After taking a shower, Sun Hao followed Nelson Sr. to attend the post-game press conference.

Old Nelson was in high spirits, and tonight's victory gave him a vicious breath.

However, Sun Hao behaved relatively calmly.

The Spurs are not the Timberwolves.

A 58-point win would be enough to break the Timberwolves' confidence, but certainly not enough to break the Spurs.

It's like they beat the Spurs in their first game at the beginning of the season, but the whole regular season has been played by the two teams.

What's more, they didn't win the Spurs by as many points.

And Duncan is not Garnett, if low-key is taken as weakness, then there is really a big misunderstanding of the 20-year rookie.

After a two-day break, the second game of the Mavericks and Spurs series continues in San Antonio.

The Spurs have made adjustments on the offensive end, still relying on Duncan's inside and outside tactics, the difference is Duncan's positioning.

Originally, Popovich let Robinson stand at the free throw line, and Duncan was on the inside, so he could play to their respective strengths.

However, Duncan did not have an advantage in the interior against Sabonis, so he simply switched positions this time.

Let Robinson stand in the three-second zone and keep Duncan at the free throw line!

After this adjustment, Robinson's performance did not change much, but Duncan was completely alive.

Because these inside lines of the Mavericks are all prepared for O'Neal, who is strong and moves slowly, and Battle and Collins are all like this.

Duncan obviously doesn't play by strength, and he has little offensive space under the basket and is easy to be restricted.

But when it comes to attacking from the free-throw line, he shows why he's the all-time No. 1 forward.

If you really want to compare offensive skills, Duncan is the most incomprehensible among the big forwards.

The scalp of the people who show all kinds of offensive tricks is numb.

At this time, whether it was Sabonis, Lafrentz, Butler, Collins, and Wang Zhizhi, none of them worked.

Even Nowitzki and Kukoc, who are in the fourth position, can't bear it at all.

In the end, Duncan slashed 32 points, 25 boards, 7 assists and 3 blocks.

He doesn't look like he scored a lot more than he did on the court, but he shot 11-of-22 from the field, and his impact on the game was completely different.

The Spurs also led him to a 98-91 victory.

After two games, the series was 1-1.

The good news for the Mavericks is that they have snatched home-court advantage in the series.

The bad news is that if they don't solve the problems they encountered in Game 2, they will likely be on the back foot for the rest of the series.

Back in Dallas that night, Nelson Sr. and Harris were analyzing the format of the game.

Obviously, Duncan's performance was the most critical reason for the difference in the results of one or two games.

Although entering the league is at the pinnacle, Duncan is actually improving, but because of the high starting point, his progress has been overlooked.

His singles skills on the inside are becoming more and more mature, especially the throwing and hooking between the lines, and his grasp is much greater than in the past.

But Duncan was only six points apart in the first and second games, and that wasn't the deciding factor.

The decisive factor is the Spurs' perimeter.

In Game 2, the Spurs made 8 three-pointers, not much, but 5 more than in Game 1.

Don't be surprised, before the Spurs didn't take three-pointers seriously, they averaged 3~5 in the playoffs.

Duncan opens up on the inside, gets better opportunities on the outside, and pitchers are more confident when they shoot, so they are naturally more accurate.

Inside and outside tactics, the easiest and most difficult to defend.

At the end of the discussion, Nelson Sr. leaned towards the outside with a combo defense against Duncan, and Harris leaned towards the previous balanced defense, but paid attention to the basket.

The two didn't agree, and the next day, Nelson Sr. called Sun Hao and Nash, the two team brains, to the office.

Nash didn't say anything, he didn't know much about defense.

If you ask him to analyze how to break down the Spurs' defense, he may have more ideas.

However, Sun Hao gave his own understanding.

He was in favor of Nelson Sr.

"We're not a strong defensive team in the first place."

He got to the point.

With the Mavericks' defensive level, a balanced defense doesn't necessarily work.

After all, although the opponent is still the Spurs, it is not the same team they met last year.

Whether it's the level of outside shooting or the talent of outside players, it has improved a lot.

With the Mavericks' defensive level, it's easy to lose sight of one or the other in the end if you defend both ends.

