Chapter 149: Second Round of the Playoffs
At the post-game press conference, Popovich adhered to the usual style of mutual milk and "solemnly praised" the tenacious style of the Mavericks. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
"The Mavericks are incredible, and I've been worried since the end of the regular season when they made it to the playoffs if the Spurs would be blacked out by the Mavericks." Popovich's calm words drew bursts of laughter from the audience, and everyone present did not think that the Spurs would be blacked out by the Mavericks.
Judging from today's game, as long as the Spurs work together, they can win the game.
However, the second meeting between the two sides, the Spurs really lost.
Although the whole Mavericks team knows that the possibility of Black Eight is almost zero, they still want to fight hard and win a few more games to prove the significance of reaching the playoffs this time.
With the driver scoring 35 points in the game, and the Mavericks making a total of 20 three-pointers from the outside, it was difficult for the Mavericks to lose.
The Spurs didn't feel very good in that game, except for He Dong who scored 30 points, no one scored more than 15 points.
After the game, Popovich expressed his dissatisfaction with the player's performance on the court at a press conference, and for a while, various news media came out to discuss whether the Spurs were likely to be blacked out by the Mavericks.
It's the old man who wants to see the situation, and he needs to put the pressure on the Spurs players and stay focused on the pitch no matter what the situation.
In the next three games, the Spurs won three consecutive games and successfully broke through the first round of the playoffs 4-1.
The Warriors' opponent in the first round was the Grizzlies, and the Warriors without Durant struggled, and the Grizzlies, who had a tough and unyielding style of play, dragged the Warriors into the tiebreaker. The Warriors stood up at the last moment of Curry and scored 3 three-pointers in a row to successfully win the tie-break, and were almost completed by the Black Bears.
Curry played well in the first-round series, averaging 26 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists per game, successfully leading the team to advance, and Tang Shen also performed well, averaging 25 points per game. The Splash Brothers are still the Splash Brothers.
The opponent of the Rockets, who are third in the West, in the first round of the playoffs is the Thunder, who are sixth in the West, and Harden and Wei Shao are still good brothers even if they are on each other's side.
The Rockets finally relied on excellent run-and-gun tactics and a relentless three-point rain. Eliminated the Thunder 4-2 to successfully advance, and in six games, Harden scored three triple-doubles and Willis scored four times. Arguably the series with the most triple-doubles of all time.
And the Clippers, who are fourth in the West, also beat the Jazz 4-2 in fifth place in the West. The Jazz had a chance to tie the series in the life-or-death G6 game, but due to inexperience in the playoffs, Hayward was stealed by Paul in the final moments, and in the moment of life and death, Paul hit a quasi-three-pointer, leaving only one second for the opponent. In the end, the Jazz were rushed by Hayward to hit the iron, and the Clippers narrowly broke through the first round.
The results of the second round are already in, with the Spurs playing the Clippers and the Warriors playing the Rockets.
In the East, the teams that broke through the first round were, the Cavaliers, the Celtics, the Raptors, and the Wizards.
Among them, the Cavaliers were the most ferocious, sweeping the Bulls 4-0 to advance strongly, LeBron averaged 25+8+8 per game, and Irving played well, averaging a game-high 30 points in the entire series.
Wade and Butler averaged 25 and 24 points per game, respectively, but still couldn't get the Bulls to win even one game.
The worst in the whole series was Rondo, who once again suffered an empty treatment, and the Cavaliers had five people defending the Bulls and the other four, and put Rondo on the outside.
As a result, Rondo was not angry, but he frequently played iron mercilessly, 1 of 6 in the first game, 2 of 9 in the second game, and in the third game, the head coach of the Bulls immediately hid it, and this kind of play has been eliminated in the coach's heart, and it is difficult to escape the fate of being purged in the summer of 17.
There was a period of rest and adjustment between the first and second round of the series, in addition to the Spurs continuing to go to the arena for daily training, Popovich also specially led the team to lead everyone to go for a morning run to relax, gather at 8 o'clock in the morning, and then set off from the arena, run to the movie theater outside San Antonio to eat, watch a light-hearted comedy movie, run back in the afternoon, watch an inspirational movie, and conduct low-intensity daily training together in the evening.
Sometimes the old man gets tired of it, and he will change watching movies to playing golf, after all, basketball is a side hustle at the Spurs.
It's a great rhythm that keeps the players in shape and takes the nerves out of the playoffs and helps everyone get their mindset right.
And in Los Angeles, Staples Center, Paul and Griffin are leading the team together for tactical drills, this time the opponent is the Spurs, in the regular season, the Spurs have a 3-1 record against the Clippers, and now the two sides meet in the playoffs, Paul doesn't want to stop in the second round again, he has a dream of the Western Conference finals, and he doesn't want to be questioned about his ability to lead the team again.
The Lakers lost all the way to the bottom of the Western Conference in order to get the No. 1 pick, and at this time they had already met together to go fishing, and there was no one else in the Staples arena except for the Clippers players and staff.
Paul wakes up early every day, has an early morning workout and then goes to the arena to practice, and only stops training every day until he sweats profusely, and he doesn't know how many times he shoots every day, he just hopes to adjust to the best condition.
Griffin also trains very hard, Paul is the captain of the Clippers, and he is the first mate, and their performance on the court can directly affect the trend of the game, and Paul and Griffin have been training since the rest of the teammates have not come to practice.
Last season, the Clippers were eliminated by the Trail Blazers in the first round as Paul and Griffin both left the court with injuries. It's a pain in Paul's heart, he's already failed in the playoffs too many times, he doesn't want to waste his youth anymore, he wants to fight again while he can still play at the top of his game.
This time, the Clippers escaped the curse of injury, broke through the first round with all their players, and united as one, aiming for the championship and realizing their dreams. Even if the Spurs stood in the way, they were not afraid, this is the competitive spirit.
The day before the Spurs and Clippers clashed, Popovich held a simple drinking party, except for Popovich's own friends, the rest were Spurs players and staff.
The old man's purpose is very simple, to use the day of the drinking party to boost morale and relax the mood, and the wine can soothe the nerves and adjust the mentality, which is also the purpose of his drinking party. The old man finally said that if he defeated the Clippers in the second round, he would have another simple drinking party and take out one or two bottles of good wine to celebrate.