strength is his advantage.

If he gets serious, it will be really difficult for Big Z to defend against him alone.

However, basketball is a team sport, and Big Z can't do it alone; he has his teammates.

Just as Anderson was driving through the defense against Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Mavericks' help defense came up.

Anderson was determined to go it alone and had no intention of passing the ball.

The double attack by Ben and Z forced Anderson to make a mistake.

The Mavericks had possession of the ball. Nash dribbled the ball across half-court and passed it to Kobe.

This time, Kobe chose to pass the ball to Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the paint.

brush!

Big Z used his beautiful footwork in the paint to shake off Anderson's defense and easily added a layup.

Seeing the Mavericks score in the first three possessions, Zhang Heli, in the CCTV sports channel studio, slammed his fist on the table and shouted: "The Mavericks' first three offensive choices were very reasonable, while the Spurs' first two offensive plays were very unreasonable."

"Although the first basket went in by a narrow margin, the Spurs' final offensive decision in the first possession was not reasonable."

"The second round was even worse. It's fine for Anderson to play against Zydrunas Ilgauskas, but it's unreasonable for him not to pass the ball when the other team is helping him and instead try to drive through two defenders."

"Coach Zhang is right. The Spurs' first two offensive choices were very unreasonable."

Sun Zhengping first affirmed Coach Zhang's comments, and then asked, "Coach Zhang, do you think the Spurs need to call a timeout to make some adjustments and improve their offense?"

After hearing this, Zhang Weiping shook his head and said, "There's no need. The game has only just begun, and it's too early to call a timeout."

Calling a timeout right at the start of the game—if it were Popovich in a later era, that might actually have happened.

However, it is absolutely impossible for the Spurs this season to call a timeout at the very beginning of the game.

That is indeed the case.

As the game progressed, the Mavericks quickly built a double-digit lead.

Although they were down by more than ten points, it was only the first quarter, and many people felt that the game couldn't be decided so quickly.

In NBA games, being down by ten or more points is nothing. For some teams with super strong offensive capabilities, catching up is just a matter of minutes.

"What is Bob Hill doing? They're down by more than ten points and he still hasn't called a timeout. He's really sitting still."

"Who says otherwise? What did the Spurs play today? It was like a pile of shit."

Compared to the two commentators from CCTV, the two commentators from TNT were much more direct, saying whatever came to mind.

"Stan, why don't you think Bob Hill called a timeout?" Moses Malone asked, puzzled.

Stan Van Gundy shook his head and said, "While I don't know why he didn't call a timeout, I know Bob Hill doesn't seem to want to win this game."

As a professional coach, Stan Van Gundy knows very well what kind of state a head coach should be in on the field.

But he saw absolutely no in-game reaction from Bob Hill. Even when their offense couldn't get going and their defense was full of holes, allowing the Mavericks to score repeatedly, he didn't try to make any changes.

In this situation, a qualified head coach should call a timeout to arrange tactics and change the course of the game.

But let alone calling a timeout, Bob Hill didn't even make a single substitution.

All these signs raised doubts for Stan Van Gundy, and coupled with the players' lack of fighting spirit on the court, he boldly speculated that the Spurs might be intentionally trying to lose.

When Malone heard this, he felt that what Van Gundy said actually made a lot of sense.

Back to the game.

Although the Spurs did not request a timeout, the official timeout period had arrived.

In the NBA, in addition to suspensions requested by teams, the NBA also has the authority to suspend games.

"You guys played well, keep it up."

On the Spurs' bench, Bob Hill praised the players' performance on the court without criticizing them, as if the Spurs were the ones leading.

"Coach, I've really had enough."

Greg Anderson exclaimed helplessly, "This match was so frustrating. I've never played such a frustrating match before."

If there's anyone on the Spurs' court who still has a shred of fighting spirit, it's Anderson.

If it weren't for him, the Spurs would probably have lost even more.

The official pause was very short, and after Bob Hill made personnel adjustments, the game resumed.

The Spurs have possession of the ball.

With Bob Hill's guidance, the Spurs' offense finally improved this time, at least it wasn't the kind of disastrous performance that was immediately obvious.

After all, if you're going to act, you have to be convincing. Even if you want to lose, you can't let others see through it. Otherwise, if you get a complaint to the NBA and it's proven that you're throwing the game, you'll face a huge fine.

Vernon and substitute Charles Smith executed a pick-and-roll, Vernon accelerated to the basket and scored two points.

"The Spurs finally scored; they should have played like this a long time ago."

After the Spurs scored this basket, the score became 11-23, with the Spurs still trailing by 12 points.

When the official timeout was called, it was clear that the Spurs had no intention of winning, so they substituted several key players, leaving only Nash and Peja as starters.

The Mavericks inbound the ball from the baseline, and Nash dribbles it up the court.

Nash is a master of chaotic play, and right now the court is like a chaotic battle.

Although the Spurs broke their scoring drought, their defense remained a mess.

The deployment was not timely, and the personnel were not closely monitored.

It was during this transition that Nash found Peja, who was left unguarded.

"Peja!!!"

As soon as Nash finished speaking, the basketball flew towards Peja, who was running.

A true master of passing makes the ball lead the player, not the other way around.

Nash was precisely that kind of master passer.

A basketball flew rapidly from the left side of the court to the right side, and it looked like it was about to go out of bounds.

The next second, Peja miraculously appeared there and caught the basketball firmly.

Immediately, Peja, without any adjustment, received the ball and pulled up for a shot.

brush!

The basketball flew through the air in a beautiful arc and swished through the net!

"It's in! That move reminds me of Larry Bird."

In the commentary booth, Moses Malone's eyes lit up when he saw Peja's graceful movement: "That was a beautiful shot, that move was gorgeous."

"Indeed, Peja's three-point shooting percentage is very high and consistent."

"In the preseason, Peja's three-point shooting percentage reached 42%!"

At this moment, Van Gundy, who was standing nearby, dropped a rather astonishing set of data.

A 42% success rate on three-pointers is quite terrifying.

But Peja doesn't take many shots per game; otherwise, with his shooting percentage, scoring 30 or 40 points per game wouldn't be a problem at all.