In the Spurs' position battle, the four SuperSonics players shrank near the penalty area, with only Billups standing outside to defend Tony Parker.
The Spurs' starting lineup has obvious weaknesses and lacks outside shooting points. Coach Popovich arranged for Murray and Mason to practice three-pointers, but the results were not good. The best three-point shooters on the team are substitute forwards Jim Jackson and Walter-
McCarty, the former has good personal abilities and serves as the sixth man, while the latter is terrible defensively and rarely plays.
When every team plays against the Spurs, they will adopt the strategy of shrinking the zone defense into the penalty area in order to strictly guard against Duncan. The Spurs only have Duncan who can be called a super scorer, and he only had 25.5 points in his peak season.
Nesterovich pulled out to play a pick-and-roll with Parker. Lewis immediately changed positions to help defend, forming a double-team with Billups who was chasing him. Parker failed to break through and passed the ball to the middle. Nesterovich
The high mid-range shot missed.
Nesterovich is a white high center who is 213cm tall and weighs 112kg. He has good mobility. He can barely be considered an inside post with a range, but his mid-range shooting rate is only about 40% and he doesn't take many shots.
It's not enough for him to miss a mid-range shot. There are people around the penalty area, so he doesn't have the confidence to hit the basket and score. Facing the basket and hitting the basket is not his strong point, and his physical fitness is generally insufficient for explosiveness.
Miller blocked Duncan and Gerald Wallace grabbed the backcourt rebound.
George Karl's arrangement is very targeted. If faced with Mason, who has excellent physical fitness, Gerrard is more suitable to start. On the defensive end, he is also good at grabbing rebounds, which can make up for Lewis's lack of rebounding ability.
Gerrard immediately passed the ball to Yang Jian, and the Sonics launched a quick counterattack.
Yang Jian did not slow down and change directions while traveling, relying on Murray's shoulder to use force to pass people. Murray is 193cm tall and weighs 86 kilograms. His confrontation ability is average and he cannot get close to Yang Jian.
Yang Jian broke into the basket from the left, attracted Nesterovich's defense, and passed the ball behind his left hand to Lewis who followed up in the middle. Lewis took the ball and leapt up, dunking with one hand and scoring. 2 to 0.
Lewis's style of play is simple and unpretentious. Most of his points are jump shots. He has not had a few beautiful dunks throughout the season. He is the kind of person that fans don't want to highlight. However, he has the advantage of mobility in the 4th position and is useful in fast breaks.
obvious.
When the Spurs attacked, Duncan received the ball in the low post on the right and singled out Miller. He was flanked by Gerald Wallace and Mason was released at 60 degrees.
Mason received the ball from outside the three-point line and was not confident to take action. He feinted and tried to break through Gerrard, who was being guarded but failed to get past him. The two were of similar height and weight, so Mason's trick of relying on his body to break through was not easy to use.
Mason passed the ball to the running Murray, who was caught by Yang Jian and couldn't get rid of him. How could a second-round pick in 2002 have the ability to get rid of Yang Jian, who was seriously defending? Murray's physical fitness is comprehensive
Being at a disadvantage, he made a quick move and passed the ball to his teammates.
With 24 seconds almost gone, Parker forced a pull-up jumper. Under the interference of Billups, Yang Jian grabbed the rebound.
Popovich had a premonition that something bad would happen today, as the Sonics' defensive intensity was stronger than expected.
After 1999, whenever Yang Jian hits the Spurs, he will start the "all-out Yang" mode. Billups is not a fuel-saving lamp, and the Spurs' outside scoring points will be guarded.
Yang Jian saw that the Spurs players returned to defense quickly, so they did not initiate a fast break this time and passed the ball to Billups through half court.
The players opened up space, and Yang Jian ran without the ball on the left baseline. Under the cover of Brad Miller, he ran to the right corner and received a pass from Billups.
Yang Jian caught the ball from the bottom line without any feint. He took the ball directly to the left and passed Mason who was chasing him in one step. Mason won the dunk king in 2001. He has super physical fitness, but his defensive awareness is not very good.
Mainly depends on the body.
Yang Jian didn't wait for Nesterovich to come out to defend, and made a 45-degree two-point jump shot, and the ball went hollow into the net. 4 to 0.
After scoring the goal, Yang Jian roared and added a buff to himself. Against the Spurs, players can easily get opportunities from mid-to-long distances. Yang Jian has rich experience in playing against the Spurs and believes that the strength of this Spurs is not as good as in the parallel world.
The Spurs attacked, and Duncan caught the ball in the low post and was double-teamed.
