Chapter 1504 1503. Willful Zhuge Weiqi (Asking for Monthly Votes)
Duncan went to the free throw line, perhaps out of nervousness, and missed his usual two free throws. Both free throws were missed, and O'Neal defended the defensive rebound.
Duncan's free throws, basically only one of the two free throws was made, but the efficiency of the free throws was a little higher, with a hit rate of about 70%, that is, the hit rate of the first free throw was quite high.
After the start of the second half, the Hawks committed the first four fouls. Except for Gortat's excitement at the beginning, the next three fouls were when Duncan was in the scoring area and was about to shoot. Gortat or O'Neal only fouled.
That is to say, the Hawks committed four fouls, and the Spurs not only played four offenses, but when Parker or Ginobili shot or passed to the open shooter, the Hawks played normal defense.
This made Duncan's uneasy feeling dissipate a lot. The opponent just didn't want him to shoot smoothly.
From a tactical point of view, Duncan's feeling was indeed one of the goals that Liu Mang wanted to achieve. Duncan's reduced touches would inevitably affect the Spurs' offense.
However, Liu Mang underestimated the influence of Duncan without the ball. Just like Liu Mang could easily get 10 assists under Rondo's guidance without holding the ball, as the strongest candidate for the first position of the point guard and the power forward, if the two appeared in a certain area without the ball in their hands, the opponent's defensive focus would shift to that area.
Just like Liu Mang just ran around the basket to the left, if the point guard was not Rondo, McGrady or Jason Terry could easily play one-on-one in the high position on the right without worrying about being double-teamed, Duncan appeared in the mid-range on both wings, and the Spurs also made good use of the shift of the Hawks' defensive focus.
In the fifth minute of the third quarter, O'Neal fouled Duncan who cut in. After the Hawks committed the fourth foul in a single quarter, Liu Mang felt that he had to do that! !
72 to 73, the Hawks were still one point behind. If the stalemate continued, it would be too difficult to play with the stability of the Spurs!
Liu Mang felt the power of perhaps the strongest head coach in history. The Hawks pioneered some of the playing styles, but Popovich took them and used them as well as the Hawks!
Duncan continued to make one of two free throws, and the first one went in, but the second one didn't. Liu Mang defended the defensive rebound, handed the ball to McGrady, and ran with Battier without the ball.
After reaching the frontcourt, Liu Mang took advantage of McGrady's hand-to-hand pass and then made a pick-and-roll. Battier went around the back to block the three-pointer. Liu Mang cut one step into the three-point line, separated McGrady and Battier again, and took a mid-range jump shot against Ginobili's defense...
Hit!
Liu Mang's mid-range feel is hot today! The Spurs have done everything they can to defend three-pointers, but their mid-range defense is really just okay. When facing the three-hawks, their defense is really bad.
After Liu Mang scored, he clapped his hands and made a "five". Gortat and O'Neal felt ashamed. They had never done this before, but the coaching staff agreed. They could only prepare shamefully.
74-all!
There were more than 6 minutes left in the third quarter, and both teams had already scored 74 points!
The Spurs scored 74 points before the end of the third quarter, which shocked the fans who watched the Spurs play for the first time this season.
However, the positioning of the players on the Hawks side after scoring made the fans even more confused... O'Neal and Gortat did not retreat!
The moment Duncan passed the ball to Parker and walked into the court, Gortat immediately went up and gave Duncan a loving hug.
In the last round, Duncan was still holding a fluke mentality, thinking that the Hawks just didn't want him to have a chance to shoot, so they fouled when he received the ball and made a shooting motion. Now that Gortat hugged him like this, Duncan immediately understood.
Here it comes again!
Since the 2003-2004 season, Duncan's free throw shooting percentage has never exceeded 65%. Last season, it was 62%, and this season, it was 61%. Duncan has always had a good mid-range shot, and this season, it has reached a mid-range shooting percentage of 44%... However, Duncan's mid-range shooting point is between 30 and 60 degrees based on the baseline. The front shot from 60 degrees to the free throw line is really average. Among the top inside players, his free throw shooting percentage is only better than O'Neal.
However, generally speaking, the head coaches of current teams are very concerned about their reputation. They will not use the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic on DeAndre Jordan, who is just a dunker, like 10 years later. Kwame Brown rarely encounters intentional fouls. The same is true for Duncan. The "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic was originally thought of by old Nelson to deal with O'Neal. Did no one think of tactical fouls against O'Neal before old Nelson? Obviously not, but no one can afford to lose that face. It's just that old Nelson opened that precedent. Occasionally, some teams will use the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic on O'Neal, but it's not common to use the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic on O'Neal in the playoffs.
There are even fewer teams that cut Duncan. Only one team doesn't care about these things at all and cuts him without hesitation...
Besides, this is not the first time that the Hawks have done this. There have been two precedents before!
The fans at the scene were stunned. This action was too obvious and shameless...
But, it's their own team, so it's normal. Although the fans at the scene felt ashamed, they were very excited. As the saying goes, a wife is not as good as a concubine, and a concubine is not as good as a secret lover...The key point of this sentence is "secret love", which does not only refer to that aspect, but also refers to the fact that under the condition of good objective conditions, the extra "stolen" benefits are the easiest to make people excited.
If you can get extra advantages by using the "cut-Shaq" tactic, it will certainly make the fans excited.
The Hawks would directly hack the Shark in the first match of the season. Even Popovich, who is as shrewd as he is, could not have expected this situation. Popovich would not have done this when the Lakers were at their peak.
