The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 116 Fighting wits and courage
"I feel very frustrated, not embarrassed," Randolph, who played poorly in the first game, told reporters that he stayed up all night after the game. "This is basketball. Muhammad Ali was defeated before, but he became the greatest in the world boxer because he always bounces back."

However, Randolph wants to rebound, whether it is him or the Grizzlies in the hands of the Spurs, it is not so easy.

In order to prevent the Spurs from engaging in a surprise attack, the Grizzlies put out their best defense at the beginning of the second game.

Compared with defense, the Spurs will definitely not be afraid, and the Grizzlies don't have Curry's cheating.

So right after the game started, the two teams entered into a vicious sequence. If I block you on the inside, you will block one and come back. If I block you on the outside, you have to save face and return one.

Then there was the continuous sound of hammering iron. It is normal to not score for several rounds, and it is rare to fight defense like this.

Popovich is also worried about the toughness of the Grizzlies. It is hard to say if they play a few more games with the Grizzlies. After the effect of outside shooting tactics on the field was not so obvious, the Spurs also chose to play steadily.

Isn't it just playing defense and confrontation? The Spurs used this trick many years ago, when the Grizzlies were still children.

The intensity of the competition was too intense even for a player like Zhang Xiaotian who was used to confrontation.

However, he has never been afraid of being bullied by others. When his skills were not enough, he relied on this trick to get away with it.

If you are afraid of confrontation, go home and nurse your child.

Seeing that the substitute was playing at the same pace as the Grizzlies, Popovich cursed as he stood on the sidelines.

It's just that this rhythm has started, and it's not easy to stop.

In the first quarter, the Spurs led 15:13 and won the fight. The players were a little complacent, but Popovich was not happy.

After a hard chat about tactics during the break, the Spurs put in the pitching lineup again in the second quarter.

This is a tactic that the Grizzlies can't follow up. The Spurs actually have a lot of players who can shoot from the outside this season.

Playing cards is afraid of eating, and playing basketball is afraid of rest. From the beginning of the second quarter, it will not be so easy for the Grizzlies to keep pace.

Ginobili and Parker took turns to break through and score the ball. Gary Neal and Matt Bonner are both beneficiaries, unlike the previous ones who can only play soy sauce.

Now it is Zhang Xiaotian who is making soy sauce, Popovich is still very satisfied, and he makes the best of it.

The first three quarters had to be shot from the outside, and the Grizzlies couldn't turn around at the last moment.

Perhaps inspired by Mike Conley, Parker passed a lot more in this game.

The last thing the Grizzlies wanted to happen happened. Before their touch was restored, the Spurs shot from the outside again. They were afraid that the two insiders would not be able to defend against them in this style of play. Their attack power is not enough.

At halftime, the Spurs led by another 15 points.

According to usual experience, this game is about the same. The Grizzlies are tough and chasing points is not very good.

But at the beginning of the second half, the Grizzlies' attack also survived.

Mike Conley has strengthened his personal offense, and after substitute Jerry Bayless replaced Prince, he can finally support the Grizzlies inside with Conley.

A combination of inside and outside, this is the most terrifying form of the Grizzlies' offensive end.

The key is that Conley teamed up with Randolph to make Duncan's consecutive fouls, and he wanted to beat the only strong point inside the Spurs.

Popovich said that there is no problem at all. It was only 3 minutes into the second half when Duncan was replaced. After 6 minutes, Splitter was also replaced.

Defense is to shrink, to give the Grizzlies outside opportunities, let's compare the shooting percentage from the outside.

It is possible to play this way because the Grizzlies are a flawed team. They have twin towers but no shooters to assist them. They can only rely on defense to grind slowly.

Everyone just shoots, the Grizzlies also win, the Twin Towers don't change, the three outside shoot, and if they miss the shot, they grab the offensive rebound.

The Spurs' lineup is undoubtedly extreme, and they can't grab rebounds at all.

But that's okay, they're ahead, they're hitting more.

In this way, in the third quarter, the Spurs scored 30 points relying on shooting, and the Grizzlies scored 33 points relying on offensive rebounds and shooting. Is this still the Spurs and Grizzlies, and they actually played an offensive battle.

But in fact, even if you beat the Grizzlies like this, you can't catch them back.

In the fourth quarter, they tried Randolph's play style with four perimeters for a few minutes. The Spurs did not adjust the lineup for the time being. Popovich felt that Zhang Xiaotian was not following the tactics and did not let him play.

But at this time, the Spurs' shooters were not so accurate. It's really inaccurate to take a break for things like hand feel. Seeing that the Grizzlies chased the score to single digits, Popovich immediately paused to adjust.

At this time, only 2 minutes into the last quarter, this is the reaction of the championship-level coach.

Ginobili took a break with the shooters, Zhang Xiaotian, Leonard and Danny Green came on, and no longer gave the Grizzlies outside opportunities. In the last quarter, the Spurs didn't care about the rhythm of hand-to-hand combat.

Duncan also played. This is the Spurs' strongest defensive junior and senior. Ginobili and Danny Green are replaced again, which is the strongest offensive major and junior.

In the next 2 minutes, the Grizzlies' outside shots were all interfered with. Once the Spurs made a substitution, the defense was improved by at least three levels. In their offense, Parker singled one and Zhang Xiaotian singled one.

This is the difference. Who can stand up to the Grizzlies when the defense shrinks and does not give the inside singles a chance.

The Grizzlies saw that the score gap had widened to double digits again, and they couldn't score from the outside line. They also chose to make substitutions and continue to sit in the twin towers. No matter what, they had the confidence to do so.

The Spurs are not afraid of the lineup of the Twin Towers, but their weaknesses are still better than the Grizzlies, because Duncan fouled four times, and the Spurs played one big and four small, and Duncan was the pinnacle of Poseidon.

Randolph fouled Duncan again, and the Spurs could only be forced to replace Splitter.

Splitter is good and doesn't care about physical confrontation, but he is not as good as the two bears in terms of strength.

When Duncan goes down, one is that there is a problem with the already weak rebounding, and the other is that Randolph can't be suppressed. Leonard can't guard against Randolph's fourth position, so when he meets a team with two towers , In many cases, the Spurs will not play the first and fourth juniors, but there are not enough insiders now.

What to do, inside three-point tactics or give up the inside?

The key is to score, and Randolph made such a toss, and the score gap returned to single digits.

At this time, Zhang Xiaotian stood up and almost ignored Gasol's long arm to hit a three-pointer after the pick-and-roll.

Popovich finally made up his mind to replace Danny Green with Matt Bonner and let Zhang Xiaotian play the second position.

Both offense and defense are taken into consideration, and the inside lines contain the twin towers.

(End of this chapter)