On the evening of June 13, 2005, in the studio behind ABC, during the intermission, host Mike Tirrico sighed again in front of the camera:

"It's a game I've seen without the Knicks."

The bespectacled, somewhat fat Mike Tyrico has been the host of the back studio for the ABC Finals since 2003.

He witnessed the Knicks of the D'Antoni era, and the fast-paced and fluid offense was the label of the defending champions, but tonight's G3 turned his previous impression on its head.

At 50:51, at halftime, the Spurs led by one more point, and after shooting 6-of-22 from beyond the three-point line in the previous game, the Knicks shot more cautiously tonight.

Greg Anthony saw that his partner on the side was silent, and then simply added:

"More rotation, more help guards, the Knicks are more like the Spurs defensively."

"The two teams played diametrically opposed games, with the Spurs instead preferring to shoot from beyond the three-point line, and they seemed to be becoming more confident, and Coach Popovich clearly learned from his defeat."

Bill Wharton, noticing that both were looking at him, could only shrug his shoulders and say uncertainly:

"Both sides are learning from each other, but I'm not sure the Spurs will be able to make it to the end."

"Like a lot of big guys, I don't like three-pointers, it's a sign of uncertainty."

"Horry's magical performance from beyond the three-point line in the last game saved the Spurs, but I don't think that experience can be replicated."

"Old-school basketball can win games as well, and maybe after tonight's game, some of the ball critics will change their opinion of Lee."

As soon as Muhammad moved to the basket, Prince gave the ball to Kurt Thomas, who was unguarded near the baseline on the left.

After many rounds against Fisher, Parker regained his confidence, turned his head and said loudly:

"Three home games, we can get match points!"

The Spurs returned to the court, and the noise was heard, and Popovich pulled Ginobili in front of him again and told him seriously:

After returning to San Antonio, he finally found face in front of Eva, and the opponent hit the iron, Parker was in high spirits, and he had already begun to fantasize about the night of the championship

Although Popovich was worried about Ginobili's mistake, his face did not show much emotion.

In the right elbow area, with the help of Duncan's cover, the moment Ginobili received Parker's pass, Prince squeezed through strongly, and Kurt Thomas moved sideways for the first time.

The body is still not back to its best, and Duncan hopes that the two will be able to digest more of the ball, and he can focus on rebounding and covering in the third quarter to conserve as much energy as possible.

With his height advantage, Prince, who received Gasol's pass near the free throw line, directly combined the ball, ignored the side defense, and went straight to the basket.

Ginobili is completely "magic ball", except for the three-point shot, the rest of the shots are in the paint area.

Although there was no switch offense, the Spurs fans still cheered loudly, this was a successful defense.

The bottom line serves, the Spurs fans at the scene shouted loudly, D'Antoni stood next to him with his arms crossed, and he was relieved to see that the Spurs still had two big men on the table.

As Lee Woo ran to the bottom right corner, Prince covered without the ball, and Bowen switched to Lee Yo's side for the first time.

Frequently trapped, the Spurs boldly projected, 4 of 13 from beyond the three-point line, and the three-point shooting rate in the half just reached 30%.

In the first offensive round, as Ginobili slipped from left to right and quickly crossed with Bowen to cover, Prince immediately switched defenses.

Both sides continued their starting line-ups, with neither coaching staff risking a change.

The Knicks are different, even the water cooler Vallejo went up to play for more than 1 minute, and in order to avoid the foul crisis, the 9-man rotation tonight.

Popovich is also able to keep pace with the times, giving the ball to Ginobili early, a lot of three-pointers, and the Spurs no longer insist on inefficient long two points.

Lee Yoo followed Parker to a position close to the left wing, the Spurs' tactics were launched very quickly, and the ball had just stopped on the line, and Ginobili had already bounced out.

The basketball was first picked up by Duncan, then Gasol stabbed in the back, Mohammed was still pulling Prince, and Kurt Thomas was rushing on the other side.

Protecting the rebound was more difficult than Popovich had imagined, and Prince didn't stop after the pass, squeezing Parker behind him and heading straight for the basket.

While many players were still studying the back-to-back technique, Ginobili was already on the road of imitating Li You, and in this finals, the Argentine was completely famous.

"But I like Lee's performance, the breakthrough can change the opponent's defense, he didn't shoot against two guys, it was the right choice."

After two jumps in the air, it was Duncan who could barely protect the backcourt rebound.

