Chapter 1020: First in the West
Leonard wanted to play strongly, but there were many people on the Pelicans' side who were well-organized, and several people beat Leonard on the inside, but Leonard still couldn't bear it, almost made a mistake, the basketball was thrown out of the restricted area, and he almost returned to the line.
Leonard's singles were not good, Duncan was not good, Danny Green was not good, and there was one and a half minutes left before the game ended, and at this time the Spurs Heat had reached the edge of the cliff, at which point he immediately called a timeout again.
Although the Spurs are half a win ahead of the Pelicans, they can't afford to lose more than the Pelicans, and they have too many things on their backs.
Popovich called a timeout and replaced Split with Dio, he also had to play a small lineup, pause Hulai, only 7 seconds of offensive time, because Leonard consumed a lot of time in that round just now, so now their time is very tight, and they played a perfect tactical match when they turned around.
The basketball finally reached Duncan's hands, and Duncan shot not far from the basket, but Duncan missed again in this close position.
The Spurs missed several key shots at critical moments one after another, which formed a huge pressure on the psychology of the entire team at this time.
In this way, they were also in a big mess, and when they turned around, the Pelicans backcourt gave the ball to Li Feng.
Then the whole team scattered to open up the space in the middle, and let Li Feng handle the last ball.
The Pelicans are very familiar with this routine, they usually win like this, Li Feng is also very excited to get the ball at this time, and the feeling of slaughtering the opponent with his own hands is very good.
Li Feng is ready here, dribbling the ball outside the Spurs' three-point line, Li Feng originally wanted to delay the time to make the last shot, but as soon as he got the ball, he immediately found that there was some chaos on the Spurs' side.
He immediately broke through and went straight to the basket, and at this time the spurs were on the most dangerous edge.
Duncan didn't care. came up and directly fouled Li Feng and knocked him down.
The Spurs used a foul to stop Li Feng again, Li Feng still didn't make a basket, and Li Feng could only make free throws under the basket.
However, at this time, Li Feng's free throws were also average, and he still hit one of two free throws.
With one minute and eight seconds left, the Pelicans led the Spurs by 6 points, and many Spurs players and fans were desperate.
Some fans even left the stadium early, but at this time Bill Wharton clearly did not despair, he still pursed his lips and stared at the stadium.
There have been countless difficult moments in the history of the Spurs, and they have all come back from the blister. Now Bill Wharton believes the Spurs have the ability to turn the game around today.
At this point, the Spurs' situation is even more dangerous, and if he loses this game that is equal to a playoff preview, his confidence is likely to collapse.
At this time, Duncan shouted on the court:
"Don't panic, there's still time, there's still enough time."
Duncan yelled so loudly, and Danny Green roared in a rare way on the side:
"It's just six points, but it's just two balls, let's play well!"
It's time for the most critical moment. Even the silent young player Danny Green also came out to stabilize the love of his teammates, and in this case, the Spurs were about to collapse and immediately retracted, which is the difference between the Spurs and the Rocket Cavaliers.
Spurs are based on veteran players. Their resilience and mental endurance are extremely strong.
Now the Spurs are six points behind and there is only one minute left, so they are playing again. They immediately moved the ball very fast, and at the same time, Danny Green made a quick run to start the strategy of running without the ball.
The strategic role of the off-ball tactic is highlighted at this time. At the critical moment, no one dared to let Danny Green touch the ball, so that Danny Green ran on the Pelicans' position, and the Pelicans' position was immediately chaotic.
At this time, Parker grasped the timing very accurately, and gave it to Danny Green, who leaked a momentary gap, and Danny Green took the ball and saw the Pelicans kill him, and he immediately returned his hand and passed the basketball to Duncan who was stuck inside.
Duncan took the ball and forced Aljefferson to carry it hard, and as a result, the Pelicans' defense shrank back all of a sudden.
The Pelicans are indeed young and in good health, and they shrank back and surrounded Duncan almost instantly.
At this time, if Duncan's brain is a little less sober, the opportunity will be gone, but unfortunately Duncan is also an old and cunning character, and his head is still very calm at this dangerous time.
Calm to the point of being terrible, once he encountered the bag, he immediately passed the ball to Leonard, Leonard did not stay when he took the ball, and directly transferred it to Danny Green's hands in a large area.
At this time, Danny Green was vacant, and the Spurs played without the ball, combining inside and outside, and the almost perfect coordination finally transmitted such an empty position.
The open space appeared, Danny Green was very fast, very stretched, catching the ball, jumping, raising his hands, shaking his wrists, the basketball flew, the man landed, and the ball was shot.
