ATPnovel Chapter 495
Chapter 495
Chapter 495
The abilities of Leonard and Aldridge are naturally not bad, otherwise the Spurs would not be able to rank second in the Western Conference without a major general.
Aldridge has been an All-Star for several years, and Leonard also has the strength of an All-Star this season, but they can't use Aldridge's offensive power now, and relying on Leonard's means is not as efficient as Xiang Chu.
Popovich regretted it a bit, and if he knew it, he would let Duncan take the top.
They signed Boban deliberately in the summer. They are tall and heavy. They didn't expect to be a meat shield.
In the third quarter, the Nuggets took the initiative and took the lead, but the lead was not much.
At this time, the Spurs have no choice but the Nuggets players think they have a better chance of winning.
But what I didn't expect was that something happened during the rotation period. Dior, who hadn't played much in the previous starter, suddenly showed his power and hit two consecutive three-pointers.
The Nuggets really didn't expect that Dior wasn't good at three-pointers at all.
The Spurs' sophomore Kyle Anderson also showed his strength at this time and played very well.
The Spurs once again gained the lead, and the score gap has a tendency to widen.
George Oh-Karl quickly paused and replaced Xiang Chu. There should be no hesitation at this time.
After Xiang Chu came on the court, the situation was completely different, and the Nuggets' defense could be completely expanded.
Dior can't do it anymore if he wants to steal chickens outside. It was because the Nuggets' defense paid more attention to Mills and Simmons before that he got a chance.
If he can't perform on the offensive end, he is actually not very useful on the defensive end.
Both Xiang Chu and Jokic hit him casually, because this buddy is too short, and he can defend against the inside line who has not shot. Although Xiang Chu does not shoot three-pointers, two-pointers are still relatively stable.
The Spurs finally took Boban out, after all, it is useful to guard the basket with a high altitude.
Aldridge really can't stand the fifth position, and if he continues to use it, he might be offended.
The main reason for the Spurs is to consider that they are leading now, even if they are only leading by a few points, it is an advantage. If they slow down the pace, they may be able to delay it.
The Nuggets are still very strong now, but the absence of Gallinari will definitely have an impact. At least their outside line is not so fierce, and they may be able to hold it.
Although with a little fluke, it is a more suitable choice for the Spurs now.
The Spurs are very good at dragging the pace and defending. After they determined the strategy, the court became a melee field.
Xiang Chu was closely followed by Boban at any time, and if he could catch the ball, he would double-team him immediately.
The opponent's decisiveness also gave Jokic a lot of shots, and the Spurs would rather him take the shots.
And as long as the Nuggets players make a move, Boban will push Xiang Chu out. These tactics have appeared a long time ago, but few teams use the Spurs so well.
The Spurs' grasp of tactical details has his unique success.
At this time, it is time to rely on grinding, and Jokic once again showed his talent.
Halfway through the final quarter, Jokic saw Aldridge, who was defending him, shrunk in. He raised his hand and hit a three-pointer. The gap between the two sides was only 3 points, and Popovich had a toothache.
Now that Jokic is a rookie on the field, the Spurs must bet that he doesn't shoot that well. After all, Jokic gives the ball to Xiang Chu's transfer station most of the time, and his finishing ability is questionable.
Jokic has also shown his scoring ability before, and the Nuggets teammates know that it is not luck. Jokic really has a basket. His weak link may be that he moves slowly and his athletic ability is not outstanding enough, which belongs to the floor flow.
But now the Spurs are still willing to let him go, because they want to strangle Xiang Chu to death, and gamble on their own attack power by the way.
Aldridge wants to fight Jokic, one-on-one is of course no problem, but Xiang Chu is still in the defense.
If it was a back-up, Aldridge really had no strength, and he almost pushed Xiang Chu for 20 minutes.
A frontal breakthrough was about to be blocked again, and Aldridge chose to give up after only trying twice.
His temperament fits the Spurs very well, he won't mess around, and if he can't fight, he will leave it to his teammates.
Obviously, he is still two levels behind Duncan, who played strongly in similar situations at his peak.
The ball was still given to Leonard, and Leonard also showed that he is not very good at passing the ball.
In fact, the difficulty of passing the ball should be reduced when the threat of the player itself is strong enough.
Because the defensive attention will be on himself, Xiang Chu got some assist data in this way. In fact, his passing has no imagination at all.
This is also the case with Leonard, and now the Nuggets did not flank him, and he made two consecutive good shots.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Nuggets' defense did not rotate in time.
The defense cannot be perfect. Basketball is a game in which the offensive side has an advantage, but it does not mean that it cannot be improved. When the game entered the last 5 minutes, the Nuggets' defense strengthened again.
A game was not long and continued. If you worked hard in the front, you might lose your energy, but in the last few minutes, everyone had no scruples, and some easy scoring opportunities were forgotten.
At this time, I look at the stars, because the stars didn’t have the physical strength to play any exaggerated singles before, but in the end it doesn’t matter, they can rest after the game, and they can play again after the rest.
Danny Green hit one of Leonard's passes before, but missed the latter two.
At 2 minutes and 54 seconds, Jokic hit two points again, the Nuggets led by 1 point, and the Spurs requested a timeout.
After playing again, Parker hit, and the Spurs became the leading side again.
With a gap of 1 point, the two sides stalemate for 2 minutes, and the atmosphere in the stadium became extremely tense.
At the moment of life and death, anything could happen, Xiang Chu's attention was extremely concentrated.
At 59 seconds, Xiang Chu grabbed an offensive rebound and scored 2+1. The Spurs trailed by 2 points.
Popovich made a desperate move to replace Aldridge with Mills. Although Aldridge was tired, this is probably the only coach who dared to play core players at this time.
When Mills came up, the Spurs still had more tactics on the outside.
At 39 seconds, Danny Green once again stole two points and the score was tied again.
But in the next offense of the Nuggets, Jokic went up to cover, Jeremy Lin rushed in and returned the ball to Jokic, Jokic made a fake pass and threw the ball directly inside, Xiang Chu caught the ball and turned around and dunked All in one go.
With only 20 seconds left, the Spurs can choose to tie with three points or two points.
All the Nuggets played mental defense, and the Spurs almost ran out of time without finding a chance.
In the end, they had no choice but to hand the ball to Leonard for a strong play. The Nuggets also double-teamed. Leonard pulled up directly and hit the buzzer.
(End of this chapter)