"Duncan, what's going on with you? You're just facing a rookie. You attacked twice and were blocked once, and interfered once. Please get off the court first and let me think about it." Popovich was really angry, or was he? Replace with Duncan.
"Elson, you replace Duncan, Bowen, you come to defend Li Tian. Don't underestimate his running without the ball, and don't ignore his three-pointers. Do you understand?" Popovich looked at Bowen seriously. arts.
Bowen nodded fiercely. He understood that Popovich really valued Li Tian at this time, and he couldn't ignore it at all.
"Parker, you attack." Popovich arranged everything in an orderly manner.
"Hey, Duncan was replaced unexpectedly. This old man is not an ordinary person. It's so abnormal. He was replaced at the starting power forward in just one minute, and the person he replaced was Duncan."
The entire AT&T Center was shocked. Duncan was replaced within one minute of playing.
The audience was stunned and looked at Popovich with blank faces. What kind of fuss was going on.
There was a commotion and an uproar.
"Li, you can do it, you knocked down Duncan." Stoudemire gave Li Tian a thumbs up.
"The storm is coming, cheer up. Didn't you see Popovich's expression?" Li Tian pointed at Popovich.
"Pray for us, hope God can be on our side." Stoudemire crossed himself on his chest.
"Brothers, come on, we are all NBA players, no one is afraid of whom." Li Tian encouraged morale.
"Brothers, it's done." Gasol also yelled before coming on the court.
The pause ends.
Parker holds the ball at the top of the arc, Watson blocks Gasol in the low post and is ready to catch the ball at any time. Oberto is near the free throw line, Finley steps forward to help Parker cover, and Bowen lurks in the bottom corner.
Parker suddenly launched an attack, Stoudemire failed to follow Parker's footsteps, Li Tian stepped forward to help defend, and Parker passed the ball to Oberto, who was standing near the free throw line.
The Grizzlies do not have a mature defensive system and no communication with each other. There are loopholes in the Grizzlies' defense at this moment.
Navarro, who was defending on the bottom line, had to step forward to cover up the defense. Oberto returned the ball to Finley in the pick-and-roll. The Grizzlies' defense was completely messed up. They began to find themselves unable to find the person they wanted to defend. Gay pounced. Go up.
Finley passed the ball to Bowen, who was unguarded on the baseline, and Bowen hit an open three-pointer in the bottom corner.
After the timeout, the Spurs gained opportunities through continuous passing.
After Navarro passed halftime, the Grizzlies did not have an effective offensive system. It was more about pick-and-rolls between players and individual strong attacks.
Li Tian stepped forward to initiate a pick-and-roll for Navarro, blocking Oberto behind him. Bowen pursued Li Tian closely and did not change players even in the pick-and-roll.
Navarro did not complete the hand-to-hand pass with Li Tian and went back to the outside line again. Li Tian pulled Bowen down to the 45-degree three-point line on the right side. Navarro once again broke through the basket through Gay's pick-and-roll.
Navarro made a layup.
The Grizzlies' attack was like a preview of the Grizzlies' next attack, which was too difficult.
Li Tian was helpless with Bowen's personal defense.
The two teams battled each other's offense and defense, each time becoming more difficult.
Seeing this game will remind people of the finals between the Spurs and Pistons that year.
Almost every ball is played until 15 seconds before there is an opportunity to attack.
In such a game, the Grizzlies' opening morale was slowly worn away.
After the starter was replaced, Li Tian saw that his teammates were demoralized and the score was gradually overtaken.
The score came to 22-18, and the Grizzlies still maintained a 4-point lead.
"Paul, Gay, when we play, we need to change our offensive strategy, otherwise we won't even be able to last in the first half of this game."
Li Tian called over Gasol and Gay.
"The Spurs are too difficult to beat. Regardless of their tacit understanding or their defensive system, they are all above us. We can only use strange tricks. We have to keep running on the court and can't stop for a moment."
Li Tian gave his opinion, and the other two people consciously ignored Mark's existence. Li Tian's performance in the Grizzlies gradually allowed him to gain a firm foothold.
"We play like this, everyone runs without the ball, and then finds the opportunity, double pick and roll, squeezes through the middle, receives the ball, no matter if the opportunity is good or not, we have to take action; after the defense, we immediately launch a fast break, If we don’t engage in positional warfare, we will definitely not be able to beat the Spurs if we fight in positional warfare.”
"Fuck him, give it a try." Guy also shouted.
After the main force returned, the Grizzlies changed their previous positional battle.
Each round is completed within ten seconds. No matter whether they can score or not, only Gasol and Li Tian are left to fight for rebounds, and everyone else retreats.
The Grizzlies started running and gradually stabilized the situation.
Duncan immediately gave up the matchup with Li Tian, and Bowen began to guard Li Tian throughout the game. Li Tian did not get a better chance to take action.
Navarro dribbled the ball to the top of the key and blocked Parker, who was guarding him, behind him. Li Tian ran from the baseline in the direction of Navarro.
Gay, who was near the free throw line, also lifted up, firmly blocking Bowen who was chasing Li Tian.
Li Tian ran to the three-point line, and Navarro also passed the ball to Li Tian. Li Tian took action immediately after receiving the ball.
Li Tian's shooting time continued to shorten, and it only took about 0.7 seconds to shoot.
"Whoosh!"
A solid three-pointer.
The score difference was once again widened to 10 points.
"Li, this arrangement of yours is great, but our cooperation was too unfamiliar and we almost didn't block Parker." Navarro stepped forward and high-fived Li Tian in celebration.
"The reason why the Spurs' tactics are so smooth is because their main players have not changed in recent years. They just need to practice more in the future."
Li Tian quickly came to Duncan.
Duncan's attack, for Li Tian, successful defense is the most important.
Duncan did not launch an attack easily, but used changes in his footsteps to constantly change Li Tian's defensive posture.
The oldest rookie, he deserves to be the oldest rookie. Li Tian only hesitated for a moment, and Duncan directly hit the mid-range shot at a 45-degree angle and made a steady hit.
Li Tian was taught a lesson by Duncan again.
The Grizzlies players moved tirelessly, and the defensive end was constantly chasing the ball, preventing the Spurs from getting an easy shot.
At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies still maintained a 6-point lead at 49-43.
The starting players of the Grizzlies walked to the locker room, and several of them lay down to recover their strength.
Mark was spitting around him and kept talking about the tactics for the second half. No one listened seriously to his tactical arrangements. It was still the same old thing, wireless singles.
The third quarter has just begun, and the Grizzlies' starting players can still maintain their physical strength.
Parker and Duncan's continuous cooperation successfully led to several attacks, and the score continued to get closer.
The Grizzlies' shooting percentage dropped significantly.
Once Duncan passed the ball from the baseline to the three-point line, Parker hit a three-pointer, and the Spurs successfully tied the score.
The two teams tied, and the score came to 55-55.
Mark, who was sitting off the court, kept shouting, "Keep up, keep up, defend closely, pay attention to your movement..."
The pace of the Grizzlies players on the court was much slower, as if they were filled with lead.