The Spurs and Knicks won the same number of games, but the Spurs beat the Knicks twice during the regular season, which also caused the Knicks to lose home-court advantage, and in the first game of the Finals, they had to leave the noisy New York City and move to the secluded but faintly passionate San Antonio.

The Knicks flew all the way from New York to Texas, and it was the hottest day in Texas, and the Knicks felt the heat wave as soon as they got off the plane. San Antonio retains the purest basketball spirit, and everyone is invincible. The Knicks' prowess has made the San Antonio, who have always been accustomed to calm and peaceful, start to get serious, and the Knicks' recent performance has put them under a lot of pressure.

The first dilemma the Knicks faced was how to get out of the airport...... The bus that the Knicks found was directly blocked in the parking lot of the airport, unable to move. San Antonio Business Airport is a very small airport with only three runways, and if you kill New Yorkers, they won't believe that so many people come to the airport in such a big place, you know, in Texas, the highway is the most accustomed way to travel.

Knicks was stuck in a traffic jam at the airport for four hours before leaving, and it was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when he arrived at his hotel. Surprisingly, at the hotel, they didn't seem to gain anything to be embarrassed by, except for the hotel front desk lady's "I wish you a happy loss".

The Knicks players were amazed that they were able to stay in a hotel so easily, which was incredible.

Only George Karl sneered at this, he also knows Popovich very well, the airport is just a greeting, not even an appetizer, in Popovich's view, everything can be done to the extreme, but it is a fatal blow, too much but it seems that he is not strong enough, as if he is afraid of the opponent, George Karl dares to assure that the real test is waiting for them in the away dressing room.

But George Karl also forgot one thing, he didn't tell his players about it, many of them were still waiting for Popovich's secret trick with fear, Popovich's secret trick didn't come out for a day, they couldn't sleep, many people were lying in clothes, and they didn't even close their eyes, and when they got up the next morning, George Karl saw many people still with dark circles on their faces.

George Carr scratched his head slightly, feeling rather speechless, what a whole thing. It's a game in the evening, and there's not much time left for training, so do you want them to catch up on sleep?

Seeing his favorite generals running listlessly on the court, George Carr was also distressed, and had no choice but to find a place for those who didn't sleep well to lie down for two hours, at least better than nothing.

But without the Knicks, confrontation training and tactical drills naturally can't be done, and they can only do some basic training with the ball and a lot of training without the ball to ensure the feeling of the body.

With a little worry, George Carr led the New York Knicks to the battlefield of the bloody Holy City, where they have no backup, no retreat, only hope, they have to cut a bloody way in the midst of the siege, cut a way home, a way to the final throne.

Duncan stood under the Spurs' half-court basket, and Mo Xi stood under the Knicks' half-court basket, and the two big men just stared at each other from a distance. At this time, if the court is pulled closer, people will be surprised to find that the eyes of these two people are so similar, the ancient well is like a pool of stagnant water, but this seemingly calm lake is not calm, and the mirror-like water surface reflects a stunning red light, which is a raging flame burning on the water surface.

At the beginning of the game, both of them went straight to the center circle, the league jump ball does not necessarily have to be a center, and in the finals, Popovich clearly understood that David Robinson is no longer the David of the year, and it will be okay for a while, but once he has played for a long time, Robinson is definitely not Moxi's opponent, Popovich simply let Robinson and Duncan defend, Duncan came to defend Moxi, and Robinson went to defend Wallace.

Robinson is the best of the four centers in terms of physicality, but wouldn't it be a bit reluctant to have him defend a No. 4 with three-point range, especially if it's a No. 4 with excellent low-post skills?

Popovich's idea was only fleeting, and it didn't matter if Wallace typed it, the key was to write a pity. As long as they can choke Mo Xi, then the Spurs' winning side can be increased by at least 30%.

Mo Xi and Duncan walked into the center circle and began to jump the ball.

With a whistle, the 2002-2003 league finals officially began, and two tall figures rose from the ground, stretching out their arms to reach for the basketball in the air.

