Chapter 246: Preparing for Tianwang Mountain (Part I)
The previous record of the two teams was a 2-2 draw, and this game is not about life and death, but it is crucial, because the two sides are fighting for match points, and whoever wins, then only need to win one more game to eliminate the opponent.
The Spurs have high expectations for this game, and the outside world is also that the Spurs are more dominant, because the Warriors' core Chamberlain has been too tired in the past two days, which will definitely affect his performance. Chamberlain's importance to the Warriors is self-evident, and if he doesn't support due to physical reasons, the team will lose.
Barkley emphasised this before the game, saying: "Z is a good guy, there's no doubt about it, and he's very strong, even better than my rookie season, which is amazing. However, he was too hasty to deal with things this time, he should understand who he is, he is a professional player, so he should not be so desperate to deal with things outside of the game, it will affect their team results. ”
Kenny Smith began to contradict Barkley, saying, "I don't think so, guys, haven't you heard that the Chinese have a saying that 'mourning soldiers will win'? Z is in a bad mood right now, so the San Antonios are probably going to be unlucky, and they will fall victim to Z's venting stress. ”
After he finished speaking, Barkley rolled his big thick lips and was about to retort, but Smith spoke quickly and continued: "Besides Charles, can you not put gold on your face?" Can a rookie who won the All-Defensive Player, All-Team First Team, Block King, Rebounding Leader, and Top 3 MVP votes in his rookie season be comparable to that? What is there to brag about in your rookie season? Oh, I remember, yes, you helped Dr. J Owen play Big Bird Bird in your rookie season, right? ”
As soon as Kenny Smith revealed this old story, Barkley was a little annoyed.
Barkley is a hob, this is one thing that everyone in the NBA knows, he dared to fight Malone on the elbow, he was able to wrestle with Rodman in the ring, he was able to wrestle with the big shark O'Neal, and he was the only player who dared to do anything against the leader of the Bad Boy Army, Ranbill, these 'honors' record of his glory days in the NBA.
But while these accolades are dazzling, they still don't compare to one thing: Barkley joined the 76ers during his rookie season, when the 76ers were led by league superstar Dr. J. Irving.
Although Dr. J is a big man and three thick, with angry eyebrows, he is actually a gentleman, and trash talk and petty tricks are not what he is good at, but his ability is undoubted, and Jordan announced that his only idol was Dr. J.
In addition, there is a Chinese proverb that the crockpot does not break from the well, and the general will inevitably die in battle, in the 1984-85 season, in a game between the Green Shirts and the 76ers, the top superstars of the two teams, Big Bird Bird and Dr. J. Irving, met head-on.
Both were the league's top scorers at the time, when the 84 golden generation was still rookies, and their glow had not yet begun to shine, the league was still an era of black and white, and Irving was a rare star in that era who could compete with black and white.
Every time the superstars meet, it's as exciting as Mars hitting the earth, but this time things have changed, and Owen has an extremely bad hand, and his consecutive shots are iron. And everyone knows what Bird's rotten mouth looks like, and so the famous '36-8 (Bird scored 36 points and Dr. J only scored 8)' trash talk was born.
Bird babbles on and over in front of Dr. J about the score, and the latter finally gets angry and finally can't stand it anymore and scuffles with Bird. It's just that although Dr. J's ball skills are unparalleled in the world, his combat effectiveness is really limited, and the two small forwards are torn together, and Dr. J, who took the lead, actually fell into the disadvantage!
Seeing that the players of the two teams hurriedly went up to pull the frame, and at this time, the thing that made Barkley famous happened, and the bazaar, who was still a rookie at the time, rushed to the big bird and came to the big bird without hesitation, and cut the big bird's arms behind his back. The big birdie, who has been invincible on the court all his life, was powerless in front of Barkley and was held back.
Dr. J seized the opportunity to start practicing high-fives with both hands crackling on Big Bird's face, and the only time Bird was beaten in his career was at that time, and Barkley's fame spread to every corner of the league from then on, and it was from that battle that he established his reputation as the league's top player: he dared to play the league's number one superstar in his rookie season, so when he became an old bird, what else did he not dare?
