Lakers and Spurs.

The two major comic teams in the NBA.

The Spurs have been known as a rock band delayed by basketball in recent years, and the Lakers have been known as a group of funny entertainers delayed by basketball in recent years.

From time to time, the two teams will intentionally or unintentionally bring some jokes to the fans that people are talking about.

The Lakers have a lot of attention, and sometimes it's normal to do something casually and become the focus of fans' discussions.

And the Spurs were regarded by fans as the most disgusting team ten years ago, on a par with the Pistons, because the way they played back then was so disgusting, and a team that averaged more than 80 points per game could not be disgusting.

It's true that teams with good offense attract fans, and since the Spurs' successful transformation in the 2010-2011 season, their fan base has skyrocketed around the world.

This brought the attention of the elderly Duncan to the peak of his career, and his popularity began to skyrocket in 2010, starting with the 2013 Finals miss, Duncan's popularity reached its peak, and the number of endorsements reached a level that his career had never been more popular.

Among the active players, James ranks first in the league with 169 commercial endorsement contracts, and is expected to earn more than 50 million US dollars in the 2015-2016 season, Kobe Bryant ranks second with 151 commercial endorsement contracts, and the endorsement income in the 2015-2016 season will exceed 45 million US dollars, Curry, who has been extremely popular in recent years, has 144 endorsement contracts, and after signing a super sneaker contract with Nike, the total endorsement income in the 2015-2016 season will exceed 40 million US dollars.

Next is Duncan, although his shoe contract is not as big as James, Kobe, Curry and others, but the number is more than Curry and Kobe, a total of 160 endorsements in the 2015-2016 season, and it is expected that the total endorsement income in the 2015-2016 season will reach a career-high of more than 30 million US dollars.

This is related to the fact that Duncan is almost certain that this is the last year of his career, because all the endorsements he has signed are only one year old, and he has no personal intention to renew the contract, so that many sponsors have seized the best moment of Duncan's last year of career.

In the past two years, Duncan's endorsement income has exceeded 20 million US dollars, which surprised even him.

You must know that Duncan's endorsement income at his peak has not exceeded 10 million, who knows that he will enter the peak from another aspect when he is old, which is also one of the key reasons why he has repeatedly reduced his salary since 2010, because compared to the salary of millions more per year, endorsement income is the majority.

Looking at Duncan's 12 million sneaker endorsements, Kobe Bryant's sneaker endorsements are 20 million...... Liu Ren felt sad when he looked at his endorsement contract of 6 million this season......

Although, there will be a sales split at the end of the year, but it is a long-term meal ticket, and it may not be seen that there is any big increase in income in a year or two.

……

Recently, the Lakers and Spurs have been getting closer and closer, especially since the Spurs' recent 15-game winning streak is really dazzling, second only to the Warriors.

While the Lakers now have two more wins than the Spurs, that's why the Spurs are getting more and more attention.

When the team in second place is only two points more than the third, people actually expect more from the team in third, feeling that they are about to overtake the second, and that the second team is about to fall to third.

This mentality is very common, such as when running long distances or racing cars, people always feel that the guy closest to the first place will soon overtake him.

However, the gap between the Warriors and all other teams in the league is relatively large, so this psychology is put on the second and third Lakers and Spurs.

The news in the media is always exaggerated, and this mentality among fans is infinitely exaggerated, and it has blown the Spurs upside down.

Popovich saw that his family was described as second only to the Warriors in the league and not even weaker than the Warriors, how could this work, he still wanted to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger, although this "pig" was not much smaller than a tiger......

Popovich wants to lose two games and make the gap with the Lakers a little bigger, anyway, no team in the Southwest Division is likely to catch up with their record, and the fourth-place Thunder has lost 15 games, and the gap is wide, so there is no need to worry about being caught up by the Thunder, and the third place in the West is very stable.

However, Popovich felt desperate because the last two games happened to be against the Grizzlies and Lakers.

Although the Grizzlies can't make it to the top four, they are still in the playoffs, hovering around six or seven, and they are still working hard, desperately trying to squeeze into the sixth.

The Grizzlies' idea is obvious, that is, it is like playing the Spurs in the playoffs, and the "wolf ambition" is there, which is to fight the Spurs.

What can Popovich do, he is also desperate, he can only win the game with the Grizzlies in the last game, he doesn't want to be played by the Grizzlies to play a psychological advantage, the Grizzlies are a difficult team, and the lineup plays very well against the Spurs, always bring a huge threat to the Spurs, once blacked eight once, Popovich does not want to lose to them at all.

Next up is the Lakers, and it's another game you can't lose.

This game is the last time the two teams meet before the All-Star Weekend, and unlike the last time the two teams played against each other without sending superstars, the last time was a period when both teams were still in the run-in period and looking for a way to arrange the lineup, and the season has just begun, and it doesn't matter if you win or lose one or two games, you can just play casually.

And this time the two teams have run in extremely well, and after All-Star Weekend in another month, it will be the time to use all their strength to attack the playoff standings, and the moment to crush those playoff powerhouses and occupy a psychological advantage, and Popovich does not want to lose to the Lakers.

Merely!

Strategically speaking, Popovich refuses to let his team directly beat the Lakers!

If the Spurs beat the Lakers, then there will be only one record gap between the two teams, and it is the Lakers that the Spurs themselves defeated, and that record gap will be directly ignored by the fans and most importantly by the rest of the league, and the Spurs will probably be directly mentioned to the same level as the Warriors in the psychology of other opponents.

D'Antoni has an advantage in this regard, because they are the defending champions, and from the perspective of the playoffs, there is a congenital factor of being despised by the opponent, because the defending champions generally do not play well in the playoffs, and most of the defending champions have a good regular season record, and they kneel in the first round of the playoffs, and this has happened four or five times since the new century, and the probability is extremely high.

Popovich was helpless and desperate, but the game still had to be won, just as they didn't dare to let the Grizzlies play a psychological advantage, they wanted to win against the Lakers and occupy the psychological advantage on their side.

However, there are great people who say that before doing something, you must lower your posture in order to get twice the result with half the effort.

So, before the game, it was time for Popovich to force weakness: "The Lakers are very strong, they have the best roster in the world, they are the strongest team, I think it will be difficult for us to win this game, but we will do our best." ”

D'Antoni doesn't eat this at all, he and Popovich have played each other more than once or twice in the playoffs, how can you not know what this guy is thinking?

D'Antoni responded decisively: "Greg is right, they really don't have much chance of winning us, they are so old, or they will retire directly, I remember Duncan and Ginobili are both 40 years old, right?" I think they might play better with Leonard and Aldridge as the core combination. ”

Popovich almost didn't fall out of his chair when he heard this, what kind of operation is this?