It's actually not surprising that Durant opened his hand to ask for the ball. So far in this game, the Warriors' best performers on the offensive end are Durant and Curry.
As for the entire Warriors team, Durant and Curry are the only ones who can execute shots at critical moments.
With Curry being highly restricted while holding the ball and having little chance to make a shot, Durant seems to be the most suitable one.
The Spurs players knew this very well, so in the next second, in addition to trying to interfere with Durant's ball as much as possible, they shifted their defensive focus to Durant.
In particular, Leonard and Aldridge even chose to double-team Durant at this time, which also resulted in Durant not even being able to move forward with the ball after receiving the ball.
Seeing that the 24 seconds of attack time were being consumed continuously, Durant became anxious, and he actually chose to take a forceful shot at the most difficult time.
Facing the defense of Leonard and Aldridge, he actually chose to take a forceful shot.
Next second!
Whoosh!
beep!
Durant not only hit a difficult mid-range shot, but also caused Aldridge to foul.
For the Spurs, the situation suddenly became serious at this moment, because the cost of the Spurs' comeback for this defense was not just a 21. With the shooting foul against Durant just now, Aldridge's number of fouls has been exhausted.
Unfortunately he was sent off.
Aldridge is the inside pillar of the Spurs. He was sent off at such a critical moment, which had a huge impact on the Spurs. Everyone knows how important rebounding is at such critical moments. Now that Aldridge is lost,
The only height inside is Pau Gasol, which is really hard to imagine for the Spurs.
Popovich immediately requested a timeout. When Aldridge was sent off, his expression looked calm, but to be honest, his heart was obviously not as calm as he appeared on the surface. Therefore, this timeout adjustment will become
Very important.
"Rudy, you come on the field, and then Paul tries to lean inside. Everyone remembers that there must be no chaos at this time. We have a chance to win the game, so we must stay calm, but calmness does not mean hesitation. Once there is a chance,
, then take action decisively, Jiang and Kahuai try their best to solve the battle on the outside. We don’t have any advantage on the inside now."
After returning from the timeout, the Spurs sent Rudy Gay to replace Aldridge. In addition, Manu Ginobili replaced Danny Green.
Obviously, in this offensive round, Popovich trusted Ginobili more than Danny Green. He asked Ginobili to come up with the ball and organize the offense at this time. To a certain extent, he also trusted Jiang Hao.
A kind of liberation for Leonard, because Ginobili's passing is obviously very threatening.
The Warriors players suffered losses from Ginobili in the first two quarters, so they did not dare to be careless at this time.
Especially for Draymond Green, he even directly told Klay Thompson not to be soft on the defensive intensity just because Ginobili is a veteran. He must foul when it is time to foul.
Durant was the first to go to the free throw line. If he makes a free throw, the Warriors will get a one-point lead. Otherwise, the scores between the two sides will still be tied.
As the league's top scorer, coupled with his ability to handle the ball at critical moments, Durant did not disappoint the Warriors in the subsequent free throws.
100:101!
With 56 seconds left in the game, frankly speaking, it is still full of suspense about who will win and who loses in this game.
After taking 5 seconds to bring the basketball to the frontcourt, just when everyone thought that Ginobili, who was moving with the ball, was going to find an opportunity to hand the ball to Leonard or Jiang Hao, the Argentine
But he chose to break through with the ball.
That's right, it's a breakthrough with the ball.
Manu Ginobili's choice not only surprised the Warriors players, but even Spurs players like Jiang Hao were a little confused.
Therefore, a very funny scene is that Ginobili completed a layup very easily.
"Haha, this is Manu Ginobili. The Golden State Warriors leaked a huge hole at this moment, which was completely caught by the experienced Argentine."
The cheers from the ATAT Center roared, and Ginobili more or less tipped the balance of victory to the Spurs.
102:101!
The pressure came to the Warriors, and Steve Kerr would never miss the opportunity to pause for adjustment. There were two more timeout opportunities in this game, and he decisively used one at this time.
When Popovich took advantage of this critical timeout, he once again made personnel changes, that is, Ginobili, who had just made a contribution, was replaced by Danny Green, and Rudy Gay, who replaced Aldridge, was also replaced by Kyle Anderson.
Replace.
