Ahead of Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals, Popovich pondered how to change in the next game against the Spurs.

He looked at some of the media analysis, especially that of Hoop Sports.

John Hollinger, a statistician at Hoop Sports, believes that the Spurs should not play against the Rockets on offense, and if the focus is on defense, the Spurs still have a certain chance.

Bill Simmons, head of the Hoop column, also made an analysis: "In the first quarter, the Spurs and the Rockets fought against each other, which was tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall, the Rockets have the second offensive firepower in the league, and no matter how hard the Spurs fight, they can't fight." ”

"So, in the next game, if they want to win, they have to start defensively."

Popovich watched and thought about it, in the first game, the main reason why the Spurs would attack the Rockets was that Popovich thought that no one in the Spurs could solve Yao Ming's point.

So, he decided to go against the rockets.

But Popovich also saw the result of the attack, and now, the way of attack is obviously not working, then, in the next game, the Spurs can only start from defense, fortunately, defense is still what Spurs are good at, and Popovich still has a certain degree of confidence.

……

For the Spurs' next game of play, the Rockets also have a consensus that the Spurs in the next game will definitely improve their defense.

Then, there are only two ways left for the Rockets, one is for the head iron to continue to speed up the offense, and the other is to work with the Spurs to improve the defense.

Qiao Hai's final decision was: "Continue to attack, our strength is to attack, and we can't change because of the change of Spurs, in that case, we will be too passive!" ”

After a brief discussion, the tactical strategy and style of play of the two teams for the second game were also decided.

……

……

Before the second game of the semifinals, the league officially announced the winner of the best manager.

The best manager of the season, there are a lot of contenders, and most of them are related to the Rockets.

Qiao Hai himself is a strong contender, this season, he sent away Steve Francis, in exchange for Dwyane Wade, signed Gary Payton, although several operations are not particularly eye-catching, can not be said to be a loss or even a big profit.

But at the very least, after a few trades and signings, the Rockets have improved their strength, winning 15 more games than last season.

In addition, the Pistons' Joe Dumas is also one of the contenders for the best manager, and the list was signed in exchange for Stephen Francis and James Posey, which strengthened the Pistons' two positions in one fell swoop, and in the middle of the season, he traded a handful of scattered notes for Rasheed Wallace to form a double Wallace combination.

The Pistons also won 61 games this season, 11 more than last season.

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor is also one of the contenders, and his best deal this season was naturally a pile of loose money in exchange for Carlos Boozer.

Although Karl Malone left and John Stockton retired, the Jazz made the playoffs, which is also an improvement.

But in the end, it was Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale who lifted the trophy.

This season, Kevin McHale made two trades, trading from the Knicks for Ratley Les Prewell and Sam Cassel from the Bucks to form a three-headed monster with Kevin Garnett.

The Timberwolves, who have won 57 games this season, have only won six more games than last season, but last season they were fifth in the West, and this season, they have become second in the West, which is also an improvement, and a very large improvement.

In fact, in terms of progress, it is naturally the Rockets who have improved the most, but Qiao Hai won the best manager once last season and won the best coach this season.

The league didn't want to see Qiao Hai take away two trophies alone, nor did they want to see Qiao Hai take away one trophy in a row, so, in the end, the best manager was awarded to Kevin McHale.

Kevin McHale, who started the season, was indeed very active in terms of trades and reinforcements, and also made his contributions.

……

The second game started, still at the Toyota Center, and the Rockets fans engulfed the arena with their enthusiasm.

After the warm-up of the two teams, they started and the game is about to begin.

"The two teams have made no changes to the Rockets' starting lineup, point guard Gary Payton, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, small forward Ron Artest, power forward Chris Anderson, and center Yao Ming."

"And the Spurs, who lost the last game, made a change, Manuginobili returned to the bench, and Tyshawn Prince appeared in the starting lineup, and he will be the number three."

"Point guard Tony Parker, point guard Bruce Bowen, small forward Tysean Prince, power forward Tim Duncan and center Rasiunestrovich."

Qiao Hai sat firmly off the court, and the Spurs made changes, with Tyshawn Prince starting and Manuginobili returning to the bench.

This hand adjustment has long been expected by the Rockets, not surprisingly, in this game, what the Spurs have to do is to use the superior defense of the wing to block Wade and Ron Artest, and then use the joint defense to lock the Rockets' position to attack.

Finally, start with the big picture and slow down the tempo so that the game can move into a defensive rhythm so that the Spurs can take the initiative in a familiar rhythm.

And what the Rockets have to do is to further speed up the half, so that the Spurs' plan is completely bankrupt.

……

"The two teams jumped the ball, Yao Ming won, and the rocket attacked first."

The game started, Qiao Hai got up from the bench at this time, this game, the opening offense is quite important, if the Rockets can score in a row, then, the Spurs' chances will suffer from the opening.

The Rockets' offense, their main point of attack is still Yao Ming.

Gary Payton held the ball past half court, then gave the ball to Yao Ming and cut inside himself.

Yao Ming singled in the middle distance, the Spurs sent Duncan to defend Yao Ming, Yao Ming saw that the Spurs were unfettered, he chose to play by himself, turned his back and shook it, and then received a step-back jumper.

But with a bang, the first goal of the opening game, Yao Mingzhong threw iron.

Tyshawn Prince judged the weakness of basketball right and picked up the rebound, and the Spurs wanted to fight back.

The Rockets' backcourt trio retreated quickly, not giving the Spurs a chance to counterattack at all, which is also one of the opening arrangements of the Rockets, in this game, the Spurs, who focus on defense, in order to improve their offense in defense, will obviously seize every opportunity to counterattack and break fast.

The retreat of the Rocket's backcourt trio has always been very fast, and under Qiao Hai's reminder, the retreat of the backcourt trio is even faster.

The Spurs' offense, Tony Parker slowed down and began to press the positional battle.

When the counterattack failed, the Spurs simply began to play a slow-paced positional battle, so slow that it couldn't be slower, they continued to pass the ball through the outside, combing the offense again and again, and finally passing the ball to Duncan.

Duncan's 45-degree shot missed.

At the beginning, both teams played iron one after another, and neither team scored, and it seemed that this game really meant to evolve into a defensive battle.