The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 237 The Powerful Front Line

"The Spurs guys know me well, and I remember training with them, but then I'll get better and they'll see a stronger version of me."

Zhang Xiaotian was full of confidence before the game. If he can win the game, he will be a god. If he continues to fail, he will be a small role player who can only talk.

The improvement of all attributes is not an enhancement of a certain aspect. Although the improvement is not much, it can make Zhang Xiaotian's strength a level stronger.

So as soon as the second game started, the Spurs quickly felt the difference.

Zhang Xiaotian took advantage of the fact that the Spurs couldn't defend twice and scored from the perimeter, making very decisive shots.

Popovich squinted his eyes on the sidelines. Although Zhang Xiaotian has not shown explosive performance this season, in the Spurs' tactics, he is also guarding against his breakthrough.

The Spurs are too familiar with Zhang Xiaotian. When his basic strength is still weak, he often performs super. This season, he has become more stable, and it is not impossible to become stronger on the scoring end.

Popovich immediately adjusted and withdrew Splitter first.

He directly used Leonard to defend Zhang Xiaotian, and James used Diao to defend.

Dior's defense against James is to throw shots. James is really a little stressed about this move, because Dior has weight, and Duncan will help defend him when he goes in, which makes him very uncomfortable.

There were still problems with the first few shots, but James is not an ordinary star.

If letting him go can completely solve him, the Heat would have died in the East long ago.

After finding the touch, James hit consecutively, and the Spurs used Dior's trick to be useless.

Popovich immediately adjusted and switched to Leonard as the main defense, while Zhang Xiaotian replaced Ginobili as the main defense.

Because Dior's pace is not so fast, Zhang Xiaotian must not be able to put the basket on the outside.

It's okay to use Danny Green, but the Spurs are already on the offensive lineup at this time.

Ginobili's defensive footwork is fine, and it is impossible for Zhang Xiaotian to get rid of it easily, but he still has an advantage if he fights with strength.

This is also no way, the Spurs lack the third position as a substitute, and Danny Green's power is also exploded.

This is also related to the Spurs' style of play. Compared with the defensive third position, the Spurs prefer to use the three guards to throw wildly from the outside. Of course, the starting lineup has Leonard with both offense and defense.

It's just that when encountering an unconventional lineup like the Heat, with Zhang Xiaotian and James as two difficult forwards, their style of play will be a little troublesome, and they can only use offense to offset it.

The current Spurs are not a defensive team, their offense has been better defended.

But their defense can't be broken through by ordinary teams, but there will be some flaws in front of a top-notch team like the Heat.

At the last moment of the first half, Zhang Xiaotian hit two points, and the two sides tied at 43:43. Zhang Xiaotian had already scored 10 points in the first half this time.

The score of the main lineup is still leading by the Heat, and the Spurs' bench lineup headed by Ginobili has once again shown its strength.

This is all normal. The Heat are inherently strong stars, while the Spurs are overall excellent.

However, Ginobili came up to change Zhang Xiaotian, and he also paid the price of three fouls.

Zhang Xiaotian's early effort also gave the Heat more choices, but Spoelstra had no idea how long his state could last.

Zhang Xiaotian's level can also be called a star, but compared to the All-Star level players, he still lacks stability. Of course, this is the opinion of the outside world. Zhang Xiaotian himself knows when he can show his power.

The Spurs want to stop him unless they treat him as James' defense, but there is a problem. The team already has James, and the Spurs don't have so many players to use, so they can only rely on overall defense.

In the third quarter, the Heat used Zhang Xiaotian's point as a restraint, and James began to fire with all his strength.

In order to defend James, Leonard quickly paid the price of three fouls. The Spurs could only continue to let Diaw defend James and play three guards.

Under such circumstances, Duncan could not continue to save his strength, and he also made various strong attacks in the interior, which Bosh and Anderson couldn't handle.

And Oden dared not use it at all at this time.

This time James' touch is completely up, and the Spurs can only rely on Duncan for support.

But after the rotation started, the Spurs' perimeter began to show signs of soaring three-pointers.

Originally, the Heat had a steady lead, but the Spurs turned over a few three-pointers.

The Heat didn't allow the main force to fight against each other. Before that time, they also tried to let Lewis and James Jones play, but the effect was not very obvious.

James' tactics with shooters is not easy to use in front of the Spurs.

Even players who are not good at single defense in the Spurs, the defensive rotation is also extremely fast.

And the Heat's shooters don't have Ginobili's ability to score autonomously, so they are indeed at a disadvantage on the league's top battlefield.

The game still has to go to the last quarter to win the game, so James went down to rest temporarily.

As soon as Zhang Xiaotian rushed in with the ball, he immediately suffered the core treatment and was double-teamed by the Spurs.

He distributed the ball to Bosh on the side. Bosh still has an advantage on the offensive end, and the Spurs can't defend against the inside.

At the critical moment, Bosh still showed his true qualities as a giant, and made a steady hit in the CIC.

At this time, the Spurs let Pelinelli stick to the defense and Dior assisted in the defense.This is not the best choice, but Leonard and Ginobili have already fouled a lot, and Danny Green has to mark Wade again.

In terms of footwork, Wade is faster, and there is no way.

But after Zhang Xiaotian didn't break through and stared directly at Pelinelli for two hits, the Spurs could only change again.

Popovich is quick to respond. Although sometimes his thinking is incomprehensible to others, most of the time it is a useful adjustment.

First, Ginobili was replaced. After seeing that the problem still could not be solved, the Spurs still replaced Leonard and Duncan.

The Heat also replaced James on the opposite side. At this time, Leonard played at the fourth position, because the Heat felt good in this game, and Diaw's defensive weakness was magnified.

However, due to Duncan's desperate efforts in the third quarter, he has some physical problems now. As soon as he came up, he was pinched by the Heat at the right time and made a mistake.

This is a very critical issue. Popovich is still letting Duncan deter the inside, but the offense has been mainly placed on the outside.

But the problem is not just Duncan. James beat Leonard again and caused the latter to foul. Leonard made five fouls.

What to do, no one except Leonard Spurs can limit James who has recovered his touch from the outside.

Popovich could only replace Dior, but Leonard also took the risk and did not go down, but went to the third position.

But then Zhang Xiaotian tried his best to attack Leonard, Leonard was not afraid, and the defense was still aggressive, but Popovich was a little worried, so he replaced Leonard first.

The Spurs' defense is starting to stretch, and if the Heat can't seize this opportunity, don't continue.

(End of this chapter)