The Lakers' first offense, Sun Hao and Walker played together at the top of the arc.

The Spurs chose to wrap Sun Hao, Sun Hao gave the ball to Walker, Walker broke through and distributed Payton, Payton broke through and then broke through to Ariza, and Ariza made a three-point shot.

"Huh!"

Hand up and knife down.

The Lakers showed the effect of the season, playing a beautiful team in the first round.

Live footage to Popovich.

Popovich didn't react on his face, his eyes were on O'Neal.

The Spurs played a free-throw line tactic in the frontcourt, and Parker received a hand-to-hand pass from Duncan at the free-throw line and hit a mid-range shot.

Ginobili shone last season, and in theory this season should be a year of explosion of Ginobili's stats.

But the Spurs have always gone off the beaten path in this regard, and the team's top picker this season has been Parker, who averaged a career-high 18.9 points per game.

Looking back, Payton held the ball at the top of the arc, Sun Hao ran without the ball, and after receiving the ball in the middle distance, he faked a shot to attract Walker and divide Walker, Walker received the ball and broke through the layup to make Nesterovic's defensive foul.

Walker adjusted his breath and hit both free throws from the free-throw line.

The Lakers' opening two offenses were unexpected, and the team basketball in the mercury pool was pleasing to the eye.

The ball was exchanged, and Duncan hit it from mid-range.

Popovich is familiar with the Lakers, and he grabbed the free throw line, the Lakers' deadliest point, in the opening game.

However, in the next round, Sun Hao borrowed Walker's cover and made a quick three-point shot.

"Huh!"

The same hollow bag!

8 to 4!

Both teams scored in every round of the opening game!

Such a scene also reminds fans of the offensive battle between the two teams last year.

But just then, Popovich stood up and walked to the sidelines to reach out to signal the team's defense to adjust.

The Spurs' defense on the court suddenly expanded, and Walker's three-point shot from the outside was missed.

Duncan grabbed a defensive rebound, the Spurs hit a defensive counterattack, and Parker started his sports car and scored past Payton.

8 to 6!

Popovich crossed his hands around his chest and looked happy.

He has been watching the Lakers' offense since the beginning.

For three rounds in a row, O'Neal was not involved in the Lakers' offense.

In his opinion, there can only be one reason for this anomaly, and that is that O'Neill is really injured.

He's not ESPN, he completely sees the Lakers' run-in lineup, and if the two sides have a full lineup, the Spurs will definitely be the weak side.

But now O'Neill is fighting with an injury, which is a godsend!

Payton carried the ball to the frontcourt, and the Spurs continued to expand their defense.

Payton gave the ball to Sun Hao, and Sun Hao took the ball and hung it directly inside.

O'Neill received the ball and turned around Nesterovic to score with ease.

The Spurs' defense expanded out and couldn't get it back, so they could only watch O'Neal score.

Popovich was stunned for a moment.

But he didn't think much of it.

O'Neal has injuries and injuries, this kind of one-on-one grasp is still there, and Nesterovic has already had 1 foul, and the defense does not dare to be ruthless.

He called Muhammad straight from the bench.

Mohammed is a Spurs team who came at the trade deadline last year, with a short interior of 2.06 meters.

In addition to his height, his defense, movement speed, positioning, and frontcourt rebounds are all better than Nesterovic's.

So this season, although Nesterovic is still the team's starter, Mohammed actually has more playing time.

Although, he and Nesterovic have proven that they can't stop O'Neal in the playoffs last season, but now O'Neal is injured!

Even if it's a big shark, if it's injured, its power will decrease!

Popovich felt that this adjustment would bring unexpected benefits to the team.

And taking advantage of the substitution, he called Duncan to his side and said a few words.

The Spurs' offense, Duncan's free throw line, suddenly turned and went to the basket.

Popovich's advice just now was to let Duncan go inside and kill O'Neal.

O'Neill is injured now, and he won't be able to keep up with the reaction.

As long as he is beaten, the Lakers without O'Neal will have a big chance of winning for the Spurs.

Duncan's breakthrough was very resolute, his footsteps were useless, and he was obviously rushing to make kills.

The general insiders basically dodged when they saw this posture.

Don't look at Duncan's play most of the time after the injury, but when it is really hard, you don't negotiate the dunk.

