The outcome of the Pacers and Cavaliers game was still expected.

In the first two series between Li Liang and James, Li Liang won the first game.

Plus this time, James has been losing in the first game of the series against Li Liang's team.

The victory or defeat of the first game can often set the tone for the entire series, and in this regard, Li Liang is still a step ahead.

The day after the Eastern Conference Finals, the Western Conference Finals were played at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

The Golden State Warriors reached the division finals for the first time in 39 years, and the last time they reached the Western Conference Finals was back in 1976.

At that time, they were the defending champions, but in the face of the Suns, the team's boss Rick Barry and his teammates were angry and refused to shoot in the second half of the life-and-death battle, but the team lost the opportunity to enter the Finals to defend the title, which can be said to be one of the most willful players in history.

The Spurs, on the other hand, reached the division finals for the third time in four years, and the GDP with gas in the tank continued to attack the championship trophy.

One is an upstart, the other is an old one, Kerr also won a championship under Popovich, and is a teammate of Tim Duncan, and the collision between the two sides is very interesting.

And the Spurs' first game at Oracle Arena taught the Warriors a lesson.

They beat the Warriors by 4 points 101-97 on the road and took a 1-0 lead.

In this game, Popovich can be described as skillful, Leonard on the defensive end contained Green's point, and the substitutes led by Ginobili scored various bombings, and the biggest point difference on the court was once stretched to 18 points.

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors used a five-small lineup to chase points frantically, and once narrowed the gap to 1 point.

At key moments, Duncan's defense and Leonard's ball-handling singles helped the Spurs maintain their advantage and win the first game in Oakland to regain home-court advantage.

……

On the first game of the Western Conference Finals, Li Liang watched the whole game at home.

He sat on the couch and ate chips while watching ESPN's live stream and listening to Jeff Van Gundy's commentary.

Van Gundy's explanation is still very professional, that is, he will blow Li Liang from time to time.

Because the last game has just ended, Van Gundy still has some aftertaste of Li Liang's excellent performance, and this time there is Leonard for comparison, Van Gundy, as a famous Li Liang fan, will always mention "Bruce Lee" from time to time.

This made Li Liang very embarrassed, and then renewed the ESPN TV fee for two years.

From the beginning to the end of the game, Li Liang interpreted the game from the perspective of his "NBA's Most Valuable Coach (self-proclaimed)", and gave the Warriors and Spurs a threat rating, feeling that the Warriors were more threatening.

There is only one biggest problem with the Spurs, and that is Duncan's aging.

Looking at the game process, Duncan really degraded a lot.

Last season, Duncan was an All-Star on the defensive end of the playoffs, and occasionally had superstar performances on the offensive end.

This season, Duncan has slipped beyond the All-Star level on the defensive end, the offense is more stretched, and the low-post offense is basically gone.

The Spurs' offensive focus has completely shifted to the outside, and Leonard's growth and Ginobili's continued rejuvenation have kept the Spurs' offense alive enough.

It's just that without Duncan's defense, they can win one or two games, and it's still very, very difficult to eat the Warriors for the entire series.

The problem with the Warriors is that they don't have enough experience.

There were several obvious points in time that could be turned over, but the Warriors did not grasp it and were cut off by Popovich, the trader.

If Li Liang participated in this game, he would have 80 percent of the time to turn the game situation around.

And as soon as the Warriors were targeted too badly by the Spurs at the beginning, Kerr's reaction was still slow.

It was only in the fourth quarter that he completely reacted and launched a big counterattack.

The Warriors' counterattack strength and ability are much stronger than the Cavaliers.

Like the Cavaliers who fell behind by 18 or 20 points in the division finals, they were basically finished, while the Warriors were different, they had strong explosiveness on the offensive end, and they chased it back in the first quarter, but they didn't finish it well in the end, and what they lacked was experience (and plug-ins).

So in his heart, Li Liang has silently regarded the Warriors as his biggest potential opponent in the finals.

In fact, he also wants to meet with the Warriors, playing the Spurs to be honest, there are still a lot of difficulties in the finals.

Last year's Western Conference Finals was already one of the most heart-wrenching series for Li Liang.

It's really very likely to be eliminated, that's the 70-win Clippers, and this year's Pacers don't have the strength of last year's Clippers.

So it's better for Popovich and Spurs to be old cowards who don't touch it or not, and let them fall in the Bay Area to feed the fish.

