"What do you want from me? Or what should I say? Obviously, God hasn't been on our side all the playoffs."

'It's hard, it's really hard when your team loses key players before a crucial game starts, but for us the only option is to keep fighting...... We're certainly confident we'll win the next showdown..."

These were Popovich's remarks in an interview with reporters three hours before the start of the third game of the finals.

From Popovich's remarks, it can be heard that the old coach is helpless about the team's frequent injuries in the playoffs, of course, it can also be seen that even if the old coach is 70 years old, he still has the backbone and vows to definitely lead the Spurs to fight to the end.

………

On June 9, 2017, Beijing time, the Cleveland Cavaliers' home game of the Quick Loan Arena, the third game of the finals officially began!

In this game, in the absence of Leonard, Popovich made adjustments to the starting lineup, and as expected, Popovich mentioned Jonathan Simmons, who played well in the series, to the starter, so that the starting lineup of the Spurs in this game will go down: point guard Jin Feng, scoring guard Danny Green, small forward Jonathan Simmons, big forward Pau Gasol, center Aldridge.

For the Cavaliers, there are no changes to the starting lineup, it is still the same: point guard Kyrie Irving, scoring guard JR Smith, small forward LeBron James, big forward Kevin Love, center Tristan Thompson!

Even after Leonard's season was reimbursed, the outside world was more optimistic that the Cavaliers who were playing at home could win the game before the start of this game, but after the game started, the Cavaliers still played very cautiously, in other words, it can be seen from the expressions of the Cavaliers players that whether Leonard or not, the Spurs are still a strong opponent for them.

However, a very strange situation is that both sides did not score a point in the first two minutes of the opening game, whether it was the Cavaliers' Irving and James' breakthrough layups, or the Spurs' outside three-point miss.

To be honest, this is undoubtedly a disappointment for the fans who paid to watch the game live.

At this time, the cameras on the scene involuntarily gave it directly to the core players of both sides.

In terms of the Cavaliers, it is natural to give the offensive and defensive core James, James's expression under the camera is very relaxed, and he keeps chewing gum, it seems that you are not in a hurry about this strange situation.

can only say that it is the little emperor who has seen the wind and waves.

As for the Spurs, the camera was not given to Aldridge, the team's nominal second-in-command, but to Jin Feng.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that although Aldridge is the team's nominal second leader, judging from the performance of the entire playoffs, there is no doubt that Jin Feng is the real "second leader".

As of this game, Jin Feng has averaged 22.6 points per game in the playoffs, plus 4.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.9 steals and 1.0 blocks, which can be said to be a very good performance.

And Aldridge, who averaged 19.5 points per game in the playoffs, plus 11.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, although from the data point of view, compared with the 18.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in the regular season, it is recognized that Aldridge did not play undeservedly.

So now, when the team's star Leonard retired from injury, Jin Feng invisibly became the real leader of this Spurs.

Of course, it must be understood that the leader here refers to the responsibility of the game, after all, when it comes to dressing room leaders or spiritual leaders, Ginobili is undoubtedly the best!

However, what really surprised everyone was that when the camera projected on Jin Feng's body, what everyone saw was actually in a more relaxed state than James.

This is?

Nervous to the extreme, forgetting to be nervous? Or a strong psychological quality?

Apparently more people are leaning towards the second option!

Therefore, in the next second, many people's expressions changed when they looked at Jin Feng.

And perhaps from this moment on, most people's impression of Jin Feng is no longer an NBA rookie, but an NBA veteran!

………

The first quarter of the game played 2 minutes and 35 seconds, and the first points of the game finally appeared, a fast break from James.

In the 2nd minute and 33 seconds, the Spurs' offense, Simmons made a passing error, and James completed the steal, and James, who completed the steal, went directly to the fast attack, rushed into the front court and dunked it inside, and finally got the first point.

And with James' successful dunk this time, the shooting rates of both sides have gradually improved, and they have continued to hit some shots.

But overall, the Cavaliers have always had the upper hand on the court.

Perhaps learning the lessons of the first two defeats, in this game, James did not directly turn on the "all-around Zhan" mode at the beginning of the game, but more often, he put his energy into the defensive end and coordinated the team's offense, and gave more of the final scoring finishing opportunities to Irving and Love.

It was undoubtedly a success.

James' power on the defensive end is equally terrifying, and under his defense, neither Simmons nor Jin Feng feels good.

At the same time, Owen's point, because Jin Feng put more energy into the offensive end and it was difficult to take care of it, completely ushered in an outbreak.

At the end of the first three quarters, Irving had already scored 29 points, and under the leadership of his outstanding performance, the Cavaliers who were fighting at home also temporarily led 85:72 in the first three quarters.

For the Spurs, trailing by 13 points after three quarters, with one game to go, it's not impossible to chase, it's not that there is no hope of a comeback.

However, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, what everyone didn't understand was that Popovich directly removed all the starters and sent a pure bench lineup.

Gave up?

Apparently so!

Why give up? It's not a matter of giving up without a chance.

The only explanation for that is strategic abandonment! Prepare for the next game.

After understanding Popovich's intentions, everyone was no longer surprised, after all, it was not the first time that the old man had done this kind of thing.

Not to mention, let's just say that in the Western Conference Finals with the Warriors, didn't Popovich do that in the third game? It's just that the two games are played in different ways.

As we all know, the Spurs, who gave up the third game in the Western Conference finals, finally won two more games in a row, defeated the Warriors with a total score of 4:1, and thus advanced to the finals.

So, the situation is similar to what it was before and before, does this mean that it will end up being the same script?