I’m Really Playing Basketball

On June 12, 2012, the NBA Finals G2 between the Bobcats and Spurs continued at the Charlotte Bobcat Arena.

The San Antonio Spurs, who lost badly in the last game, changed their starting lineup in this game.

Except for Duncan who is still the center, the other four positions have become Kawhi Leonard, Prince, Ron Howard and Ginobili.

This is a lineup with one large and four small players. The Spurs' starting point guard Tony Parker sat on the bench for this game due to his poor performance in the previous game.

In the last game, Parker made 5 of 16 shots and only scored 11 points. He was arguably the Spurs' worst player and didn't even use one.

Historically, Parker was a little embarrassed when he met Rose at his peak. The Rose who was not injured at his peak was indeed an opponent that Parker didn't like to fight.

Ross can keep up with Parker's speed and explosive power. In front of Ross, it is not so easy for a small sports car to run.

And if Parker can't get rid of Rose and break inside, other Bobcat players can help defend against a double team. Parker's ability to play the ball after double teaming is very poor, which makes him unable to find teammates and can only attack hard. This is not Parker's strength. .

In history, this year, the Thunder finally surpassed the Spurs and reached the Finals. They took advantage of Parker's inability to break double teams. After Parker's outstanding performance for two games, they decisively chose to flank Parker, the ball carrier, and finally successfully defeated Parker. It interrupted the Spurs' offensive rhythm. After losing two games, they won four consecutive games and eliminated the Spurs.

In this playoff loss, the Spurs and Popovich did not think about improving Parker's double-team breaking ability, but chose to change the team's offensive system again, which directly prompted Popovich to blind the entire team after the Spurs' performance. The NBA's pass-cutting and running game is almost invincible, and the Spurs appeared who defeated the Heat's Big Three.

It has to be said that Popo also has a very clear mind. A normal head coach will encourage his stars to correct their deficiencies when they see the players in charge of their team, such as the Mavericks and Drivers, but this is completely wrong with Popo. On the contrary, if you think our stars have flaws, then I won't use my stars. Now everyone in our team is a star. I'll see how you find flaws. You're so cool.

Of course, Pop's coquettish thinking and leadership style also indirectly caused Kawhi Leonard, a perimeter giant in the history of the Spurs, who also had the problem of not knowing how to play the ball after being double-teamed.

Because, in the Spurs, Pop will never give his stars such an opportunity to get rid of such problems.

If you want to enhance your ability to break double teams, this requires a lot of holding the ball, a lot of mistakes, a lot of trial and error, and it requires wireless possession of the ball.

In the Spurs, no one has such a right, so if you have such shortcomings, you don't need to improve them. Pop can just cover them for you.

Therefore, in the Spurs, it is a common problem for outside superstars to not handle the ball well after being double-teamed. Parker and Leonard have it in history, and Luo Ge also has it in this time and space.

Because the Spurs have Pop as their head coach, the players do not get training in this area, so it is naturally difficult to correct their shortcomings. This is also the reason why the Spurs had a difficult game last time.

The Bobcats' three outside players, Chen Xiao, Rose and Jimmy Butler, have extremely strong individual defense capabilities.

When three players with strong individual defense entangle each other, as long as the opponent gets inside and the other inside players help to defend and attack, no Spurs player can move.

Parker, Ron Howard and Leonard did not have the explosiveness to break down the Bobcats defenders one-on-one. In the end, they forced themselves to the basket. After being flanked, it was difficult to pass the ball. In the end, of course, they could only attack hard.

Ron Howard has strong singles ability and a decent hit rate on strong attacks. He is a stuck version of Jordan and is well-deserved, but Parker is more difficult.

Therefore, Parker's performance was very poor.

In the last game, except for relying on Duncan and his inside teammates to get out of the pick-and-roll a few times and hit shots, most of the singles without the help of pick-and-roll screens failed in the end.

Although the pick-and-roll is a regular tactic for every team in the NBA, the pick-and-roll cannot be succeeded every time. Rose's ability to defend the pick-and-roll and Jimmy Butler's ability to defend the pick-and-roll are both very strong.

Therefore, after playing G1, Bobo clearly saw the problem of the Spurs and Bobcats in G1, that is, the Spurs' starting lineup is not fast enough, allowing Cousins ​​​​and David West to help defend very calmly. Double-team the Spurs' perimeter players.

Therefore, in this game, Bobo directly played the first and fourth grade. This is actually to enhance the Spurs' offensive mobility and allow the Bobcats' defense to follow suit.

