On May 7, 2001, the second game of the series between the Spurs and the Mavericks, which was basically the same as the first game of the two teams, the Mavericks were playing a slow-paced positional battle with the Spurs throughout the game, and the results were naturally self-evident. Originally, in the first 3 quarters or even most of the 4th quarter, the Mavericks, who were inseparable from the Spurs in the positional battle, were suddenly given an 8-0 small climax by the Spurs after the official timeout in the fourth quarter of this game, and finally the Mavericks lost to the Spurs 79-91 on the road, and they were already 0-2 behind the Spurs in the big score.

"When did Donald become so stubborn?" As the old rival of the old Nelson, Magic Johnson still knows more about the old Nelson, in the heart of the Magic Johnson, the old Nelson has always been a wise, flexible and imaginative coach, but in these two consecutive games, the performance of the old Nelson made the Magic Johnson a little unbelievable, the stubborn old man in front of him, is it still the "mad scientist" old Nelson?

"Erwin, I think it's not Donald's problem, the Spurs' sense of rhythm is too strong, and now any team in the league, when facing the Spurs, will not be unconsciously dragged into the rhythm of the Spurs, and the only way to defeat the Spurs is only in the positional battle to have a chance, the last Maverick's change of formation at the last moment, I think everyone has seen it, the Mavericks who could still maintain a delicate balance with the Spurs in the positional battle, after the sudden hundred years of truth, Directly fell into the chaotic rhythm of wanting to be fast but not getting up, wanting to be slow and not slowing down, and once any team enters this rhythm, then losing is the inevitable result. When Magic Johnson was paying tribute to Nelson Sr.'s tactics, Michaels immediately came out to refute him, and in Michaels' opinion, he knew the Spurs better than Magic Johnson and Nelson Sr.

"El, maybe you're right. But what I want to say is that the Mavericks are a very strong team, they have players like Finlay and Nowitzki, and even if they can't beat the Spurs, they have to play their own tactics and characteristics in this series, rather than just trying to adapt to the rhythm of the Spurs and trying to beat them in the areas that the Spurs are good at, which is too difficult. Looking at the Mavericks players who no longer have any morale on the court, Magic Johnson also shook his head very regretfully, maybe in Magic Johnson's opinion, I can lose the game with a bang, but I must not lose the game humiliatingly. The Mavericks averaged more than 100 points per game in the regular season, but in the first two games of this series, none of the Mavericks scored more than 80 points. Of course not.

In these two games, several of the Mavericks' leading players, Nowitzki, Finley and Nash, the three of them put too much energy into the defensive end, but even if they put all their energy into defense, they can make a limited difference. Nelson Sr. has never paid much attention to defense, so the players under his command are also the kind of players who are stronger in offense than defense, according to Magic Johnson's idea, it is better to follow the Mavericks' tactics in the regular season, defend or something, and play a vigorous attack, even if you lose, it is better than being led by the Spurs now.

But the old Nelson is much clearer about the current situation of his team than the Magic, the two core players of the Mavericks, Nowitzki and Finley, compared with the Spurs' Duncan Mengxu, can be said to be a little worse in all aspects, although Nowitzki and Duncan are both "four big forwards", but the old Nelson knows better than anyone that the current Nowitzki is worse than Duncan in his rookie season, not to mention Duncan who is now at his peak. And Meng Xu is obviously stronger than Finley now, whether it is offense, defense, or team organization, Meng Xu can be regarded as a strengthened version of the current Finley. Therefore, if the Mavericks fight hard with the Spurs in accordance with the tactics in the regular season, there is no chance of winning, and they are likely to be swept by the Spurs. So the old Nelson's choice now is actually gambling, betting on the Spurs' veterans are no longer in shape, betting on the Spurs to be inferior in the game with the Mavericks, but it is clear that the results of the old Nelson's gamble are not very good.

"Dirk, don't be discouraged, we still have a chance." Looking at Nowitzki, who was a little frustrated when he walked into the players' tunnel, Nelson Sr. also quickly followed, patted him on the back, and comforted.

