On the evening of May 21, the first game of the Western Conference Finals started at the Staples Center.

The Clippers played against the Spurs, the most interesting showdown in the West.

Since the middle of the season, the Clippers have taken the Spurs as their biggest imaginary opponent in the Western Conference playoffs. Every time the two sides meet in the regular season, sparks hit the earth, including Li Liang's shocking reversal.

The Thunder was eliminated early due to Westbrook's injury. People thought that the Western Conference would enter the Thunder era after 2012, but they did not expect that the two old thieves, the Lakers and the Spurs, were still strong.

Especially the Spurs, this is their eighth time since 1999 to reach the Western Conference Finals (99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 08, 12).

Since getting Duncan in 1997, they have never missed the playoffs and are one of the most successful basketball teams in the 21st century.

Today, it has been 17 years since Duncan joined the Spurs. After several ups and downs, they once again stood on the stage of the Western Conference Finals and launched an impact towards the Finals. What stood in front of them was the league's upstart, the Clippers.

American singer Kelly LaVick, who sang the national anthem before the game, wore a crimson dress tonight, one of the Clippers' home colors.

After the national anthem, the Spurs players appeared on the field.

After that, the on-site projector projected the Clippers' game footage onto the floor, and the Clippers players appeared on the stage amidst the DJ's long sound.

When Li Liang stood up from the darkness and was the last to run to the center of the floor, the noise at Staples Center reached its peak.

This is the first time in the history of the Los Angeles Clippers to stand on the stage of the conference finals.

Since entering the NBA under the name of the Braves in 1970, in the history of more than 40 years, they have been falling and falling, basically never rising.

Being able to reach the conference finals once is considered a great honor, and it is a shame to put it on the Lakers next door and the Spurs on the opposite side.

But it is a breakthrough after all, and Li Liang is the one who led the team to stand up from the darkness and complete this breakthrough.

He can afford the cheers given to him by the fans at the scene, and he is now the true king of Los Angeles.

Li Liang and the fans waved slightly, then took off his coat, his face paled, and he was ready to start the first game of the Western Conference Finals.

Li Liang couldn't help but be serious. In Stern's simulation world, the simulation results of the Clippers and Spurs all took 7 games to end.

It is enough to show the strength of the Spurs.

Li Liang doesn't want to fight the Spurs until the tiebreaker, the uncertainty of the tiebreaker is too great.

Even if Li Liang cheated wildly, what if his teammates withered?

Besides, if you want to hang up wildly, start hanging up as soon as possible, why wait until the last life-and-death battle.

He's not a villain, he can't die from talking too much, if he has any tricks, he should use them as soon as possible.

Don't hide while fighting, and in the end, you are half dead, beep beep, beep beep, amplify your moves, and be reversed by your opponent, wouldn't it be too embarrassing.

Li Liang didn't want to be ashamed like this, so from the first game, he would go all out to deal with the Spurs, the enemy.

Of course, the state of teammates is often uncontrollable. If teammate Tie Chengxiang, Li Liang would have no choice but to turn on the hair dryer while cursing and carry himself.

The two sides started to stand on the court, and the game was about to start.

The Clippers' starting lineup has not changed, and the Spurs' starting lineup is the same as in the regular season, with Duncan, Splitter, Danny Green, Tony Parker and Leonard.

Duncan, as always, hugs the basketball before the game and rubs it, just like rubbing Ginobili's head.

Li Liang thought to himself, I will definitely touch your head tonight.

In the middle circle scrimmage, Jordan gave the ball to Paul.

The Clippers started their first offense.

In the first attack of the opening game, Li Liang passed the cover of the flank, received a pass from Paul in the middle, and shot a three-pointer!

Hit!

Less than 10 seconds into the game, Li Liang hit the first three-pointer in the Western Conference Finals!

What is even more surprising is that after Li Liang hit the three-pointer, Popovich immediately called a short timeout.

It might be the fastest timeout in the playoffs, with a timeout in the opening 10 seconds.

Popovich attached great importance to Li Liang, and he felt a little rule of Li Liang's playing.

In the regular season, the Clippers will hand over Griffin to play at the beginning of the regular season. In the playoffs, it is usually Li Liang or Paul who pulls the first shot.

Especially Li Liang's three-pointer. If he hits the three-pointer at the beginning, it means that Li Liang's hand feels good in this game, and it will be difficult for the opponent to fight.

If Li Liang misses a three-pointer in the opening game, it means that his touch is average, and Li Liang himself will reduce the number of shots, so that the opponent will be easier to fight.

Popovich would rather Li Liang assist and pass the ball than Li Liang's three-pointer.

Li Liang's three-pointer is too destructive. Although passing is also very important and can stimulate the Clippers' overall offense, there are also many turnovers, and the Spurs are not afraid of team basketball competition.

They have the best and most well-thought-out team in the league. In comparison, the Clippers' team is relatively rough.

Popovich's timeout made the sideline commentator Reggie Miller laugh, claiming that Popovich was too cautious, too cautious.

But Li Liang's performance let people know that Popovich's caution was not excessive at all, and even he was not cautious enough.

...

