Chapter 225 224. The bad boy transforms into a little demon sword and rushes online!
The Bobcats' morale was boosted. The Spurs had Duncan, so their morale was not affected much, but Popovich was anxious!

He was so anxious that he spent the entire intermission. When the intermission was about to end, how he should rotate, how he should arrange the players, and what he should do was no different from usual - the score was behind, and at least two of the three horses had to be on the field.

Parker was inefficient against the Bobcats, so the pressure was put on Ginobili and Duncan. The point guard position was matched with two role players, Udrih or Jacqui Vaughn, who could shoot and defend.

The other two are Bowen and Elson, who can be defended.

After the intermission, Popovich looked at the opposite side and saw the combination of Felton, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Millsap and Perkins on the court.

As he expected, Gerald Wallace came on and fortunately Bowen was replaced.

Although Duncan was protecting the rim, someone still had to delay Gerald Wallace's advance.

Let Duncan stand under the basket to defend Zhang Yang, Felton, and Rondo from rushing in, and he has no problem doing it; he also has no problem defending Millsap, Muhammad, and Okafor from attacking the basket.

But it was still difficult for Duncan to let Gerald Wallace rush in unhindered.

It is precisely because of Gerald Wallace that Popovich is particularly troubled by Zhang Yang's one-on-one play.

The second quarter begins and the bloody battle continues!

The scores of both teams continued to drop. At the end of the second quarter, Zhang Yang, who had just returned to the court after a break, broke into the inside with the help of a screen and passed the ball to Rondo. Rondo made a pass and Felton went around the top arc to receive the ball and hit a three-pointer. The three-guard combination of the Bobcats worked wonders!

But then Ginobili rushed into the inside and hit Zhang Yang who was shrinking to defend with a 2+1. Zhang Yang moved quickly, had good prediction, and had good timing in interfering, but his strength was not as good as Alan Anderson and Gerald Wallace, so Ginobili took the opportunity to hit him.

Then Parker made a gambling rush and stole the ball from Rondo, launching a counterattack. Rondo chased after him, and Parker rushed to the basket and passed the ball to the middle. Ginobili followed up and made a layup.

The Spurs beat the Bobcats 5 to 3 at the end of the quarter!

但就算如此，马刺队单节也只是19比16小胜山猫队3分，半场打完，马刺队以37比36仅取得1分领先优势。

Duncan continued to play the entire second quarter, scoring 7 points in the first quarter and another 5 points in the second quarter.

Ginobili only rested for two minutes after the official timeout before returning to the game. He played for 9 minutes in the first quarter and scored 6 points, and played for 10 minutes in the second quarter and scored 7 points.

Of the Spurs' 37 points, Stone Buddha and Demon Sword combined for 25 points!
Bickerstaff only uses Zhang Yang as a pure scorer. Even if Zhang Yang is capable of doing other things, such as organizing the offense with his back to the basket, he will not use him in that way, because the effect is not as strong as letting Zhang Yang play directly in one-on-one situations. After all, he only has the awareness and talent to organize the offense with his back to the basket, but lacks the ability and experience.

Popovich's use of Ginobili is not like that. He just uses Ginobili as an unstable version of Jordan and Kobe, and the first three consecutive versions of Jordan and Kobe in the OK period.

What Ginobili has to do on the court is the same as those two, scoring, organizing the offense, and even defending, he has to be at the forefront.

After the halftime break, Popovich did not send Duncan directly, letting Duncan rest. Bowen, Elson and Oberto partnered in the frontcourt, with Parker and Ginobili at the top.

The next time Duncan plays, there is a high possibility that he will not be able to rest and will have to play until the end.

The Bobcats sent out a combination of Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Millsap and Muhammad.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Rondo saw that Duncan was not there and there were Elson and Oberto under the basket. He broke through Parker and rushed into the paint to score a layup, responding to the ball that Parker had stolen before the end of the first half.

38 to 37, the Bobcats regained a 1-point lead.

The Spurs attacked, Ginobili broke into the inside, jumped to the basket with a European step, jumped up, and slammed the ball into the basket through Millsap!

39 to 38, when points were needed, Ginobili stood up again!
In the transition from offense to defense, Rondo continues to attack Parker!

Seeing that he couldn't defend the two inside players, Bowen had to retreat early to block Rondo. With Bowen + the tall tower, Rondo couldn't hit, but he could pass!
Zhang Yang used Gerald Wallace's screen to shoot a mid-range shot from the baseline...and it went in!
When the Spurs attacked, Ginobili passed Gerald Wallace and rushed into the inside, stopped suddenly at close range, and made a high throw and hit the rebound.

