The troika and Popovich's role player plan are indeed a powerful combination that can be ranked at the forefront of history. Even though the Hawks have the best record in history of 39 wins and 4 losses this season, such terrifying strength cannot be achieved in the history.

They had the upper hand in their first encounter, and the two teams could only fight to the death.

Just like the playoffs, no matter how weak the team is, the weak team has a chance to defeat the strong team in one or two games, and it is often more likely to be upset in the first few games, but if it is not restrained or too careless, in the series

After going deeper, the advantages of strong teams will become more and more obvious because they have already figured out the opponent.

The Hawks are now 39 wins and 4 losses, and the Spurs are 34 wins and 9 losses. In fact, there is only a gap of 5 wins. The strength is not so different, and the Hawks cannot completely suppress the loss of the championship in last year's finals.

Finally, the Spurs are now working harder than last season to achieve a better record.

The two teams were evenly matched in the first half. The first match between the two teams was similar to testing their opponents in the playoffs in terms of technique, tactics and performance, and the Spurs had a little bit of the initiative because they were changing

As for the Hawks, the scoring habits of the players have definitely not changed. Although the playing styles of Liu Mang and Tracy McGrady have changed a lot, the areas where they are good at scoring can be seen directly from the shooting heat map.

The Spurs started to respond first. Even though they were slightly weaker than the Hawks, they responded and became evenly matched with the Hawks.

But this state was broken by Liu Mang in the third quarter!

The Spurs used to rely on a troika and a group of high-quality role players to fight against the Eagles and the Three Eagles. Together with a group of role players, the two teams generally performed about the same, even if the Eagles, the Three Eagles, or the Demon Sword were better.

I tried so many times but couldn't break the deadlock.

But Liu Mang suddenly broke out and hit three incredible three-pointers. After Liu Mang hit extra free throws and scored 10 consecutive points to open the point difference to 8 points, the deadlock on the court was instantly broken!

The previous regular performance of the two teams has achieved the ultimate in offensive performance against the opponent's defense. The defense of the two teams has also achieved the ultimate. According to common sense, it should be anxious until the end like many anxious games.

However, Liu Mang's extraordinary performance sealed the victory in just four minutes!

The Spurs went from being able to steadily grind out the rhythm to having to start using the personal abilities of Ginobili, Sprewell, and Finley to chase points!

Under the current rules, a strong team with inside stars can directly affect the strength of a team, and in terms of sustainability, the impact is much greater than that of outside stars.

But that only affects one season or several seasons, and for chasing points in a game, the role of inside players is far less than that of outside players! This is true no matter what the rules are.

Moreover, it would be difficult for Duncan's team to make a comeback.

The characteristic of Duncan's team is stability. Duncan can adjust his style of play very well, which has continuously affected the team's strength for 19 years. Popovich has built a stable system based on Duncan's characteristics and brought out Duncan's greatest potential.

The effect, but therefore, once a player starts to wave and fails to make progress, the Spurs' stable offense will be broken!

In the middle of the third quarter, Ginobili saw that the point difference could not be narrowed to less than five points for a long time, and began to make confident shots.

Although Ginobili is powerful, he is powerful. It is easy to hurt others, and it is also easy to hurt yourself!

The Spurs originally narrowed the point difference to 6 points. With steady play, the Spurs may narrow the point difference to less than 5 points before the final critical moment. In the end, they used Sprewell and Finn signed last summer.

Two players who can shoot key shots and Ginobili's personal ability tried to reverse the situation in the end, but Ginobili's two three-pointers gave the Hawks a chance!

Gave Liu Mang a chance!

In the seventh minute of the third quarter, after Liu Mang missed a three-pointer in his first counterattack, he seized the opportunity in his second counterattack and hit his sixth three-pointer of the game!

70 to 61, the Eagles extended their lead to nine points!

After the Spurs called the official timeout and came back, they defended Liu Mang even tighter. In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang didn't get any good shooting opportunities. He successfully received the ball and successfully threw the ball.

None of them had very good opportunities, but this allowed the rest of the Eagles to be in a 4-on-3 state for almost a long time and maintain an efficient performance.

Although Liu Mang couldn't learn Duncan's high post support, he could still learn Duncan's idea of ​​passing the ball. Liu Mang made more use of his containment power on both sides of the top arc to direct.

Thanks to teammates' air cuts and off-the-ball pick-and-rolls, the Hawks were 79-70 at the end of three quarters. With the Spurs' more active defense and more determined offense, they still maintained a 9-point lead.

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He "only" made four three-pointers in the third quarter, but it established the advantage of the game. Liu Mang does not regret that he missed so many three-pointers in the third quarter. If he had made a few more shots in the third quarter, he would have made 4 of 5.

