I’m Really Playing Basketball

After a difficult victory over the Spurs at home in Game 3, the Warriors tied the playoff lead to 1-2. The fourth game between the two teams will start on May 27 with a day off.

For the Warriors, who were previously 0-2 behind, although they have now won G3, if they want to advance, they cannot afford to miss the next home game.

It's just obvious that for a team like the Spurs, it's okay for them to stumble in one game, but it's very unlikely that they will stumble in two consecutive games.

However, no matter how unlikely the possibility is, the Warriors are full of expectations for G4 after winning a game.

The young players of the Warriors are full of expectations for themselves, and their confidence is rising again.

The Warriors head coach Cole is full of expectations for Chen Xiao.

While looking forward to it, I was also extremely nervous.

Because the way of winning in G3 is too wearing on Chen Xiao!

In such a low-tempo hand-to-hand battle, let's just say that except for Chen Xiao, no Warriors player's offense is reliable.

Even a key player like Clay, when he was at his peak, historically, in the last tiebreaker of the 2016 Finals, he shot 2-for-10 from the field.

Therefore, if the Warriors continue to play like this in G4, Chen Xiao will have to attack the strongest defense of Leonard and the Spurs for a whole game on the offensive end.

At the same time, in order to choke the Spurs' two most reliable offensive players, Ron Howard and Ginobili, Chen Xiao needed to kill them for 48 minutes without rest.

Let's put it this way, if a player faces the Spurs' defensive intensity in a positional battle and plays offense for 48 minutes, he is a physical maniac.

At the same time, facing the offensive strength of Ron Howard and Ginobili, he is also a physical maniac who can play defense for 48 consecutive minutes.

As for Chen Xiao, he needs to do these two things at the same time.

In other words, Chen Xiao's consumption in one game would be the consumption of two physical maniacs in two games!

You know, this is not a simple 1+1. For Chen Xiao to do this, it takes more effort than two physical madmen. After all, these two physical madmen only need to do one thing, attack the madman, and defend. You can rest, and the defensive madman can squat in the corner and smoke while attacking.

But Chen Xiao really had to defend immediately after attacking, without any rest time.

So, after the last game, Cole, who had worked with Chen Xiao for eight years and had almost never seen Chen Xiao tired, saw Chen Xiao with his hands on his hips as he returned to the locker room, sweating uncontrollably. Fall down.

This is a sign of exhaustion.

Chen Xiao often played 48 minutes when he was with the Bobcats. However, ordinary 48 minutes are not as tiring as this kind of 48 minutes.

Cole hopes that Chen Xiao can perform such an extreme offensive and defensive performance in the next game, but he is also worried that Chen Xiao will be exhausted.

On May 27th, Steve Kerr watched the game end. The Warriors No. 7 player in the center of the court, enjoying the cheers of the fans and sweating like rain, clenched his fists tightly, his face Everything on his face was filled with excitement, and even the corners of his eyes were filled with moved water.

97 to 90!

The Warriors won another game at home after overtime!

In other words, in this game, Chen Xiao did not play such a high-intensity game for 48 consecutive minutes, but played for 53 minutes!

In a game where both teams shot only 35% and 38% respectively, Chen Xiao made 16 of 31 shots, 6 of 11 three-pointers, and 8 of 8 free throws. He scored 46 in the game. Points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists!

Especially in overtime, when Chen Xiao could not even lift his tired hands, he still made 2 of 5 free throws and 3 of 3 free throws. He scored 8 vital points with sudden shots.

You know, the Warriors scored 13 points in the entire overtime. If tactical free throws are excluded, Chen Xiao only scored 8 points in the sports battle.

On the opposite side, the Spurs, in the entire overtime, the team made 1 of 10 goals and only scored 6 points.

Chen Xiao's last sports game score was when he pushed Leonard away, rushed all the way to the basket, threw himself in the air, folded for a layup, and then fell to the ground, lying flat and unable to move.

Seeing the Warriors' No. 7 player enjoying the cheers of the fans on the court and the worship of all the Warriors players, Barkley and Kenny Smith on the sidelines couldn't help but admired: "This is the best I have ever seen in my basketball career. The biggest game is also the most tiring one. The Spurs players are very tired, the Warriors players are very tired, and Chen Xiao is so tired that it makes people’s hearts tremble!”

Not to mention Kenny Smith and Barkley, even Popovich on the sidelines felt the same way.

In this home game of the Warriors, the referees were very strict. This was certainly due to the lack of defensive skills, but the young and hard-working Warriors players were more reasonable.

But equally, this is actually beneficial to the Spurs' defensive players when defending Chen Xiao.

Generally speaking, this scale is beneficial to the defense of both teams.