The magic sword is unsheathed, and all kinds of attacking tricks are used!

When it was the Bobcats' turn to attack, Zhang Yang followed up and received the pass from Rondo who was breaking through. Facing Bowen and Elson who were defending, he leaned back and almost lay down to shoot a jump shot... He missed, but Millsap rushed to the basket from the baseline and dunked to get two points!

2 points + 1 rebound, Zhang Yang lured two people out of the basket and made a good profit this time!
The offense and defense switched, and the demon sword came again, stepping back and shooting an ultra-long three-pointer nearly one meter away from the three-point line... and it hit again!
Ginobili scored 7 points in a row, raising his personal score to 20 points, helping the Spurs to overtake the Bobcats by two points with a score of 44 to 42!
But looking back, Gerald Wallace forced his way into the inside by Bowen, and after attracting Ginobili's double-team from the middle, Gerald Wallace passed the ball to the free throw line, and Zhang Yang received the ball and made a mid-range shot...which also went in!
44 flat!
After three fierce attacks at the beginning, Ginobili was tired and failed to shake off Gerald Wallace in his next breakthrough. He could only pass the ball to Bowen who was moving on the wing.

As soon as Bowen received the ball, he was stuck by Zhang Yang. Facing Zhang Yang's defense, his speed was only enough for him to run out and catch the ball. It was impossible for him to shoot in an open position, and it was even difficult to pass the ball. He could only force a shot... "bang"... missed!
Rondo defended the rebound, Ginobili rushed up and hugged Rondo, a tactical foul! The foul count has not yet come, Ginobili used the foul to prevent Rondo and Zhang Yang from counterattacking!
Popovich took the opportunity to call a timeout and rotate the lineup.

After Ginobili's fierce attack, the Spurs fell into a low-scoring iron-blooded period again.

Popovich knows this. They are like this in every game, including the last one.

But Ginobili scored 3 points in the third quarter with 3 shots and 7 of shots, but failed to play an advantage, which was very painful for Popovich. The opponent took advantage of Duncan's absence to attack the basket fiercely, and even played a combination of inside and outside. Zhang Yang was in an open position at the free throw line and received the inside pass and shot!

Popovich could only replace Duncan early.

After the timeout, the Spurs finally stabilized their defense. Rondo, Zhang Yang, and Gerald Wallace had just launched a fierce attack, and now Duncan was back to protect the rim. The three of them couldn't cause any trouble and they started a bloody battle with the Spurs again.

It's just that the Spurs' defense was stable and their offense couldn't surge. After 20 minutes, the Jordan Experience Card entered the cooldown period again.

Zhang Yang played until 4 minutes and 22 seconds into the third quarter when he was substituted out when Parker passed the ball out of bounds. Popovich also took the opportunity to replace Ginobili for a rest.

After these two brothers went off the court, the offense of both teams played even more poorly. At 10 minutes and 56 seconds into the third quarter, when Bickerstaff called a timeout, the score between the two teams was 16 to 15. In the first two minutes or so of the game, the Bobcats scored 8 points and Ginobili scored 7 points. In other words, in the next 8 minutes or so, both teams only scored 8 points!
The score is 52 to 52, the two teams are tied!
After the timeout, the Bobcats sent out a combination of Felton, Zhang Yang, Alan Anderson, Muhammad and Okafor; the Spurs sent out a combination of Udrih, Ginobili, Barry, Oberto and Duncan.

Zhang Yang and Ginobili returned to the court, and the lineups paired by the head coaches of the two teams were also aimed at the two players scoring.

The Bobcats attacked, Felton advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Zhang Yang who was in the high post with his back to the basket.

The one guarding behind Zhang Yang was Brent Barry... Zhang Yang turned around and faked a breakthrough, received the ball, took a step sideways and made a mid-range shot... and it went in!
Barry's speed is good when he starts to break forward or when he starts to defend, but his lateral movement is very slow. This is why Popovich started the game with Finley instead of Barry. Now I tried it, and it turned out that he couldn't defend him.

When the Spurs attacked, the fans at the scene shouted "Manu", expecting the Demon Sword to respond.

Ginobili would not shirk his responsibility. After arriving at the frontcourt, he received the pass from Udrih, looked for Duncan to set a pick-and-roll, went around the pick-and-roll, made a fake move to break through, and then took a step-back three-pointer... It was a good idea and it created an opportunity. Muhammad pressed forward again but did not interfere at all. However, Ginobili's shot was not powerful enough and was short!
Okafor blocked the rushing Oberto, grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Felton.

Felton pushed for a counterattack... The counterattack failed, but he rushed to the front court and Udrih couldn't stop him. The other Spurs players could only speed up and retreat, sticking to whoever they got close to.

