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Chapter 541 - 234. The Old Era Has Turned a New Page! (11,000 words)_4

Chapter 541: 234. The Old Era Has Turned a New Page! (11,000 words)_4

Popovich wanted to find someone to scold to vent his emotions. As a student of Larry Brown, he was actually similar to Larry in this aspect, just without the penchant for humiliating players like Larry Brown.

But when he saw Parker, he couldn’t open his mouth.

This player had already begun to ignore him.

Moreover, was there something wrong with Parker’s choice just now? Faced with a double-team and no good opportunity, he stably passed the ball to an unguarded teammate. There was nothing wrong with that. If anything, Oberto’s choice to shoot immediately after receiving the ball was questionable, even if it didn’t go in, it wouldn’t have led to a block and a counterattack.

But that play wasn’t Parker’s usual style! What on earth was going on with this kid tonight?

Popovich felt like he was going to explode with frustration but couldn’t find an outlet. He looked around... and saw the NBA commissioner sitting behind the scorer’s table.

Popovich: "Damn Jew, why didn’t you get rid of the three-point line!"

Felton scored 6 points with 2 out of 3 three-pointers in half a quarter, and while Duncan was handling Gerald Wallace, limiting him to 4 points from 2 out of 5 shots, and Okafor to just 2 points, Zhang Yang, who was tightly guarded, managed to get 2 points from counterattacks, but still kept the team close in score!

...

On the other side, at the Bobcats’ bench, the players returned to their seats. Bickerstaff was laughing out loud, loudly praising the performance of Felton and Zhang Yang in the last two plays.

With such volume, Zhang Yang felt that the old man wanted to yell so the other side could hear, but with the venue being so noisy, how could they possibly hear?

The players on the other side indeed didn’t hear what Bickerstaff was saying, but Parker saw Bickerstaff laughing so happily and patting the backs of Felton and Gerald Wallace, and knew that the two were being praised by their coach.

After the official timeout, all three of Spurs’ main players came back on, with Bowen continuing to play, and Duncan’s partner in the paint changing to Elson.

On the Bobcats’ side, Bickerstaff sent on Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Okafor, and Muhammad.

Zhang Yang wasn’t worn out at the start, so he was tasked with continuing to tie up Bowen, creating conditions for Gerald Wallace to drive attack.

Spurs attacked first.

Trailing 2 to 3, facing a dire situation, Manu Ginobili unsheathed his magic sword again, scoring a driving floater right at the start, 19 to 14, with the Spurs regaining a 5-point lead.

Following the offensive and defensive switch, Gerald Wallace also continued to drive in.

Duncan was too late to block, and Gerald Wallace charged into the paint, leaped, and scored a layup for two points!

Popovich regretted it instantly, afraid his worst fears were coming true!

In the first half, Duncan was very aggressive on the offense, fighting as hard as in Games 3 and 4, while on the defensive side, because the team needed to prevent Zhang Yang from scoring, he used more energy to help defend against Gerald Wallace, which meant he tired out much more than usual.

After resting for two minutes during the timeout, Duncan, who had overexerted himself, couldn’t get his energy up!

Actually, if Bowen had been the one delaying Wallace’s drive, Duncan could have handled it, but with Ginobili on the job, the blocking effect was even worse than that of Finley!

Duncan needed to defend faster and better than in the first half, but he had just played hard for half a quarter and needed a moment to catch his breath, which he just couldn’t do.

Popovich’s regret wasn’t about making adjustments in coaching, but that he made the adjustments too late. If he had started to adjust after winning the championship in ’05... But back then, he didn’t have that awareness at all. Back then, his plan was to replicate that year’s operation, wait until Duncan was older, tank to get a talented center through the draft to take Duncan’s place and maintain the playing style.

It was after seeing another of his mentors, Don Nelson, beat the Mavericks in the first round, that he felt like a new world had opened up to him, and he started to think about change.

But to change, one also needed tactical reserves and experience accumulation. Now, facing the Bobcats’ changes, Popovich was completely at a loss, without any ideas on how to make further adjustments...

In the following plays, not only did Gerald Wallace fiercely attack the inside, Rondo also followed with drive attacks. When both of them needed a breather, Okafor took over in single coverage against Duncan in the low post, all targeting Duncan as the focal point to hammer at.

The Spurs had no choice but to play hard against the Bobcats, continuing to push on offense.

Normally, towards the latter part of the first period, it should’ve been Parker and Ginobili taking turns on the offensive, but as the game went on, Duncan had to take on half the offensive responsibilities, alternating with Ginobili.

Because tonight, Parker was playing too... normally! Parker did a great job completing the tasks set by Popovich, and his personal efficiency was very high, but there was no passion in his play!

Parker didn’t make a single mistake tonight, passing the ball when double-teamed, and distributing it to the open man when encountering defensive help.

This style of play seemed flawless, but in reality, it had a big problem. When Parker went under the basket, even against defensive help, his shooting percentage was higher than that of centers like Oberto and Elson, who purely capitalized on dunks. The Spurs played star basketball, needing Parker to take shots against the defense.

With Parker playing like this, the Bobcats’ inside players only needed to feign defensive help, then fall back to block the opposing role-playing big men.

This forced Duncan to actively call for the ball to play one-on-one, and Ginobili to play even more fiercely.

Parker also didn’t fight to showcase his skills like in the previous games but played like a desireless, steady point guard, passing the ball out whenever his teammates called for it...

At the end of the first quarter, the Spurs led the Bobcats by two points, 31 to 29, entering the break between periods.

In the latter half, Duncan scored 4 points, bringing his total to 12 points.

Ginobili stood out with 6 points in half a quarter, and Parker got 2 points, with 4 points and 2 assists, on 3 out of 2 shots with zero mistakes for the quarter, looking very good, while Elson got an easy 2 points off a dunk.