Chapter 21 21. The key to getting started!
Amid the cheers of the fans, Stoudemire excitedly rushed forward and bumped chests with Zhang Yang to celebrate. At first, seeing his teammates with worried faces, he thought he would have to fight alone.

He is not afraid. The worst that can happen is losing. It's not like they haven't lost before. They have lost to the Spurs three times in the past five years. It doesn't matter anyway, as it has already happened. He just doesn't accept the defeat and wants to do it.

I didn’t expect this rookie teammate to be so tough!
Although Duncan asked for the dunk this time, if it was a rookie, he would probably make a mistake even if he had a good chance when he saw Duncan coming up to him. Stoudemire remembered that in the 05 Western Conference Finals, the sophomore Barbosa made only 10 of 1 shots at the basket in the entire series. His performance was outrageous. When he saw Duncan rushing in, Barbosa even missed the layup.

But just now, Stoudemire did not see any fear on Zhang Yang's face. Instead, he became more excited because of Duncan's defense and dunked more decisively!

He is not fighting alone!
Not only the Little Overlord, but other members of the Suns team were also excited by Zhang Yang's dunk.

If Stadler had forced the ball and only scored one or two goals, it would not have had such an effect.

But Zhang Yang, a rookie, did something like this, and the effect was completely different! This is called a surprise!

When the Spurs attacked, the No. 1 player in team history was dunked on, but they seemed to be completely unaffected.

Popovich has not officially changed the team system, and the Spurs' offensive tactics are relatively simple.

But their stars are very capable!

Duncan calmly set a screen for George Hill, cut in, received the ball, faked a move to shake off the defending Stoudemire, and slowly made a jump hook!

In the transition between offense and defense, the Suns wanted to speed up, but the Spurs, who had scored a goal, implemented a full-court blocking defense, and the Suns could not rush forward.

Zhang Yang was entangled by George Hill. George Hill was only 191 cm tall and weighed only 87 kg, but his defense was very tough and his attitude was extremely serious. Even though his defense target was Zhang Yang, a rookie who was not selected, he did not relax at all.

The game fell into a positional battle, and Nash and Stoudemire launched the attack with pick-and-roll.

After giving Zhang Yang enough confrontation, George Hill stepped in to help delay Stoudemire's cut.

Nash's pass went through the middle and landed in the hands of Zhang Yang on the left side of the free throw line.

Zhang Yang caught the ball without mercy...but missed the target.

Stadler rushed in and suddenly jumped up and smashed the ball into the frame through Blair!
The slight regret that Zhang Yang had just felt disappeared instantly.

The little overlord told his teammates with his actions - I'm here, just shoot!

When the Spurs attacked, Ginobili did not shoot after receiving the ball in the mid-range. Instead, he rushed into the inside and performed the Euro step. Robin Lopez defended very hard, but still could not stop the ghostly pace of the demon sword.

Ginobili jumped behind Robin Lopez and made a high layup.

Turning back to the Suns' offense, George Hill still implemented the defensive strategy of first confronting Zhang Yang and then leaving Zhang Yang open.

As for the defensive tactics, it is to double-team the strong and leave the weak open. It mainly depends on how to double-team and how to leave the weak open.

Popovich's accomplishments in this regard are among the best in the league. In the last round, Stoudemire drove straight in and made a tip-in. This time, the Spurs retreated faster and did not give Stoudemire the same opportunity for a tip-in.

But this time, Zhang Yang did not hesitate after receiving the ball. He simply made a decisive mid-range shot... and it went in!
Nash assists +1!

27 to 34, the Suns are keeping the score close!

After missing the shot, he became more decisive in his shooting. From this, several veteran players of the Spurs vaguely smelled the scent of Los Angeles.

The Spurs' hot scoring continued, with George Hill hitting a three-pointer after a pick-and-roll, extending the lead to 10 points and leading 37-27.

It was the Suns' turn to attack again. Of course, they had to continue with the successful cooperation. Nash continued to screen and pass the ball to Zhang Yang.

However, when Nash broke through, he noticed that the opponent's defensive position had changed, and he retreated decisively after passing the ball.

After Zhang Yang received the ball, he raised his hand to shoot, and Duncan immediately blocked it from the free throw line.

But Zhang Yang was faking it! He backhanded the ball towards the top arc.

Keith Bogans noticed Nash's movement and rushed to the top arc from the right sideline at the first time, but Zhang Yang used a fake shot to attract the defense and passed the ball very decisively. Nash received the ball just after reaching the top arc. When Keith Bogans rushed to the front of the top arc, Nash had already turned around and shot the ball...

Three points also go in!

30 to 37, the Suns continued to keep the score close, and at the beginning of the second quarter they scored 9 to 7 against the Spurs!
Finally, the Spurs, who had scored three goals in a row, missed the next attack, and George Hill repeated his old step-back three-pointer but missed.

The Suns fight back!

Nash chose to push forward according to his position on the court, and after breaking through the baseline, he passed the ball back to the middle. Stoudemire took the ball and stepped into the basket, squeezed Blair, and made a violent layup to score two points. 32 to 37, the Suns narrowed the gap to 5 points, and the Spurs called a timeout!

Now it's Popovich's turn to feel uncomfortable.

