Chapter 111: First Win of the Season

After losing to the Lakers, the Trail Blazers quickly regained their strength, and perhaps the only one with such a complicated mental journey was Ye Feng. www.biquge.info other two rookies, Bayless and Batum, didn't get much playing time, and Oden, who was just starting his first NBA regular season...... Well, he's still a young lad like Bynum on the other side, and "Little Shark" didn't actually crush him. In other words, the only one in the team who was completely blown up by the opposing player was Ye Feng, if it weren't for Abby's words, maybe McMillan's long-term plan would have been in vain.

The second game was also a tough rival, the GDP-led Spurs, who finished third in the West last season with a 56-26 record, and in fact have never been below 50 wins in a season other than a shutdown since they drafted Duncan in 1997. McMillan's test is not over yet, Popovich is not inferior to Phil's historic head coach, and more importantly, he is still the height of NBA coach Larry Brown. The only thing that may be thankful is that this is the Trail Blazers' first home game this season, and the team's strength at home is a bonus under normal circumstances.

For Ye Feng, the pressure in this game is not as good as in the previous game, and according to Popovich's starting lineup in the first game, he will be playing a veteran, Michael Finley. In fact, Finley was also an efficient scorer averaging 20+ per game at his peak, but he was born in 1973 and is 35 years old this year, and he has shown signs of decline since the 2004-05 season. In the face of such an old ruffian, Ye Feng may suffer some losses in terms of experience, but he can basically rely on his athletic ability to suppress the opponent, and no matter how bad it is, it can form a situation of mutual explosion.

McMillan didn't think so, in his opinion, Ye Feng needed to swing to the second position at the critical moment, form a backcourt with Roy, and go to the opposite Parker and Ginobili. If he continues to play Blake, whether it is the No. 1 or No. 2 position, he will undoubtedly be directly defeated, so it will be difficult to beat the opponent. As for the interior issue, McMillan can only hope that the young Oden can cause some problems for Duncan, while the other inside Bonner, Ade should be able to deal with it enough. But even so, you must be prepared to be completely blown up on the inside, after all, Duncan is much better than Oden in terms of strength and experience.

His conjecture became a reality in the official competition. While the fans were cheering on the Trail Blazers' players, Oden was no match for Duncan. It's true that Oden's talent is so high that he's known as another Bill Russell, but he hasn't fully turned his talent into combat power yet. In the face of Duncan's tough interior offensive ability, he was constrained at every turn, and he received two personal fouls in three minutes, and he didn't have the confidence to reason with the referee because it was indeed his problem. Who is Duncan? An epic interior player in the NBA, Oden is like a child wrestling with an adult.

In order to avoid Oden getting into foul trouble prematurely, McMillan had to send Purzbila early in the middle of the first quarter. This is the No. 9 rookie in 2000 and the most reliable bench player on the Trail Blazers' interior line, but that's about it. As a career-high 19 points per game so far, McMillan can only count on him to support the team. But fortunately, Purzbila is still a relatively reliable rebounder, who grabbed 26 rebounds in a single game last season, and more importantly, he has a height of 2.16 meters, which is the highest height on the current court, and can at least act as a qualified interior meat shield.

For a while, the offensive methods of the two teams of the Trail Blazers and Spurs became distinct, and the Spurs pursued higher offensive efficiency, generally letting Parker send shells to the interior, let Duncan hold the ball alone, and the other four lined up outside the three-point line, waiting for Duncan to attract the bag and pass the ball out. The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, played a deformed one-on-one lookout for offensive opportunities, and Ade also pulled near the three-point line, which was also within his range, and only put Potzbilla under the basket for an opportunity to grab rebounds. There is no superiority or inferiority between these two offensive methods, although Duncan is overturning the river on the inside, but Roy, Ye Feng and Ade are also quite hot, the two teams go back and forth with each other, and the score has been alternately leading.

The deadlock wasn't broken until the second team came on the pitch. As agreed before the game, McMillan and Popovich changed lineups at the start of the second quarter, with the Trail Blazers having Fernandez, Rodriguez, Outlaw, Randolph and Diogu on their side, and the Spurs fielding Hill, Ginobili, Bowen, Gooden and Oberto. Although it looks like the Trail Blazers have a younger rotation lineup, Ginobili is not a vegetarian, although he is the team's sixth man, but those who are familiar with the Spurs know that he is actually the team's No. 3 man, and his sharp serpentine breakthrough and accurate three-point shooting are the foundation of his league life.