The purpose of Popovich's substitution is very simple. It is the Spurs' turn to defend. Of course, he is the player with better defensive ability. Whether it is Danny Green compared to Ginobili, or Kyle Anderson compared to Rudy
Gay, their defensive capabilities are stronger.
After the timeout, the game continued. Curry immediately chose to break through with the ball, but it was obvious from his actions that his breakthrough was only tentative. When he broke through to the free throw line, he was blocked.
He once again handed the ball to Durant. In this case, his first choice for passing the ball could only be Durant.
When Durant got the ball, the Spurs defensive players immediately became nervous. This guy is the kind of guy who can force a shot and hit it. As expected, this time, Durant will continue to choose to force a shot.
However, in this case, when most of the Spurs players focused their attention on Durant, no one noticed that Klay Thompson suddenly appeared in the right corner in this unusually weird unguarded position.
Location.
So, the next second, what appeared in front of everyone was that the second after Durant made a shooting gesture, he threw the ball directly to the unguarded Klay Thompson in the right corner.
Whoosh!
Klay Thompson, who made 2 of 8 three-pointers in this game, became a major contributor at this moment. He hit a very valuable three-pointer.
102:104!
With Klay Thompson's three-pointer, the Warriors finally had a lead that could win the game with 30 seconds left in the game.
A 2-point lead may not seem like much, but at such a critical moment, it was almost a mountain of lead.
With the last 30 seconds left in the game, both sides seemed to have an opportunity to attack, but to be honest, from the Spurs' point of view, if they want to win this game, their next attack will not be allowed.
If there is a loss, first of all, we must at least equalize the score, and secondly, we must try not to leave much offensive time for the Warriors and prevent the Warriors' last wave of offense.
To be honest, this is too difficult.
Gregg Popovich used the last timeout opportunity with a gloomy face. To be honest, he was very dissatisfied with the mistakes the players made on the defensive end just now. But at this time, he couldn't scold the players. He could do all he could
, just to quickly deploy the next wave of attacks.
"You must stay calm, don't be anxious, don't think about hitting a three-pointer, just do your job. The opponents are also very nervous in this situation, and they will also make mistakes. This is our opportunity...
…”
The on-site director moved the camera back and forth on Jiang Hao and Leonard at this time, because when Aldridge was sent off, there was a high probability that Jiang Hao and Leonard could save the team at such a critical moment.
Germany.
Of course, after Popovich put Ginobili on the court again before taking the court, the camera also came to Ginobili.
"Greg Popovich chose to take a big gamble. He chose to let Ginobili appear on the court during the last timeout opportunity. He was betting that the team's next offense would be successful. Otherwise, Danny
Green's ability on the defensive end is much better than Manu Ginobili."
After suffering a loss in the previous round, when the game continued, the Warriors players showed enough respect to Ginobili who was holding the ball.
Even with Jiang Hao's involvement, Ginobili had to go to great lengths to bring the basketball to the frontcourt.
Then, Ginobili chose to stand still. As expected, he was a veteran. In this situation, he could control the ball so calmly. Jiang Hao also gave Ginobili a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart.
However, time of attack waits for no one.
24 seconds!
20 seconds!
…
Seeing that the Spurs' 24-second attack time was almost running out.
Of course, the Warriors will not take the initiative to foul. They are the leading side. At this time, they only need to use high-intensity defense to prevent the Spurs from taking action.
16 seconds!
…
12 seconds!
There was only the last 6 seconds left for the Spurs to attack.
At this time, even Ginobili was unable to stand. He was trying to break through, but facing Klay Thompson, he had no chance.
"Manu"
With the last four seconds of shot time left, Jiang Hao, who was entangled with Klay Thompson on the right side of the paint area, yelled at Ginobili. Compared to Ginobili facing Klay Thompson, Klay Thompson
When Leonard faced Kevin Durant, he felt that he had the best chance against Stephen Curry, so he chose to take the initiative. As for whether he would fail, he had no chance to think about it.
After Manu Ginobili heard Jiang Hao's roar, he almost tried his best to squeeze out a gap and immediately handed the ball directly to Jiang Hao.
When Jiang Hao received the ball, he only had 2 seconds left to take action. However, at this moment, what made fans all over the world feel incredible was that he did not force the ball regardless of the first time.
Instead of taking a shot, his whole body suddenly tilted backwards quickly, and then Curry, who was almost leaning towards the inclined plane, chose to take a shot.
Chapter completed!