Popovich's strategy is to fight the SuperSonics in a positional battle and not fall into the fast-break rhythm that the Sonics are used to. However, in the positional battle, the Spurs are still at a disadvantage.
Duncan chose to distribute the ball. Parker broke through and was double-teamed. The ball was passed to Nesterovich. The latter was not decisive in the mid-range shot and looked for teammates who were running. Seeing that the 24-second attack time was approaching, Murray caught the ball and forced it.
The mid-range shot was blocked by Yang Jian.
Yang Jian calculated the time correctly, knowing that Murray would have no other choice, and took off almost at the same time as Murray. After completing the block, Yang Jian landed on the ground and ran out. He picked up the basketball and threw away everyone in two steps to start a fast break.
No one could catch up with Yang Jian. He took off two steps before the free throw line and dunked the basketball 360 degrees with his right hand in reverse direction! 6-0.
After scoring the goal, Yang Jian beat his chest and roared, which boosted the team's morale.
The Spurs were attacking, and Mason wanted to return a dunk to boost the team's morale. He cut the ball in the air and forced a breakthrough. There were people near the penalty area. What he did was mindless.
As a result, Mason was stuck by Gerald Wallace as soon as he entered the penalty area. Lewis, who was assisting on defense from the side, reached out and stabbed the basketball away. Gerrard picked up the basketball and passed it to Yang Jian for a fast break.
Yang Jian quickly advanced from the left to the frontcourt. Seeing that Murray was retreating relatively far, he stopped one step outside the three-point line and shot a three-pointer. Murray stopped retreating and then came forward before he had time to take off, and the ball was already thrown.
He could only reach out and interfere slightly.
Yang Jian took the shot very easily, the ball drew a wonderful arc and hit the net! 9 to 0.
The Spurs were in urgent need of opening up the situation. Duncan caught the ball in the low post and beat Miller hard. He turned around and shot to avoid the block. 9 to 2.
During the SuperSonics offense, Yang Jian attracted a double-team on the weak side and then passed the ball. Miller easily scored from the basket. 11 to 2.
Yang Jian's single play with the ball on the weak side is a big weapon that the league has never been able to crack. When an inside player goes out to attack, the basket will be vacated. Even if another inside player makes up for the defense in time, Miller still has a strong ability to support the pass and can
Move the ball to the open power forward.
It's not a good idea to leave Lewis open for shots. His three-point shooting percentage in the regular season was as high as 42.6%, and it improved to 44.7% in the playoffs, which is a tactical benefit.
Duncan once again held the ball and played back, turned around and shot without interference from Miller, and Gerrard got the backcourt rebound.
Once Duncan holds the ball in isolation, the Spurs will have only Nesterovic who is good at grabbing offensive rebounds. This is a gamble. If he can't grab it, he won't be able to defend it, and he will be easily counterattacked by the SuperSonics.
In the SuperSonics position battle, Yang Jian attracted a double team on the weak side and passed the ball to Billups, who hit a 70-degree jumper from the right side and hit a three-pointer. 14 to 2.
Tony Parker's double-teaming of Yang Jian is of no use, and Billups is not a target that can be left empty. His three-point shooting percentage in the regular season was 43.3%, and he averaged 2.3 three-pointers per game. In the playoffs, he is even better at shooting.
People with two points score efficiently.
Coach Popovich was forced to request a timeout, and the Spurs showed signs of being defeated at the start.
After the timeout, he emphasized defense and replaced Murray with Jim Jackson in advance, adding a three-point shooting spot.
The game continued, and the Spurs' offense was slightly better, but they were still unable to defend.
The scariest thing about the Sonics is that their opponents know what tactics they will play, but they still can't guard against them. Because the Sonics' tactics are not very complicated and many teams can play them, but the star's personal ability is too strong. Yang Jianjian
Picking is an opportunity, the pass is fast and accurate, and the vision is broad.
The Spurs' offense was only a little better than the opening game, and could not be compared with the SuperSonics. Duncan's efficiency in singles was only average, and Tony Parker was blocked at the second scoring point.
Parker is strong in speed and breakthrough, and is working hard on his mid-range shooting, but has no long-range shooting for the time being. He was able to get shooting opportunities from mid-to-long distances. He made 1 of 6 shots in the first quarter, 0 of 2 three-pointers, and only scored 2 points and 1 assist.
Duncan made 3 of 6 shots, 3 of 4 free throws, and scored 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block. The Spurs mainly relied on him to score.
The SuperSonics led 38-18 by 20 points in the first quarter.
Yang simply scored 17 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 block in the quarter. His scoring alone was similar to that of the entire Spurs team. Billups also scored 8 points and hit two three-pointers.