As the second half of the game was about to begin, Duncan reminded Parker again before walking out of the tunnel:

"Keep playing and we'll win the game!"

Duncan, who played laterally, got his chance and watched as Kurt Thomas symbolically raised his hand and hit a decisive mid-range jumper.

The rebound was easily accepted by Gasol, and in the sigh of the fans, Li You received the ball and slowly dribbled through the half.

He scored a team-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 1-of-3 from beyond the three-point line and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.

Parker also made 5-of-9 shooting for 10 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 turnovers.

Tricking the opponent's center of gravity and immediately making an emergency stop, Ginobili leaned against Prince at his side, and then sent a one-handed pass with his left hand.

As the mid-range jumper hit, the Spurs fans cheered.

In the first half, the Spurs rotated seven players, and Yudri, the newcomer, was excluded from the rotation at a critical moment.

Mike Tyrico didn't expect the celebrity to change his tune, and said with some surprise:

In the past, the Knicks had more ball handlers, but in this year's Finals, the situation was not ideal, and G3 Prince performed averagely, and tonight's tactical focus shifted to the interior again.

The back studio was naturally happy to see such an anxious game, but in the SBC arena, the Spurs fans were a little impatient.

Receiving the ball on the right flank, Prince took advantage of the situation and tossed the ball to Gasol in the low post.

Without waiting for the two to form a bag, he took a big step with his left hand and Ginobili feigned a breakthrough to force Kurt Thomas to move to the right rear.

"Be careful! Don't make mistakes, don't give your opponent a chance to score easily. ”

“Go Spurs go！.”

At the same time, Gasol also squeezed under the basket, plus Kurt Thomas also rushed to grab the rebound, and the Knicks grabbed three and two.

Raja Bale still ran to the left flank early, Lee Yoo crossed the halfway line, and Kurt Thomas also crossed Gasol on the bottom line.

Ginobili knew that it was the manager who told him not to risk passing, so he nodded hurriedly and ran to half court.

Parker had been prepared, but after a short screen, Prince cut in the middle.

Quickly came to the right side of the low post with his back to ask for the ball, and when Gasol raised his arm, Li You gave the ball to Prince as soon as possible.

Li You retreated early and kept high-fives, indicating that this was a successful cooperation.

The Spurs played a familiar Knicks tactic at this time, with Duncan and Muhammad taking a position in the left and right elbow areas, and the "V-shaped" position gave Parker double cover.

The dribble behind his back shifted to his left hand to accelerate laterally, and Parker used the cover to get rid of Lee Yoo's pursuit.

Approaching the left flank, Kurt Thomas was already on a big delay, while Raja Bale, who was marking the bottom left corner, also moved up.

Facing a double tie, Parker flicked the ball with one hand to Ginobili in the bottom left corner.

In the face of Raga Bale's sliding step back to defense, Ginobili, who received the ball, quickly tested the step with his right foot, and immediately slowed down the opponent.

Watching the opponent close his foot and pull up the jumper, Raga Bell struggled to pounce, and finally the basketball knocked out of the frame.

"Oh!"

Amid the sighs of the fans, the Spurs did not fight for rebounds, and the two big men on the line flew back to the halfcourt.

Li You, who picked up the long cricket, still did not rush to attack, and when he dribbled past the top of the half-court arc and approached the three-point line, Bowen on the right wing helped to defend again.

As Lee gave the ball to Prince, Bowen chased back, and Muhammad spread his arms and rotated in time.

Prince, who received the ball, did not hesitate, put the ball with his right hand and broke through in steps, facing Muhammad, who was sliding to assist in the defense, breaking through to the right blocking area and suddenly stopping and retreating laterally.

Rather than opting to give the ball to an open space for Kurt Thomas, Prince made a decisive jumper from mid-range.

The basketball slammed out of the basket again, and Duncan under the basket faced another one-and-two tie.

Although Gasol was stuck behind him, Kurt Thomas jumped high, grabbed the rebound in front of Duncan, and made up for the ball steadily.

At 52:51, the Knicks overtook the score.

"Shh

Boos erupted in the arena, and in the commentary box, Hubby Brown commented with a smile:

"In the first half of the game, I went all out to grab rebounds, and in the second half of the game, I let go of the offense."

"The time came to test the Spurs' resilience, and D'Antoni used Lee to cut the game apart."

