Chapter 511: No Longer a Little Emperor
In the first game of the Western Conference finals, the Spurs finally won, which was not unexpected, and the Spurs had the strength to win.
Spurs are rarely like the Rockets who are defeated by a wave of attacks at some point, and they have been terrible this season, even if they fall to the bottom of the game, and they can't let their guard down until the last minute of the game. Because Parker, Ginobili, plus Jamison and Duncan, all have the ability to score consecutive points, they can also hit the attack wave at any time to break the opponent in one fell swoop.
This is how the Clippers were taken away by the Spurs in the third quarter, they were killed by the opponent in the way they are best at, Ji Guosha's hard mouth after the game, can only make a large number of neutral fans laugh and see how hard the dead fox can be.
Since the Spurs lost in the playoffs last year, they were finally able to give the Black Eight their Clippers a hard blow, and such a happy away victory made the Spurs team morale high, and they had the meaning of winning another game to sweep the Clippers.
Popovich said after the game: "We won away from home, it's like regaining the initiative for us, we don't want to give them back that advantage, we've been through that before. ”
The head coach of the Spurs believes that Ginobili's injury has brought a lot of help to the Spurs, and the team's substitutes also played a key role in the second half of the game, which are inseparable from Ginobili.
Ginobili had a mediocre number of games, but he only played 24 minutes in this game, which is already very efficient, and don't forget that his ankle has not healed, and he has been playing with an injury in the playoffs, and his ankle is still very sore until the end of the game.
Now, the only bad news for the Spurs is that Duncan was hit and injured his knee in the fourth quarter when facing the breakthrough of his panda brother, but after a little treatment from Shi Fo, he quickly returned to the court, but his appearance was much worse than before, and Spurs fans were worried that Duncan's knee injury would affect his second game.
Clippers coach Dunleavy Sr. said after the game: "The Spurs sent a small lineup in the fourth quarter, maybe to learn from the Rockets, but I don't think it's a problem for them to play a big lineup and a small lineup, the important thing is that they played too well as role players in this game, they did a very good job of defending us on the outside, Ginobili and Parker's play in key moments ruined our plan, and we will adjust it in the next game." ”
Despite the loss of this game, the confidence of the Clippers players was not affected, especially Ji Guoqiu, who finally did not fall behind in the face of Duncan today, and the loss was more due to the sudden dumbfire in the third and fourth quarters, which can only be attributed to bad luck.
Ji Guoqiu said: "I don't know what went wrong in the first game, but under normal circumstances, the Spurs' and ours games are inseparable. There's nothing to panic about, and if we win the first game, we need to keep that momentum going. Now that we're losing, we need to make some adjustments and play harder in the second game. ”
In the Western Conference Finals, the Clippers were taken away by a wave of opponents in the first game, which left the Clippers with no way back in their second home court, and they had to win the second game to give themselves more hope of advancing to the second round.
On May 21, the Los Angeles Times gave advice to the Clippers, who believe that both the Pandas and the Foxes had good performances in the opening game, but they lacked enough help around them, Billups was not in good shape, and the Clippers needed more players to step up and score.
Especially on their bench, Afflalo, Garcia, Barnes, Dragic and others need to play better, and Crawford must also improve his ability to waste opportunities in tough games, and he must take advantage of open shots and reduce wasted shots.
As the leader of the team, the Animal Brothers did their part in the first game, Ji Guoqiu was very hard, but their opponent was not a team that only needed two people to play, the Spurs were also an F4 combination, and the Spurs' F4 had a good table in the first game.
Another problem for the Clippers is defense, they allowed the Spurs to score 105 points, the Clippers averaged only 92 points per game in the regular season, and in the more defensive playoffs, they were given 105 points by the Spurs, which naturally became a key to the team's defeat.
Tomorrow's second home court, the Clippers' defense needs to have a better table and must limit the Spurs' scoring to less than a hundred.
Then there's the issue of Billups, Parker has been amazing this year, so if Mr. Key falls behind, it's not a shame, it's a normal outcome.
But if it's like the first game, a complete defeat to Parker, it shouldn't be.
In the matchup between the two point guards, according to Billups' speed, he can completely cause some interference to Parker, and there should be no need for the interior to make up for him more.
But yesterday, Billups couldn't effectively contain Parker's breakaway, and although the Clippers' overall defense of Parker was successful, they effectively suppressed Parker's basket shots and forced the Frenchman to run outside the box to finish the offense, but it allowed the two brothers to focus more on Parker, so that Jamison and Ginobili got more opportunities.
The so-called pulling a hair and moving the whole body, it is understandable for the two brothers to appropriately supplement the defense for the outside, but it is difficult for the Clippers to defeat the Spurs, who have a balanced strength on the inside and outside.