……

After a day off, on May 22, the second game of the Cavaliers and Pacers continued at the Consec Arena.

The Cavaliers' last big defeat on the road had something to do with James' unexpected ankle sprain.

After the game, James checked and sure enough, there was no big problem, and after a little rest, there was no problem in the second game.

Sure enough, it is an iron body, and James, who has been in the league for more than ten years, is still very strong.

Another important factor in the Cavaliers' defeat was Paul George's poor play.

He didn't defend Li Liang, and George's play on the offensive end was a mess.

I don't know if it's because I came to Indiana because of my hometown, and I'm a little embarrassed to face my hometown parents, George's last shot was out of the sky, 2 of 13 shots, and the basket was crooked by him.

With such a bad play, the Cavaliers certainly can't compete with the Pacers.

In the second game, George ushered in a recovery.

He was hot in the first quarter, hitting two three-pointers from the outside, and then scored five points in a row on a fast-break counterattack, with consecutive free throws, and scored 11 points in the first quarter to help the Cavaliers take the lead in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Cavaliers still maintained the lead, James played more patiently and steadily than the previous game, and was very careful to control the situation on the court, helping the Cavaliers to 51:45 in the first half, leading the Pacers by 6 points.

And the Pacers' offense played quite badly, and the Cavaliers were iron-hearted, and James was the main defense of Li Liang and George assisted in the defense at the beginning.

At the same time, hide the point of Owen and let George deal with Hill.

JR-Smith made all sorts of three-pointers in the second half last time, and this one naturally has to be iron-clad, otherwise it wouldn't be JR.

The Pacers habitually have a dumb offense.

But in the second half, the Pacers had one man on the floor — Danny Granger.

With Li Liang being targeted by the Cavaliers and George going to deal with Hill again, Granger has more room to play.

He scored 15 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, and when the two sides were tied in the middle of the third quarter, he received an assist from Li Liang in the counterattack and hit a three-point shot to help the Pacers overtake.

It was a turning point in the game.

When Granger fires up, the Cavaliers' defensive focus has to be distributed to Granger, and Li Liang gets a better chance.

Li Liang scored a total of 13 points in the first three quarters, which was the key to the Cavaliers' ability to take the lead for most of the time.

But at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Li Liang suddenly broke out, another wave of three-pointers, two three-pointers, plus 4 points from the inside breakaway, and scored 10 points in a row, and a wave overshadowed the Cavaliers.

James can be said to be depressed to the extreme, why was he affected by another wave?

I have taken every precaution, but I still haven't escaped the doom of sudden death.

Then, the Pacers relied on a steely defense to "hurt each other" with the Cavaliers after taking the lead.

I don't score, you don't want to score, rely on the same routine as the last game, and drag the game until the end.

At 98:92, it was no longer a big win, but the Pacers still had the last laugh.

They took a 2-0 series lead, and the Pacers had never been closer to the Finals.

Two days later, the Pacers could have gone one step further, and if they had taken a 3-0 lead, the Cavaliers would have had no chance.

Li Liang also didn't want to give James any chance to turn over, but the league didn't think so.

In the third game, Li Liang fouled twice on the defensive end in the first quarter.

Less than three minutes into the second quarter, Li Liang was whistled for another offensive foul...... The referee for this match was Crawford.

Li Liang TM was speechless, just aimed at me like this?

Bird had no choice but to replace Li Liang for a break.

And Li Liang is too important to the entire Pacers, without him, the Pacers are a second-rate team.

How could it be an opponent of the Big Three Knights?

As a result, the Cavaliers played a 38-22 single-quarter climax in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the Pacers launched a counterattack under the leadership of Li Liang.

But the difference is a bit big, and the key is that Li Liang doesn't dare to make moves on the defensive end.

If there is a fourth foul in the third quarter, will it be the end of it?

You must know that Li Liang's role on the defensive end of the Pacers team is also very obvious.

Without him, the Pacers' offense and defense will collapse.

In the fourth quarter, Li Liang still didn't withstand Crawford's bombardment, and ate his fourth and fifth fouls, and finally couldn't help but spray at Crawford and ate another technical foul.

Bird couldn't help but complain loudly at the referee, who also didn't appreciate it and gave a technical foul.

Li Liang understands that there is no possibility for this team to win, after all, it is 3:0, and there will be no suspense in the series, who will watch the next game?

At 104:94, the Cavaliers got home to a win and kept their hopes alive.