At the Alamo Dome Stadium, the heat wave of the game is coming.

Before the time came, the Spurs' home stadium was already full, and more than 10,000 San Antonio fans directly turned this non-professional basketball court into a devil's home stadium.

San Antonio fans are so enthusiastic about basketball that it is said that in order to keep the Spurs, San Antonio people have decided to vote to raise taxes to build a stadium for the Spurs in Besar County.

Although the referendum has not yet begun, the enthusiasm of San Antonio people for basketball has already been demonstrated.

This is also evidenced by the madness of the fans in this game.

In the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Spurs played very well, defeating the Phoenix Suns 3:1 in the first round and the Trail Blazers 4:1 in the second round.

It looks like the Spurs are slightly inferior to the Lakers, but in fact, the Spurs win on defense and are obviously more consistent in the playoffs than the Lakers, who rely on offense and superstars.

This is also clearly reflected in the odds of the spinach company, the Spurs' odds to win the championship are only a little lower than the Lakers, and there is no shortage of expert reporters in the league who are optimistic about the Spurs.

In fact, the Spurs' championship in the previous life has proved that many people are optimistic, but now it is different, Qiao Hai is a butterfly, a variable, and has changed the world.

In the previous life, the Spurs were the first in the league, and they didn't meet the Trail Blazers until the Western Conference Finals, but now they meet the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Semifinals, and their opponents in the Western Conference Finals have been replaced by their original Western Conference Semifinals opponents, the Lakers.

The Lakers are also no longer a trio of O'Neal, Kobe and Glen Rice, but a trio of O'Neal, Kobe and Scott Pippen, and the new trio is stronger and more structured.

It's really hard to say who will win or lose in the Western Conference Finals.

……

Amid the boos, Qiao Hai led the Lakers out of the players' tunnel and prepared to start the pre-game warm-up.

In the first game of the Western Finals, NBC TV sent McBrin and Marv Albert to commentate, and sat in the commentary seat of the Lakers game again, McBrin was in a good mood, seeing the Lakers playing, he booed, McBrin and Marv Albert chatted a few words about the Lakers' performance in the last round.

"The Lakers have won four games against the Jazz, and the highest winning points in each game have exceeded 20 points, and their average points per game are around 110 points, obviously, the Lakers' offense played very well in the last round, and in the current league, no team can play an offense like the Lakers, many people say that defense wins championships, so people go to defense, and as a result, there are no teams in the league that are playing offense."

Marv Albert nodded: "Yes, every game is a defensive battle, I almost vomit when I see it, I hope the Lakers and Spurs can give a different Western Conference Finals." ”

At this time, McBlin laughed: "Haha, then maybe you are going to be disappointed, Marf, another statistic, the Spurs played 9 games in the first two rounds, none of the 9 games scored more than 100 points, and only four games scored more than 90 points, and the remaining five games, the Spurs scored about 80 points, and the Spurs' basketball is also defensive basketball." ”

Mav Albert was helpless: "Okay, listen to you say this, then the Western Conference Finals is a duel between the offensive spear and the defensive shield, see if the Lakers can pierce the Spurs, or the Spurs will block the Lakers." ”

On the sidelines, Qiao Hai and Byron Scott communicated, the Lakers studied the Spurs for a few days, and they found that the Spurs' offense was mediocre, in summary, it was Duncan as the core, Duncan took the ball and singled, and after creating a threat, he either scored or passed to assist his teammates to score, the first two rounds of the series, and even the regular season, the Spurs were a routine and never changed.

Therefore, for the Lakers, either lock Duncan, or follow the same style of play as the Jazz in the previous round, prevent other players from the Spurs, put Duncan, and attack alone.

It's not a big problem on the defensive end, it's a big problem on the offensive end.

The strongest thing about the Spurs is their defense, the defensive power of the inner twin towers has exploded, David Robinson guards the basket, Tim Duncan complements the defense and sweeps the mid-range, plus Avery Johnson and Mario Alley on the periphery, the Spurs' defense from the inside to the outside can be said to just restrain the Lakers' offense.

The Lakers' offense is from the outside in, and it is biased towards the inside.

Many times, the Lakers need O'Neal to open up the situation on the inside, but in fact, against the Spurs, once Greg Popovich changes the way he defends on the inside, and O'Neal is caught by the twin towers, it will be difficult for O'Neal to open the situation on the inside.

Kobe Bryant's perimeter shooting is not very accurate, and many times he needs to find his touch by breaking through the inside, and Scott Pippen is no different.

Therefore, for this game, Qiao Hai prepared two sets of playing styles.

He decided to attack the inside line at the beginning, knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, and biased towards the tigers, Qiao Hai's opening strategy was to try, he wanted to try out the Spurs' defensive methods, if the Spurs still used the defensive methods of the previous two series, then the playing style with O'Neal as the core would still work.

If Popovich makes a change and uses the interior twin towers to defend O'Neal, then maybe the Lakers will have to find another way.

After half an hour of warm-up, Spurs also played, and the two teams sent out their starters under the coordination of the referee, and the game will start soon......

"Remember, give Shaq the ball more in the opening game, Kobe Bryant, hit the inside, and try to cause the opponent's foul." Before going on the field, Qiao Hai emphasized two more sentences.

In this game, Qiao Hai put on the Lakers' regular starting lineup, Shaquille O'Neal sat in the restricted area, the power forward was Robert Horry, the small forward Scott Pippen, and the two guards were Kobe Bryant and Derrick Fisher.

Qiao Hai glanced at the Spurs again, the interior twin towers David Robinson and Tim Duncan, that's for sure, there was a change in the No. 3 position, the veteran Sean Elliott who didn't defend well, didn't start, and was replaced by Mario Aley, who topped the No. 3 position, the No. 2 position was the young sophomore Antonio Daniels, and the point guard was the junior general Avery Johnson.

The Spurs sacrificed some offense and strengthened their perimeter defense, and this game is clearly going to be a defensive battle.

The Lakers didn't think so, they didn't want to play defense, so at the beginning, the Lakers began to attack.

David Robinson jumped the ball to win the opening game, and the Spurs' offense was really simple, and Avery Johnson controlled it for a while and handed the ball to Duncan.

Duncan singled with the ball, and shot wide in the face of Robert Horry's defense, and O'Neal grabbed the rebound inside.

Scott Pippen took the basketball and didn't rush forward, he observed the situation for a while, came to the front court slowly, and then according to the plan, waited for O'Neal to get stuck in the position, and passed the ball in.

"Scott Pippen passes, Shaquille O'Neal receives the ball, the Lakers still start with the big sharks, Shaq's back, David Robinson single defense? No! Tim Duncan is pinched! ”

Off the field, Qiao Hai frowned, Duncan hit a pinch, this attack can't be played like this.

He walked to the sidelines, ready to adjust directly.

The first wave of the Lakers' opening offense ended, O'Neal tried to play a strong one-on-two, failed to turn, was forced to pass, passed very reluctantly, and Duncan seized the opportunity to steal the basketball.

Qiao Hai also took this opportunity and shouted at Pippen, who was closest to him: "Scott! Tactic number two! ”