Chapter 775 [See Clearly, 1 Wave Flow]

Curry doesn't care about being a substitute. Yang Rui has told him that Paul will leave after this season.

He gives up the ball in the playoffs this time and takes over again next season, and everyone is happy. Of course Curry can understand this. Moreover, the tactics arranged by Yang Rui were more to his liking. The second quarter was a run-and-gun battle.

Paul is someone who will always look for screens, run tactics, and seek mismatches. He plays very reasonably. Curry is not a point guard who plays reasonably, he is more like a shooting guard at heart.

Paul's ball-control organization is still the same, looking for opportunities to pass to his teammates after the pick-and-roll. The Spurs began to cut off Paul's passing route, keep distance, let Paul make a mid-range shot, and let Parker chase.

Other positions are single defense, and the Clippers have the strongest three-point firepower in the league. Popovich emphasized that he would rather let the Clippers score two points than let them miss the three-pointer.

The Clippers' defensive strategy is the opposite, strictly preventing Parker from breaking through and relying on rotation on the outside.

Both sides played mainly singles with star players, the offensive rhythm was slow, the scene was not very beautiful, the offensive efficiency was not high, and the point difference was close. The difference is that Yang Rui has a relaxed expression on the sidelines and has everything under control, while Popovich has a very serious expression.

Having played Yang Rui several times in the playoffs, Popovich knows very well that the Spurs rely on the starting lineup to win, the substitutes are flawed, and the Clippers haven't played their cards yet.

The key is that Rudy Gay did not start today. In the regular season, Leonard's defense against Gay was relatively successful. Looking at the situation now, Yang Rui is planning to wait for Leonard to rest before sending Gay on, staggering them. playing time.

If you send someone else to guard Guy alone, they may not be able to guard him. If Leonard's playing time is increased, the Spurs will definitely suffer a big loss in terms of physical strength in the final quarter. The Clippers rely on the depth of their lineup to bully others. Popovich has no way to crack it and can only fight hard.

The Spurs insisted on running tactics and played every round very seriously, trying to create good shooting opportunities and concentrating on defense. After the first quarter, the Clippers trailed 19 to 22.

The Clippers were able to defend less than 20 points. The Spurs' defense is something to be proud of. McGrady was responsible for guarding Korver. The task was easy and it did not become a defensive vulnerability. McGrady also hit a two-pointer and his performance was quite satisfactory.

Griffin and Chandler, who scored the most for the Clippers, scored 8 points and 6 points respectively. The two of them rushed to the basket. First, Diaw was not tall enough, and second, they wanted to cause Duncan to foul.

In order to defend the penalty area, Popovich sent Split in the second half. Once the twin towers were up, it became more difficult to score on the offensive end.

In the second quarter, the Clippers' super bench gangster lineup appeared. Curry, Battier, Gay, Parsons, Faried.

Spurs five: Gary Neal, Ginobili, Fournier, Leonard, Matt Bonner.

Popovich rested Leonard for 4 minutes in the first quarter and now replaced him. A swingman must be sent to fight for small balls. If a big man is placed at the 4th position, the main defense of Gay or Leonard will be misplaced.

The forward position is fully prepared, but the Spurs also have weaknesses on the outside. Yang Rui's tactic is to counterattack after grabbing rebounds. No matter who attracts Leonard's defense, pass the ball to the forward to challenge Fournier or Curry. Neil.

It's the same as the positional battle. Farid attracts the defense in the low position and prepares to grab the rebound. The other three people pull away and Curry directly challenges in the middle.

Neil is 193cm tall and weighs 95kg. He is very strong and not afraid of confrontation, but he lacks the speed to defend against point guards and can easily be passed. And he happens to be a guard who came out of the Clippers, and Yang Rui is very aware of his weaknesses.

Curry passed Neal in the first round, broke into the paint, attracted Bonner to cover and passed the ball to Faried, who scored an easy layup. 21 to 22.

The Spurs attack, hand it to Ginobili to attack with the ball, and Bonner gives Neal a side screen.

This is the routine that Yang Rui has been playing for many years, and he is very familiar with it. Battier entangles Ginobili and ensures a defensive switch on the flank, making Neal unable to catch the ball and shoot directly.

