Chapter 1119 1118. The Spurs' Hope

The three-horse team plus Popovich's role player plan is indeed a powerful combination that can be ranked at the forefront of history. Even though the Hawks have the best record in history with 39 wins and 4 losses this season, such a terrifying strength cannot take advantage in the first encounter, and the two teams can only fight to the death.

Just like the playoffs, no matter how weak the team is, the weak team has a chance to win one or two games against the strong team, and often has a greater chance of upset in the first few games, but if it is not restrained or too careless, the advantage of the strong team will become more and more obvious as the series progresses, because it has already figured out the opponent.

Now the Hawks have 39 wins and 4 losses, and the Spurs have 34 wins and 9 losses. In fact, there is only a difference of 5 wins. The strength is not so different. The Hawks can't completely suppress the Spurs, who are working harder than last season to play a better record after losing the championship in the finals last year.

In the first half, the two teams were evenly matched. In terms of skills, tactics and performance, the first encounter between the two teams was similar to testing the opponent in the playoffs. The Spurs had some initiative because they were the team that changed. On the Hawks side, the players' scoring habits definitely did not change. Although Liu Mang and McGrady's playing styles changed a lot, the areas where they were good at scoring could be seen directly from the shooting hotspot map. The Spurs took the initiative to respond. When they were slightly weaker than the Hawks, they responded and played in a tense state of even strength with the Hawks.

But this state was broken by Liu Mang in the third quarter!

The Spurs relied on the troika and a group of high-quality role players to fight against the Hawks' three eagles. With a group of role players, the two teams performed similarly in general. Even if the Hawks' three eagles were raging, or the demon sword was demoned a few times, they could not break the deadlock.

But Liu Mang suddenly broke out, scoring three incredible three-pointers, and after Liu Mang scored 10 points in a row with free throws to widen the gap to 8 points, the deadlock on the court was instantly broken!

The two teams' previous regular performances have already done their best offensive performance against the opponent's defense, and the defense of the two teams has also done its best. According to common sense, it should be as tense as many tense games until the end.

However, Liu Mang's extraordinary performance in just four minutes laid the foundation for victory!

The Spurs went from being able to steadily grind the rhythm to having to use the personal abilities of Ginobili, Sprewell and Finley to chase points!

Under the current rules, a strong team with inside stars can directly affect the strength of a team, and in terms of sustainability, the impact is much greater than that of outside stars.

But that is the impact for one season or several seasons, and for chasing points in a game, the role of inside players is far less than that of outside players! No matter what the rules are, this is the case.

And it is difficult for Duncan's team to turn the tables.

The characteristic of Duncan's team is stability. Duncan can adjust his playing style very well and influence the team's strength for 19 years. Popovich has built a stable system based on Duncan's characteristics and brought Duncan into play. However, once a player starts to play recklessly and fails to score, the Spurs' stable offense will be broken!

In the middle of the third quarter, Ginobili saw that the score difference could not be narrowed to within five points for a long time, and began to confidently shoot recklessly.

Although Ginobili is powerful, it is easy to hurt others and himself!

The score difference was narrowed to 6 points by the Spurs. If they play steadily, the Spurs may narrow the score difference to within 5 points before the last critical moment. At the end, they will use Sprewell and Finley, two players who can shoot key balls signed last summer, and Ginobili's personal ability to try to reverse the final situation. However, Ginobili's two three-pointers gave the Hawks a chance!

Give Liu Mang a chance!

In the seventh minute of the third quarter, after Liu Mang missed the first counterattack three-pointer, he seized the opportunity in the second counterattack and hit the sixth three-pointer of the game!

70 to 61, the Hawks expanded their lead to nine points!

After the Spurs called the official timeout, they defended Liu Mang more strictly. In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang did not get any good shooting opportunities. He did not have good opportunities to successfully receive the ball and successfully throw the ball. However, this allowed the other players of the Hawks to be in a 4-on-3 state for a long time, maintaining an efficient performance.

Although Liu Mang could not learn Duncan's high-post back-to-the-basket coordination, he could still learn the passing idea of ​​Duncan. Liu Mang used his restraining power on both sides of the top arc to direct his teammates' empty cuts and off-ball pick-and-rolls. At the end of the third quarter, the Hawks were 79 to 70. With the Spurs' more active defense and more resolute offensive cooperation, they still maintained a 9-point lead.

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In the third quarter, Liu Mang “only” made four three-pointers, but he established the advantage of the game. Liu Mang did not regret not shooting so many fewer shots in the third quarter. If he had missed a few more shots in the third quarter, and his three-point shooting rate of 4 out of 5 was reduced to 4 out of 8 or 5 out of 10, he might have scored a few more points and made one or two more three-pointers, but the score difference might not have been so big.