In the end, it was indeed the case, with both teams shooting less than 40%.

The Spurs are even only 35%.

Even though the Warriors seem to have a 38% shooting rate, if Chen Xiao's shooting rate is removed, the Warriors' team's shooting rate is 19 of 61, which is only 31%!

Let's put it this way, in this game, he and the Spurs were not defeated by the referee's standards, nor were they defeated by the Warriors, they were completely defeated by Chen Xiao alone!

Under this scale, in a high-intensity game like the Spurs, they can shoot more than 50% and score 46 points.

After the game, even Leonard, who had always been paralyzed, had some doubts about life.

After a brief absence, Pop, like the Warriors fans at the scene, gave the No. 7 player in the center of the court his most sincere applause.

"God, you live up to your name!"

Apart from God, he couldn't imagine any human being who could play such a game.

The Spurs, who originally wanted to defeat the Warriors in this game, lost again.

The 2-0 lead eventually became 2-2.

This result, of course, makes the Spurs very sad.

But sadness is sadness. At the post-match press conference after the game, everyone in the Spurs team was really full of praise for Chen Xiaona.

"In this series, Chen showed us all what the God of Basketball should look like. Everything he takes on in the game is something we have never imagined before. He can do anything!"

"Of course I know my shooting percentage of 8-for-18 in this game is not high, but if you consider that I was guarded by Chen the whole game, I feel that I was very lucky to get 21 points, and Kawhi was the same In this way, when he defended Chen throughout the game, his mentality did not collapse, and he was able to make 4 of 11 shots and score 11 points, which reflects his perseverance.

Yes, we lost this game again, but this is not our problem. We lost, but Chen was too strong. "

Popovich and Ron Howard's remarks after the game almost represented the views of the entire Spurs players.

Let’s just say the Spurs are truly gritty.

For an average team, if they are defeated by two games like Chen Xiao's, they will still experience fluctuations even if they are not out of balance.

Maybe, the Warriors will really be given some chances then.

After all, once the young men of the Warriors gain momentum, they can really do anything.

Therefore, after two consecutive games at home, Warriors head coach Cole is looking forward to Tianwangshan in G5.

but……

Cole still underestimated the tenacity of the Spurs players.

The Spurs, who had made three-pointers in the previous two games, shot 10 of 21 from three-pointers in G5. Leonard, whose mentality was shattered by Chen Xiao in the last game, was completely defeated in this game. He made 7 of 8 and 3 of 4 three-pointers, scoring 17 points extremely efficiently.

So much so that after the game, Cole couldn't help but sigh: "This guy from the Spurs is a person who does big things, and he has a ruthless mentality!"

Ron Howard, who had been stared at by Chen Xiao in the previous two games, made 9 of 16 in this game, 10 of 10 free throws, and scored 28 points. Facing Chen Xiao's defense, Ron Howard knew more and more what to do. To get around it, we can only say that a superstar is a superstar, and you can always only restrict and cannot defend.

The main thing is that the Warriors only have one Chen Xiao on the outside.

In this game, it wasn't just Leonard, Wheat was also on fire, shooting 6 of 10 from the field and scoring 16 points.

In addition, Duncan scored 14 points and 11 rebounds. Although Ginobili's shooting rate was still not high, he also scored 10 points. Parker and Al Jefferson also scored 8 points and 7 points respectively.

The Spurs are still very average.

The Spurs, whose offense returned to normal, finally defeated the Warriors 112-100 at home.

For the Warriors, Chen Xiao still had the highest score in the game. He played for 48 minutes and made 19 of 34 shots, 4 of 10 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 46 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 rebounds in the game. assists.

Except for Chen Xiao, Lopez made 5 of 8 shots and scored 16 points. Bill made 4 of 14 shots and 1 of 6 three-pointers and scored 9 points. Clay shot 2 of 8 and scored 4 points. , this was mainly because Clay was in a foul crisis caused by Ron Howard, and the game was shattered.

In this game, the thick eyebrows scored 1 of 2 and scored 2 points and 6 rebounds. The thick eyebrows were even worse in this game. He was fouled 3 times by Duncan in the first quarter, and the whole game lasted 20 minutes.

On the contrary, the substitute Ibaka, who had thick eyebrows, performed very well. He made 6 of 7 shots, scored 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Ibaka's series against the Spurs was very impressive.

Although he and Nongmei are the same type of players, as fast and able to jump as Nongmei, he is better than Nongmei in confrontation. After all, he has played in the NBA for five years. Although he is not as tall as Nongmei, he is indeed more capable. He can stand firm and cooperates better with Lopez.

Therefore, many times after Ibaka came in to replace Big Eyebrow, the Warriors' defense also seemed better and more organized.

