All-round Athlete

Chapter 927 Three-point shot record

The competition in the Western Conference this year is indeed fierce enough. In the four playoff matches, except for the Blazers who defeated the Rockets 4-2, the other three groups all played to the seventh game.

On May 3, both the Thunder and the Clippers defeated their opponents at home. These two teams will meet in the Western Conference semifinals. In a playoff game held in the Eastern Conference on the same day, the Pacers also defeated the Eagles at home and eliminated the Eagles 4-3.

This is obviously a very bad omen for the Lakers. In the matchup of the seventh game, the home team won and the away team was eliminated. The next last game between the Lakers and the Spurs was held at the Spurs' home court.

Returning to the ATT Center Arena again, the Spurs are united, and the fans of the Spurs also let the Lakers feel the pressure of the Devil's home court.

"BEAT-L.A.! BEAT-L.A.! BEAT-L.A...."

This slogan should be very familiar to the Lakers, BEAT-LA, "Beat the Lakers". In 1980, when the Celtics played against the Philadelphia 76ers, the fans saw that there was no hope of winning, and the audience shouted "BEAT-LA". The hope of defeating the Lakers was handed over to their opponent Philadelphia. This slogan is especially loud in the playoffs. For more than 30 years, as long as it is a key battle to enter the playoffs, every opponent of the Lakers, whether direct or indirect, has played this slogan at home.

Today, this slogan resounds again in the ATT center court.

"If the Lakers can win this year, it will create a miracle! Not only the black 8 miracle, but also the comeback from 0 to 3, which has never been done before." A photographer sighed.

"If this is the home court of the Lakers, it is still possible, but this is the home court of the Spurs, the Lakers have no hope. This year the Spurs are really too strong!" Mike Wells said. He is ESPN's ace sports reporter, and this time he came to the scene to report this focus battle.

"But look at the Lakers lineup, it's not weak." The photographer said.

"The Lakers' lineup is not weak, there are inside and outside, and there are top star players, but the two sides are not at the same level in terms of tactics. D'Antoni and Popovich are still a little bit worse! You just wait. Look, this game is going to be a tactical victory, just like it was a few years ago!" Wells began.

While the two were talking, the game had already started, and the regular starting lineups were still deployed by both sides, without any changes.

Of course, the Lakers still play and run, paying attention to fast offense and fast-paced conduction of the ball, but what D'Antoni did not expect was that the Spurs chose to play against each other again!

It is indeed "again", just like the Spurs played the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs back then.

D'Antoni's thoughts couldn't help but go back to a few years ago. At that time, he was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Under his guidance, the Suns were the top three teams in the Western Conference for several consecutive years, and they were even considered to be the best team in the championship. Strong contender.

However, in the playoffs, the Suns lost to the Spurs. In the 2005 Western Conference Finals, the Suns lost 1-4 to the Spurs. In the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals, the Suns lost 2-4 to the Spurs. At that time, the Spurs actually fought against the Suns!

It was the most painful experience in D'Antoni's coaching career. He vaguely remembered the first contest between the two sides. At the home court of the Suns, the Suns scored 32 points in the fourth quarter. 30+ in a single session is a normal number. The opponent, the Spurs, scored 43 points in the fourth quarter!

At that time, the Spurs were a team that dared to compete with the "Five Tigers" of the Pistons on defense, and the Suns, who were good at bombardment, were not as energetic as the defensive Spurs when they played normally. It is a very profound lesson.

But now, the Spurs are repeating their old tricks. They have to compete with the Lakers on offense, and this time they are still at the Spurs' home court, so they have an advantage.

...

"Tony Parker!" the DJ chanted Parker's name as he scored again.

Playing against each other, Parker must be more efficient than the old Duncan, and the current Nash is also a loophole on the defensive end. Parker can easily score on Nash.

At the same time, Danny Green and Ginobili who came off the bench also played very well. But Split was a bit too big for this kind of tactics, so he was replaced early. Instead, Boris Diaw got more chances to play.

Every time the Spurs score a goal, the scene will boil, and the shouts of "BEAT-L.A." are still heard, but the Lakers are not behind.

"Zhang Guan, a three-pointer! Go in again! This shot was beautiful, and the ball was thrown against Leonard's defense. 28 to 28, the Lakers evened the score again!"

"Zhang Guan, stepped back and scored a three-pointer! 37 to 38, the Lakers narrowed the gap to 1 point again!"

"Zhang Guan holds the ball, time is running out, 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second, a three-pointer shot! Go in! A three-pointer at the buzzer! Leonard has already sealed the ball Zhang Guan’s face, but Zhang Guan still scored the ball! At the end of the first half, with Zhang Guan’s three-pointer at the buzzer, the Lakers temporarily fell behind the Spurs by one point, 64 to 65.”

