The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 297 Be Prepared
Danny Green's defense was impeccable, but Zhang Xiaotian's three-pointer still fell into the basket.

It can only be said that this ball is too demonic, even if Danny Green's defense is an All-Star level, he can't stop it.

With only 1 point behind, the Cavaliers still chose a three-pointer, and Popovich requested a timeout again, this time he was a little helpless.

This is unreasonable. Under the absolute performance of the stars, the tactics have a fart.

Three points or two points, Popovich handed over the choice to Parker.

Parker is the best player in the Spurs today. Even if there are some problems in the final quarter, Popovich will always give full trust to the old man.

Zhang Xiaotian is in charge of Ginobili at this time. Although Ginobili didn't perform much in this game, he must not be forgotten at the last moment. This buddy is also famous for his big heart.

There are 9 seconds left in the time, which is enough for an attack.

Timofey Mozgov was replaced, the main function is to block people.

He blocked Parker, but was bypassed by Parker. The Spurs' tactics of receiving the ball were very meticulous.

Then Mozgov went to block Duncan, and the real purpose of replacing him was here.

Zhang Xiaotian followed Ginobili to the far end, but Duncan was preparing to cover for Parker again.

When Mozgov came up, he couldn't switch defenses. Fortunately, there was not enough time. As soon as Duncan came up, Irving went around to the side. Mozgov took the opportunity to squeeze on Duncan to prevent the Spurs from succeeding in the pick-and-roll.

Parker turned around for a while, wanting to change direction and play a pick-and-roll tactic with Duncan, but unexpectedly, Duncan was squeezed by the Russians. Parker saw that the time was running out, so he gritted his teeth and rushed inside.

Zhang Xiaotian followed Ginobili on the other side, and it must be too late to assist in the defense. He reminded loudly from a distance that Parker accelerated with his head covered, basically he would not be able to pass the ball.

Owen sped up and rushed, Mozgov also turned to help defend, and even James rushed over.

Parker didn't rush towards the basket, but drifted towards the bottom line.

The ball bounced off the rim, then the red light came on and the basketball fell into the rim.

At 110:110, Parker hit two points at the last moment, dragging the game into overtime.

Several old guys in the Spurs looked very tired, but they didn't know how much energy they could squeeze out, and the Cavaliers didn't dare to be careless in overtime.

In overtime, the Cavaliers switched back to double insiders. Both Zhang Xiaotian and Irving were the end points. Adding a shooter is really of little use, but there will be problems in defense.

But the double insiders are Love and Tristan Thompson, because the Spurs are still playing one and four, and Mozgov is too slow and can only sit on the bench.

David Blatt can be regarded as empathy. When Mozgov was not here, he admired his disciple very much. But when the deal came, he felt that Mozgov was not ideal enough. It was all because of his high expectations. woe.

Duncan won the jump ball again in overtime, and Leonard made a difficult jumper.

Looking at Leonard's cool appearance of a cold-faced killer, Zhang Xiaotian was also quite moved.

But it was Leonard's turn to beat James hard, which also proved that the Spurs' current physical strength is not very good.

Then Irving, Zhang Xiaotian and James hit three-pointers successively, allowing the Cavaliers to control the trend of the game.

It has nothing to do with tactics. The three-pointers of the three are all shot directly in front of the defenders.

On the Spurs' side, Duncan made two shots at the basket a little lighter. In overtime, Duncan really had no strength.

Next, the Spurs changed their strategy and started a three-point tactic.

As a result, only Danny Green scored one, and the Cavaliers took advantage of Duncan's physical strength to keep up, and made another five fouls, and succeeded in rushing to the basket one after another.

The Spurs are a little tighter on the outside, and then they lose the inside. This feeling of being exhausted is not good.

And the Cavaliers' tactics are really simple, that is, singles with three ball-holding points, and players with All-Star level can do whatever they want.

With Zhang Xiaotian breaking through and causing a foul by Danny Green, the Cavaliers led by 7 points. It was already the last half minute, and there was no suspense about the outcome.

Popovich shook his head secretly. At this time in previous years, he would definitely not let the players and the strong team like the Cavaliers fight recklessly, just take down the weak team safely and securely.

It's just that the team's record this year is not ideal, and he also hopes to win the game to improve morale. Unexpectedly, the team is not as good as the sky. It seems that the team really needs to introduce new blood.

In the beginning, the Spurs wanted to rely on the draft to overcome the difficulties of GDP aging with the smallest cost, but now the times have changed, and the era when a core and some low-level picks can win the country is gone forever.

In fact, the Spurs have still made a lot of money over the years. Spending more money for the team's performance will not lose money. Popovich just didn't get over the hurdle in his heart.

At 130:124, the Cavaliers won, and Zhang Xiaotian also raised his score to 20+ in overtime.

Now Zhang Xiaotian can average 18.4 points per game, surpassing Love in scoring, but the other statistics are only 1.5 steals per game, which is not bad.

Compared with the previous seasons, he has improved again. If a team now regards him as the core, he is still confident in averaging 20 points per game. The goal is getting closer and closer.

In this game, Zhang Xiaotian and other three players performed well, but Love's performance was not satisfactory.

After discussing with David Blatt and Love, he will definitely let Love rest for two games to recover from fatigue and make adjustments.

On March 3, the Cavaliers won a hearty victory in the face of the Magic who gave up this season and devoted themselves to cultivating newcomers.

The team's rotation is also more targeted. When investigating role players for the playoffs, Shumpert got a lot of playing time because of his good defense.

It's just that his shortcomings are also obvious. The offense is too poor. What the Cavaliers have to do is to combine his playing time with JR Smith.

In the next back-to-back away games, the Cavaliers lost to the Heat who were fighting for the playoffs.

After Bosh was injured, Wade can be said to have tried his best.

The team is not hopeless, they signed a fringe player who turned out to be a treasure, and now scoring double-doubles is commonplace, and it is always a big cap, which is better than Bosh before.

The fringe man suddenly became a powerful center, and the Heat felt a little unbelievable.

Zhang Xiaotian wondered if that buddy got some kind of system, rising faster than him.

After returning to the home court, Love came back and the team was complete again.

However, in order to prevent any further problems inside, the team began to give playing time to Kendrick Perkins, who was signed in the middle of the season.

For role players like Perkins, the most they can play in the playoffs is for a few minutes. Just in case, the Cavaliers began to give opportunities to these players who may be able to play for a few minutes.

The playoffs are coming soon, so be prepared.

(End of this chapter)