If his three-point shooting percentage is 4 out of 8 or 5 out of 10, it is possible that although he scored a few more points and made one or two more three-pointers, the point difference may not be as wide.

big.

In the third quarter, Liu Mang scored 15 points and 3 assists in a single quarter, and scored a total of 33 points and 6 assists in the three quarters, helping the Eagles establish a stable lead, whether it was a victory for the team or an All-Star task required by Liu Mang.

The continuous winning streak before the weekend has a positive effect.

After three quarters, Liu Mang scored 6 three-pointers, still missing two.

In the second half of the third quarter, Liu Mang used his threat to help his teammates score, allowing the Spurs to consciously adjust their defense against Liu Mang and the rest of the Spurs after the start of the fourth quarter.

Seeing Liu Mang receiving the ball and passing it to teammates who had opportunities, it seemed that Liu Mang intentionally made a few plays in the third quarter just to increase his threat and help his teammates score. The Spurs' defensive tendency began to change.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In the minds of Spurs players, the biggest role of the three-pointer is not to score, but to open up space to contain the defense, allowing others to have better inside the three-point line

scoring opportunities, they didn't know how many three-pointers Liu Mang would definitely score in this game, so they used their own understanding to guess the purpose of Liu Manglang's style of play that started to help his teammates score after a while.

Popovich played nearly three minutes in the fourth quarter, and when the score difference was still eight points, he called a timeout. He devised a tactical strategy of letting the Hawks play three eagles in isolation and not allowing them to cooperate.

The Hawks' three open shots are really scary. I would rather let them play one-on-one and have some methods.

In the third minute of the fourth quarter, after returning from a timeout, Liu Mang received the ball from Jason Terry in the frontcourt. He originally wanted to use his containment power to attract a double attack and pass the ball out, and then help his teammates score, equalizing the points difference.

After 10 minutes, the waves started.

But this time only Sprewell came up to defend him, and it was either the kind of defense that forced him to go out of his comfort zone and gave him a chance to break through, or the kind of defense with normal rough movements!

The Hawks' lineup is three eagles plus twin towers, and the Spurs' lineup is the most powerful lineup of the troika plus Sprewell and Muhammad. Seeing that Liu Mang did not encounter a double-team, Jason -

Trila moved to the left corner, McGrady went to the right 45 for a vacation, Rasheed Wallace went to the right corner to assist, and Kwame Brown used the left side of the three-second zone to contain Duncan's defense.

Liu Mang's top arc is a perfect singles opportunity!

Liu Mang immediately understood the opponent's thoughts, which was to defend him in singles because he had not made a three-pointer for nearly 8 minutes of the game!

Liu Mang looked at Sprewell. The Spurs have always been interesting. The best in single defense are either Bowen, who has almost no offensive skills, or veterans like Sprewell.

Liu Mang grabbed the ball with his right hand and took a step forward with his right foot. Without moving his left foot, he swung the ball from the lower right to the left and upward with his right hand. Sprewell immediately dodged it, but Liu Mang's big shot

After completing the circle, stick it up immediately.

His defense is much better than Ginobili's!

A player who can be selected to the All-Defensive Team as a second-year player is really incredible. Even at 35 years old, his defense is still outstanding.

However, Liu Mang seized this momentary opportunity!

Sticking to Sprewell, he broke through from the right side. As soon as Sprewell pressed forward, he quickly stepped back to block Liu Mang's breakthrough. It was enough to stand in front of Liu Mang and put pressure on Liu Mang to shoot.

Liu Mang took the initiative. After taking a step forward, he suddenly retreated and bounced back to the top arc!

Sprewell did not fall into the trap and did not get fouled. Liu Mang broke through and Sprewell followed up. But in the end, when he stepped back, the 35-year-old veteran couldn't keep up!

Liu Mang's iconic step back and sniper three-point shot!

Continuing his fiery touch, Liu Mang hit a three-pointer on the basket and fell into the frame!

85 to 74, the Eagles opened the point difference to 11 points!

Liu Mang's three-pointer made the Spurs feel discouraged for the first time, and the point difference was finally widened to more than 10 points!

However, the Spurs did not give up, and then started a wave of ferocious attacks. Ginobili came out of his body at a critical moment. With the Hawks holding on to an 11-point deficit, he broke into the paint twice in a row in the middle of the fourth quarter.

He hit a layup like a fairy ball, and the Spurs restricted the Eagles on the defensive end for two rounds. The Spurs chased the score to 82 to 89, narrowing it to within 7 points!

Ginobili scored 24 points in a single game. By the middle of the fourth quarter, Duncan had already steadily scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Sprewell also scored 15 points.

The stable performance allowed the Spurs to control the point difference within ten points with five and a half minutes left, despite Liu Mang's explosion in the third quarter.
Chapter completed!