Duncan was probably nervous. Of course, the main reason was that his free throw ability was really poor. Others with a 40% hit rate in mid-range shots basically had a free throw hit rate of more than 80%. Kobe, Yao Ming, Anthony, Iverson, Nowitzki, Liu Mang and others were all like this. Even O'Neal and McGrady had a free throw hit rate of more than 70%. Only Duncan was unique, with a free throw hit rate of more than 60%.
Duncan missed two free throws again!
This time, Duncan seemed to have expected that his second free throw would definitely not go in. The moment the ball hit the basket, Duncan rushed into the inside line and wanted to shoot and grab the ball himself, but O'Neal reacted quickly and slapped the ball out. The ball was in Jason Terry's hands. At this time, Liu Mang rushed out from the rebounding position like an arrow, and Jason Terry passed the ball to Liu Mang.
The Spurs returned to defense very quickly. Parker and Battier caught up with Liu Mang. Jason Terry was running fast, and Ginobili followed him. Liu Mang rushed into the three-point line, forced Battier and Parker to compress into the free throw line, and then threw the ball to the right at a 45-degree angle...
McGrady has arrived!
McGrady received the ball and shot a three-pointer... It went in!
77 to 74, the Hawks overtook by 3 points!
The Spurs called a timeout!
Popovich reacted quickly, but he was never good at dealing with such a sudden reversal of the situation. At present, all he could do was to replace Duncan. Duncan had played half of the third quarter. In the first half, Duncan played for 21 minutes, which had exceeded the time the Spurs had used Duncan in the first three quarters this season.
But after Duncan left... the Spurs system collapsed halfway!
The immature Spurs system can play so well now, and more than half of it relies on Duncan's containment.
Ginobili played very well in the first half of the second quarter. He is not a very stable player. He often plays very well in one period of time in a game.
So, in the second half of the third quarter, the Spurs relied on Parker to carry the team alone...
On the Hawks side, Liu Mang did not expect Popovich to replace Duncan so decisively, but he did not miss this opportunity. He replaced Marion and Kwame Brown and led the team to a 15-9 scoring shock wave in the first half of the game.
After three quarters, the Hawks led the Spurs by 9 points with 92 to 83 and entered the intermission!
The Spurs scored 83 points in three quarters, which was already surprising. The Hawks played against the Spurs for 92 points in three quarters...
Hawks fans have been enjoying the fun of "new era basketball", and fans in front of the TV saw this scene and felt that the future is really coming. Even the Spurs really focus on offense!
Soon, the intermission ended and the players of the two teams went on the court to start the fourth quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Brad Miller and Scola, who came off the bench, started to foul Duncan directly.
In the third quarter, they still had to take care of their face, but they had already started the slash-shark tactic and tore their faces apart. The Hawks had no intention of hiding anything and just went straight to the fight!
With a strong sense of shame and excitement, the Hawks' inside line continued to give Duncan the warmest hug...
If Popovich was given time to prepare... Facing such shameless behavior, there really was no good way, unless Duncan could maintain at least 70% of his free throw rate, otherwise this situation was quite unsolvable.
Besides, let alone Duncan's 70% hit rate today, after Duncan went to the free throw line for the first time in the fourth quarter, he missed two free throws again, and had already made 4 of 15 free throws!
Duncan is not good at leading the team to a comeback, especially relying on his least confident free throws to comeback, and he has even less confidence in free throws.
Popovich is faced with a dilemma. Replacing Duncan will greatly reduce the team's strength. Duncan is like Liu Mang. It is unknown what the Hawks will do without Liu Mang. But the Spurs without Duncan have already experienced it in the playoffs of the 2000 defending season, directly falling from the championship team to being beaten by the Suns.
If Duncan is left on the court, the opponent will keep hacking at the Sharks. The key is that the opponent has too many inside players, and Grant Hill and Finley, who came on as substitutes, have no shame in getting close to Duncan.
It is very simple to crack the Hack-a-Shaq tactic. All Duncan needs is to be as accurate as O'Neal in free throws at critical moments, but Duncan can't...
The Hack-a-Shaq tactic did stagnate the rhythm on the court. Popovich also considered the Hack-a-Shaq counterattack, but when the Hawks used the Hack-a-Shaq tactic, they didn't replace Kwame Brown or Rondo, two players with low free throw shooting percentages. They just played unlimited singles with Liu Mang and McGrady or Jason Terry alternately. The efficiency was low, but at least it was higher than Duncan's free throw scoring efficiency...
In the fourth minute of the fourth quarter, Popovich was angry and didn't want to play anymore! The score difference was only 14 points, and the Hawks led by 14 points 103 to 89, but Popovich directly replaced the three players. He was so willful.
In the end, the Hawks relied on Hackintosh, Liu Mang's 28 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists, McGrady's 20 points, Jason Terry's 18 points, Scola, Finley, O'Neal Jr., and Grant Hill's combined 30 points, and the Hawks ended the Spurs' 9-game winning streak with a score of 123 to 108, a difference of 15 points!
Duncan scored 15+7+4 in the first half, which was an excellent performance, even overshadowing Liu Mang's performance in the first half, but he only scored 22 points and 10 rebounds in the whole game... He didn't have any assists since the third quarter... Duncan's 8 of 24 free throws also blinded the titanium eyes of nearly 20 million fans watching the live broadcast...
People have always known that O'Neal is bad at free throws and often has such performances, but they didn't notice that Duncan actually often has such performances, and didn't notice that he often made 1 of 7 and 2 of 8 free throws. When such a free throw hit rate expanded to 5 of 24, it was particularly eye-catching...
When Liu Mang heard the whistle at the end of the game, he was just about to show off, but suddenly heard the system prompt...
"Ding... First encounter with the Spurs system, goal 1: 10 assists in a single game have been completed. Goal 2: Limit the Spurs' score to less than 100 (failed). Mission failed..."