Popovich was furious at half-time.

Popovich felt unreasonable for Leonard's disobedience to instructions on the field and his own way.

What makes Popovich even more angry is that Leonard doesn't make any excuses for his performance.

He sat in the locker room, sitting in front of Popovich's anger, which doubled Popovich's anger.

If it weren't for Duncan and the other coaches, Popovich would have almost pointed at Leonard's nose and cursed.

The sudden crisis in the team caught the rest of the Spurs off guard.

As many people know, Popovich's ability to deal with the stingers is really not good.

When you encounter a player who is capable but has a strong character, the end result is often to sweep people away.

After all, he was born in the military, and his internal requirements are unity, obedience, and team first.

In comparison, Phil Jackson, who was born as a hippie, is very different, and the two have their own strengths.

But what many people don't know is that Leonard's temper is so hard.

The Spurs players, in particular, thought he was taciturn and a mild-tempered man.

But he was able to disobey the coach's orders in such an important game situation, and he didn't feel that he had done anything wrong.

The atmosphere in the locker room was very awkward and unstable for a while.

Li Liang's stinking agent did work, but it was only a catalyst.

Leonard did have his own ideas.

During the 15-minute half-time break, the Spurs' locker room was spent in chaos and bickering.

This is a very fatal blow to the morale of the team.

Because Leonard's role in the Spurs is very important, especially his defense.

Without his defense, the Spurs would have had a lot more trouble dealing with Li Liang.

In the second and third games, Leonard did a good job of severing the connection between Li Liang and the Clippers players and was the key to the Spurs' victory.

Of course, the price is that Leonard is very inconspicuous in terms of statistics, especially compared to Li Liang.

This time Popovich wants him to do the same.

But some people are not very happy.

When halftime came, the third quarter began.

The Clippers started the second half with a 69-57, 12-point lead.

Although the advantage was clear, the Clippers played cautiously.

Paul instigated the Clippers' first offense from the outside.

Li Liang successfully cut under the basket through repeated coverage and running, and won the layup after receiving the ball.

In this series, Li Liang steals very few points, and the defensive pressure is high.

As a result, two points were stolen at the beginning of the second half, and Popovich was already angry and couldn't scold.

Turning around, Leonard caught the ball and made a mid-range jumper to score two points.

When he first entered the league, people rated Leonard as having good physical fitness, but his skills were stiff, especially shooting and dribbling.

Now his shooting action still looks a little stiff, but after perseverance and hard work, the shooting rate is already very guaranteed.

As a non-top talented shooter, hard work can really take a person to a very high level.

However, those with the top talent may work harder.

Immediately after Leonard's goal, the Clippers launched a quick counterattack.

Li Liang received the ball in the corner and passed to the plugged Griffin, who Duncan stepped forward to cover Griffin.

Griffin returned the ball to Li Liang, and Li Liang received the ball and made a three-point shot directly in the bottom left corner!

Leonard has tried his best to interfere, but Li Liang still hit a three-point shot!

The start of the third quarter was terrible for the Spurs.

Trailing the score was secondary, and the pace of the game was completely tilted in favor of the Clippers at critical times.

The two sides began to play a quick attack.

The Spurs' offense is also sharp, but they are sharp in positional attack.

Once they start to play fast, the tacit coordination and subtle passing they have in the positional attack are not so meaningful.

And the impact and explosiveness of the Clippers are unobstructed.

The Clippers successfully picked up speed in the third quarter, and the Spurs players saw that the tempo could not be reduced, so they had to fight against the Clippers.

Both sides are scoring, but the Clippers are leading the way, and if it goes on like this, it will only become more and more disadvantageous for the Spurs.

By the middle of the third quarter, the score was 83:70, and the Clippers still maintained a 13-point lead.

According to the current offensive momentum of the Clippers, it is not impossible to score more than 100 points in the third quarter.

Popovich was very angry inside, but he kept his cool and called a timeout.

Then Popovich decided to press Leonard to the bench and not let him play.