"Huh!"
The ball is in! As soon as this ball was shot, the depression that the Spurs' ATT Center Arena was supposed to die for disappeared all at once, and the entire ATT Center Arena became a sea of black.
"Whoa!"
The audience was cheered, applauded and pumped fists in excitement, and the Spurs caught up with a crucial three-pointer in the final minute.
The atmosphere at San Antonio's home stadium erupted like a volcano, and the whole court went crazy, and Duncan and Leonard came over to hit Danny Green's chest crazily.
These three guys have been holding back for half their lives, and now that it is a critical moment, they are naturally unrelenting.
All of a sudden, the morale of the Spurs skyrocketed, and the Pelicans were a little overwhelmed by the Spurs' strong home momentum.
Danny Green's three points are really deadly.
The Spurs were in high spirits at this time, the Pelicans came to attack again, and these old guys also took out their housekeeping skills and defended desperately.
And because the previous shackles were gone, at this critical moment, the referee blew the whistle carefully, and the Spurs' defensive actions were increased, and Leonard pulled Li Feng like crazy and didn't give Li Feng a chance to catch the ball.
At this time, Leonard didn't care, he would rather be elbowed by Li Feng, and he would win the game. Although Li Feng is crazy, there are more than 40 seconds left in the game, Li Feng does not dare to move, Li Feng still wants to win, and wants to win. Hope surpassed a qiē.
Li Feng and Leonard fought wits and courage, and finally Li Feng finally received the basketball, but in the position of the sideline, the position was very bad, Li Feng at this time, for the sake of insurance, took the ball and rushed directly to the Spurs' basket to create a foul for the Spurs.
Li Feng thought far. But the old Spurs thought further, and when Li Feng decided to break through, they immediately concentrated four people to surround Li Feng, and they didn't even give Li Feng the route of the pass.
The Spurs' chain defense, the strong play is to make you have nothing to do, and you don't foul, Li Feng finally had no choice but to throw a throw in the middle of the four.
But this effect is naturally not good, Li Feng's throw missed, and the basketball fell into the hands of the Spurs.
At this point, the Spurs had the ball. The score of the two teams is 97-94, with a three-point difference and only 28 seconds left.
At this time, the San Antonio fans in the stadium stood up and cheered collectively. Standing up and watching the game, the atmosphere of the home stadium was like an endless black wave, and the sound shook all over the world.
The whole stadium was full of shouts, and the fans were all waving huge avatars of GDP. With a large placard, the entire ATT Center arena was completely annihilated by the green waves.
In such a loud cheer, the Spurs' players also suddenly adjusted their morale to the highest point.
At this time, the Spurs reached a state. The feeling of killing came out.
The whole team pressed over unhurriedly, and then Parker immediately controlled the basketball and came over, suddenly starting directly, and breaking through Luo Teng directly from the middle.
Parker suddenly made a force, Luo Teng was caught off guard, everyone thought that the last few tens of seconds should be GDP shot, but at this critical moment, Parker actually took the lead.
Caught the Pelicans off guard all of a sudden, Luo Teng's speed was not as good as Parker's, and he hadn't recovered from the previous magic body consumption, and now that the game was at the end, he was the softest moment in his legs, and he was passed almost instantly.
All of a sudden, the Pelicans were in danger, and everyone rushed inside to stop Parker.
Parker is the kind of player with Huigen, he is similar to a guard like Nashkid, he has a wisdom to see through the situation, and the Pelicans only shrank back, and Parker immediately passed the ball outside to Leonard.
At this time, Leonard did not dare to shoot when there was an open spot, his luck was not good, and he also pounced on the inside line when he took the ball.
Then he immediately wanted to make a foul on the Pelicans, but at such a critical juncture, the referee didn't dare to blow it, Leonard posted it up and made a move, and the referee didn't blow it, and Leonard had no way to throw the basketball to Duncan who pulled it out.
Duncan also had a mid-range shot, and the Pelicans' defensive focus shifted again when he took the ball, and at this time everyone forgot about one of the most dangerous guys.
Danny Green was empty again, and Duncan immediately shook the basketball with both hands, and Danny Green was one step away from the three-point line and started shooting.
The arc of the three-pointer was high and rounded, and the ball spun very quickly, in the next moment when Danny Green made a shot.
The basketball fell into the Pelicans' basket with a bang.
All of a sudden, the ATT Center Arena was really unbearable, and the whole stadium was boiling, and the stadium was full of crazy howls.
The more than 20,000 fans who were originally standing formed a huge wave of people, leaping wave after wave and making huge noises.
