Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 624 The ultimate competition!

When the fourth quarter was officially suspended, the Lakers' lead had reached 6 points, 104 to 98. For such a close game where even one point was extremely precious, a 6-point lead was definitely a huge advantage.

Because in the eyes of all the spectators, it is difficult to make the Lakers, who have so many superstars, have a scoring panic. As long as the Lakers do not have a scoring panic, it will be difficult for them to be caught up suddenly.

A 6-point difference will definitely require the Bobcats to have a small climax to catch up. Obviously, the Lakers are the most difficult team in the entire NBA to be beaten to a climax, even if it is a small climax.

Therefore, in the final stage of the fourth quarter, McGrady's outstanding performance gave the Lakers hope of winning the game.

However, as the best player in the first half of the fourth quarter, McGrady was in a heavy mood at this moment. He burned for half a quarter and did not fully achieve his goal. Duncan really could not defend him, but Duncan completely gave up the offense and only confronted him on the defensive end and only insisted on defense. He wanted the Bobcats to make mistakes, but ultimately failed. He wanted to consume Duncan, but also failed.

His big outburst only happened when the score between the two sides was 83 to 83, and eventually the gap widened to 104 to 98, which was only a 6-point lead.

Such a score is precarious, especially when his physical strength begins to decline visibly and his offensive efficiency begins to drop visibly.

You know, before that, the Lakers' biggest lead was 8 points, and they had the ball, but now, the Lakers' lead is 6 points, and after the timeout, the ball is still in the hands of the Bobcats.

Although he is very experienced in playing against Duncan under the basket and is very efficient, there is no doubt that every attack he makes against Duncan under the basket is difficult. Although he is familiar with the current Duncan, he is not so familiar with the current Duncan either, because the current Duncan can run and jump, and he can always make up for his defensive loopholes with his physical talents. Therefore, he can use his familiarity with Duncan to open up a large space, and then Duncan can compress this space with his athletic ability.

In such an offensive and defensive confrontation and game between him and Duncan, he was indeed the final winner.

However, the price of victory is very high!
As an outside player playing against an inside player under the basket, the intensity of the confrontation is equivalent to two people carrying 100 kilograms of cargo. It is certainly easier for Duncan, and it must be simpler for inside players. On the contrary, for an outside player like him, the consumption is definitely greater than that of Duncan, and much greater.

So, the coach didn't move, Duncan didn't move.

Even though they were trailing by eight points, the Lakers had the ball, and they could have easily been trailing by ten points, Duncan and his coach didn't move.

This is very frustrating.

If he had hit that fade away shot!
Then a 100% lead would definitely force the coach and Duncan to make changes, and ultimately change the course and situation of the game.

However, things were so frustrating that he missed two shots in the entire fourth quarter, and these two misses were in succession. This was because the intensity of the game was too high and his physical strength could not be adjusted in a short period of time, resulting in consecutive misses.

Although he adjusted himself later, it was a fact that he had already exhausted all his physical strength.

After returning from this timeout, he was no longer as confident in his control on the offensive end.

In this situation, how can McGrady not worry?
Of course, for other Lakers players, McGrady's explosion in the fourth quarter helped them get through the most difficult six minutes.

It's already very, very great.

So, when McGrady left the court, Popovich and the Lakers players almost lined up to applaud McGrady, including Yao Ming who was already wearing protective boots.

"TMC is now being applauded and cheered by the entire Lakers team! He deserves such courtesy, he deserves such treatment! In the past six minutes, TMC's performance was so great!!!"

"TMC helped the Lakers, who were at a disadvantage, regain their advantage once again!!!"

The ups and downs of the Lakers and Bobcats' strengths and weaknesses in this game were very interesting.

Take the fourth quarter of this game for example. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers were at a disadvantage without their inside players. This is understandable. Jokic was unable to play and the Lakers' lineup had huge flaws.