However, O'Neill is clearly not your average insider.

After seeing Duncan menacing, he directly chose to go head-to-head.

Tim doesn't play O'Neal, I'm still the No. 1 inside Duncan and O'Neal after a tough fight...... Straight back up.

O'Neill is a mountain of meat after becoming fat.

And the next scene is a little funny: Duncan didn't throw the ball after being knocked back, so he took the ball and took a few steps back, only to blow the referee's whistle and blow him straight away.

Duncan looked left and right to make sure he was blowing himself, threw the ball away, and turned back into the half court as if nothing had happened.

The scene was already full of laughter.

Sun Hao was also amused, and this reaction was a little cute.

As it turns out, Duncan is called "dumb" for a reason.

The Lakers attacked the frontcourt again, and in the face of the Spurs' extended defense, Payton hoisted the ball inside O'Neal.

O'Neill leaned back against Muhammad, who was more than half a head shorter than himself, and then turned around directly.

"Bang!"

Amid the excited shouts of the fans at the scene, O'Neal smashed the ball directly into the basket through Mohammed.

“…… Fxck！ ”

Barkley in the commentary seat hugged his head directly.

It's not that O'Neal's dunk is so dehumanizing, if you want to say shock, O'Neal's previous smashing of rebounds is shock, but because O'Neal came too suddenly!

If it's not enough to make an image, refer to the principle of boiling frogs in warm water.

Popovich was also stunned.

From pre-match to now, everything suggests that he O'Neill is indeed injured.

So even if Duncan's goal didn't score just now, he felt that it was just a coincidence.

But this dunk woke him up completely.

God is so hurt! O'Neal is playing with him!

This will be verified in the next round as well!

Parker received Duncan's response pass and hit the basket, but O'Neal directly split his head and face with a big hat!

Duncan's quick eyes got the offensive rebound, a quick second offense, and as a result, O'Neal reached out for another block!

This continuous cap, this reaction speed, there are injuries and ghosts! I didn't play much at the beginning, and I was full of energy!

And after the second block, the ball fell into Walker's hands, the Lakers turned around to play defensive counterattack, and Sun Hao received Walker's backcourt long pass and scored a fast-break dunk.

Popovich, with a black face, reached out and called a timeout.

"We succeeded~"

When he got off the field, O'Neill pulled Sun Hao and laughed.

Most of last season's meetings were played by Popovich, and they saw the move.

But this time they played Popovich.

Watching Popovich's expression change on the sidelines was more refreshing than winning.

Coming back from the timeout, Duncan hit a 45° corner signature shot to stabilize the situation.

Looking back, Sun Hao and O'Neal played a pick-and-roll, and after the disassembly, he passed O'Neal, and O'Neal put the ball into the basket against Ginobili and Duncan, who assisted in the defense.

The goal was scored as if to say: no more pretending! I'm in a showdown!

Popovich's face became even more ugly.

After coaching for so long, fighting wits and courage with old rivals such as Nelson Sr., Phil Jackson, etc., he never imagined that he would be played by O'Neal one day......

It made him feel like his place in history had fallen to the Mariana Trench.

16 to 8!

The key is the score on the court, after he was played like this for a while, the Lakers still completely took the initiative.

This is very important when two teams of close strength play each other.

Seven minutes into the quarter, the score was 22-12, and the Lakers were firmly in control of the situation.

That's when the Lakers' side began to make substitutions, with Phil Jackson replacing Payton and O'Neal with Finley and Mourning.

Popovich's face softened a little when he saw this.

Last season, Phil Jackson was still figuring out whether he should give O'Neal more time for the sake of winning the game or reduce his playing time to protect O'Neal.

By the time O'Neal gained weight this season, Jackson had no choice.

O'Neill's current fitness is only about 30 minutes a game at most, and any more is gone.

To put that into this, a session is about seven or eight minutes.

So for the Spurs, it's a good opportunity for them to chase points.

In the first round of the substitution, Ginobili's trademark serpentine breakaway layup scored.

When the Lakers advanced to the frontcourt, the Spurs began to expand their defense again.

Sun's shot from the pack was deflected off by Duncan's long arm, and Mohammed's excellent positioning protected the defensive rebound.

"Run! Run! ”

Popovich walked quickly to the sidelines and waved his hands and shouted.

