In the third quarter, Maddie finally broke out.

In the opening game, he shot two three-pointers in a row and scored one.

Then, under Princeton's offensive system, Maddie continued to cut and run, inserted the inside line to catch the ball, and hit two consecutive close-range shots, and in the opening 3 minutes, Maddie scored 7 points in a row.

The Grizzlies' lead also quickly extended to eight points.

Spurs returned a goal and narrowed it down to six points.

Maddie continued to cut and run in the air, accelerated to shake off Mario Alley, received the ball in the empty position and shot directly, hitting a three-point shot!

9 points difference!

The Spurs quickly returned the ball, and Duncan's mid-range shot gave it a seven-point deficit.

Then, Maddie.

The top of the arc suddenly activated, and Brad Miller came to a hand-to-hand pass, and the catch accelerated, and Mario Alley was thrown away again.

Poor Mario Alley, who could only follow Maddie's ass and eat dust the whole game.

Maddie accelerated, rushed to the basket, and made a layup against David Robinson.

With a beep, the referee blows the whistle.

At the same time, there was a smack, and the ball went in!

Cheers, layups, and free throws! Maddie broke out!

Maddie walked to the free throw line, hit a free throw, and the 3-pointer was in hand, and the Grizzlies' lead extended to 10 points.

In the opening wave, Maddie scored 13 points alone.

Popovich called a timeout.

Qiao Hai is also summarizing the opening wave of outbursts, Maddie's outburst is not accidental, to be precise, it should be the advantage accumulated by the Grizzlies in the second quarter that ushered in Maddy's outburst.

In the second quarter, the Grizzlies' role players exploded, and everyone on the court could score, so much so that in the third quarter, the Spurs had to split their energy to deal with Sammak from beyond the three-point line and Mike Bibby, who could explode at any moment.

Maddie was left out just like that.

Mario's one-on-one defense can't stop Maddie, so Maddie broke out.

After playing this half of the game, Li Ao realized a little.

After thinking about it, he made another substitution: "Roughly, you go up, replace Brad!" ”

Replace Wang Zhizhi and continue to tear apart the Spurs' defense.

For the Grizzlies at this stage, Brad Miller has a mediocre defense, no frame protection, and his only role is to respond to the offense.

But Qiao Hai believes that at this stage of the game, everyone has to pass the ball, and the quality of a single player's pass does not affect the overall situation, as long as it can be passed in place, the opportunity will always appear, but the impact of the range will be very huge, the farther the range, the greater the offensive threat of the Grizzlies.

Therefore, Qiao Hai changed to roughly.

He wanted to see how Popovich would handle the rough appearance.

Let David Robinson defend roughly? Then the Spurs will have no one on the inside, and the Grizzlies can rush directly to the basket, and when the time comes, no one will try to stop the Grizzlies' offense.

Or Duncan to defend roughly? That problem still exists, in the Spurs' defensive system, Duncan's role is to sweep the perimeter, if Duncan is allowed to defend roughly from a single point, the Spurs' defensive system will collapse in half.

Therefore, Qiao Hai's adjustment really tested Popovich's response.

However, this timeout, Popovich didn't expect Qiao Hai to go straight to his back, so all the adjustments focused on how to lock up Maddie.

By the time the timeout was over and the game restarted, Popovich knew he had wasted a timeout.

In the opening game, Duncan hit a mid-range single, hitting a 45° board to narrow the gap to 8 points.

Then, just after playing in the second half, he immediately scored a three-pointer, a three-point shot at the top of the arc, and the Spurs had no one to defend roughly, David Robinson yelled inside urgently, this person was missed by him, but he also had a hard time.

With three points, the Grizzlies led by 11 points.

Popovich didn't hesitate either, and after less than a minute, called another timeout.

McBrin smiled brightly, Popovich was forced by Joe Hay to call two timeouts in a row, and in this game, the Grizzlies completely had the upper hand.

The analysis on the commentary bench did not stop for a moment, and at this time, Mav Albert's big mouth shook wildly: "Now, the Grizzlies have forced the Spurs to a desperate situation, the Grizzlies have not played fast break, and the lineup on the court is not one big or four small, and even they have completely given up defense, Sean Marion and Brad Miller have not played." ”

"It's this lineup that looks a little deformed and a little weird, but it's already cornering Popovich."

"At this time, Popovich had only two options."

McBrin pulled his thoughts back: "Which two options?" ”

"The defense remains the same, and the inside is strong."

What Mav Albert said is very simple, but literally, that is, the defensive tactics remain the same, the offensive end does not play the outside, just play the two points of Duncan and David Robinson on the inside, and the Grizzlies' interior combination is Rahimga Wang Zhizhi, compared to Brad Miller Galahim, the problem with this combination is - there is no defense at all! Not even a single defense.

Therefore, the Spurs can attack the interior, and in terms of offensive efficiency, they will not be worse than the Grizzlies.

"What about the second option?"

"Give up the twin towers, one big and four small, play fast and attack quickly."

This second option is even simpler.

The Grizzlies used the regular Princeton offense to play the Spurs and couldn't parry, so the Spurs simply stopped playing positional offense, and directly accelerated and played fast offense, disrupting the rhythm of the Grizzlies......

Two options, Popovich also thought of it.

But the first option, Popovich felt that there was a problem.

David Robinson has played enough time, and so has Duncan, so the Twin Towers would do well to stagger their playing time in order to conserve enough energy for the next fourth quarter.

Therefore, in this wave of adjustments, Popovich is still on one big and four small.

"Sean Elliott came on the court, replaced David Robinson, and Popovich was going to take the initiative to play the fast break."

"Popovich chose the second option that Mav said."

The Spurs played a fast attack, and the offense was up all at once.

The grizzly bear's rhythm is also disrupted.

But the difference has not been narrowed much.

The reason is very simple, although the Grizzlies' lineup is a regular lineup of two interior lines and three small players, the speed is not slow, and the Spurs play fast offense, and they can completely keep up, that is, the rhythm will be disrupted, and the Grizzlies' offensive efficiency will decline.

But the Grizzlies' defense is doing well, especially after Qiao Hai's continuous substitutions, Ragabel and Sean Marion come on the court, the Grizzlies' outside defense is about to overflow, and the Spurs' defense is very miserable.

By the end of the third quarter, the Grizzlies still led by seven points.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, both teams played a semi-main and semi-substitute lineup, allowing the main team to rest, the Spurs continued to be one big and four small, and Popovich had nothing to do, so he could only use one big and four small to disrupt the rhythm and fish in troubled waters. On the Grizzlies' side, Qiao Hai used Billups and Sean Marion to play the opening of the fourth quarter, emphasizing defense, and the purpose was also to drag through the opening of the fourth quarter.

Both men decided to put the real showdown at the end of the fourth quarter.