Chapter 368 367. The Reluctant Popovich

Watching Zhang Yang high-five his teammates and then go to the free throw line and make the free throw, Popovich called a timeout and he wanted to break up.

Brad Miller grabbed the rebound and was able to find the person who was pushing forward the counterattack and pass the ball to the right place in time, so Zhang Yang was able to launch a counterattack and make a three-pointer.

If it was regular time, Duncan would definitely have let the ball go.

With only a few seconds left, Duncan rushed over from the free throw line to block Zhang Yang's three-pointer. There was nothing wrong with that. If he didn't rush over, Popovich believed that Zhang Yang would definitely throw a three-pointer towards Conley. This bad boy was afraid to shoot any ball.

Zhang Yang's playing rhythm is one of the worst in the entire league, so it is normal for him to break into the inside line alone under such circumstances.

However, not only did they fail to defend, they also had a chance to shoot a three-pointer to tie the score and go into overtime, but Ginobili rushed forward to try to block the shot when it was impossible for him to get in position, and not only did he fail to interfere, he also committed a foul!
This ball reminded Popovich of the series against the Mavericks in the 05-06 season, which was the season when they had the best hope of defending the title.

邓肯03-04赛季和04-05赛季经受脚底筋膜炎的折磨后，05年夏天伤势终于得到控制，05-06赛季常规赛花了漫长的时间调整打法，在常规赛尾声时终于进入3.0版巅峰期，季后赛表现狂暴。

In the seven-game second round against the Mavericks, Duncan, who changed his playing style, averaged 32.3 points and 3.7 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 55.6%. Except for Diop, who just ate cakes, no one on the two teams had a higher shooting percentage than him. He broke through everything and led the team to a game seven with the Mavericks.

In the seventh game, when the score was 104 to 101 and the team was sure to win, Ginobili fouled Nowitzki who was making a layup, and Nowitzki made a 2+1, which led to them being dragged into overtime by the Mavericks. They eventually lost in the seventh game in overtime and were eliminated in the second round, missing the best chance to defend the title in team history.

Tonight's game is certainly not as important as that game, but similar situations will naturally remind Popovich of the nightmare night that he doesn't want to recall.

However, Popovich cannot blame Ginobili. Favoritism is secondary. The main reason is that in tonight's Game 7 against the Mavericks, without Ginobili's rampage output in the final quarter, they would not have been able to reach the crucial moment.

In the seventh game against the Mavericks, Ginobili scored 12 points in the final quarter. He also scored 10 points in the final quarter tonight, one point more than Zhang Yang's 9 points in the final quarter.

If Ginobili and Zhang Yang, who was in hot form, hadn't fought to a draw in the second half, the game would have been over tonight.

After the players returned to the bench, Popovich tried to calm himself down and arranged a four-point tactic for Conley and Ginobili. Usually, the key ball tactics were to create open shooting opportunities. This time, the tactic was that whoever of the two had someone in front of him would receive the ball and shoot.

But after the timeout, Carlisle gave the Spurs no chance to make a mistake. The Bobcats' defensive players all stepped one step inside the three-point line. When Ginobili received the ball, he couldn't find anyone to bump into!

Under Zhang Yang's defensive look of "you can shoot or not", Ginobili missed the three-pointer, Okafor grabbed the defensive rebound, and with only 2.2 seconds left, the Spurs did not foul, and the final whistle sounded immediately.

张杨21投11中，其中三分球5中2，加上8中6的罚球，拿到30分5板4助攻1抢断2盖帽。

费尔顿15分4板5助攻、奥卡福13分9板2助攻3盖帽、布拉德-米勒10分10板8助攻、希尔7分4板3助攻、米尔萨普4分5板3助攻……

Although the Bobcats did not score high tonight, the teamwork was maintained at a high level throughout the game, with 40 goals and 27 assists!
The Spurs on the other side scored 37 goals and had only 18 assists.

