Chapter 974 973. Triple-Double in the Finals! (Please Vote)

"Dina, you have to stay with Christine and don't run around,"

"I know, Dina is not a child anymore." The little girl rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes..."

After instructing the little girl, Liu Mang said to the bodyguard Christine Wagner: "Christine, Dina is in your hands."

Christine Wagner nodded.

After Liu Mang finished speaking, he went to the home team's training ground to prepare for the evening game.

The two-day rest time passed quickly. On May 31st, at 8:30 tonight, the Hawks will usher in the second game of the finals against the Spurs.

The Hawks are probably the only team in the finals that won the first game and still felt that the schedule was not favorable to them.

After two days of rest, when the losing side has enough time to adjust, the winning side will have to play three away games after the first two games, bearing huge psychological pressure and dare not lose a home game.

Of course, most of the pressure is on the coaching staff. In front of the players, Coach Kruger and others are confident and give the players confidence. The players are confident enough. They won the first game and got off to a good start. The coaching staff cannot affect the players' emotions because of their own worries.

After the warm-up training, the Hawks entered the stadium. Feeling the enthusiasm of the fans on the scene, the players were very excited.

After the players of the two teams entered the court, they did not greet each other, and each warmed up in their own half.

The Hawks are very motivated, and the Spurs are also full of fighting spirit. Losing the first game is not a big psychological pressure for the Spurs. They only need to win one of the two away games. Returning to the home court is three consecutive home games. As long as they win one away game, there is hope for the championship.

After the last warm-up before the game, Stockton, the offensive assistant coach, and Mike Woodson, the defensive assistant coach, emphasized the tactics on both offense and defense. Finally, Coach Kruger concluded: "Rhythm! We must grasp our rhythm, and then defense. We have been doing well on the offensive end. Defense and rhythm are the key points. Go!"

At Coach Kruger's command, the five starters all went up to do their opening moves.

Prince swayed in mysterious dance steps, McGrady went to communicate with the referee, and with Kwame Brown clapping and flying magnesium powder, the lights on the scene dimmed. After Rasheed Wallace's roar triggered the devil's home court, Liu Mang sprinkled magnesium powder in the air, and the game was about to start.

The fans have been waiting for two days, and they are going crazy. They really want to watch the second game. The feeling of expectation but worry makes the fans feel too crazy!

It's too hard to guess how the Hawks' game will turn out!

The ratings of today's game are higher than the last one. Although fans on the Internet said that they would never watch the Hawks' game, their bodies still honestly bought the ratings rights of the game.

Amid the cheers of the whole audience, Liu Mang came to the free throw line of his own half, waiting for Kwame Brown and Duncan to jump the ball in the center circle.

When Duncan came on the court, the system prompt came.

"Ding... Talent skill: Natural King Level 5 trigger, characteristic: Absolute calm trigger, Spurs players are affected by the temperament of the team's soul figure and are in an absolutely stable state, from Tim Duncan."

Today Duncan is more serious than the last game!

Liu Mang can understand Duncan's mentality. The Spurs do not have a home advantage, so although they made changes in the first game, the Spurs, who have always been known for their calmness, will not hold the mentality that they must fight hard to win the first game. It's just the first game, and it's not time for them to fight hard. They are not the Pistons who have been defeated by Liu Mang. They are the winners of two championships in the past six years. In terms of confidence, they are more confident than the Hawks.

After the first game, Popovich studied the Hawks' style of play in the finals and made targeted preparations for this game. The second game was the one they had to fight hard to win!

The Hawks coaching staff also emphasized this point, and Liu Mang also understood it and made full preparations.

The Spurs changed back to their regular lineup today, with Parker, Ginobili, Horry, Duncan, and Nesterovic as the starting lineup.

There was no change on the Hawks side, with Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown as the starting lineup.

As the referee blew the whistle and threw the ball into the air, the excited Kwame Brown once again won the jump ball over Duncan's head. After Liu Mang received the ball, he did not pass it directly, but rushed to the midline and was blocked by Ginobili. He then sidestepped Ginobili's steal and advanced to the top arc, then immediately passed it to McGrady who ran to the right at a 45-degree angle, and began to run without the ball, leading Ginobili to the middle.