Then, McGrady used his incredibly strong personal offense to single out Duncan under the basket and scored all 21 points for the Lakers in half a quarter. He scored 21 points in a row without any other Lakers players scoring in the meantime. Moreover, McGrady only missed 2 shots!
How incredible this is.

This is a miracle comparable to 35 points in 13 seconds, and this was a one-on-one match against Duncan under the basket!
This is almost equivalent to Magic playing center at the basket and eventually leading the team to win the championship and get the FMVP.

If the Lakers win this game and successfully get the final championship, McGrady's performance in the final moment of the fourth quarter will definitely be a classic that can be compared to the time when Magic played center and led the team to win the championship.

It was precisely because of McGrady's almost god-like performance that the original situation between the two sides was reversed.

Now the decisive battle has come to the last six minutes, Jokic has finished his rest and is about to come back.

Then, the Lakers' lineup will become very reasonable, and they won't have to play with five small players. On the other hand, the Bobcats will have almost no advantage, and may even be at a disadvantage.

After all, in terms of the overall strength of the two teams, the Lakers are indeed stronger, especially the Lakers' lineup change, which means that the Lakers have more rest.

In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats basically fielded their strongest lineup.

The Bobcats' strongest lineup played for six extra minutes, which is something to consider.

Sure enough, after the official timeout in the fourth quarter, the Lakers' lineup changed drastically.

Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Ebanks, Kobe, McGrady.

Seeing this lineup of the Lakers, many Bobcats fans at the scene could only describe their scalps as tingling.

This really makes my scalp tingle!
This lineup is simply terrifying in terms of strength and rationality, especially after the two teams have been exhausted to this extent. The Lakers' super decisive lineup made even Barkley in the commentary booth on the sidelines gasp.

"If the Lakers win the championship this year, I hope Yao and TMC can share the final MVP!!!"

"Tim Duncan, Beasley, Tatum, Kobe, Jordan, they may all be very strong, but the two strongest players in NBA history are Yao and TMC!!!"

"This game and this finals have proven that the two strongest players in NBA history are Yao and TMC!!!"

"Now, the Bobcats' only chance of winning is Coach D. Now, it depends on whether Coach D can help the Bobcats get through this difficult time!!!"

There is no real way to predict the future in this world, just like McGrady never thought that in the face of such terrible oppression from him, Duncan and Du Kang would remain unmoved. This was an accident. For McGrady, this was something he had never thought of.

For Du Kang, McGrady's outburst in the first half of the fourth quarter was also something he did not expect.

The same is true of the ever-changing nature of things. McGrady's outburst at the beginning of the fourth quarter was both a crisis and actually a special plane.

If Du Kang were given the choice, he would definitely hope that McGrady would explode in the first half, and would definitely not hope that McGrady would explode in the second half.

Du Kang knows McGrady too well. Just like the whole world is sighing that Yao Ming and McGrady are the two strongest players in the NBA, Du Kang knows better than anyone that Yao Ming and McGrady are stronger than everyone else. He successfully consumed Yao Ming in the first half, which was also an accident. Du Kang was actually not sure that Popovich would grab the start and let Yao Ming take the lead for the Lakers, which also gave him the opportunity to consume Yao Ming.

Likewise, in the fourth quarter, Du Kang did not expect McGrady to grab the start in the crucial moment, while protecting his teammates and giving up his ability to decide the game in the final moments.

In such a fierce and high-intensity game, McGrady's big outburst in the first half was almost equivalent to giving up the ability to decide the game in the second half.

Du Kang was willing to take a gamble if he could face such a big threat like McGrady at the last critical moment, so he remained motionless in the face of such a strong McGrady.

As a head coach, especially an NBA head coach, you need to be prepared to gamble at all times.

In this game, not only Du Kang was ready to gamble all the time, but Popovich was also ready to gamble.
The use of Yao Ming and McGrady in this game will definitely become the focus after the game.