吉诺比利27分5助攻、邓肯20分14板3助攻、康利14分5助攻、盖伊15分2助攻，他们四个之外，只有巴里拿到1次助攻、杰奎-沃恩拿到两次助攻，真就是纯靠球星球和山猫队打到了最后半分钟才因吉诺比利体力不支败下阵来。

The Bobcats relied on teamwork to narrowly beat the Spurs 99-95 and won their seventh consecutive victory!

After the game, the Bobcats players gathered together to celebrate. Led by Felton, the Bobcats team once again shouted out the words they said before the game - "The winning streak ends!"

When fans on the sidelines heard the shout, they also started to roar, and the shouting quickly spread throughout the stadium.

Popovich looked at the Bobcats' 27 assists on the big screen and heard the cheers of the fans, feeling envy, jealousy, and hatred!
...

After the game, Zhang Yang, who played efficiently in the team offense and scored a key counterattack goal to seal the victory, and Felton, who scored a key goal to overtake the score, attended the press conference.

Before the two came, they had already discussed how to praise the coach and teammates, but before they could praise their own people, the other side started praising them first!

Popovich: "The Bobcats already have an enviable new system. Every player who played tonight played a very important role. Every player has their position in the tactics. Even Perkins, who is not good at offense, has the role of inside support and screen in the offense, which contains and disrupts our defense. Even at the last crucial ball, they are still playing tactics... I think they will be the strongest team in the future. They are already an era ahead of other teams."

After hearing what they said, Zhang Yang and Felton looked at each other, put down the microphone and talked in a low voice.

Zhang San: "Boss, is this guy crazy because of losing?"

Xiao Fei: “Maybe.”

Zhang San: "No, he praised everything he could. What should we do?"

Xiao Fei: "I don't know!"

Zhang San: "..."

The two looked at Carlisle.

Ka Tu: Why are you looking at me? He has said what I wanted to say!
Not only the three Bobcats were confused, the reporters were also surprised.

After losing a game, Popovich usually complains about the unfair refereeing, especially after losing a key game, he always tries to make up for the poor performance in the regular time and downplay the topic of the disadvantage in the key game. Experts have analyzed this matter and Popovich must do this to save some face for his players and turn the reporters' criticism to himself, because he gets scolded every day anyway.

Because of the strength of the Spurs, under normal circumstances, it is difficult for any opponent to play with them until the critical moment, but the actual situation is that they often need Duncan to stand up and play against the wind, and they need Ginobili to stand up and fight with the opponent's superstars at the critical moment.

If not for this, Parker, who is good at playing with the wind, would be rated higher.

This situation usually occurs because the Spurs' role players are not strong enough or are too old, and this is because the owner is unwilling to increase investment and does not have the money to do so.

For most small-market teams, their expenses each season are the combination of team revenue + owner's financial investment. This is the case for the Grizzlies, Bucks, Raptors and other teams. Even the Cavaliers owner made a net investment in the construction of the Cavaliers alone, paying a large amount of luxury tax, while relying on the income brought by the team, mainly off the court.

For example, the owner of the Cavaliers owns several nightclubs, clubs, and casinos in Cleveland and surrounding cities.

But the Spurs are different. Their owner takes away millions of dollars every year to run the tractor company, and the rest is used for team expenses.

Normally, this kind of operation by the Spurs owner would cause dissatisfaction among the players, which would inevitably affect the income of the players and the overall strength of the team. Since the new century, except for a few individual teams such as the Rockets and Bobcats, the Spurs have paid the least amount of luxury tax, only a few hundred thousand or so.

Fortunately, the Spurs have Popovich, a player management genius.

The salaries of role players cannot be reduced, otherwise no one will come to San Antonio. The middle class must be paid adequately, so start with the core players, trick Duncan into renewing his contract at a low price, and take a pay cut with other core players.

But even so, the Spurs can only find veterans for their role players, and they cannot afford young players with high salaries even if they have the chance. Fortunately, Duncan is strong enough and attractive enough, and most of the veterans who come to join are powerful players like Finley and Barry. In addition, general manager RC-Buford has an outstanding vision for draft picks, so they can compete for the championship all year round and win it for many years.

