At 40 points in the third quarter, Yiyang sat down on the court with the praise of Mavericks fans and chatted with Nowitzki about his fishing experience last summer.

Popovich sat on the sidelines, and the photographer on the scene gave Popovich close-ups more than once. At first, people thought Popovich was staring at the court, but then it turned out that this guy was just in a daze.

After the fourth quarter of the game, a reporter found Popovich on the sidelines. At this point, the San Antonio Spurs trailed the Dallas Mavericks by 23 points.

"Craig, it's the fourth quarter, how do you think you can adjust to win?" The reporter asked a commonplace question, and interviews during the intervals of games are usually the same questions.

Popovich pulled his face, clearly in a bad mood. But instead of saying nothing, he said a nonsense that was no different from not saying a word.

"How? We have to score more points. ”

"Can you tell us a little bit about Leonard's injury? Is there any hope of him making the playoffs? ”

"Leonard, well, he's 1.4 percent better than yesterday."

After two questions, Popovich returned to the bench. This eccentric old man born in 1949 sat on the bench, his silver threads disheveled, and the corners of his eyes were slightly wrinkled. He continued to sit there in a daze, as if the fourth-quarter game was going on had nothing to do with him.

In the end, the San Antonio Spurs naturally suffered a big defeat at the Center Arena in the United States. With 40 points in the third quarter, Yiyang only used three quarters to defeat the once invincible Spurs.

After the game, Popovich went straight back to the locker room and did not give any media interviews. Popovich lost, without any suspense.

After the game, Aldridge also admitted that the Mavericks' excessively fast pace had left the Spurs a little breathless. However, Jean Yiyang scored 40 points in the third quarter of the game, and Aldridge used the word "disaster" to describe the incident.

The Spurs did cause some trouble for the Mavericks, but only for a while.

After this game, people talked about Yiyang, who scored 40 points in the third quarter, and was the Maverick who staged a bloody massacre in the first game of the playoffs. However, Spurs and Popovich have rarely been forgotten by reporters and the media.

The day after the game, both teams were given a day of respite. During the day's training session, the reporters photographed Tim. Duncan's figure. Duncan sat on a bench in the training gym and chatted with Popovich, a "nerd" who didn't talk much, and a weird old man chatting was a very magical thing.

It may take them a long time to say a word, they may be grimacing one second, and they may laugh the next. But reporters know that Duncan's visit to the Spurs for training must be more than just a matter of chatting with Popovich.

On April 16, the third game day of the first round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs, the Spurs and Mavericks also ushered in their second big game.

Before the start of the war, Popovich received such a question. "Duncan, who has retired from the army, came to the gym to watch you train, will that help the team?"

"If it doesn't help, he's just here to eat."

Popovich still looked unhappy, this guy looked depressed, and it stands to reason that Popovich's state after losing a game should be irritable, not depressed. After all, defeat and victory are half in Popovich's career.

"He scored 40 points in the last game in three quarters, what do you think of his performance?"

"I watched from the sidelines."

Popovich was still the same bastard, but it didn't seem to be the same as usual. So much so that after the game started, Popovich was still not in a good mood. Not only that, but there were several timeouts and tactical arrangements, all of which were done by Popovich's assistants, and the silver-haired old man didn't make any moves at all!

The Spurs played tenaciously on the court, and Aldridge, the silent leader, was rarely seen yelling on the court. But Yiyang found that they didn't seem to be competing with themselves, but just trying to behave in front of Popovich.

They strictly carried out every tactic and every task assigned by Popovich. Even if he was thrown two three-pointers in a row by Yiyang, Aldridge didn't say "restraining that guy". Rather, "we can't let Popovich down, we can't!" ”

In the first quarter, Aldridge showed Mejri and Kuzma what a real low-post singles is. With 12 points in the quarter, half of the Spurs' scoring came from Aldridge. On a team like the Spurs, it's very rare for a player to score 12 points in a single quarter, because Popovich will definitely call you a selfish bastard.

But after Aldridge went off the field, Popovich still didn't react much. He just touched Aldridge's head like he was stroking his own child, and maybe the trance-like Popovich took Aldridge for Tim. Duncan couldn't tell, either.

After touching Aldridge, Popovich sat down again. At this time, the tactics were set up by the Spurs' female assistant coach and former NBA superstar Becky Brown. Harmon. A woman sits in the middle of a group of muscle sticks and writes and draws on a tactical board, and the unusual Spurs bring another unprecedented picture to the NBA.

"Boss, what's wrong with that guy?" During the break, Yiyang sat on the bench and looked at Popovich on the other side of the court suspiciously.

