The invincible kryptonite of basketball

When he walked to Popovich's side, he couldn't help complaining a few words.

Last season, Ginobili and Jefferson were the second and third positions of the team. They not only started but also occupied the main playing time.

Manu Ginobili was injured early this season, theoretically his playing time should increase.

But no, the time that originally belonged to Ginobili was divided between Green and Tang Tian.

In the previous away trip, Green's condition was generally good.

But when he returned to the home court, Green's condition recovered, Tang Tian's performance was strong again, and his playing time was constantly compressed.

Up to now, the average is only about 20 minutes per game, which is directly less than half of the 30 minutes of last season.

Now that Ginobili is coming back, it is no exaggeration to say that he is likely to become a false starter, or be directly demoted to the bench.

He just signed a big contract with the Spurs, which is definitely not what he wants to see.

So he has been holding back his strength recently to fight.

He was also in good form in this game. He scored 5 points after 4 minutes of playing. Unexpectedly, Popovich replaced him early.

This made his accumulated unhappiness finally explode. Although he didn't dare to attack too much, it was the first time he complained to Popovich.

Popovich frowned visibly.

Ordinary NBA coaches don't have too much say in the team, but he is an exception.

His right to speak in the Spurs, like many NC head coaches, is basically what he says.

Jefferson's performance made him feel uncomfortable.

The head coach looks at the problem differently from the players. Jefferson scored 4 points, but Pierce scored 8 points, not to mention 2 assists.

This shows that every offense of the Celtics is related to Pierce, and Jefferson was completely blown up.

He has not replaced Jefferson until now, and he has already considered his personal feelings.

Tang Tian went on the court and defended Pierce with all his strength. Although Pierce still scored, his efficiency dropped significantly.

The Spurs gradually stabilized the situation on the court, and the point difference was never widened.

Popovich nodded repeatedly watching from the sidelines. Although Tang Tian didn't score, this was the situation he wanted to see.

He then turned his head and glanced at the bench. Jefferson was chatting with Neil at this time, completely not paying attention to the field.

This guy is not in good form this season, and his attitude is also very problematic. Coupled with his previous complaints and his current reaction, this is really challenging his bottom line.

Thanks to the fool sea dog for the reward!

Chapter 1: An Invitation from the Alliance (3/5) (Revised)

The Spurs and Celtics were in a stalemate for more than three quarters.

In the final stage, the Celtics superstar played more steadily, and the Spurs finally lost 93 to 99 regrettably.

Not losing much, Popovich can fully accept it in his heart.

Tang Tian regained his touch in this game, played 27 minutes, made 10 of 5 shots, made 4 three-pointers, plus 2 free throws, scored 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

After the back-to-back away games, the Spurs flew back to San Antonio the next morning. After continuous campaigns, they could finally go home.

And after returning home, they received good news that Ginobili's injury has recovered well, and if there is no accident, he will be able to return after the All-Star Game.

On this day, the final results of the All-Star voting were officially announced.

The Lakers, Heat and Clippers became the biggest winners.

The starting five in the East are: Rose, Wade, James, Anthony and Howard.

The starting five in the West: Paul, Kobe, Durant, Griffin and Bynum.

After Yao Ming retired, Howard became the All-Star vote leader for the first time.

It's a pity that the Spurs, ranked first in the West, have no one selected as a starter.

But this is also expected.

The Spurs played team basketball this season, and Parker, who has the most outstanding statistics, only averaged 19.2 points and 8.2 assists per game.

Not only is there a difference in statistics, but the popularity cannot be compared with Paul, Kobe or even Westbrook.

However, although Parker was not selected as the All-Star starter, he still received an official invitation email from the league, inviting him to participate in this year's All-Star Skills Challenge.

Tang Tian also received a text message at the same time, he was invited to participate in the All-Star three-point shooting contest.

He has made 49% of his three-pointers so far, beating Novak and Ray Allen to rank first in the league. It is completely normal to receive this invitation.

Tang Tian accepted.

The All-Star game is a stage to show ability and attract popularity, and after improving his shooting speed, he has the strength to participate in this game.

This opportunity must not be missed.

Parker also accepted, which means that this year's All-Star Game, at least two of the Spurs will appear on the scene.

Because it is a suspension season, several important points in the league have been postponed a lot.

The All-Star Game, which is usually held in mid-February, was also postponed to the end of February.

Time came to mid-February in a blink of an eye. While the Spurs' performance continued to be stable, the team also ushered in a good news.

Manu Ginobili, who had been on a truce for a month and a half, finally ushered in a comeback!

He came back in the game against the Mavericks, played 20 minutes, contributed 11 points and 4 assists, helping the team win in the end.

His comeback also made the Spurs' bench depth thicker.

Ginobili, Tang Tian, ​​Splitter, plus Leonard and Mills who have performed well recently, this lineup can even be compared to the starting lineups of some weak teams.

But Ginobili's return also brought some butterfly effects.

NBA比赛一共就只有48分钟，轮换也就8~10人，等于说一个位置至少要被2~3人瓜分。

Ginobili needs playing time when he comes back. Green and Tang Tian are very stable, and they are both forwards and guards. Jefferson can only be squeezed out.

Jefferson's playing time was further compressed, playing only 16 minutes against the Mavericks.

This is obviously unacceptable, and Jefferson has not only complained on the sidelines, but also talked openly with Neal in the locker room.