To deal with the Spurs' second lineup, the main thing is to guard against outside shots. The swingman can protect the penalty area, because Bonner will not easily cut to the basket and hit hard.

Don’t look at Bonner’s height of 208cm.

He weighs 109 kilograms and has a standard inside figure, but he plays like a defender. He is always used to floating on the outside and shooting three-pointers with a trebuchet-like posture. He is one of the best three-point shooters in the league.

Unless Bonner is empty inside, he will never attack hard, nor will he beat a small man to cheat for free throws. The number of free throws he has made in his lifetime is only the number of Harden's in one season.

Ginobili also felt uncomfortable when he met Battier. Battier's predictions were accurate and he rarely got passed. He would always close his eyes in front of the opponent to interfere with his shooting. It just so happened that Ginobili's shooting touch was terrible this year, and with his breakthrough skills The shooting percentage is less than 40%.

Fournier has skills, but he can't use them. In his rookie season, his mental quality was too low to dare to play. Just pass the ball after catching the ball, just serving as a conductor.

Leonard has been improving on the defensive end, and on the offensive end he is still a blue-collar player who can catch and shoot. He also practices ball-handling offense in the team, but it is definitely not a good idea to let him use the ball to attack Gay, who is similar in size.

After passing the ball several times, 24 seconds almost ran out. Neal missed a forced shot against Curry. Farid grabbed the rebound and immediately launched a counterattack.

Curry passed the ball to Gay, who attracted Leonard to defend and pass Parsons. Facing Fournier, the latter had an advantage in height and weight. He carried the opponent and forced a layup, but missed a foul.

Parsons made two free throws, 23-22.

The Spurs attacked, but they couldn't do anything in the face of the Clippers' contraction. Ginobili rushed in and was flanked and separated from the outside. Fournier took an open three-pointer and missed the basket. The rebound was grabbed by Faried.

The Clippers counterattacked. Curry caught the ball and moved it to the frontcourt. He stopped on the left side and stepped back to meet Neal. Neil retreated too far back and had no time to take off. He only stretched out his hand to interfere, and the ball went hollow into the net. 26 to 22.

When the Spurs attacked, Neal relied on a screen to get rid of Curry. After attracting Faried's defense, he passed the ball to Bonner. Bonner relied on his height advantage to shoot a 70-degree jumper from the right side. Curry struggled to interfere and missed, but Gay retreated and failed to take it. Rebound, jumped up and flicked out with one hand, Parsons picked up the rebound.

The Clippers counterattacked again. Parsons passed to Curry. Curry took the ball and dribbled to the right side of the three-point line. He dribbled the ball to his left hand behind his back. He lightly explored his left shoulder, attracting Neal to move laterally and dribble under his crotch. He gave his right hand and took advantage of the situation to step back and shoot a three-pointer.

Neal stumbled, but didn't jump to block the shot, and the ball hit the net hollowly. 29 to 22.

The Clippers beat the Spurs 10-0 at the beginning, and Popovich was forced to call a timeout. He had to suppress the Clippers' fast break momentum, otherwise a wave of flow might take away the game. In the regular season, this happened.

What's bad is that the Spurs are short of someone at the 1st position. If Gary Neal doesn't make a cameo, he will have to play the marginal man Corey Joseph.

Joseph, who is 191cm tall and weighs 88kg, is more active defensively and has a very bad offense. He is a rookie who was misjudged by Popovich.

This season, he averaged 13.9 minutes per game, 4.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists, shooting 46.4% from the field and only 28.6% from the three-point range. As long as he plays, the Clippers can use a zone defense, shrinking the formation near the penalty area, and limiting the Spurs' offense while saving effort.

After some consideration, Popovich replaced Fournier and replaced Parker with Neal to play as a double guard. This not only added a ball-handling breakthrough player, but also ensured a stable three-pointer on the court.

However, in this way, Ginobili assumed the position of small forward again, which was relatively reluctant for him. He and Neal had to defend Parsons, which was a mismatch.

The Spurs can only play like this. If they send blue-collar workers to strengthen their defense, they will not be able to break the Clippers' defense. After Scola left, apart from Duncan, the Spurs did not have an outstanding inside scorer. This is why Duncan's statistics are beautiful.