Tim. Duncan, everybody knows how capable this guy is. However, when you actually fight him, you will be amazed that his energy is more powerful than you think.

Relying on Duncan's magical play, Henson's 10-point difference that was finally opened up by a three-pointer came to naught. That's the San Antonio Spurs, and they're not going to let others turn things around easily, and they won't let others take advantage of them easily.

After Duncan assisted Ginobili to complete the goal, David. West tried to wrap Duncan in the past. But Dior's unrelenting three-pointer made West immediately regret the decision, and the Pacers' defense was in a dead end. Seeing Duncan shine on the inside, the Pacers really don't have a good solution.

Fortunately, Duncan is always almost 40 years old. Even in the playoffs, there's no way Popovich will keep him on for too long. Duncan was rested by Popovich in the middle of the second quarter, which meant that Duncan was back on the court, which should have been a second-half affair.

But even so, Henson still didn't get the score as he wanted, because the excellent play of Ginobili and Parker filled the void left by Duncan.

The GDP trio are still young, and maybe that's why they can fight out of the dreaded West again and make it to the finals.

In the last 0.8 seconds of the second quarter, Ginoby deceived Horford with a very demonic fake fax and completed the buzzer-closing goal. At this point, the score of the two sides has become 49-52, and the San Antonio Spurs are still only 3 points behind the Pacers!

"The first half is over! The two sides fought hard. We expected Coach Henson to pull away in the second quarter, but it looked like the San Antonio Spurs weren't letting the game get out of hand. I have to admire the offensive stability of the Spurs, and all three of them have played good statistics. Duncan had 12 points and seven rebounds in the half, and Parker and Ginobili also had nine points in the half. The defending champion has met a real strong opponent. ”

At half-time, Henson wanted to walk briskly back to the dressing room, but the reporters went too fast and blocked Henson at the entrance of the players' tunnel.

"Ask!" Henson frowned, not seeming to be in the mood to fight with reporters.

"How would you rate the Spurs' performance in the first half? How did they manage to equalize the ten-point deficit? ”

"They are so calm that they never seem to make a mistake. What we have to do is keep up with the rhythm and try not to make mistakes. ”

No jokes, no sarcasm and no arrogance, Henson has realized the difference between the Spurs and the Heat. Trying to take control of the game from Popovich is not that simple.

In the last round of the Eastern Conference Finals, the biggest reason for the Heat's loss was stability. They may score for minutes in a row, but they will also fail to score a goal for several minutes in a row. With more and more of this, the Pacers can easily pull the difference apart.

If the Heat are a volcano that can erupt at any time, the Spurs are a metronome that can never go wrong.

No matter how many offenses you have, no matter how much you lead, the Spurs will always be at their pace. One step at a time, never make a mistake. And then at the end of the day, you'll find that they always get the score back!

Henson originally wanted to make the lineup smaller in the second half of the game and use his speed to break down the Spurs. But on closer thought, Henson vetoed the plan. In this world, no tactic can quickly break down the Spurs. If you want to win against the Spurs, the only way is to spend it with them to the end!

So this halftime time, Henson did not arrange any aggressive tactics. Anger the Spurs players? Stephenson might be able to get James six fouls. David. West might be able to get Battier a technical foul. But against the Spurs, against Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, these bad tactics obviously won't work.

Small lineup? Henson still prays that the inside line will not be blown up.

Pointers? As it turns out, relying solely on three-pointers won't kill the Spurs.

Is there anything else the walkers can do? Maybe there will be later, after all, Henson has a limited amount of time to study Spurs. But as far as this game is concerned, the only way to go with the Spurs is to exhaust in the end.

So throughout the second half, both sides spent time in overtaking and being overtaken. The Spurs' efficient offense centered on GDP is thriving, and the Pacers are led by Paul and can always find open shots.

Both teams are playing a positional battle, with no hearty fast attack and no energetic dunks.

Screens, reinforcements, slots, and open shots are the unpretentious images that occupy most of the game. Until 31.8 seconds before the end of the game, the two sides were still tied! And at this time, Paul. George was given two free throws.

"It was definitely the two most crucial free throws of the whole game, but we all know that, Paul. George has always had a big heart. I'm sure that this pressure is not enough to overwhelm him. ”

Mike. Brin and the fans naturally enjoyed the scene, but let's be honest, Henson was fed up with having to rely on key balls to win games. In the last round against the Heat, the first few games between the two sides were basically won by key balls. But the key ball tie-off is actually very insecure, and Henson's opponents can't guarantee to get the key ball every time. Similarly, the Pacers can't be 100% sure in crunch time.

"At the critical moment, do you want to change the lineup on the field. Green and Ray. Does Aaron need to send one on? Maybe their three-point moment can make a difference. ”

Henson turned his head to look at Vogel's voice, only to find that his assistant was already sweating profusely.

"Are you hot?"

"No, I'm a little nervous."

Vogel was outspoken, and there were few people who weren't nervous about playing key shots with the Spurs.

"We still have a timeout where the three-point shooter can wait for us to come back up when we're down. Now, you have to keep the starting lineup and defend well. After all, we're two points ahead. Stevens gave a different suggestion, and he had basically the same idea as Henson.

During the conversation, George had already made two free throws, which also gave the Pacers a two-point lead in key moments. For the two teams that dominated the positional attack today, the 2-point advantage in the last 31.8 seconds is already a huge difference.

