Chapter 226 225. Of course we must be high-profile to the outside world!
For the past ten years, the Spurs have always relied on their strength to crush their opponents. If they can't win, they increase Duncan's playing time and use Duncan to his full potential. If they still can't win, then they lose.

After having Ginobili, the Spurs have made some more changes. For example, in the 05 Finals, he started to show off his skills from Game 5. First, in Game 5, he had a game-high 9 assists, and assisted Horry to make a three-pointer with 5.8 seconds left in the game. Then, in Game 6, he scored soared and replaced Duncan as the highest scorer on the Spurs. In the last quarter of Game 4, he made 3 of 11 shots and scored points. Even though the team was tied in the first three quarters, he single-handedly defeated the Pistons.

The saying "in desperate situations, look for the demon sword" originated from that finals, which is also the reason why so many people complained that Ginobili did not win the Finals MVP in 05.

But Ginobili's explosion and leading the team to victory requires hard conditions - Duncan to provide a backup, leading the team to fight back and forth with the opponent, or just performing slightly worse than the opponent.

The gap is too big, and Ginobili's explosiveness is not very effective. He can burst out with Djokovic-level strength in a short period of time, but the continuity is very poor. It can be seen from the fact that he has played for 5 years and has scored 40+ points in the regular season and 30+ points in the playoffs less than 5 times. Zhang Yang scored 4+ points in 40 single games in the regular season as a sophomore, which has tied Ginobili's 5+ times in the regular season in 40 years.

The worst case scenario is that Ginobili also becomes part of the backup plan, and if he fails to lead the team to an advantage, the Spurs will be in trouble.

Tonight, the Spurs encountered this situation!

The Bobcats' inside players are good at countering Parker. Duncan failed to gain an advantage in the opening one against three, so Popovich replaced Ginobili. This addition allowed the Spurs to take the initiative for most of the next two and a half quarters. At the end of the first quarter, Zhang Yang scored 5 points in a row to help the Bobcats overtake the score. The Spurs actually still had the initiative, and they suppressed the Bobcats for the entire second quarter, and did not fall behind for most of the third quarter... until the '20-minute Jordan experience card expired', when they were beaten 7-0 at the end of the third quarter.

In the final quarter, Popovich continued to start Ginobili and Duncan, hoping that the two could lead the team to a comeback.

But the old guys on the opposite side began to lose their moral integrity - the combination of Rondo, Alan Anderson, Gerald Wallace, Muhammad and Perkins came on the court and fought hard on defense!

In half a quarter, the Bobcats only scored 5 points, but the Spurs only scored 8 points!
60 to 64, when the official timeout came, the Spurs narrowed the gap to 4 points!
In this half quarter, Ginobili did not score, and Duncan only had one mid-range shot after receiving the ball, leaving 6 points. Bowen made an open three-pointer, Parker made a counterattack layup, and Elson was fouled and made one of two free throws.

After the official timeout, Ginobili made a sudden shot, leaving an open area one step outside the free throw line, but he unexpectedly made a goal.

Looking back, Felton broke through with the help of a screen and passed the ball to Zhang Yang who was around to the left mid-range. Zhang Yang received the ball, turned around and rushed forward to the middle, and passed the ball back to Felton who had returned to the top of the arc. Felton received the ball and made a three-pointer...and it hit!
67 to 62, the Bobcats once again widened the gap to 5 points!
When the Spurs attacked, Ginobili used his old trick again, breaking into the free throw line and taking a quick stop jump shot... Luck was not on his side. He has only a 34% shooting percentage in this area in his regular season career and a 28% shooting percentage in his playoff career. This shot missed!
However, the Bobcats' offense failed to make any progress. Under the Spurs' defense, the two-gun combination of Zhang Yang and Felton currently does not have the ability to continue to widen the score gap.

In the next 4 minutes, the Bobcats scored 5 points and the Spurs scored 6 points.

At 11 minutes and 16 seconds, the Spurs narrowed the score to 68 to 72, and the difference was again 4 points, and the Spurs had the ball.

The current lineup is: Spurs: Parker, Ginobili, Bowen, Horry, Duncan; Bobcats: Felton, Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Okafor.