As an aside, in addition to Barkley's historic beating of Bird, there is another unique thing he has done, which is chasing and beating Ranbir.
Who is Ranbir? At that time, the leading brother of the Pistons, the first bad boy legion in the league, under his leadership, the Pistons saw who fought whom, and a generation of Tianjiao Flyer Emperor suffered a lot in their hands, and no one in the alliance dared to provoke them, but Barkley dared.
In fact, the main reason why Ranbir, Thomas, Dumas and others dared to go sideways in the league was because they had Chris Mahon and Rodman on their team at that time. Barkley was smart because he didn't clash with the Pistons head-on, but kept the humiliation he had suffered.
Finally, as Mahon left New York and Rodman went to the Spurs, Barkley's opportunity came, just when the Pistons and the Suns met for the first time after the two left Detroit (at that time Fliggy had gone to Phoenix), Barkley shook his fists and began to run all over the court to chase and beat Ranbir, scolding while beating: "You have a son of a bitch?" I've been waiting for this day for ten years, don't you have bodyguards? Call them out, I can't kill you dogs! ”
Speaking of those old things back then, Barkley did not become angry, but began to tout himself triumphantly, by the way, criticizing the weakness of the current league, saying that the current stars are castrated male and wild, and Smith, as his partner, of course, has to constantly refute.
It was in the midst of the quarrel between the two that the game began.
After the jump ball, the battle officially began, although Chamberlain's physical strength recovered, but the reaction was still a little slow, Duncan snatched the ball, Parker took the ball to the front court and immediately beckoned to Duncan to cooperate, through the block after he shook off Billups and jumped shot, but unfortunately failed to hit, Chamberlain picked up the rebound.
The Warriors counterattacked, Ellis took the lead after receiving a pass from Billups, and his breakthrough was so strong that Finley was overwhelmed and had to switch defenses with Jackson in the opening game.
The Spurs focused on encircling Chamberlain, while the Warriors wanted to use Chamberlain's power to open up the situation, so that the ball kept passing between the inside and outside, and there was a 24-second offensive violation at the end.
Then, the Spurs opened the situation through Duncan, and in turn, Chamberlain struggled to attack the basket and caused Oberto to make two fouls and two free throws, Parker broke through without mercy, and also caused O'Bryant's foul, so that the two sides fought fiercely at the beginning to tie 4-4.
Next, Billups stole Finley's pass to lead the fast break, and Jackson received a pass from the middle **** to attack the hoop and score. The Spurs immediately took revenge, Chamberlain broke through Duncan and was stealed by Parker, and the French sports car himself presided over the fast-break advance to complete a 2+1, and he personally scored 5 points in a row to help the Spurs overtake 11-6.
Jackson saw that Chamberlain was not in good shape today, and the Spurs-born titan took the initiative to take the responsibility on his shoulders, facing Finley Sr.'s defense with three points and five straight points on the fast break, and the Warriors tied the score at 11.
Duncan became the Spurs' main attacker, and he constantly attacked the Warriors' interior in order to cause problems for Chamberlain. As time progressed, the two sides changed players, West replaced Ellis, Ginobili and Finley swapped identities, and after the game, the Argentine Flyers cooperated with Duncan to attack continuously, and the Spurs completed a 6-0 small ****, leading the Warriors 19-13 in the score.
Chamberlain hit a shot to recover two points, Parker made two free throws to color, the Spurs controlled the initiative of the game, Chamberlain broke out in the face of Duncan, and then in an offensive he grabbed a rebound for a second offense to help the Warriors chase the score to 18-23, the end of the first quarter, because of Chamberlain's ineffectiveness, the Warriors' offensive rebounds lost 1-7, and the data in this regard should be reversed in the past, and the Warriors beat their opponents.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Billups hit a shot, and then West broke through and ignited the Warriors' home court with both hands, but Spurs substitute Brent Barry hit the Spurs' first three-pointer of the game, and the Warriors did not solve the offensive and defensive problems after three substitutions, and then Ginobili scored an empty basket to attack, and the Spurs led 30-20.
