Chapter 975 974. All the Pressure Is on Popovich

The Hawks coaching staff didn't dare to relax at the moment before the end of the game. Fortunately, they defended in the end. The Spurs scored 25 points in the last quarter led by Ginobili, which was too scary.

Ginobili scored 28 points in the whole game, Duncan scored 20 points and 11 rebounds, and almost turned the game around. Fortunately, they stabilized.

Ginobili is a monster, but monsters are always monsters. When the Hawks played better, Ginobili had no choice. He could score points continuously at critical moments to compete with superstars, but asking him to score 40 or 50 points or a triple-double to defeat the opponent in a game would be difficult for him.

The Hawks won the victory, Liu Mang got a triple-double, and he got a triple-double in the finals, but he was not the best player of the game.

The best player of the game was Jason Terry!

Liu Mang's 20+10+12 was excellent, and McGrady's 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists were also good, but Jason Terry made 12 of 22 shots, 6 of 13 three-pointers, and 1 of 2 free throws, scoring 31 points, which was the key to winning this game. When Liu Mang and McGrady used their own threats to contain the defense, Jason Terry took on the heavy responsibility and made steady shots, which was the key among the keys!

If Jason Terry couldn't score at this point, all tactics would be useless.

But Jason Terry was so irritable in the finals, scoring 31 points with 22 shots!

In the past, Liu Mang's triple-doubles were earth-shattering every time, but this time he got it quietly.

Mainly because of Liu Mang's assists, 5 of them were passed to Jason Terry, and Jason Terry made a shot. Jason Terry received the pot ball passed by Liu Mang from deep, and made 5 shots! Every time when the Spurs had defended Liu Mang and others to death, Jason Terry could score after receiving the ball, continuing the Hawks' tactical plan.

In addition, two of McGrady's 19 points were scored directly after receiving Liu Mang's pass without pulling the defense. Liu Mang's 7 assists were not played, and only 4 assists were passed to teammates in the inside and the bottom corner. Therefore, Liu Mang's presence in organizing offense was not strong. The fans who watched the game focused on Jason Terry's strong shots and goals, and did not notice that Liu Mang had so many assists.

As for Liu Mang's rebounds, Liu Mang had a total of 22 double-digit rebounds in the regular season this season, averaging more than 7 rebounds per game, and he also had several double-digit rebounds in the playoffs, which was no longer a big deal.

At the end of the game, the TV station's analysis also mentioned that Liu Mang's triple-double was a bit watery. The TV station also gave Jason Terry the MVP of this game, which was generally fair.

However, although he did not become the MVP of this game and did not get interviewed by the three major American TV stations and the court TV station after the game, Liu Mang was still very happy.

No matter how he got the triple-double, he got it anyway!

In the list of players who got triple-doubles in the future finals, there will be him, Liu!

Liu Mang is even happier that he has Jason Terry as the sixth man, who is really great!

Jason Terry's mid-range and long-range shots in this game made Liu Mang seem to see the 34-year-old veteran who shot the Lakers and Heat to death in 2011. He was too accurate, and he only had two free throws, and only made one, which means he got 30 points by shooting! Among them, six mid-range shots were hit!

In the final analysis, no matter how the tactics change, the key scoring position is still mid-range!

It's just that the Hawks played something that Popovich didn't expect. It wasn't Liu Mang or McGrady, but Jason Terry who played this role.

Leading 2-0, this time it really stabilized the situation.

It can be guaranteed that they will be invincible in the next three away games. In this way, the coaching staff of the Hawks breathed a sigh of relief and began to prepare for away games.

If the Hawks can win three consecutive away games, the Hawks will have a big advantage, with the last two home games!

Now the pressure is on Popovich.

…

On the second day after the second game, at noon on June 1st, after lunch, Liu Mang said goodbye to the three girls and drove to the airport with a light suitcase.

Liu Mang felt a little regretful. How come it's summer? The suitcases have become smaller. In addition to a suit that may be used for the press conference after winning the championship, the rest are razors, short-sleeved shorts, sneakers and other things. Thinking that Iguodala can't move more things to exercise his muscles, Liu Mang really feels regretful.

On the afternoon of the 1st, Liu Mang followed the Hawks to the Coca Tree Villa Hotel in San Antonio, about three kilometers away from the University of Texas San Antonio Business School.

Iguodala directly carried Liu Mang's suitcase on his back and walked briskly with Liu Mang into the villa where they lived.

