Chapter 242: Fighting wits and courage
At halftime, the Heat players were a little in a bit of a low mood, and everyone knows what the situation is.
In addition to the old talk about rebounding, it's more important to attack.
James and Wade didn't feel very good, and they were also interfered with a few times when they broke through, and Zhang Xiaotian was limited enough by Leonard, and he didn't open the outside three-pointer.
The Spurs' defense is good, but the key is the Heat's tactical choices.
If the team's few ball-holding points can't be played, the Heat's tactics can't be played.
But the only good thing is that Danny Green has already committed three fouls on this point.
Although Danny Green is not as important as Leonard, if he knocks out a defensive point for the Spurs, the net they have compiled will be flawed, and the Heat will not need to worry about this kid's cold arrow outside the three-point line.
So in the third quarter, they still increased the intensity and tried to trouble the Spurs in terms of fouling.
Spurs have their ideas, they did well in the first half and they need to carry it on.
The Heat are very clear about the second half of the intensity, Popovich will adjust the time of the players in more detail, but when it comes to the court, they have to keep up with the intensity, even stronger than the Heat.
They don't have a player like James who might be passive if they dwell on it until the final few minutes, so they'll have enough of an advantage before then.
At the start of the second half, James scored, and his touch was already adjusted.
That's the strength of an All-Star-caliber player, who can quickly adjust even if he's not so good at something.
In this way, Dior's defense will not work.
In less than four minutes, the Spurs made a change, but instead of replacing Dio, they replaced Danny Green because he fouled for the fourth time.
The Heat's tactics were half successful, and the other half didn't work because the team didn't open the perimeter, and James was caught and passed out and the others didn't hit.
So the Spurs didn't rush to pull the interior line, and they continued to maintain the advantage in rebounding.
The Heat can only adjust, Wade has a bad hand and can play organization and defense, but Chanmos is useless and replaced by Ray Allen.
They even tried a purely small lineup, replacing Bosh with Lewis, but things were a bit troublesome.
The Spurs are active on the offensive end, Parker breaks through to score, and Leonard can also score.
Fortunately, the Heat have limited Duncan, or Duncan can't keep up with the current high intensity like other Spurs players.
Neither side achieved the ideal state, and it was converted into half a catty and eight taels.
However, the Spurs were already ahead, so the pressure was on the Heat's side.
In this case, James turned on the scoring mode early and hit consecutive three-pointers.
When James scored 10 points in the quarter, the Spurs defense made a change.
First, he increased the outside defense, but when Leonard went to help the defense, Zhang Xiaotian seized the opportunity and hit three points.
Moments later, the Spurs switched to Leonard's main defense, and both Dior and Duncan were replaced.
In addition, the rotation period has arrived, but this time the Heat let Zhang Xiaotian follow James to play on it.
Since the bench can't beat the Heat, they began to fight for the main force, in addition to Wade, Zhang Xiaotian, James, and Bosh can all play more than 40 minutes, and the Spurs can only play Leonard.
This is also the advantage of the team, for the chance of victory, fight for the main force.
The Spurs didn't fight like this, and of course there was no way, they had to ensure Duncan's physical strength in the final moments, because Danny Green was plagued by fouls, and Popovich chose to let Bonner come up to defend Zhang Xiaotian.
This is also the remaining option, Ginobili is fighting hard after all, and Popovich also wants Ginobili to play more on the offensive end.
His original intention was to seal Zhang Xiaotian's shooting, and he also had an extra outside high point to contain on his side.
But Duncan was not on the inside, and Zhang Xiaotian killed it directly after receiving the ball.
Bonner came up in less than two minutes and was beaten three times by Zhang Xiaotian, and his defense was like paper paste in front of Zhang Xiaotian.
Popovich can't count it all, this is a bad move, he can only make another substitution, play the three guards, even if he can't prevent Zhang Xiaotian, he has to put pressure on the Heat on the offensive end.
With 2 seconds left in the third quarter, Zhang Xiaotian hit a three-pointer against Ginobili.
At 72:81, the scores of the two sides finally returned to single digits.
Let Leonard not rest, or rest for a while, not only physical problems, after defending James in the third quarter, Leonard also had two more fouls, and Popovich could not let Leonard make six fouls in the final moments.
Duncan was also resting and the Spurs played a back four.
But a minute later, Danny Green fouled for the fifth time, and although he still led by eight points, Popovich couldn't help but curse his mother.
Danny Green was yelled at by the old man and obediently returned to the bench.
The Spurs continued with a back four, but without Leonard and Danny Green, their defensive problems clearly couldn't stop.
Zhang Xiaotian and Wade scored in a row, and the Spurs also hit two three-pointers, but the score gap quickly narrowed to 6 points.
Although there were still a few minutes to go before the ideal time, Popovich couldn't wait.
Duncan plays, Leonard plays, and if the score is chased back, it will be too late.
The Heat also replaced James and went directly to the strongest lineup.
This lineup can only be Leonard's main defense against James, but Zhang Xiaotian scored again.
The three-point tactic of the four guards failed, and the Spurs replaced Dio.
is a change of defense again, Dio can only defend against James, if he changes Zhang Xiaotian, he must be killed.
Duncan comes up with a block, which is full of deterrence, and the Heat's next impact on the interior will definitely decrease.
The score was stalemate for a while, and the coaches of both teams were not calm on the sidelines.
If the Heat want to win the match point, they have even used the tactics of the main force, and they will definitely not allow failure.
The Spurs are in a more dangerous situation, and if they are led 3-1, it is basically cold.
The Heat used all their means, and the Spurs were no different, their repertoire Ginobili starters could only be used to deter, and the current Ginobili starters were not necessarily as good as Danny Green.
Zhang Xiaotian received the ball with his back at a 45-degree angle, and Leonard spread his arms behind him.
Zhang Xiaotian's increase in strength made Leonard a little uncomfortable, but it was just, at least on the defensive end, he didn't care about the problem of strength, and he directly covered Zhang Xiaotian with a pair of long arms.
It's really a troublesome defense, Zhang Xiaotian scolded secretly, but his eyes brightened.
He sat inside, then half-turned around and took a small leap inside.
Leonard didn't get knocked out of the way, but has lost some of his defensive position.
Duncan hurried over to help defend, not because he didn't believe Leonard, but Zhang Xiaotian's aggressiveness stimulated Duncan's defensive awareness.
But when Duncan came over, Zhang Xiaotian suddenly made a back pass.