Chapter 256: The Game That Determines the Direction of the MVP

"Jason Williams made another mistake and this player played so casually." When Jason Williams made two mistakes in just 2 minutes into the game, Magic Johnson on the sideline commentary bench was a little unbearable, Jason Williams' style of play was too casual, in such a high-intensity game, when facing Meng Xu, the best outside defender in the league, he still wanted to play like street ball all the time.

"Now it seems that the only shortcoming of this Kings team is the organization of guards, and the Kings' Princeton system also has high requirements for point guards, and Jason Williams is obviously not well adapted to this role." Not only Michaels and Magic Johnson, but the king's head coach Adelman is also obviously aware of this problem, this season's Jason Williams' statistics are the lowest since entering the NBA, especially the playing time, although Jason Williams is still the main force of the Kings' iron fight, but his playing time has now fallen to less than 30 minutes, more than 6 minutes less than last season, and every time it comes to the critical moment of the game, Adelman will put him on the bench, I'd rather send Joan Barry and Bobby Jackson than use Jason Williams.

"Jason, calm down, you're facing Meng, not a cat or a dog." Just when Michaels and Magic Johnson were still commenting on Jason Williams, Jason Williams made another mistake, this time Jason Williams was under Meng Xu's defense and wanted to play a back pass, but was directly cut off by Meng Xu. And Meng Xu scored a fast-break dunk by stealing Jason Williams, and also got the first point of the game. Just after Meng Xu dunked, Adelman immediately called a timeout, and as soon as he returned to the bench, he sprayed at Jason Williams.

"Coach, I see." Listening to the coach's roar in his ear, and looking at his teammates, especially the team boss Webb, who was already a little unkind, Jason Williams is now calm. After the start of the game with the Spurs, facing Meng Xu, a slut who would embarrass himself as much as possible every time he was in the opposite position, Jason Williams also wanted to play him a few times in front of nearly 20,000 fans in the Sleep Train Arena, but he not only failed to play him, but greeted him with 3 mistakes in 3 minutes, and the King also trailed the Spurs by 8 points 4-12 after the opening 3 minutes.

As a white player, Jason Williams' physical fitness is not good, and while his height is nearly 20 centimeters worse than Meng Xu, Jason Williams does not have any advantage in speed, so the Princeton system advocates playing big and small, and playing strength with skill, which does not exist here at all in Jason Williams and Meng Xu. And under Meng Xu's pressure, Jason Williams can't even complete the easy ball now, Meng Xu's arm span advantage is too great, as long as his arms are open, it is basically like a big net, covering Jason Williams's whole person inside, in this case, Jason Williams can only hope for the sword to pass the ball behind the sword, but two consecutive passes were broken by Meng Xu, and every time he passes the ball, Meng Xu's big hand will wait on his passing route, It's as if his every move will be recognized by Meng Xu, and when he thinks of this, Jason Williams is inevitably a little frustrated.

"Is there any holiday between Meng Xu and Jason Williams, his blockade of Jason Williams is too fierce, and Meng Xu has to organize the team's offense on the offensive end, if this continues, can Meng Xu's physical strength still last the whole game?" After the official pause in the first quarter, looking at Meng Xu who was panting on the opposite bench, Michaels was also a little surprised, if it was last season, when Meng Xu was dispensable in the Spurs' offensive system, he was consuming physical strength on the defensive end, which was no problem, and even very reasonable, but in this season, Meng Xu is already the outside offensive core of the Spurs, and because of the distraction of the offense, it is basically rare to see Meng Xu so physically defensive this season.

"El, maybe this is Popovich's tactical arrangement, we all now know that Jason Williams is a very obvious shortcoming of the King, and as a championship coach, Popovich can't not see it, and from the first half of the first quarter of the game, Meng Xu put a lot of pressure on Jason Williams at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and this is also an important factor for the Spurs to lead the Kings by a large score, below, we have to see how Adelman will adjust after this timeout, If Meng Xu's suppression of Jason Williams is still allowed to continue, then the Kings will have no hope of winning this game. "As an outsider, Magic Johnson is always so wise, and Michaels can't see through the problem, Magic Johnson can not only easily see through, but also analyze the head of the way.