Ginobili tried hard to follow Liu Mang and was not completely left behind. However, Liu Mang accelerated and was already parallel to the baseline with Ginobili!

When Liu Mang started to cut in, McGrady, who had just received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right and was facing Horry's imminent approach, made a move to pass the ball back to Liu Mang. Horry rushed over to block Liu Mang at the free throw line.

At this time, McGrady took the ball back and shot a three-pointer before Ginobili, who had switched from Liu Mang, could defend...

"Shua"

McGrady made another three-pointer at the start!

McGrady's decisive shot gave Liu Mang an assist!

This was beyond the Spurs' expectations. They actually played like this!

The key is that it went in again!

The Spurs expected that the Hawks would use Liu Mang's breakthrough and open-cut advantages to deal with them at the beginning, but they didn't expect the Hawks to be so simple and crude. The same style of shooting that they used to open the game in the last game was used again in this game!

Coach Kruger applauded on the sidelines. Fortunately, the shot went in!

Coach Kruger's judgment against the Spurs was very accurate. You can't play conventional games with the opponent.

Conventionally speaking, with a guy like Liu Mang who scored 23 points in a single quarter by breaking through in the last game, you should use this strong point at the beginning.

But the opponent is the Spurs, so you can't play conventional games with them. In the past six years, all teams that played conventional games with them, except the Lakers, who beat them a few times, have lost.

Because the Spurs are the most stable team in the league, there is no other team. You must use a style that doesn't follow the routine and make the opponent unable to adapt.

McGrady's three-pointer once again gave the Hawks a little initiative at the beginning.

After McGrady made the shot, the Hawks quickly retreated.

After receiving the serve, Ginobili pushed forward at a fast tempo. After crossing the midline and looking at Liu Mang who was waiting for him with an expectant look, Ginobili calmed down the heart that wanted to compete with Liu Mang.

In the second quarter of the last game, Ginobili rarely felt "unbeatable" this season. Liu Mang scored 23 points in a single quarter, and his mentality was a bit explosive. After two days, he finally adjusted himself.

Ginobili waited for Duncan to land on the right side of the basket, and then he lobbed the ball towards Duncan.

Just as Ginobili lobbed the ball towards Duncan, Ginobili saw Liu Mang immediately let him go and double-teamed Duncan.

"Watt?" Ginobili didn't expect that he was left open. Popovich deliberately let him hold the ball and push forward, just to let Liu Mang defend him, but he didn't expect that the opponent even left him open!

Just when Ginobili was ready to catch the ball and shoot, Prince, who was originally defending Parker, switched to him, and Parker, who was in the right corner, was left open!

It was Parker who was still released!

And it wasn't just leaving Parker open, it was this way!

After Duncan received the ball, he was double-teamed by Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace, and immediately passed the ball to Parker. Parker received the ball in the bottom corner and felt humiliated!

Too much!

Just leave him open, but he actually played a rotation defense method to leave him open, first using Liu Mang to defend Ginobili, and then using Prince to rotate and defend against Ginobili leaving him open!

This feeling of being completely despised, Parker felt too humiliated!

However, he didn't know how to deal with it well after receiving the ball in an open position.

"Hurry up and shoot, don't you use the opportunity you are given?" Liu Mang said as he moved to the baseline mid-range and was ready to defend Parker from rushing inside.

The Spurs have many veterans, and the core is stable. The short power forward played very hard this year for money and performed at an above-average level. The strongest player on the outside is a bald man who is difficult to shake confidence. Even when his hair began to thin, he still kept long hair to hide his baldness. Only Parker is most easily affected by this.

Not every young person is so patient!

Parker hesitated for two seconds after receiving the ball, and after hearing Liu Mang's words, he took a three-pointer...

You have to shoot when you are open, which is a manifestation of the Spurs' resolute execution, and then... Parker made a three-pointer from the bottom corner!

