ATPnovel Chapter 380
Chapter 380
Chapter 380
The Nuggets originally thought that the Spurs would replace Leonard and Duncan for a rest. Unexpectedly, Popovich planned to let the two play for the fourth quarter.
The Spurs also play stars in the regular season, which is really a long time.
In fact, Popovich is also distressed. If the team falls behind by about 10 points, he will not be reluctant, but now the score is tight. The Spurs hope to win the game, of course they have to play.
The key is that their current results are not easy to pretend to be magnanimous, and they have recovered from a bad start. The Nuggets are back-to-back in this game, can they still be against the sky?
Popovich believes that the physical strength of the Nuggets is also in question now, and they must seize the opportunity.
It is right to say that the Nuggets players are exhausted, but Xiang Chu is certainly not included.
When the time entered the last 5 minutes, Xiang Chu finally showed his glory.
At 4 minutes and 46 seconds, Duncan forced Faried again and raised his arm to shoot.
But as soon as the basketball was shot, Duncan felt a gust of wind blowing, and the basketball was also blown out by Xiang Chu.
At the last moment, there was no need to care about physical strength, Xiang Chu expanded the scope of defense again.
The distance of three or four meters is reached in two steps. Even if Duncan plays an internal pass, Xiang Chu can turn around and return to his defender immediately.
If the opponent plays Dior with Split, Xiang Chu will defend Duncan. Anyway, they don't want to score easily at the last moment.
At this time, the Spurs' main attack point has become Parker.
Leonard's tactical status has been much higher, but the Spurs still habitually use GDP at the last moment.
And Parker is younger than the other two, so he doesn't think he can't fight.
Parker was still very steady on the two-point shot after his teammates screened.
The Nuggets have replaced Fournier at this time, and the three forwards of Middleton, Chandler, and Faried are very tight defensively.
At 3 minutes and 41 seconds, Faried rushed inside to make a kill and made two free throws. The Nuggets led by 3 points.
As the Spurs missed two three-pointers, Xiang Chu scored a dunk inside, and the lead came to 5 points.
At the critical moment, it is more stable to choose the outside line and the inside line, and the inside line is more stable.
Even if the Nuggets make some mistakes in shooting, Xiang Chu and Faried will guarantee rebounds.
Duncan can't even jump now, and he relies on experience to grab rebounds in advance, but in front of Xiang Chu, experience is not an advantage.
In 2 minutes, Parker finally hit a three-pointer, and Parker was still a bit killer.
But then Knight hit him one and the Nuggets led by four with even less time running out.
Score, score, the Spurs must score at this time, Popovich is also bold, he replaced Splitter, pinning the final victory on the three-pointer.
Betting three points, when the opponent knows it, the chance of success is relatively small.
What's more, the Spurs don't have an All-Star player like the Warriors who can create three-point opportunities with the ball. Ginobili forced a three-pointer and missed, and Xiang Chu immediately protected the rebound.
The Nuggets have begun to control the time, and there is only one minute left in the game. The ball is passed to Xiang Chu. Xiang Chu leans in and makes a hook before double-teaming.
Duncan has nothing to do. After losing weight, it is no longer appropriate for Duncan to defend the fifth position.
Then Ginobili made a kill, but the Nuggets didn't care about two free throws.
As a result, Ginobili only made one of two free throws, and the Spurs suddenly lost the momentum to win the game.
Except for the playoffs, the Spurs rarely work hard in the regular season. Even if they plan to try this time, the inertia of the players will also affect the state.
The Nuggets continued to control the time, and the Spurs really didn't want to play.
The Nuggets won the game by surprise, and the rankings of the two sides in the Western Conference have not changed.
The next day after the results of this game, the results of the All-Star voting came out.
Xiang Chu won the vote again, but it was also quite thrilling. Curry surpassed James at the last moment, and there was only less than [-] votes behind Xiang Chu.
The Eastern Conference starting lineup is the Wizards Wall, Raptors Lowry, Cavaliers James, Knicks Anthony, Bulls Gasol, and the Western All-Star starting lineup is Warriors Curry, Lakers Kobe, Pelicans Davis, Clippers Griffin and Nuggets Xiangchu, Eagles coach Mike Budenholzer and Warriors coach Steve Kerr became the East and West coaches.
This is the result of the vote, but Kobe, Griffin and Davis are all injured. The players who replaced the starters became the Warriors Thompson, the Rockets Harden and the Blazers Aldridge.
In addition, King Cousins, Trail Blazers Lillard and Mavericks Nowitzki entered the All-Star lineup as substitutes. The players selected for the All-Stars in the West include Durant and Westbrook of the Thunder, Paul of the Clippers, and the Grizzlies. Gasol Jr.
The Eastern Conference substitutes are Eagles Teague, Horford and Millsap, Bulls Butler, Cavaliers Irving, Heat Bosh and Wade. Wade also withdrew due to injury, and Eagles Korver was on top.
After the lineup came out, Xiang Chu also complained on social media that it was unfair for them, as the defending champions, to make it to the All-Stars alone.
This also caused a lot of topic, in fact, it is a cliché, whether to enter the All-Star depends on the team's record.
The starting lineup is chosen by the fans. There are players with bad records that fans still like. Kobe and Davis are both representatives, but the league chooses the substitutes, and there seems to be no standard.
If you don't look at the record, the Eagles have four players selected, and the Nuggets can also be selected four according to this standard. Of course, there are reasons for the lack of stars in the Eastern Conference, but it still cannot be fully explained.
Looking at the record, what did Cousins, Durant and Westbrook say.
Durant and Westbrook are still a little bit less popular, and neither was selected as a starter this year, but the league still made them two All-Stars.
It's really hard to say about Cousins, and it's hard to say about the two Heat. The Heat didn't even have half of their winning percentage this season, but if you just look at the data, there are many stars with data who can't be selected.
Facts have proved that, in fact, it depends on the mood of the league. There is no standard compared to the mood of fans. Popularity also indicates commercial value, just like the salary of players represents strength to a certain extent, which is much better than the league without standards.
Fortunately, the Nuggets still have players participating in the All-Star Weekend in other ways. Fournier will continue to participate in the three-point contest as the defending champion, and Knight will participate in the skill contest.
While the outside world was discussing various things about the All-Stars, there was a small problem inside the Nuggets.
Chandler and George Karl had a falling out, no doubt about starting issues.
George Karl still wanted Gallinari to be the starter, and Chandler couldn't accept why he always gave way to others.
"I can play position three or four, and position two is fine. Xiang, to be fair, why didn't the team start me?" Chandler said angrily.
This is his contract year, but he is not the only one in the team with a contract year, and this is a tactical need, and Xiang Chu can't respond well.
(End of this chapter)