Chapter 238: GDP Consolidation
After arriving in San Antonio, the Trail Blazers barely had any time to adjust, and the night after arriving in the Holy City was to play a game, which was not good for them. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info And judging from the Spurs' in-team training games exposed by the media, Popovich is likely to start Duncan, Parker and Ginobili together, which is a very incredible thing, because this is not Popovich's style at all.
Ever since the Spurs drafted Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, Popovich's use of these three has become almost routine, with Duncan having to start, and the mature Parker starting most of the time, and Ginobili serving as the team's sixth man for most of the time. And Spurs rarely have all three of them start at the same time, and it's not uncommon to send them in the final moments of the game. Of course, Popovich's reasoning is that the second team must have someone to lead the benches to score, which is also deserved, so Ginobili, who scores more sharply, is used as the team's super sixth man.
The reason why Ginobili started instead of Parker in the previous game was only because the old man wanted to reduce the team's offensive speed, and Hill did a better job of lowering the tempo than Parker. But now the situation is quite unfavorable for the Spurs, they have fallen behind 0-2, and if they lose this game again, the Trail Blazers will directly get the match point of this series, so it will be very difficult for the Spurs to turn the game around. McMillan has no doubt about the authenticity of the news, and if he were to change his words, he would inevitably give it a go in order to find a glimmer of life in a desperate situation, and at the same time, sending a GDP starter is indeed the highest margin for error.
But McMillan is not afraid, and in the last game he spotted Spurs' biggest problem, which was the age of their squad. For example, the starting five in the previous game, Hill was the youngest, 24 years old; Ginobili 33; Jefferson was 30; Duncan was 34; McDyce was 36 years old. If it weren't for Hill, the Spurs' entire starting lineup would have been dragged down because they were indeed old. Of course, early thirties isn't very old for an NBA player, but if you compare the Spurs to the Trail Blazers, it's a retirement home. In the starting lineup of the Trail Blazers in the last game, in addition to the 34-year-old Miller and the 36-year-old Camby, among the other three, Aldridge is 25 years old, Roy is 26 years old, and Ye Feng is even only 23 years old. If the Spurs want to use experience to suppress the Trail Blazers, it has to be said that they think too much.
Age does mean inexperience, but age also means drive, passion, and a desire to win, all of which are valuable qualities that Trail Blazers players possess. McMillan soon had a crazy idea, but it wasn't a little crazy for him right now, after all, he did qualify for it after keeping two home games. McMillan's idea was simple, if Popovich replaced Hill with Parker, he would learn from the Suns and beat the Spurs with a run-and-gun. And the Trail Blazers already have the capital to play a small lineup, as long as Aldridge is put on the top of the No. 5 position, and then Batum is used to play the No. 4 position, the remaining three positions of players do not need to make any changes, and the team can immediately become a small lineup with incredible speed.
Two hours before the start of the game, McMillan had already got the Spurs' starting list for this game, and sure enough, Popovich sent a lineup of Parker + Ginobili + Jefferson + Duncan + McDyes, which means that GDP will start together in this game. When they saw this starting list, the reporters couldn't help but shout, because it was rare to see Popovich use GDP like this, but McMillan had a confident smile on the corner of his mouth, because he had long known that Popovich would die to survive, and such a starting lineup was expected by him.
So in the locker room, he said to the players very calmly: "I think you all know the starting lineup for this game, yes, they sent Duncan, Parker and Ginobili at the same time. I can say that this is the strongest trio in the NBA in the last decade, or at least one of them, so I ask you to be cautious and cautious when facing them, and don't think that they are all old and have lost their teeth, and they can do whatever they want on the court, and not take them seriously, because they are much better than you in terms of playoff experience. ”
"It's true that I'm not trying to kill others, but we can still beat them. The reason why we won the last game was largely because you had more energy than them, and in the final moments they were obviously not fit, but you were able to keep running on the field, which is why you were able to break through the gap in experience. I'm still going to do this in this game, think about the last series, we almost lost to the Suns, but we have to admit that their run-and-gun tactics are unique, this time let's learn from the opponents, use your speed to drag down the Spurs players, as long as they are tired, the victory is ours! ”
McMillan was impassioned in the away team's locker room, and Popovich frowned in the home team's dressing room, because he didn't expect McMillan to pull out such a strange-looking but quite reasonable lineup when you think about it: Bayless + Roy + Ye Feng + Batum + Aldridge. Although this lineup says that the dominance of the interior has decreased a lot, and the rebounding may be at an absolute disadvantage, there is one thing they are best at, that is, interspersed with runs, such active runs can often involve a huge amount of space, and then? Four guys who can shoot three-pointers are on the floor at the same time, and you don't know what will happen then?
Looking at the expectant eyes of his players, Popovich felt a little powerless for the first time. He shook his head, forced himself to compose himself, and exclaimed, "We have to play our style in this game, not to fight for speed, because that's not our forte." I only emphasize two aspects, first, we have to firmly grasp the advantage of the inside, not only scoring, but also rebounding, and you have to take responsibility for this aspect; Second, pass the ball more, use the pass to mobilize their defense, as long as the ball runs faster than them, then we have a chance to win, you know? ”