Tonight, reporters thought Popovich would start complaining again, and they had even thought of how to write a news story mocking Popovich for not being able to afford to lose again. Unexpectedly, Popovich praised the Bobcats. Those who didn't know would think that the Bobcats were the strongest team in the league and had defeated Popovich...

After the press conference, Popovich returned to the temporary office prepared for the visiting team at the Turkish Airlines Arena.

General Manager RC Buford, who was also at the press conference, joked, "Greg, it looks like you're really upset about losing tonight."

Popovich was not surprised at all that his little thoughts were guessed, because this old friend and subordinate was the person who knew him best in the team.

He said in a low voice: "It's not just the loss. When I think back to the Bobcats' offense tonight, I feel uncomfortable."

Buford was a little surprised. Although his old friend was not a mean person, it was still rare to see him be so filled with negative emotions.

He pondered for a while and said, "Is it because of their offensive philosophy?"

Popovich looked gloomy, and after a while he responded, "Yes, the team offense they played tonight is what I wanted."

Buford comforted him, "Your idea is right. You said that the gap between ordinary players and superstars will become smaller and smaller. Everyone has a ball, and everyone does not have a ball. This will become the mainstream of basketball in the future. The Bobcats also chose to adjust their offensive system in this direction, and they played well. Doesn't it just prove that your idea is right?"

Popovich's expression became much better, and he replied, "I know this truth, I just don't resign myself to it. If we hadn't lost to the Bobcats in the finals last season and we had won the championship, we could have continued to suppress internal conflicts and the conflict with Tony wouldn't have intensified. We have worked hard to train him to his peak. If he were here, we could have started to adjust our offensive system this season instead of spending a season running-in. Tim and Manu are one year older, they are both over 30 years old.

When I saw Jack play for 37 minutes in the team offense, he was still able to charge forward and counterattack in the last few seconds, and no one at the top of the arc could stop him from advancing, I was so unwilling to accept it. If Manu had such offensive conditions, I believe he could play better than Jack in the final moments! "

Buford: "It will be fine. Mike is better than Tony and more suitable for us. We also have Rudy as Manu's successor, and you have to believe in Tim. He is better than last season."

When talking about Conley, Popovich finally smiled.

Although his combat effectiveness is slightly worse than expected, Conley loves him very much because of his talent, psychological quality and temperament.

He is like a point guard version of Duncan. He is not afraid of anyone and resolutely follows the coach's arrangements when he is on the court. He dares to shoot at critical moments. Although he is just a rookie, he never fails in basic defense and always does what he should and can do well.

Guy...love and hate.

He likes Gay's talent, but dislikes Gay's personality. He really wants to stuff Kobe's brain into Gay's body. That would be perfect.

Of course, it is definitely better to have Gay than not. The defensive strength of their starting lineup this season has reached the strongest since the NHC era. If the substitute lineup was not too old and needed the starters to clean up their mess, their overall defense might be the best in team history.

After venting his emotions, Popovich calmed down and reviewed the loss tonight. He sighed, "The long-range shot with the ball is really powerful. It has a strong destructive power on the defensive formation. When we played the Mavericks in the playoffs in 06, Terry used this trick to break down our defensive formation. Jack is taller, has better shooting choices, and is calmer..."

Hearing the envy in his old friend's tone, Buford couldn't bear it, but he still had to pour cold water on him: "This move is very powerful. If you can't defend in the high position, if the opponent can shoot a counterattack, there is no other way except to press forward and defend in advance. But this move requires a lot of talent. No one on our team has such talent... Damon had it back then, but he is old now."

Popovich: "If I had known we couldn't win the championship last season, I would have just played badly. Durant's talent is no worse than Jack's."

Buford couldn't stand it anymore and yelled, "Even God can't satisfy your wish!"

(End of this chapter)