The Spurs countered defensively, and Ginobili received a pass from Parker and went up again.

But at the moment of his shot, he felt a dark cloud overhead.

Luckily, he reacted quickly enough to dodge in the air and then dodge the block.

Although he completed the shot before landing with his excellent waist and abdominal ability, a series of maneuvers made him lose a good shooting angle.

The ball flew directly over the basket, and it was a standard "bridge crossing".

It was at this moment that the man who almost covered him grabbed the defensive rebound.

Alonzo!

When Ginobili landed on the ground and looked up to see the person who grabbed the board, there was an incredible look in his eyes.

Mourning was still fighting for rebounds in the front court, and he was already running back to the backcourt in a blink of an eye?

That is, Ginobili entered the league late, and Mourning averaged 3+ blocks per game all year round before his kidney change, which is not entirely obtained by positional warfare.

After Mourning won the rebound, he turned around and gave it to Walker, who retreated, and Antoine fast-break engine Walker turned around and countered the Spurs' fast-break.

Finley receives Walker's pass and scores for a layup.

Sun Hao gave Mo Ning a thumbs up at this time.

Not to mention the 4-pointer in and out of the offensive and defensive round just now, let's just say that the chase defense was successful, and the momentum of the Spurs' chasing points was suppressed.

Compared with Divac and Anderson before him, Mourning, who has regained his form, can be regarded as a substitute center for a championship team.

In the Spurs' positional battle, Duncan responded to the free throw line, Parker cut to the basket, and Mourning, who faced the defense, turned and made a top.

At the beginning, he was politely rejected to learn three-point shooting with Sun Hao, and then practiced hard to break through, and this spinning top layup became his strongest weapon.

"Smack!"

However, Parker, like Ginobili, underestimated Mourning's ability on the defensive end.

And he was even worse than Ginobili, and his shot was directly covered by Morin!

In terms of defensive ability alone, Mo Ning does not lose to O'Neal!

This one cap, the cover of Popovich's brain is buzzing.

He's not the same as Parker Ginobili on the field, he's seen Mourning at his peak.

In other words, he wasn't surprised by Mo Ning's ability, but he didn't expect Mo Ning to recover to such an extent!

You must know that the first two comebacks of Mo Ning were the same as Hill, and he lay down again after a few games.

But this season with the Lakers came back, not to mention playing 60 games in the regular season, and the playoffs were so vigorous.

Could it be that the Lakers have a miracle doctor?

It's a pity that Popovich didn't cross over like Sun Hao, otherwise he would have known that he had misunderstood.

In history, Mourning's physical condition after his third comeback was not bad, and he made 60+ appearances in the Heat for two consecutive seasons.

Now that he's on the Lakers, the Lakers are strong, and it's not surprising that he played a little less in the regular season and was fit enough in the playoffs.

But at this point, Popovich feels a little bit of the world's malice.

Because it means that it will be difficult for the Spurs to chase points in the bench transition section!

At the end of the first quarter, the score on the court was 29-18, and the Lakers took the lead.

Popovich was given a shot at the scene, and he had never changed his face, with a rare trace of chagrin.

Obviously, he was tricked by O'Neill tonight, and his whole mood couldn't get better.

The Lakers didn't let the good opportunity slip away, and played steadily in the second three quarters, and in the fourth quarter, Sun Hao played a personal wave and directly took the game ahead of schedule.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Spurs 109-95 at home to claim their first playoff win of the year.

On the Spurs' side, Duncan steadily cut 25 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists.

On the Lakers' side, Sun Hao easily scored a game-high 33 points, O'Neal played 25 minutes and contributed a double-double of 19 points and 12 boards, Finley scored the most 17 points on the bench, Payton had 12 points, 4 boards and 5 assists, and Mourning had 6 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks.

It was a typical Lakers-style win this season.

The post-game press conference greeted the Lakers in an extremely relaxed atmosphere.

"Shaq, how are your toes feeling now?"

The reporter was also concerned about O'Neill's toes.

Before the game, he said that his toes were sore, and the media was concerned.

"It's great, I feel like my toes are amazing, they've never been that great."

O'Neill's words made Sun Hao happy.

This murderous heart has sprinkled another handful of salt on Popovich's wounds!

"How would you rate Mourning's performance tonight?"

