All-round Athlete

Chapter 922 Entering the Playoffs

"You've all seen it, the Spurs' lineup doesn't want us to enter the playoffs at all!" D'Antoni took a deep breath, and then said: "Think about what we have experienced in the first half of the season? Losing streak , Injuries... Everyone thinks the Lakers are finished, everyone knows that the Lakers can't enter the playoffs! But now, one of our feet has stepped into the threshold of the playoffs!"

"But they want to close the door to the playoffs! They don't want us in!" D'Antoni pointed to the Spurs on the opposite side, and then roared loudly: "Are you willing? Are you willing? Are you going to do this? Humiliated, are you locked out of the playoffs? Are you going to watch all your previous efforts go to waste at this moment?"

"No! We can't be slaughtered by others!" D'Antoni himself replied, his voice suddenly became excited, and even his expression became ferocious.

"The more they don't want us to enter the playoffs, the more we want to enter the playoffs! I used to only go from 16 wins to 32 losses, and we were sentenced to death by everyone! Now, we have come alive Now, we want to tell the whole world that we will create a miracle! An unprecedented miracle!"

At this moment, the emotions of the Lakers were completely mobilized.

Not only D'Antoni, but every player on the team, especially those who have experienced the first half of the season, are excited. However, they encountered such a stumbling block as the Spurs.

"Kill San Antonio!"

"We will win!" The morale of the Lakers suddenly rose.

...

Memphis, the Mavericks and the Grizzlies entered their first official timeout.

"Boys, I have good news to tell you. In San Antonio, the Spurs sent all the main players! They are going to fight the Lakers!" Grizzlies coach Dave Jogel said.

Hearing this news, on the Grizzlies bench, no matter the players who are resting or the substitutes who have no chance to play, all eyes lit up. The previous Grizzlies were most worried that the Spurs would let the Lakers go. After all, the Spurs The team is currently sitting firmly in the No. 1 position in the Western Conference. They and the Lakers are desperately trying to improve their rankings. Moreover, the main force of the Spurs has entered the state of rotation as early as half a month ago.

But now, the Spurs have sent the main lineup, which shows that they are not going to let the Lakers go.

"The Spurs have all the main lineup, and the Lakers will lose!" Coach Jogel continued: "Our chance is here! If we win this game, we will have a chance to enter the playoffs!"

Needless to say, Coach Jogel, the Grizzlies players already know what to do.

For the Grizzlies, their only chance to enter the playoffs is when the Lakers lose to the Spurs and defeat the Mavericks in front of them!

At the same time, on the other side of the bench, the Mavericks have also learned the same news.

"The Spurs have deployed their strongest lineup, which shows that they do not plan to let the Lakers go in the last game of the regular season. Once the Lakers and us lose at the same time, the Grizzlies opposite us will become the seventh in the West. And we will fall to eighth in the West." Coach Carlisle continued: "Popovich must also know this, they think it is easier to play us in the playoffs than to play the Lakers."

Coach Carlisle looked at his players while talking. The faces of Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, Marion, Calderon, Carter and others became serious. Obviously they don't want to encounter the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. To be precise, no team in the league wants to meet the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.

"You probably don't want to meet our old enemies in the first round of the playoffs!" Coach Carlisle said.

As the same team in Texas, and both are strong teams at the playoff level, the Spurs and Mavericks are really old enemies. Since Duncan and Nowitzki both entered the NBA, the two have almost fought for the rest of their careers. Needless to say about the regular season, just the history of the playoffs is enough to make an NBA blockbuster.

In the 2001 playoffs, the first round of the playoffs was still a best-of-five game, and it was only in the second round that they played a best-of-seven game. At that time, David Robinson led the young Duncan and defeated him 4-1. Nowitzki, Nash and Finley formed the Mavericks troika. That was the first time Duncan and Nowitzki played against each other in the playoffs.

In the 2003 playoffs, during the heyday of the Mavericks troika, they met the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. At that time, the Spurs, Parker was a sophomore, and Ginobili was a rookie. The formed "GDP" combination defeated the Mavericks 4-2.