He originally wanted to take advantage of the momentum in the first quarter and widen the gap in the second quarter.

Indeed, they played very well offensively at the beginning of the second quarter. Except for Ginobili's brain-spurting mid-range shot, all other shots at the beginning went in.

But I didn’t expect that the other party would gain the upper hand!
The bully's rampage is not unexpected. The bully, who plays center, has a high probability of being selected for the second team this year. He is a superstar.

In Popovich's eyes, Zhang Yang was a completely unexpected factor.

If only the Little Overlord went on a rampage, the Suns could at most fight back and forth with the Spurs in the past few rounds, and the best effect it could have had was to stop the Suns' morale from continuing to decline. If the Little Overlord wanted to help the Suns gain momentum, he had to keep going on a rampage.

But Zhang Yang dunked over Stoudemire when he was double-teamed, and also made a predictive pass to Nash from mid-range for a three-point assist, helping the Suns narrow the gap by 4 points in a few rounds.

In Popovich's view, Zhang Yang is the key to the Suns' momentum!
He has a good sense of counterattack, seems to have a good sense of passing, and is decisive in shooting... Popovich remembers that this is an undrafted rookie who only renewed his contract with the Suns until the end of this season. Will they dig him out after the season?
...

After the timeout, the Spurs continued their previous offensive firepower in the positional battle.

Many people have not noticed that Popovich has made great progress in on-the-spot response in the past two years.

The reason for not noticing is that the Spurs' record has been getting worse and worse in the past two years, but the decline in record is not really Popovich's fault, but the result of the departure of role players such as Bowen, Finley, Kurt Thomas, Drew Gooden, Brent Barry, Oberto, Amy Udoka, etc. The new players such as Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Roger Mason, etc., are not only not cheap, but their role in the current system of the Spurs is not as good as those who left.

But Gentry, who has been an assistant coach for the Suns since 03 and has played against the Spurs for many years, can intuitively feel Popovich's progress in this area.

The Spurs used to have no such thing as offensive continuity. Once the offense was blocked, Popovich had no choice but to pass the ball to the troika. But now, George Hill, Blair, and even Matt Bonner can all play an important role in offensive response.

However, the Spurs failed to regain the initiative and were gradually narrowed down by the Suns.

Led by Stoudemire, the Suns, who had already gained momentum, fought back and forth with the Spurs in the positional battle.

The Suns were able to maintain offensive stability in positional warfare, giving the Spurs fewer opportunities to counterattack.

The Spurs are not good at counterattacks, but when they played against the Suns, they always scored a lot of points on counterattacks. For example, in the first quarter, 10 of Parker's 6 points came from counterattacks.

On the other hand, the Suns' counterattack was not affected. Once the Spurs missed a shot, they would face the Suns' running and gunning attack. Even if the Spurs' defense was a little worse, they would face the danger of being hit by Stoudemire.

At 11 minutes and 38 seconds into the second quarter, veteran Hill made a two-point shot and the Suns tied the score at 56!
It was the Spurs' turn to attack. Ginobili rushed to the attack, caught the Suns by surprise, and made a jump layup.

With 10 seconds left, Gentry chose to call a timeout and replaced Zhang Yang, who had been substituted after the official timeout. Nash, Hill and Stoudemire continued to play. Another player who was substituted was Dudley, who had a good performance in long-range shooting tonight.

He wanted to tie the score or even surpass it to enter the second half.

Popovich naturally didn't want to let his opponent get what he wanted, so he replaced the team with George Hill, Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Duncan and McDyess, their strongest defensive combination.

After the timeout, the Suns passed the ball from the frontcourt, and Hill successfully passed the ball to Nash.

Nash launched an attack immediately after receiving the ball. Hill ran from the center line to the 45-degree angle on the left side where he had just made a long two-point shot. Stoudemire pulled out for a screen. Dudley went to the three-point spot on the right sideline where he was good at. Zhang Yang cut into the basket from the right side, went around the baseline and came to the mid-range on the left baseline.

The other four players of the Suns are their main scorers this season. When the Spurs defended Nash and Stoudemire's pick-and-roll offense, Zhang Yang was left open again.

However, the Spurs' openness this time was an illusion. When Zhang Yang received the ball, McDyess had already expanded from under the basket to mid-range at the baseline. Richard Jefferson secretly received the ball from the right sideline at close range, and together with George Hill, he went forward to block Stoudemire's receiving line. Duncan, who was defending a smaller player, also followed Nash who retreated to the three-point line.

Popovich saw through the Suns' offensive tactics in this round! He was betting that Zhang Yang didn't have the ability to attack with the ball.

Popovich predicted the Suns' offensive tactics and made the right bet. Zhang Yang really didn't have the ability to attack with the ball. He would be at a loss if someone blocked his route. But what Popovich couldn't guess was Zhang Yang's courage...

Zhang Yang jumped towards McDyess... and passed the ball!
The ball flew over the heads of McDyess, Stoudemire, Richard Jefferson, George Hill and others, and flew to Dudley on the right sideline.

The red light was almost on when Dudley received the ball, so he shot a three-pointer directly... and it hit!
57 to 56, the Suns overtook the Spurs by one point!
Popovich stood up and cursed, saying that this rookie was so bold that he reminded him of the one in Los Angeles!
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(End of this chapter)