Billups will need to use his experience to get around the opposition, and he will need to help the team more in attack.
It is conceivable that Parker will definitely play more aggressively tomorrow, with the current situation of the Spurs, the Clippers must play all the core players to defeat this fierce rival, don't think that they have been alone in the league, the Spurs, Cavaliers, and Celtics are not much worse than the Clippers.
Speaking of the Cavaliers, on the 21st, the Eastern Conference finals also launched the first match, the Celtics VS Cavaliers.
The Green Army is an old rival of the little emperor, the last time in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Big Three teamed up to teach the gorilla a lesson, this time the orangutan got the help of the captain, and the Big Three are a year older, what will be the result?
Originally, it was Superman who entered the Eastern Conference Finals this season, and Howard also shocked the rebounding timer in the game, recreating some of the scenes when O'Neal smashed the rebounds, although not as violent as the Sharks.
However, this season, the wolf king is alive, and the big three work together to suppress the lone monster, and the Green Army once again enters the Eastern Conference finals.
The Celtics' goal is, of course, the Finals, and the Big Three want to take advantage of the last year that can still impress to hit the championship again, and possibly for the last time.
That's right, in fact, all fans know that the Big Three of the Green Army only have one last chance this year, and they will decline again next year, and then there will be no chance to compete for the championship at all.
In this game, the scene was more hot than the game between the Spurs and the Clippers, Garnett dunked James as soon as he came up, and pressed it down fiercely with both hands, which was enough to get a malicious foul, although the referee only awarded a technical foul.
Neither the Cavaliers nor James were intimidated by Garnett's dismissal, and this is the home of Cleveland, which is the home of Quick-Loan Stadium, and they have nothing to fear.
And even if you're not at home, it's impossible to scare a player like James or Kobe Bryant with a foul, just like Garnett himself doesn't have any timidity, every superstar has a heart to move forward.
As the game continued, West and Brand hit back-to-back shots, Mo Jr. hit a two-and-one, and James used his breakaway point to lead the team on a 10-2 run, and the Cavaliers took a double-digit advantage of 14-4 with 8:30 left in the quarter.
The Cavaliers have since extended their advantage to 14 points, and James has made a couple of more games of his own after back-to-back assists, and now he has more control of the game than in the previous two seasons, knowing when to attack and when to split the ball, and the Cavaliers started the game with a well-founded start under his control, ending the first quarter 33-20.
James hit a three-pointer in the first quarter, plus a couple of free throws and breakaways, and one of them scored 10 points, along with three assists and three rebounds.
Now even if he is said to be the most versatile star in the league, I am afraid that no one has any objections, although Brother Panda is also very versatile, but he is still a little immature, if he wants to compete with James, Ji Guoqiu still needs two seasons of training.
In the second quarter, James was more offensive, and after only two minutes of rest, the little emperor went into battle again, and he rode Al on the first touch of the ball. Thorton, who took the sixth man of the Green Army straight out of the field.
Al. Thorton was stunned by James's thunderous slam dunk, and then actually threw two threes in a row, which made a comical sound effect sound effect at the quick loan stadium, and the fans in the stadium laughed wildly, ridiculing this unlucky guy.
The Cavaliers had an 18-point advantage at one point under James's god-like appearance.
With 3:03 left in the quarter, James scored a basket after a breakaway, and the Celtics were whistled for a technical foul, and James hit a free throw to give the Cavaliers a 56-40 lead.
The knight had the upper hand at this time, and the little emperor was in high spirits.
At the end of the second quarter, the Big Three began to launch a counterattack, and they gradually adapted to the Cavaliers' style of play, Rivers changed his tactics and began to let James score and defend the other Cavaliers with all his might.
But James is in such good shape that if you put him to shoot, he can really score.
The Cavaliers maintained a double-digit advantage, and Brand was also very efficient on the inside, whether facing Garnett or Perkins, the Captain had a great grasp of the low-post offense, and James hit a long-range three-pointer before the end of the quarter to put the Cavaliers into the second half 66-48.
James finished the first half with 28 points and six assists on 11-of-16 shooting, along with five rebounds.
In the second half, the Green Army's Big Three led the team to counterattack, and the shooting rate of the other players of the Cavaliers began to slowly decrease under the targeted defense of the Green Army.
The Cavaliers have not yet discovered that in the second half, they have gradually been unable to suppress the Celtics by relying on the speed of James scoring alone.
Halfway through the third quarter, Garnett received the ball and scored a dunk in the air, and the Celtics only trailed by 9 points.
In the second half, the Celtics also found a sense on the outside, with Ray Allen and Pierce hitting three-pointers one after another, which was the real basis for them to chase the score, and the Celtics unwittingly chased the score to 78-73, only five points behind. R1152