Sure enough, after the timeout, Adelman replaced Jason Williams and replaced Bobby Jackson, and Popovich after the timeout, probably expected Adelman's adjustment, and obviously re-arranged, in the second half of the first quarter, Meng Xu did not press as tightly as Jason Williams when defending Bobby Jackson, for this excellent ball control, and a good shot, but the breakthrough and passing are average players, Meng Xu is on the defensive, is also deliberately letting him break through and pass, focusing on defending his shots. Therefore, compared with the first half of the first quarter of the game, the King's offense has also improved a lot, but it is only a little improved, David Robinson sits under the basket and does not come out, the King's bottom line and backdoor tactics are not completed at all, and the King also lacks a breakthrough player who can kill David Robinson.

Then the game between the two teams also returned to normal, but in the case of falling behind by nearly ten points at the beginning, and the king's interior did not have the slightest advantage, so the game ended in the first quarter, 18-27, the king was already behind the Spurs by 9 points, which was originally considered to be a very intense game before the game, and it was very unexpected to play like this.

And the Kings in the first quarter of the game, it was more through Webber's high position, and finally the team's center Verratti Divac completed the final shot, but Verratti Divac's offensive comprehensiveness, even the shooting ability is a notch worse than Chris Weber, and Verratti Divac played less than 8 minutes in the first quarter, and was fouled twice when defending David Robinson and went off the court.

And at this time, back on the bench, Chris Webber is also iron-faced, this game has nothing to do with Duncan at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and Webber has always had a feeling in this game, that is, compared with the previous games, Duncan has improved a lot at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, especially on the offensive end, in the past, when facing Duncan, he could barely defend himself, and today when Duncan is in the opposite position with himself, how to shoot, and Duncan often breaks through himself after holding the ball. It's not an exaggeration to say that you blew yourself up. Because of this, Webber's heart will be very unhappy, because once he loses this game, it means that in the MVP competition, it is impossible for him to defeat Duncan, unless the Spurs' record declines significantly in the later schedule, but this possibility is very small.

"Meng, are you okay?" When the second quarter of the game began, looking at Meng Xu, who was sitting on the bench and still a little unstable, Popovich also walked up to Meng Xu with great concern. Although he has not yet been able to realize the integration of Duncan and Meng Xu's system, Duncan and Meng Xu are now very smart to constantly adapt and accommodate each other on the court, and Meng Xu has made a great improvement in the offensive end and organization of the team compared with last season, so Popovich is now also considering simply giving up the team's team system and directly taking Duncan and Meng Xu as the core X**D, but this is contrary to Popovich's original intention, and it is also not in line with Popovich's pursuit, Therefore, the current Popovich is also very entangled, and when he wakes up at night countless times, Popovich can only complain that he does not have the skill and coaching wisdom of Cardinal and Chuck Daley.

"Coach, I'm fine, we're going to win this game." Meng Xu glanced at Duncan beside him and said with great certainty. After knowing that there is a reward of MVP points in the system, Meng Xu also very much hopes that he can win a few MVPs, but now Meng Xu also knows that this season's regular season MVP is destined to be unrelated to him, so in this MVP showdown between Duncan and Webb, Meng Xu has always deliberately fulfilled Duncan. In the first quarter of this game, Meng Xu only scored 4 points through the fast break after the steal, and he didn't even make a single shot, and on the offensive end, Meng Xu was also using his own breakthrough system in a limited way, and after breaking through and changing direction once or twice with the ball, he would quickly hand the ball to Duncan who was waiting for him near the free throw line, so in the first quarter of this game, Duncan also maintained a very high shooting rate.