When the defense runs, it is definitely unfriendly to insiders like Cousins ​​and West. At the very least, it is not easy for them to help defend.

This will give opportunities to other Spurs players.

Of course, even though there is no help defense, other Spurs players still have to deal with the Bobcats players one-on-one. Parker still suffers a lot against Rose, so Pop uses Ginobili. Ginobili’s speed and The burst is not as good as Parker, but his rhythm is different from everyone else. At the same time, his passing ability, especially threatening passing, is stronger than Parker.

It can be seen that Bobo really wants to win this game.

In fact, this is also the case. The Spurs, who started to collapse from the first quarter of the last game, played quite well in the first quarter of this game.

The most outstanding thing is Ginobili, who replaced Parker as the starter. In the first quarter of the game, Ginobili made 5 of 7 in a single quarter and scored 14 points in a single quarter.

Why did Ginobili play better than the Spurs in the first quarter?

Because he is the only player who can break the single defense of the Bobcats. In fact, with the lineup of the Bobcats, Ginobili only needs to break Rose's single defense. After containment, it is difficult to assist in defense.

Therefore, as long as Ginobili uses his weird rhythm and breakthrough to defeat Rose's single defense, then there will be a clear space.

I have to say that a player like Ginobili is really useful in the NBA. His unique style and rhythm always make people very helpless.

Of course, except for Ginobili, it is actually very difficult for other Spurs players to break through the Bobcats' single defense.

Therefore, although Ginobili played very well in the first quarter, the Bobcats still led by 4 points 32-28 at home in the first quarter.

The most outstanding performer among them was Chen Xiao. Under Luo Ge's defense, Chen Xiao also made 5 of 7 and 2 of 2 three-pointers in the first quarter, scoring 12 points in a single quarter.

I have to say that Chen Xiao is indeed a point that the Spurs cannot solve. Ron Howard is too short, Leonard and Prince are too thin. Although their defensive skills are very good, they have some physical defects. For players like Chen Xiao or Durant, this is a point that can be used to kill.

Relatively speaking, James of the Cavaliers and Iguodala of the Bucks are better players to defend Chen Xiao.

In addition, Rose, David West and Roy who came off the bench all scored 6 points.

Not to mention Rose and Roy, the Spurs can't find anything that matches up with these two.

It is worth mentioning that David West became the key to this game. When Cousins ​​was completely crushed by Duncan, David West used the small lineup of the Spurs to play very well. shooting performance.

In the first quarter, the Spurs and Pop were helpless.

Should we continue to use a smaller lineup?

A small lineup can indeed improve the Spurs' speed and offense, but there will be a big problem defending David West.

This can be regarded as a kind of gain and loss.

In the second quarter of the game, Tony Parker, who was sitting on the bench in this game, led the Spurs' bench lineup. They played very strongly against the Bobcats. Basically, no one in the Bobcats' rotation could match him. Curry, Roy, Bill Key, and Kemba Walker basically can't match him.

Facing such a top All-Star player who has been holding back for so long, it is natural to explode.

Therefore, during the second quarter rotation, the Bobcats bench led by Roy was almost defeated by the Spurs bench led by Parker.

After the second quarter, the Bobcats lost by 5 points 22-27 in a single quarter. After the first half, the Bobcats playing at home were actually 1 point behind 54-55.

In the third quarter of the game, the Spurs still took advantage of Ginobili and frantically attacked the Bobcats' defense.

At the same time, Duncan continued his punches and kicks against Cousins ​​in this section.

The two teams, the Bobcats and the Spurs, were in excellent form in the third quarter, scoring 32 to 37 in a single quarter.

The Bobcats are in front, the Spurs are in the back.

The Spurs scored 37 points in the third quarter with Duncan's 5-for-7 and 8-for-10 free throws in the third quarter, and Ginobili's 9 points at 4-for-5.

After the Spurs reduced their lineup in this game, Cousins ​​of the Bobcats was definitely the player under the most pressure.

Because his teammates were separated, he received less protection. In this game, he basically faced Duncan alone.

This is indeed a huge pressure for Cousins.

Just like when Chris Bosh was beaten by Duncan, Cousins ​​was definitely beaten by Duncan in this game.

In the first half, Cousins ​​was actually suppressed very much.

However, in the first half, Duncan was more covering for Ginobili's offense, not as the main attacker, but as an assist.