The reporter then asked O'Neill another question.

"He was better than me tonight!"

"A lot of people probably forget that Alonzo and I were in the league in '92, I was the top pick, and if Shaq's ability is 10, then Alonzo is 9, so I'm not surprised at all by his good performance tonight."

O'Neill is a real living treasure.

"I think Phil must have liked him very much, because with him, Phil can rest assured that I can only play for 20 minutes a night."

His next words made Jackson laugh as well.

After the press conference, Sun Hao and O'Neill walked to the locker room together.

"Why don't I discuss with Phil in the next game, and I'll play as a substitute?"

O'Neill tasted the sweetness and then came back to the idea.

Sun Hao waved his hand, Popovich was very proficient, this kind of trick worked for him once, but only once.

It is impossible to repeat the old trick with him.

"Let's go back to watch the live broadcast as soon as possible, and don't forget that we still have a small bet."

Sun Hao continued.

O'Neill was also interested when he heard this.

The two of them went back to the locker room and took a shower, so they went directly to the lounge to lie down and watch the live broadcast.

The team doctor came over at this time to help O'Neal ice his toes, which happened to kill two birds with one stone.

The Mavericks and Warriors have been playing more than a quarter of the game, with the score on the court being 43-38, and the Mavericks are ahead.

"This score is high enough."

O'Neill said after glancing at the score.

Sun Hao smiled.

Compared to the high score, the difference in points on the field is the key!

The Warriors are on par with the Mavericks!

At this time, I have to talk about the difference between this Warriors team and the Golden State gang in history.

The Golden State Gangs' starting and core rotation is: Byron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Jason Richardson, Al Harrington, Biedlings, Matt Barnes, Monta Ellis and Petrus.

But right now, Jackson and Harrington are both playing with the Pacers, Ellis was also drafted by the Pacers in last year's draft, and Petrus is with the Suns.

The current starting and core rotation of this Warriors team is: Byron Davis, Jason Richardson, Dunleavy Jr., Jamison, Troy Murphy, Jarrett Jack, Matt Barnes, Biedlings and Zhizhi Wang.

The lineup is different, and the strength of the players is naturally different, but the same is the old Nelson's tactics.

The philosophy he implanted for this Warriors team is completely different from what he originally gave to the Mavericks.

The Mavericks originally had a defensive foundation, and the team also found defensive coaches like Johnson and Harris, and then traded Dampier in order to win the championship against O'Neal, so they had both offense and defense.

But the Warriors have never defended, let alone won the championship, so the philosophy he implanted in this team can be summed up in one sentence: What is defense? Attack and forget about it!

So it's not surprising that the score on the field is not surprising.

The two watched for a while, and when halftime was over, the Mavericks led 58-53.

"These guys are too good at throwing and too good at running."

O'Neal couldn't help but sigh at the Warriors' style of play at this time.

Three-pointer, plus a quick break.

From Sun Hao's point of view, this is the so-called "magic ball" style of play of the Houston team under D'Antoni in the future.

The only difference is that this Warriors team is relatively less talented, and the era is not as friendly to this style of play.

In a way, D'Antoni is a "stealer".

And what he said earlier about Nelson Sr.'s knowledge of Johnson and the Mavericks is also playing a vital role.

One of the most obvious areas is that Nelson Sr. has been misaligning Novitzki with the perimeter, first Mike Dunleavy, then Matt Barnes, and even Jason Richardson in some cases.

Johnson likes to use Nowitzki to play center and pull him to the top of the arc, a defensive strategy that eats him to death.

In the second half, Bryant felt a little lower, Nowitzki was still playing poorly, and the situation began to tilt to the Warriors' side.

In the end, with O'Neal's eyes widening, the Warriors finally defeated the Mavericks 103-93 and won the first game in an upset!

Bryant scored 31 points to no avail, and Nowitzki scored just 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting!

On the Warriors' side, Byron Davis went on a rampage and scored 33 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists! Jamison 22 points, Richardson 21 points! The team made 12 of 30 three-point shots!

"These guys just played the whole game."

O'Neal is still lamenting the Warriors.

"After all, this is their first playoff game in 13 years."

Sun Hao said with a smile.

Although it sounds a little unbelievable, it seems that even with Kobe, this Mavericks team is still likely to be blacked out?