Popovich is a head coach who is good at planning. When he realized that Su Feng and Kobe were forming a strong linkage between the strong and weak sides, he quickly strengthened the defense on the outside.
The Spurs are one of the two teams with the highest defensive intensity in the league today, the other being the Detroit Pistons led by Larry Brown.
However, there are some subtle differences between these two strong defensive teams.
The Pistons are good at defending perimeter players in the mid-range, but they are somewhat stretched against top assault guards. The Spurs are good at linking inside and outside, allowing top defenders to enter the penalty area and be blocked, but they have no way to deal with the top defenders' strong attack in the mid-range.
Take Kobe as an example. When Kobe played with the Pistons, his statistics were relatively average and he was often targeted.
When Kobe Bryant played with the Spurs, his statistics were relatively good.
Now, Su Feng's strong rise is equivalent to having two steel knives inserted into the Spurs' weak underbelly at the same time.
Beep!
The whistle blows and the game continues.
In the first round, Duncan mentioned high post support. He passed the ball to Parker who got into the penalty area, and Parker scored a layup.
After that, the Lakers' ball rights were still in Su Feng's hands. Su Feng played Ginobili in a back-up, but Ginobili still couldn't get rid of Su Feng's strength. Tony Parker went over to attack again. Su Feng turned around and passed the basketball to Karl Malone. Malone handed it over to Kobe, who quickly got rid of Bruce Bowen and hit a jumper.
Triangle offense!
This is a serious triangle offense.
Standing on the sidelines, Phil Jackson felt like he was dreaming of returning to the Bulls dynasty.
Scottie Pippen also has the feeling that things are different.
However, he was very happy. What he was happy about was that Su Feng played the role of Jordan in this tactic.
After being Pippen all his life, he hopes that his good student can become Jordan.
Two more rounds were played in the first quarter.
The Spurs strike once. Su Feng opened a post-up on the wing and passed it to Kobe, who hit the shot.
The strong and weak side combination of Su Feng and Kobe is becoming more and more powerful.
The Spurs felt like they were pinched by seven inches.
When he returned to the bench, Scottie Pippen couldn't help but said to Su Feng: "Tony, your back-up skills have improved beyond my imagination. You are better than Ginobili, and Ginobili has it." You have things, but Ginobili doesn’t have the things you have.”
Su Feng said modestly: "He is still better than me in many things."
Ginobili's overall strength is now at the level of a fringe All-Star, and he has many superb offensive skills. However, he is in the Spurs system, and sometimes he cannot make his own decisions. If he is moved to a weak team, he will definitely be able to perform at a 25+7 level.
Ginobili has his own style, he's very agile. His flexibility talent is very, very good. Su Feng played against him for a game. In addition to the rapid improvement of his super power generation skills, his talent and super flexibility talent were also improved visibly to the naked eye.
However, the upper limit of this talent is only 89. After all, it was copied from the inside player Van Horn.
Su Feng visually estimated that Ginobili's super flexibility talent must be 99 when converted into numerical values. Su Feng has never seen anyone who is more "water snake waist" than Ginobili.
Therefore, Su Feng likes to play against Ginobili.
He even considered Ginobili a Christmas gift from God.
The two faced off, and on the offensive end, Su Feng improved his super power skills.
On the defensive end, Su Feng improved his flexibility talent.
Best of all, in the process, he'd win praise from across the City of Angels.
"I must say. Even if Super Su relies on his strength, he can make the All-Stars."
Charles Barkley said with absolute certainty on television: "We need him for the All-Star Game in Los Angeles."
This season's All-Star Weekend is held at Staples Arena in Los Angeles. Su Feng is a home player. With his current momentum in the City of Angels, if he does not appear in the All-Star game, Los Angeles fans will definitely blame everyone. .
However, there is now a lot of debate about Su Feng entering the All-Star starting lineup.
Su Feng's number of votes was so high that he surpassed Francis of the Rockets and surpassed his compatriot Yao Ming, who has become the vote leader in the Western Conference.
This makes being selected as an All-Star a sure thing.
However, there are many players and many basketball experts who cannot accept it.
They think Su Feng is just a rookie, and there are too many famous stars who are more qualified than him, such as Francis, Stephen Nash, Ray Allen... who were overpowered by him.
