One Guard

At 40 minutes into the third quarter, Yiyang sat off the court with the praise of Mavericks fans and chatted with Nowitzki about his fishing experience last summer.

Popovich sat on the sidelines, and the on-site photographer gave Popovich close-ups more than once. At first, people thought Popovich was staring at the court, but later they discovered that this guy was just in a daze.

After the fourth quarter, a reporter found Popovich on the sidelines. At this time, the San Antonio Spurs trailed the Dallas Mavericks by 23 points.

"Craig, the game is in the fourth quarter. How do you think you can adjust to win?" The reporter asked a common question. These questions are usually asked during interviews during the game's breaks.

Popovich frowned, obviously in a bad mood. But he didn't say a word, but said nonsense that was no different from saying nothing.

"How to adjust? We have to score more points."

"Can you reveal the extent of Leonard's injury? Is there still hope for him to play in the playoffs?"

"Leonard, well, he's 1.4% better than yesterday."

Two questions later, Popovich returned to the bench. This weird old man born in 1949 is sitting on the bench, his silver hair is messy and his eyes are slightly wrinkled. He continued to sit there in a daze, as if the ongoing fourth quarter had nothing to do with him.

In the end, the San Antonio Spurs were defeated at the American Airlines Center. With 40 points in three quarters, Yiyang defeated the once invincible Spurs in just three quarters.

After the game, Popovich went straight back to the locker room without giving any interviews to the media. Popovich lost, and he lost without any suspense.

After the game, Aldridge also admitted that the Mavericks' fast pace left the Spurs breathless. However, Yiyang scored 40 points in three quarters. Aldridge used the word "disaster" to describe this matter.

The Spurs did cause some trouble for the Mavericks, but it was only for a while.

After the game, people were talking about Yiyang, who scored 40 points in three quarters, and the Mavericks who staged a bloody massacre in the first game of the playoffs. However, the Spurs and Popovich were rarely forgotten by reporters and media.

The day after the game, the two teams got a day of breathing space. During the training session that day, reporters photographed Tim Duncan. Duncan sat on the bench in the training hall and chatted with Popovich. It was a very magical thing for a "nerd" who didn't talk much to chat with an old man with a weird temper.

It may take a long time for them to say a word,

You might be sultry one second, but laugh heartily the next. But reporters know that Duncan came to see the Spurs train for more than just chatting with Popovich.

On April 16, the third game day of the first round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs, the Spurs and the Mavericks also ushered in their second game.

Before the war started, Popovich received such a question. "Duncan, who has retired, comes to the training hall to watch you train. Will this help the team?"

"There's no help, he's just here to make ends meet."

Popovich still looked unhappy. This guy looked depressed. Logically speaking, Popovich should be in a irritable state after losing a game, not depressed. After all, failure accounts for half as much as victory in Popovich's career.

"In the last game, he scored 40 points in three quarters. What do you think of his performance?"

"I was watching from the sidelines."

Popovich is still the same jerk, but he seems different than usual. Even after the game started, Popovich was still in a bad mood. Not only that, there were several timeouts and tactical arrangements made by Popovich's assistants, and the silver-haired coach didn't make any moves at all!

The Spurs played tenaciously on the court, and Aldridge, the silent leader, also gave a rare opportunity to yell on the court. But Yiyang discovered that they didn't seem to be competing with him, but just wanted to show off in front of Popovich.

They strictly implemented every tactic and every task assigned by Popovich. Even if Yiyang threw two three-pointers in a row, Aldridge was not talking about "restricting that guy." But "We can't let Popovich down, no way!"

In the first quarter of the game, Aldridge let Majory and Kuzma know what true low singles are. With 12 points in a single quarter, half of the Spurs' scores came from Aldridge. In a team like the Spurs, it is very rare for a player to score 12 points in a single quarter, because Popovich will definitely call you a selfish bastard.

But after Aldridge came off the court, Popovich still didn't react much. He just touched Aldridge's head, like stroking his own child. Maybe Popovich, who was in a daze, mistook Aldridge for Tim Duncan.

After touching Aldridge, Popovich sat back in the distance. The person setting up the tactics at this time was the Spurs female assistant coach and former NBA superstar Becky Hammon. A woman sat among a group of muscled men, writing and drawing on a tactical board. The unusual Spurs brought an unprecedented scene to the NBA.

"Boss, what's wrong with that guy?" During the break, Yiyang sat on the bench and looked at Popovich at the other end of the court in confusion.

"I don't know, he seems to have no intention of coaching today. I heard that his wife is seriously ill, but I don't know how serious it is, which makes Popovich like this." Carlisle also looked at his idol, that "old bastard" "It's unusually quiet today.

