Chapter 976 975. Stepping Into Tianwang Mountain

The third game started on time at 6:00 p.m. on June 3.

Like the second game, the two teams started a defensive battle from the beginning.

Relying purely on personal ability to score and playing tactics, this reasonable style of play, when facing the most reasonable Spurs, is completely unsuccessful.

On the Spurs side, facing the Hawks with Liu Mang, McGrady, and Prince on the outside, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown, and Mourning on the inside, as well as Korver, a young player with good outside defense, and Josh Smith, a young player with strong inside defense, the Spurs basically relied on three stars to score.

On the Hawks side, Liu Mang, McGrady, and Jason Terry scored in the most effective way they played in this finals.

In terms of talent, this Spurs team is obviously not comparable to last year's Lakers, but in terms of the strength they have played, the Spurs are even stronger!

After returning to the home court, the Spurs, who had the advantage of the whistle, took the initiative in turn!

The Spurs' defensive moves were bigger, and it was not easy for Liu Mang to commit a foul when he broke into the basket.

In the first game back at home, the Spurs played hard. Ginobili dared to use his head to stick to Liu Mang's arm to deceive an offensive foul.

In this game, Ginobili scored 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Duncan scored 14 points and 10 rebounds, Bonzi Wells scored 17 points and 11 rebounds, Robert Horry made 3 of 3 three-pointers, but only 1 of 3 free throws, scoring 10 points, Parker scored 7 points, Nesterovic scored 6 points, Bowen, Brent Barry and Udrih scored a total of 18 points, and all 9 people who played on the Spurs scored, and they all scored with their lives.

The Spurs scored 85 points in the whole game!

On the Hawks side, only Liu Mang scored 21 points, McGrady scored 14 points, Jason Terry scored 13 points, and Kwame Brown scored 10 points. A total of four people scored in double digits. The role players scored very few points, just like the pitchers of the Suns, and were locked up. The Hawks only scored 79 points.

The total score was tied by the Spurs to 1 to 2, and the Hawks failed to directly lock the championship 3 to 0.

In this game, the Hawks could only avoid the Spurs' edge. The Spurs played too hard, because as long as the Spurs lost one more game, they could directly declare that they had won the championship. If they wanted to win the Hawks four times in a row, even Popovich, Duncan, and Ginobili did not have such great confidence, so the Spurs played desperately, even the kind of desperate play of exchanging injuries for injuries.

The Hawks didn't fight the Spurs hard, and they locked the championship directly with a 3-0 victory... The Hawks players and coaching staff didn't have such a big heart. They tried their best to win and played defense with the Spurs until the end, but unfortunately they lost the third finals game by only 6 points.

...

The first away game was lost, and the Hawks were within an acceptable range. There were still two away games. The Hawks didn't think about sweeping the Spurs 4-0 at the beginning.

Winning the next away game is a guaranteed task. If you can win 4-1... Anyway, there is still hope!

After losing the first game, Liu Mang was very sorry that he didn't win 3-0 directly, but there was nothing he could do about it.

After returning to the hotel, several core players did not go back to their villas to sleep immediately, but came to the living room of Liu Mang's villa together to hold a small team meeting.

Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Jason Terry, Rasheed Wallace, Kwame Brown, Mourning, seven guys who can be called stars, plus Iguodala who was freeloading on the meeting, held a small player meeting together.

After some discussion, the reasons for the loss of this game were summarized.

First of all, the most important thing is that the Hawks had 20 free throws in the last game, but only 11 in this game, and the whistle was the biggest problem.

The referee did not blow the whistle biasedly, which is not a problem, and the Spurs only had 13 free throws.

The main reason is that the referee's whistle scale is more inclined to the rhythm of the Spurs, and the tolerance for physical confrontation is very high, which is the most critical.

Although the referee did not favor the Spurs, he gave the same whistle to the Hawks at the Spurs' home court. The Hawks had big defensive moves but did not blow too many fouls. The Spurs fouled more, with 18 fouls in the whole game and only 15 fouls for the Hawks. However, in some situations where Liu Mang could get the whistle in the last game, he did not get the opportunity to go to the free throw line.

The bigger problem is that when the Spurs defended desperately and the referee's whistle scale became larger, the Hawks were not as accustomed to it as the Spurs.

In terms of three-point shots from the outside, the Spurs made 9 three-point shots, while the Hawks only made 5 three-point shots, two of which were made by Liu Mang from the outside...

Each of the eight people present raised some questions, most of whom said that they did not play well, took the blame, and conducted a very careful analysis. Several players listed them one by one on the record board borrowed from the coaching staff.

The players on the Hawks side were very calm, so stylish, so steady and thoughtful, and each of them analyzed them very clearly.

Then, on June 6, the fourth game of the finals came.

It is easy to talk about it on paper, and the reasons for the loss have been analyzed, but can the weaknesses during the loss be made up? This is a very hurtful topic.

The weaknesses that the players have seen have long been seen by the coaching staff, but there is nothing they can do!

Just like the first two games, Popovich saw what the Hawks wanted to do in the second game, but he just couldn't break the obstacles set by the Hawks.