Popovich looked at the statistics and suddenly felt distraught.

In the first half of the game, Zhang Guan took a total of 23 shots, but the key point is that 15 of them were shots from outside the three-point line, and Zhang Guan made 9 three-pointers, and the three-pointer hit rate reached 60%. ! Just relying on three-pointers, Zhang Guan scored 27 points, and counting two-pointers and free throws, Zhang Guan scored a full 37 points in the first half!

Half-time scoring more than 30 points, some active athletes can do it, such as James and Durant, really let them score desperately, 30 points in the half-time is not difficult. Back then Chamberlain scored 59 points at halftime, and Kobe Bryant also scored 55 points at halftime.

In terms of hit rate, Zhang Guan is not very exaggerated. When Kobe scored 81 points in a single game, his shooting percentage was above 60%. In the two games of 65 points and 62 points in a single game, his shooting percentages were 59% and 58% respectively. 61%. For those strongmen who can score more than 50 points in a game, half of their shooting percentages remain around 60%.

However, what worries Popovich the most is the 9-for-15 three-pointer!

In the history of the NBA, JR-Smith made the most three-pointers in a single game with 22 times. Currently, Zhang Guan has shot 15 three-pointers. In the second half, he only needs to shoot seven three-pointers to catch up. Tie JR Smith's record and shoot 8 more three-pointers to break this record.

However, JR Smith made 22 three-pointers at that time, but only hit 10 of them, but Zhang Guan made 9 of them in the first half!

Kobe is the one who made the most three-pointers in a single game in the NBA. When he played against the Sonics in 2003, he made 12 of 18 three-pointers and made 66.7% of his three-pointers. This record was not broken until 2016 At that time, Curry only took 17 three-point shots and hit 13 goals, with a three-point shooting percentage of 76.5%.

Today, Zhang Guan's three-point shooting rate is exactly 60%, which is not as good as that of Kobe back then, and far worse than that of Curry in the future, but it is enough to shock Popovich.

After the Warriors won the championship next year, the NBA began to popularize throwing three-pointers. At that time, some teams in the NBA who were good at shooting three-pointers could average more than 30 three-pointers per game, and D'Antoni's The Rockets are even more perverted, averaging 86.8 shots per game, 40 of which are three-point shots. Almost half of the team's offenses are completed outside the three-point line.

And this season, the Spurs averaged only 21.4 three-pointers per game. Popovich watched Zhang Guan throw 15 three-pointers in the first half, how could he be frightened.

Throwing a three-pointer is completely a way of playing three years later, and even after three years, the Spurs already have experience in dealing with the Warriors, but they still have a headache when they encounter the Rockets throwing a three-pointer. Now that he encountered a team that was bombarding and throwing three-pointers ahead of time, Popovich was a little overwhelmed for a while.

...

In the second half, when Zhang Guan made two more three-pointers, the commentator couldn't sit still.

"Zhang Guan, just need to make one more three-pointer, and you can tie Kobe's record of 12 three-pointers in a single game! Now the third quarter is less than half, it seems that Zhang Guan broke this record, yes There is no suspense!" As soon as the commentator finished speaking, Zhang Guan shot ahead of time with one step outside the three-point line.

"Three-pointer, scored! Twelfth! Zhang Guan's twelfth three-pointer in this game! He has already tied Kobe's record of hitting twelve three-pointers in a single game. If If he makes one more shot, he will be able to break this record!" The commentator shouted excitedly, and countless fans were also excited about it in front of the TV.

NBA records are definitely not created every day. Fans who spend time watching the game naturally hope to see a wonderful matchup, and if they can witness the birth of a new record, no matter whether the game is exciting or not, no matter what the result of the game is, it will be great for the fans. It's not an exaggeration to say. For neutral fans, Zhang Guan's performance deserves their applause.

It's just that for the Spurs fans at home, this is not good news. It is indeed a morale thing to be broken by an opponent at their home court, and it is such a critical game.

The morale was hurt the most by Leonard, who was responsible for defending Zhang Guan. As the top defender in the league, even if he met LeBron James, Leonard would not hesitate at all, but in today's game, he But he still couldn't prevent Zhang Guan's three-pointer.

James is a player who relies more on breakthroughs. His mid-range and long-range shooting accuracy is not high. He is the kind of player who doesn't need to defend too much but can't let him shoot. In the future, the Warriors will defend against James and even take two steps back to defend. This is to completely look down on James' shots.

James' shooting is really nothing in the eyes of the Warriors' "abnormal accuracy". However, in the 2004 playoffs, the Warriors' perverts were only in their infancy.

