The other set of matchups in the Western Conference semifinals was in full swing, with the Trail Blazers becoming cautious after being robbed of a win by the Rockets in the first round.

The talent of the Trail Blazers is quite strong, and the cautious Trail Blazers are still quite difficult to deal with.

In the end, the Spurs won with a big score of 4:3.

In this round of the series, Duncan did not fall behind in the process of facing Oden, which caused many fans to shout that this is an old monster......

If you want to say who the league's No. 1 center is today, some people may mention Yao Ming's name, but the vast majority of fans will think of Oden first.

After joining the Trail Blazers, Oden's data was fully released, especially last season, Oden averaged 25.2 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.

Even in this case, the elder Duncan still did not fall behind at all in the process of opposing Oden, which is really incredible.

In addition to Duncan's unreasonable power, Jimmy Butler also played an important role in limiting Granger, the Trail Blazers' main offensive point on the outside.

Because of Jimmy Butler's quality defense, Granger averaged only 18 points per game in this series.

Although it is already a lot, compared to the real level of Granger, it is naturally an abnormal performance.

……

Jimmy Butler has really exerted amazing energy in the hands of Popovich, and has gradually become a player to be reckoned with on the league's forward lineback.

If you want to say the best small forward players that have emerged in the past two years, it is undoubtedly Leonard and Jimmy Butler.

The styles of these two are actually somewhat similar, both started with defense, and the offensive end did not start to be outstanding......

……

After much anticipation, Richard finally looked forward to meeting the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.

If you really want to talk about it, the current Clippers are definitely in the right place at the right time, and they have a lot of innate advantages over the Spurs.

The first is that the record is better than that of the Spurs, and the Clippers will have an additional home-court advantage.

Secondly, the Clippers swept their opponents in two consecutive rounds to advance, and the Spurs just finished a round of tie-breaks, so the old men on their team naturally did not rest so easily.

With these two advantages, many fans are optimistic that the Clippers can get a ticket to the Finals.

……

"Lee, I didn't expect us to meet on the stage of the Western Conference Finals so soon, it's unbelievable." Popovich greeted Richard with a smile during the warm-up session.

"Greg, do you believe this?" Richard laughed.

To say that Popovich didn't expect the two teams to meet in the West, then he didn't believe that Richard was killed.

Popovich's words can't even be trusted with punctuation.

……

"Seriously, Li, do you think which of us can win this round of Western Finals?" Popovich's expression became serious, and he asked Richard.

Richard waved his hand, "I naturally hope that our Clippers can win, but I think it will definitely not be that easy." ”

"But if I really want to tell the truth, I think you Spurs have a better chance."

"There's no reason, it's just a feeling." Richard said with a smile.

Popovich laughed and didn't go any further, in fact he also felt that their Spurs had a better chance of winning.

……

"Doot toot!" The referee blew the whistle for the start of the match.

The starters of both sides began to appear.

What Richard and other fans didn't expect was that Popovich came up with a starting lineup that they hadn't used before in tonight's game.

Duncan, Dior, Middleton, Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker, the French sports car Parker was put on the bench like Ginobili.

Richard has a bit of a pain in the ass, and if Popovich does this, the depth and thickness of the Spurs bench will be a little scary.

Parker, Ginobili, Martial Saint, Danny Green, Mills......

Such a bench lineup can be called a must in the league, and I am afraid that the Pirate bench lineup coached by Richard before can be more luxurious than this.

However, the strong bench lineup naturally brought a trace of problems, and the performance of the Spurs backcourt trident was not particularly good at the beginning.

After all, they are all newcomers, plus they have never been a starter, and now they have suddenly played a starter directly in the Western Finals, and anyone will be a little nervous.

Kemba Walker, in particular, did not have the effect that Popovich wanted.

By the halfway point of the first quarter, the Clippers had a five-point lead.

Popovich didn't seem to care at all about the five-point difference, called a timeout, and replaced him with a big man on the bench.

The appearance of Ginobili and Parker directly revitalized the Spurs' offense, curbed the Spurs' backward trend, and with two minutes left in the first quarter, the two sides were still five points apart.

The Clippers' starting lineup, several players have been playing for ten minutes in the first quarter, and Richard naturally has to make substitutions.

But this change doesn't matter, in just two minutes, the Spurs directly recovered the five-point difference.

In the second quarter of the game, Richard didn't dare to be careless, so he could only let the starting lineup play as much as possible, no way, as long as the Clippers replaced the bench, the team immediately had a tendency to collapse......

It's not that Richard doesn't have reliable substitutes at hand, such as Big Ben, Big Monkey and Thomas Jr.

But Thomas Jr. just put it on the court and immediately became the fireground of the Spurs' backcourt offense!

If Big Ben appears, the effect is not very good, his current state is far inferior to Duncan, and he is completely abused by Duncan.

As for the big horse monkey, it's good, and now the only substitute player Richard can rely on is the big horse monkey.

……

"Doot toot!" Richard finally heard the referee blow the whistle for the end of the match.

This game may be considered the most torturous game Richard has played since entering the league, and he is always looking forward to the end of the game.

Although the Clippers narrowly won by three points in the end, Richard was not happy at all, because he was completely overdrawing the physical strength of the team's main players in this game.

Several starters played more than 40 minutes!

Maybe it's nothing to play two games for more than 40 minutes, but you have to know that this is a seven-game series, and if you continue to play like this, sooner or later there will be injury problems.

Although Richard had the injury scroll in hand, the injury scroll could not be saved, and it would take twenty-four hours for the player to recover.

Once a player gets injured in the opening three minutes like Kobe Bryant, then Richard's series is completely over.

With no one on hand and players injured, it's no wonder that Richard can win this series against the Spurs.

In the blink of an eye, the second game of the Western Conference Finals began, and this time the Clippers were tortured again, playing for more than 40 minutes, and the whole person was tired and pale.

In this second game, although the Clippers still kept their home court, the situation has become quite serious.

In the end, the Clippers' unbeaten golden body in this year's playoffs was finally broken at the home of the Holy City.

The Spurs narrowly beat the tired Clippers by four points on their home court.

By the time the fourth game of the Western Conference finals began, the first half of the game was not over, and Klay Thompson, the main offensive point of the Clippers, was unstable and sprained his ankle when he shot under the defense of Real Ama Danny Green.

Because of Thompson's absence, in this G4, the Clippers were directly defeated.