It was another defensive battle, just to see which star played better! There were no other tricks, just to see which of the two teams' "Big Three" shot more accurately!

It has to be said that this year's Hawks are not as strong as when they won the championship last year, and the team structure was restrained by the Spurs.

The first two games relied on the home advantage, plus caught the opponent off guard, and the points won in the two games were not many.

In the fourth game of the finals, the Spurs continued to rely on defense and withstood the impact of Liu Mang and McGrady in this game. Liu Mang scored 26 points and McGrady scored 24 points. The two scored 50 points together, but Jason Terry was weak in this game and only scored 6 points.

The Hawks scored a total of 87 points, while the Spurs played very well in the two games back at home. Duncan scored 18 points and 17 rebounds, and Kwame Brown only scored 5 points and 8 rebounds. Ginobili scored 15 points, Brent Barry scored 14 points, and Bonzi Wells played well in three consecutive games as the sixth man, scoring 15 points and helping the Spurs get 96 points.

The Spurs defended their home court again, and the score was tied 2-2 by the Spurs!

…

The fans are going crazy!

The Spurs are too stable!

There is a pessimistic atmosphere among the fans: Is the evil Spurs going to shroud the NBA in darkness again? Is the championship trophy going to be "defiled" again?

The public opinion on the Internet took a sharp turn for the worse.

After the third game, when the Spurs defended the first home court, the fans were still calm, but now they were tied 2-2 by the Spurs, and it felt wrong all of a sudden!

The battle of Tianwang Mountain is the key!

If the Spurs can defend three home games in a row, the psychological pressure on the remaining two away games will be much less.

As for the Hawks, if they lose three games in a row... although they have the home advantage, the psychological pressure is huge!

Coach Kruger is not unaware of the reason for the two losses, but it is useless to know!

As strong as Popovich, in the original time and space, he played the finals with the Pistons. Popovich completely understood his teacher's defense, but understanding it does not mean that he can break this defense. In the end, he relied on the personal abilities of the two stars Duncan and Ginobili to win the seventh game.

At this time, it depends on the performance of the team's star players. There is no other way.

The Spurs played so hard on defense that Coach Kruger could only discuss with Mike Woodson how to play defense more fiercely.

The rest can only rely on the strength of the players!

…

…

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. The world is so beautiful, but I am so irritable. This is not good…” Liu Mang tried to calm his current irritable mentality with the lines he remembered from some movie.

2-2!

When it was 2-0, I was looking forward to 3-0. When it was 2-1, I was not anxious, but I was looking forward to 3-1. Now it’s 2-2!

It’s time to fight for the decisive battle!

The day after the fourth game, that is, on the 7th, Liu Mang got up and looked at the Internet and the newspaper. He had dinner with his teammates. From the media, fans, coaching staff, and teammates, Liu Mang felt some negative emotions.

Liu Mang had no control over the media and fans, but although the coaching staff and teammates did not express it, Liu Mang could clearly feel the heavy pressure they were carrying!

Liu Mang himself was under the heaviest pressure, defending the championship, the task of reigning, and many, many things.

Mourning and Persson came to hug the thigh, Liu Mang had more pressure. Although McGrady's contract renewal was negotiated very well, it was not renewed yet, which was another pressure.

In Liu Mang's opinion, McGrady may have made up his mind to stay, but there must be a reason to stay!

If McGrady came and the Hawks failed to win the championship, McGrady would not have the face to stay. It was not a question of whether McGrady wanted to stay, but McGrady replaced Rahim, causing the team structure to be too biased towards the outside and lost the championship... The fans' criticism could make McGrady choose to leave.

Public opinion is an invisible dagger.

Liu Mang was also under great pressure, but he had to act relaxed when eating and chatting. He was the soul of the team and he could not fall down.

After returning to the room, Liu Mang began to curse and then comforted himself.

Liu Mang looked at the star cards, a bunch of gorgeous superstars and top star cards, but for the Spurs, except for Jordan's card, the others were unlikely to have a good effect.

Wade's star card this season didn't have a long-range shot, and Nash's style of play was restrained by the Spurs...

This rhythm seems to be a tiebreaker for Liu Mang! Even if he has to play a tiebreaker, Liu Mang is unwilling to defend two home courts with a 2-3 deficit. The decisive battle must be won!

Who cares!

From the second to the fourth game, Liu Mang played tactically, using the threat of killing under the basket to deal with the Spurs.

But after arriving at the Spurs' home court, this style of play worked. Liu Mang scored 20+ in both games, but the effect was not as obvious as in the second game.

The decisive battle is coming soon, June 9th...

Facing the nearly unsolvable defense played by the Spurs in the finals after returning to their home court, Liu Mang has been trying to combine his threat with the strengths of his teammates.

Now it seems that this trick doesn't work!

If they lose the third away game, they will be 2-3 behind, which Liu Mang cannot accept! Liu Mang does not want to play under pressure even though he has the home advantage!

In this case, Liu Mang wants to be aggressive! Just do it!

The next chapter will be around 12 o'clock.