In the third quarter, Liu Mang scored 15 points and 3 assists in a single quarter, and a total of 33 points and 6 assists in three quarters, helping the Hawks to establish a solid lead. Whether it was for the team's victory or for Liu Mang's mission to continue the winning streak before the All-Star Weekend, it had a positive effect.

After three quarters, Liu Mang scored 6 three-pointers, still missing two.

In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang used his threat to help his teammates score, allowing the Spurs to consciously adjust their defense against Liu Mang and the rest of the Spurs after the start of the fourth quarter.

Seeing Liu Mang receiving the ball and passing it to his teammates who had opportunities, it seemed that Liu Mang deliberately made a few plays in the third quarter in order to increase his threat and help his teammates score. The Spurs' defensive tendency began to change.

In the minds of the Spurs players, the biggest role of the three-pointer is not to score, but to open up space to contain the defense, allowing others to have better scoring opportunities inside the three-point line. They don't know how many shots Liu Mang must make in this game. A three-pointer, so they can use their own understanding to guess the purpose of Liu Manlang's play style of helping his teammates score after a while.

Popovich played nearly three minutes in the fourth quarter. When the score difference was still eight points, he called a timeout. He arranged a tactical strategy to let the Eagles play three eagles in isolation and not allow them to cooperate.

The Eagles' three open shots are really scary. I would rather let them play one-on-one and have some methods.

In the third minute of the fourth quarter, after a timeout, Liu Mang received the ball from Jason Terry in the frontcourt. He originally wanted to use his containment power to attract a double attack and then pass it out, and then help his teammates score, equaling the points difference. After 10 minutes, the waves started.

But this time only Sprewell came up to defend him, and it was either the kind of defense that forced him to go out of his comfort zone and gave him a chance to break through, or the kind of defense with normal rough movements!

The Hawks' lineup is three eagles plus twin towers, and the Spurs' lineup is the most powerful lineup of the troika plus Sprewell and Muhammad. Seeing that Liu Mang did not encounter a double-team, Jason - Terry pulled to the left corner, McGrady went to the right 45 for a vacation, Rasheed Wallace went to the right corner to connect, and Kwame Brown restrained Duncan's defense on the left side of the three-second zone.

Liu Mang's top arc was a perfect singles opportunity!

Liu Mang immediately understood the opponent's thoughts, which was to defend him in singles because he had not made a three-pointer for nearly 8 minutes of the game!

Liu Mang looked at Sprewell. The Spurs have always been interesting. The best in single defense are either Bowen who has almost no offensive skills, or veterans like Sprewell.

Liu Mang grabbed the ball with his right hand and took a step forward with his right foot. Without moving his left foot, he swung the ball from the lower right to the left upward with his right hand. Sprewell immediately dodged it, but Liu Mang's big shot After completing the circle, stick to it immediately.

His defense is much better than Ginobili's!

A player who can be selected to the All-Defensive Team in his second year is really incredible. Even at 35 years old, his defense is still excellent.

However, Liu Mang seized this momentary opportunity!

Sticking to Sprewell, he broke through from the right side. As soon as Sprewell pressed forward, he quickly stepped back to block Liu Mang's breakthrough. It was enough to stand in front of Liu Mang and put pressure on Liu Mang to shoot.

Liu Mang took the initiative. After taking a step forward, he suddenly retreated and bounced back to the top arc!

Sprewell did not fall into the trap and was not fouled. Liu Mang broke through and Sprewell followed suit. But in the end, when he retreated, the 35-year-old veteran couldn't keep up!

Liu Mang's iconic step back and sniper three-point shot!

Continuing his fiery touch, Liu Mang hit a three-pointer on the basket and fell into the frame!

85 to 74, the Eagles opened the point difference to 11 points!

Liu Mang's three-pointer made the Spurs feel discouraged for the first time, and the point difference was finally opened to more than 10 points!

However, the Spurs did not give up, and then started a ferocious attack. Ginobili came out of his body at a critical moment. With the Hawks holding on to an 11-point deficit, he broke into the paint twice in a row in the middle of the fourth quarter. He made a layup like a fairy ball, and the Spurs restricted the Eagles on the defensive end for two rounds. The Spurs chased the score to 82 to 89, narrowing it to within 7 points!

Ginobili scored 24 points in a single game. By the middle of the fourth quarter, Duncan had already steadily scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Sprewell also scored 15 points.

The stable performance allowed the Spurs to control the point difference within ten points with five and a half minutes left, despite Liu Mang's explosion in the third quarter.

It feels like there is still a chance for the Spurs!