On the evening of May 21, the first game of the Western Conference Finals was played at the Staples Center.

The Clippers vs. the Spurs, the most interesting showdown in the West.

Since the middle of the season, the Clippers have regarded the Spurs as the biggest imaginary rival in the Western Conference playoffs, and every meeting between the two sides in the regular season has been a Mars collision with Earth, including Li Liang's shocking reversal.

The Thunder were eliminated early because of Westbrook's injury, and people thought that the West would enter the Thunder era after 2012, but they didn't expect the Lakers and Spurs to be still strong.

The Spurs, in particular, have reached the Western Conference Finals for the eighth time since 1999 (99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 08, 12).

Since acquiring Duncan in 1997, they have never missed the playoffs and are one of the most successful basketball teams of the 21st century.

Now, it has been 17 years since Duncan joined the Spurs, and they have had several ups and downs, once again standing on the stage of the Western Conference finals, attacking the Finals, and in front of them is the league's upstart, the Clippers.

Before the game, American singer Kelly Lavick sang the national anthem, and she wore a crimson dress tonight, one of the Clippers' home colors.

After the national anthem, the Spurs players took the stage.

After that, the live projector projected footage of the Clippers' game onto the floor, and the Clippers players appeared in the middle of the DJ's protracted sound.

When Li Liang stood up from the darkness and ran to the center of the floor for the last one, the sound of the Staples Center reached its peak.

It was the first time in the history of the Los Angeles Clippers that they stood on the stage of the division finals.

Since entering the NBA in 1970 as the Braves, they have been in the ups and downs for more than 40 years, and they have basically never risen.

It is a great honor to be able to reach a division finals, which is a shame on the side of the Lakers next door and the Spurs opposite.

But after all, it is a breakthrough, and Li Liang is the one who led the team to stand up from the darkness and complete this breakthrough.

He can afford the cheers of the fans, and he's the true king of Los Angeles right now.

Li Liang and the fans waved slightly, then took off their coats and prepared to start the first game of the Western Conference Finals.

Li Liang can't be serious, in Stern's simulation world, the simulation results of the Clippers and Spurs are all 7 games to end.

It is enough to show the strength of the Spurs.

Li Liang didn't want to fight with the Spurs to tie seven, and the uncertainty of the tie-break was too great.

Even if Li Liang is crazy, what if his teammates wilt?

Besides, if you want to open the hanging crazily, you should open the hanging early, why wait until the last battle of life and death.

It's not a villain, you can't die from talking too much, and if you have any tricks, you should use them early.

Don't hide while fighting, and in the end, you are half-dead and beep and make a big move, and you are reversed by the opponent, isn't it too embarrassing.

Li Liang didn't want to be embarrassed like this, so from the first game, he would go all out to deal with the enemy Spurs.

Of course, the state of teammates is often uncontrollable, and if teammate Tie Chengxiang, Li Liang had no choice but to drive a hair dryer and scold while carrying himself.

Both starters take to the pitch and the game is about to begin.

The Clippers' starting lineup is unchanged, while the Spurs' starting lineup is the same as in the regular season, with Duncan, Split, Danny Green, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard.

Duncan, as always, would hug the basketball before the game began, rubbing it like rubbing Ginobili's head.

Li Liang thought to himself, Lao Tzu must blow your head tonight.

In the middle circle, Jordan Jr. tossed the ball to Paul.

The Clippers began their first offense.

In the first attack of the opening, Li Liang received Paul's pass in the middle through the cover of the flank, and shot with three points!

Hit!

In less than 10 seconds of the opening game, Li Liang hit the first three-pointer in the Western Conference finals!

And what is even more surprising is that after Li Liang hit this three-pointer, Popovich immediately called a short timeout.

It was probably the fastest timeout of the playoffs, with a timeout just 10 seconds into the game.

Popovich attaches great importance to Li Liang, and he has found a little pattern of Li Liang's play.

In the regular season, the Clippers will hand over Griffin to play at the beginning, and in the playoffs, it is usually Li Liang or Paul who pulls the first shot.

Especially Li Liang's three-point shot, if he hits the opening three-pointer, it means that Li Liang has a good hand in this game, and it will be difficult for the opponent to play.

If Li Liang misses the opening three points, it means that he has an average hand, and Li Liang himself will reduce the number of shots, so that the opponent will be relatively easier to play.

Popovich would rather Li Liang go for an assist pass than Li Liang's three.

Li Liang's three-point is too destructive, and while the pass is also important and can stimulate the Clippers' overall offense, there are also many turnovers, and the Spurs are not afraid of team basketball competition.

They have the best and most thorough team in the league, compared to the Clippers' team.

Popovich's timeout made the courtside commentator Reggie Miller laugh, claiming that Popovich was too cautious and a little too cautious.

But Li Liang's performance let people know that Popovich's caution is not too cautious at all, and even he is not cautious enough.

……

Coming back from a timeout, the Spurs' offense, Parker cut to the wing after a high pick-and-roll.