However, the Warriors' loss cannot be changed by just one point.

The gap between the Warriors and the Spurs, except for Chen Xiao, is almost all-round.

Therefore, this G5 felt like Chen Xiao was fighting against the entire Spurs team alone. When Chen Xiao had sufficient physical strength, the two teams tied at 54 in the first half, but in the second half, when Chen Xiao's physical strength was not so good, , the Spurs' advantage is reflected.

After losing the Tianwangshan battle with the Spurs on the road, the Warriors theoretically still have a chance to win the Spurs at home and ultimately continue the suspense of the game.

But people who watched G6 between the two teams have a hard time imagining how the Warriors can win.

Especially now that the Spurs are used to the Warriors' new style of play.

On May 31, 2013, the Warriors returned to Golden State to continue their G6 matchup with the Spurs. In this game, the Warriors players, under the leadership of Chen Xiao, still served their lives.

Very hard work!

But it's obvious that the Spurs' experienced veterans are used to playing away from these desperate young people.

For example, in this game, Al Jefferson's shooting percentage was 6 of 8. He didn't fight with Lopez at all. He just dodged and shot when he could.

In this game, the young men of the Warriors felt like their fists were hitting cotton.

In the end, the Warriors failed to create a miracle and lost to the Spurs 88-96 at their home court.

Three of the Warriors scored in double figures in this game. Chen Xiao was the Warriors' leading scorer. He made 16 of 37, 3 of 10 three-pointers, and 5 of 5 free throws. He scored 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 rebounds in the game. Assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks.

It can be seen that Chen Xiao's shooting percentage in this game is not very high compared to him.

This is not only because Chen Xiao is indeed a little tired, but after four games in a row, one person is used as two people. It is also because Leonard's progress is indeed becoming more and more obvious, and his defense is getting better and better.

Of course, Chen Xiao's touch in this game was also relatively average.

Except for Chen Xiao, Klay made 4 of 12 shots and 2 of 4 three-pointers in this game, scoring 10 points. Ibaka, who came off the bench, scored 11 points on 4 of 8 shots and 3 of 4 free throws.

Except for Chen Xiao and the other three, no one else scored in double figures.

For the Spurs, Duncan had 19 points, Luo Ge had 16 points, Al Jefferson had 14 points, Wheat had 13 points, Leonard had 11 points, Parker had 8 points, Gary Neal had 6 points, and Ginobili was 1 of 6. , 5 points.

In these four games, Ginobili was really beaten badly by Chen Xiao for 48 minutes.

After losing G6 at home, the Warriors were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals 2-4, watching the Spurs advance to the Finals.

However, Chen Xiao did not feel regretful. Instead, on the court, looking at his teammates who were all squatting on the ground in despair, he walked over and patted their shoulders one by one, smiled and asked them to stand up, and accepted it with their heads held high. Not only did he fail, but he also accepted the applause from the fans and opponents.

Looking at the Warriors players who were led by Chen Xiao and thanked the audience and fans on the court, Barkley said: "I now believe that Chen's choice is not wrong. Maybe the Warriors are still weak now, but they will be better in the future." In the future, I will accompany Chen to reach the top of the NBA again!"

Barkley was lamenting how lucky this group of young people on the Warriors were to be around Chen Xiao.

Kenny Smith next to him was lamenting Chen Xiao's statistics in this series: "6 games, 5 games with 40+, and the series once again averaged 40+ per game. This is already his performance in this playoffs. The second time, he had 40+ points in 10 of 16 games. He spent one playoff time and accomplished many career achievements of a super giant!"

Chen Xiao's first playoff game with the Warriors is over, but Chen Xiao is not too disappointed. He knows that he has tried his best and his teammates have also tried their best.

This is enough.

After the game, Chen Xiao and Luo Ge exchanged jerseys.

"Chen, this is the first time I beat you."

"I've always imagined what it would be like to beat you for the first time, and now I know."

"Chen, do you know what I'm thinking about now?"

Seeing the smile on Brother Luo's face at this time, Chen Xiao also smiled: "Now you are thinking about how it would feel to defeat Dwyane."

Brother Luo didn't speak, but looked at Chen Xiao, smiled and nodded.

"This time, I will not fail again."

On May 31, 2013, the conference finals between the Warriors and Spurs ended, and the Spurs entered the finals.

The day before, May 30, the Eastern Conference Finals between the Heat and Bucks also ended. In the end, the Heat defeated the Bucks 4-2 and took the lead in reaching the finals.

Ron Howard led the Spurs to the Finals for the fourth time, losing the first three times.

The Heat and Spurs met for the third time in the Finals, and the winners of the first two times were the Heat.