The third game between the Spurs and Clippers was unexpectedly intense.

The Spurs have made very good preparations for this game, and the players, both tactically and psychologically, are trying to pull the Clippers off the horse in this game and gain the advantage of the series.

Although the Spurs were only seventh in the regular season, their GDP was also a year older than last season.

However, the three of them are actually in better form than last season.

After establishing Tony Parker as the offensive core, the Spurs' offense and defense as a whole have been transformed.

Although they are missing in the number three position, they have added Boris Dior in the number four position, and Dior has no problem playing the number three position many times.

Although the French magician's figure is a little out of shape, his basketball skills are not deformed.

In the third game, Popovich increased Dio's playing time, and when the Clippers used a small lineup led by Gasol Jr., the Spurs responded with a small lineup of Duncan, Dio, Ginobili, Parker and George Hill.

This lineup is very flexible and efficient in attacking positional battles.

The Spurs have four players with strong passing ability on the court, and it can be said that in terms of passing fluency and offensive flexibility, compared with the Clippers' big four small lineup, they are on par with, or even slightly better.

The Clippers may have more talent and more dynamic on-court performances.

But the Spurs' core players have a decade of tacit understanding, extremely rich playoff experience, and a raging flame of revenge.

The two sides played inextricably in the first quarter, and by the beginning of the second quarter, the Spurs used this small lineup to attack the Clippers.

In the first game, the Spurs relied on a tough defense to steal a victory in Los Angeles.

In the third game, Popovich did not fix his thinking, but attacked decisively, taking advantage of the home field to quickly expand the lead.

The Spurs quickly established the lead with a 15-5 offensive surge.

The Clippers were also well prepared before the game, but they didn't expect Popovich to use the offensive move.

This bad old man does have a lot of tricks, and the Spurs are indeed a strong team that is difficult to understand and recognize with common sense laws.

For ten years, they have been changing, evolving, adapting to the new situation of the Alliance.

As early as 2005, when they were at their strongest, in the face of the Sunstorms that swept the league, the Spurs fought with the Suns in the Western Conference finals, beating the Suns 3:0 and almost shaving their heads.

Any idea of the Spurs simply being defined as a defensive team, or transformed into an offensive team, is incorrect.

This is a well-disciplined and very tacit team.

The Spurs were in very good shape tonight, holding down the Clippers from tactics to morale.

In the third quarter of the game, the Spurs gradually widened the point difference and firmly controlled it to about 10 points.

The Clippers are obviously playing a little impatient, and the big win in the last game will give people the illusion that "as long as I am on time, I can easily win".

But that's not the case, basketball is a multi-faceted battle from intelligence to skill to physical fitness, and every game in the playoffs has its own situation.

The Clippers have played a lot in the playoffs in the past two years, but in terms of experience and encounters, they are still far behind the Spurs troika, what scenes have they not seen?

As a result, the trio played extremely steadily, and by the start of the fourth quarter, the difference between the two sides had stretched to 15 points.

In most people's perceptions, the Clippers confessed again in this game, playing seventh in the second and being bloodied by the Spurs in the third.

The Clippers' second place in the West looks a bit of a misnomer.

After all, it is a shrinking season, with 82 games reduced to 60 games, and the ranking is already watery.

In 1999, the last season was shortened, and the New York Knicks, who finished eighth in the East, made it all the way to the Finals.

It's because of the Knicks' strength, if they play a full 82 games, they will definitely not be eighth in the East.

And 60 regular-season games are good for older teams like the Spurs.

Ginobili has performed even better in this year's playoffs than last year.

The most important thing is Tim Duncan, who has regained his fitness and changed his style of play, and he has become the team's anchor again.

Randolph and Gasol Jr. will suffer more or less when facing Duncan.

With a 15-point gap, it will be very difficult for the Clippers to turn the tables around.

Between the third and fourth quarters, Tyronn Lue and Kerr discussed how to close the 15-point gap.

But tonight's state of the players is really average, it's not that everyone doesn't want to play hard, but in the confrontation with the Spurs, the Clippers actually fell into a slight disadvantage?

Obviously, the Clippers were a bit led by the nose and the pace of the game fell into the pace of the Spurs.

The fans at the stadium kept disturbing the Clippers players with noise.

Whenever a Clippers player misses a three-point shot, there is always a boo from the audience.

The Clippers' three-point shooting was not good tonight, and Curry and Harden's outside touch seemed to be consumed in Game 2.

The situation has obviously become quite critical and difficult, and once this loss is made, the pressure on the Clippers for the next game is very great.

Just then, Ada, the Clippers' junior secretary, handed a small note from behind the audience to Kim Hughes on the bench coaching staff.

Ida said: "This is a note from Mr. Smart for Coach Lou and Kerr to see. ”

Lao Jin immediately handed the note to the two people standing on the sidelines to discuss tactics, and said, "The note from Mr. Smart." ”

It seems that Min Congda can't stand it anymore, so he wants to skip the command and hand over tips to the coaching staff!