Mo Xi's arm span is better than Duncan's, but Duncan's bullet speed is obviously much faster than Mo Xi, and he touches the ball before Mo Xi.

Duncan is not the same kind of goods as O'Neal Jr., Mo Xi picked up his fingertips to point the ball down, but Duncan saw his intentions and directly hooked the ball back.

The Spurs won the right to attack first.

The Spurs quickly fell into position, and Tony Parker stood about two steps outside the 45-degree three-point line and began to organize the offense.

It's more like organizing the offense, but it's waiting for the Spurs to run. The reason why Parker's organizational ability has been neglected is because under the Spurs' system, Parker doesn't need to do too many organizational tasks at all, the entire Spurs are running according to Popovich's tactical drills and tactical ideas, and all Parker needs to do is pass the ball to the most suitable person.

Parker quickly observed the situation on the court, and instead of immediately splitting the ball, he first stretched the Knicks' defense by pulling.

Arenas' speed is good, but not as good as Parker's, and his lack of understanding of defense means that Arenas was thrown away by Parker.

But in the finals, even if he was as loose as Arenas, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to defend every ball.

Arenas followed Parker's side, disrupting as much as he could.

Parker got the opportunity to make a move, but he didn't take it, and he chose to make a pick-and-roll with Stephen Jackson.

Arenas was completely blocked, but Parker's side was replaced by Sprewell, the Knicks' strongest outside defense, and at this point, it has to be said that Parker is still a little immature.

Parker also apparently saw something wrong with his move, and immediately moved the ball to Stephen Jackson.

Stephen Jackson took advantage of his height and strength to force Arenas two steps forward.

Because Murphy was sitting under the basket, Jackson didn't dare to rush to the inside, but just dribbled two steps to ensure that he completely shook off Arenas and then made a direct mid-range jumper.

"Huh~"

Jackson's shot hollows into the net.

The Spurs' offense this time was simple, but Popovich's concept of misalignment and vacancy undoubtedly played to the fullest.

The first goal was scored, which made the Knicks feel very uncomfortable, they have not lost the right to attack first for a long time, and it has not been a situation for a long time to be scored first, and the Knicks turned to attack.

The Knicks' offense was also very simple, Arenas didn't even dribble too much, he just hoisted the ball to Moxi.

Mo Xi singled Duncan in the low post.

There was a muffled sound of "bang", and the muscles on the two people slammed together, and Mo Xi clearly received the pressure from his back. Mo Xi looked good, shook his shoulders slightly, and made a small amount of confusion, Mo Xi slowly tilted his center of gravity back, against Duncan's body, Mo Xi tried to hit Duncan a few times, according to this power confrontation, Mo Xi is not unable to squeeze Duncan, but it will take a lot of effort and time, I'm afraid to dig in two steps, five seconds have already arrived.

Mo Xi's first choice is to turn around, turn around and take a low step to directly cut the baseline to attack the basket. But as soon as Mo Xi turned for the first time, he felt Duncan's footsteps in front of him move, and he moved his body slightly to the side, not completely blocking Mo Xi's offensive line, but blocking most of his offensive line. Mo Xi's pupils contracted, he knew what Duncan was going to do, once he cut in through this line, then Duncan only needed a little force to be able to squeeze Mo Xi directly out of bounds, so that the Knicks' attack ended without a problem.

Mo Xi quickly changed his movements, a spin under his feet, and turned into a face frame attack, and at the same time took advantage of the situation to pick the ball from the side of the baseline to the side of the line, and Mo Xi dribbled strongly.

Duncan moved sideways again, while secretly increasing the strength of the confrontation in an attempt to stop Moxi's dribble.

Mo Xi felt the gradually increasing pressure from Duncan's side, his brows furrowed slightly, and then, he saw Mo Xi leaning out and feint to hook his hands.

Unmoved, Duncan leaned forward and pressed against Mo Xi's body, while raising his hands high without the slightest downward movement.

