The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 407 Core Awareness

Coming back with a complete away game, Popovich has already left in a bad mood.

However, when the reporter asked about the team's substitute, the old man also missed the past.

"Our best bench should be when Ginobili was young. I persuaded a future Hall of Famer to play as a substitute. He didn't ask for a trade, so he agreed. I was really lucky." The words are simple and shocking, but it shows the truth.

Popovich sighed: "So that is our best bench, because there is Manu Ginobili, who is five or six years younger, and he can take over the game as soon as he comes on."

By the way, he also missed Duncan, and joked: "Without him coaching me, no one would point out my mistakes."

The status of GDP in Popovich's heart is higher than many things. I am afraid that the master-student relationship between them is hard to find in this world, so now Popovich is sometimes just an old man.

The Spurs will play back-to-back next, but the first game is against the challenging Magic at home.

Magic Xia Tian spent a lot of money, and they have been doing it for so long, and they also want to change.

They can't invite big names. In the summer, they first renewed Fournier's contract for 5 million in 8500 years, won Biyombo for 4 million in 7200 years, and bet Jeff Green for 1 million in 1500 year. Baka.

The news is not small, but their record in the new season still hasn't improved.

Now is the small ball era, but the Magic have introduced several premium insiders. The key is that they still have Vucevic in their formation.

Coming to San Antonio, three of their starting lineups are newcomers.

The previous insider Vucevic was actually placed on the bench. The starting lineup and Aaron Gordon, who is swinging forward, can be said to be four big men, but both Aaron Gordon and Ibaka can shoot outside. It's not a big problem, but their starting lineup is not organized at all, so I don't know what the head coach thinks.

The opponent has a lot of big men, and the Spurs also started with double insiders.

In the first quarter, the rhythm of both sides was very slow. The opponents Biyombo and Ibaka were inside, and it was difficult to score easily when they broke in. The Spurs were also trying to attack from the outside.

It's just that Parker and Leonard didn't feel very good, and the game became ugly.

The same is true for the Magic. Outside Fournier and Aaron Gordon are guarded to death by Zhang Xiaotian and Leonard, and it is very difficult for both sides to score.

The Magic are actually not a defensive team. The Spurs and their formation grind, in fact, they beat the game to death.

At this time, Zhang Xiaotian did his part and frequently used his strength to bully Fournier.

His efficiency in singles with the ball is more efficient than running tactics.

It was all the fault of the formation, and the Magic also realized the problem, and quickly replaced Vucevic in half a quarter, and then replaced Payton Jr., Jeff Green and others.

The Spurs were a little more indifferent, relying on Zhang Xiaotian to play with the ball and they are still leading the way.

When it came time for the rotation, they still put on a senior and a junior, so that Mills, Danny Green and Ginobili all came up, and Zhang Xiaotian and Leonard played the fourth position with the team respectively.

Back then, the Spurs were known for their twin-tower tactics. Times have changed, and when Aldridge and Gasol are flexible insiders, it is difficult for Popovich to make them play efficiently.

The choice is different in different times. The Spurs are still the most efficient at the first and fourth juniors.

After the lineup is changed, the scores of both sides will gradually increase.

With a small lineup and a high speed, opportunities will come out more easily.

The Magic will not change accordingly, but because of the height of the inside, it is easier to score, but it is hard to say that it is more advantageous over there.

The result is definitely more Spurs, they are just used to forge iron.

Parker and Danny Green were zero for the entire first half, and this incident also reveals the weirdness. Mingming was busy playing away games, but why did he fail when he came back? Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help joking about whether these guys were at night. Too much trouble made my legs weak.

In fact, the Magic's defense is really not very good, especially for a player like Zhang Xiaotian who can shoot against the top.

In the first half, Zhang Xiaotian took almost half of the team's scoring, scoring 21 points, but the team just tied the opponent.

In the third quarter, Leonard's state recovered, but the others couldn't score.

At this time, you can see the player's level and be able to actively adjust the state. It is the kind that is at the top of the All-Star level. Leonard is obviously a level higher than Aldridge, Gasol and others.

And Zhang Xiaotian is still very stable, whether he is facing Fournier or Aaron Gordon, he is a sure winner.

Compared with Fournier, Aaron Gordon actually defends well, with strength and height, but if he wants to fight Zhang Xiaotian with all his strength, he will not be able to keep up with his footsteps, and he can only be eaten as usual.

When the other points of the Spurs were all inexplicably misfired, the Magic performed well. After Zhang Xiaotian went to rest, they took the lead.

In fact, Zhang Xiaotian didn't pay much attention to the other party at this time, just a single-digit lead.

It has to be said that after staying in a strong team for a long time, anyone will have a little arrogance.

When the Magic double-teamed him from the beginning to the end when he played in the final quarter, and the other teammates' touch skills couldn't make up for it, Zhang Xiaocai knew that something was a little troublesome.

He has already scored 30 points. In fact, he will not lose his mind about 50 points. With his skills in the last quarter, he will definitely not be reconciled if he doesn't make an impact.

But now it seems that, not to mention the task, the victory points may slip away.

Moreover, the Spurs replaced Leonard when they saw that the situation was wrong, and the pick-and-roll between the two did not solve the problem.

Both of them are the best at the All-Star level. It is normal to say that the two of them are not working well, but the opponent is an underdog like the Magic.

Leonard's touch became worse again, and Aldridge was guarded by Ibaka.

After half a quarter, the Magic still took the lead, which is a rare situation in other games.

Popovich asked for a timeout, and the old man didn't say much about tactics, but trained everyone, especially Zhang Xiaotian.

"If you can't make a shot, keep shooting. I gave you the power to dominate the tactics on the field. If you can't do it, I will replace Manu."

Zhang Xiaotian also suddenly realized that he was still not clear enough about his position.

The core player is to stand up when the team encounters difficulties. He has played well in front of him but not enough, he needs to be more determined, not enough to make tight defense or subtle tactics, just to be unreasonable.

The teams he stayed in before had absolute cores, so he didn't realize this quickly.

Coupled with the additional effect of the assister, he is indeed not aggressive enough after being flanked.

After being awakened, Zhang Xiaotian's eyes became extremely determined. So what about flanking, the Spurs now have problems on the offensive end, but the defensive end is still stable, so he can score.

(End of this chapter)