NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

At this moment, Popovich was not only shocked that Rivers saw through his thoughts and shocked by this guy's predictive and targeted abilities, but he was also quite jealous.

Because the Eastern Conference team also has Ginobili, a smart guy like a fox! He is also the guy that Popovich dreams of!
If there is a choice, who would want to use JR? Popovich said I am willing to trade! Even adding a draft pick is fine!
God knows how many times Popovich has offered Ginobili to the Pacers and Celtics. He has noticed this guy since Ginobili played in Italy.

But unfortunately, Bird said he would not sell anything and kept saying that unless you give him James or Bosh, Ginobili is the love of my life!
What else could Popovich say about Bird's robbery except hanging up the phone?

But what made him angry was that not long after, Bird traded the love of his life to the Celtics.

Popovich was so angry that he even called Bird again.

Bird's response was simple: "Can you give me the same return as Pierce? If so, I'll sell Pierce to you!"

silence.

Popovich regretted his self-humiliation. In order to hide his embarrassment, he could only force himself to save face: "I'm just calling to inquire about the price of Pierce. How much do you want to sell him?"

"In one word, LeBron is on the line!"

Go to hell.

Since then, Popovich has never had a phone call with Bird, let alone a single word with him.

He didn't want to bother with that old fox anymore.

But obviously, as the Celtics' record got better and better and they played better and better, Popovich also lost the opportunity to poach players from the Celtics.

He could only watch Ginobili thrive in the Celtics' system and get better and better.

He felt even more heartbroken when he saw Ginobili was surrounded by Duncan and Parker.

These three people are all the ones I like! They are all the ones I want!
Why, one is gone and two were never given?
The players on the court naturally could not feel Popovich's lamentations and pain at all, because all their attention was focused on the game at that moment!
We have to catch up on points while widening the gap!

The Western team had the ball in the first wave of offense. James acted as the point guard, dribbled to the frontcourt, then raised his hand to ask for a pick-and-roll. He and Bosh played the most common combination they played in the Spurs.

At the same time, Allen and Nowitzki landed on the two wings ready to receive the ball, and Marion stood there to pass the ball, ready to cut in and complete the attack at any time.

The person facing James at this moment is Howard. Although this guy is at least two sizes smaller than James, the way he opens his arms and bares his teeth and claws is still somewhat scary. Then, just when James was about to break through, this guy suddenly took a step forward.

He forced his way through Bosh's screen and then stuck to James again. This time Duncan did not choose to rush out from the inside, but squatted near the free throw line, ready to assist in defense at any time.

James did not hesitate this time. Since Howard was sticking to him very hard, he accelerated and attacked directly, leaving Howard behind in one step.

Duncan's defensive awareness is truly top-notch in the league. This guy stepped forward to chase and blocked James' side, preventing him from cutting inside to attack the basket.

In fact, before Duncan pressed forward, James had enough space to complete a mid-range jump shot, but he obviously did not trust his shooting, so he lost the opportunity and was entangled by Duncan.

When James took two more steps toward the inside, he found that he had no chance to cut into the basket. Even if he did get in, there was Yao Ming waiting under the basket, and it would be difficult for him to maintain his success rate. James quickly stopped, then pushed the ball with both hands and slammed it towards the baseline.

Marion, who just finished a cut, grabbed the basketball and ran towards the basket. He was going to challenge Yao Ming!
But unfortunately, this kind of forward who chooses to attack face to face is the type that Yao Ming is least afraid of! If you use changes of direction, rhythm changes and various fake moves to fake out like Lin Tian and Kobe, Yao Ming may still be in a difficult situation.

But Marion rushed straight ahead like this?
Do you really think Yao Ming is a Tyrannosaurus Rex?
"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, Yao Ming, who had been waiting for a long time under the basket, slapped the basketball that Marion was about to dunk.

He hit the basketball to Lin Tian on the wing. After getting the ball, Lin Tian turned around without hesitation and launched an attack towards the front court!

Ray Allen's reaction was incredibly fast. He stood in front of Lin Tian at the first moment. This choice of position was quite good. If Lin Tian didn't stop, Allen could directly cause Lin Tian to commit an offensive foul!
But how could Lin Tian be scared by Allen's level of assisting defense? He slammed the ball towards Allen's crotch with one hand, and the basketball immediately passed between his legs, flew across the court in the blink of an eye, and was handed to Ginobili who was already running fast.

After getting the ball, Ginobili did not stop, lowered his head and accelerated, and in the blink of an eye he reached the basket of the Western team.

Bosh is worthy of being a model of modern power forward. He has already completed assisting defense and is now standing under the basket with his hands raised. As long as Ginobili dares to rush to the basket, he will block your shot!
But how can Ginobili's passing vision compare to that of a pure finisher like Marion?

He remained calm and collected, and slammed the ball onto the floor with one hand, sending the basketball flying from the wing to the center.

The person who received the ball was Lin Tian who had cut in. After taking the ball with both hands, Lin Tian took off directly, using all his strength with both hands and smashed it towards the basket!
No matter how fast Bosh's reaction was, it was impossible for him to turn around and assist in defense in such a short time. He could only turn his head to look at Lin Tian, ​​and then it was too late to do anything. He just felt a black screen in front of his eyes, and Lin Tian fell on him.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, Lin Tian completed a two-handed dunk that astonished everyone!

