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Chapter 530 - 231. Popovich who lost his sense of security

Chapter 530: 231. Popovich who lost his sense of security

The Demon Blade unsheathed, aimed at the enemy, is unstoppable.

In the following minutes, facing the Panthers’ tough defense, Ginobili made 4 out of 2 highly efficient shots, raising his personal score to the highest in the game at 7 points.

There were also two beautiful passes, one an alley-oop to Elson, and the other to a cooperating Duncan, who relayed the ball and fed Elson another piece of the pie.

When Ginobili got hot, he was not only more entertaining than Parker, his practical impact was also stronger. The performance he brought out of an off-ball Duncan was at least a half tier stronger than what Parker did, giving the impression of being unstoppable.

But the Panthers had grown accustomed to it, after finishing the previous two games, they regarded Ginobili as at the level of Kobe and Iverson, and rated him higher than Ray Allen and Carter in the playoffs.

After G3 and G4, they adjusted their assessment by adding the condition "if his touch is good".

During Ginobili’s rampage, the Panthers also desperately attacked the basket, realizing that Duncan was off his game tonight.

Duncan, although still in his prime at the age of 30, had experienced some subtle changes from the past.

After two consecutive fierce attacks in G3 and G4, with Ginobili performing poorly in both, Duncan was clearly tired by G5!

Although Duncan tried to adjust his playing style and coordinate with his teammates to avoid showing signs of fatigue, as the game went on, the Panthers players noticed—he couldn’t quickly grab the rebound over Rondo’s head after blocking Gerald Wallace’s charge and pushing Okafor away!

Rondo was quick, accurate in predicting where the ball would land, and defending him on offensive rebounds was no easier than defending Gerald Wallace, Millsap, or Okafor.

Duncan had covered three with assurance in the first four games, but tonight, he fell short!

In these few minutes, Rondo grabbed another offensive rebound, passed it to Okafor for a successful mid-range shot, Gerald Wallace scored a basket, and Felton made another one after a short throw off a screen...

At the 10:41 mark of the first quarter, when the Panthers called a timeout, they were still leading the Spurs by 1 point, 24 to 23!

Seeing Zhang Yang take off his warm-up jersey and Felton put on his sweatshirt, Popovich felt very heavy-hearted.

Suddenly, he couldn’t believe it—why had it come to the point where the Spurs felt more pressure during the rotation phase?

He recalled the post-game interview he watched from the Eastern Conference Finals G6, where after scoring over 40 points to help his team level the series, Zhang Yang said, "From this night on, the strong will supersede the weak."

In the subsequent decisive Game 7, the Panthers truly crushed the Pistons like a sweeping storm and advanced to the finals.

This time, after the Panthers tied the series with an upset in G4, although Zhang Yang didn’t say those words, Popovich physically felt the shift!

The Panthers sent in a lineup of Rondo, Zhang Yang, Alan Anderson, Millsap, and Perkins.

The Spurs fielded a lineup of Parker, Ginobili, Barry, Horry, and Duncan.

Popovich anticipated that the opposing team would rest their three core players, Felton, Gerald Wallace, and Okafor, so he decided to play his "Big Three" together.

This wasn’t the usual rotation for the defense-oriented Spurs; since tonight Parker and Ginobili were taking turns leading the offense with Duncan playing support, then Duncan should have been resting by the end, with two physically strong inside players brought in to fight for offensive rebounds.

If they were going to run Duncan ragged, then only one of Parker or Ginobili would have been playing, to ensure continuity.

T.N.T. sports commentator Barkley, seeing the lineups, made a sharp comment, "Popovich has lost his sense of security."

While the commentators analyzed the Spurs’ rotation from a holistic, strategic perspective, the players on the court didn’t care about that stuff.

Seeing all three of the Spurs’ aces on the court as he stepped up to play, Zhang Yang’s excitement was evident on his face!

On their side, it was one on offense, four on defense; Zhang San was taking on the Big Three alone!

After the timeout, the Panthers took the offense.

Rondo passed the ball to Zhang Yang and then ran to the left mid-range, cutting in for a sneak attack, circling behind Zhang Yang for a high-position handoff without the ball, doing these two things he excelled at, so the Spurs couldn’t afford to leave him open.

With sharp rebounding abilities, an excellent vision, and strong passing anticipation, the title "Little Kidd" had made its reputation in the Eastern Finals.

Moreover, he was regarded to have one thing better than Kidd — blindingly quick steal moves.

Alan Anderson was the Panthers’ second most accurate shooter from the sidelines in the finals, and he effectively tied down Barry.

Horry needed to help Duncan block Millsap’s cutting and relieve the defensive pressure, leaving Duncan unable to completely ignore Perkins under the basket.

Bickerstaff had set up a lineup for Zhang Yang that was perfect for high-post isolation play!

Once his teammates were in position, Zhang Yang, facing Ginobili’s defense, went to work!

Dribbling to the right side of the free-throw line, Zhang Yang moved the ball between his legs toward the right, then pulled back to the right corner of the free-throw line, jumped, and released a mid-range shot... and it went in!

Ginobili defended the drive well; his team defense might not have been as good as Parker’s, but he had a defensive command ability Parker lacked. After all, he was the perimeter core of the Olympic champion Argentina Team. But in single defense against mid-range isolation, there wasn’t much difference between Ginobili defending Zhang Yang and Parker doing so!

to 23, the Panthers led by 3 points!

Now it was the Spurs’ turn on offense, and Ginobili, facing Alan Anderson’s defense, played it direct and simple, dribbling back and forth before stepping to the left and launching a three-point shot that went straight in!