At this time, it is better to selectively defend one head, the Spurs' perimeter, or Duncan.

"Tim has been completed, but the Spurs' three-point is still half-baked."

And what made Sun Hao choose to support the old Nelson was the offensive threat judgment.

Duncan is not Garnett, you let him attack hard, his lethality is not much weaker than O'Neal's.

But the Spurs are different from the outside, and even if you let him shoot hard, at their current level, they can't score 10+ threes like the Mavericks.

What's more, the Mavericks can make up for the defense, and they won't be completely open to shoot.

Old Nelson nodded in satisfaction after listening.

Sun Hao is not a sycophant, but it coincides with his thoughts, which makes him not like it.

Once you have a plan, then it's time to implement it.

With more than 20,000 fans in Dallas watching, the third game of the Mavericks and Spurs series kicked off at the National Route Center arena.

There were no changes to the starting lineup on either side, and Duncan gave the Spurs the first chance to attack.

Popovich started the game and found the Mavericks adjust their defense, switching from man-to-man to a 2-3 combo.

As soon as he saw this, his face was filled with joy.

This really makes the Spurs the Spurs the same Spurs as last year!

In the first round, Smith seized the opportunity and hit a three-pointer from a 45-degree angle on the left side.

And that's not all, a few rounds later, Bowen seized the opportunity to hit another three-pointer at a 45-degree angle on the right.

In the first half of the first quarter, the Spurs scored two three-pointers, and the Spurs also led 12-8.

On the commentator's bench, Kerr and Kenny Smith were discussing the Mavericks' defensive strategy, and the two had a disagreement on their thinking.

Kenny Smith felt the Mavericks' defensive style was a little too extreme.

Kerr said there were 48 minutes in the game, and the Mavericks would slowly find their way.

As it turns out, Cole is indeed a rare commentator.

His analysis of the situation was quickly validated in the following games.

As the Spurs have taken more shots from the outside, their shooting percentage has dropped visibly.

There is a relationship between the inconsistency of his outside shooting level and the decline in fitness, but it did happen.

And when that happened, Dallas fans saw a strange phenomenon.

Spurs on the outside, on the break!

Even rookie Parker played a ball that could be played in the future.

He didn't shoot a three-pointer in the open position, shook the air and burst in to give Lafrentz a block.

Sun Hao was inexplicably familiar when he saw this scene.

In history, in the 2019 Men's Basketball Asian Championships, when the Chinese team played Nigeria, there was such a scene.

At that time, the Chinese team rushed in with the ball on the outside, and the vacant seats also rushed in, so anxious that the fans buckled the keyboard on the live broadcast.

But there's only one reason why they don't vote, they can't vote.

Three-pointers can easily be turned into long rebounds.

In other words, it's easy for the opponent to play a defensive counterattack.

The Mavericks are experts in this area, and after being hit by a few counterattacks, the Spurs don't dare to shoot from the outside.

Then, just like the performance of the Chinese team in the Asian Championships, the space on the field is getting smaller and smaller.

Popovich was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, but he couldn't help it.

Although the Spurs value the three-point, this thing is not so easy to practice.

Because it's not a one-man thing, the Mavericks can have today's three-point level, which Nelson Sr. has accumulated over the years in Dallas.

As a result, the Spurs were hot from beyond the three-point line in the first quarter, but at the end of the game, they took 20 shots and scored only five goals.

That percentage is clearly not enough to guarantee them the game.

The Mavericks went on a 96-83 win at home to make it 2-1.

"I'm sorry, I won again."

At the handshake after the game, when Nelson Sr. shook hands with Popovich, he said with a smile.

As angry as Popovich is, he is as happy as he is.

After the last game, he and his coaching staff had a headache, but after this game, it was Popovich and the Spurs' coaching staff who had a headache.

Two days later, Game 4 of the Mavericks-Spurs series was still playing in Dallas.

Before the game, both Mavericks fans and players seemed a little excited.

As long as they win this home again, they will have series match points.

Thinking about the scene of last year's robbery and losing seven, and then thinking about being able to stage a successful revenge scene, it is really difficult not to be excited.

And after the game started, Parker and Smith missed consecutive three-pointers, which made them even more excited.

