Chapter 565: The Road to Champions (First Update!)

Davis adjusted his breathing and made an extra penalty.

7 to 9.

After getting lost in the opening game, the Pelicans finally got their game back.

Parker's spinning top layup that broke through the basket was interfered by Davis and missed, and Whiteside protected the defensive rebound.

Ariza's three-pointer was blocked by Leonard, and Gasol blocked Whiteside to receive the rebound.

After the mutual offense and defense in the opening stage, the situation on the field began to fall into a stalemate.

The Spurs are strong this season, but the Pelicans' ability to rank second in the West depends on their own strength.

As long as they play normally, they have the capital to fight the Spurs.

After the first quarter, the two sides tied at 23.

If the teams played before are not enough to explain the problem, then the performance of the Pelicans in this quarter is impressive.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the main players on both sides rested off the court.

The Spurs are led by Ginobili, plus Joseph, Belinelli, Diaw and Baynes.

Jokic led the Pelicans, plus Cole, Gordon, Morrow and Aminu.

The Spurs came up to attack first, and Belinelli's catch missed a three-pointer.

Jokic protected the defensive rebound.

In the frontcourt, Jokic responded from the free throw line and passed the ball to Gordon for a layup.

"beep!"

At this moment, a whistle came from the sidelines, and it turned out that the Spurs called a timeout!

The teammates on the field were stunned for a moment.

It took less than half a minute to play two rounds in the second quarter, and the Spurs called a timeout? !

Sitting on the sidelines, Tang Tian was also a little dazed, but when he turned around and saw Popovich with an unhappy face, he seemed to understand again.

This old man has done all the things that cut O'Neal in the first 6 seconds, and there is nothing he can't do.

Because the tactics were just arranged during the intermission, Williams only reminded the players to pay more attention to defense at this time.

Pause back, Spurs offense.

They suddenly stopped playing the hammer tactics. Joseph directly called Baynes' pick-and-roll, and after the dislocation, he rushed to Jokic.

Jokic has been losing weight during this period, and he has poor control over his body. When chasing and defending, the block hit Joseph.

Joseph gets two free throws.

He made two free throws under pressure, and the Spurs tied the score again.

Back on the defensive end, the Spurs focused on the Pelicans' off-ball coordination. Jokic's support failed, and he turned to play Baynes.

Baynes is strong in size and tough in defense, defending Jokic's strong attack.

The Spurs advanced to the frontcourt, Ginobili also pulled Baines to pick and roll, and the misplacement faced Jokic and continued to rush.

His serpentine breakthrough successfully shook Jokic and scored at the basket.

Once fouled and once shaken, it is obvious that Jokic was placed by the Spurs.

When Jokic came to the Pelicans, Tang Tian worried that he would be targeted because of defensive problems, so he let him start losing weight early.

Now that the weight loss has not been completed, Popovich gave him a "rookie wall" gift against the Spurs ahead of schedule.

Cole's catch and layup was interfered by Embeth, and he turned around and recreated one of Jokic's thugs under the basket.

Williams called Reggie Evans up.

In this game, Jokic was too obviously targeted by the Spurs, so he shouldn't have too many opportunities.

Although Popovich called a timeout after two rounds in the second quarter, looking back, the timing of the timeout was just right.

Jokic was unable to play, and the firepower of the Pelicans' bench was a bit out of reach. The Spurs extended their lead to 8 points with several consecutive waves of offense and defense.

Williams called a timeout. After the timeout came back, he replaced the main players one after another.

Tang Tian hit a pull-up three-pointer when he reappeared, but Gasol immediately responded with a large two-pointer at the free throw line.

Davis's strong attack at the basket succeeded, and then Green also made a three-pointer with a hand-off pass from Gasol.

After a season of training last season, both Green and Leonard have grown to the strength of the 13-14 Spurs in history.

Coupled with Gasol, this year's Spurs are really strong.

After halftime, the Spurs led the Pelicans 53-41.

This was the toughest half the Pelicans have faced since the start of the season.

During the intermission, players from both sides returned to the locker room one after another.

The atmosphere in the Pelicans locker room was a bit dull.

They had only lost one game to the Celtics before, but in that game they lost because they played badly in the last quarter, which was different from the current situation of being under pressure.

This is also the characteristic of young teams, with emotions written all over their faces.

Seeing the reaction of his teammates, Tang Tian was not too surprised.

Last season, the Pelicans had just formed a team, and the whole team worked hard, thinking about nothing and doing nothing, losing nothing and winning.

It is true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.

But after this season's strength has improved, everyone has expectations for the results, and their inner thoughts must be different.

This is a good thing, after all, it is impossible to win the championship with brute strength alone.

It's just that the situation in front of me is a bit depressing.

"guys."

Tang Tian stood up at this moment.

He spoke, and everyone in the locker room turned their attention to him.

He is now the boss of the team and the soul of the team.

"Do you know? When Coach Williams said last season that our goal is the championship, I supported him, but I couldn't imagine the scene when we won the championship, because we were really still some distance away from the championship.

But when he said that after training camp this season, I already had that image in my mind, the same image I had in San Antonio, because this season, we really have that quality. "

After Tang Tian finished speaking these two sentences, some of the team members nodded and some laughed.

Obviously, Tang Tian's words resonated with them.

"But the road to the championship will always be full of difficulties and ups and downs."

When he said this, he suddenly changed the subject.

"Our game against the Spurs is not just the one in front of us, or we shouldn't focus on the outcome of the game in front of us."

He spoke more emphatically.

"If we want to win the championship, we will definitely meet the Spurs in the playoffs, whether it is the semifinals or the final, we will definitely meet them.

At that time, we were going to play a series, 7 games.

They are the strongest team this season, and Popovich is the most experienced and capable coach.

Believe me, we will definitely go through a tougher situation than this one.

We want to win them, one game, two games, a series, what we have to learn is how to play this kind of game.

We must have a firm heart, the heart to do every detail well, the heart to never give up, and to do everything perfectly, so that we can defeat them.

They don't just refer to the Spurs, perhaps other teams that are stronger than the Spurs.

Guys, this is the road to a championship. "

Thanks to Zhuchuan Silkworm, People to Middle Age 2020, and book friends 20170312225001360 for their rewards!