While Outlaw still retains a decent touch as the leading scorer for the second team, he is only a striker, while Ginobili is the de facto ball-handler for the Spurs' second team. What's more, Bowen also appeared in the second team, although he is 37 years old and was removed from the starting team by Popovich, but his defensive ability has not shown a huge regression, and it is even enough to cause a lot of trouble for Oterlo during this time.

The score was quickly pulled away, and no matter how good Oterlo was, he couldn't hold the ball too much under Bowen's entanglement, and Ginobili was in the Spanish backcourt combination of defense, and consecutive breakthrough layups became the Trail Blazers' lifeline. McMillan shook his head secretly and had to replace Fernandes and Diogu with Ye Feng and Oden in advance. Replaced by Ye Feng because he wanted to strengthen the offense, by the way, let's see if this kid has recovered after being hit by Kobe, and replacing Oden is to let him find the feeling of the game, the first quarter was too aggrieved, and he was directly stunned before he entered the state.

Ye Feng did not live up to the trust of the head coach, and even did better than McMillan expected. Because Roy was still sitting on the sidelines to rest, he did not hesitate to take over the team's offense, Oterlo did not object, he was a little physically and mentally exhausted by Bowen, Ye Feng's main attack He only needs to block Bowen, no longer have to work as hard as before. After getting the full support of his teammates, Ye Feng was full of firepower and helped the team chase points frantically. And he also used his physical advantage to constantly interfere with Ginobili, and although he received a personal foul, it has slowed down the Spurs' scoring momentum.

The two sides were entangled until the last quarter. In the eyes of reporters and fans, this is an unbelievable game, and it stands to reason that the Spurs should directly crush the Trail Blazers, and it is difficult for even the most loyal Trail Blazers fans to guess that the team can play to this extent with a Western powerhouse like the Spurs. However, McMillan's on-the-spot command is still slightly inferior to Popovich's, and his advantage is that the team has two smart and tough playmakers, Roy and Ye Feng. Whenever the Spurs relied on adjustments to pull the score apart, these two would always use various ways to force the two teams back to the same running line.

With three minutes to go, McMillan had already fielded his strongest lineup: Roy, Ye Feng, Outlaw, Ade and Oden. And Popovich is not weak, and now the Spurs are on the court at the same time GDP with Finley and Bowen. In the last minute, Parker gave the Spurs the lead with a throw, 99-97! The Trail Blazers, desperate for an equalizer, squandered the next offensive opportunity when Ade missed a jumper near the free throw line, but the Spurs' counterattack was also ineffective, and Oden struggled to cover Ginobili's breakaway, and neither team scored.

With 15 seconds left, McMillan had to call a long timeout to set up a final attack. For the backward side, the last attack must first ensure that it is not a goal, but not a mistake, once the opponent seizes the opportunity to steal, then it can only adopt foul tactics, and only on the basis of no mistakes can we talk about equalizing or even overtaking the score. The 60-second timeout was fleeting, the Trail Blazers served from the halfway point, and according to the coach's arrangement, it was Ade who walked up to the referee to tee, and Oden mentioned the top of the arc as a cover for the team's outside players.

But the Spurs' defensive strength is really strong, Roy, Ye Feng and Ottero were all entangled and unable to catch the ball, so Ade had to throw the ball to Oden, who easily received the ball with his height. This is no longer the tactic arranged before, Ye Feng and Roy glanced at each other, and inserted them into the basket from both sides at the same time, taking away their respective defenders, and the position at the top of the arc was a lot empty. Oden obviously didn't have the ability to make three-pointers, but Ade didn't get to the position yet, and Outlaw was also entangled by Bowen, but fortunately, Ye Feng made an off-ball cover for Roy on the baseline, and the latter bounced up to receive the ball.

With eight seconds left in the battle, Roy was about to shoot, but Parker and Ginobili were already around. He looked around, only Ye Feng was still running frantically, Oden's cover, Ade's cover, Otlow's cover, Ye Feng bypassed three covers in a row before he got a chance that was not very good - two steps outside the three-point line. Bowen, who switched guards, did not post it immediately, and he thought that Ye Feng was not a threat in this position. But Ye Feng asked Roy for the ball very decisively, and Roy, who was extremely embarrassed by Parker and Ginobili, had to throw the ball to Ye Feng.

1.5 seconds left! There was no time left, Ye Feng received the ball, did not make any adjustments at all, jumped directly, the ball was shot, Bowen's hideous expression seemed to have become a transparent existence, and he only had the basket in his eyes. The whistle blew, the red light around the rebound went on, but the ball was still flying towards the basket in mid-air, and after two bounces on the back edge of the basket, it slowly rolled into the basket!

Lore!