If he was not injured, Chi Liang could beat Elliot in minutes, but now his index finger is injured, which has restricted him.

Although Elliot's defense did not reach the top level, his rich experience made Chi Liang feel uncomfortable.

Chi Liang did not try to break through, and Elliott was no slower than him, so it was difficult to get him away.

In this situation, Chi Liang resolutely chose to play behind the scenes!

Chi Liang dribbled the ball with his left hand, leaned back with the flow, and stuck out his butt with force.

Elliot tried to lower the center of gravity, pressing one hand against Chi Liang's waist, and trying to harass the other hand.

Unfortunately, the two have a significant weight gap. Elliot, who is only 93 kilograms, is not Chi Liang's opponent.

Bang~

In the first collision, Elliot felt a strong force coming, and even though he tried his best, he still couldn't stop retreating.

Bang~bang~

With two more hits, Chi Liang made a quick progress and arrived at the front of the penalty area. Taking advantage of Elliot's retreat, Chi Liang turned around and was about to shoot with the opponent.

But at this moment, Duncan abandoned Fordson, appeared behind Elliott, and jumped up hard.

Chi Liang reacted quickly, and was about to be blocked by Duncan, so he immediately changed to a pass and passed the ball with his feelings.

Bang~

Although Chi Liang moved quickly, he finally forgot that Elliott was still there. At the moment he passed the ball, Elliott completed the steal.

The Spurs did not launch a fast break. After protecting the basketball, Elliott passed the ball to Johnson, who overtook the rhythm for half.

This time, the Spurs chose the Hammer tactic and easily tore the Nuggets' defense apart. Duncan was misplaced and hit the board against Billups.

After the offense and defense conversion, the Nuggets still had no chance to get a fast break, and ended up with Billups.

On the Spurs bench, Popovich's expressionless face gave people the feeling of being in a sensible bead.

Popovich has done a very thorough research on the Nuggets. He believes that as long as the Nuggets' fast break is restricted, the Spurs can easily win.

In addition, the Spurs are good at defending, especially in the penalty area. Robinson and Duncan are in the penalty area. All Nuggets who want to invade the penalty area must think twice before doing so.

As a result, most of the Nuggets end the battle with outside shots, and unless they feel hot, it will be difficult to kill the Spurs.

Bang~

Soon, Chi Liang made a shot and the situation for the Nuggets was very unfavorable!

On the other hand, after protecting the main defensive rebound, the Spurs scored two points again in a steady manner.

Five minutes into the game, the Spurs directly stopped the Nuggets with a 13-5 shock wave.

D'Antoni was a little anxious. He could naturally see the Nuggets' problems, but there was no way.

The reason is very simple. The Nuggets do not have a strong inside offensive point, which is also the reason why Duncan continues to launch assistance in defense.

If McDyce was not injured, he would naturally be able to involve Duncan, but looking at the current Nuggets inside, there is nothing he can do.

After thinking for a while, D'Antoni made an adjustment and replaced Williams with Van Exel, with Chi Liang as the small forward.

This time the substitution enhanced the attack power of the outside line. Chi Liang van Exel Billups is simply the three alternative musketeers.

D'Antoni's intention is very simple. As long as they feel hot, they can completely throw the Spurs to death.

Soon, the timeout ended and the Nuggets began serving.

Van Exel pushed forward with the ball, Chi Liang and Billups started running. The Spurs did not dare to be careless and hid them tightly, not giving them a chance to run out of the open position.

Soon, Chi Liang and Billups covered each other, and the latter finally ran out of the open space.

Van Exel passed the ball, but unfortunately Billups failed to seize the opportunity and shot again.

In the following time, there was almost no difference from before. It was nothing more than that Van Exel added a ball-holding breakthrough, but never reversed the situation.

The Spurs' defense is too strong, it is stronger than the regular season, so they don't give them the chance to take action easily.

In addition, the Nuggets' defense is very poor, especially in the inside line, which was completely beaten by the Spurs. Duncan and Robinson asked for it, but no restrictions could be formed.

In addition to the main players, the replacement lineup that was highly anticipated did not gain an advantage. Although the Spurs' substitute was not very good, they were corroded into a whole by Popovich. Their defense made the Nuggets feel a headache.

By the end of the first quarter, the Spurs had a clear advantage with a score of 26-19.

In the second quarter, Chi Liang played again, and he increased the number of back-to-back singles to suppress Elliot, either turned around to shoot, or attracted defensive passes.

However, the Nuggets have average shooting percentage, but the Spurs are more efficient. Not only did they not reverse the situation, but the Spurs have expanded the score gap again.

"It's a headache!"

Seeing this situation, Chi Liang was quite worried, but he had no choice but to hope that his teammates would feel better.

At the same time, Chi Liang was also very upset. The Spurs increased their defense against him, especially his senior Duncan, which significantly increased their assisted defense against him.

In this case, Chi Liang wanted to change his playing style, increase the number of times he hit the penalty area, and wanted to make a foul, and finally defeat Duncan or Robinson.

Unfortunately, this is the home court of the Spurs. In addition, Duncan and Robinson are not ordinary people, and they have home whistles and star whistles. It is naturally not easy to make their fouls.

So, after the first half, the score gap was widened again, and the Nuggets were already 15 points behind. Especially the fast attack, which they were best at, was almost stopped, which made D'Antoni quite helpless.

Looking at the scores between the two sides, Chi Liang felt uncomfortable. The Spurs were not a pioneer after all. The two insiders were not slow and there was no physical crisis. The Nuggets' running and bombing tactics were not available at all.

Even so, Chi Liang still did not give up.

In the third quarter, Chi Liang increased the number of shots and chose to shoot again and again.

Step back shot, backward jump shot, turn over jump shot, golden chicken independent, straight-arm shot...

Chi Liang opened his firepower and moved out his shooting arsenal, but the injury to his right index finger affected his shooting and could only maintain a 40% shooting percentage. Even though he scored wildly, it was still useless under the gap in overall strength.

From the scene, the Spurs rely on the absolute advantage of the inside and the team connected, so they can easily score points; on the other hand, the Nuggets can only rely on outside shooting, but the Spurs have strong defense and are always inferior to the Spurs in terms of efficiency.

So, by the end of the third quarter, Chi Liang had already scored 25 points, but the gap between the two sides did not narrow, but instead expanded to 21 points. With the Spurs' defense, there was almost no possibility of a reversal.

Seeing this result, D'Antoni made a decisive decision and began to withdraw all the main players and replace them with substitutes.
Chapter completed!