Chapter 172: The Battle for the Top Big Forwards
Before starting, Wade licked Gatorade from the cup and got up and walked onto the field, as if he had made up some kind of determination.
Originally, Stan Van Gundy looked at his 3-of-11 shooting stats and wanted to trade Woody to take on the Heat's bench rotation stage.
The Spurs' bench this year is not as strong as last year's, and that's why Stan Van Gundy is thinking about using the bench rotation to fight for a bigger point difference.
Popovich thought the same thing, and he put Ginobili on the court.
Stan Van Gundy saw the Argentine on the pitch before he thought about putting Woody on the pitch.
Because of this long-haired "eagle", as far as tonight's performance is concerned, it was a little more modest in the third quarter, and the previous period of play was very good, while on the Heat side, Wade has struggled until now.
But Wade was so adamant that Stan Van Gundy finally trusted him.
After all, this child is still in the growth period, and every such moment may become a critical moment for him to break through himself and grow to the next stage.
As a manager, you should pay for moments like this.
The first round that came up belonged to the Heat.
Wade carried the ball to the front court, and the biggest difference compared to before was that he no longer had any hesitation, took the ball and played, and simply crossed into his own rhythm and handed over some to speed and explosiveness.
This is his biggest reliance right now, and Shaq O'Neal has previously commented that he is as fast as lightning, which has also been recorded by the Miami media.
Even though his performance has not been very good recently, many media still give Wade a new nickname based on Shaq O'Neal's words:
The Flash!
With this goal, Wade proved that he won this nickname, and he deserved it!
Ginobili obviously predicted Wade's breakthrough, and the prediction was quite accurate, but his reaction action was placed with Wade's breakthrough action, and it looked like it was playing in slow motion, and Wade rushed straight past him with the ball.
Why the Spurs are Tim Duncan's team, he single-handedly propped it up.
Just look at the Spurs' interior defense at this time, Wade is like no one, single-handedly to the basket, and completed the domineering "tomahawk split".
The whole process is not obstructed at all.
was so crisp that Shaq and Woody on the bench stood up, waved the towel in their hands, and cheered for Wade.
Wade's expression was noticeably more confident.
But Ginobili on the other end is not a vegetarian either. Holding the ball to the front court, the water snake-like waist exerted force again, broke through a weird twisting posture, and was stunned to get into the basket and make a layup.
"Serpentine Breakthrough" also in color!
These two people......
Soar on!
Just watched Tim Duncan and Woody's confrontation, and now he sees Ginobili and Wade have this sprout, Kenny Smith exclaimed "enjoyable".
The managers on both sides wanted to open up the gap in the bench rotation stage, but unfortunately, the final result was that the scores of the two teams continued to be evenly matched until 2:34, and there was no change in the main players on both sides when they were put back on the field.
It's just that as the main players on both sides returned to the court, because of the defensive targeting on both sides, Ginobili and Wade's scoring edge was gradually contained.
The "key players" in this game are back to Tim Duncan and Woody.
From the first quarter to the third quarter, both Tim Duncan and Woody had some understanding of each other tonight.
This time, Tim Duncan made the first move, pretending to be the same as before, afraid of Shaq on the inside, and staying in the high position. But at the same time as Woody got the ball, he decisively stepped forward and interfered, this hand came suddenly, Woody was a little flustered by him, and the ball was not held firmly in the breakthrough and made a mistake.
But back on the defensive end, Woody also judged Tim Duncan's receiving point very beautifully this time, reached out in time, and when the ball flew out of Tim Duncan's hand, the clean big hat found face for himself.
Not only that, the ball was held by Wade, and Woody followed closely behind the Heat's counterattack time, and the "Wude" combination was connected, and a wonderful dunk booked tomorrow's "NBA Top Ten Balls".
The margin is 2 points ahead.
"Looks like Tim and Woody have found some problems with each other!" Bill Wharton guessed as he watched the two men fight each other in the round they just came up.
He wasn't mistaken.
In the coming days, Woody and Tim Duncan can clearly cause more problems for each other.
Tim Duncan can do such a thing, Bill Wharton is not surprised, otherwise how can he be a "cool male protagonist"?
But Woody was able to do it so quickly.
Similarly, Shaq O'Neal was jaw-dropping.
Although he has been contained on the inside, it has become a part of Tim Duncan's play that must be considered. But......
It's not something that just one person can do!
This is a "mutual explosion" with Tim Duncan!
Time came to the last 3 minutes, Woody pretended to go forward to cover, and suddenly cut into the basket under the "strange move", directly cut the Spurs' defense, in an instant, "No. 3 Lightning" rushed into the basket from this small "Huarong Road", one-handed split, and opened the difference to 4 points!
It was the biggest margin the Heat had made tonight.
Not even a moment of excitement for Wade's goal, the immediate response was:
Manu Ginobili!
Once again, the Argentine showed his unreasonable three-point shot.
"Huh!"
The moment the ball entered the basket, the cheers of the whole stadium filled the entire arena.
This three-pointer......
Woody's eyes are hot!
He scored six points in one of those years.
It was unreasonable to throw one from beyond the three-point line, but it got a 3-pointer at once.
Really......
Why are three-point shots allowed in basketball games?
He really wants to light up this skill point, but unfortunately, his potential value in this area is really low, and it is estimated that it will be impossible before the new template is loaded!
"Bang dang!"
Alston received a return pass from Shaq O'Neal this time and bounced off the three-point line.
When the sound of the ball smashing into the basket sounded, Woody felt the tendon on his temple shake heavily.
This is the practice of conditioned reflexes.
Tim Duncan stopped in front of him perfectly this time, but fortunately the ball jumped a little far from the basket, and Woody, who had no chance, accidentally hit it, but was the one closest to the basketball.
"Smack!"
Holding the ball vigorously, Woody turned around and made a feint, which was abrupt and stiff, but did a good job of fooling Tim Duncan, as Woody didn't do it often.
In this case, it is generally really accurate.
But when Woody jumped, Tim Duncan actually returned to the defense in time, looking at the hand intercepted in front of him, Woody's hand that grabbed the ball suddenly fell, and then grabbed the ball with one hand, bypassed Tim Duncan's hand, and raised it high, "Bah"! Successfully slashed into the basket.
From Woody's point of view, there was nothing wrong with this action. He just wanted to dodge Tim Duncan's hands.
But all the people who were watching Woody do this were about to pop out their eyes!
What kind of pervert is this!
Because......
This is a "big windmill dunk" after jumping on the spot!
And it was also the "big windmill dunk" completed by Tim Duncan.
“O! M! G! ”
Barkley shouted a dead pig's cry, and his whole face turned red with each letter.
Well......
Black redness!
It can be seen how excited he is at the moment!
Kenny Smith next to him was no better, his face was agitated and he couldn't restrain himself at all.
Stan Van Gundy on the sidelines directly spread his hands for the Spurs:
Is this Nima, is basketball played like this?
Popovich was also spreading his hands, and he really didn't know what to do except spread his hands.
No......
Can we play the basketball that humans play and not engage in these alien moves?
Shaq O'Neal shouted again, "Woody, you're Superman, you're Superman!" ”
The Spurs players on the court, one by one......
Ginobili was stupid, Tony Parker was stupid.
Tim Duncan stood stunned, as if his body had been split in half.
After the first half, he also felt that he was too hard, so that Woody didn't even have a chance to use his full strength, so he let himself be suppressed. Unexpectedly, as soon as the first half ended, this guy directly stopped pretending, and there was a showdown:
Ye is the No. 1 physical fitness man in the NBA!
Woo - Single-Kill Tim Duncan Dee!
This buckle made Tim Duncan really become "Deng Dumb".
He couldn't help but be surprised......
Woody used the moves he imagined he was going to use.
This......
Woody wondered at first, feeling that his teammates looked weird about him.
A little more fanaticism than usual.
When he looked up at the replay, he realized what a terrible goal he had scored.
Compared with the dunk Artest, this ball fully showed his dynamic and static physical talent.
You must know that he completed such a dunk after grabbing the rebound and jumping straight up.
What level of physical talent do you need to say?
"It's definitely a goal comparable to Michael Jordan's change of hands in the air!" Barkley did not shy away from his praise.
He doesn't pretend either!
"Big Barkley" is officially attacking Michael Jordan!
Popovich finally regained his senses amid the assistant coach's reminder and was going to call a timeout for Tim Duncan to bring him back to his senses. It's just that when he looked at Tim Duncan, he saw a pair of resolute eyes.
That didn't knock him out!
Also......
As the NBA's greatest No. 4 and NBA's "best background emperor", Tim Duncan is not inferior to "Gorilla" Ewing when he is the backdrop, the only difference is that compared to Ewing, his Tim Duncan's court dominance is two or three notches stronger.
As long as your career is successful enough, you won't just remember that you were deducted by xxx......
This is just another time!
What's all the fuss about!?
There's no need to do it at all!
However, the lost face must be regained.
Moreover, being deducted like this at this time, as the core of the team, it is necessary for Tim Duncan to use practical actions to revive the morale of the Spurs.
The high position took the initiative to ask for it, facing Woody directly, and this time there was no response, but asked for a complete pull. Then Tim Duncan slowly carried Woody with the ball and approached the basket. Woody also felt the strength of the "Stone Buddha's" thick lower limbs.
Compared with before, it is more "complicated" than the "old tree roots".
After catching a glimpse of the line of the reasonable collision zone, Tim Duncan pretended to turn to the right, raised his hand to deceive Woody, and suddenly turned left in a wide range to face the frame again, facing Woody who returned to the defense with the "second jump", he did not have the slightest surprise and panic, and when Woody fell, he jumped up unhurriedly, and in the confrontation, he wiped the board with his left hand.
"Huh!"
"Toot!"
The ball scored at the whistle and Tim Duncan got a 2-plus-1 chance!
All the San Antonios who had just been stunned by Woody's goal were back on the Spurs' side, and cheers filled the arena.
“MVP!”
“MVP!”
“MVP!”
……
And in the cheers of the audience, Tim Duncan hit the penalty steadily.
The score was tied.
The light shone on Tim Duncan's sweaty face, still expressionless, as if he was playing such a "2 plus 1" at such a moment, which was completely different from a normal goal.
This time Woody became the "backdrop".
Bill Wharton watched the replay of the ball and sighed again and again.
It's really technology, and there's not a little bit of athleticism.
It was a stark contrast to Woody's goal.
"It's a confrontation between the NBA's top floor stream and top physical talent......
Kenny Smith also said: "Attention all NBA fans, you must have enough knowledge, after watching this Michael Jordan against the whole league, after watching the years when Shaq's rule can be played, of course, I would say that the battle for Michael Jordan's successor, Kevin Garnett, Nowitzki, Chris Webber...... I don't mean to underestimate any of these matchups, but what I want to say is that in the history of the NBA, there have been battles for top small forwards, for top shooting guards, and even for centers, and now it belongs to the battle between the top power forwards, which will take place in the next few years, and what you will see will be between Woody and Tim Duncan, again and again, such exciting confrontations! ”
The spit is flying, which is enough to show how excited Kenny Smith is now.
But when anyone has watched the two rounds of Woody and Tim Duncan's very different styles, it's normal to get excited!
Shaq O'Neal gets the ball at this point.
It was a change of tactics for the Heat, and Rasso was clearly a little messy and blocked his shot with a foul.
And it was his sixth foul of the game.
With his foul graduation this time, the Spurs have one less "big meat shield" on the interior who can defend against Shaq O'Neal.
This also gives the Heat and Spurs a new "winner" in the competition.
Popovich probably didn't expect that his foul on Rasu at the beginning would become a fatal foreshadowing of this game.
99-94, at San Antonio's home court, the Heat finally won the game after a scorching battle (end of this chapter)