Since 2005, the NBA has been moving towards a path of "offense is stronger than defense".

In the 90s, defense was taken to the extreme in the NBA, and with the wave of globalization, NBA administrators led by Stern realized that the NBA needed offense, needed more goals, and needed better performances.

So at the beginning of the 21st century, a series of rules were implemented that favored offense and limited defense.

Of course, it will take time for any policy to be effective.

The main star who dominates a league generally grows for about 10 years.

Until 2010, the first decade of the 21st century, the league's rulers were players who entered the league in the 90s and grew up.

So in the past 10 years, the NBA has been very fierce on the defensive end, and it still has the shadow of the last century.

The turning point came in 2011, when the Dallas Mavericks won the championship, first breaking the so-called "shooting can't win a championship" myth.

Then the wind of the alliance began to blow more and more in the direction of the attack.

Li Liang's emergence in the 2013 season accelerated this process.

The Lakers' championship was the last afterglow of the previous era, and they quickly sank after losing Li Liang, and Howard was useless.

In a series or game in the playoffs, defense will still be a key factor in determining the game.

Popovich was a complete miscalculation before the game, and he didn't expect the Clippers to use this trick.

The Spurs, as the former Texas meat grinder, have now been changed to a darts club, and the Clippers are cold and put on a desperate posture on the defensive end, and the players are really a little uncomfortable.

After the start of the second half, the Spurs made adjustments, and adversity still depends on Duncan!

As a result, Li Liang on the Clippers' side took the initiative to defend Duncan!

The rookie Duncan Li Liang in 1997 is not afraid, and the 38-year-old Duncan Li Liang is even more confident.

His confidence does not come from blind self-confidence, but from the accumulation of systematic experience.

In that task against rookie Duncan, Li Liang accumulated a lot of tricks on "how to deal with Duncan".

Some of these tips have been summarized by himself and some have been taught to him by Carl Malone.

Although more than a decade has passed, Duncan has changed a lot in his style of play.

But when he held the ball in the low post, Duncan was still the same Duncan, but he was more than ten years older and more than a dozen pounds lighter.

This change was fatal for Duncan.

In 2014, many young interior players no longer had basic low-post skills.

They like to practice pulling out and shooting three-pointers, and pay more attention to the basket defense in defense and help defend the position.

Defenders who can carry a center in the low post like a stone pier have long been unpopular in the league.

Players like Reggie Evans and Perkins, for example, are on the verge of extinction in the league, just like the Soviet Union's large anti-ship missiles have become the mark of the last era.

And an evergreen like Duncan, even if he is 38 years old, even if his weight and strength have declined, he can still abuse many interior players in the low position.

For example, Ibaka, a basket-guarding interior line that is particularly useful in today's basketball style, will be beaten out of temper by Duncan's low-post singles.

Including Jordan Jr., in fact, his low-post defense is not very good.

His center of gravity is too high to push the plate down, but hopes to use his height and bounce to work in the air.

When encountering an experienced attacker like Duncan, it is easy to eat and get fouled.

So, Popovich hopes Duncan can open up the game in the low post at the start of the third quarter and turn the tide of the game.

To put it bluntly, I still rely on Duncan.

As a result, Duncan hit Li Liang three times in a row on the offensive end, and none of them scored!

The two times were the shooting iron after turning, and the other time was directly pulled out by Li Liang.

The Clippers took the opportunity to play a wave of 8:0 counterattacks and opened the difference in one fell swoop!

The Spurs called a timeout.

Duncan came off the court with his head drooping, visibly annoyed.

In this game, the Spurs were very energetic, and they all wanted to kill the Clippers at home and get the match point 3:1.

Even if you lose in Los Angeles in the fifth game, you can return to San Antonio in the sixth game and take out the opponent.

Na Cheng thought that the Clippers played a surprising defense, and the Spurs' smooth offense was forced to be choked.

And when Li Liang got off the field, he thought, I still respect Duncan, otherwise I will learn from Malone and give you a jio!

And these teammates of their own, too, have to come to Jio!

How's it going, it's 13 points ahead, it's tailwinding, can you play now?

In a game dominated by slow-paced defense, the 13-point margin is very large.

Unlike some offensive battles, the 13-point difference is only a few rounds, and a few three-pointers are thrown back.

The Clippers had a very good time at the start of the third quarter.

Li Liang not only defended Duncan on the defensive end, but also contributed a three-pointer on the offensive end.

