The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 488 Parker is getting old
The Thunder still hope that Paul George can stand up. Paul George's performance at critical moments has always been good, and he also has an advantage in physical strength.

Of course, on defense, he had to face Zhang Xiaotian.

The Thunder's defense did a good job this time. Paul George's height made it difficult for Zhang Xiaotian to shoot directly from the outside, and then double-team directly. Others' defensive rotations were no problem.

There is also a deliberately slow rhythm, the purpose is to prevent Zhang Xiaotian from gaining an advantage when leading the team alone.

The Thunder hope to be able to stand on the same starting line in the final duel, because the Spurs are not well-equipped, and they have the hope of winning if they do a good job in perimeter defense.

But what they didn't expect was their own offense. The Thunder's current lineup on the field is more defensive. Paul George is the only strong point, but Zhang Xiaotian interfered with his two shots.

And Zhang Xiaotian's singles efficiency is slightly better than him.

Moreover, after Zhang Xiaotian sent out several second passes, his opponent finally scored.

Zhang Xiaotian can't be regarded as a passing master, but he will not take the same pass foolishly.

Most of the time he is looking for three-pointers from the outside. His vision is not particularly wide, so most of the training is to practice passing outside.

But the other method was something he had always mastered.

Just under Paul George's arm, Zhang Xiaotian seemingly casually threw the ball over, and McGee jumped up from the basket, and an alley-oop came directly.

The Spurs took the lead, the Thunder had to make substitutions, let Robertson go down to rest, and Westbrook came up to strengthen the offensive end, but the defense couldn't win the game.

At this time, it was Murray who defended Westbrook. This young man did a good job defensively.

The key is that Westbrook is a little unresolute in playing now, often hovering between going it alone and passing the ball, and in the last quarter, Westbrook occasionally has a brain short circuit.

For example, he failed once when he came up this time, but was counterattacked by Zhang Xiaotian.

Now Zhang Xiaotian has a bit of James in his charge, and he can't stop it at all.

The Thunder made another substitution, and the Spurs also made another substitution. The final duel began at about half a quarter.

When the Thunder's Big Three are in order, even if they don't cooperate with one of them in singles, they can still attract defensive attention. Why do all-star stars earn so much more than others? The effect in the game is big enough.

At this time, they finally played an offense worthy of their reputation. Westbrook and Paul George hit three-pointers respectively, and they overtook the score at 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

But 13 seconds later, Zhang Xiaotian scored Leonard, who also hit a three-pointer, and the score became the Spurs lead again.

Then Westbrook made another mistake suddenly, the Spurs counterattacked, Zhang Xiaotian dribbled the ball straight in and scored 2+1.

Then the Spurs defended successfully again, and Zhang Xiaotian hit two points in the positional battle.

At 97:90, with only 1 minute and 59 seconds left, the Thunder requested a timeout.

At this time, there is not much to do, but the core players can only stand up and hit the ball in.

Donovan also didn't expect that from having an advantage to a confrontation, and then falling behind by 7 points all of a sudden, it happened to be the last moment of the game.

They have already done what should be done, but Zhang Xiaotian added Leonard who was not in 100% condition, and Leonard was crushed to death.

In the arena of the league, it is often so unreasonable.

Playing again, Paul George forcibly missed a three-pointer, and then Westbrook also hit the iron, and Zhang Xiaotian hit again on the Spurs side, and the game was finalized.

The Spurs will play the Pistons the next day, and Evans and Leonard will take turns.

The Pistons traded Bradley in the summer. The team's current record is not bad, but the team's weaknesses are still unresolved, lacking firepower on the offensive end.

Lacking two firepowers, the Spurs were indeed affected. The key is that Parker was completely overwhelmed by Reggie Jackson.

Fortunately, the Spurs team's defense still maintained a standard, and the score between the two sides was tight in the first half.

Popovich didn't know what he was thinking, and he could let Murray play more to solve the defensive problem, but he basically didn't give Murray a chance to play.

Many times in the regular season, the old man likes to add difficulty to the team.

However, the Spurs' offense was obviously much smoother than the opponent's, and it was difficult for the Pistons to limit Zhang Xiaotian.

The reason for not being able to take the initiative is because the Pistons played star football from the beginning.

There are hidden dangers in this approach. Others are not like Zhang Xiaotian who can play at the end of the quarter. If they play too hard in front, they will lose stamina if they are exhausted.

During the intermission, Popovich still fine-tuned the defense, intending to use team defense to make up for Parker's lack of this point, and he didn't know whether to encourage old friends or let Parker recognize the reality.

However, Reggie Jackson did drop in efficiency in the second half, and Drummond stood up for the Pistons, mainly because the defensive end restricted the Spurs a lot.

But the way the Pistons play, Drummond's help to the team on the offensive end is limited.

It feels like the Pistons haven't made good use of this rebounding center.

The score is still tangled, but the situation is completely different.

The Spurs led the opponent, gradually pulling both sides into their rhythm.

The current Spurs are used to Zhang Xiaotian showing off his power at the end of the day and leading them to victory.

As for Zhang Xiaotian, there is no better way. With the lack of personnel, it takes more patience to win the game. It is easy to kill the opponent in one go, but when the situation is not so smooth, it is necessary to rely on defense and tactics. Stabilize the game, then observe the details of the game, and hold on tightly when the opponent has a flaw.

The opening is not necessarily the fourth quarter, but when it comes to Zhang Xiaotian, he has enough ability to create openings.

The Pistons are also playing very hard now, so they can't think about the last quarter at all.

Some teams hope to win the Spurs and pay attention to the rhythm of Zhang Xiaotian and the Spurs, but it is not easy for some teams to bite the Spurs, and we can no longer expect them to do better.

Following Zhang Xiaotian at the end of the quarter was Stanley Johnson. The Pistons, a young striker, improved his defensive skills after hard training in the summer, but in front of Zhang Xiaotian, many of his proud defensive skills were useless.

As Zhang Xiaotian scored 5 points in a row, Reggie Jackson returned to the court after only 56 seconds of rest.

It's just that Reggie Jackson hasn't really reached the All-Star level. It's definitely not enough for the Pistons to rely on their tactical status and the backcourt core that has lost the strength of the previous seasons to attack the Spurs.

At the most critical time, Popovich let Parker sit on the bench.

So Reggie Jackson's tricks didn't work, and Parker sat down a little embarrassed, and didn't know if his heart was broken.

(End of this chapter)