I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 508
When the Clippers make the right adjustments, they are unstoppable in this game.

Moreover, the Clippers are playing at home in this game. They are behind 0:1, and they will be more or less taken care of by the referee.

It is too ugly to lose two home games in the first round of the second round of the Western Conference.

As the team that stole an away victory, the Spurs' attitude in this game is to start with all their strength to see if they can gain an advantage.

If, like the previous game, they have an advantage at the beginning and press the Clippers until the last moment, they will definitely fight for a victory.

After all, if they can get a 2:0 lead in the away game, the advantage of the series is too great.

But once they feel that they can't beat, are crushed too hard by the Clippers, or the referee blows too much, the Spurs will give up strategically.

So, when the Clippers led the Spurs 33:21 in the first quarter by 12 points, Popovich knew he was going to be ready for Game [-].

Of course, the Spurs will not give up lightly. Popovich made tactical adjustments during the quarter and decided to adopt a more risky strategy to play fast with the Clippers.

If the two sides attack each other, the Spurs can play less strenuously, and at the same time drive the rhythm of the game, and the two sides will have an offensive battle.

Once the Clippers make mistakes in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, the Spurs still have a chance to turn around.

But the Clippers obviously don't want to give the Spurs this chance.

After the start of the second quarter, Tyronn Lue did not take a conservative defensive line.

Jeremy Lin, who played badly in the last game, made his debut again.

Min Congda specially reminded before the game, "Since you have decided to use this player, you must use him resolutely. Don't be suspicious of anyone, and don't be suspicious of someone."

Jeremy Lin performed well in the regular season, but the first playoff game was not enough to adapt to the intensity.

In this game, Director Lu still gave Jeremy Lin a chance to continue leading the second team to play at a fast pace.

Jeremy Lin did not live up to Tyronn Lue's trust tonight. After his debut, he no longer hesitated, nor did he speed up blindly.

Instead, he used his speed and impact to bombard the Spurs' inside line.

As soon as the second quarter came up, consecutive breakthroughs caused the Spurs to foul inside and go to the free throw line.

Then he quickly crossed the half with the ball again and again, boldly through the long pass, allowing Leonard and Ricky Davis to break through to the inside and play a fast offense.

The Clippers entered a familiar rhythm, with three-pointers from the outside and empty cut layups from the inside.

Once the passing and cutting system is played out, the speed of scoring should not be too fast, the Spurs are a bit overwhelmed.

At the end of the first half, the Clippers 69:55, leading the Spurs by 14 points.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Spurs still had some thoughts of chasing points.

But as the third quarter began, Curry made a three-pointer, Harden made a breakthrough, Harden made a mid-range jumper, Harden made a breakthrough throw, Harden made a three-pointer, and Harden assisted Curry to make a three-pointer.

The two teamed up to direct a wave of 15:2 offensive shock waves. In just 4 minutes, the difference between the two sides was widened to nearly 30 points!
The powerful scoring explosive power of outside players was fully reflected at the beginning of the third quarter.

In the early 10 years of the playoffs, the scenes of fighting each other like a meat grinder, and the scenes of insider wrestling are becoming less and less.

The Mavericks' championship in 11 proved that shooting can also win the championship.

Moreover, accurate three-pointers and mid-range are extremely important. Once the three-pointer is opened, it is very powerful.

The Mavericks beat the traditional Lakers to death with extremely precise shots in the Western Conference semifinals.

In the Western Conference finals, he fought with the Clippers to shoot, and finally broke through the siege and won the championship.

Now that the Clippers' two perimeters feel overwhelming tonight, the Spurs simply can't stop them.

Popovich looked at Harden and Curry's torrential mid-range and long-range shots, and could only call a timeout, and then looked up at the scoreboard:
"30 points, now this group of guys, the shooting is really accurate, damn it."

As a fossil-level coach who has coached the Spurs since the 90s and spanned three eras, Popovich has a deep memory of the changes in the league's tactical style.

He knows that the day when the three-pointer becomes popular will come one day, because no one who plays and coaches in the NBA is an idiot, and everyone knows how significant the three-pointer is once it is developed.