If the Lakers won the game in the end, Popovich would certainly receive flowers and applause. Popovich's clever plan brought peace to the world. The Lakers were leading from the beginning of the game to the end and did not give the Lakers any chance.

If the Lakers lose this game in the end, and the Lakers lose because they are weak in the final moments, and finally collapse after leading for almost half the game, then there is no doubt that Popovich will have to bear the biggest blame.

Doesn’t Popovich himself know that his gamble will turn out like this?

Most of the wins are thanks to Yao Ming and McGrady, but I have to take all the blame for the losses.

Didn’t Popovich know this would be the outcome?
Popovich knows it.

But Popovich still made this choice, so Popovich must have his own reasons.

So what is Popovich's reasoning?
There must be many considerations, and one of the biggest considerations is that he does not want to fight at the critical moment of this life-and-death battle.

Because the critical moment of Coach D's life-and-death battle reminded him of many psychological shadow moments.

Maybe the strongest people in the world are Yao Ming and McGrady, but when it comes to the most critical moment, Coach D follows the law of cause and effect!

Therefore, the safest option for Popovich in this game is to lead all the way to the end.

What Popovich expected to happen did not go smoothly. Du Kang could not predict everything, and the same was true for Popovich.

Who doesn't want to take everything into their own hands?
But, in the end, nothing is easy, and for this game, it may be a trivial choice that determines the outcome of the game.

It's not just the choices of the two chess players, Du Kang and Popovich. The players on the field of the two teams in this game are also frantically making their own choices.

Facing the Lakers' very terrifying decisive lineup, the Bobcats' decisive lineup in the final moments of the game was Duncan, Thabeet, Ding Yanyuhang, Beasley and Jordan.

Beasley returned to the court again. After a lot of energy in the third quarter, he rested for half a quarter and then returned to the court again. It is difficult to guarantee how much energy Beasley has now and whether he has recovered a little.

But just like the Lakers will keep McGrady on the court, even if McGrady can't run anymore, as long as he is not injured, the Lakers will definitely keep McGrady on the court at the critical moment.

Some players are a threat as long as they stand there on the court even if they can no longer run.

There is no doubt that McGrady and Beasley are such players. Both of them performed extremely well in this game and caused great psychological obstacles to their opponents.

The game resumed and the Bobcats took the lead in attacking.

Trailing by six points and attacking first, this is a very good opportunity to narrow the gap.

"The Bobcats never lost a possession after the timeout in this game and scored every time!"

"It's the same for the Lakers, which shows how focused both teams were on this game!"

They were able to score every time they came back from a timeout, which is an incredible thing in the NBA.

Scoring an offense and running out of tactics is actually only half the battle.

To be completely successful, both the coach's tactics and the players' performance are indispensable.

Therefore, if you want to succeed every time, you really need concentration, and extreme concentration.

If both teams score every time they return from a timeout, then the players and coaches of both teams will be fully focused on the game.

"So, this game is the greatest game in NBA history. The intensity of this game and the incredible shooting percentages of both sides are simply a miracle!"

"In this game, many superstars don't dare to say they can even score!"

"So, in the first half of the fourth quarter, the other Lakers players, even Kobe, were cautious and didn't attack. All the offense was left to McGrady!"

"In this game, both teams played their targeting to the extreme. This is undoubtedly an extreme game. This is also the first and only extreme game in NBA history!"

On the court, Duncan finally attacked!

Duncan didn't attack when facing McGrady's defense, but he actually attacked when facing Jokic's defense!!!

Facing the confrontation from Jokic, he took a step forward, half-turned and made a hook shot under the basket!

104 is better than 100!

Seeing Duncan eating Jokic alive in this offense, many experts who thought the Lakers had the upper hand were stunned.

"The Lakers really have the upper hand? I don't understand..."

Is this the ultimate game?
What is the ultimate on both sides?
They themselves don’t know, let alone others.

"The trend of this game is no longer something we can understand..."

(End of this chapter)