Parker attacked with the ball, broke into the inside but didn't throw the ball. He slipped out and passed it to Duncan for a single.

The Spurs had a lot of space, and Duncan did not let them down at the critical moment. He turned around and made a close-range jump shot against Okafor, 70 to 72, and the Spurs narrowed the gap to two points!

With 26 seconds left, Bickerstaff did not call a timeout.

Calling a timeout at this time is equivalent to saving time for the other team and giving them a chance to make substitutions.

The Spurs pressed the ball throughout the court, and Rondo successfully passed the ball to Zhang Yang who was running back.

Zhang Yang protected the ball like Nash, and successfully advanced across half court before the 8-second violation under Ginobili's full-court pressure defense.

After a failed steal and an unsuccessful 8-second violation, Ginobili quickly retreated after crossing the center line without committing a rash foul.

There will be at least two seconds left after this round, so defense and plate protection are more important.

At the critical moment, the Spurs players still chose to play it safe.

Zhang Yang came to the top arc to waste time while his teammates adjusted their positions.

Gerald Wallace and Rondo both went to the right baseline. Bowen helped Horry block Gerald Wallace from cutting in or receiving the ball for one-on-one play. Parker followed Felton to the left corner, and Ginobili stayed at the top arc to defend.

This scene is just like the last moment of the seventh game between the Spurs and the Mavericks in the second round last season.

Zhang Yang was very excited at the moment, and he didn't try to suppress it. He just wanted to shoot the ball!

With 24 seconds left in the 6-second offensive time and 8 seconds left in the game, Zhang Yang started and broke through in a change of direction!
At the critical moment, Ginobili propped up his dizzy legs and tried hard to keep up with the pace. When Zhang Yang broke to the right side of the free throw line, he was still sticking closely to him.

At this time, Zhang Yang performed his signature behind-the-back dribble and turn, pulling the ball with his right hand and turning right to the free throw line. Ginobili had just tried hard to move to the left and back to hold up Zhang Yang, but his strength was too weak and he had no strength to move sideways.

Amid the crazy boos from the fans, Zhang Yang jumped from the free throw line and made a mid-range shot... "Swish"... the boos stopped abruptly.

Popovich calls a timeout!
With 4.6 seconds left, the Bobcats took a 4-point lead!
Entering the timeout, Zhang Yang was replaced, and the combination of Rondo, Alan Anderson, Gerald Wallace, Millsap and Okafor was replaced by Bickerstaff again.

On the Spurs side, the combination of Barry, Ginobili, Finley, Horry and Duncan came on the court.

After the timeout, the Spurs served the ball in the frontcourt. Horry went around the top arc to receive the ball and faced Gerald Wallace's defense and made a three-pointer but missed. Okafor held off Duncan to grab the defensive rebound. The Spurs did not choose to foul. The ball went in, and they could still foul... Soon, the final whistle sounded.

The Bobcats players rushed into the court and hugged their teammates to celebrate. At this moment, they seemed to have won the whole world!

Only Okafor tried to restrain himself and stood aside without joining in. But seeing his hands tightly holding the ball, you can tell that he was also very excited, but his idol was right next to him, so he had to be reserved. Duncan had 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, which was very stable.

Ginobili scored 22 points and performed very well, but in fact he already had 3 points three minutes before the third quarter. He was empty-handed at the end of the third quarter and only made one mid-range shot, which he is not good at, in the entire fourth quarter.

Zhang Yang scored 11 points in the first quarter, 5 points in the second quarter, and 11 points in the third quarter. He played for 5 minutes in the final quarter, took 4 shots, and only scored this one goal. But it was this goal that helped the Bobcats lock in the victory!

全场27投12中，其中三分球4中1，加上4中4的罚球，张杨拿到29分4板2助攻2抢断，加上费尔顿16分、奥卡福13分13板，山猫队以74比70险胜马刺队，将大比分追至1比1平！
Zhang Weiping and the cameraman squeezed into the celebrating crowd, and the former No. 1 power forward in Asia came in handy at this time, as he could also beat an NBA player with just his butt.