After the start of the second quarter, Carlisle began to speed up. With Yiyang, Mitchell, Hayward, Gay and Kuzma, the Mavericks once again used their extremely extreme lineup without an inside line. Of course, if you really regard Kuzma as a power forward, that's a different story.

But the Spurs' tenacity today exceeded Yiyang's imagination. Even when trailing by 11 points, this group of guys was still able to organize an effective offense and defense.

Aldridge is very hard-working. In all his years in the league, Yiyang has never seen Aldridge work as hard as he does today.

In the middle of the second quarter, Aldridge was roughly knocked down by Majory after a breakthrough. The Tunisian certainly didn't do it unintentionally, after all, that's the way he plays.

After falling to the ground, Aldridge didn't even wait for his teammates to come up to help him. He got up by himself and clapped his hands vigorously.

This guy is so tough, it's hard to imagine that a season ago, the media would think that the Spurs would trade this guy. If you asked Aldridge what he learned from Popovich, Aldridge wouldn't tell you those complicated tactics. He would only answer with one word: strong.

Now, Aldridge also wants to use his performance to make the old man with silver hair strong.

Seeing Aldridge working so hard, Popovich seemed to suddenly come back to his senses. Under the astonished gazes of the Spurs coaching staff, Popovich, who had been silent for a quarter and a half, stood up, walked to the sideline, and gave Aldridge a thumbs-up. "Just do it LaMarcus, just do it."

This was the first thing Popovich said while standing on the sidelines today.

Although Aldridge works very hard, as Carlisle said. No matter how strong the No. 21 forward is, he is only Aldridge. The San Antonio Spurs have never been the kind of team that relies on the performance of one star to win games. And Aldridge is not that type of star.

After half the game, the Spurs were still 11 points behind. Yiyang scored 16 points in the first half. The guy who performed best in the first half naturally became the interview subject of the reporters at the halftime break.

Yiyang stood on the sidelines, a beautiful reporter from the TV station. What would she ask herself? In fact, Yiyang could probably guess that it was nothing more than how to view his 16-point performance in the first half, or how to stabilize the situation in the second half.

But Yiyang noticed something strange. Generally speaking, young female reporters would smile when interviewing players. In addition to showing their beauty in front of the camera, this is also very polite. But today, the young female reporter had an expressionless face. This reporter Yiyang looks familiar, and he is probably not a newbie. How could he make such a mistake?

Before Yiyang finished his errand, reporters had already started asking questions.

"Also, we received very unfortunate news during the game. The Spurs officially announced that Erin Popovich, coach Popovich's wife, passed away earlier today. We all know that you and Popovich knew each other. After many years, is there anything you want to say to him at this time?”

"Oh!" Yiyang frowned and swallowed. It must be admitted that this No. 1 defender, who has always been known for his calmness and calmness, was really scared this time.

He knew that Popovich's wife had been in poor health recently, but he didn't expect...

No wonder the old man has been sitting on the sidelines without saying a word today. No wonder Aldridge worked extremely hard to get Popovich through today. No wonder it was Becky Hammon who arranged the tactics for the Spurs today. No wonder this female reporter didn't have a smile on her face. There is a reason for all these seemingly unusual things.

Yiyang may not know that Popovich kissed his wife on the forehead when he left San Antonio, which was the couple's last kiss. But Aldridge saw it, so he worked so hard just to make his coach feel better...

"It's a tragedy, it's an absolute tragedy. God, I'm in deep condolences. Oh my God... I know I've always been in a rivalry with Popovich, but now I just want to let it all go. I offer my most sincere greetings..."

Yiyang and Popovich have an average personal relationship, far from being friends. But when he put himself in Popovich's shoes, Yiyang couldn't help but choke up.

When his wife passed away, Popovich failed to be with her, but continued to fight on the basketball court! This old man really dedicated everything he had to basketball and the Spurs. Just because he is the great Popovich!

The psychological impact this incident brought to Yiyang was no less than that of Aldridge. If Yiyang has learned anything from playing against Popovich for so many years. In addition to being cunning and humorous, he may also be strong. When did you see that old man give up? Even on an unfortunate day like today.

In the second half of this game, the Spurs were teetering on the edge of collapse. In the end, Yiyang scored a game-high 38 points, leading the Mavericks to a 2-0 series score.

After the game, Yiyang did not celebrate, and he also warned all teammates not to celebrate in any way. The No. 1 just walked up to Popovich, hugged him, and then left silently.

This is the greatest respect he can pay to Popovich. (https:)

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . Mobile version reading URL: