The Basketball Court Swordsman

George Hill’s excellent performance allowed the Spurs to narrow the point difference to only two points. Hill is a player that Popovich likes very much, just like most “Spurs”. Hill is not high in the draft, but he can always show qualities that are extremely inconsistent with the draft in the game.

In the second half of the first quarter, it was Hill’s calm organization and sharp offense that caused the Pacers’ second team to collapse. After a break, Henson also adjusted the lineup in an attempt to regain the initiative in the game.

Al Horford re-appears, white forward Josh McRoberts continues to play, Henson needs Granger this main attack point to rest for a few more minutes. Danny Green continued to play, and he did not show much in the first quarter. Henson hoped that Green could show his strength in the second quarter. Holiday returned, and in the second position, the unexpected Lance Stephenson went into battle.

“Lance Stephenson? God, this guy will ruin the Pacers game!” Seeing Stephenson on the court, Kenny Smith yelled “God”. This is probably after everyone saw Stephenson on the court. There will be a reaction.

Although this guy was only selected in the second round this year, his former notoriety is well known throughout the United States. Stephenson may be the most famous second-round pick this year. No one thought that there would be a coach who is willing to use such a bad guy, and he is still a rookie coach!

To Stephenson’s disappointment, George Hill did not play after the start of the second quarter, and the Frenchman Parker returned to the lineup. The Spurs switched back to almost all of their starters, except for Duncan who is still resting.

Stephenson gave Henson a confused look. The prey was gone. Who should he hunt?

Henson glared at Stephenson fiercely, meaning to let him concentrate and not be distracted. Stephenson shrugged, and it seemed that he must now focus on the Argentine whose hair was bald from the middle.

Duncan needs a rest, and veteran insider Antonio McDyess, who is two years older than Duncan, replaces Duncan. McDyess was once also an All-Star insider. At his peak, his average of 20+12 per game was very gorgeous. But now, McDyess is only a transitional role in the Spurs. His internal lethality is no longer as good as it was in the past.

The Spurs don’t have Duncan’s strong point of inside offense. This is an opportunity for the Pacers! Now the Spurs’ two inside lines Blair and McDyess, one will be 2 meters tall and the other only 2 meters 06. Their inside line is smaller than that of the Pacers, and they do not have the ability to attack independently. As long as those little guys can do a good job in perimeter defense, they will definitely be able to open the score!

As always, Parker didn’t have much to do with Holiday’s defense. He also knew that if he continued to attack reluctantly, he would definitely be taken immediately by Popovich. After all, George Hill performed so well today.

So the French stabilized the rhythm on the perimeter, while at the same time, McDyess set up an off-the-ball screen for Ginobili. The Argentine ran back and took the pick and roll to get out of the three-point line. Parker did not hesitate. As the most stable control player of the Spurs for so many years, he closed his eyes and knew where to pass the ball now.

Parker quickly played the ball, Ginobili turned to face the frame after receiving the basketball, and just about to take the shot, a dumbfounded guy rushed in front of him in time and raised his arms!

“Damn it, he was obviously blocked just now!” Ginobili gritted his teeth, and he can guarantee that McDyess had clearly blocked the rookie behind him just now, how could he come back so quickly! But what Ginobili didn’t know was that when Stephenson squeezed McDyess hard and brutally, the old insider’s face was powerless.

However, the Argentine did not give up, he took a few steps back, opening up a little room for himself to sprint. Seeing Stephenson followed up foolishly, Ginobili suddenly changed hands and started to accelerate!

In an instant, Ginobili passed by Stephenson. Regardless of how old the Argentines are, their sultry energy when playing basketball remains the same.

After breaking to the mid-range position on the wing, Manu made a jump shot! In the Spurs, perhaps only the Argentines have such freedom to fire.

However, at the moment Ginobili was about to take a shot, a dark shadow suddenly jumped out, blocking the basket firmly. Argentines will never forget this face, big nostrils, grinning expressions, and… and cross-eyed eyes. Making funny faces when others are shooting, even the old fritters like Ginobili have never encountered such a thing.

Stephenson’s funny expression distracted Ginobili, and his shot was barely short of his shot. Josh McRoberts easily picked up the rebound. The athletic ability of this white forward is still very gratifying.

McRoberts looked up and saw that Stephenson had reached the midfield line and raised his hand for the ball. Without even thinking about it, McRoberts launched a long pass from the backcourt. In fact, every big player on the Pacers has a long backcourt pass, which Henson deliberately gave them extra training. Other people’s long passes do not necessarily require as accurate as Horford, but at least they are guaranteed not to make mistakes in vain.

Stephenson barely received the basketball, Ginobili stuck behind Stephenson, and the Argentine naturally hoped to make up for it.

Ginobili has always been an old fritters, and his small actions are endless when chasing. Pulling the jersey and gently pushing and shoving and other actions made Stephenson unable to meet the speed, which gave the Spurs time to retire. Compared with these old skaters in the NBA, Stephenson instantly felt that he should be a good boy. After all, I just made a face…

Seeing Ginobili posted himself so deadly, Jefferson has caught up again and killed his easy layup opportunity. Stephenson then had a plan, saw him leaping high, facing Jefferson’s block in the air, and suddenly tossing the ball behind his head, regardless of the other person’s score!

Under the horrified eyes of everyone, the basketball was accurately passed into Popovich’s arms. Popovich hugged the basketball and looked at Stephenson dumbfounded. Stephenson also looked at Popovich curiously, eh? How could the basketball fly into that old man’s hands?