Kwame Brown blocked Nesterovic, Rasheed Wallace blocked Duncan from rushing for the offensive rebound, and the Spurs quickly retreated to prevent the Hawks from counterattacking and speeding up. However, the Spurs were disappointed again. Liu Mang rushed in to grab the defensive rebound and then protected the ball, advancing slowly, without any hurry.

After his teammates got into position, Liu Mang just passed half court and immediately passed the ball to McGrady who was at a 45-degree angle on the right.

McGrady received the ball, and Horry felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and immediately stuck to McGrady. This guy is too accurate!

McGrady took a step back, and Horry was about to continue to stick to him, but McGrady's long legs stepped out to the right, and it was a sudden attack!

McGrady was faster than the other, taking advantage of the gaps left by the opponent's defense, and the fastest three steps in the league threw Horry away in one go!

The Spurs' interior defense began to adjust, Duncan had Nesterovic guarding the basket, and Duncan followed Rasheed Wallace to the right corner.

At the same time as McGrady broke through, Liu Mang, who was leaning on Ginobili in the left mid-range, suddenly turned around and cut from the left side of the basket to the inside. After McGrady broke through to the three-second zone, Liu Mang just came to the three-second zone from the left, and the two wings broke through together!

Duncan let go of Rasheed Wallace and rushed back. McGrady and Nesterovic could barely make up for the defense, and with Liu Mang, Duncan had to take it back.

McGrady immediately passed the ball to Rasheed Wallace in the right corner, and Rasheed Wallace took the ball and shot a three-pointer... The Spurs switched defense very quickly. When Duncan rushed in, Horry, who was chasing McGrady, immediately rushed towards Rasheed Wallace. Rasheed Wallace was disturbed and missed the three-pointer!

Nesterovic was originally blocking the left side of the three-second zone to defend Kwame Brown's pass and McGrady's layup because Kwame Brown opened up the space under the basket. Liu Mang ran back, and he was forced to block Liu Mang's empty cut to receive the ball. Kwame Brown rushed into the basket from the left side of the three-second zone and grabbed the offensive rebound!

Kwame Brown's offensive rebound!

Another dunk...

"Pah..."

After Duncan blocked McGrady, he jumped up continuously, sideways and accurately slapped the ball raised by Kwame Brown!

The ball hit Kwame Brown's head and bounced out of bounds. The Spurs had the ball!

McGrady wanted to try his three-point threat and Liu Mang's threat of cutting to play a team offense, the effect was not bad, but Duncan was a little too strong, Kwame Brown was blocked.

Fortunately, Kwame Brown had been abused by O'Neal before, so he was used to being abused and quickly retreated.

When the Spurs attacked, Parker advanced to the frontcourt and saw that the defender had become Liu Mang!

The Spurs understood that they had to let Parker go no matter what!

When Parker didn't have the ball, they used rotation defense to let Parker go, and used Liu Mang, who could slightly defend against Ginobili's breakthrough, to defend Ginobili with the ball. If Parker had the ball, Liu Mang would directly defend Parker and double-team others.

Parker became a guinea pig!

Liu Mang restrained Parker too much. Unlike the psychological restraint against Arenas, Liu Mang's style of play directly restrained Parker. Parker didn't even have the ability to explode like Arenas!

Parker passed the ball to Ginobili who came up to respond. As soon as Ginobili received the ball, Liu Mang and Prince double-teamed Ginobili.

At this time, Parker could not cut in without help, and he could not attract defense if he pulled away!

Compared with the Spurs defending the Hawks, it was easier for the Hawks to defend the Spurs. The two inside players of the Spurs had a short shooting range. Duncan's farthest shot was a mid-range shot from the free throw line. Rasheed Wallace and Kwame Brown could both stay in the three-second zone. Parker had no chance to cut without the ball!

Ginobili forced a breakthrough to the basket and missed a layup under the double-team of Liu Mang and Prince!

Liu Mang used Kwame Brown and Rasheed Wallace to block the defense and rebound!