This makes the originally harmonious locker room atmosphere not so harmonious.

This approach eventually annoyed Popovich, the old man went into a rage in the locker room, and almost shut Jefferson by name.

At this time, the league announced the All-Star substitute list, as well as the official list for the rookie game.

Parker was selected for the All-Star bench, and Tang Tian was selected for the first-year list of the rookie game.

It is worth mentioning that the four hard-working brothers of Xia Tian, ​​Owen, Walker, Tang Tian and Thompson are all on the list.

After parting ways during the offseason, they are going to gather on the rookie stage.

However, because the rookie game has been restructured this year, it is no longer a confrontation between the first and second grades, but has become the "Barkley" team and the "O'Neal" team.

The two will successively select the first and second grade players selected for the rookie game to form a team. This is also the first time in NBA history that there will be a mixed first and second grade team.

Therefore, it is still unknown who and who will become teammates of the four brothers in the end.

All four sent text messages to each other one after another, and their selection also proved that hard training during the offseason is very useful.

The selection of these lists also attracted another wave of heated discussions among fans on ins.

"Josh Smith deserves a substitute spot. His performance this year is better than his teammates Joe Johnson and Deron Williams!"

"Paul Gasol is the biggest legacy. An insider who averaged 16.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game did not make it to the All-Star. It's shit!"

"Hey man, this is the brutal West. Aldridge, Kevin Love, Dirk Nowitzki, Marc Gasol, they're all more All-Stars this season than Pau Gasol."

"This is the cruelty of the All-Stars. He only has 12 people in total. When will the league expand the list to 15 people?"

"And then there are 3 guys sitting on the sidelines watching the whole game?"

"There are 2 more that can't enter the activation list, it's funny manually."

"Did you find out? This time, the list of individual competitions was also announced, and the 'Godfather' was selected for the list of three-point shooting contests."

"Shouldn't it? This season, his performance outside the three-point line is the best, and his three-point shooting percentage ranks first in the league!"

"It reminds me of Jason Kapono in the 06-07 season. His performance before the All-Star Game was so frenetic."

"No no, you misunderstood me, 'The Godfather' is definitely worthy of being selected, the problem is that there is another name in this list called Kevin Durant."

"Kevin Durant! Brother, you are so fucking talented! Your success reminds me of Durant's trumpeting the 'Godfather'!"

"More than once."

"Many times, I don't know if he will also appear here."

"You guys are so awesome, I'm hooked by you and I really want to go to the All-Star scene, I'm really looking forward to the contest between Durant and the 'Godfather' in the three-point game!"

"And I have to remind you of one thing, Durant also participated in the three-point contest last year, and in the end he scored 6 points, almost refreshing Michael Jordan's record for the lowest score in the three-point contest, ranking second to last. "

"So he continued to participate in the three-point shooting contest this year to rectify his name?"

"Then he met 'The Godfather.'"

"Then he lost to 'The Godfather,' the man he'd been pissed off with."

"You... are all genius directors, even Hollywood directors can't write such a script!"

"..."

The chrysanthemum is a little painful... The monthly ticket list for new books has been blown to sixth, and the monthly ticket list for sports categories has also been blown to third... Is this even more difficult?

Chapter 191 Intra-team ban (4/5)

The announcement of the All-Star substitute and the list of individual competitions has attracted a wave of heated discussions from the outside world.

Tang Tian also paid attention to this list, and when he saw Durant participating in the competition, he was slightly taken aback.

He knew about the "trumpet incident" because Durant was upset with him because of Nike's internal competition.

Participating in the three-point contest together this time makes the meaning of this three-point contest different.

Judging from Durant's performance in the "Trumpet Incident", if he wins this game, I am afraid that it will not only be as simple as complacency, but the tail will probably go to heaven.

In other words, this turned into a match that Tang Tian couldn't lose.

Tang Tian was confident in his three-pointer, but he still started training for the three-pointer competition with the help of Procopio.

Take 1 three-point shots within 25 minute. This is the most difficult part of the three-point contest. If the shots are slow or the rhythm is not good, it is easy to shoot low points.

Training is necessary, but for him, it is also a matter of adapting quickly.

The All-Star Game is on February 2th, and there are still about 25 days before the official start.

The Spurs still have 5 games in the middle, and on average, every two days, the intensity is not small.

Although the intensity is high, the depth of the bench has increased after Ginobili's comeback, and the performance of the Spurs is also very stable, with a record of 4 wins and 3 loss in the first 1 games.

With this wave of stable performance, the Spurs also continued to overwhelm the Thunder to occupy the No. [-] position in the Western Conference.

Because the distance between Milwaukee and Minneapolis is not far, after the game against the Bucks, the Spurs chartered a flight to Minneapolis that night.

They will play the last game before the All-Star break against the Timberwolves there.

The performance of the Timberwolves this season is not much different from previous seasons.

After Garnett left the team, this team seemed to be under a spell. No matter what kind of lineup, it seemed that it had nothing to do with the playoffs.

Fortunately, their No. [-] pick this year, Derek Williams, performed well.

After entering February, he lost weight and changed to the third position, and successfully entered the team's starting lineup.

So far, he has averaged 12.5 points and 4 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage exceeds 47%. He has the momentum to compete for the best rookie of the month.

The next morning, Popovich scheduled the team's daily practice.