Mo Xi followed this feint, and simply made a big turnaround, and the whole person turned back again, and at the same time handed the ball to his left hand, pressed his right hand falsely, blocking Duncan, and his left hand crossed in the air, Mo Xi hooked his hand.

"When~"

Mo Xi's left hand was a little less hot, and the ball was light, hitting the front of the basket.

The Knicks are very fierce about the frontcourt rebounds, but with Duncan here, the Knicks are completely powerless.

The Knicks' offensive defeat made their hearts tighten, Mo Xi didn't lose it, but it seemed that Duncan's huge defensive pressure on Mo Xi was unprecedented, not to mention that Duncan was still Mo Xi's back this time, this time, it made the Knicks a little panicked, this will be a tough battle.

An important problem with the powerful Knicks is that because the Knicks are so strong, they haven't fought a tough battle for a long time, not even a slightly evenly matched battle, let alone a backward situation?

Putting all distractions behind them, the Knicks now have to defend.

Only by defending the opponent first can the efficiency of the attack be guaranteed.

The Spurs' new offensive round was initiated by Duncan in the high post. Duncan pulled straight up the post to catch the ball, and David Robinson sank to the bottom. Parker - took advantage of Stephen Jackson's cover pocket and came to Duncan's side, two hand-to-hand passes, and Parker directly hit the basket.

Mo Xi decisively threw Duncan to defend Parker.

Parker felt someone behind him, and without thinking about it, he turned around, threw the ball directly to Duncan.

It's just that Parker's passing action is very unstretched, Duncan has a little difficulty catching the ball, and when Duncan grasps the ball in the palm of his hand, Mo Xi has returned to him.

Duncan turned his back again.

Once Parker got to the baseline, he used David Robinson to go out again, and this time, he ran straight to the other side.

Duncan quickly knocked the ball out and gave it to Parker.

Houston stepped forward to make up for it, but left Bowen in the bottom corner, Parker quickly passed the ball to Bowen, and Bowen made a three-point shot in the bottom corner.

Spurs scored another three points.

That's not a good rhythm.

Sprewell took possession of the ball from Parker and simply sacrificed his offensive rights to sort out the team's offense.

Rashid Wallace and Murphy came up together to do a double pick-and-roll for Sprewell. It only took one pick-and-roll before Sprewell suddenly changed direction and drilled through the analysis between the two men.

It's a pity that Duncan came out with Mo Xi, and when he saw that Sprewell was passing in front of him, he didn't think about it, so he decisively let go of Mo Xi and followed directly.

Sprewell spotted Duncan, who was following him, frowned, and quickly made the decision to pass back, turning around, and throwing the ball to Mo Xi.

As soon as Mo Xi received the ball, he felt a knock from his side, and after a closer look, it was David Robinson who defended it.

Mo Xi quickly passed the ball to Rashid Wallace on the three-point line.

But in these few passes, Duncan had already quickly returned to his position, and he and Robinson quickly switched positions, directly reaching out to block Wallace's sight.

Wallace gritted his teeth, the timing of the ball was too right, he didn't want to give up, so he just threw the ball against Duncan's defense, which was a step late.

There was another crisp sound, Wallace missed a three-pointer, and the Spurs quickly turned to offense.

This time, the Spurs let Duncan play with his back in the high post.

In terms of anti-back, Mo Xi did a very good job, Duncan wanted to turn around several times but was forced back by Mo Xi, and as a last resort, Duncan had to choose to turn over and jump shot.

The ball hit the rebound, but it didn't go in, and Wallace protected the rebound.

Compared with the near-slaughter of the division finals, the finals between the Spurs and the Knicks are really good, and the most significant thing is that the defense of both sides is strong enough.

At the end of the first quarter, the two sides turned out to be 24:21, and the Knicks temporarily took the lead, and the situation of not scoring more than 30 points in the first quarter was really rare for the Knicks.

Mo Xi swallowed the sports drink and said to George Carr: "Coach, don't replace me in the first half, just give me a five-minute break in the second half of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, and I'll take care of the rest." ”