The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 381 - 196 Las Vegas Romantic Encounter_2

Chapter 381: Chapter 196 Las Vegas Romantic Encounter_2

What is meant by "blessing in disguise"? This is it.

Wade, having lost the championship, was blessed with health.

It’s hard to know how he would choose if he had to choose for himself.

In terms of statistics alone, Su Wan performed slightly better than Nowitzki.

However, he couldn’t compare to Nowitzki in terms of efficiency, who had joined the "180 Club."

Thus, the individual performances of the two could only be considered evenly matched, without a clear stronger or weaker side.

And now, with the Mavericks being so strong, if the Pacers can’t maintain their current momentum until the end, this year’s Regular Season MVP might very well go to Nowitzki.

The only way to ensure that Su Wan wins the award is to break the NBA record for the best regular season record.

The good news is, when a reporter asked Su Wan whether he would choose the Championship or the Regular Season MVP, Su Wan decisively chose the Championship.

The reason he didn’t say he wanted both, as he usually might have,

was because Su Wan was aware of the pressure this would put on his teammates.

After all, the Regular Season MVP is just an individual honor, and he didn’t want the entire team to face greater pressure just because he wanted to win this award. freewёbnoνel.com

The future Warriors’ record of 73 wins and 9 losses also reminded him.

"Historic best record" is great, but if it doesn’t end with a Championship, it would be a nightmare!

Moreover...

Having won the Championship, who would dare say he isn’t the most valuable player?

On February 8, the Pacers faced a "tough battle" with the Spurs.

The impact of Battier’s arrival was clear; this season’s Spurs allowed the lowest opponent scoring in the League, with opponents averaging only 85.4 points per game.

Given such defensive efficiency, Tim Duncan, as the defensive core, should have taken the opportunity to campaign for the "Best Defensive Player Award."

But Popovich emphasized in the media multiple times that it was a team effort; this season, everyone on the Spurs was highly focused on defense: "I love the attitude of everyone on the Spurs right now!"

Honestly, though Duncan has never won a "Best Defensive Player Award" in his career, Popovich bears the primary responsibility.

Moreover, while he always emphasized the team, he later became the coach with the most "Coach of the Year" awards in NBA history.

At that time, he suddenly stopped mentioning the word "team!"

Indeed, the person who emphasizes the team often is the least team-oriented; those who say they don’t care about statistics are always the ones sneaking a peek at the stat sheets during breaks.

As one of Indiana’s most hated teams, the booing from the entire audience at the start of the game was deafening.

It wasn’t until the jump ball ended and the Pacers took the first offensive possession that the booing slowly turned into cheers.

Having figured out the Pacers’ true tactical approach beneath the three-point strategy in the last game, Popovich targeted the Pacers’ perimeter shooting from the start of this game.

This matched the offensive tactics that Rick Carlisle had set up for the Pacers.

Thus, the game started with the Pacers falling behind 7 to 12.

Rick Carlisle called a timeout and moved Su Wan to the point guard position, letting him handle the ball and play one-on-one.

The Spurs’ point guard was Tony Parker; Su Wan mismatched against him was sure to dominate.

And no matter who Parker mismatched against defensively, he was a "big hole."

Defending Anthony Parker, he let him score two consecutive three-point shots; defending Artest, he fared even worse as Artest’s strong body left him utterly dispirited.

The score gap was quickly overturned.

Popovich cursed loudly.

The person who was the Finals MVP earlier this season became a huge defensive liability for the Spurs in this game.

This actually served as another proof of Popovich’s boasting.

Tony Parker was neither Steve Nash nor Stephen Curry, but to maintain the Spurs’ momentum, Popovich made him the offensive core in the "post-Tim Duncan" era, sacrificing Duncan’s prime, focusing on defense to protect Parker.

The result of forcing this strategy was the Grizzlies pulling off the "Black Eight Miracle."

Did you really think it was just because Tim Duncan was annihilated by the "Black and White Bears" that the Spurs were "Black Eighted"?

In fact, the perimeter was equally locked down.

That Spurs team and the current Phoenix Suns were quite similar; high-paced gameplay succeeding in the regular season but then getting shut down defensively in the playoffs.

It’s clear from the Spurs’ performance during that period that Popovich’s success relied heavily on Tim Duncan.

Like in this game, initially, the Spurs’ offensive core was Tony Parker, but when he was overwhelmed and the Spurs fell behind, Popovich called a timeout and his strategy was...

to give the ball to Tim Duncan!

Was this strategy any better than what Tyronn Lue used?

The Pacers continued to exploit Tony Parker consistently.

Popovich had to arrange for more help defense to alleviate Parker’s defensive pressure.

There was some effect.

Yet being targeted so defensively, the "Little French Sports Car" seemed to have a tire leak this game; his typically lightning-fast dribble breakthroughs were completely absent.

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on freew(𝒆)bnov𝒆l.(c)om

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.