Popovich was replaced by Dio and wanted to use the height against the Clippers.

At the same time, when Dio is on the field, the Spurs' offensive coordination will be more fluid, which will work wonders.

Sure enough, as soon as Dior appeared on the court, he passed the ball to Green under the empty basket through a high post strategy, and Green dodged Jordan Jr.'s block and made a layup.

But Dior couldn't keep up on the defensive end.

Facing Li Liang one-on-one, Li Liang flanked him with a tentative step...... It is not easy for you to be dribbled by Li Liang.

Then Li Liang hit the inside line, Duncan came over to help defend, Li Liang made a high-throw pass, and gave it to Little Jordan, who received the ball and dunked with one hand.

Dio couldn't defend against Li Liang, and the task of opposing Li Liang was handed over to Danny Green.

But in that case, Parker is going to defend Paul.

Without Leonard, the Spurs' defensive alignment is messed up.

But for the sake of the overall rhythm and strategy, Popovich still insisted on pressing Leonard to the bench.

After Danny Green hit a long-range three-pointer, the Spurs trailed the deficit to just nine points.

Rivers called a timeout, and the Spurs are indeed a team with a lot of life.

While Leonard is crucial in this team, if Duncan doesn't fall, the tree doesn't fall.

The Spurs' offense and defense are slowly finding their senses.

So Rivers' timeout was timely.

"Defend! We have to pick up the defense and put them under pressure, we are ahead now, but we can't relax defensively! ”

Rivers re-emphasized the team's defense and then replaced Griffin with Crawford......

That's how you get tougher?

But Rivers can't help it, and the Clippers are unavailable right now.

Livingston and Collison proved in the previous games that the defensive effect was average, but the offensive gap was not small.

It's better to go to Crawford to strengthen the firepower, and as for the defense, let Li Liang, who mentioned the No. 4 position, worry about it.

Li Liang really has to worry about it again, wiping his butts for the backcourt double dwarf.

But after the game restarted after the timeout, Crawford and Paul didn't leak on the defensive end.

The Clippers missed an attack, Ginobili held the ball and broke quickly, and Crawford actually broke Ginobili's ball in the pursuit!

Ginobili opened his hand to the referee, meaning that Crawford had fouled him.

But the referee didn't blow it, meaning that with Crawford's small and weak body, he can still hit you?

Then, the Clippers offense still didn't hit, and Li Liang's stop-and-go jump shot after breaking through the middle was interfered with by Duncan and didn't score.

The Spurs tried to fight back again, Dio made a beautiful long pass to the frontcourt, Tony Parker received the ball and made a layup, only to be covered from behind by Paul!

You've been capped by Paul!

Paul was capped!

So far in Paul's career, he has covered more than 50 caps in 9 seasons of the regular season.

So far in the playoffs, not counting this one, a total of 3 caps have been covered......

The fourth big hat, dedicated to Tony Parker.

Li Liang really wanted to cry when he saw it, Crawford would return to defend the steal, and Paul would return to defend the block.

It's all grown up, and I don't need Lao Tzu to help wipe my buttocks.

Those two defenses were crucial to the Clippers' morale boost.

After a layup by Parker under the block, Paul countered with the ball and passed to Odom in the middle.

Odom gave the ball to Li Liang on the flank, and the front was completely empty.

In the case of an empty position, Li Liang will not disappoint, and directly shoots three-pointers and hits!

After the goal, Li Liang made a three-point gesture.

The key offense and defense, if these two counterattacks let the Spurs score, the situation of the game will be different, the Spurs will definitely catch up, and the fourth quarter will be full of suspense.

Now, Li Liang used a three-pointer to stop the Spurs again.

Popovich looked at Leonard, who was sitting on the bench, and had to get him back on the pitch.

And Leonard remained expressionless, just got up from the bench.

The whole Spurs were in a strange atmosphere, a feeling of collapse, which seemed to have arrived early.

And the reason was just because Li Liang came over and "farted".