The rise of basketball legends

Chapter 820: I admire you for being so stubborn.

The Spurs called timeout.

The audience cheered.

Zhang Liang nodded with satisfaction: "The Knicks had the upper hand at the beginning."

Yu Jia read about the statistics of fan support. 88% of fans support the Knicks and believe they can win the NBA championship this season.

No team in the country can be as popular as the Knicks. No matter who the opponent is, they will be crushed. When playing against the Nets, there will be a little balance because another Chinese player Dayao is in the Nets.

But even so, in this year's series against the Knicks, the Nets' average support rate per game was only 30%.

The Knicks still have the potential to crush them.

There is no doubt that Chen Yan is the most popular athlete in the country.

Many fans regard Chen Yan as the No. 1 player in Chinese sports, above Yao Yao and the flying star Liu.

This is true in terms of popularity and influence, but in terms of national honors, Chen Yan still has a lot to do. Currently, his highest honor in the Olympics is only a bronze medal.

Popovich kept a straight face and waited five seconds after the players gathered around him before speaking.

"You guys made it too easy for him. It's confrontation! It's pressure! It's intensity. You'd rather commit a foul than let him take a shot comfortably. It's an insult to us that he can score so easily!"

During the timeout, Popovich did not lay out tactics. He spat wildly, hoping to wake up the Spurs players in this way.

In the past, Bowen would immediately understand what Popovich said when he heard it, and he would definitely use his own incompetent skills to stop the opponent's top scorer when he takes the court again.

But now that Bowen has retired, the Spurs have one less person who dares to take the blame.

Popovich hopes Leonard will step forward, but Leonard looks dull, but is actually very shrewd. He will not do such a thing that is despised by everyone.

At this time, Leonard did not show offensive talent, and Popovich's goal was only to train him into a defensive gate like Bowen.

Back from the game, the Spurs attack.

Parker wanted to pick and roll at the top of the arc, but Curry was smart this time and went directly behind Duncan.

No matter how Parker breaks through, he can keep up.

The disadvantage of this defensive strategy is that it cannot prevent the ball carrier's three-pointer.

But this is not a defensive flaw on Parker.

From entering the league to now, three-pointers have always been Tony Parker's shortcomings.

In his first four seasons in the league, he averaged only two outside shots per game.Last year, his three-point shooting percentage dropped to 27.6%, and he basically stopped shooting three-pointers in the playoffs.

Even this year, Parker's three-point shooting percentage is only 30.3%. In the playoffs, this number rose to 33%.

This is the result of his crazy training this summer.

Parker also realizes that the three-point shot is becoming more and more important in the league, and he must adapt to the version as much as possible.

But some people are just not cut out to shoot three-pointers.

Parker is obviously this type of player. At the beginning of the season, he deliberately increased the number of three-pointers he took, but the effect was very unsatisfactory.

By the middle of the season, he resumed his previous style of play, focusing on breaking through the frame.

This season, Parker averaged 6.7 shots at the basket and hit 4.7, with a shooting percentage of 68.6%, accounting for 45% of the total shots, which is very scary!

For a small man, his scoring hot spot is in the penalty area.

Seeing the big open space, Parker hesitated and chose to take action!

"Bang!"

Strike it!

Parker has no regrets. He has to shoot this kind of wide open shot no matter what.

If he doesn't shoot, the Knicks' defense will get tighter and tighter to deal with his breakthrough.

Chen Yan rushed through the half court immediately, but David West did not dare to throw the long pass.

The Spurs retreated quickly. There were people in front and behind Chen Yan, and he would be cut off if he was not careful.

Popovich breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that the Knicks' starting power forward was David West and not Diaw. Back then, Diaw could throw long passes far and accurately, just like a football quarterback throwing long passes.

The Knicks fell into position.

Chen Yan reached out for the ball, but Leonard tried his best to get stuck.

He followed Popovich's request during the timeout and did not allow Chen Yan to catch the ball easily.

But Chen Yan cannot be restricted by just one player.

Chen Yan turned around and ran to the inside.

Just as Leonard was about to catch up, Chen Yan braked suddenly and rushed out of the lane.

Leonard also turned around to follow up. Although he was not out of position, he could not prevent Chen Yan from catching the ball.

Chen Yan took the ball and grabbed it sideways.

Leonard pressed for confrontation.

Chen Yan took a tentative step and suddenly distanced the two of them.

This is breakthrough deterrence.

When there is space, Chen Yan drops the ball, dribbles with his hips and hands the ball to his left hand.

While levitating the ball, Chen Yan moved his left foot laterally to the left.

"boom!"

Chen Yan then changed direction with his hips. While floating the ball with his right hand, he moved half his body to the right.

The home fans were mesmerized, watching Chen Yan dribbling was like enjoying themselves. The fans completely forgot that this was an exciting finals!

Fans in the entire arena were enjoying it, but Leonard was almost breaking out in cold sweat.

He doesn't know what Chen Yan is going to do next!

Chen Yan's right hand levitated the ball and then accelerated violently!

Taking a step beyond the three-point line, Chen Yan stepped back with his left foot!

Parker rushed forward, and the Spurs finally couldn't help but double-team.

Chen Yan can shoot this ball, but it's not necessary.

Giving the ball to Curry who is open is the optimal solution.

Chen Yan leaned back and found Curry with a ground-breaking pass.

Curry is absolutely open to take a shot!

Chen Yan didn't even look at the shape of his hands, let alone the arc of his shooting. He turned around in advance and opened his hands to celebrate.

"Shh!"

Curry did not disappoint Chen Yan!

In training, Curry can hit 100 of 98 open three-pointers. Chen Yan is very confident in his little brother!

Popovich glanced at Chen Yan with disgust.

He hates Chen Yan's conspicuous bag.

Under his leadership, his players will never be allowed to be so arrogant. Popovich's concept of managing the team is similar to that of managing the army, that is, egalitarianism, and no one will be allowed to steal the limelight.

Not to mention Chen Yan's various guest appearances in movies and songs off the set.

Popovich admires Chen Yan's scoring ability, but at the same time he hates his style. This is not a contradiction.

Chen Yan also dislikes Popovich. He feels that Popovich will obliterate the personality of the players. Ginobili is an exception.

Chen Yan feels that if he were in the Spurs, he would be an ordinary 25+5 star at most.

The Knicks launched a wave of offense and kept suppressing the Spurs.

The Knicks' aim dropped slightly after entering the middle of the first quarter, and the Spurs took the opportunity to recover some points.

Chen Yan took a break with 2 minutes left in the first quarter.

His first quarter statistics were 15 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

The Spurs' defense against Chen Yan in the first quarter can be said to have failed.

Popovich has never liked double-teaming tactics. He likes system defense, restricting stars point-to-point while guarding other role players.

This is why there are often stars who can score high points against the Spurs.

The Spurs are not afraid of teams with strong overall strength, they are afraid of players with outstanding personal abilities.

Not only did they go overboard on Kobe and Stoudemire, but even Bonchy Wells went over their heads.

But Popovich is a tough guy, and he believes that his approach will lead the team to victory.

The more stubborn Popovich is, the happier Chen Yan is.

He felt very good tonight. If the Spurs choose to guard him alone throughout the game, he will definitely score high points.