When the Hawks attacked, McGrady advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Liu Mang. Liu Mang made a layup and passed it to Rasheed Wallace who forced his way to the basket. Rasheed Wallace received the ball and made a strong shot and luckily made it.

Next, the two teams started another round of iron shooting, and the two teams began to compete with each other on defense.

In this kind of defensive game, the Hawks had a slight advantage. With Liu Mang and McGrady, who can break through and shoot, especially strong shots, against Ginobili alone, they slowly began to gain some leading advantages!

It was useless for the Spurs to call a timeout. The Hawks just grind the defense to death.

Popovich did not expect the Hawks to play like this. The Hawks had an offensive advantage in the last game, but they actually gave up those offensive advantages and grinded the defense with them in this game. Then they used McGrady's comprehensive skills and Liu Mang's safe attack to the basket to deal with them. They did not use the existing advantages to create opportunities for other teammates, which disrupted Popovich's plan!

The Spurs' defense is not about how strong the individual defense is. Parker, Ginobili, Horry, and Nesterovic are not very good at single defense. They are strong in regional defense and the execution of defensive rotation.

That is, speed and height are needed!

The speed of Parker and Ginobili is the key to the Spurs' rotation defense, and the height of Duncan and Horry is the key to zone defense. Any other substitutes will not work. Parker is very important in the Spurs' defensive system. The Spurs' lineup is their best defense. Coach Popovich, who seeks stability, cannot replace Parker at the beginning of the game.

When the official timeout came in the seventh minute of the first quarter, the Hawks led the Spurs by 4 points, 12 to 8!

The Hawks only scored 12 points in seven minutes, which was already miserable. The Spurs only scored 8 points in 7 minutes! 5 of them were Ginobili's three-pointer and two free throws from Prince's foul under the basket!

The pace was so slow that it made people feel desperate!

Even the Spurs did not expect that they could play to this extent!

All this is due to the defensive strategy discussed by Liu Mang and Mike Woodson.

This strategy is what Liu Mang thought of from the original seven-game finals between the Pistons and the Spurs in 2005. He talked to Mike Woodson about it, and Mike Woodson immediately drew inferences from it and came up with this strategy.

In the original time and space, in the 2004-2005 season, Mike Woodson had gone back to join his teacher Larry Brown. The Pistons' defense was so good in the 2003-2005 season, which was inseparable from Mike Woodson. Most of the defense was supported by him, and the same was true for the 76ers in 2001.

Liu Mang's stable killing at the basket, 5 points and 2 assists in the first 7 minutes, McGrady scored 5 points, and Rasheed Wallace made a layup. These three people scored, just grinding to death!

This style of play was not expected by Popovich. The Hawks' opening style of play was quite successful!

…

After the official timeout, both teams made personnel adjustments. The Spurs sent out Udrih, Ginobili, Brent Barry, Bonzi Wells, and Duncan.

The Hawks sent out Liu Mang, Jason Terry, Korver, Josh Smith, and Mourning.

Popovich replaced this lineup to save the offense, which was too bad.

The Spurs had the ball. With this lineup, the Hawks started a fast rotation defense. Liu Mang and Korver's ability to assist and rotate defense was brought into play. Jason Terry's enthusiasm was also reflected to a certain extent, similar to the Spurs' use of Parker, using the high-speed rotation defense learned from the Bulls and Mavericks to deal with the Spurs.

With Ginobili's breakthrough pass, the Spurs had some opportunities for three-pointers, but not many opportunities. The offense improved slightly, but it was not enough to overtake the score.

On the Hawks side, Liu Mang and Jason Terry started the tactics planned in the tactics. Liu Mang broke through to make steady kills, and Jason Terry was outside!

Mainly Jason Terry was outside!

The Hawks played like gamblers, using the threat brought by Liu Mang's empty cuts or breakthroughs to create opportunities for Jason Terry. Jason Terry didn't necessarily shoot after receiving the ball. He was very different from ordinary shooters. When he received the ball and the opponent rushed to block, he would dribble twice regardless of whether he could shake to open space, and he would dribble before shooting.