Moreover, the more famous LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in the 2003 class did not get this opportunity. Why can Su Feng enter?
Many people even brought up the fact that Yao Ming was selected as an All-Star last season.
There was a lot of dissension in public opinion.
But now, Barkley said: "If anyone still has an opinion, they should come and watch tonight's game."
"Are you so sure that the Lakers can beat the Spurs tonight?" Kenny Smith asked.
"I think it's okay."
Buckley said firmly.
"Then let's take a gamble? If the Lakers win, how about you play Santa Claus tomorrow? If the Spurs win, I'll play Santa Claus."
"Forget it." Buckley waved his hand and said, "No one wants to see us play Santa Claus."
Buckley is still shrouded in the shadow of the jackass. He doesn't easily bet with Buckley now, just in case he is embarrassed again.
…
Beep!
The whistle blows and the game continues.
After the start of the second quarter.
The Lakers continue the triangle offensive system, while the Spurs insist on an interior-based style of play.
Both sides are exploiting each other's weaknesses, so the fights are back and forth and the fight is relatively tense.
At the end of the second quarter, the Lakers led by 1 point at 52:51.
Su Feng scored 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals in the first half. Su Feng's steal directly eliminated Ginobili's off-ball running tactics, forcing him to only hold the ball against Su Feng. His efficiency with the ball was pretty good. But in the process of defending him, Su Feng's flexibility talent improved sharply.
Ginobili scored 14 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block in the first half. He also performed very well. However, compared to Su Feng, he was far behind.
Because he is only the second in command in the Spurs system, his tactical status is lower than Duncan and slightly higher than Parker.
Su Feng is the absolute core of the Lakers tonight. Although Kobe scored 17 points, from a tactical standpoint, Su Feng controlled the ball.
Popovich was very anxious in the locker room. He had a headache looking at the tactical board.
His headache is not only tonight's game, but also this year's playoffs. Now Kobe and Su Feng alone have given them such a headache. If O'Neal returns from injury, how can the Spurs stop it?
So, he thought about it again and again.
He decided to make a surprising adjustment in the second half.
"Bruce, you go and defend Su in the second half."
When Bowen heard this, he was surprised.
Other players are weird too.
Guard against him? Then who should guard Kobe?
In everyone's opinion, Kobe is the most dangerous person in the Lakers.
However, now Popovich is telling everyone very clearly: "That young rookie is the engine of the Lakers. We must find out his details. You have to defend with all your strength. We will study tonight's video tape after the game and strive to We know him better than other teams. This way, we can have more opportunities when we meet again next time.”
What Popovich meant in and out of his words was: We will not chase tonight’s victory. Our top priority now is to thoroughly study Su Feng.
Is that rookie that strong?
The head coach actually values him so much, and he can be more dangerous than Kobe? Didn’t it mean that all his All-Star votes were swiped by Chinese fans and Los Angeles fans?
Everyone in the locker room was full of questions.
"Manu, tell me what you think of Su Feng." Popovich called Ginobili's name.
Ginobili stood up and said: "He is difficult to defend. He has breakthroughs. Although his speed is not fast, it is difficult to guard when he suddenly bursts out, and his ball control level is very high. It's really like Iraq Seiya Thomas.”
"His passing speed is also very fast. His passing speed is faster than others. I feel that his passing in positional battles is even ahead of his teammates. His ball is driving the Lakers players. It is difficult to catch."
"Also, his post-up play. This guy's power is so hard to fathom. Sometimes he is strong, sometimes weak, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. I can't figure it out at all. I said, his explosive power is very strong, he Always able to quickly connect with back movements.”
"He is really difficult to guard against. I originally thought that his most difficult thing to guard against was his movement without the ball, but he didn't even run today."
Ginobili said sincerely.
Bruce Bowen on the side disagreed. The NBA defensive champion raised his eyebrows slightly and said: "Manu, could it be because your defense is so bad? Your strength and tonnage are not as good as his, so I feel He's unpredictable. In the second half, I'll show you how I defend him."
Ginobili nodded: "But you really have to be careful."
"I'll tell him to be careful." Bruce Bowen chuckled.
Ginobili suddenly felt uneasy.