In the 1994-1995 season, the league shortened the length of the three-point line. As a result, the average number of three-point shots in the regular season soared from 9 to 15!
So everyone is not stupid. Once the three-pointer becomes easy, everyone is willing to shoot.

That year was also the year the Rockets, the sixth in the Western Conference, won the championship. Their success benefited from the shortened three-point line.

They are the team with the most three-pointers per game and the most hits in the regular season.

In the next two seasons, the number of three-point shots increased year by year, and many players began to shoot more three-pointers.

The NBA believed that this situation would lead to a decline in game viewing, so it changed the three-point line back in the 1997-1998 season.

As a result, the number of three-point shots dropped from 16 to 12 in that season, and the NBA has returned to the path of inside confrontation and slow-paced defense.

The reforms in just three seasons have fully demonstrated that when everyone's three-point accuracy is relatively high, everyone is willing to shoot more three-pointers to obtain greater points gains, and at the same time expand the field space.

In the 90s, the three-point accuracy became higher because the three-point line was shortened.

Now, the three-point accuracy is higher because players have better shooting ability, and at the same time, the defense on the perimeter is weakened.

Like Curry and Harden, they can use the dribble or a single block to get rid of the defender, gain space and directly shoot a three-pointer.

Such shots were relatively rare 10 years ago, and most of them were forced shots from mid-range after getting rid of the defense.

Now players have raised their shooting range to a higher level. Curry has a unique shooting posture and his shooting speed is extremely fast.

And Harden has a very strong upper body, allowing him to complete some difficult shots.

After the two bombarded like this indiscriminately, the balance of victory was instantly overturned.

Popovich calling a timeout didn't do much either.

Facing a point difference of nearly 30 points, the Spurs no longer have the ability to turn the tide.

In fact, in the playoffs, the Spurs seldom complete that kind of big comeback from a big deficit.

Their game style determines that they rarely fall behind by a big score.

Once falling behind a lot, the lineup's scoring explosiveness is average and the defensive aggressiveness is average.

At the end of the third quarter, the Spurs got a little closer to the score, but after Jeremy Lin came on the court, there was another whirlwind and aggravated the situation, making the score of the two sides in the third quarter 102:72...

The point difference returned to 30 points, and the Clippers scored 100 points after three quarters. The explosive power of this score is really amazing, very amazing.

Min Congda was a little dumbfounded watching from the stands, is my team so strong?
"It doesn't make sense to be so strong, it's just an accidental outbreak."

"The Spurs' defense is rubbish. They don't have any strength on the outside. Hey, the third position is too bad."

Min Congda habitually criticized the opponent's defense, and then realized that they wanted to win this game.

By the fourth quarter, the game had completely lost its suspense.

The Clippers evened the two sides with a 122:100 victory.

However, the big score of 1:1 did not satisfy the Clippers.

Stole one win in Los Angeles by the Spurs, deserved Game [-].

And in the playoffs, winning by 58 points is exactly the same as winning by 1 point.

After the game, everyone in the Clippers locker room just celebrated lightly.

Min Congda didn't go to the locker room at all, but sent a text message to everyone: See you at the airport tomorrow morning.

The Clippers did not stop in Los Angeles after this game, and took an early flight to San Antonio the next morning to prepare for the third game between the two sides.

The third game is obviously extremely important. If the Clippers lose the third game, the risk factor of losing the series will be greatly increased.

If it can be won, the home court advantage will return to the Clippers.

In the case of a 1:1 tie, it is very important to grab 3.

The Spurs looked at the defeat in this game, and the main players rested early in the fourth quarter.

Popovich is trying to save his energy, and he wants to give the Clippers a hard blow in the third and fourth games.

The third battle will be the one that sets the tone for this round of the series, and the strength, victory and defeat of the two sides will also be truly seen from this one.

The Clippers, who arrived in San Antonio ahead of schedule, began adaptive training.

At the pre-match preparation meeting, Min Congda held a meeting with the coaching staff to make tactical preparations.

And just as the Clippers were actively preparing for the third game, Sterling's racial discrimination made new progress.

Sterling's wife, Shelley Sterling, suddenly filed a divorce application with the court, deciding to end her 50-year marriage with Sterling.

Moreover, she publicly stated that she did not want to sell the Clippers, and claimed that she had relevant evidence, saying that the recording incident was a conspiracy.