Popovich didn't call a timeout, and like Henson, Popovich had only one timeout left in his hand. Since the two sides have been-for-tat in this game, the coaches of the two teams have called timeouts more often. But Popovich is not worried, believing that his group of players is capable of coping with such a situation.

On the next offense, Horford stood in front of Duncan. Duncan sits back this offense, which means Duncan wants a singles!

However, Horford still underestimated Duncan's basketball IQ too much. Since Duncan entered the league, the Spurs have never missed the playoffs. In other words, for so many years, Duncan has been playing against the strongest players and the strongest teams in the league. His experience and his judgment of the game are unmatched by Horford.

Duncan was on the verge of playing in the low post, but suddenly rose to the top after Horford gained a foothold! The end point of the Spurs' offense this time is not Duncan, but Parker!

Horford hurried up, and before he could analyze the situation, he saw Parker leap out of Duncan's side.

Duncan's cover for this ball is of high quality, and a defensive guard like Paul can't get rid of it quickly! Will you continue to defend Duncan or make up for Parker? Horford hesitated, but in this moment of hesitation, Parker was able to jump into the restricted area!

Horford has no choice, if he continues to sit idly by, the French guard will get a chance to go to the basket! Fortunately, Horford moved fast enough to rush back and interfere with Parker's jump!

Parker lost his center of gravity in the air and nearly fell. But even so, the "French sports car" still stabilized its center of gravity, and with its body almost parallel to the ground, it shook its wrist slightly and picked the basketball in!

Parker fell to the ground, but quickly got up in a hurry, trying to explain to the referee why the ball didn't blow for a foul!

"Damn, it's all right!?" Henson covered his head with his hands, Parker's goal can only be described as magical! It was the first time he felt that Tony. Parker turned out to be such a terrible player.

Henson has seen a lot of layups after losing his center of gravity, and Paul often does this. But it was the first time Henson had seen him score a goal when he was already inevitably going down and his body was almost parallel to the ground.

The magic of the Spurs, the magic of GDP, shocked Henson more than once today!

"Do you want to pause!?" Vogel asked again, he was already sweating at this time!

"Nope." Henson shook his head, "It's not time yet!" ”

"At this point in the game, the coaches of both sides did not stop the game. I have to say that both of them are also coaches with big hearts. "Mike. Brin swallowed, with 27 seconds left in the game, it was supposed to be time to call a halt to the game. But Henson didn't, and neither did Popovich.

These two guys are very cautious in their game, for fear of being caught by each other for any mistakes.

Paul gestured on the pitch, and without Henson's command, he knew that the ball had to be delayed and had to be thrown. The Spurs' defense is tight, and instead of protecting the basket, they are also blocking outside the three-point line. In short, throughout the Spurs half, the Pacers struggled to find space.

Paul waved his hand, motioning for everyone to open up space for themselves, and then break through single. As the star of the Pacers, Paul knew he had to step up now.

Parker, who is experienced defensively, knew what Paul wanted to do, so he let Paul go two steps. Paul continued to dribble under his hip to find a breakthrough rhythm, and when his teammates opened up the space, he suddenly got up to speed, and pulled the ball back from the left side with a forward change of direction and stabbed it to the right side of Parker!

Parker was a few tenths of a second slower, but it was enough for Paul to make the break. However, Duncan's defense is not a decoration, seeing his French teammate being broken, Duncan immediately moved sideways to the basket, ready to block at any time!

Don't think that Duncan can't jump now, and his blocking power will be reduced. In fact, Duncan's 2.7 blocks per game this season ranks third in the league, behind Serge Ibaka and Dwight Howard.

Duncan doesn't rely on jumping to block, and his high basketball IQ allows him to always take the best jump. Standing up will take you off, and that's the scariest defensive player you can be.

But Paul is not stupid, he is the player with the lowest blocked rate in the league this season. Shots that can't be made, Paul won't try them easily.

Just as Duncan came over to make up the defense, Paul saw Horford sneak into the bottom right corner. Without hesitation, Parker saw the stitch and landed between Duncan's legs to pass the ball to Horford.

"Al. Horford, is he going to kill the game!? "Mike. Brin stood up, and the fans of the entire Bankers Life Arena stood up!

Horford was a little nervous, and that tension came from Duncan's pressure on him throughout the game today. So at this point, seeing Duncan lunge at him, Horford found that he couldn't keep his usual mind as usual. As soon as this three-point shot was made, Horford felt bad!

Henson has clenched his fists and is ready to raise his arms and cheer! But just as he feared, the Pacers won't be able to take a key opportunity every time!

"Bang!" The basketball was a little shorter and smashed into the side of the basket.

"Didn't get in!?" Mike. Bryn's heart raced.

"Pause, pause!" And Popovich had a clear idea, and at the first time when Duncan protected the rebound, Popovich paused the game! He now, has a chance to kill the game!

"!" Hearing the referee blow to stop the game, Henson cursed. But fortunately, I calmed down and left a timeout! The Pacers, there's still a chance to live!

"Frank, Tactics Board, Frank!?" Henson reached out with his back to the bench for the tactical board, but he didn't hold anything for a long time. He turned his head in surprise, only to find that Vogel's face was pale and sweating profusely.

This guy was terrified.

The job of a head coach is really a great test of a person's psychological quality.