"Great pass, Manu!" Lin Tian excitedly high-fived Ginobili to celebrate. The progress of this little brother is really obvious.

Before Ginobili could respond to Lin Tian, ​​Duncan came over to the two of them, slapped Ginobili on the head, and rubbed it hard: "Well done!"

Lin Tian couldn't help swallowing his saliva, and the look he gave Ginobili had changed from admiration to heartache.

In a sense, Ginobili has come to the worst team in the league.

I wonder how many more years his long hair can last.

James has dribbled to the frontcourt again, and this time he is playing pick-and-roll, but this time he is cooperating with Nowitzki!
Nowitzki's physique and screen quality are much better than Bosh's, and he blocked Howard tightly. Then, with Duncan and Yao Ming in the interior, James did not choose to attack the interior again. Instead, he broke up the defense and passed the ball to Nowitzki from behind without looking at anyone.

After Nowitzki received the ball, he was about to throw it directly, but Lin Tian had already rushed to him quickly and completed the assist defense.

Because of his tall stature, Nowitzki's shooting speed is somewhat slow, but he is a superstar after all, so after Lin Tian came over to assist in defense, he reacted very quickly, collected the ball and turned around immediately, ready to shoot with his back to the goal!

"Boom! Boom!"

After two consecutive hard pushes, Nowitzki was extremely surprised to find that he had not been able to complete the advancement at all. He just pushed from outside the three-point line to inside the three-point line. After two collisions, he advanced less than 3 centimeters!

Is this kid's strength even stronger than before?

Nowitzki cursed in his heart and was about to change his attack method, but Lin Tian no longer gave him a chance. Seeing the right moment, Lin Tian grabbed the basketball and slapped it on Nowitzki's hand!
With a crisp "snap" sound, the basketball was directly cut off by Lin Tian!
The European superstar obviously had not yet overcome his technical flaws in back-to-back attacks against the sturdy little guy, and was quickly intercepted by Lin Tian.

Mistakes outside the 3-point line are absolutely fatal to a team! Because it is difficult for anyone to complete the return defense in time. For example, this time, when Lin Tian rushed to the front court, only James in the entire Western team completed the retreat defense. He stood 2 meters away from Lin Tian and opened his hands.

"Do you think everyone is as afraid to shoot as you are?" Lin Tian smiled, then suddenly took the ball and shot it from outside the three-point line!
Another signature 3-pointer!
At this time, it was obviously too late for James to catch up with Lin Tian. Even if he quickly stepped forward to catch up, he could only serve as a scope for Lin Tian.

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, Lin Tian made a three-pointer!
The gap between the two sides continues to widen!

After being beaten twice in a row by the Eastern Conference in the last game, the Western Conference finally scored in the next attack. James broke through and passed the ball to Ray Allen. Allen shook off Howard, took a step forward and completed a mid-range pull-up jump shot!

This jump shot also brought the gap between the two sides back to 15 points.

56: 41!
Thanks to Allen's shot, the Western team finally found their rhythm, and they made some gains in the following games, whether it was cutting to the basket, shooting after receiving the ball, or directly breaking through.

But the problem is that they can't defend the West either.

Not only Lin Tian started firing at this time and kept making shots, but Yao Ming and Duncan under the basket of the Eastern Team were also heavy inside players that Bosh and Nowitzki could not withstand at all!
It can be said that even if Lin Tian, ​​Ginobili and others miss the shot, Yao Ming and Duncan under the basket still have the absolute advantage to dominate the rebounds!

After the two teams had played on the court for only 5 minutes, the Eastern Conference had already grabbed 4 offensive rebounds!
Relying on these 4 offensive rebounds, the Eastern Conference scored 2 points just by scoring 7 times during this period!
During this period, the Eastern team was also very accurate. Nowitzki and Bosh both scored 3 points, and James, in addition to 4 assists, also rushed to the basket and scored twice. Therefore, the difference between the two sides did not further expand, but fluctuated around 15 points.

With 3 minutes left in the second quarter, the score between the two sides became 70:56!

A difference of 14 points!

At this point in the game, the official timeout intervened again. Even though both sides were in high spirits, it was time to make a substitution.

Especially the West.

If they don't change players, James and others who were drunk last night will probably have trembling legs.

In fact, the West had already missed three consecutive attacks before the timeout! It was just that the East happened to be in a bad touch at the moment, so they failed to seize the opportunity to further widen the gap.

But Popovich knows clearly that relying on luck and hoping that others will not score will not help the team win or catch up.

So he made a decisive substitution during this official timeout.

This substitution also means that his plan to make James the real core of the Western Conference this year has once again been temporarily shelved.

Wait for the second half!
After the timeout, Popovich did not play any tricks. He brought in Nash, Kobe, McGrady, Garnett and O'Neal! Four of the five players were starters, which meant that James was just taking a break.

This is another trick of Popovich.