Bill Wharton didn't control himself, and at the first moment Danny Green hit the shot, he jumped up and shouted:
"Danny Green hit a three-pointer! He hit a three-pointer, and it was a well-timed three-pointer. ”
It makes sense that the fans at Bill Walton and ATT Center were cheering, and Danny Green's three-pointer tied the score.
And there are only 5 seconds left for the Pelicans, and it is extremely difficult for the Pelicans to complete an attack in 5 seconds.
At this time, the Pelicans lost six consecutive points in the last minute, and their morale took a heavy hit.
With five seconds left to complete a quick attack, Van Gundy called a timeout and set up a tactical attack when morale was damaged and the score was tied.
At the end of the timeout, the Pelicans players returned to the court, at which time the Pelicans' morale was at its lowest point, and the Spurs were tied with the Pelicans, but they did not have the ball. But with home advantage, under Danny Green's magical watch, their morale was high.
Under this high morale, the Spurs' defense is extremely tight and can be said to be flawless.
Li Feng was in the turbulent waves of the Spurs, and finally got the basketball, and when he got the basketball, Li Feng saw that there was not much time left.
At this time, the pressure on Li Feng is very high, and the time has come for a one-goal winner.
More than 20,000 people at San Antonio's home stadium let out a huge boo, and they were booing Li Feng. The Spurs are resilient defensively and never foul.
In this atmosphere, the air in the entire stadium seemed to be frozen, and Li Feng took the ball with a roar in his mind.
But none of this can stop the blood in Li Feng's body from burning like fire, jumping wildly, at this moment, Li Feng feels as if the blood in his body is about to fly out.
This is an extreme euphoria, and the greater the pressure, the more excited Li Feng is. In a state of extreme excitement, Li Feng's eyes lit up like stars.
Take the ball and shake it slightly, Li Feng didn't have any complicated movements. Cut straight to the right and cut in, one step, then straight up and pounced on the Spurs' basket.
At this time, the Duncan Alliance came out to block Li Feng. Li Feng raised the ball high with both hands in the air, and used his chest to fight Duncan hard.
The two men collided like comets, chest to chest. Duncan's hand was wrapped over Li Feng's hand.
The oncoming impact caused both of them to stop in the air for a moment, which was only a moment, but such a moment would affect the whole game.
Because the speed of Duncan's fall was so fast by Li Feng, it was just a line, just such a trace of vitality was caught by Li Feng, and at the moment of Duncan's fall, Li Feng put the ball on the Spurs basket with both hands.
Then he lost control and fell to the floor, Li Feng landed and the game was over, but the ball was still gently bouncing on the Spurs' basket.
The ball bounced very lightly, moved very slowly, like a feather in the air, and it seemed that it could fall to the ground at any moment, and it seemed that it could fall into the basket at any time.
At this time, everyone's eyes widened as they watched the ball, and the broadcaster also moved the camera to the basket to put a close-up.
From San Antonio to the whole country, from the whole country to the whole world, fans watched the light dance of basketball with wide eyes.
But the dance was too erratic and too hard to guess, and it moved gently to the edge of the hoop, and just as it was about to drop the basket, it suddenly fell into the Spurs' basket with its head tilted.
At this moment, countless viewers in front of TV sets around the world jumped up or waved their fists.
Li Feng even jumped up directly with a carp beating action, waved his fist violently, and yelled at the sky.
The Pelicans' players rushed up to surround Li Feng even more frantically, and the Pelicans actually won this game about the first place in the West.
Five seconds earlier, the ATT Center Arena was still basking in a fierce desire to win.
But now, five seconds later, they are dumbfounded, and they can't accept the fact that they are happening in front of them.
The Pelicans won! Beat the Spurs in the last 5 seconds?
Such a result is completely unacceptable to the fans of the ATT Center Arena and the outdated old fritters of the Spurs.
After they watched the ball fall into the basket, their eyes straightened, and many Spurs fans looked lost, and some fans hid their faces and cried.
The Spurs went through a shocking up-and-down in the final minute, scoring six straight points in a minute, but losing a single point in the final five seconds.
Duncan, who didn't defend Li Feng in the last moment, kept scratching his head in annoyance, and Shi Fo hated himself for not defending more toughly.
Leonard, who was beside Duncan, saw Duncan's appearance like this, and he immediately came over and hugged Duncan to comfort Duncan.
Leonard didn't feel good in today's game, he played very unsatisfactory, and Leonard was also very sorry for losing such an important game today, and he also felt that he did not fulfill his responsibility as the captain of the team.
Danny Green looked at the basket at this time, his eyes were also a little red, the Spurs lost today's game tragically, and they were unwilling to lose.
