Chapter 1503 1502. Super Coach Popovich (Asking for Monthly Votes)

Although they were two points ahead at halftime, the Spurs were not very excited. The players were full of confidence to beat the Hawks in the second half. Duncan's three-pointer at the buzzer boosted morale, mainly because of Popovich. In the second half of the second quarter, Popovich could only rearrange the star singles tactics.

First, the Spurs system is not mature yet, and the Hawks gradually adapted to the defense of the Spurs' running offense.

Although it was bumpy at the beginning, Liu Mang relied on the characteristic of "barricade" to gradually assist and pass the ball to Battier, Duncan, and Brent Barry who came off the bench. He became more and more skilled in preparing for assisting defense and directing teammates to run before the system prompts.

It seems that there is a natural tacit understanding between the Koga, Yao and Ao of the Lakers, and the four of them are often at least three on the court, and there are only two role players; the Spurs usually have two stars on the court and three role players, and the complexity of the tactics is even greater than the triangle offense.

This has hindered the Spurs' team offense to a certain extent.

The second is that the Hawks' offense is too stable! Liu Mang, McGrady, Jason Terry, O'Neal and even Scola all have stable mid-range singles.

Liu Mang, McGrady, Jason Terry and O'Neal are accurate in singles. When the Hawks sent out these four people plus Scola, the Spurs mainly defended the other four, but even Scola's mid-range shots were very accurate, not like a rookie at all!

Scola, who has been playing in the Spanish basketball world in Europe since he was 16 years old, has played professional basketball for more than ten years. Although he just entered the NBA and found that the entire NBA is full of powerful enemies, Scola did not get scared and threw when he should, after all, he is a 27-year-old "veteran".

The opponent's system offense has already found the way to defend against them. Their system offense has started to decline in efficiency in the first half of the second quarter. At this time, Popovich had to change back to the star style.

It has to be said that Popovich made extremely sharp judgments and made a very correct choice when the team was not completely in a disadvantage.

O'Neal's defense is barely acceptable. After all, he used to be one of the best inside players in the Eastern Conference. But Scola is an absolute defensive black hole. The Spurs' star tactics are not giving up the system, but they just don't play so hard. They just help Duncan find the opportunity to match Scola in the inside. The Spurs' other inside player is replaced by a mid-range shooter with pick-and-roll.

The three horses relied on their personal abilities to overtake the score before the end of the half.

Duncan only scored 4 points in the first quarter, but scored 11 points in the second half of the second quarter, and 15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block and 2 steals in the first half.

Ginobili was the key to the Spurs' team's poor offensive performance in the first half of the second quarter, and scored 7 points in half a quarter.

Parker scored 3 points and 4 assists in the first half. His offensive performance today was average. Rondo and Liu Mang's rotation defense gave him great suppression on his personal offense.

But Parker and Duncan had already scored 8 assists in the first half, and the Spurs only led by 2 points. It was Duncan's 11 points in the second half of the second quarter and a buzzer-beating three-pointer that led to a two-point lead!

4 of 9 shots, including 1 of 3 three-pointers and 4 of 4 free throws, Liu Mang scored 13 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in the first half, McGrady scored 4 of 7, only a mid-range shot, 3 of 5 free throws, and 11 points in the first half.

Jason Terry and Scola both scored 7 points, and O'Neal scored 5 points.

Playing against the Spurs, the Hawks prepared a group of mid-range masters from the beginning!

Duncan was so powerful in the second half of the second quarter, and the Hawks maintained their lead because they had a super mid-range lineup of Liu Mang, Jason Terry, McGrady, Scola, and O'Neal! It was just that Duncan's buzzer-beating three-pointer was overtaken in the end.

In the Spurs locker room, Popovich sat next to the blackboard, thinking about the Hawks' past games this season and today's games, and gradually analyzed the Hawks' style of play this season.

"Team offense based on different inside combinations?"

Thinking of this, Popovich wrote something on the tactical board.

If Liu Mang was here, he would probably be scared!

The tactical board reads: "Jermaine O'Neal, Luis Scola - Spurs; Kwame Brown, Marion - Cavaliers; Brad Miller, Marion - Mavericks..."

Popovich wrote and erased, erased and wrote, constantly shook his head, and kept changing...

Slowly, Popovich left a few inside combinations that he thought were reliable on the blackboard!

Just like Liu Mang gradually found a way to deal with the existing immature Spurs system, forcing the Spurs to increase the role of stars, Popovich also analyzed the basic points of Liu Mang's strategy!

It's just that both of them have the same problem, which is a very unsolvable problem.

After analysis, it is completely suppressed... Both of them have no good solution.

Liu Mang can find some ways to deal with the Spurs system, but the Spurs system, coupled with the peak singles of the three drivers, is quite unsolvable; Popovich's view on the Hawks' current tactical thinking is very direct, that is, unsolvable!

Liu Mang, Jason Terry, McGrady, Scola, O'Neal... Facing this lineup, Popovich thinks it is not difficult to find a way to start from the offensive end, and he has to defend... unless all five of them miss today.

And Scola!

Originally, Popovich thought that the Hawks' target for trading Battier was Brad Miller, but he didn't expect it to be Scola!

