The Spurs and Jazz played Game 5, which was the only group to play the final game in the first round of the playoffs.

The Spurs are not in great shape, or in other words, Duncan is not in great shape.

In the first round of the playoffs, he was almost blown up by Karl Malone.

In the first game, the Jazz were able to win the game, relying on Karl Malone's stunner shot against Duncan's defense, in that game, the Jazz scored a total of 72 points, and Karl Malone alone scored 29 points, in addition to 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

In the second game, Duncan's performance in this game was good, but he still couldn't prevent Karl Malone, the old Malone singled out 33 points and 14 rebounds, but the Spurs played better as a team, the Jazz lost, and the Spurs pulled one back.

Then, the third and fourth games.

The Spurs won one game, the Jazz won one game, and the two teams were still tied.

In those two games, Karl Malone had 30 points and 12 rebounds and 27 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, respectively.

If they can't contain Karl Malone, the Spurs will have to change from the offense.

In the fifth game, when the game just began, the Spurs still played the same way as the first four games, and the two teams were still fighting defensively, playing very tangled and anxious.

At the end of the first quarter, the Spurs trailed the Jazz by 2 points at 19:21.

Then, in the second quarter, Popovich took a shot......

Duncan was pushed to the fifth position by Popovich, Jeremy Corsey was on the fourth position, Sean Elliott was on the third position, and the backcourt combination was Avery Johnson and Antonio Daniels.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!!! Is this still a spur? One big and four small? Did Greg Popovich get by Joe Sea? ”

Just when everyone was in amazement, the game began.

The Spurs picked up the pace and surprisingly played a quick offense of one big and four small.

Although the interior line suffered, but with Duncan in charge, at least the defense of the basket was passable, and on the outside, the Spurs' offense instantly became popular, Jeremy Corsey and Shaun Elliott used their speed advantage to score consecutive points.

In the second quarter, the Spurs scored a 29-point high and led the Jazz by 48-44 at halftime, which in turn led the Jazz by 4 points.

In the second half, the Spurs switched to the twin towers again, and used the twin towers to drag the rhythm deeply, dragging it to the end of the third quarter, and the Spurs led the Jazz by 6 points at 69:63.

Then, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Popovich put on a fast break lineup with one big and four small.

In the battle of life and death, Popovich also fought.

But the results are good.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Spurs exploded and extended the margin to 10 points.

With 8 minutes left in the game, Popovich switched back to the twin towers and slowly grinded until the end of the game.

In the end, the Spurs won the life-and-death battle with a difference of 98:91, 7 points.

……

Vancouver, when the Alamo Dome resounded with crazy cheers, Qiao Hai also exhaled deeply.

I sighed in my heart: "This Popovich is so terrifying, he borrows other people's things casually, and it really works......"

thought about it a lot, and at the same time, Qiao Hai felt more and more that the second round of the playoffs was difficult to play.

It was late at night after the Spurs finished the game.

Qiao Hai directly let the coaching staff disperse and go back to their respective homes.

But early the next morning, Qiao Hai held a coaching staff meeting in the training hall.

At the beginning of the meeting, Qiao Hai said: "Don't despise the Spurs just because the Spurs and Jazz have played five games, the Spurs are definitely our most threatening opponent!" Not one of them! ”

Hearing Qiao Hai say this, the coaches let go of their relaxation and became serious......

"You've watched the fifth game between the Spurs and the Jazz, and everyone has felt it in the final game of the regular season between us and the Spurs, and right now, it's a terrible situation."

The situation is really bad, and in the final game of the regular season, the Grizzlies were able to win by two advantages.

The first is the physical advantage, which is brought about by Qiao Hai's reasonable rotation.

The second advantage is to play fast and break quickly, the Spurs are a typical defensive team, there is no strong point on the outside, so they rely on a slow positional offense, and the grinding plate seems to have to defend to win the game, and in that game, the Grizzlies used different ways of fast attack to break the Spurs' defense, and the Grizzlies scored 103 points in the whole game.

Now, the Spurs have also played a fast break, with Duncan as the center, a big four lineup, and it has achieved miraculous results in the life-and-death battle with the Jazz.

That means the Grizzlies' second advantage is gone.

The Grizzlies can play fast and break fast, and so can the Spurs now.

As a result, the Grizzlies only have one advantage left — the physical advantage of Joe's reasonable rotation.

During the meeting, Qiao Hai said: "Now, we need to face two completely different Spurs, one is the positional attack and defense, the double tower, the defense of the Spurs, and the other is the one big and four small, fast offensive Spurs......"

This sentence expresses the biggest dilemma of the grizzly bears at present.

It's hard enough to deal with a Spurs that play a positional offense and defense, and the Grizzlies have to face a Spurs that can attack quickly and quickly, which is a dilemma.

So, the problem is serious.

The coaches discussed, and everyone had their own ideas.

Byron Scott suggested: Follow the Spurs, the Spurs twin towers, we will be one big and four small, the Spurs will be one big and four small, and we will let Raheem and Brad Miller go up at the same time and attack the inside.

It's a good approach, but there's a problem – there are too many variables to implement.

Lionel Hollins also put forward an idea: we will play fast break, and if the Spurs follow the fast break, we will play joint defense under pressure and lock up their fast break.

Defense......

Qiao Hai hesitated again.

With the end of the regular season and the playoffs in full swing, there is news within the league one after another, including the news that the league may open up joint defense next season, so many defensive coaches are ready to move.

With joint defense, the league will be more defensive.

Lionel Hollins thinks the same way, he feels that the era of defense is coming, and offense is destined to be abandoned.

Judging from the current rumors in the league, it is not impossible to play joint defense under pressure, but Qiao Hai thought that in this series, his opponent was Popovich, and Qiao Hai could only shake his head.

It is conceivable that as long as the Grizzlies dare to use joint defense, Popovich may have two reactions.

One is to put crazy pressure in front of the media and frantically criticize the Grizzlies for using joint defense.

The other is that Popovich will play with the Grizzlies in a joint defense.

At that time, the Grizzlies will not be the opponent of the Spurs, because in terms of defense alone, the Spurs are the masters.

……

A coaching staff meeting was held without a clue, and Qiao Hai was a little irritable.

For the next round of the series, Qiao Hai wants to win, but at present, it seems that the probability of winning is not high, and the winning rate is fifty percent, or even lower.

Qiao Hai has ways to increase his win rate, but those methods are not a last resort, and he doesn't want to use them.

Therefore, Qiao Hai has only one way, take one step at a time, and firmly believe that there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain!