When the Spurs put all their defensive targets in front of Woody, Shaq O'Neal knew it was his timing tonight.

It doesn't matter if he's the boss of the Heat or not!

He has such a big contract, as another player who has played "three consecutive championships" after Jordan, his pride and self-esteem do not allow his contract to become a "garbage contract".

So in this game that tested him, he put on a good performance.

He also used his performance to help the Heat survive until the fourth quarter.

Stan Van Gundy also has the credit for this, this game is the most minutes played by Shaq O'Neal since he reached the finals, he has played 29 minutes in this game, and if nothing else, he will play around 40 minutes in this game.

At "The Shark's" age and his weight, it's still easy to play at this intensity, and a lot of that is due to Stan Van Gundy's use of him.

Plus the previous sweet playoff "clearance speed".

A player like Shaq O'Neal doesn't need to "fight to feed" right now, he needs more rest, and as long as he is rested, he can play to the best he can.

As soon as the fourth quarter came up, after a two-minute break, Shaq O'Neal continued to play.

Woody struggled a bit in this game, and the first two mid-range shots in the fourth quarter were still missing.

However, the presence of Shaq O'Neal allows this team to continue their scoring momentum.

The Spurs were unable to pull away in that time.

Stan Van Gundy deliberately called a timeout after two or three minutes of play, and he said to Woody: "Man, believe in yourself, with me, you don't have any problems playing at all, you don't have any self-doubt, you still play your way, I believe in all your choices and judgments, everything is the best arrangement!" ”

In fact, Woody's performance in this game can be called the worst performance since the Finals, and he has only scored 13 points so far.

Popovich's series of defensive measures against his mid-range shot have had a noticeable effect.

But it's the way every star has to go supergiant.

Michael Jordan failed for 8 years before he became invincible for 6 years.

Woody is more fortunate than him in that he came to a team with strong teammates from the start, which allowed him to improve in an atmosphere where he was both successful and relaxed.

But there's a catch, Woody will get to the bigger stage sooner than other rookies of the same age.

For example, last year, LeBron had been fishing for a long time, but Woody played in the Eastern Conference Finals, and on that stage, he exposed a lot of problems; For example, now, LeBron James has gone fishing again, but Woody has played to a higher stage and reached the Finals.

But against a more spicy team and a head coach, his weak shooting ability was targeted, which caused him to have ups and downs in form.

In fact, so far in the new season, Woody's growth curve has surpassed his peers too much, including LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, but because the stage is too big, his improvement is still a little insufficient.

Of course, when a sophomore is now on the opposite side of the league's No. 1 power forward, that's a stressful thing in itself.

No matter how good LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are, no one compares them to the league's No. 1 small forward.

Even if it's an era of small forwards, they haven't gotten to that extent.

Woody did well enough, but he improved so fast that he couldn't keep up, resulting in a situation where he was clearly limited by tactics tonight.

This is a situation that can happen to every supergiant, let alone Woody.

Stan Van Gundy felt it was a testimony to the metamorphosis of a "supergiant".

Stepping on Tim Duncan's shoulder......

So he's encouraging Woody not to lose faith.

In this regard, Stan Van Gundy is too worried, and his "star disease" will not allow him to bow his head and admit defeat like this.

However, Woody, who felt that he was indeed more and more anxious to shoot, and the more anxious he was, the more he couldn't shoot, changed his style of play next.

In the face of Bruce Bowen's defense, he went straight to the inside, and after pushing Bowen near the free throw line, he still chose to force his way inside in the face of Tim Duncan's guarded inside.

Your name is Tim Duncan, right?

"Smack!"

Woody was greeted by Tim Duncan's big hat with a slashing head.

But......

In Woody's projected picture, this is the one he was mentally prepared for.

You know, he's challenging for two consecutive regular-season MVPs, and if he can do it casually, he can do it on his head, unless Tim Duncan is not just 29 years old, but 39 years old.

Because of that age, if you play well, there are fans shouting "Wow, is this person really 39 years old"? When he didn't play well, or when the team didn't lose and he was ridiculed, the fans immediately said: "He's 93, what else do you want him to do", "No matter how well he plays, I feel satisfied, watch one less game"......

Oh no, Tim Duncan doesn't have so many fancied "diehards".

He immediately looked for the ball that had been covered.

Tim Duncan was the ball that was facing down and landed right in Woody's hand.

The second time I got up, I only heard a "Bah!" ”

Woody just finished with a two-handed dunk in front of Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan: ......

I'm rough!

He was calm on the surface, but his heart exploded directly.

When Woody rushed to the basket, he thought that this kid was in a hurry at first, but now it seems that he understands that Woody is not in a hurry, but he doesn't plan to reason with him, and directly plays physical fitness!

This kind of play that relies on physical fitness to turn the situation around, Tim Duncan helped his waist......

He really can't help it!

After all, he's not just fighting Woody, he's fighting Shaq O'Neal!

This is already the fourth game in which he has defended these two guys alone.

No matter who has to admit it, no other interior player in the league today can do anything like this, except for Tim Duncan.

Woody, who completed the dunk, made everyone on the Heat bench stand up.

Stan Van Gundy led the way in applauding and nodded, "That's it, Woody, that's it!" ”

He saw Woody's eyes gradually brighten and knew that Woody must have found his solution to the situation in front of him.

This is something to be happy about!

When Stan Van Gundy saw that Woody gave up his mid-range shot in this situation and re-entered the interior line, he just wanted to say one thing:

The child can be taught!

The reason why "supergiant" is "supergiant" is that they have a set of killing moves that others can't prevent, although Woody has not reached the level of supergiant, he also has his own killing moves.

That's his strong physique!

This kind of "second jump" dunk under the basket or something, even Tim Duncan in this situation doesn't want to stop him.

This is purely in the physical fitness of both sides.

Tim Duncan is also quite unlucky, Rasu actually lost the season at the end of the season, otherwise he would not be alone now, he has never missed his partner so much, and even wants to sing two lines:

Come back soon, I can't bear it alone!

I can't bear it!

Shaq O'Neal also discovered Woody's idea at this time, and he thought about it at that time, his eyes rolled around, and the idea came out of his mind:

How boring is it to play alone?

Let Tim Duncan also taste what it means to be "left and right for men"!

"Stone Buddha" is it, right?

It's not moving like a mountain, is it?

I see if you can still move like a mountain!

Shaq O'Neal joins the singles against Tim Duncan.

Then the next picture of the Heat becomes Woody playing, Woody playing, Shaq playing; Shaq hits, Shaq beats Woody fights!

The whole thing was a "wheel war", and Tim Duncan, who played more than 44 minutes in every game, finally collapsed.

He missed two consecutive shots on offense, and there was a situation where he missed consecutive free throws at critical moments.

He's had a problem with free throws, but never to that extent.

There is only one circumstance that can explain this problem:

He's tired!

It's really unbearable.

The margin also opened up at this time, 96-90, and the Spurs lost the stalemate by six points on their second home court.

The Heat lead 3-1, and for the Spurs, the score is worse than that:

The beep sounded, and Tim Duncan's first reaction was to put his hands on his knees, and he was so tired that he didn't even have the strength to walk to the bench.

It's definitely not the result of a game.

The big question now is:

"How much fitness can Tim Duncan recover before the next game of the series starts!"

He is the absolute lifeblood of the Spurs, and it is no exaggeration to say that how much fitness he can recover will determine how far the Spurs can go down the road!

In Barkley's view, the Spurs should be gone: "The way the Heat played at the last minute of the game shows that they have thoroughly mastered how to win against the Spurs easily!" They will continue to attack the Spurs in this way in the next games, and Tim Duncan is definitely the cornerstone of the Spurs, but unfortunately, as the game progresses, he has become the key to the Heat's breakthrough of this team! ”

It's not that Tim Duncan's performance will drag the Spurs back, in fact, he is still the "ceiling" of this team, but from the perspective of the Heat, instead of attacking other points and giving him enough physical energy to help make up for the defense, or make other contributions, it is better to catch him at this point and beat the Spurs from this point and completely crush them.

I have to say that Barkley, as a former regular season MVP, is very accurate in judging the game situation and all aspects.

Although sometimes he will say some eye-catching things for attention, but at this time, if you listen to his words in reverse, you will find that there is no problem with what this kid said!

Don't doubt a regular season MVP's judgment of the situation.

This has also been proven by the fact that the Heat in Game 5 of the series really grabbed Tim Duncan from the beginning and continued to play singles to drain Tim Duncan's physical energy.

But Popovich once again showed what he can do as a top manager, quickly adapting his team's defensive strategy.

Tim Duncan still plays for the others, but when he plays him alone, he will arrange a bag to help Tim Duncan force the opponent to play the ball quickly, so as to ensure that Tim Duncan does not have physical problems too soon.

This did plague the Heat's offense to some extent.

Shaq O'Neal didn't have a very good ability to shoot the ball, and in order to open up space, Stan Van Gundy had to put Alston and Jones, who are better at shooting three-pointers, on the court. This led to poor perimeter defense.

Tony Parker and Ginobili broke out at the same time, the two of them scored 30 points together in the first half, and with Tim Duncan's consistent output and drive, they actually led by five points at the end of the first half.

The Spurs, who had been looking shaky, actually slowed down in Game 5 of the series, which exceeded the expectations of most commentators.

You know, David Stern showed up with the trophy yesterday, although he did have to show up at match point to avoid actually winning the championship and no one awarding the championship trophy, but this will undoubtedly intensify the eagerness of the team behind it.

But the Spurs proved once again that their old spiciness, and that their mentality is not influenced by the outside.

"Guys, don't rush, play slowly, we can win this game, in the second half we run a little more, cut more air, first mobilize the whole defense on the opposite side, I believe that we will win this game and lift the championship trophy tonight!"

Stan Van Gundy said in response to a reporter's question before the game: "We don't think about whether we can lift the championship at home or away, for us, it's about playing every game and then lifting the trophy when it's time to lift it, instead of thinking about whether we should do it away or at home!" ”

The Spurs are the team of two championships, and the Heat team has no championship in team history so far, to deal with such a team, Stan Van Gundy has only one idea, solve it quickly, and winning the championship as soon as possible is the most correct idea, and the other ideas are superfluous.

So from the very beginning of this game, they were rushing for the championship, but I have to admit that this Spurs team is really spicy!

In such a situation, there can be such chatter tenacity, and the combination of Popovich and Tim Duncan is really too difficult.

Popovich has ideas, and Tim Duncan is willing to be the shape Popovich wants, and the point is that he can actually be that shape, which is really......

Of course, he had a premonition that if the two-time championship team was so easy to beat, then why did they pay so much attention to this team? (End of chapter)