Chapter 823: Second Round Opponent
The fourth game between the Spurs and the Jazz was also full of twists and turns, the Spurs led by more than ten points in the first quarter, and they felt very good in the second quarter, seeing that the Jazz were about to lose the game, but at this time, the Jazz showed their resilience, Malone and Stockton, the old man, in the third quarter, narrowed the score gap to single digits. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
In the fourth quarter, the Jazz took advantage of the victory and successfully tied the score in the last minute, and in the final minute, neither side scored, and the game went into overtime, including Duncan's two free throws, which made people sigh.
In overtime, the Spurs' mentality was problematic, they didn't score a point in the first four minutes, and although the Jazz only scored five points, it was enough to seal the win, and in the end, the Jazz won the meat grinder-like game and stubbornly dragged the game back to Salt Lake City's home court.
Ding Hongxing felt a little sorry for the Spurs, but he was also happy to rest at home for a few days and spend more time with Lu Chaohui and the children.
Lu Chaohui's physical recovery is very good, the child is growing up very fast, born less than half a month, when Ding Hongxing hugged them, they would already giggle at Ding Hongxing, Ding Hongxing specially bought a single-lens reflex camera, took photos of his two sons every day, and then took some videos, and uploaded them to the homepage he opened for them on Xinghe.com, these photos and videos have a very high click rate, all Ding Hongxing's fans like to watch the photos and videos of his two sons, these two children who are not yet full moon, seems to have become a popular superstar on the Internet.
The popularity of the two children has also made some media come to the door, they want to take photos and videos for the two children, of course, it is paid, and the price is not low, often hundreds of thousands of dollars, it seems that the second generation of stars is very popular in the United States, they can make a lot of money at a young age, of course, Ding Hongxing does not need to rely on this to make money, for such a request, he refused, he also told Zheng Jiajian, no matter what media it is in the future, there will be such a request.
Ding Hongxing also realized from this incident that his behavior of posting his son's photos and videos on the Internet seemed inappropriate, and he still hoped that his son could live an ordinary life, although their lives were destined to be ordinary, but at least they could live a low-key life.
After a few days of rest at home, the Rockets' next-round opponent was finally decided, and the Spurs seized their chance to advance to the next round with another overtime win over the Jazz on the road.
This is another hard-fought hand-to-hand battle, it is almost difficult for both sides to get a chance to make a calm shot, every shot they make is accompanied by hand-to-hand combat, such a game, the shooting rate and score of course can not be too high, in fact, played an overtime, the score of the two sides is 90-88 in the end, such a score is also the common style of NBA teams in this era.
Duncan was a pillar on the inside, he scored 35 points and 18 rebounds, and in the last few seconds, he took the ball to the last attack in the tie, and turned around to hit the board under Malone's almost foul defense, he fully embodied the role of superstars in the playoffs, and his performance was a notch higher than in the regular season, and only those who can do this can be called superstars.
After a hard-fought win over the Jazz, the Spurs flew to Houston overnight, where they will take on the mighty Rockets on the road two days later.
The Spurs' victory made Ding Hongxing very satisfied, and they didn't have to run around for too long in this round of the series.
The Spurs and the Rockets are both teams in the Southwest Division and Texas, and the two teams are located close to each other, so they can be called neighbors, and this series can also be called the Texas Civil War, and the Spurs are the defending champions, and the Rockets are the upstarts in the league, creating the best record in history in the regular season, this round of matchups is very eye-catching.
In the pre-game training, Tomjanovic asked the players to be more vigilant about the Spurs, after all, the Spurs are the defending champions, although the ranking is not high this year, but such an opponent is the most dangerous, and he also used the example of the Rockets in the 94-95 season to illustrate this, that year the Rockets were also the defending champions, but they only ranked sixth in the regular season, and none of the media was optimistic about the Rockets winning the championship, but that time Tomjanovic said the famous sentence "Don't underestimate the heart of a champion", Motivate the team to win four consecutive series and finally defend the title.
Tomjanovic told the story to inspire the players' desire for a championship and to raise his vigilance against the Spurs.
Ding Hongxing also spoke as the captain, he told his teammates not to be nervous, although there is a difference between the playoffs and the regular season, but it is not as mysterious as they imagined, remember, when it is really not good, there are still him and Olajuwon in the team, although give the ball to them to play, believe in their own strength, and the final winner will definitely be them.
Ding Hongxing's words still played a role in reducing pressure, he actually put the pressure of his teammates on himself and Olajuwon, but isn't this the role that superstars want to play? In the end, the playoffs are a superstar tournament, and although there are teams like the Pistons and the Five Tigers who have not had a superstar to win the championship in 4 years, this is just one such example.
Olajuwon looked at Ding Hongxing and nodded secretly, this is a real leader, he can carry the team on his shoulders when the team is in crisis.
The first game of this series between the Rockets and the Spurs began, and sure enough, as Tomjanovic said, the Spurs are no longer the team that was swept by the Rockets in the regular season, they went through the first round of the series with the Jazz, they became more disciplined, more tenacious, like a team made up of robots.
On the other hand, the shortcomings of the Rockets' lack of playoff experience were once again exposed, and the role players were nervous, not feeling good, and repeatedly missed shots, so that the Spurs could recklessly shrink the interior and let go of the Rockets' outside shooters.
The Spurs' twin towers stand on the inside, and the impact on the Rockets' interior offense is huge, although they can't cover every ball, but with their height and reach, they only need to stand under the basket and raise their hands high, which is a huge threat to offensive players' shots or layups.