Tyronn Lue opened the note and read two sentences: "Increase Leonard's playing time." Replace Randolph with Bonner. ”

Coach Lu and Cole looked at each other for a moment, thinking that Mr. Smart had spoken, so listen to him?

Anyway, if you lose this time, then it's Smart's?

A clever trick at a critical moment gave Lu and Cole the opportunity to shake the pot.

The two of them also don't believe that a rookie in the No. 3 position can change the situation by letting him play?

Leonard isn't known for scoring and has good defensive potential, but it's just so-so.

However, Cole was a bit smarter, and he seemed to have some grasp of Min Congda's intentions.

He said to Leonard, "Leonard, you will appear later, fight more." Remember, both defensively and offensively need to be well-rounded and create more opportunities for your teammates. ”

Leonard didn't get much playing time in this game.

Now Tyronn Lue's preferred striker is Paul George.

But George's performance tonight was mediocre, and his offense and defense were not very consistent.

After all, it's a second-year rookie.

But Leonard is in the first grade, can he really do it?

In the fourth quarter, Leonard came into play, and the Clippers didn't use a lineup of one big and four small.

Bonner came on in place of Randolph, and this step that both Lu and Kerr could think of was to use Bonner's three-point shooting to open up space to chase points.

As soon as the fourth quarter came up, the Clippers were in a hurry to get on fire again and tried to shoot three-pointers from the outside.

Curry missed the three-point shot after the pick-and-roll, and the shot was a little anxious.

The Spurs got the backcourt rebound, counterattacked, and Parker went straight to the Clippers' three-second zone like a sports car!

Parker's direct and quick counterattack after getting the backcourt rebound has beaten the Clippers several times.

Parker is fast, has a strong finishing ability under the basket, and can also play the ball.

His counterattacks have always stirred up the Clippers' defense and put the Clippers in a very passive situation.

But this time he countered and turned to make a layup, was interfered with by Leonard, and missed the shot!

Leonard grabbed the rebound in the backcourt and passed the ball to Harden, and the Clippers reorganized the offense.

Harden suddenly made a risky long pass to the frontcourt, and Gasol Jr. received the ball and made an easy layup under the basket.

It's a nice good shot, easy-ball, and that kind of goal is very important for the Clippers who are chasing points.

At 90:77, the Clippers were slightly closer.

Subsequently, the Spurs position missed.

The Clippers' counterattack, Harden's mid-range throw after breaking through, still missed......

They didn't feel good tonight and wasted a chance to chase the points.

The Spurs continued to fight back, and it was Ginobili's serpentine break!

Hit the basket, after Gasol Jr. was passed, Leonard came to make up for the defense, interfered, and Ginobili missed the layup!

Gasol Jr. turned to the backcourt to rebound and made another long pass, and Bonner answered and immediately distributed the ball to Curry in the frontcourt.

Curry received the ball and faked to shake Parker, and then made a 45-degree three-point shot on the right side and hit!

The Clippers chased five points in a row, and the difference came to 10 points, and the Spurs immediately called a timeout.

In just three minutes, the Clippers came back to life.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is thanks to Leonard's basket guard.

A chase counterattack, a three-second area of defense, Leonard did a pretty good job.

At least better than Paul George tonight.

In the offensive battle between the two sides, George focused more on the offense, especially on the fast break and counterrun.

But that's the weapon of the regular season, and when it comes to the playoffs, an old and spicy team like the Spurs, where will the opponent be given the opportunity to easily break fast and run back.

George was under the Spurs' neat and unbroken defense, the offense was lost, and the defense was not in place.

The biggest problem on the defensive end of the Clippers is two points, one is the movement speed of the interior, Randolph and Gasol Jr. are both interior lines with average lateral speed.

So in the face of the assault style of play, Manu and Parker were made a little forward-looking, and the few assault defenses were chaotic.

There is also the problem that Curry and Harden in the backcourt have average defensive intensity.

That's why Parker and Ginobili were able to seize on this and go crazy to the basket to wreak havoc.

The reason why the Spurs were hammered by the Clippers last season was because although the Clippers defended Parker and Ginobili in general, Duncan couldn't prevent Curry and Harden on the inside, especially when they were scuttled by Randolph.

Once Duncan hardens up again this year, the offensive and defensive ends, especially the defensive end, will be completely different.

This is the importance of Duncan to the Spurs, effective defense again and again, accurate complements again and again, which cannot be reflected in the data.

And if the Clippers want to solve this problem, they need to make a fuss at the No. 3 position defensively.

In fact, this problem has been faced by the Clippers since Min Congda first came to the Clippers in the 2009-2010 season.