In 2006, the calf troika had already disintegrated, but the Spurs' GDP combination gradually entered a golden age, and the Spurs were the defending champions. However, in the second round of the playoffs this year, the Mavericks fought hard for seven games and finally eliminated the Spurs at home. In this series of playoffs, Duncan averaged 32 points and 11 rebounds per game. With an average of 27 points and 13 rebounds, this is a peak match between Nowitzki and Duncan.

In 2009, the Mavericks and the Spurs met in the first round of the playoffs. This may be the least suspenseful matchup between the "cattle and horses". Injuries dragged down the Spurs, and the Mavericks defeated the Spurs 4-1.

In 2010, the two teams met again in the first round of the playoffs. In this round, the Spurs succeeded in revenge 4-2.

Without the appearance of Zhang Guan, this year's Mavericks will win the eighth place in the Western Conference, meet the Spurs again, and become the only team that can fight the Spurs to the seventh game in this year's playoffs.

After playing against each other for more than ten years, Nowitzki has an incomparable understanding of how difficult the Spurs are and how difficult Duncan is.

"I don't want to meet the Spurs in the first round! Our fate must be in the palm of our own hands!" Nowitzki clenched his fists.

In this game, if the Mavericks can beat the Grizzlies, then regardless of the results between the Lakers and the Spurs, the Mavericks can avoid the Spurs.

...

San Antonio.

Gasol's face was ferocious. Facing Duncan who raised his arms to defend, he jumped up and hit the basket from the front.

Duncan had a depressing look on his face. In his impression, Gasol rarely attacked like this.

"What's wrong with Paul today? He played so tough. When he played with me before, he usually shot the ball. How did he change his head-on and forceful fight today? This doesn't match his usual style. Did he get caught by his younger brother? Possessed!" Duncan thought to himself.

The basketball hit the hoop, circled around, and bounced out.

"Rebound!" Duncan yelled, and Splitter leaned back fiercely, trying to get stuck and blocked Kaman behind him.

However, a powerful force came from behind Split. Split didn't stand firm, but lost his position. He took a big step forward and lost his good position.

Kaman jumped high, grabbed the rebound from between Splitter's hands, and hooked it.

"Kaman! This old guy can still jump so high!" Splitter was slightly startled.

In fact, Kaman was born in 1982, two years younger than Dayao, and only 32 years old this year, while Split is already 29. They are both post-80s and pre-85 athletes, considered the same generation. It's just that Kaman has gained weight in the past two years, and he will look fatter. He also has a big beard and some baldness on his head. On the surface, he looks like a person in his forties, maybe fifty Some people may also believe it.

Kaman scored the goal, and there was a burst of applause from the Lakers bench. Although Thackeray has been cut, Baibian has inherited Thackeray's work very well. He waved The appearance of the towel is more passionate than Thackeray. Baibian already had some ADHD and was a narcissist. This kind of person's skills in stealing the scene are definitely top-notch, and his various towel-waving skills are even better than Thackeray's.

Coach Popovich frowned.

There is no problem with the Spurs' tactical execution, and the players are playing very seriously, but Popovich feels that this game may be difficult to win. The Lakers on the opposite side fought fiercely. Veterans in their thirties like Gasol and Kaman played like young men in their twenties, and those young people in their twenties all played like young men in their twenties. Beverley possessed his body and stalked his respective opponents like a mad dog.

"I expected the Lakers to be desperate, but I didn't expect them to be so desperate!" Popovich suddenly felt a little bit of regret in his heart, but now the Spurs are already riding a tiger.

If the Spurs just send a group of substitutes, it doesn't matter if they lose. However, the Spurs have deployed the main lineup in this game. If they still lose, it means that they will also lose to the Lakers in the playoffs. This is a big deal for the team's confidence. No small blow.

Popovich finally realized that what he used was a double-edged sword, which could hurt the enemy, and it was more likely to hurt himself.

...

"Zhang Guan, three-pointer, score!"

"Zhang Guan, broke through with the ball, made a quick stop and made a jumper, and scored!"

"Zhang Guan, steal Parker, fast break, the ball scored! Although Parker caught up, he didn't dare to foul!"

Parker thrust his waist, his face looked a little depressed, this was his fourth mistake today.

"Let me guard him!" Leonard handed the ball to Parker, and then found Zhang Guan.

Leonard is an athlete who started by defending. This season Leonard has grown into a top defender. Some people even compare him with Tony Allen. But in fact Leonard's one-on-one defensive level is still higher than Tony Allen. Compared with Tony Allen, Leonard is taller and longer, which also has advantages in defense.