“Hahahahaha, what is this guy doing!? Doing magic!? Did you see his pass!? Can you tell me what this guy’s mind is? No, tell me what Coach Henson’s mind is. What is it. Stephenson is abnormal, did Henson become abnormal with him?”

Barkley made a burst of laughter, in fact, the entire ATT center is now surrounded by laughter. Just completed a beautiful defense, the result was only three seconds cool, Stephenson immediately offered another turnover.

Stephenson looked at Henson pitifully, his playing style was like this, and he just couldn’t help but want to show off for a while. Henson, on the other hand, had a stern face. For guys like Stephenson, you can’t comfort him, but you want him to maintain a sense of crisis all the time. In fact, Henson himself almost couldn’t help but want to laugh, but in order to make Stephenson more vigilant, he could only hold back his expressionless face.

Stephenson’s error was just an episode. Soon, everyone on the Spurs found that their offense was very unstable, just as uncomfortable as constipation. The Pacers’ three outside positions all have very strong single defense capabilities, which gives the Pacers unlimited capital for defense.

Ordinary screens and running positions can’t get off defense at all. Without Duncan’s inside line, the Spurs seemed to lose their offensive strength in an instant.

Afterwards, Stephenson didn’t think twice. He conscientiously contained Ginobili on the defensive end, while Holiday was in charge of the offensive end.

Holiday and Danny Green, they are already old partners, after all, last year, the two together won the summer league championship. Holiday and Green’s break-through shots played well together, and Green also used two consecutive three-pointers to return Holiday’s trust in him.

On the offensive end, the Pacers still follow a fast-paced and large-space play. On the defensive end, the Pacers’ meat grinder-style strict defense, so that Parker and Ginobili were both selected into the hard fight.

After 3 minutes, the Pacers had re-widened the point difference to 8 points. Popovich paused again, he must send Duncan!

The Spurs’ offense has stalled, and if they can’t throw in, they will always be hit by the Pacers. Barkley has always felt that the Pacers’ offensive thinking based on shooting is not reliable, but so far, the Pacers’ shooting percentage is higher than that of the steady Spurs!

After the timeout, the Spurs sent Duncan, and Henson also took the full starting lineup. Stephenson thought he would be scolded, but Henson just patted him on the shoulder and said nothing.

This guy doesn’t know how good his defense against Ginobili is!

The young energy of the Pacers obviously made the old bones of the Spurs overwhelmed, and the second quarter almost ended in the Pacers’ fast-paced offense. All the Pacers can run, including Al Horford who also runs like an outside player.

The Pacers played multiple points and ended the first half with an 8-point advantage.

After the start of the third quarter, Henson gave Holiday more more power to fire. He knows that now he must find a reliable offensive focus for the team, otherwise the players themselves will be messed up.

?? Not many people know what Holledi has experienced this summer because he is so low-key. During the holidays, he worked **** his offensive skills and the ability to read defense. There is no doubt that Holiday is the most diligent player on the Pacers this summer.

Holiday and Horford played extremely efficient pick-and-rolls. Horford can not only shoot the ball, but also send a pass after receiving the ball. Although the most glamorous person in the third quarter was Holiday with 8 points in a single quarter, Henson most appreciated Horford, who was in control of the overall situation. If the whole team is a complex machine, Horford is the most suitable center for this machine.

In the second half of the third quarter, the physical fitness of the Spurs players was obviously affected by the fast-paced game and dropped sharply. The physical problem is mainly reflected in the worsening stability of the Spurs offensive end. Sometimes it’s not that the Spurs didn’t get the chance, but they didn’t grasp it after getting the chance.

The impact of physical fitness is always more obvious for “older” teams like the Spurs. The balance of victory has begun to tilt towards the Pacers.

After three quarters, the difference is 11 points. Although the score difference is not large, the pace of the game has been brought up by the Pacers.

“? Keep your defensive intensity! But be careful, control fouls, and you must control fouls! Don’t give the Spurs a chance to get to the free throw line easily.” During the break, Henson decided to focus on the defensive end. After all, it is the Spurs who are 11 points behind, and they will definitely fight back frantically.

As for the defensive tactics, Henson handed over to Frank Vogel to arrange. Unlike O’Brien, Henson is very willing to use his assistants instead of worrying about his assistants seeking power to usurp the throne. Vogel is a defensive expert, even Henson is ashamed of this.

?? Vogel’s defensive skills are extremely deep, even if the Pacers are mostly young people, but under his tune, it is enough to withstand the Spurs’ counterattack in the fourth quarter.

After the start of the fourth quarter, the Spurs really attacked very fiercely. They even risked the emptiness of the backcourt to fight for offensive rebounds.

George Hill became the sharp knife in the Spurs counterattack wave, and his ability to score points in the chaos made Henson a little like it.

As a result, Henson reactivated Stephenson in the middle of the fourth quarter. His mission remains the same, that is to watch Hill die!

With Stephenson’s “care”, Hill also lost fire in the second half of the fourth quarter. Except for Parker’s sporadic goals, the Spurs almost rely on Duncan to score points. But the Spurs are a team-based team. When they start to score points with only one person, it shows that their offense has already had a big problem.

Although under the leadership of Duncan and Hill, the Spurs played a 30-25 offensive in the final quarter. But the hole they dug in the third quarter was too big, and a win of 5 points in a single quarter was not enough to fill the hole.

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, the score was fixed at 108 to 102, and the San Antonio Spurs unexpectedly lost at home! The Pacers, who were thought to be slaughtered before the game, got a good start to the new season!

Bird never imagined that two years ago, the scout who was talking with himself when watching the Spurs game in the box, actually led the team and defeated the San Antonio Spurs.