"My tactical arrangements for this game? I don't think there's anything wrong with my tactics, because no one could have predicted that a player who shot less than 65 percent of his free throws in the regular season and missed half of his free throws in the last series could now shoot more than 80 percent. After the game between the Spurs and the Lakers, at the post-game press conference, the most asked questions by reporters were Phil Jackson's tactical arrangement of cutting Meng Xu in the game, and Phil Jackson's arrangement was also unanimously considered to be the biggest reason why the Lakers lost the game. But when Phil Jackson faced the reporters' questions, he flatly denied it and refused to carry this black pot, after all, Phil Jackson is not a fairy, and it can be expected that Meng Xu's free throws can be so much improved in a few days.

"Meng's free throws? Meng is a talented young man, and he trains very hard, in my coaching career, I have never seen a player who takes training so seriously to Meng Xu, after that game, Meng Xu practiced his free throws in the team's training gym every day, until 2 o'clock in the morning, and then did not miss the team's training at 6 o'clock the next day, so I think Meng Xu's free throws have improved. And when Popovich was asked by a reporter about Meng Xu's free throws, Popovich also poured a round of chicken soup into the reporters at the scene, so that Meng Xu's free throws suddenly became better, which seemed reasonable, and by the way, he also wanted to scare the KFC next to him once, so that he would have some concerns in the later games and dare not cut Meng Xu again. Although he was very firm, Popovich's heart was still a little empty, after all, in the past few days of training, Meng Xu's free throws did not seem to have improved much. Therefore, Popovich now also thinks that Meng Xu is just a free throw in a game, just like O'Neal has many times when the free throw shooting rate in a single game exceeds 80%, or even 90%.

"Meng Xu's free throws? I really can't explain this question, I think it's a very mysterious thing, you must know that in the game with the Mavericks, Meng Xu made 21 free throws in the whole game and only scored 10 free throws, but in this game with the Lakers, Meng Xu made 14 of the 17 free throws. When the first game of the series between the Lakers and Spurs ended, the biggest news was that the two teams cut each other in the game, but the lame free throws between Meng Xu and O'Neal did not appear, and Meng Xu got 17 free throws in the whole game, but hit 14 shots, a shooting rate of more than 80%. And O'Neal also shot more than 70% from the free-throw line. The free throws of the two seem to have changed overnight, and perhaps after the end of this series, the "Shark Hack Tactic" and the newly born "Hack Meng Tactic" will be swept into the garbage heap. After the reporters didn't find the answers they were looking for from Phil Jackson and Popovich, Magic Johnson, the famous Magic in basketball history, was blocked in the parking lot by a large group of reporters after the game was played.

"The cut-X tactic is not a panacea, and the Lakers can't pin their hopes of winning on Meng Xu's free throws, and the same goes for the Spurs. But I don't think there's anything wrong with the Spurs and Lakers going to play in the game. After the end of this game, the old Nelson, who carried forward the "shark cutting tactic" and invented the "cutting Meng tactic" this season, has inevitably entered the whirlpool of public opinion now, but the old Nelson talked about the most is that this tactic itself, for the matchup between the Spurs and the Lakers, as well as the free throws of Meng Xu and O'Neal, the old Nelson has always avoided talking about it.

。。。。。。

Just after the first game of the Western Conference finals between the Spurs and the Lakers, the semifinals of the East were finally over, and the two sets of matchups in the Eastern Conference semifinals this season, the 76ers and the Heat, the Bucks and the Raptors, all played 7 games, and finally passed the 7 games, the 76ers eliminated the Heat, and the Bucks defeated the Raptors, the two teams with the best regular season record in the East, and successfully met the division finals.

The series between the Bucks and the 76ers is undoubtedly a very interesting round of games, in the "four scoring guards" selection results have become increasingly obvious now, Iverson won the honor of winning the scoring title, known as the "four scoring guards" in the top trade, and originally as one of the candidates, Ray Allen, because of the personal data off the hind legs, has basically missed this selection, but in this year's playoffs, Ray Allen suddenly broke out, in the first round against Magic, In the series against the Raptors in the second round, Ray Allen's data is not inferior to Carter and Maddy's cousins, and because of the team's better record, some media have now begun to speak out in support of Ray Allen, and in this series between the Raptors and the 76ers, if Ray Allen is on par with Iverson, then the "Big Four Scoring Guards" will either be re-selected or will directly become the Big Five.