Back from the timeout, the Spurs' offense, Parker cut to the wing after a high pick-and-roll.

Instead of sticking to Parker, Paul chose to shrink inward. At the same time, Li Liang stood near the waist, blocking Parker's way of advancing inward.

The ball was placed in the middle of Parker, and Paul and Li Liang formed a pocket on the flank.

Parker has entered a dead zone, and he will definitely not be able to break through. The middle distance is the only choice.

But Parker made another choice. He dribbled the ball around the bottom line of the wing again, wasting more than ten seconds, and rushed in from the middle again.

Duncan came to pick and roll Parker again, and then passed the ball to Duncan who was running down. As a result, Duncan's throw was slapped by Jordan with a big hat!

This is a sturdy big hat, and Jordan's cards are very accurate.

Li Liang stopped Green and Leonard who wanted to grab the offensive rebound in the middle, and took the rebound.

In the Clippers' counterattack, the Spurs returned to defense extremely quickly, and did not give the Clippers a chance to break fast.

Li Liang received the ball from the flank, passed the ball to Griffin in the low post, and beat Splitter hard.

Although Griffin does not have an advantage in height, he still used his strong body and footwork to squeeze Splitter away, and scored two points with a successful throw with his right hand.

The Clippers are off to a good start.

Subsequently, Green missed a three-pointer, and the Clippers still failed to counterattack.

Paul and Griffin cooperated in the high pick-and-roll. After Griffin received the ball in the high post, he passed it back to Paul to play Green in the low post.

Then, Griffin made an empty cut to the basket, received a wonderful pass from Paul, and was about to dunk the ball when he caught the ball!

As a result, Duncan came over to help defend and blocked Griffin's dunk!

Duncan's defense in the interior was really stable, but Li Liang rushed to the basket and picked up an offensive rebound.

Then two consecutive shot fakes deceived Leonard and Duncan, retreated after dribbling, and succeeded in a close-range jumper.

It's Li Liang's style of play again. If the ball is replaced by someone else, he must choose to rely on his body for a layup, and he may be able to draw a foul.

This kind of retreat shot is not stable, and it is easy to get blocked.

But Li Liang is this style of play, the rhythm and timing of shooting are well grasped, and the opponent can't get a shot at all.

As for the hit rate, his close-range jumper has an astonishingly high hit rate.

Green's three-pointer still missed, and the Spurs fell into a scoring drought at the beginning.

For the Clippers, Griffin's mid-range jumper is not close. Leonard takes the ball and fast breaks. shoot.

But under Li Liang's interference, he didn't go in. On the contrary, after the continuous running and pulling on both sides, the defense fell apart.

Li Liang took the ball and handed it to Paul. After halftime, Paul went beyond the three-point line, and there was no one to defend him.

The Spurs' defense has been messed up, Paul made a three-pointer!

Hit!

9:0!

The Clippers gave the Spurs a 9-0 opening.

The entire Clippers team has a strong enterprising spirit. Now that we have reached the Western Conference Finals, why not rush into the Finals to have a look?

At this time, Popovich did not call a timeout instead. He had already called the opening game and could not call again.

Faced with this adversity, Duncan stood up.

After receiving the ball in the low post, he hit Jordan forcefully, turned around and shot, not only hit the board, but also caused Jordan's foul.

To be honest, Duncan doesn't play well, his shooting posture is not picturesque, his hook is not stretched after turning around, and his throw is a bit ugly.

But the problem is, if you are beautiful, you can't get in, but if you are ugly, you can get in, and this is fatal.

No matter how good the posture is, it is not a gymnastics or diving competition after all. In the end, it depends on whether you can score a goal or not.

Duncan always feels stumbled and not happy at all when he scores many goals, but if he scores more times, he can score, which means he is awesome.

Even at the age of 38, Duncan can still stand up when the Spurs need him.

Without Duncan, the Spurs would not be where they are today.

Don't say you have Popovich, you are Popovich, Popovich, you can win the championship just like Duncan.

Duncan made an extra free throw, and the Spurs recovered from Duncan's goal.

With Barnes hitting a three-pointer from the bottom corner, Splitter's hook at the basket was capped by Jordan Jr., and Griffin caught the ball and dunked in the fast break. The score became 14:7, and the Clippers took the lead 7 points.

The Spurs scored 7 points and 5 points came from Duncan. He made a tip-up at the basket and assisted Parker to hit a mid-range jumper.

Popovich was expressionless on the sidelines, he still did not call a timeout, and he seemed confident in the state of the players.

Sure enough, in the next two minutes, the Spurs' defense gradually tightened, and Li Liang couldn't catch the ball.

Any attempt to pass the ball to Li Liang will be harassed. If it is directly passed to Li Liang, Parker and Leonard will double-team in advance and put Barnes directly.

Barnes made a three-pointer, but missed the next two shots.

Subsequently, Leonard made a three-pointer in a counterattack, and Parker made a quick layup.

At 14:12, the Spurs quickly caught up to only two points away.

The game entered an official timeout.

Li Liang took a breath after the end of the game, he thought to himself, he was right, this Spurs is really strong, much stronger than the ones in the regular season.

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