"Coach, I 。。。。。。" Nowitzki obviously can't accept such a result, in these two games, although the Mavericks seem to be on par with the Spurs, but the team's leading player Nowitzki knows that the Mavericks don't have the slightest chance on the court. Originally, before this round of the series, Nowitzki was confident that he had the ability to challenge Duncan, but after these two games, Nowitzki found that he and Juwan Howard were not Duncan's opponents, whether it was on the offensive end or the defensive end, Duncan could play with himself as much as he wanted.

"Dirk, I know what you're trying to say." Nowitzki was just about to speak, but the old Nelson directly interrupted him: "Although you are not as good as Duncan now, sooner or later, you can become a player at the same level as him, and all you have to do now is to break your own shackles." You are the future of Mavericks and the hope of all of us. ”

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On May 9, 2001, the third game of the Spurs and Mavericks series was played at the Mavericks' home reunion stadium, in which the old Nelson finally changed his tactical strategy in the first two games and resumed the Mavericks' style of play in the regular season, but this game was the worst game lost by the Mavericks in this round of the series, after the end of the third quarter, 78-53, the Spurs led the Mavericks by as many as 25 points. Maybe it's because he's used to the slow-paced game, or maybe it's because Popovich has been prepared for this change in the Mavericks, most of the players in the Mavericks are not very comfortable in this game, 5 starters, none of them have a shooting rate of more than 35%, especially Mike Finley, under Meng Xu's defense, he shot 5 of 22 in the whole game and only scored 10 points. And in this game, the Mavericks made 25 turnovers, 21 in the first three quarters, and Meng Xu alone made as many as 7 steals from Finley and Nash. In the end, the Mavericks lost 90-106 at home to the Spurs, and after losing this game, the Mavericks basically had no hope of qualifying.

On May 12, 2001, the Mavericks, who had lost 3 games in a row, are now facing the fate of being swept away, just when the Mavericks were ready to make a desperate bet to fight against the water, the Spurs unexpectedly gave up the positional battle in this game, but started to attack with the Mavericks, in this game David Robinson and Mario Ely, Sean Elliott only played a few minutes before resting, and most of the rest of the time, the Spurs' main lineup was center Duncan, Power forward Marrick Rose, small forward Derrick Anderson, scoring guard Jaren Jackson, playmaking guard Meng Xu.

Just like the Mavericks can never beat the Spurs in the rhythm of the Spurs, the Spurs have very little hope of winning in the rhythm of the Mavericks, so although Duncan got 38 points and 17 rebounds in this game, Meng Xu also got 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists, but the Spurs lost to the Mavericks 108-116. And this game was also Nowitzki's best performance in the series, with a total of 47 points in the first three games to Nowitzki, in which he won his first 30+ in the playoffs this year.

Maybe it was because he had been an assistant coach for the old Nelson, and Popovich was unwilling to directly sweep the Mavericks and not give any face, but for Popovich's obvious behavior of releasing water, the old Nelson was very dissatisfied, and the whole game was elongated with a face, and after the game, when Popovich ran over to shake hands with the old Nelson, the old Nelson was also very faceless and threw his hand directly, and turned away, leaving Popovich standing in place awkwardly. Perhaps angry with Popovich, the elder Nelson didn't even attend the press conference after this game.

In an interview with the media the next day, Nelson Sr. also unceremoniously criticized Popovich. For Nelson Sr., who has been coaching in this league for more than 20 years and has been called a legend, Popovich's behavior is undoubtedly an insult to himself, and this obvious release behavior is more difficult for Nelson Sr. to accept than sweeping.

And the Spurs after the end of the fourth game with the Mavericks, they all returned to San Antonio, to prepare for the last game with the Mavericks, although they have basically won the game, but now the Spurs are not very happy, when the game is over, when the Spurs players are playing in the locker room, Popovich kicked open the door of the locker room, and sprayed wildly at almost all the players, saying that they have no shame, and they are so happy to lose, and what is difficult to hear, These Spurs players are not interested in it now, or they dare not show any interest