"Boss, this hotel is no worse than last year's! The room is much bigger! The owner of this hotel is much more generous than the one in Los Angeles." Iguodala took Liu Mang's suitcase into Liu Mang's room and said after taking a look at the layout of the room.

"There are fewer people here, the land is much cheaper, the house is cheaper, and the cost of the hotel is even cheaper." Liu Mang replied casually.

"Boss, you know a lot!" Iguodala said admiringly.

"... I say Andre, read more books when you have nothing to do, otherwise you won't be able to get your college diploma." Liu Mang despised this guy who didn't even know basic common sense.

But it seems that most people in the NBA are like this.

"Hehe... I will, my mother also asked me to get my diploma as soon as possible." Iguodala scratched his head and laughed.

“…” Liu Mang didn’t know what to say. Do these black people understand what my mother told me to do, what my mother did… or what my grandmother told me to do…

Liu Mang thought about it, and it seemed that many of these black people were raised by single mothers or even grandmothers. The Spurs player with facial paralysis seemed to be in the same situation.

Putting this matter aside, some things can be figured out if you think about them carefully, but they are too far from your own life experience. It’s better not to communicate too much about such things.

Liu Mang followed Iguodala out to see the villa they lived in. There were only two people, him and Iguodala, with a total of two bedrooms, but there were 6 rooms and 9 bathrooms, a small bar, a cinema, a sauna, a large bath, a swimming pool and a small garden. The area was larger than the villa with four rooms last year.

Last year, they booked the villa hotel in Beverly Hills, and this year they booked the largest villa hotel in San Antonio. They might stay here for up to nine days.

Liu Mang felt that the stingy boss treated the players well, and the bonuses were high. Usually, the hotel was booked one or two floors at a time, but now the hotel was booked directly for the finals, probably because they had made a lot of money in the past few years with this group of people.

After walking around with Iguodala for a while, Liu Mang found the coaching staff and went to the University of Texas San Antonio Business School to see the stadium and other things.

McGrady, Jason Terry, Rasheed Wallace, Korver, and Persson also went with them and agreed to practice shooting for a while.

When we arrived at the University of Texas, except for a few students who stayed on campus, there were not many people. Most schools in the United States had already been on vacation yesterday, including the University of Texas.

"Jason, do you think Popovich will be angry to death?" Liu Mang looked at the empty stadium, no one came to disturb him, and couldn't help laughing.

"Ace, you are so mean." Jason Terry suddenly thought of the Spurs' experience in Atlanta.

The owner of the Spurs was reluctant to spend money to book the hotel, so he only booked one floor. Therefore, sometimes people held summer dance parties in the middle of the night, and the police came on duty at 12 o'clock, and then they calmed down.

There were also constant small things in the school's stadium. Although they did not affect their normal training, there were always some things that affected their mood.

But when the Hawks arrived in San Antonio, they directly booked the villa hotel and hired security patrols; in terms of the university stadium, most students left the school on the day of vacation. Who would think of tossing the opponent during the vacation?

After teasing Popovich, Liu Mang and Jason Terry started training.

Everything was in order, the players' shooting practice, technical practice, team tactical training and team meetings to study the Spurs' playing style.

The Spurs were also fully committed to preparations. Now it was the Spurs' turn not to lose a game, and their mentality suddenly changed.

...

During the preparations of the two teams, undercurrents were already surging in the league.

By June, it was not long before the end of the season. After the finals, some trades in the league could be launched, and some teams had already started to contact each other.

It might be about draft picks, preparations for a slump, or preparations for reinforcements.

Some veterans or strong players whose contracts have expired also want to join some competitive teams to challenge for the championship.

The Hawks and Spurs are naturally the first choice teams in the East and West. They are both teams with perfect core lineups and will definitely need reinforcements after this season.

In addition, there are some players who are not satisfied with the status quo and have contracts. When they enter the last year of their contracts, they can take some initiative and start discussing things with the team management or start planning something with their agents.

There are also some rumors in the news, such as Payton wants to hold the thigh again and is choosing his next home, Mutombo has performed well in the playoffs this year and wants a better contract, or joins a championship-level team and is interested in the Hawks, etc.

But the focus is still the finals. The Hawks lead the Spurs 2-0. Can they win the championship away from home?

This seemingly unreliable thing, in the online voting, the number of people who chose the Hawks to win the championship 4-0 or 4-1 exceeded 90% of the total number of voters.

Just as people were looking forward to it, on June 3, Liu Mang and the team came to the ATT Center to start the third game of the finals.

Win it and lock in the championship directly!

Friends, go to the comments to build a building! 100 coins for the first floor, let the local tyrants go bankrupt! !