Immediately afterwards, on the afternoon of Shelley Sterling's announcement, NBA-Batman, the king of NBA gossip on Twitter, tweeted:
"Sterling's recording was illegally tapped because some people wanted Sterling to leave the NBA. This is an internal conspiracy."

Once this news was released, it once again caused quite a stir in the public opinion circle.

Although this tweet did not name anyone, everyone knows who this "someone" is.

It must be the Clippers general manager Smart-Min!

NBA-Batman has spared no effort to create the image of Min Congda seeking power and usurping the throne in the Clippers.

Well now, the character set that has been shaped for so long is finally fulfilled!
Smart Min really wanted to usurp the throne, and even came up with such a trick to frame his boss?

People suddenly started to have some sympathy for Sterling, which is crucial.

Regardless of the legal society in the United States, in fact, the tendency of public opinion and human emotions will always play a decisive role in the judgment of certain matters.

Many people supported Sterling's expulsion from the league earlier, but now there are voices supporting Sterling, because some people don't like Min Congda.

In short, a series of sudden changes caught the NBA by surprise and made Silva feel a little headache.

Silva contacted Min Congda, who was preparing for the game with the players in San Antonio, to find out about the situation.

But Min Congda said: "I can't protect myself now. Everyone says that I framed Sterling! That NBA-Batman, have you found out who is behind the scenes? You always expose the news like this, and it will be exposed to you one day. Do you believe it?"

These words made Silva break out in a cold sweat, he knew that this incident was inseparable from his own manipulation.

If this NBA-Batman really pulls himself in, then he, the NBA president, can't do a good job and can only take the blame and resign.

How could Silva have thought that this NBA-Batman is Min Congda himself.

How did he know that there are such psychopaths in the world who are willing to defile themselves?
And Shelley Sterling's divorce also brought big trouble to the team's sale.

Once the two divorce, Shelley will legally own half of the Clippers.

If Shelley is unwilling to sell the Clippers and only sells Sterling's share, who will buy it?
Because only less than half of the equity is obtained, it is impossible to obtain control of the Clippers.

Silva wasn't quite sure what was going on, as Shelley Sterling was clearly in favor of selling the Clippers.

With her connections in the Los Angeles area, she was able to find a good buyer, and this person must be familiar to Silva.

At that time, the NBA board of directors will usher in new members, and Sterling's smelly and hard latrine stone can be removed.

Who knows that Xie Li suddenly came to such a move, whether the court will pass this decision has become an unknown.

Adam Silva faintly felt that he seemed to be calculated.

However, he was not sure who the person who plotted against him was.

It feels like Smart-Min, because he didn't let Jordan be the boss according to his ideas.

But he was also hurt in this incident. NBA-Batman's tweet pointed directly at Min Congda. This guy is bound to be involved in the whirlpool of public opinion.

Silva didn't know what to do for a while, and he began to regret a bit, why did he partner with Min Congda and play tricks when he was doing well.

Once this thing backfires, it will be very fatal.

Just when Silva was at a loss and felt anxious, Stern called Silva.

During the phone call, Stern told Silva: "When it's time to give in, you have to make a move. The number one task of this season is to finish the season smoothly and have a good ending that will satisfy the fans. Focus on basketball and put some things aside. Smart-Min is not easy to deal with. Don't cooperate with him casually, but don't provoke him. This guy is very evil. Just like this, finish this season well, Adam. Next season, you will be the real president of the league, no longer an agent."

When Stern spoke, he meant to let Silva keep his word and not mess things up.

And he gave Silva a reassurance that he will continue to be the president next season, not the acting president.

This means that Stern will completely retire and withdraw from the stage of history.

With Stern's promise, Silva held a press conference the next day, announcing that the plan to force the Clippers to sell was suspended.

For Sterling's inappropriate remarks, they will re-study and make a new punishment decision.

On the same night, the Clippers had their third away game against the Spurs.

When the Clippers trailed by 15 points in the first three quarters, they made a sudden effort in the fourth quarter and completed a super reversal!

105:103, 2 points advantage in the away game to get a valuable victory!

The lore of the last goal was even more thrilling.

(End of this chapter)