The Spurs continued to suppress the Warriors with rebounding, and Duncan's ability to rebound in four games was perfectly displayed today, and he fought bravely and aggressively to catch Chamberlain off guard.
Fortunately, the Warriors have a West, he made a layup to complete 2+1 to narrow the gap to within 10 points, but the Warriors' entire offense is still hopeless, neither Chamberlain nor West can completely blast the Spurs defense, which was exposed in the subsequent attack, and the GDP combination cut points again and again, helping the Spurs to widen the gap to 13 points at 38-25.
Nelson Sr. had to call a timeout, and after the timeout, Chamberlain recovered two points, and the Warriors' defense slightly suppressed the Spurs' attack, just as the Spurs tried their best to contain Chamberlain, and the old Nelson commanded Chamberlain to concentrate on dealing with Duncan, and Duncan's performance was somewhat restrained, so that the Warriors launched a counterattack, relying on Billups to make two consecutive three-pointers to finally narrow the difference to single digits, and catch up at 32-40.
The Warriors' defense was getting tougher, and Chamberlain even forced Kent Thomas, who came off the bench, to make two dribble violations. Although the defensive end played a big role, Chamberlain's performance on the offensive end did not meet the expectations of fans, Billups independently supported the Warriors' offensive system, but Bowen's three-point shot re-stabilized the Spurs.
Chamberlain didn't feel good, so he attacked the restricted area and dunked back against the Spurs' special care for himself, and then the Warriors pressed the whole court, forcing the Spurs to take revenge for the 24-second offensive violation, West seized the opportunity to hit a three-pointer, and the Warriors chased the score to 41-47 at halftime.
After the halftime break, at the beginning of the third quarter, the Warriors were stronger regardless of offense and defense, West broke through the Spurs defense and scored 4 points, Petrus hit a three-point shot from the bottom line, Chamberlain made a strong attack, and the Warriors chased the score to 49-51 in one breath, and what made Warriors fans even more excited was that West assisted Chamberlain in the air relay to chase the score to 51 draw!
As the Warriors gained momentum, Chamberlain scored two points on Duncan's head to help the team stop the Spurs 53-51, and the Warriors went on a 12-4 run to force Popovich to call a timeout.
Parker and Ginobili, who had been off the court from the previous break, re-entered the court, and the GDP combination reunited, and Parker and Duncan's blocking and pick-and-roll saved the Spurs' momentum, and Duncan scored six points to help the Spurs regain the advantage at 57-53.
West's onslaught at Parker narrowed the deficit to one point, and Chamberlain made one of two free throws to tie the score at 57.
However, the Spurs are still full of talent, Parker layup stabilized the Spurs' heart, Duncan slyly made an offensive foul on Chamberlain, and then West was too emotional, and broke through too quickly when he was single, and the Spurs took the opportunity to regain the initiative.
Chamberlain's accumulated stamina ran out and he had to return to the bench, so Billups re-entered the game and led a group of bench players to maneuver with the Spurs, Ginobili made two three-pointers to give the Spurs a 67-59 lead, Evans and Duncan scored back-to-back points at the free throw line, and the Warriors trailed 60-68 after three quarters.
Entering the final quarter of the game, the Spurs opened the situation from Duncan's point, and the score was gradually pulled away, Parker's three-pointer completed a 7-3 small ****, and the Spurs regained a double-digit lead at 75-63.
Duncan gave the Warriors a devastating blow on the inside, and the old Nelson could only send Chamberlain, who was still physically exhausted, to the court, Barnes's three-point shot slightly boosted the morale of the Warriors, but then Parker cut off Billups' ball and launched a defensive counterattack and caused Barnes to foul and then hit two free throws, Chamberlain wanted to single up the team's morale, but he was rewarded by Duncan, and the backward Warriors called a timeout.
Billups and Petrus hit a three-pointer solo shot, but the Spurs blossomed and the Warriors went into a timeout again after trailing 75-89.
Nelson Sr. thought about it for a moment and replaced Chamberlain with O'Bryant and Billups with Luiz, and the Warriors announced that they were abandoning the game, and the Spurs seized the opportunity to end the game once and for all, so that on the road, the Warriors lost the crucial game 82-96.