Instead of sticking to Parker, Paul chose to shrink in, and at the same time, Li Liang stood near his waist and blocked Parker's route to protrude inward.

The ball was put into Parker's mid-range, with Paul and Leung forming a pocket on the flank.

Parker went into a dead end, and the mid-range was the only option.

But Parker made another choice, re-dribbling the ball around the wing baseline and wasting more than a dozen seconds to get back inside from the middle.

Duncan came to block Parker again, and then distributed the ball to Duncan, who went down, but Duncan's throw was fanned out by Jordan Jr. with a big hat!

This is a sturdy big hat, and Jordan Jr. is very accurate.

Li Liang stopped Green and Leonard, who wanted to rush to the frontcourt to grab the rebound, in the middle and took the rebound.

The Clippers' counterattack, the Spurs defended extremely quickly, and did not give the Clippers a chance to attack quickly.

Li Liang received the ball on the flank, passed to Griffin in the low post, and forced Split.

Although Griffin didn't have a height advantage, he still used his strong body and footwork to squeeze past Split, and scored two points with a right-handed throw.

The Clippers are off to a great start.

Subsequently, Green missed a three-point shot, and the Clippers' counterattack still didn't come out.

Paul and Griffin cooperated with a high block, and after Griffin received the ball in the high post, he passed back to Paul to play Green in the low post.

Then, Griffin cut to the basket again, received a wonderful pass from Paul, and was about to dunk when he caught the ball!

As a result, Duncan came over to help defend and stopped Griffin's dunk!

Duncan's defense on the inside is really stable, but Li Liang jumped to the basket and picked up the rebound in the frontcourt.

Then two consecutive shooting feints deceived Leonard and Duncan, and after dribbling, one stepped back and hit a jumper from close range.

It's Li Liang's style of play again, this ball is replaced by someone else, and he must choose to lean on the basket, maybe he can foul him.

This kind of backward shooting is not stable, not to mention, it is easy to eat hats.

But Li Liang is this style of play, the rhythm and timing of the shooting are very good, and the opponent can't cap at all.

As for the shooting percentage, his close-range rebound jumper has an amazing shooting percentage.

Green's three-pointer still missed, and the Spurs started the game into a scoring drought.

On the Clippers' side, Griffin's mid-range jumper was not close, and Leonard took the ball to break quickly, and after entering the three-point line, he chose to shoot directly from the middle distance in the high post - this guy also likes to choose to shoot when he is fast-breaking.

But under Li Liang's interference, he didn't advance, but after the continuous running and pulling on both sides, the defense was scattered.

Li Liang took the ball and handed it to Paul, who came to the three-point line after halftime, and no one was guarded.

The Spurs' defense is already in chaos, and Paul makes a three-point shot!

Hit!

9:0！

The Clippers opened a 9-0 to the Spurs.

The whole Clippers team has a strong sense of ambition, and now that it's the Western Conference Finals, why not rush to the Finals to take a look?

At this time, Popovich did not call a timeout, the opening had already been called, and he couldn't call it anymore.

In the face of this adversity, it was Duncan who stepped up.

After receiving the ball in the low post, he hit Jordan Jr., and the throwing that turned around not only hit the board, but also caused Jordan Jr.'s foul.

To be honest, Duncan's playing is not good-looking, his shooting posture is not picturesque, the hook hand after turning around is not stretched, and the throwing is a bit ugly.

But the problem, you can't get in if you're beautiful, he can get in if he's ugly, and it's going to be fatal.

No matter how good the posture is, it is not a gymnastics or diving competition after all, and in the end, it depends on whether or not you can score a goal.

Duncan always feels stumbling and stumbling when he scores a lot of goals, but if he scores more times, he can score, which means that he is awesome.

Even at the age of 38, Duncan was able to step up when the Spurs needed it.

Without Duncan, the Spurs wouldn't be where they are now.

Don't say you have Popovich, you are Bobo chess, Bobo backgammon, you can win the championship like Duncan.

Duncan added a free throw, and the Spurs relied on Duncan's goal to ease their efforts.

With Barnes hitting a three-pointer in the bottom corner, Split's hook hand under the basket was blocked by Jordan Jr., and Griffin caught the ball in a fast break, and the score became 14-7, and the Clippers led by seven points.

Five of the Spurs' seven points came from Duncan, who made a layup and assisted on Parker's mid-range jumper.

Popovich was expressionless on the sidelines, but he still didn't call a timeout, and he seemed confident in the form of his players.

Sure enough, in the next two minutes, the Spurs' defense gradually tightened, and Li Liang began to lose the ball.

Any attempt to give a pass to Li Liang will be harassed, and if it is directly organized by Li Liang, Parker and Leonard will wrap it up in advance and put Barnes directly.

Barnes hit a three-pointer, but missed the next two shots.

Then, Leonard hit a three-pointer on the counter, and Parker scored a fast-break layup.

At 14:12, the Spurs quickly chased down to just two points.

The match went into an official timeout.

Li Liang took a breath, he thought to himself, he was right, this Spurs is really strong, much stronger than the regular season.