"I don't know, he seems to have no intention of coaching today. I heard that his wife was seriously ill, but I don't know how heavy it was for Popovich to do this. Carlisle also looked at his idol, the "old bastard" who was unusually quiet today.

As the second quarter began, Carlisle began to pick up the pace. With Yiyang, Mitchell, Hayward, Gay and Kuzma, the Mavericks once again put on their extremely extreme no-interior lineup. Of course, if you really look at Kuzma as a power forward, that's another story.

But the Spurs are tenacious today and have completed beyond Yiyang's imagination. Even with an 11-point trail, the guys were able to organize an effective offense and defense.

Aldridge is very hardworking, and after so many years in the league, Yiyang has never seen Aldridge work so hard as he does today.

Midway through the second quarter, Aldridge was roughly taken down by Mjerry after a breakaway. The Tunisian did it unintentionally, of course, because that's his style of play, after all.

After falling to the ground, Aldridge didn't even wait for his teammates to come up and help him, he got up on his own and clapped his hands vigorously.

This guy is so strong, it's hard to imagine a season ago that the media would think the Spurs were going to trade this guy. If you ask Aldridge what he learned from Popovich, you Aldridge won't tell you about those complicated tactics. He will answer with only one word: strong.

Now, Aldridge also wants to use his performance to make the old man with a silver head strong.

Seeing Aldridge working so hard, Popovich seemed to suddenly come back to his senses. Under the stunned gaze of the members of the Spurs coaching staff, Popovich, who had been silent for a quarter and a half, stood up, walked to the sideline, and gave Aldridge a thumbs up. "That's it, that's it."

That was the first thing Popovich said from the sidelines today.

Aldridge was very hardworking, but as Carlisle said. That No. 21 striker is no matter how strong he is, but he is only Aldridge. The San Antonio Spurs have never been the kind of team that relies on the play of a star to win a game. Aldridge, on the other hand, is not that type of star.

After halftime, the Spurs were still trailing by 11 points. Yiyang scored 16 points in the first half, and this guy who performed best in the first half naturally became the subject of interviews with reporters on the scene at halftime.

Yiyang stood on the sidelines, a beautiful reporter from the TV station. What would she ask herself? In fact, Yiyang can probably guess that it is nothing more than how to view his performance of 16 points in the first half, or how to stabilize the situation in the second half.

But Yiyang noticed something unusual, usually young female reporters interview players with a smile. In addition to being able to show their beauty in front of the camera, it is also very polite. But today, this young female reporter is expressionless. This reporter Yiyang is very familiar, and he shouldn't be a newcomer, how could he make such a mistake?

Before Yiyang finished deserting, the reporter had already begun to ask questions.

"Also, we received a very unfortunate piece of news during the race. The Spurs officially announced that Coach Popovich's wife, Erin. Popovich passed away earlier today. We all know that you and Popovich have known each other for many years, is there anything you would like to say to him at this time? ”

"Oh!" Yiyang frowned and swallowed. It must be admitted that this No. 1 defender, who has always been known for his calmness and composure, was really scared this time.

He knew that Popovich's wife had been in poor health lately, but he didn't expect it......

No wonder the old man has been sitting on the sidelines today without saying a word, and no wonder Aldridge is desperately trying to get Popovich through today. No wonder it was Becky who set up the Spurs for tactics today. Harmon, no wonder this female reporter didn't have a smile on her face. All this seemingly unusual things turned out to be for a reason.

Yiyang may not know that Popovich's kiss on his wife's forehead when he left San Antonio was the couple's last kiss. But Aldridge saw it, so he worked so hard just to make his coach feel better......

"It's a tragedy, it's an absolute tragedy. God, I deeply mourn this. Oh, my God...... I know I've always been in a competitive relationship with Popovich, but now I really want to drop everything and offer my sincerest greetings......"

Yiyang and Popovich have a general personal relationship, far from being friends. But when he put himself in Popovich's shoes, Yiyang still couldn't help choking up.

When his wife died, Popovich did not stay with her and continued to fight on the basketball court! This old man, he really dedicated everything he had to basketball and to the Spurs. Just because, he is the great Popovich!

The spiritual impact that this incident brought to Yiyang was no less than that of Aldridge. If you talk about fighting Popovich for so many years, Yiyang has learned something. In addition to cunning and humor, it may also be strong. When did you see that old man give up? Even on an unfortunate day like today.

In the second half of this game, the Spurs were teetering on the brink of collapse. In the end, Yiyang scored a game-high 38 points and led the Mavericks to turn the total score of the series to 2-0.

After the game, Yiyang did not celebrate, and he also warned all his teammates not to do anything to celebrate. This Number One simply walked up to Popovich, hugged him, and left silently.

This is the greatest tribute he can give to Popovich. (https:)

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