On May 21, 2001, after the two teams in the Eastern Conference Finals were released, the second matchup of the Spurs and Lakers series also began. Because the Lakers firmly wrapped Duncan in the first matchup between the two teams, and did not make targeted arrangements for Meng Xu, in the first game, Meng Xu scored the highest 40 points in the personal playoffs, so in this game, the Lakers gave up the 3-man package for Duncan, and changed to the strategy of single defense when there is no ball and package when there is a ball, and at the same time focus on taking care of Meng Xu.

After the Lakers relaxed their defense of Duncan, Duncan also showed dominance in this game, contributing 40 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in the whole game, but although Duncan was in explosive condition, but the Spurs played not well in this game, Meng Xu was under the care of Kobe and Ron Haber, although he also scored 25 points, but he shot 20 times, and in addition to Meng Xu, the Spurs' highest score was David Robinson's 7 points. In the end, in Game 2 of the series between the Spurs and the Lakers, the Spurs lost 81-88 at home, and after losing this game, the big score of the two teams was 1-1.

On May 25, after a short break, the Spurs left for Los Angeles, where the next two games will be played on the Lakers' home court, and after losing a home game, the Spurs must also win one game at Staples to regain their home-court advantage. But when the Spurs arrived in Los Angeles, the whole team was shrouded in a dark cloud, first of all, Sean Elliott was injured at the last minute of the last game, and it was almost certain that he would miss the rest of the series, and the player who was the leader of the ball pair, after boarding the plane, has been groggy, and finally after getting off the plane, Duncan was diagnosed with the flu.

Compared with the gloomy Spurs, the Lakers are much more optimistic, after winning an away game, the Lakers are equivalent to having home-court advantage, and Isiah Ryder, who disappeared after entering the playoffs, is now finally back. After the departure of Glen Ryder this season, Phil Jackson is also very much looking forward to the newly signed Isaiah Ryder, even if Isaiah Ryder is the same as Glen Ryder, he can't fit into the triangle offense, but there is no problem with being a sixth man, but Isaiah Ryder has a strange personality and often misses the team's training sessions, and after the start of the playoffs, Isaiah Ryder, who feels that the Lakers have no hope of winning the championship, simply disappeared, but Isaiah Ryder, who doesn't know where to go for the vacation, After receiving a notification from his agent, he returned to Los Angeles.

On the Spurs' side, Derrick Anderson, who has high hopes for Popovich this season, has been struggling since entering the playoffs, especially in this series with the Lakers, in the first two games, one was 6 points, one was 3 points, and both offensive and defensive ends could be said to be useless. In this game, in the case of Mario Elie's poor form for two consecutive games, Popovich also arranged Derrick Anderson into the starting lineup and formed a backcourt partner with Meng Xu, hoping to share some offensive pressure for Meng Xu, but in this game, Derrick Anderson's performance still did not improve in the slightest, and after playing 6 minutes and contributing 2 points on 1 of 5 shots, he was directly pressed to the bench by Popovich.

And Duncan, after experiencing the outbreak of the last game and a little cold today, was also in no state in this game, playing 3 of 15 minutes and getting 9 points and 13 rebounds, which is also the first time this season that Duncan has not scored a double-double in a single game. In the end, when Sean Elliott was out due to injury, Duncan and Derrick Anderson did not perform well, even though Meng Xu and David Robinson both cut 25+10 data, the Spurs finally lost to the Lakers 96-114 away. After losing this game, the situation of the Spurs in the entire series can be said to be very dangerous.

"After the Spurs lack Duncan, although there are still Meng Xu and David Robinson, they are not enough to support the Spurs' defensive system, although Meng Xu has been working very hard to make up for his teammates, but the Spurs' defense is still full of holes." When the game ended, Magic Johnson also said with some sighs. In this game, Meng Xu performed very well at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, but an outside defender has his own flaws from the beginning, and no one can restrain O'Neal when David Robinson is old and Duncan is out of shape.