Being with these four people, no matter how capable James is, he has to accept the role of a younger brother. Who made you so inexperienced?

So Popovich's other goal tonight is to stagger the playing time of James and several other players as much as possible.

He wants to give everyone an illusion.

These four are big guys, and so is James!

For the development of his disciple, Popovich really tried his best!
The West had five up and five down, while the East had four up and four down!

After consulting Lin Tian, ​​Rivers let him stay on the court and also sent out a five-man team of Wade, Carter, Jamison and Butler!

A lineup that can’t be any smaller!

In this lineup, only Jamison is over 2 meters tall, Butler is exactly 2 meters tall, and the remaining three are all standard guards.

This lineup, which is highly mobile but seriously lacks height, will face an extremely tall lineup from the Western Conference!
In the current Western Conference lineup, McGrady, O'Neal and Garnett are all over 205 cm tall, and Kobe is 198 cm tall. These four have height advantages compared to the players they face!

In other words, Nash is only 3 centimeters shorter than his opponent Lin Tian.

The next game will be a showdown of height and speed!
"It's quite interesting to see Rivers pick up this lineup! With these five players, it's obvious that they need to increase their defensive intensity, use high-post scrambles, double-teams, and quick rotations to force mistakes from the Western Conference guards."

Barkley immediately said after seeing this lineup: "I think the last few minutes of the second quarter will be played very fast!"

"The East wants to go fast, but the West doesn't! The West definitely wants to play a positional battle." Kenny said: "Also, the East's lineup of double-teaming, confrontation, and pressure to force opponent guards to make mistakes is absolutely effective if you play against ordinary NBA teams!"

"But who are the West's perimeter players right now? McGrady, Kobe, and Nash! These three are all top ball handlers and passers! They can run a team's offensive system on their own."

"I think it's going to be hard to double-team the three of them."

As soon as Kenny finished his words, Nash on the court suddenly passed the ball to Kobe at the moment when Lin Tian and Wade double-teamed him. Kobe took the ball and dribbled one step inside to avoid Carter, and then when Butler came over to assist in defense, he suddenly passed the ball to McGrady who was completely left open.

McGrady jumped up with the ball. Facing Jamison who was running towards him again, he suddenly dunked the ball and went straight into the inside!
"boom!"

Then there was a loud bang, and O'Neal turned around under the basket and completed a slam dunk!

The Western team played a perfect team cooperation and team offense! The cooperation between these people was really wonderful!

"It's okay, Devin, let's continue playing like this! Steve is a very fragile guy, and what he fears most is high-intensity confrontation. If you use your physical strength against him, he will easily make mistakes!" Lin Tian patted Wade's butt, indicating that he just failed to defend once, which is normal!

"I can hear Lin!" Nash said angrily as he retreated, "Can't you keep your voice down?"

"To be honest, there's no need to speak so quietly. It's not something to be ashamed of." Lin Tian smiled frivolously, then took the ball and quickly advanced to the front court.

“Steve, go away!” Kobe immediately understood what Lin Tian meant, and quickly came to Lin Tian and switched defense with Nash: “You want to back-up Steve again! Don’t dream!”

"You actually found out!" Lin Tian shrugged and said, "But don't you think Devin has a big advantage over Steve?"

As Lin Tian spoke, he passed the ball to Wade. Wade leaned his back against Nash and followed his example, charging into the inside with no skill at all, using only strength!

But Wade's footwork and finishing ability are not as good as Lin Tian. After being assisted by Garnett, this guy cleverly passed the ball quickly and gave the ball to Lin Tian who was still outside the three-point line.

Facing Kobe who was rushing towards him, Lin Tian took a tentative step, causing Kobe's defensive steps to pause slightly.

At this moment, Lin Tian pulled up and shot again from outside the three-point line!
"Shh!"

After the crisp sound, Lin Tian’s 3-pointer hit again!

He feels really good tonight!
Lin Tian could also sense another thing. Kobe must have drunk a lot last night!
This guy's defensive footwork and reaction ability are obviously much worse than normal!

After all, no one in the Western Conference, including Kobe, took today's All-Star Game seriously, and no one felt that it had to decide life or death.

They came to New Orleans with a gaming attitude.

Even if Lin Tian had said it earlier if he was going to win them by 40 or 50 points, these people would definitely not have gone for the drink.

But Lin Tian is just bad!
He made sarcastic remarks only after he was sure that everyone had been fooled!

At least judging from the first half of the game, Lin Tian’s plan was quite successful!

The Western team was attacking, and Nash once again came to the frontcourt with the ball. When Lin Tian quickly stepped forward to press him, this guy suddenly passed the ball to McGrady on the other side.

After McGrady got the ball, he used one hand to push Carter away from him and at the same time turned sideways, using his signature one-handed move to grab the ball.

"Dewen, pass!" Lin Tian suddenly roared, and at the same time he prepared to run towards the front court.

Lin Tian acted as if Wade was already there and was ready to steal the ball from McGrady.

McGrady was so scared that he turned around quickly and took the ball to defend.

But when he turned around, he found that Wade was nowhere to be found! Wade was facing Kobe 800 meters away!

I was fooled! (End of this chapter)