On the Pelicans' side, it was different, Li Feng finally killed the Spurs this time, and the previously suppressed atmosphere was suddenly reversed.
All of the Pelicans players were in a state of flux, and injuries cost them the No. 1 spot in the West, today. They got it back.
……
Back in the first place in the West, the gap between the Pelicans and the Brooklyn Nets, the first in the league, is not large, only one win.
And at this time, the Pelicans met a strong opponent back-to-back, and that was the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls' Okafor came back early, making the Bulls instantly the same as the Pelicans, becoming the second in the East, second only to the first Nets with two wins, and the Pelicans are also close.
Okafor's comeback made the Bulls' interior defense as shown in the picture, and the Pelicans were not easy to play.
The Pelicans are also not hiding. The inside continues to be the twin towers, or point guard Roteng, scoring guard Granger, small forward Li Feng, power forward Al Jefferson, and center Pau Gasol.
The Pelicans lineup is actually quite luxurious, especially the forward lineup, and the good players are simply a group.
Compared to the Pelicans, the Bulls' lineup is not bad. Point guard Chris Paul, shooting guard Mike Dunleavy, small forward Jimmy Butler, power forward Emeka Okafor. Center Dwight Howard.
The Bulls' lineup is fairly balanced, with the perfect point guard paired with two defensive assistants, a tall shooter who opens up space, and Okafor who can attack. Howard stocky.
The game began, Pau Gasol and Howard entered the center circle and began to scramble for the ball.
Although Howard was shorter than Pau Gasol, he lightly hit the ball first.
The basketball flew into Paul's hand, and Paul took the ball. Stabilize it a little, and this time Paul is not only stabilizing the rhythm of the team, but also stabilizing his own feelings.
Judging from the current record, the Pelicans are indeed far superior to the Bulls, and the Bulls are formally at an absolute disadvantage.
But that doesn't stop Paul from wanting to win. Hopefully, Paul should not look small, his fighting spirit is terrible. The whole league knows this, and Kobe's paranoia has also praised Paul's fighting spirit.
And Paul was able to reach his current position without being outstanding, what did Paul rely on, that is, relying on the spirit of not admitting defeat, and practicing the acquired hard work of ball control and passing.
Paul has his current status, not because of his physical talent, but because of his hard work on the ball and a good sense of the big picture. Mid-range and three-point shooting are also individual skills that Paul has gradually perfected in recent years.
This kind of player who relies on hard work to achieve superstardom is naturally not to be underestimated.
So when Paul got the ball, there were boos all over the court, but Paul's control of the ball was still steady, and his expression was still resolute.
Paul controlled the ball in the midst of boos, and in the face of the oncoming Roten, Paul dribbled the ball under his crotch in a small way, and then swung his body left and right, and suddenly broke through to the left.
Paul's ball control route is a path with a small amplitude, a low center of gravity, and a fast frequency, which is very safe to control the ball and fast in frequency, but the disadvantage is that it is more difficult to get rid of the projection and better to break through.
Paul's speed is fast, but he is not top-notch, he suddenly passed Roten half a step, at this time the average defender thinks about me to find space to attack, or break through the box and divide the ball.
But Paul is a superstar, and his way of thinking is absolutely different from that of ordinary people, in this situation.
Paul didn't rush to attack or pass the ball, but broke through half a step and suddenly slowed down, allowing Roten to stick up, and Roten pasted it here, and Paul suddenly turned around and dribbled and continued to disrupt the Pelicans' restricted area along the free throw line.
This is Paul, using the tempo, fast, slow, fast, constantly changing, and then moving around your box.
At this time, the defender has nothing to do with Paul, you can't control him, you can't steal him. Once you've got a trap, he's got a great pass, and even if you don't, he'll upset the balance of your defence.
The Pelicans were originally a player who was better at wrapping up, and when Paul was overturning the river and the sea alone, the weak side of the Pelicans suddenly caught up. It was also at this time that Paul made a long pass on the way, and the basketball was accurate to Jimmy Butler on the weak side.
Paul's passing action is not surprising, but it is definitely a good pass, and the basketball passes from the strong side to the empty space on the side in a timely and accurate manner, and this vision and passing timing are very powerful.
Jimmy Butler takes the ball on the weak side, and taking the ball is a quick shot.
"Huh!"
Jimmy Jr. hit the shot accurately, and Paul showed his housekeeping skills at the beginning, using his own offensive system, disrupting the opponent's defense alone, and then finding a gap to pass. Teammates take advantage of the opportunity and score right away.
The Bulls scored three points first, and Paul showed attitude. (To be continued......)