After being chased and defended one after another, Duncan began to exert force in the inside, and the bench group was forced to shrink inward.

Duncan's pass was extremely outstanding. Green caught the ball from the outside and made consecutive hits. After a wave of offensives, the starting group still won 20-10.

However, losing cannot conceal Tang Tian's outstanding performance. He contributed 6 points, 3 steals and 1 block by himself.

There are fifteen people in a team, but there are only 8 to 9 people who can play in general. Popovich is a little special, but at most 10 to 12 people are used. There will definitely be people who will be on the bench throughout the game.

(Note: NBA 15-man roster, but a maximum of 12 players in a game, that is, a 12-man activation list. This year is an exception for the shrinking season, because the game time interval is short and there are many back-to-back games, and it is stipulated that a team can play up to 13 players.)

In other words, if you want to play, you must squeeze into the coach's rotation list, and to squeeze into this list, it depends on the performance of the training match, because in addition to personal strength, there is also state.

Superstars are indispensable. They must play in the field regardless of their condition. However, due to the relatively low defensive pressure and simple work, the coaches definitely hope that they can play their role as soon as they come on the field, and will naturally choose to be in good condition.

The competitive state that Tang Tian showed in this game was the result of his hard practice throughout the summer, and Popovich had put him on his roster.

The training camp started on December 9th, and the Spurs' first preseason game was on December 18th, with only 9 days in between.

During these 9 days, the team has been training basically every day, and the old players are looking for the game and their tacit understanding, because the time is short and the difficulty is not small.

For the three rookies Tang Tian and others, it is even more difficult to learn the team's tactics.

However, during this process, Tang Tian's performance continued to amazed Popovich and the Spurs' coaching staff.

This rookie who has just turned 19 years old has an incredible speed at mastering tactics. He doesn't look like a newcomer at all, but like Duncan and Ginobili who have been on the team for more than ten years.

"We really chose a genius." Budenholzer has said similar things in front of Popovich more than once.

Popovich is still relatively steady. After all, he has coached in the league for a long time and has performed well in training but has not been able to do it once he goes on the court, so he just has a optimistic attitude.

Time flies, and on December 18, the Spurs will board the plane to Oklahoma City, where they will usher in the first preseason game of the new season, against the Thunder.

The Thunder have selected talented rookies such as Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden for several consecutive years. The record of last season has reached fourth in the West. Not only has unlimited potential, but also has excellent combat power.

Because each team has only two preseason games in the shrinking season, it can be predicted that the intensity of this game will definitely not be able to play half-time like the ordinary season. This will definitely be a fierce battle.

When he arrived in Oklahoma City, Popovich arranged daily training, which shows that he also attached great importance to this preseason game.

"Our goal for the new season is the championship. The Thunder will be our main competitor this year. We need a morale-boosting victory, and this game." Popovich's pre-match mobilization fully demonstrated his vision.

After the training, he also announced the team's starting lineup and 13-man activation list.

Starting: Parker, Green, Jefferson, Duncan, Blair.

The starting lineup is the same as in the training match. Although Tang Tian’s outstanding performance in the first training match once made Popovich have the idea of ​​putting him in the starting lineup, it was just a flash of thought. Because he attached great importance to the game, he still had the safest lineup.

The remaining eight substitutes: Neil, Ginobili, Leonard, Bonner, Spritt, Joseph, Dontian, Malcolm Thomas.

Oklahoma City is a famous small town, but one feature of the small town is that the locals have relatively few entertainment options, so the football game has naturally become the target of everyone's pursuit.

Especially in the past two years, the Thunder team has risen rapidly, and it has just experienced a suspended season. In this preseason game, the attendance rate on the spot has exceeded 80%. The hot scenes on the spot are really different from ordinary seasons.

It is said to be a preseason, but no matter the importance of both sides and the attendance rate on the spot, it is no less than that of the regular season.

The game started for half an hour, and the players on both sides came to the stadium to start the final warm-up before the game.

Tang Tian was surprised when he came out. He saw that there were fans holding the "Godfather" sign in the front row of the stands. Although there were not many people, this away game was really rare.

It seems that the influence of the "Godfather" is even greater than many people expected.

However, this is also an invisible pressure. If he performs poorly in the official game, this popularity will quickly disappear.

"Don't be nervous, don't worry, I'll cover you." Ginobili also saw the sign and came over to put it on his shoulder and said.

Tang Tian turned his head and looked at Ginobili.

Ginobili looked at him with a smile.

"Manu, I've played 70,000 live games."

"..." Ginobili was stunned for a moment.

"I've also hit the final goal in 2 games, so don't worry about me."

“…”

"Haha~" Parker was right next to him at this time. He couldn't help laughing loudly when he heard the two of them talking. This was the first time he saw Ginobili being defeated.

Ginobili also laughed. He reached out to touch his head. After touching for a while, he realized something and put his hand down.

On the other side of the court, Thunder's core core Kevin Durant sat on the sidelines to rest.

He looked around the stadium and found the fans and the signs they were holding.

His face suddenly became ugly.

During the offseason, his image suddenly became very bad due to the trumpet incident. Now seeing this again is like a scar that healed in the wound again.

"Boss." At this time, the team's rookie Reggie Jackson finished the warm-up and sat on the sidelines.

Durant glanced at Jackson and then said, "I heard you challenged the Godfather in the summer?"

When Jackson heard Durant say this, he nodded with embarrassment. He wanted to step on Tang Tian to increase his popularity, but he failed. Unexpectedly, Durant knew about this.

However, Durant's subsequent words made him happy.
Chapter completed!