"I'm not scaring you, if you are in this state again, the coaching staff will definitely reduce your playing time, and if you continue to lose, you may be removed from the starter, or even not played."

Tang Tian knew that Whiteside had a bad brain, and he told him very bluntly.

Whiteside looked at Tang Tian in a daze, and when he figured out what he said, he nodded.

The impact of losing the first game of the series on the Pelicans' morale was obvious, and the motivation of the players dropped significantly on the second day's training session compared to before.

After the training, Williams called Tang Tian to his office alone.

"I want Nikolai to start the second game, what do you think?"

Williams' words show that the coaching staff is already unhappy with Whiteside's performance.

Not to mention the last game, if Whiteside hadn't had so many problems in the first round, the Pelicans would have ended the series long ago.

Tang Tian shook his head.

"Nikola's defense can't support the start right now, and on the opposite side is Popovich, who will start the game and put us on the back foot."

Tang Tian told the truth.

Williams sighed helplessly.

Although he is not good at tactics, he still knows what Tang Tian said, but Whiteside's current state will not hurt the team a lot.

Especially in the last game, although the players didn't complain, but he is good at interpersonal relationships, he can still feel the resentment hidden in his heart and written on his face.

'The coaching staff can do more mental work on Hassan, who is also our starting centre-forward.

Tang Tian opened his mouth to suggest.

Williams didn't speak, and after being silent for a long time, he didn't say anything, and finally let Tang Tian go back first.

Tang Tian came out of the office, he didn't know what Williams would choose in the end, but it was foreseeable that the second game would still be difficult to play.

In fact, Williams's hesitation is understandable.

The Pelicans lost a good game in the first game, and if they still lose the second game, the score will be 0-2.

Since the NBA introduced a best-of-seven system, there have been 192 0-2 turnarounds, but only 14 times have been successful.

If the Pelicans fall into that situation, the opponent is still the Spurs, and the chances of a comeback will be very slim.

So Williams' caution is understandable.

On the day of the game, the Pelicans scheduled shooting drills in the morning.

Before training began, Williams and Borrego pulled Whiteside to chat on the sidelines.

Judging from Whiteside's confident expression after chatting, Williams finally adopted Tang Tian's suggestion.

Sure enough, after training, Williams announced that Whiteside would continue to start for the next game.

Whiteside then apologised to his team-mates, promising that the situation would not happen again in the previous game.

Tang Tian breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this.

Williams is still very capable in interpersonal communication, and I don't know what he said to Whiteside that made the latter's attitude change so much.

But it's a very positive sign.

Whiteside apologized, and was able to see that his teammates were looking much better.

That night, the second game of the series between the Pelicans and Spurs continued at the New Orleans Arena.

The stadium was still packed, and even the enthusiasm of the fans was even higher than in the first game.

The Pelicans have amassed a large number of die-hard fans for themselves after two seasons of performance, and now that the team is in a bad situation, these fans are not complaining or blaming the players, but cheering for the team in a more enthusiastic way.

Feeling the heartfelt enthusiasm from the fans, the self-confidence on the faces of the players is much higher than before.

At the opening ceremony, Tang Tian came out and had a short break dance like Walker, which ignited the emotions of the entire arena.

Both sides maintained their starting line-ups for the first game.

On the Spurs' side are Parker, Green, Leonard, Duncan and Pau Gasol.

On the Pelicans' side are Holiday , Don Sky, Ariza , Davis and Whiteside.

Whiteside jumped high to give the Pelicans a chance to take the lead.

Tang Tian opened the game with a dry shot against Green's defense.

That's not all, the next round he assisted Davis for a dunk.

After this series of adjustments, the Pelicans are no worse than the first game.

However, the Spurs' side was in better form than in the first game, with Parker, Gasol and Leonard taking turns scoring, and playing back and forth with the Pelicans.

As with the regular season record and what the outside world knows, the two teams are a standard five-to-five in terms of strength.

If you want to win, most of the time it depends on who does the better in the details.

At the end of the first quarter, the score on the court was tied at 25.

In the second quarter, the two sides entered the rotation one after another.

Jokic still had a good hand, hitting another three-pointer and diching out two assists.

However, the Spurs' veteran Ginobili is also in good shape, scoring consecutive points under the basket.

The starting stages were deadlocked, and the bench periods were evenly divided.

The two sides played three quarters, and the score was still tied at 73.

If the basketball game is not a non-scoring win, the two sides that are evenly matched may really be able to play a draw.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, both sides were two starters with three substitutes.

On the Pelicans' side, Davis and Ariza led the team, and the Spurs' side was led by Leonard and Parker.

Jokic hit a big three-pointer from the outside of the line on the opening spot from Davis to give the Pelicans the lead.

He's really good in these two games.

However, no one expected that in the next few minutes, the game was directly dominated by one person.

That man was Spurs veteran Ginobili.

He was in good form in the first half, scoring 4 points and 3 assists on consecutive breakaways.

But this section is his real outburst.

He hit a big three-pointer with Gordon one step away from the three-point line, followed by another signature step-back three-pointer on the next round.

That's not all, after he faked the third shot and shook Gordon, he broke through to the basket and played 2+1 against Jokic.

Under his leadership, in just four minutes, the Spurs launched a wave of 15-3 attacks, instantly stretching the difference to 12 points.

Ginobili contributed 9 points and 2 assists in this wave, which means that every game scored by the Spurs has something to do with him.

There is a saying among Spurs fans: Parker in good times, Duncan in bad times, and Ginobili in desperate times.

This sentence is talking about the strength of GDP, but if you read it carefully, it is actually blowing about Ginobili's big heart ability.

Now the game is not in a desperate situation, not even adversity, but Ginobili directly changed the situation of the game.

Although he is old and bald, his scoring explosiveness is still very terrifying.