So Min Congda watched the third quarter and immediately knew that inserting a Pippen-like guy in the No. 3 position could curb the Spurs' counterattack offense.

At that time, the Chicago Bulls, as the only team in history that could win a championship without a super interior line, relied on Pippen's defense on the defensive end many times.

His defensive block, three-second zone basket protection, is a top-notch presence among small forwards.

Leonard, both in height and reach, is very similar to Pippen.

Don't look at Leonard as a rookie at a young age, he's talented on the defensive end.

And offensive skills need to be honed for a long time, and in defense, youth is an advantage.

Maddie, for example, delivered the most blocks of his career as a rookie.

Later, he grew into a top ball-handling attacker, but he lost a lot of defense.

Leonard's versatility at the number three position gave others a chance to breathe.

Curry and Harden can be less nervous on the defensive end and can be more engaged in offense.

At the same time, Bonner's presence has created a problem for the Spurs' defense.

Popovich's timeout didn't have much effect.

On the contrary, after the timeout, the Clippers instead played another wave of 7:2 offensive climax, narrowing the gap between the two sides to 5 points!

In this wave of climax, Leonard scored an offensive layup, a successful steal under the basket, and assisted Harden to hit a three-pointer.

It can be said that Leonard's calm judgment on the court and his veteran defense helped the Clippers turn the situation around.

His versatility at the No. 3 position gives Harden and Curry enough ammunition to attack without any worries.

This made Popovich, who was directing the game on the sidelines, painful, this is the player he fancies!

Why was it intercepted by the Clippers?

If the Spurs have Leonard in their current roster......

The more Popovich thought about it, the more angry he became, and the more he thought about it, the more sad he became.

And with Curry's outside three-point hit again, the difference between the two sides has narrowed to 2 points!

Then Parker broke through to make a foul, went to the free throw line, and made one of two free throws, a three-point difference.

Matt Bonner received the ball after Harden's breakaway, made a three-point shot, and hit!

This shot gave Popovich another stab in the heart.

This is my man! It was originally my person!

Bonner may be ordinary, but he has a huge value in terms of tactics.

He will play a very key role in certain games.

It was also robbed by the Clippers!

Popovich's heart was dripping blood.

The 15-point deficit was erased with three minutes left before the end of the game.

The two sides returned to the same starting line and entered the decisive moment.

The situation on the court has been completely reversed, and the Clippers are in high spirits.

However, Spurs are not discouraged by this, and they have encountered many such situations.

Chasing points, being chased points, they can always stabilize at critical moments.

Sure enough, Ginobili received the ball from the outside and hit a long-range three-point shot!

The demon knife is worthy of the demon knife, a super high arc of three points, the Spurs regained the lead.

The Clippers immediately called a timeout, and Tyronn Lue was re-replaced by Randolph.

At the critical moment, the blue fat man is still the captain of the clipper, fixing the anchor of the sea.

He received the ball in the low post, turned around and forced Duncan, and licked the basket with his left hand!

At 97:98, the Clippers trailed by one point.

Duncan responded immediately, turning low and hitting a board.

At 97:100, the Spurs regained a three-point lead.

The Clippers had a double-cover tactic on the outside, Curry came out to receive Harden's pass, made a three-point shot at the top of the arc, and hit again!

Curry was simply a three-point machine in the fourth quarter, the biggest weapon for chasing points, and the San Antonio fans who shot were numb!

100:100 tie!

The last 1 minute.

Ginobili once again played the role of the Spurs' savior.

The serpentine broke through to the basket, and threw the basket with a difficult left hand from Gasol Jr., and the person flew out directly.

The ball scored, and also caused a foul on Gasol Jr., went to the free throw line, and hit the free throw!

At 100:103, the Spurs led by three points, and each side had one offensive opportunity each.

Tyronn Lue called a timeout and set up a two-point play.

Gasol Jr. assisted Leonard, who scored in the air, and scored two points on a layup.

At 102:103, the Clippers trailed by one point and had to defend against an attack from the Spurs.

With 11 seconds left before the end of the game, the Spurs had six seconds left in their attacking time.

Tony Parker held the ball to lead the Spurs' offense, and after a pick-and-roll, Leonard suddenly stabbed Parker's ball-handler with a spit letter!

Parker didn't expect Leonard to play such a bold defense at such a critical moment, the ball was cut off, and the Clippers made a steal!

Tyronn Lue didn't call a timeout, but let the players solve the problem on their own, Leonard gave the ball to Curry, who broke through the middle and was surrounded and distributed the ball to Harden on the wing.

Harden catches the ball a little, shakes off the flying Ginobili, and then moves sideways for a difficult three-point shot!

Before the lights came on, the ball flew to the basket, bounced back and forth in the basket twice, and the ball went in!

James Harden, in Game 3, away, defeated the Spurs!

There was silence in the center of the At@t, and the victory in hand slipped away.

(End of chapter)