This rhythm is a point that Jason Terry makes it difficult for opponents and teammates to adapt to, but as long as he is accurate, it is very scary!

And in the finals, Jason Terry, the king of the big-game substitute, was very accurate!

In the second half of the first quarter, the Hawks scored 13 points in 5 minutes, of which 10 points were scored by Jason Terry! The other 3 points were scored by Korver in a three-pointer from a corner pass.

Although the Spurs' efficiency improved a bit in the last 5 minutes, relying on Ginobili's passing and Bonzi Wells' singles, the Spurs scored 10 points in 5 minutes, but the Hawks played a wave of 13 to 10!

After the first quarter, the Hawks led the Spurs by 7 points with a score of 25 to 18!

...

Even Popovich couldn't figure it out. Is this kind of gambler-like style of play a team that won the first game and played some advantages?

The Hawks, who took the initiative at the beginning, became more and more determined and gradually became more comfortable.

After the start of the second quarter, while the Spurs replaced Duncan as center and the lineup of Parker, Ginobili, Horry, and Bonzi Wells was ready to deal with Jason Terry and Liu Mang's singles, the Hawks replaced Jason Terry, who had just played an MVP-level performance in the past 5 minutes, and continued to sharpen the defense with Liu Mang and McGrady, Prince, Josh Smith, and Rasheed Wallace.

If you are restricted by one move, you will be restricted everywhere. This is what Popovich is talking about now.

The time spent by the Hawks in the past two days has not been in vain!

Coach Kruger took on huge pressure and used gambling tactics to gain a leading advantage at the beginning. The play style worked!

The Hawks are in a very unfavorable situation in terms of schedule, so they can only gamble. They must win the second game, otherwise it will be too difficult to play three consecutive away games. If they lose one home game and lose all away games...

They will play steadily with the Spurs, using the regular team's style of playing by finding an advantage and seizing the advantage. Except for OK, no team has won Duncan after his sophomore year in the playoffs. So, in order to win, they must gamble!

This gamble now seems to be correct!

The Hawks' tactics are to use defense to stabilize the situation, Liu Mang seeks stability on the offensive end, McGrady seeks perfection, and Jason Terry comes to play. The advantages of the three in the first game are reflected in the details. Switching back and forth between the three styles of play is the Hawks' method for this game.

As for the data, Liu Mang, McGrady, Jason Terry, who would care about the data at this time? Winning the game is more important!

Jason Terry can score 10 points in 5 minutes and then rest willingly. Liu Mang can reduce his shooting rights. On the defensive end, he has no steals and blocks. McGrady is willing to give up the highly respected high-efficiency play in the regular season. It doesn’t matter if the assists are reduced. He tries to use breakthroughs to send a pass to his teammates. It doesn’t matter if his teammates pass or miss the shot. He just wants to play this ever-changing rhythm.

At the end of the half, the Hawks led by 9 points with 46 to 37!

Liu Mang made 3 of 8 shots in the first half, 1 of 3-pointers, 4 of 5 free throws, and scored 11 points. This is the lowest score in the first half of the seven finals in two years. Jason Terry scored 14 points, McGrady made 4 of 13 shots and scored 11 points and 2 assists, helping the Hawks lead by 9 points in the first half!

The atmosphere at the Eagles was still very hot. As long as they were ahead, it was fine. The Eagles fans in front of the TV were also okay. It was fine as long as their team was ahead. But other fans felt that they were deceived by the Eagles again!

From the analysis of the commentator and their own naked eye judgment, this game was so ugly, all because of the weird changes on the Eagles' side!

However, tactics that can gain an advantage are good tactics!

Some fans who are particular about tactics are surprised by the endless tactical changes of the Eagles. Eagles fans are used to their team's constantly changing tactics. Most fans don't actually understand tactics, and non-Eagles fans don't usually watch many Eagles games. For the first time, they found that the Eagles' tactics were so good! What surprised them even more was that the Eagles' tactics were very effective against the Spurs!