The Spurs responded quickly, and Duncan once again crossed the baseline to cover the front line and quickly walked to the left elbow area.

As Parker ran the ball to the right corner, Ginobili in the left corner accelerated to pick up the hand-to-hand pass.

At the moment of receiving the ball, Ginobili, who shook the right and left, and put the ball in his left hand, crossed steps to break through, grabbed in front of Raga Bell, and went straight to the basket.

Kurt Thomas, who came back in time, fouled a hitter, and cheers erupted in the arena.

The long-haired Ginobili shook his fist and high-fived Duncan in celebration, and he was equally good at it.

At the time of the free throw, Ginobili also looked at Li You and shouted:

"You don't have a chance!"

The Spurs fans in the front row were extremely excited, and then got up to applaud, Li You smiled happily outside the three-point line, and then joked:

"You opened the champagne at halftime?"

Ginobili made both free throws and wanted to choke back, but Duncan pulled his teammate past him and quickly retreated.

In the next few minutes, the Spurs continued to wrap up and make big delays, and Li You still handed over the ball early.

Gasol began to attack in the low post, and under Prince's assist, Kurt Thomas, who had a bad hand, relied on the frontcourt rebound to score again.

Raja Bale, who steals the bottom line, can also ask for free throws, repeating tactics, and allowing simple three-man cooperation to respond constantly.

With 6:39 left in the third quarter, D'Antoni took a timeout.

At 62:61, the Knicks still led by one point.

Except for the unhappy Stoudemire who was pressed to the bench, everyone on the Knicks had a smile on their faces.

During this time, Gasol and Prince sent passes in succession, and on the commentary bench, Michaels couldn't help but praise loudly:

"Perfectly cracked the opponent's bag, the Knicks suddenly changed a system, and they can still attack fluently."

Hubby Brown was not surprised, and simply commented:

"More and more teams are starting to fit into Princeton's system, just as the Spurs are starting to emulate the Knicks, and the defending champions are improving."

"Modern basketball places more emphasis on space, and the role of the big man is no longer a single screen, rebounding, they will become a tactical initiator."

After the timeout, the Knicks replaced Fisher, Gasol was still there, and the Spurs' side Horry came on and replaced Mohammed.

The two sides have coincidentally switched to a lineup with better space, but the difference is that D'Antoni still did not use Stoudemire.

The Spurs' defense continued to rotate, with Gasol receiving the ball at the top of the arc, Fisher running to the bottom left corner, and Lee Yoo starting from the bottom right.

At the free throw line, Bowen kept pulling, Li You stopped, and Prince immediately stepped forward to cover without the ball.

In the right elbow area, the laterally moving Lee Woo ran to the upper line, Fisher slipped past the baseline, and Prince moved to the left bottom corner.

Although Bowen squeezed through the screen, he failed to stop Li You from receiving the ball in the first place.

At the top of the arc, when Gasol completed a hand-to-hand pass, Duncan pounced on it and tried to cooperate with Bowen to complete the package.

It's just that the game has been played for more than half a quarter, Duncan, who has decreased in physical fitness, has slowed down, and Li You, who has accelerated laterally with the ball in his left hand, has a low center of gravity, and the left flank is against Duncan to force a breakthrough.

Bowen behind him was still chasing the defense, and Horry also tried to step forward to delay, but Li You, who quickly grabbed most of the position, immediately threw the ball to the basket.

The ball is faster than the man, and Gasol who is down receives the ball and slams it with one arm!

"Shh

The boos resounded in the arena again, and Li You and Gasol simply high-fived in celebration.

Popovich on the sidelines of course knew that the opponent was consuming Duncan in a targeted manner, but in such a critical game, he did not dare to replace the core, for fear that a careless game would be cold.

Fortunately, the Spurs responded quickly, Parker faced Fisher's swiping defense, the arc top was strong, and the throw in the paint area quickly scored 2 points.

In the next few minutes, the pace of the game suddenly increased, and with the same tactic, Li You delivered consecutive assists, and in turn, Duncan and Parker scored single-handedly.

Popovich shouted a shoutout to slow down, but Parker was resolute when he met Fisher

With 2:43 left in the third quarter, the score was 72-72, and Parker threw an iron and waved back in frustration.

As Fisher dribbled across the halfcourt, the Knicks played the same tactic again.