But in the second half and third quarter, Duncan clearly became the main attacker.

Obviously, during the intermission, Duncan had fully figured out Cousins' situation. At the same time, Popovich also took the initiative to let Duncan attack Cousins ​​more.

This allowed Cousins ​​to commit 4 fouls in a single quarter in the third quarter. You read that right, four fouls!

And he sent out 4 fouls in a very short period of time.

In the third quarter, the Bobcats committed 12 fouls in a single quarter, 9 of which were committed by the center, including 4 fouls by Cousins, 3 fouls by Lopez, and 2 fouls by Roy Hibbert.

You can imagine a team with three centers, facing the opposing center, taking turns to play, and being fouled by the opposing center in one quarter, what kind of picture is this.

It's really not that Jordan didn't change players and didn't know how to protect Cousins, but that there was no way. The three young centers of the Bobcats, after losing the help of their teammates, couldn't face Duncan one-on-one.

You go up, I go up, I go up, you go up, and then everyone is fouling.

Therefore, with such a strong performance from Duncan, the Bobcats lost 5 points after a single quarter. After the third quarter, the score on the field has become 92 to 86, and the Spurs' lead has expanded to 6 points.

It seems that the Spurs have a chance to win this game.

After all, the lead is not that small.

but……

The Spurs are not without crises. First of all, Duncan played too crazy in the third quarter.

For a veteran like Duncan, the third quarter was too fierce.

At the same time, Duncan still has such a strong strength, but directly exposed the Spurs' hole cards, which also frightened Jordan. In the fourth quarter, Jordan must change the Bobcats' defensive strategy.

In fact, this is also true.

In the fourth quarter, Chen Xiao stayed on the court as soon as he started, which directly suppressed the Spurs' rotation.

When Duncan came up, Jordan once again entered the double-center contraction formation of Roy Hibbert and Lopez, which was very effective against the Cavaliers.

It doesn't give Duncan a chance to face his young center one-on-one at all, and it doesn't give the Spurs a chance to shoot three-pointers from the outside.

Seeing Jordan's strategy, Bobo on the sidelines was very helpless. It was not just Jordan's adjustment speed that made him helpless. After Jordan's coaching career in the past few seasons, his ability has improved visibly with the naked eye. It's Jordan's strength, and it's even stronger now.

At the same time, the Spurs made 2 of 9 three-pointers in the fourth quarter, which also made him helpless.

It's not that the Spurs don't have a chance, they have a chance, but Leonard's 0-for-4 and Ginobili's 1-for-4 three-pointers left him with no way to die.

The outside line couldn't be opened, and Duncan on the inside didn't have any chance. He made 0 of 3 in a single quarter and scored 0 points.

If someone lets you go and you miss the shot, what can you say?

In the end, the Bobcats beat the Spurs 35-28 in the fourth quarter, beating the Spurs by 7 points in a single quarter, and finally reversed the Spurs 121-120.

This game is not a lore. In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats overtook the score 106 to 101. Behind them was the Spurs chasing crazily, but they failed to catch up at the end. Don't look at the Spurs only lost by 1 point. Killing opportunity, in fact, the Spurs trailed by 4 points with 10 seconds left, but Luo hit the final three-pointer at the buzzer.

Of course, for the audience, this G2 between the Spurs and Bobcats showed them that the Spurs seemed to have a chance to defeat the Bobcats.

Just like the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, they lost two games first and then continued to come back.

However, as players and head coaches of the Spurs, such a game really makes them desperate.

They have played well.

The four key players in this game Ginobili scored 34 points, Duncan scored 28 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists and 5 blocks, Ron Howard also scored 20 points, and Parker also scored 18 points.

Their performance was already very good, and the Spurs' tactics were fully implemented, but they still lost in the end.

This kind of loss is even more disappointing than G1. After all, they didn't play well in G1, and now they are losing after playing well.

Therefore, when many people thought that the Spurs had a chance, on June 15th, in G3, the Spurs returned to the home court and did not win as many people imagined. Instead, they returned to the home court with a 92-112 defeat by 20 points.

The big score also came to 0-3.

When everyone saw this big score, everyone knew what the final result would be.

"Let us witness the sixth coronation of the Wonder Boy as King!"

"The sixth coronation, the first dynasty, and the next game will be a historic moment in Boy Wonder's career. He will truly surpass Michael Jordan and become the number one in history!"

Barkley was excited, Pippen was excited, and at this time, many people were excited.