super small forward

Chapter 258 258. Western Conference Finals 13
Popovich is much more cautious in this game than in the first game. The first game is to spend money to buy lessons, but from the second game, he will show his real strength!He decisively turned on the almost never-used bombardment mode!

The Spurs suddenly accelerated the defensive transition, forcing the Lakers to quickly resolve the offense. They were preparing to forcibly speed up the pace and start confronting the Lakers.

From the previous round, Popovich could see that positional warfare does not necessarily have an advantage. Among the five starters of the Lakers, there are two positional warfare masters Kobe and Gasol. Nash and Liu Ren have excellent three-pointers. Green's organizational skills were so good that Popovich scolded the people in Oakland as pig heads, so he immediately gestured to the players to change their style of play.

I have to say that Popovich’s title as the first coach is not given for nothing. He can easily build a strong defensive team like Larry Brown, and he can do it like D’Antoni. better!

The Lakers focused on defending the opponent on three-pointers and mid-range, so Popovich increased his speed and focused on attacking the basket.

D'Antoni, who had begun to change and began to pay attention to defense, did not expect that the Spurs would run and bomb in the playoffs. He still specialized in the interior. shelled.

Although Liu Ren entered the runaway state, he made 10 of 8 in the first quarter, 10 of 7 free throws, and scored 23 points, but the scores of the two sides have been biting!
The Lakers scored 35 points in the first quarter, but the Spurs also scored 33 points!
Feeling that everyone's eyes finally focused on him, Liu Ren enjoyed this feeling very much.

The intermission ended and the second quarter began. Liu Ren looked at Duncan, who seemed to have completely changed his spirit and spirit, showing a dignified expression. Although he had seen him many times, he was still very excited.

Liu Ren looked at the guy in front of him, he might be Tim Duncan, the most powerful forward in NBA history!

At the end of the 90s, the Spurs went from a team that was in the early stages of reconstruction and had just won the No. [-] pick to a championship team, and won the championship in a shrinking season, relying on Duncan!He has won the first team of the best team and the second team of the best defensive team since his first season in the league, which means that he has been the most powerful forward in the league since his first day in the league!Even the number one power forward in history!
But Duncan will also get old. Now he feels powerless every year. He now very much hopes that the team will have someone like him who took over the team flag from the Admiral back then. heavy burden.

But the Spurs can't attract stars, and a team that needs to keep winning has many things that are necessary, such as a defensive system, inside defensive gates, and outside defensive leaders.

Now that the system is in place, there are also top defensive players on the outside line. The only thing missing is a young inside defense gate with offensive capabilities.

Or have a super perimeter defensive combination like the Heat. If Liu Ren and Leonard team up, Duncan believes that Popovich will definitely create a stronger perimeter defense than the Heat.

Because if you want to keep winning, you must defend well!Whether it is a defensive system composed of internal and external lines or an external defensive encirclement, there is no problem, as long as you can defend your opponent, it is a good defense!

But now the Spurs don't have an insider who can take over from Duncan's class, and there is no other outsider who is comparable to Leonard, so it all fell to Duncan again. It's a lot of effort, but when it comes to an important opponent in the playoffs, he started the old days of being a father and a mother again.

What Liu Ren regrets the most is that he has never seen how strong Jordan is at his peak. He only saw a trace of his sharpness in some clips, but he watched the duel between Kobe and Duncan at his peak on TV. Both of them were invincible at their peak. !

In the first quarter, Duncan attacked twice and was replaced. There was no consumption. Now it's time for him to play!

As soon as Duncan came up, he used a signature 45-degree angle to hit the board and scored two points to tie the score.

The Lakers were attacking, and Kobe was resting. In the first quarter, he didn't end up bombarding him. The Lakers could play from the starting position. D'Antoni was very cautious today, and let the starters play for a long time in the first quarter.

It was Liu Ren who attacked with the ball!After a change of direction, he got half of the position and pushed Leonard to the inside as before.

Facing Duncan on the inside, Liu Ren's previous advantages disappeared. In terms of speed and explosive power, Liu Ren is the best in the league, but Duncan is too strong. His defensive awareness and footwork are too good. He reached out to interfere at the critical moment, and his strength was still strong. After all, he was a guy who had fought against O'Neal and won several times.

Duncan's defensive prediction allowed him to stand one step ahead of Liu Ren's offensive direction, which made up for it very well.

Liu Ren's best strength-crushing inside line face-to-frame play lost its effect in front of Duncan.

Liu Ren was forced to stop the ball, and it seemed that it was going to be three seconds, so he could only call a timeout.

"Tim, I have to admit that you are very strong." Liu Ren said to Duncan during the timeout.

"You are also very strong. This is the first time I have encountered a situation where an outside line came to the inside and used his body to fight against me, but I was a bit unstoppable." Duncan is famous in the league for being boring, but it is rare for him to hear Liu Ren's compliment immediately responded with another compliment, "I never expected that you have such a thin body, but you are so strong."

Liu Ren felt very honored by Duncan's praise. He always felt that it was a great pity that Duncan didn't get the best defensive player.

But there is no way around it. Duncan’s biggest feature is his stability for more than ten years. Duncan’s peak was the four seasons from 01 to 05. In those years, he was invincible on both offense and defense. The ability to win the championship for several years depends on Duncan's hard work alone.

In those few years, Duncan was definitely one of the best in the league on the defensive end, but he met Ben Wallace and Artest who focused on defense. Duncan's defensive ability throughout his career was definitely stronger and more stable than these two, but These two are high-profile performances. In those years, these two always suppressed the stable Duncan and took all the best defensive players.

After 05, Ben Wallace and Artest both declined, and the defense of the entire league began to decline due to the offensive wave set off by the Suns and Warriors. It should have been time for Duncan to win the best defensive player, but he Because of a serious knee injury, he lost his previous explosive power and turned into a complete floor flow, and his defense also declined a lot. He was awarded the best defensive player by another wave of defensive champions who had a bright season.

Born at the wrong time, Duncan can say so in the award of best defensive player.

(End of this chapter)