The Spurs are too stable, so stable that it is difficult for them to make any changes to this situation.

In the second half, the Hawks did not relax. Led by Liu Mang, McGrady and Jason Terry, they continued to play with this rhythm change. They grinded to death on the defensive end and relied on three people on the offensive end.

In the third quarter, the Spurs tried to use Ginobili's magic to counterattack. Ginobili scored 12 points in the third quarter, which did play a role. Jordan was still very powerful in 20 minutes, helping the Spurs score more than 20 points in a single quarter for the first time in this game, and scored 24 points in a single quarter.

However, the Hawks have the strongest waver on the surface!

Jason Terry scored 11 points in the third quarter, and Liu Mang scored two goals in this quarter, both of which were three-pointers. The two scored 17 points together, leading the Hawks to 25 points in a single quarter!

At the end of the third quarter, the Hawks had a 10-point lead with a score of 71 to 61!

Duncan brought stability to the Spurs. Because Duncan and the Spurs were strong enough, they had never lost in the playoffs since Duncan's sophomore year. When they were stronger than the Lakers with the OK combination in the 02-03 season, the Lakers were almost swept by them.

However, the Hawks' performance in this game was obviously stronger than the Spurs!

At this time, the stability that Duncan brought to the Spurs had the opposite effect. Even Ginobili could not get rid of the team characteristics of the Spurs and could not be as wild as Jason Terry!

In the fourth quarter, with Liu Mang or McGrady as a stable containment point, Jason Terry continued to perform efficiently in the fourth quarter, making 5 of 13 shots in a single quarter, shooting 65% of the Hawks' shots in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points in a single quarter, and helping the Hawks get 21 points in the final quarter.

Although the Spurs scored more points than the Hawks for the first time in the final quarter, Ginobili, Duncan and Bonzi Wells continued to play singles in the final quarter, and the three of them scored 22 points together, helping the Spurs to score 25 points in a single quarter, but the Hawks relied on the leading advantage established in the first three quarters and wore down the defense to the end!

92 to 86, the Hawks defeated the Spurs by 6 points and led 2 to 0.

Liu Mang's score today created a new low in the finals in two years, just 20 points, which disappointed many fans who wanted to see his performance. Jason Terry scored 31 points today and stole the limelight.

Fans are sometimes like this, and they even blacken their star teammates when they are ruthless.

But when the data came out after the game, people were surprised to find that Liu Mang not only scored 20 points with 7 of 17 shots, but also grabbed 10 rebounds and 12 assists without knowing it!

The two teams played too intensely and dull. The data on the website was not updated fast enough these days, and the data on live TV was not often displayed. Unconsciously, Liu Mang relied on the Spurs' defense to compress him, using the ball passed to Jason Terry and the pass to the basket when breaking through. Unconsciously, the assists in the second half of the fourth quarter had doubled!

Moreover, Liu Mang was very impactful in grabbing rebounds at the beginning. Kwame Brown and Mourning were at a disadvantage when facing Duncan's rebounds. Liu Mang saw it in the last game, so he took the initiative to increase the initiative to grab rebounds in this game, grabbing 4 more rebounds than the previous game! Two or three rebounds were scored in each quarter. Liu Mang grabbed the defensive rebound with Duncan's last mid-range shot missing, and the rebounds also doubled!

After winning the game, the fans at the scene were celebrating regardless of whether it was good or not, because they won!

And Liu Mang was surprised when he looked at the data on the big screen!

The coaching staff knew that Liu Mang was about to get a triple-double, but they didn't tell him to avoid this brush because of the data. Liu Mang was stunned at this time, just like the fans in front of the TV and the fans who saw the data on the big screen!

20+10+12, although there were 5 turnovers, but it was a triple-double!

Let's start with 7500 words, and write a little more. I have a headache. I will lie down for a while to relax. I can't take headache powder. It has the properties of sleeping pills. I will feel sleepy after taking it. I will continue to write slowly.