Brad Miller has always been the character who was beaten by Duncan. Popovich was ready to attack and defend Brad Miller. As a result, Brad Miller played for a few minutes when Duncan was resting today. When Duncan went up, the power forwards sent by the Hawks were all mid-range shooters!

Popovich wanted to scratch his head, but when he thought of the hairstyle of the other coach, Popovich held back.

However, today's game also gave Popovich some hints. The strength of the three favorites is still at its peak, so it is not a bad thing to make fine adjustments to the system and let the three have more roles. For Popovich, the current situation is still very favorable. Duncan's 11 points in the second half of the second quarter gave Popovich great confidence.

…

…

After the halftime break, the expressions of the players of the two teams were very different.

The Spurs came back with the high morale of overtaking the score at halftime.

The Hawks seemed to be frightened. T.N.T's commentator Charles Barkley was teasing the Hawks again, saying that they were frightened by Duncan's three-pointer.

Only the Hawks players knew why they looked frightened...

Gortat stepped onto the court with a difficult mission, as if he was going to die with the terrorists.

The Hawks sent out Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Michael Finley, O'Neal, and Gortat.

When Popovich saw this lineup, he was surprised that the Hawks didn't communicate much and went on the court right after the halftime break, but he was very sure of the Hawks' lineup.

Gortat also has a mid-range shot. Although he looks a little stage-frightened, he has good ability. The other four players are all experienced mid-range shooters, and the youngest Liu Mang is also in his seventh year of career.

Since Jason Terry and Finley are on the court, Popovich is ready to increase Ginobili's role and sent out Parker, Ginobili, Battier, Duncan, and Francisco Elson.

The second half of the game started, and the Hawks attacked first.

Liu Mang pushed forward to the front court and passed the ball to Jason Terry. Jason Terry played a mid-range singles, attracted double team and passed the ball to Finley, who shot a mid-range jump shot from the baseline...

Hit!

The Spurs tried to let go of Finley, the veteran with the worst stability. This was a problem of defensive strategy. There were necessary defensive options. They couldn't do anything even if Finley scored.

61-all!

Both teams maintained a very efficient scoring efficiency.

The Hawks scored, and Popovich couldn't do anything. This was expected. The opponent had four mid-range veterans on the court. Gortat squatted under the basket, and Elson had to guard. Except for O'Neal, the other three Hawks had seasons with an average of at least 5 assists per game in their careers.

Popovich was not impatient and prepared to start from the offensive end. There was still half a game left. He would slowly analyze the opponent and take his time.

However... after the Spurs started to attack, they found that the opponent seemed to be forced into a hurry and the defense was quite rough!

When Duncan accepted the Elson pick-and-roll in the paint and went out to pick-and-roll with Gortat's defense for Parker, Gortat seemed to be angry when he encountered the pick-and-roll and pushed Duncan!

The referee blew the whistle, and the Hawks pushed the defense!

The Spurs' offensive time was back to the 24-second offensive time.

Young players are prone to anger, and the fans at the scene did not blame Gortat for the foul and gave him applause.

Duncan also patted Gortat on the back, saying that he didn't care.

Gortat felt tortured in his heart... The opponent was really good!

But the boss's arrangement was more important than anything else!

Gortat could only say sorry silently in his heart...

The Spurs resumed the offense, and the Spurs' offensive combination inside and outside the line, with Ginobili as the spearhead on the outside, but Duncan, the most stable point, must come first at the beginning.

The Hawks defended Duncan with O'Neal Jr., and Duncan could play hard, but the consumption would be relatively greater. The core of the Spurs system is to let players score in the easiest way.

Duncan continued to play off-ball pick-and-roll with Elson, forcing the Hawks to switch defense inside, and then came out to help Parker who was holding the ball to block Liu Mang. This time, Gotot didn't push him in a hurry, but chose to retreat directly.

When Duncan turned and cut in, Gotot felt that Gotot was quite smart, not as excited as the last defense, after all, Parker didn't have much long-range shooting ability.

When Duncan crushed Liu Mang into the basket, Gotot also pulled back, but Duncan had already reached the arc of the reasonable collision zone!

When Duncan received the ball at this position, there was no solution! And Parker's pass was timely and in place! The tacit understanding between the two for seven years is not inferior to the tacit understanding between Liu Mang and Jason Terry!

Duncan received the ball, switched the ball to his left hand, and shot it high!

Duncan's high-up shot, without jumping, used his arm span and changed hands to shoot. Normally, such a shot at this position is basically undefended.

But...

Just as Duncan switched to his left hand and stretched it out, Gortat gave Duncan a bear hug and pressed down both of Duncan's arms...

Duncan used both hands well under the basket. Gortat couldn't predict Duncan's choice of hand when he shot, so he hugged both arms together!

"Beep"

The referee whistled, Gortat fouled Duncan's shot!

Duncan got two free throws!

Duncan looked at Gortat with a confused expression, and suddenly thought of a terrible thing!

……

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Sorry for being late. I was too tired during the day. I went home after get off work and had some porridge and prepared to take a short nap before writing. When I opened my eyes, it was already 12 o'clock. I quickly got up and wrote a chapter.

Please give me a monthly ticket!