At the top of the arc, it was still Gasol who received the ball, and when Li You came to the free throw line and used Prince to cover it again, Bowen couldn't squeeze through it in time.

Horry also failed to change the guard at the first time, and Duncan realized that something was wrong when he saw Li You take over the hand-to-hand pass.

Li You, who threw off the defense, was not dribbling at this time, catching the ball and stopping suddenly, ignoring Duncan, who was saving from the other person, and shooting a long-distance three-point jumper at the top of the arc!

The three-point shot hollowed into the net.

At 75:72, Li You scored for the first time in this section.

The Spurs had a hole in their defense for the first time, and Popovich paced continuously on the sidelines, not calling for a timeout, but shouting a shoutout to Parker to calm down.

The previous game relied on Ginobili's free throws, Duncan's basket finishing, role players eating cakes and Parker's breakaway to bite the score.

At the critical moment, Parker dribbled the ball past half court and gave the ball to Duncan in the right elbow area.

On the right flank, Li You is still pulling with Ginobili.

Duncan turned sideways, Ginobili moved to the upper line, and then suddenly accelerated and reversed, Li You followed the slide, the opponent stopped sharply, accelerated twice, and continued to stick to the defense.

Unable to complete the hand-to-hand pass, Duncan hurriedly lifted the ball, and Ginobili immediately moved away from the three-point line to safely take possession of the ball.

Aiming at the movement behind him, at the moment when Duncan stepped forward, Li You went directly around the line to defend.

Ginobili, who put the ball in his left hand, took advantage of the long acceleration distance to squeeze past Gasol in an instant.

Approaching the three-point line, seeing Li You sticking to the defense, Ginobili did not slow down, but increased his stride, leaned on the defense, and directly closed the ball near the free throw line.

When the three steps rushed up, Ginobili had another rhythm change, and Li You deliberately slowed down his pace and adjusted his pace in advance.

Sensing a sharp drop in defensive pressure on his side, Ginobili grabbed the ball with his left hand in the air, leaned in to pick up the basket, and at the same time stretched out his right arm to try to complete the ball protection.

The moment the basketball came out of his hand, Ginobili was overjoyed, seeing that the basketball was about to fly to the highest, but the Spurs fans screamed.

"Oh!"

The last serve came first, and Li You rose up in front of the basket, took off straight up and down, picked up his right arm, and directly slapped the ball out horizontally.

In the bottom left corner, Prince reacted quickly, grabbed the ball, and strode the meteor to launch a counterattack.

Horry looked at Ginobili who fell under the basket, and he didn't care about pulling up his teammates, so he hurriedly chased after him.

Li You, who received the ball in the middle, turned around, switched to his left hand, and dodged Duncan, who came up to pounce.

Parker watched as Fisher sprinted straight to the bottom left corner, and for a moment he could only follow.

Horry reacted quickly and chased down Lee You's side in time, and amid the exclamations of the fans, the two came to the left flank in the blink of an eye.

Duncan retreated to the paint in time, and before he could command Ginobili from behind, Li You had already forced a basket.

Horry kept sliding to the right back, and Bowen, who had just run to the bottom right corner, also contracted.

Seeing that the Spurs almost all came to the paint area, Li You jumped up and passed the ball and immediately threw the ball to the bottom right corner.

After completing the pass, Li You did not stop, landed in the paint area, and accelerated to the right wing again.

Prince was covered without the ball near the elbow area at this time, and Horry, who wanted to continue to pursue, was forced to slow down.

Bowen, who saved the bottom corner, could only watch as Raja Bale delivered the ball.

When the ball arrived, Li You, who had just come to the right flank, was undefended, and if he didn't make adjustments, he threw the ball away!

"Whew" three-point shot again.

At 78:72, Popovich immediately called a timeout, and the SBC Center Arena suddenly fell silent, followed by loud boos.

Li You put his left hand to his ear and made a listening gesture, and everyone on the Knicks jumped forward to celebrate, and the boos were a little louder for a while.

Hubby Brown looked at Duncan, who was constantly taking deep breaths, and then at Li You, who was still pretending to be X in front of the fans, and suddenly felt that the situation of the game had changed:

"The Spurs had to adjust in time, the Knicks' tactics worked, and Lee started to take over the game."

Michaels was still helping the Spurs come up with ideas, and on the bench, Popovich held the tactical board, looked at Duncan and said loudly:

"Tim, hold on a little longer!"

“.”

(End of chapter)