The world's best combo guard

Chapter 147 144 [Popovich's worries]

Returning to the Western Conference finals after two years, the rolling chariot of the Zijin Army finally looks close to the O'Brien Cup again.

After all, after Michael Jordan left and the league entered the millennium, the situation where the west is strong and the east is weak has continued.

Since the basketball god led the Chicago Bulls to complete the second three consecutive championships in team history in 98, the Eastern Conference has never had a championship until now.

Looking at the alliance, who can stop the Zijin Army?

People focused their attention on the San Antonio Spurs, the silver and gray army that also advanced to the Western Conference finals a day ago.

As the defending champion, the San Antonio Spurs, who have also maintained a strong team in recent years, seem to be the most challenging team for the Lakers.

And these two teams can meet in the Western Conference Finals as they wished, or this can be regarded as everyone's expectations.

However, compared to a year ago, even if the current San Antonio Spurs seem to have further strengthened with the growth of the GDP portfolio, they may not have more chances of winning after they meet the Los Angeles Lakers.

The regrouped and aggressive Zijin Legion looked not only terrifying but also somewhat incomprehensible.

Many people have to squeeze a cold sweat for Gregg Popovich.

.........

San Antonio, Spurs practice facility, conference room on the second floor, Gregg Popovich rubbed his temples hard, his face was exhausted.

"Greg, you shouldn't be working so hard. You haven't slept all night. It's hard to imagine that you can concentrate on reading the game in the upcoming Western Conference Finals when you are exhausted."

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses walked into the door.

RC Buford, the current general manager of the San Antonio Spurs, is also the best partner of head coach Gregg Popovich. The GDP combination that is gradually showing its power is now displayed in front of everyone through the joint efforts of the two.

"Old man, I don't want to do this, but you know, the situation forces me to do this, but even so, I still don't have much gain." Popovich shook his head.

"Yeah, the current Los Angeles Lakers look impeccable. Unlike last season, this season's ok combination is obviously full of energy. Judging from the fact that they played the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves, these two guys haven't even shown their full strength. In addition to strength, Karl Malone and Gary Payton who are still persisting at the end of their careers are obviously because of their great desire for the O'Brien Cup."

Thinking of the Los Angeles Lakers, even Buford, who has always been stable, had to show a bitter expression, which was a sense of powerlessness from the bottom of his heart.

"We have Tim on the inside, so whether it's Shaquille O'Neal or Karl Malone, I don't think our inside will be suppressed. As for Kobe Bryant, to be honest, I think he is a bigger threat than Shaq. Many tactics have little effect on him, but even so, as long as Bruce Bowen is there, we can still limit him to the greatest extent. As for Gary Payton, he has not integrated into the triangle offense of Phil Jackson until now. For us, he doesn't cause much pressure on the offensive end, so for us, it is not impossible to win against F4."

Popovich picked up the red wine glass and shook the red wine in the glass vigorously.

"Then I don't understand, Greg, when we can limit F4 to the greatest extent, we should have a very good chance of winning, but I see that is obviously not the case from your expression." Buford spread his hands , He came to the spirit, if another head coach said that he has a way to deal with the OK combination of the Lakers, maybe he Buford would not believe it, and thought it was a boast, but this sentence was said by Gregg Popovich , Having dealt with Popovich for a long time, he knows what kind of ability Popovich has. In short, Popovich is a great coach.

Since Popovich now says that he has a way to deal with the ok combination or even F4, Buford really can't figure out what Popovich is still worried about.

"RC, you may have forgotten someone?"

"Who?"

"The Lakers No. 10, the best rookie of the year, the guard from China" Popovich drank all the red wine in his glass in one breath.

"Lakers No. 10?" Buford raised his voice, and he was finally speechless, because when he thought of Lakers No. 10, he had to admit that it was also a tough guy.

"RC, you know? I thought of a way to deal with F4, but I can't find a way to deal with the Lakers' 10. This may sound ridiculous, but it is the way it is. It is really difficult to deal with him with our current configuration. Even if he's just a first-year rookie." Popovich was a little angry, and he slammed the wine glass out.

This startled Buford, an angry Popovich has seldom remembered.

"Lee is a special player. When we play against him, he can give us problems both on the offensive end and on the defensive end. On the offensive end, he is too fast. There are almost no players in our team who can follow. His footsteps, and on the defensive end, his defensive fundamentals are very solid, and he will definitely cause huge problems for Tony and Manu."

After the anger passed, Popovich sat down on the chair weakly.

"So now, we are faced with a choice, that is between Li Hao and Kobe, who should we use Bruce to defend?"

Popovich articulated the conundrum that had been smoldering in his heart.

Buford opened his mouth, and he was a little speechless. Even Popovich couldn't make up his mind, and he, a layman, didn't have any insight.

At the same time, the shock in his heart was actually very great. He didn't expect that in Popovich's heart, the threat of the Lakers' No. 10 would go straight to Kobe. Kobe is an undisputed superstar.

"Old man, maybe we can have a small player meeting, like only the coaching staff and the GDP combination, and we can brainstorm and listen to their opinions"

After the atmosphere was silent for a while, Buford spoke.

Half an hour later, in the conference room on the second floor, a small-scale meeting hosted by Popovich officially began.

Before the meeting started, Popovich's face was gloomy, but after half an hour, the gloom on Popovich's face was replaced by relief.

Like Popovich, Buford has also changed. I saw him walking out of the training hall with a smile on his face and striding out of the training hall after the meeting.

For the other players in the training facility, none of them knew what Popovich was talking about in this small group meeting, but at least it made them relax, after all, they were role players who were about to play against the Los Angeles Lakers The pressure is not small.

(End of this chapter)