In the last game, the Spurs started accurately, but this opening was gone.

The Mavericks quickly built up a lead.

It's a big win just in sight.

At the critical moment, it was Duncan.

The stone Buddha was furious.

He turned on his individual offensive mode in the face of joint defense.

The Mavericks' wrapping and combo defense didn't work.

If there are two interior players in the league right now who can ignore multiple defenses in certain games, one is O'Neal and the other is Duncan.

Duncan scored 20 points in the half to help the Spurs bite the score.

However, in the second half, the Mavericks still pulled away a little bit.

The Spurs have Duncan, but they only have Duncan tonight.

Smith doesn't have a good outside hand, and Parker and Ginobili are too immature.

In the end, the Mavericks had the last laugh 91-83.

Duncan had 31 points and 14 rebounds.

After winning this game, as the fans had expected before the game, they took a 3-1 lead in the big score!

This revenge is coming faster than many people think!

In TNT's latest NBA Insider, Kerr and Kenny Smith also analyzed the series.

"I very much agree with an old Chinese saying that failure is the mother of success."

After Cole said this, he also explained why he knew this.

His brother-in-law, Fang Dewan, is a renowned historian and sinologist and professor of modern Chinese history at the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Sometimes they talk about Chinese culture.

"Because only after failure, we will look for the cause of failure, solve it, and then make it successful."

In his analysis, the Spurs' defeat of the Mavericks last year relied on a fake joint defense, and even this season it can become a 2-3 joint defense.

But the Mavericks have improved significantly in the mid-range this year.

Sun Hao started from scratch, and Nowitzki's projection is much more stable than last year.

The Spurs used the same defensive tactics again, and the Mavericks were already able to deal with it calmly.

This is very critical for the Mavericks, who are mainly attacking.

Then, this year it was the Spurs' turn to run into a problem.

As Robinson aged, they didn't have a second consistent scoring point other than Duncan, especially a stable three-point shooting point from the outside.

"Don't throw the blame on this era, even if it's the Bulls of the last century, they still have ...... I. ”

Cole even pretended to be a force.

In his opinion, the Spurs may be able to win 1~2 more games, but the Mavericks will take revenge and win the series in the end.

But he also said in the end that losing this year's series isn't necessarily a bad thing, like last year's Mavericks.

Because he's seen the change in Popovich and the Spurs' emphasis on three-pointers.

As soon as next year, the Spurs will have the strength to reach the top.

Kerr's analysis sounds professional, but only time will tell if he played for the Spurs later in his career.

After a two-day break, the Mavericks returned to San Antonio for Game 5 of their series against the Spurs.

This is also the match point game of the Mavericks, as long as they win, they will succeed in revenge and advance to the Western finals.

However, in San Antonio, the Spurs, who had been on fire for two games, finally threw away.

Smith made three, Bowen two, and even Parker added two, adding up to the Spurs' 9-of-20 shooting from the outside for a 45 percent shooting percentage.

The Spurs came back 98-91 at home to make it 2-3.

And this game has more bad news for the Mavericks than a loss.

Sabonis developed a sore knee after the game.

Of the Mavericks' interior players, Sabonis is the best performer since entering the playoffs.

His experience and individual ability are all perfectly reflected in the competition.

This also made the old Nelson unconsciously trust and rely on him more and more.

The most immediate result is that he has more and more playing time.

That's not a good thing for a 37-year-old veteran.

When he returned to Dallas, Sabonis's condition did not improve, and the team doctor directly announced that he was out for the season.

The moment the news came out, the situation in the series changed subtly.

With Sabonis there, Duncan could only attack more from the free-throw line.

Now that Sabonis is not there, it is foreseeable that Duncan will be more demanding on the inside in the following games.

Coupled with the Spurs' resurgence of outside touch, the Mavericks' promotion situation has become suspenseful again.

And the Spurs have home-court advantage, if they can win the sixth game in Dallas, then the tie-break will be played in San Antonio.

In addition, there is the experience of winning last year's tie-break.

"Cole is a nine-star poisoned milk."

Some fans couldn't help but sigh in the forum.

(Recommended reading: Reading Files 2013)