Bowen is the dirtiest perimeter defender in the NBA. When he smiles, his opponent's life or death is unpredictable.
Although Ginobili and Su Feng are competitors, he doesn't want Su Feng to be injured by Bowen's little tricks.
…
"Who do you think was the MVP of the Lakers' first half?"
TNT sideline reporters interviewed the audience during halftime.
"Without a doubt, without a doubt Super-su!"
"Su!! Su!!"
"Super Su!"
Five viewers were interviewed, and all five viewers voted for Su Feng.
When it comes to reasons, they say.
"Is there any need to ask why? Anyone who has watched the game knows how good he performed. He scored a lot of points and helped Kobe release his offensive firepower. Although Kobe is the boss of the team, I must say, The surprise tonight is Sue.”
"Sue can do anything and he's the best Christmas gift ever."
"Kobe is very strong, we all know it. But we didn't expect Su to be so strong."
"He was a surprise. Without him, we couldn't beat such a strong Spurs."
"..."
When the reporter came here for the interview, he saw Lindsay Lohan passing by. He quickly handed over the microphone: "Hello, who do you think was the best player in the first half tonight?"
"The Spurs' No. 20 player." Lindsay Lohan said with certainty.
"You don't support the Lakers?" the reporter asked.
"I support the Lakers, but I also support Spurs No. 20."
"Is it because you don't like Su Feng? They have been facing each other tonight."
"Refuse to answer the question."
"Okay, thank you for the interview, Ms. Lindsay Lohan."
The reporter on the sidelines sent this interview back to the national live broadcast screen, and the audience in front of the TV was so happy.
This is the effect they want for the show. In their opinion, it is strange that Lindsay Lohan can support Su Feng. Su Feng just beat her to tears. Why should she support Su Feng? Of course I support Ginobili in beating Su Feng.
It's just... Judging from the situation in the first half, the possibility of Ginobili defeating Su Feng is very low.
Lindsay Lohan is about to be disappointed again.
However, the truth is that Lindsay Lohan is happy inside.
She hoped that Su Feng would perform better.
The reason why she says she supports Ginobili is not because of how much she likes Ginobili. Rather, she believes that she has always had an 'unlucky' constitution, and whoever she supports will lose. Sometimes, she turns off the TV and her home team can come back victorious.
Therefore, in order to save Su Feng's character, he worked in reverse. She deliberately said that she supported the Spurs' No. 20 player, and she couldn't even spell Ginobili's name.
Don't guess what a girl is thinking.
…
Su Feng came out of the locker room and he had a great harvest in the first half.
Currently, his super agility talent is 97 (upper limit is 98), super explosive talent is 94 (96), super strength talent is 94, jumping talent is 87 (89), super coordination talent is 95, physical talent is 92, and flexibility talent is 80 (89).
All talents are already above the standard, his agility talent is at the top of the league, and his explosive power, strength, coordination, and physical fitness are all at the top level.
Although the NBA is full of talent monsters.
But Su Feng’s technical advantages are not small either.
Super ball control skills 98, super off-ball movement skills 99, off-ball shooting skills 91, super layup skills 95, super rebounding skills 88 (92), super passing skills 95 (98), super power skills 85 (98) ).
Su Feng is becoming more and more confident in himself, and he is looking forward to continuing to face off against Ginobili.
But when the second half began, the game continued.
When he walked onto the court, Bruce Bowen walked directly towards him. He smiled strangely and said to Su Feng: "Rookie, let me give you a little Spurs shock."
Su Feng glanced at Bowen: Are you going to defend me?
"right!"
Bruce Bowen is certain.
Su Feng nodded, okay.
He showed no other expression, no fear, no worry, no fear.
Just peace.
This was a provocation to Bowen. How could this rookie dare to hear my name without fear? This is looking down on me! !
At the same time, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson on the sidelines were extremely worried.
This Bowen is not a mad Maggette. Maggette is a brute force at best, but this bastard is proficient in all kinds of small tricks and black tricks.
"Do you want to give the ball to Su Feng?" Pippen couldn't help but ask Phil Jackson.
Phil Jackson took a deep breath and made a decision: keep playing like this. If he wants to achieve something, he can't have any fear.
…