Duncan was guarding in front of Zhang Yang, and Felton passed the ball directly to Zhang Yang before he reached the three-point line.

Zhang Yang easily passed Duncan and rushed into the inside. Oberto, who retreated to the basket, stepped out to defend. Zhang Yang used the European step, took two steps to the left side of the basket, and jumped!

Ginobili rushed in from the baseline, determined Zhang Yang's landing point, and pounced on him to block the shot... but he couldn't jump as high as Zhang Yang!
Zhang Yang slammed the ball into the basket with one hand, over Ginobili who rushed in to block his shot!
The referee blew the whistle, Ginobili fouled Zhang Yang's shot, Zhang Yang's goal was valid, and he had to take a free throw!

The fans at the baseline screamed out “Oh my God” when they saw this scene.

I usually see Ginobili dunk over his opponent after the Eurostep, and I saw it once at the beginning of the third quarter.

Some media reported that Zhang Yang "stole the skills" from Ginobili. Spurs fans are quite proud of this. Even the bad boy Jack, who is known as "the strongest player under 20 years old in basketball history", learned the skills of their magic sword.

I didn't expect that one day Zhang Yang would dunk over Ginobili using a trick he had learned from a master! It was a reversal of the Tian Gang!
Zhang Yang landed after the dunk and tried hard to stand steady. There must be a close-up shot at this time, and he couldn't look too embarrassed.

Thanks to Master Yao Dao for the "devil's step"! Zhang San's European step is sharp, largely due to this. When he changes direction in the European step, the second step can be like the first step, and the third step can be like the second step. After performing the European step, he also has the ability to jump and dunk! It's just that he usually dunks the basket, and he thought it was an empty basket just now. Unexpectedly, Master Yao Dao took the initiative to rush up and dunk!
After being dunked, Ginobili was exhausted and couldn't stand steadily. He sat on the ground. At this moment, he was in a complicated mood, unhappy, angry, unwilling, and a little bit proud. The kid on the opposite side imitated him very well...

Zhang Yang went to the free throw line and made the free throw, 57 to 52, the Bobcats took a 5-point lead!
When Zhang Yang was shooting free throws, Popovich made substitutions, with Parker, Bowen and Horry coming on, while Ginobili and Duncan continued to stay on the court.

Bickerstaff also replaced Rondo, Gerald Wallace and Perkins, and Okafor continued to stay on the court. If it was not Zhang Yang who took the free throw, he wanted to replace Zhang Yang as well, and keep Alan Anderson, a full-time defender, on the court.

With 17 seconds left in the third quarter, the Spurs made their final attack.

Parker used up the time until there were 8 seconds left and passed the ball to Duncan who was blocking Perkins in the low post.

Yaodao couldn't fight anymore, and the bad boy Jack on the opposite side rested for half a quarter and came back full of energy. Yaodao was the same as when he was replaced.

Parker couldn't play, so Bowen and Horry could only create space. At this time, they could only rely on Duncan to make a sudden attack like he did in the last moment of the previous game.

However, Duncan allocated his playing time very well in the last game, playing only 39 minutes in the whole game, but he has played more than 33 minutes tonight, and he couldn't get Perkins to move!
Duncan turned around and made a hook shot. Perkins, who had excellent awareness of low-post one-on-one defense, anticipated the situation and went forward to interfere... Duncan's hook shot hit the angle between the rim and the backboard and bounced forward!

Popovich was so shocked by this scene that he stood on the court.

The unwanted scene appeared. Rondo received the defensive rebound from the free throw line in the middle and turned around to counterattack!
Rush!
Bowen and Horry partnered up on the front line, and they couldn't even stop Zhang Yang from following up and rushing down the court.

Parker stepped back and looked at Zhang Yang and Rondo rushing towards him. Parker closed his eyes and did not move.

Rondo lobbed the ball, Zhang Yang jumped up and lifted the ball, and when the ball changed direction and fell into the basket, the red light came on...

At the beginning of the third quarter, Zhang Yang scored a single shot, a mid-range shot after receiving the ball, returned to the court at the end of the quarter, scored a back-to-the-basket shot, made a 2+1 against Ginobili in the offense-defense transition, and finally made a buzzer-beating counterattack layup... He made 7 of 5 shots in the quarter, plus 1 of 1 free throws, and scored 11 points!
Led by Zhang Yang, the Bobcats scored 23 points in the third quarter and entered the intermission with a 59-point lead over the Spurs, 52 to 7!
Popovich watched the other side celebrate excitedly and had only one thought: Tonight is over!

(End of this chapter)