When Zhang Guan was holding the ball, Leonard did not hesitate to resort to his well-known "death entanglement".

"Zhang Guan, it's broken!" Amidst the exclamation of the audience, Leonard dribbled towards the Lakers' half court, and then went straight to the layup!

"Whoosh!" A figure suddenly flew over from behind, but grabbed the basketball in the air.

"What?" Leonard looked up in surprise, only to see that Zhang Guan had landed.

"You can jump so high! I still underestimated Zhang Guan!" Leonard calmed down. He knew that if it was another person, his goal would definitely have scored, but Zhang Guan's physical fitness was too great. Excellent, so I took the ball back again.

At the same time, Zhang Guan was also reflecting.

"Leonard deserves to be the king of steals. He even got a steal by him without paying attention. I should be more cautious!"

Zhang Guan thought of this, but the movement of his feet was a little faster. The next second, his figure flickered, clinging to Leonard, and rushed over.

...

"Leonard can't keep up with Zhang Guan's rhythm. If even Leonard can't restrain Zhang Guan, then he can only rely on the defensive strategy of double-teaming." Popovich narrowed his eyes slightly.

Leonard was originally the weapon Popovich prepared for James, but now it seems that if you want to meet James, you have to pass Zhang Guan first.

"Are we going to expose our defensive tactics now? It was prepared for LeBron James. If we use it now, it may not work when we play the Heat. But if we don't use it now, season The Lakers are going to be played in the next game, and when we face Zhang Guan, we still have to use that set of defensive tactics.” Popovich fell into a conflict, he hesitated, and called an assistant coach.

"Go and find out the score between the Mavericks and the Grizzlies." Popovich said.

Not long after, the main coach sent back the news that the score between the Mavericks and the Grizzlies was 73, and the two sides were evenly matched.

"The Grizzlies are very likely to lose. If the Grizzlies lose, even if we beat the Lakers, the Lakers can still enter the playoffs, and they will still meet us in the first round of the playoffs. Do we want to expose our tactics in advance?" Popovich struggled in his heart, weighed the pros and cons, and finally decided to replace the main players.

...

"The Spurs made an early substitution! Duncan is off, Parker is off, Leonard is off, Green is off, and Splitter is off too! Five for five, is this Popovich's new tactic?" the commentator said. Said.

"No, this is not a new tactic. The Spurs gave up!" Another commentator continued: "The Spurs are currently behind by 8 points. This is the third quarter. It's not yet time to give up the game. Would it be okay to give up now?" Is it too early?"

"Popovich probably doesn't want to expose his tactics too much. After all, this is just the regular season, and for the Spurs, the biggest challenge comes from the playoffs!"

...

"113 to 110, congratulations to the Lakers for winning. They got a ticket to the playoffs at the last moment of the regular season! Two months ago, who would have thought that the Lakers would finally enter the playoffs! 16 wins With a record of 32 losses, they are already close to the bottom of the Western Conference, and will be destined to be excluded from the playoffs! However, in the next game, they scored 33 wins and 1 loss!"

"When Zhang Guan joined the NBA, when he said he would lead the Lakers to the playoffs, we all thought Zhang Guan was telling a joke, but he really did it! He really created a miracle! I Thinking about this time, Barkley might kiss the ass of a donkey again!"

...

In the ESPN studio, Barkley looked embarrassed.

"What are you doing? This will allow the Lakers to enter the playoffs, and I have to kiss the ass of the donkey again! From now on, I must not talk too much about Chinese players!"

...

The game between Memphis, Grizzlies and Mavericks has entered the overtime stage, and the news of the Lakers' 113-100 victory over the Spurs has also reached the ears of Coach Joeger.

"We lost, we still lost!" Jogel looked at the young men who were still struggling on the field, and lowered his head in frustration. The Lakers defeated the Spurs, and the Grizzlies' hard work has become meaningless.

...

In Los Angeles, in a mansion, Kobe came out of the bathroom. He watched the score displayed on the TV, but his heart was boiling.

"I won, and I really made it to the playoffs!" Kobe took a deep breath, and there was a trace of heat in his eyes.

"It's time for me to come back!"

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