The next day, May 19, 2008. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Nguyen Er Nhon, who turned 20 years old and 1 day old, quietly waited for the first divisional final of his career.

Chris Paul, who just turned 23 years and 13 days, is still working on his first career Western Conference Finals.

Ruan Erniu, who turned 20 years old and 1 day old, hugged and celebrated with his partner Ouyang Haotian at Atlanta International Airport in the morning.

Chris Paul, who just celebrated his 23rd year and 13 days, welcomed the San Antonio Spurs at home in New Orleans.

It was also a tie-break, and in most of the media's predictions before the game, the Celtics would beat the Magic, because the BIG3 was more championship than the Magic.

But for the Hornets and Spurs game, most of them were divided into two very different factions, and neither could convince the other.

One group of people believe that the Spurs, as a league powerhouse, are obviously more experienced than the New Orleans, and they will eventually win this tiebreaker on the road and advance to the Western Conference finals.

The other school of thought is diametrically opposed, judging from the past three playoff games in the East, all the home teams have won the tiebreaker this season. The Hornets, under Paul's leadership, are no worse than the Spurs in terms of strength, and they have already won their first three home games, and this fourth home game is no exception.

Well, no matter how the media put out the data and tell the evidence before the game, the game must be played one game at a time, not by mouth.

Otherwise, why should the players play, just reminisce about the past.

Popovich pretended to be a fan before the game, and did not announce his starting lineup for a long time, and it was not until a moment before the game that people saw his final starting lineup.

Since losing to the Hornets in G1 and G2 two in a row, Popovich made a brilliant substitution, putting Manu Ginobili in the starting position and Mike Finley on the bench.

It proved to be a stroke of genius, and the Spurs won three of the next four games, which led to a tie-break with the Hornets.

If the Hornets lost to the Spurs in this series, then Popovich's change of formation will be the most important reason for their defeat.

And Popovich's lineup for this game finally continued the starting list of the first four games:

C Fabricio Oberto

PF Tim Duncan

SF Bruce Bowen

SG Manu Ginobili

P.G. Tony Parker

The Hornets have a relatively stable lineup, and they don't have enough bench strength to line up a second starting lineup:

C Tyson Chandler

PF David West

SF Peja Stojakovic

SG Maurice Peterson

P.G. Chris Paul

After the start of the first quarter of the game, the two teams quickly entered a state of fighting, G7's life-and-death battle, there is no room for the slightest slack, the team that took the lead in relaxing their nerves, and it also means that they are about to go home to fish.

In the first quarter of the game, the best performance of the two teams was each other's PF, Tim Duncan scored 8 points, 2 boards, and 1 assist in a single quarter, and David West played even better, scoring 12 points and 4 boards, and the two power forwards both shot more than 60% in a single quarter.

Of course, half of the credit goes to TP9 (Tony Parker) and CP3 who pass the ball for them, and the two inconspicuous PGs are the ones who dominate the game.

At 23:20, the Spurs only slightly led by three points in the first quarter.

The second quarter of the game is crucial, judging from previous games, if the two teams continue to tie in the second quarter, the Hornets, who have home court advantage, are likely to suddenly explode in the third quarter and crush the Spurs in a wave.

The Spurs, who played routines and played out of the realm, did not let such a tragedy repeat, and Mano Ginobili took the lead in this quarter of the game. He shot 4-of-6 from the field in the quarter, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, and scored 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. Led the Spurs to a six-point lead in the second quarter with a score of 28-22.

Coupled with the 3 points in the first quarter of the game, after the first half, the Spurs led the opponent by 9 points at 51:42 on the road, and occupied the lead and psychological advantage in the tie-break.

No, it should be said that the Spurs have always had a psychological advantage, because they have a longer history, more experience, and in terms of substance, they do outperform the Hornets.

This is also the reason why it is difficult for the newly promoted team to win in front of the old powerhouse.

If it weren't for the fact that the strength had really opened up to a level, the new young people would always be defeated by the old guys after all kinds of play.

In the third quarter of the game, the two teams completely entered a state of iron-blooded fighting. Both teams shot below 35 percent, and the confrontation between Bowen and Stojakovic, as well as the mutual pushing and shoving of Chandler and Oberto, became the hot spots in the game.

In the face of such a scene, it is even more testing the determination and experience of the two teams to deal with complex situations.

In this regard, the Hornets are still no match for Spurs.

At 20:14, the Spurs took another six-point lead in the first quarter on the road.

At the end of the third quarter, the score of the two teams came to 71:56, and the Hornets had trailed by as many as 15 points at home.

CP3 already had a faint premonition that the dream floor of the West was getting farther and farther away from him.

Paul is not alone in this hunch, and the entire Hornets feel that their playoffs this season may be over.

Coach Anzai, a famous anime character in the country of mud bombing, said: "Don't give up the game until the last minute, once you give up, the game will end early." ”

This seems to be true on the surface, but when you think about it, it's just nonsense!

Not giving up on the game is the work ethic of any professional player, especially in a win-win G7 knockout match. But if you don't give up the game, does it mean you can win the game?

No one can play this package ticket.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the Hornets finally launched a final counterattack. On the Hornets' bench, a nobody named Janeiro Pargo stepped up, and in his limited bench playing time, he shot 5-of-13, 2-of-6 three-pointers, and 4-of-4 free throws, scoring 16 points and 2 rebounds in a single quarter.

The score of the two teams even reached a close score difference of 83:80 at one point. After a chaotic battle, the Hornets really saw hope of a comeback.

Popovich called a timeout at the final crucial moment and pinned his hopes on the Argentine demon knife.

Ginobili also did not live up to the old man's trust, after the timeout, Ginobili turned on the scoring mode, broke through early foul free throws in a row, and finally helped the Spurs take away this G7 battle in waves.

In this quarter, Ginobili made eight free throws by making fouls, and made seven of them. All of his points in this quarter came from free throws.

And the magical Janero Pargo lost the game at the last minute, and after hitting the iron repeatedly, he finally let the Hornets lose the game.

But no one could criticize the game-changing wonderman, and without his horrific 16 points in a single quarter, the game would have been spent long ago.

At 91:82, the Spurs finally won this thrilling game, and the twists and turns in the process were far from being summed up by this score.

But there was only one winner, the San Antonio people advanced to the Western Conference Finals, and Paul's dream of a Western Conference finalist was still in the future.

I don't know if Deng Dudu didn't stimulate Paul with "the future belongs to you" after the game.

No, both of them are Taurus, black-bellied guys, and maybe they have more in common.

After this day, the roster for the Eastern and Western finals was finally announced:

East: Boston Celtics (1) vs Atlanta Hawks (2)

West: Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs San Antonio Spurs (3)

The climax of the playoffs is about to enter the final chapter!