When the fans at the scene saw the Bobcats players celebrating, they started booing again, and the Bobcats players also came over and made a fuss to get in the camera's eye.

Zhang Weiping asked loudly: "Yang Yang, congratulations on breaking your personal highest score in the finals and leading your team to defeat the Spurs, tying the score and grabbing the home advantage. Next, you will return to your home court. What is your outlook for this finals..."

Facing the camera, Zhang Yang habitually wanted to be low-key and humble, but he immediately put this thought behind him. After Zhang Weiping finished talking, he said loudly: "Champion! Our only goal is the championship! If they go to our territory, they won't have to come back here!"

Zhang Yang spoke Mandarin, and his teammates couldn't understand what he said, but when they saw him yelling, they all cheered loudly again!

...

In the early morning hours, the Bobcats players returned to the hotel.

In San Antonio, after winning the game, no one goes out to fool around, because life is more important.

Moreover, Jordan announced a ban on alcohol before the Eastern Conference Finals. When they reached the finals, the whole team was guaranteed a bonus of 120 million US dollars, and each person received tens of thousands. If they won 170 million in bonuses, they could get an extra 553 or 500. The Bobcats' highest-paid player, Gerald Wallace, only made million US dollars, and the salaries of other players were all below million US dollars. It was a huge sum of money for them.

After the noise, everything was quiet, but several members of the Boss Gang couldn't sleep until after two o'clock, so they gathered in Felton's room.

Felton went online and saw the American media's translation of Zhang Yang's post-match interview statement, and said, "Jack, it's very difficult to win four games in a row against the Spurs. Should we set our goal a little lower?"

Zhang Yang: "Uh, Boss, this doesn't fit your personality!"

Felton: "Didn't you say that? We must be pragmatic."

After losing G1, Felton was in a bad mood, but he didn't get carried away even after winning G2. In this playoffs, his abilities, psychological quality, and leadership skills have all improved.

Zhang Yang responded, "Then if I have an interview tomorrow, should I repeat it? Say that we will work hard to ensure that we don't lose the championship at home and win at least one game?"

Okafor grabbed Zhang Yang's shoulders, was speechless for two seconds, and said, "No, that's it. No matter whether we have the ability to win four games in a row and win the championship directly, our goal is to win every game."

He wanted to say what was in his heart: Please don't tease Raymond, he will take it seriously.

After hearing what Okafor said, Felton also transformed Zhang Yang's words of "winning four games in a row to win the championship" from pressure into motivation.

After chatting for a while, some of them still didn't feel sleepy. Although they were tired from the game tonight, they were really excited after defeating the Spurs.

So let’s analyze tonight’s game while the impression is still fresh.

Rondo takes the lead. He is the kind of person who is either unwilling to integrate into a certain circle or, once he actively integrates into it, he really wants to be the leader.

Rondo analyzed: "We won tonight mainly because of two things - first, the defense against Duncan, and second, Jack scored 11 points in both the first and third quarters, more than Ginobili.

It may be difficult for us to maintain these two advantages. We surrounded Duncan with many people tonight, and the Spurs failed to respond in time. Duncan only scored 21 points with 8 of 20 shots. Popovich will definitely make adjustments in the next game and take advantage of this. Jack scored several difficult goals tonight. I think it will be difficult for him to keep scoring such goals.

We defended so well, and Jack attacked so well, but we only won by 4 points in the end..."

Rondo tried hard to be tactful, but what he said was still very offensive. What Okafor heard was 'You can't defend against Duncan', and what Zhang Yang heard was 'You can't keep making goals like that'.

Fortunately, the people in the Boss Gang were used to Rondo’s way of speaking, so they didn’t hold a grudge against him, but became more alert instead.

Indeed, they played so well but only won by 4 points, and had to rely on Zhang Yang to score the winning goal in the end.

The few of them chatted about this topic for a while. The more they talked, the more stressed they felt, but they also became calmer.

I can only say that the Spurs and Duncan are really too strong!

……

……

It’s good that I don’t stay up late anymore. I don’t feel dizzy during the day. I’ll update one chapter first, and the next chapter will be updated before dinner. Please give me your monthly votes and recommendation tickets!
(End of this chapter)