The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 353 - 190: The Depressed Shaquille O’Neal_4

Chapter 353: Chapter 190: The Depressed Shaquille O’Neal_4

"To be honest, if Tinsley wasn’t an old-timer who had been with the ’Old Pacers’ since the early days," and if discarding players recklessly wasn’t a big taboo for championship teams, affecting the players’ conditions, there wouldn’t even need to be a fuss for Rick Carlisle to ask the team to trade Tinsley."

Even if they swapped him for a "poor man’s" Calderon, it would have been a better addition to the team than Tinsley.

Su Wan completed the help defense immediately, now very familiar with the process.

He and Young O’Neal specifically handled the point guard defense.

Tony Parker found Tim Duncan in an open spot and completed a ground pass.

"Stone Buddha" received the ball and turned around; before Foster could set up the defense, he finished with his signature hook shot.

His condition was truly not bad.

And this was just the beginning. In the following rounds, all started by Tim Duncan, without exception, were due to Tony Parker’s overly composed breakthroughs.

In fact, Young O’Neal’s speed in getting back on defense was not slow.

But the problem was, he was facing Tim Duncan. Just give him a slight open shot opportunity and he would take it early.

Moreover, with the Pacers being somewhat sluggish tonight, Rick Carlisle had no choice but to first substitute Tinsley.

Following the earlier substitution pattern, Su Wan moved to the point guard position, and Anthony Parker came on, taking up the two.

After the lineup change, Parker immediately called for a screen from Tim Duncan on the very first play.

However, with Anthony Parker’s defensive awareness set, seeing Tim Duncan step up, he immediately formed a trap with Su Wan.

The ball went from Parker’s hands into Michael Finley’s hands.

In his prime, Finley was alongside Nowitzki and Steve Nash in the Mavericks, bagging "Player of the Month" awards, and his dry pull-up jump shot was soul-stirring, the jump height even more terrifying than Michael Jordan’s.

In his youth, he was known as "the man closest to Michael Jordan."

But that was when he was younger. Now, his physical condition had declined significantly, and the problems with his ball-handling ability had further intensified. Just as he received Parker’s pass, he instantly passed it to Battier.

But Battier’s hands were "tied" by Artest, leaving no space to receive the ball, and he could only watch as Artest intercepted it.

The Pacers swiftly counterattacked.

A slam dunk by Su Wan, sticking out his tongue, had Popovich cursing on the sidelines.

This Huaxia person’s physical condition had improved again.

Actually, there wasn’t any change in Su Wan’s explosive power or speed, but because of improved core strength and better body control, Popovich felt he seemed more effortlessly fluid, mistakenly thinking his physical condition had improved.

The same physical condition, different control ability, the results presented were also different.

Just like how Michael Finley was claimed to be physically closest to Jordan, but apart from his jump height during dry pulls, he had nothing on par with Jordan. freёNovelFire-com

Now, Su Wan’s ability to control his body had reached about 80% of "The zone" mode in this league, marking him as one of the top players for sure.

There are probably only a handful of players who possess such body control, and all of them are undoubtedly hardworking.

Like Arenas, like Kobe, and like Wade...

Upon seeing the substitution, Rick Carlisle immediately completed a defense counterattack, his face brightening with a smile.

Tinsley looked as if he had seen a ghost.

What else could he say?

He surely couldn’t claim that his brothers had conspired to play him, right?

He was still confident in his relationship with his team members.

The main reason was that he couldn’t adapt to the current Pacers’ style of play!

Full-on defense, full positional rotation, these were his weaknesses and since he joined the league in 2001 until almost 2007, he wanted to change, but some habits are really hard to change.

An even more disheartening scene occurred in the next round.

After Battier finished a three-point counter from the Spurs side, Anthony Parker received Su Wan’s "side pass" and similarly completed a three-point response.

The reason this scene bothered Tinsley...

He used to be the one receiving Su Wan’s "side pass" and then scoring.

But now, the Pacers needed their "lineup jigsaw" to shoot threes more, and he seldom had the chance to cooperate with Su Wan like that anymore.

He had to admit it.

With Su Wan’s current scoring ability.

If there was a chance to drive towards the basket, why pass it to him?

Wouldn’t a direct attempt be more certain?

It’s not like if Tinsley could drive to the basket from the same side, Su Wan couldn’t, right?

Perhaps that was the case before, but not anymore.

Seeing Anthony Parker complete the three-point counter, Popovich immediately called a timeout. Upon returning, the Spurs’ defense started targeting the Pacers’ three-point shooting from outside the line.

Originally with Tony Parker and Ginobili as guards, even with Bruce Bowen, the Spurs still struggled to limit the Pacers’ three-point shooting.

But what made Michael Finley stronger than Ginobili was his defensive ability, teaming up with Battier and Tim Duncan, they formed the "Sweeping Alliance," and even with the Pacers opting for a small lineup, the "three-point rain" didn’t fall as it did in November.