The three-point shooters in the NBA have always focused on interference. They didn't go up to defend them desperately. They went up to defend a three-point shooter. Tracy McGrady told the whole league with 35 seconds of wonderful performance. how will it be. However, when Curry's "abnormal quasi" appeared, no one in the entire NBA could guard against him. Parker even said that the best way to defend against Curry is to prevent him from receiving the ball. Once Curry receives the ball, the only thing he can do is to start praying.

Of course, later on, the NBA's rear door also summed up some methods to deal with Curry, such as using height to exert pressure, disrupting Curry's dribbling rhythm, posting defenses all over the court, double-teaming in advance, etc. Most of Curry's methods are to interfere with Curry before he makes a shot.

It's just that the current Leonard, who knows these tricks, still defends Zhang Guan in the way he used to defend against three-pointers, which is naturally all kinds of embarrassment.

...

With 13 three-pointers, it seems that it is only a matter of time, and for the Spurs, they hope that this time will come later.

But what should come will always come, and now it is only halfway through the third quarter, and Zhang Guan has a lot of time to make the 13th three-pointer.

"Zhang Guan, the three-pointer! The shot went wide!"

The Spurs home fans let out a sigh of relief, but at this moment, Whiteside burst out from the crowd and dialed the ball to the outside. Bazemore grabbed the ball and immediately broke through with the ball. After attracting the attention of the Spurs, he distributed the ball to Zhang Guan.

"Zhang Guan, another three-pointer, scored! For the 13th three-pointer, Zhang Guan broke Kobe's record of 12 three-pointers in a single game!"

The fans sighed in disappointment, and Popovich immediately called a short timeout.

In fact, the Spurs are not behind in the score. The main purpose of Popovich's timeout is to stabilize the morale of the army and prevent the players from being affected psychologically.

I have to say that the Spurs players are still very stable. They did not show panic, but continued to implement the tactics formulated by Popovich.

I have to say that the firepower of the Spurs is really very strong. Even in a matchup, they are not weaker than the Lakers at all, and the defense of the Spurs is obviously better than the Lakers. With a high three-point shooting percentage, the Lakers must have been opened up by the Spurs long ago.

At this point in the game, the Lakers can only continue to trust Zhang Guan's touch.

"Three-pointer, scored again, the 14th! Hit the 14th three-pointer in a single game! Zhang Guan created a new record! At the same time, this is Zhang Guan's 23rd shot in this game. He broke JR Smith A record of 22 three-pointers made in a single game!"

At the end of the third quarter, Zhang Guan made the 14th three-pointer, and then the Spurs passed a time-out attack to end the third quarter. At this time, the score of the two sides was 92 to 94, and the Spurs still led two points.

For the Spurs, Duncan had 12 points, Parker had 16 points, Manu Ginobili had 11 points, Leonard had 11 points, Danny Green had 12 points, Diaw had 10 points, and six players from the team scored in double figures. And Zhang Guan scored 56 points alone!

"56 points in three quarters, today's Zhang Guan is too scary, is he going to score 80 points?"

"If Zhang Guan plays the entire fourth quarter, maybe he can really break the 80-point mark, and there are still 24 points away from 80 points. For top scorers, 24 points in a single quarter is not impossible."

"The Spurs also scored in double digits with six players, and Mills and Belinelli are about to score 10 points. If they are given a few more shots in the fourth quarter, they will definitely be able to score in double digits."

"I can see it. This is a contest between the stars and the team. The Lakers now rely entirely on Zhang Guan's three-pointers, while the Spurs are only five people together."

"That's right, these are two completely different basketball concepts, whether it depends on teamwork or superstars. The final result will be announced soon."

"The fourth quarter has begun! Look, Zhang Guan didn't rest, he is still on the court! So he is going to play the fourth quarter!"

"Zhang Guan didn't rest in the third quarter, and then he has to play the fourth quarter. He is going to work hard."

"The Lakers are two points behind. At this time, it's impossible not to fight! D'Antoni didn't dare to let Zhang Guan go to rest at all."

"Three-pointer, scored again! Zhang Guan's three-pointer scored again! The 15th three-pointer, 95 to 94, the Lakers finally overtook!"

Zhang Guan scored the 15th three-pointer of the game to help the Lakers overtake the score.

In the next second, the scene erupted like a mountain roar and a tsunami.

"BEAT-L.A.!"

Spurs fans do not accept falling behind, they want to bring down Los Angeles!

"BEAT-L.A.!"

The Spurs players all clenched their fists excitedly. They glared at every Lakers player, their expressions showing a strong fighting spirit.

"BEAT-L.A.!"

D'Antoni unconsciously felt his hands start to tremble. He knew that the moment the Lakers overtook the score, the decisive moment had finally arrived!

It feels like it's getting better. It's the end of the month. Let's pass the test and try to brew another explosion. Let's explode again before the end!