At the same time, Paul also hit a three-pointer and assisted Griffin for a dunk.

After the timeout was over and back in the game, the Clippers continued to stick to the defensive style of the first half.

Li Liang was like a coachman with a leather whip, desperately whipping his teammates in defense.

Barnes, Jordan Jr., and Paul, the short.

Li Liang stared at Paul more than once and scolded, telling the dwarf not to dig casually, and not to pin his hopes on steals.

"Keep the intensity, keep the rhythm and don't let them play the offensive feeling!"

Because Li Liang knows that although the benefit of stealing is very high, it will be much easier to score goals by playing fast attack directly after breaking the ball.

But sometimes this kind of fast attack after a steal hits two more, and the rhythm of the game will be driven all at once, and the rhythm of both sides will be faster.

This is not what Li Liang wants to see.

Don't look at the Clippers There are four head coaches sitting under the Clippers court, all of them are famous, but Li Liang is the real brain of this team! The real core!

How the team plays and how it goes, we still have to listen to him and watch him.

He's the real chess player.

Rivers, in charge of refueling.

Brown, who is in charge of handing out water.

Gentry, in charge of the daze.

Lou, in charge of staying alive.

I don't know what others think, anyway, that's how Li Liang sees it.

In his eyes, NBA coaches are sometimes superfluous.

The real coach in his heart was none other than Kentucky's Calypari.

Throughout the third quarter, the Clippers struggled to attack on their own, and they didn't give the Spurs a chance to play an offensive feel.

The two sides were scrambling for rhythm, and the Spurs wanted to speed up, but the Clippers completely gave up the frontcourt rebounding scramble and went all out to defend.

At the same time, under the influence of Li Liang's runes, the Clippers' defense line is quite solid.

At the end of the third quarter, the Clippers still led the Spurs by seven points at 67:60.

The Spurs were close on the score, but the seven-point gap was still weighing on their heads like a stone, leaving them breathless.

Steve Kerr, the commentator on the scene, wondered why the previous few matchups had turned into a suffocating defensive strangulation this one.

After the start of the fourth quarter, the atmosphere of this strangulation intensified, making people wonder if it was coming to the East.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the two sides did not score for four minutes and seven or eight rounds.

It's really Los Angeles to welcome the sunrise at four o'clock, and listen to the sound of iron.

Li Liang took a three-minute break off the court, and immediately opened up the situation after re-entering the court.

After he swallowed the three-point shooting percentage improvement sticker, he faced Leonard one-on-one outside the three-point line and forced a three-point shot!

In the next few minutes, the Clippers simplified their offense to the extreme, that is, they gave the ball to Li Liang, and then Li Liang took the ball to face Leonard or Green one-on-one on the outside, grinding time, and when it was almost 20 seconds, he forced a three-point shot.

If Leonard defends up, Li Liang breaks through the pull-up jump shot.

If the Spurs are trapped, Li Liang then chooses to pass the ball to his teammates to attack.

The Clippers' offense has become very simple, which also means that other players can allocate more physical energy to the defense.

In fact, they themselves don't have much physical strength to participate in the attack.

High-intensity defending is very physically demanding.

And Li Liang's physical strength is very abundant, because he drank a bottle of Gatorade to replenish his physical strength during the intermission.

Li Liang, who scored a total of 10 points in the first three quarters, made 4 of 7 three-pointers in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter and scored another 12 points!

And these 12 points are very fatal for the Spurs, because in the entire fourth quarter, the Spurs scored a total of 20 points!

The Clippers scored just 15 points.

A desperate defensive battle, hard to see the extreme.

Especially in the fourth quarter, the Clippers were quite ugly in adopting the strategy of playing four and then desperately going back to fight defense, and they burned the Spurs to death.

But how to put it, this is to govern others the way they do.

I think that the Spurs, who had young Duncan, didn't they just rely on Duncan to play four times, and then fight defense, and consume many opponents in life.

The final score was 82:80, and with Ginobili's three-point shot missed in the last moment, the Clippers won the game with difficulty.

Li Liang scored 22 points in the game, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, and the statistics are not obvious.

But as long as you watch the game, you can know that this is a crucial victory for Li Liang and the Clippers.

It's ugly, and winning is the most important thing.

When necessary, you need to learn some lessons from your opponents to improve yourself.

At this point, Li Liang did a good job.

The two sides tied 2-2, and the Clippers regained home-court advantage.

The fifth match for match point will be played in Los Angeles.