Chapter 646 Looking at the Desperate Situation... (Second Update!)

"I'm not scaring you. If you are in this state, the coaching staff will definitely reduce your playing time. If you continue to lose, you may be removed from the starting lineup, or even not allowed to play."

Tang Tian knew that Whiteside was out of his mind, so he told him very bluntly.

Whiteside stared blankly at Tang Tian, ​​and nodded after he had figured out what he said.

The impact of losing the first game of the series on the morale of the Pelicans is obvious. In the training session on the second day, the enthusiasm of the players dropped significantly compared to before.

After the training, Williams called Tang Tian to his office alone.

"I want Nikola to start the second game, what do you think?"

Williams said this, which shows that the coaching staff is already very dissatisfied with Whiteside's performance.

Not to mention the last game, if Whiteside hadn't had so many problems in the first round, the Pelicans would have ended the series long ago.

Tang Tian shook his head.

"Nicola's defense can't support the starting lineup now. Popovich is on the opposite side. He will target at the beginning, and let us fall into a passive position."

Tang Tian told the truth.

Williams sighed helplessly.

Although he is not good at tactics, he still knows what Tang Tian said. It's just that Whiteside's current state is not small for the team.

Especially in the last game, although the players didn't complain, but he is good at interpersonal relationship, he can still feel the kind of resentment written on his face hidden in his heart.

"The coaching staff can do more psychological work on Hassan, he is still our starting center."

Tang Tian suggested.

Williams didn't speak, and after a long silence, he didn't make a statement, and finally asked Tang Tian to go back first.

Tang Tian came out of the office. He didn't know how Williams would choose in the end, but it was foreseeable that the second game would still be difficult.

In fact, Williams' hesitation is also understandable.

The Pelicans lost a good game in the first game. If they still lose in the second game, the big score will be 0 to 2.

Since the NBA implemented the seven-game four-win system, there have been 192 0-2 situations, but the number of successful reversals in the end is only 14 times.

If the Pelicans fall into that situation, the opponent is still the Spurs, and the chance of reversal will be very slim.

So Williams' caution is understandable.

On game day, the Pelicans arranged for a shooting drill in the morning.

Before practice began, Williams and Borrego took Whiteside to chat on the sidelines.

Judging from Whiteside's confident expression after chatting, Williams finally adopted Tang Tian's suggestion.

Sure enough, after training, Williams first announced that Whiteside would continue to start in the next game.

Whiteside then apologized to his teammates and promised that the situation like the previous game would not happen again.

Tang Tian heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this.

Williams is still very capable in interpersonal communication, and I don't know what he said to Whiteside to make the latter's attitude change so much.

But this is a very positive sign.

After Whiteside apologized, he could see that the expressions on the faces of his teammates were much better.

That night, the second game of the series between the Pelicans and the Spurs continued at the New Orleans Arena.

The arena is still full of seats, and even the enthusiasm of the fans is even higher than the first game.

The Pelicans have accumulated a large number of die-hard fans with their performance in two seasons. Now that the team is in a bad situation, these fans did not complain or blame the players, but cheered for the team in a more enthusiastic way.

Feeling the enthusiasm from the fans, the self-confidence on the faces of the players is much higher than before.

During the opening ceremony, Tang Tian came out and performed a short breakdance like Walker, which ignited the emotions of the entire arena.

Both sides maintained the starting lineup of the first game.

The Spurs are Parker, Green, Leonard, Duncan and Gasol.

The Pelicans are Holiday, Tang Tian, ​​Ariza, Davis and Whiteside.

Whiteside jumped high and gave the Pelicans the first chance to attack.

At the beginning of the game, Tang Tian hit Green's defense with a kick.

That's not counting, he assisted Davis to dunk under the basket in the next round.

After this series of adjustments, the Pelicans' competitive state on the court is no worse than the first game.

However, the Spurs were in better shape than in the first game. Parker, Gasol and Leonard took turns to score, and they played back and forth with the Pelicans.

Like the regular season record and what the outside world knows, the strength of the two teams is a standard 50-50 split.

If you want to win, most of the time it depends on who is better at the details.

After the first quarter, the score was tied at 25.

In the second quarter, the two sides entered into rotation one after another.

Jokic still maintained a good touch, made another three-pointer and sent two assists.

However, the veteran Ginobili on the Spurs side is also in a very good state, scoring consecutive breakthroughs at the basket.

There was a stalemate in the starting stage, and the substitute period was evenly divided.

The two sides played three quarters, and the score was still tied at 73.

If the basketball game is not a score-winning game, the evenly matched two sides may really be able to draw a draw.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, both sides had two starters and three substitutes.

Davis and Ariza led the team on the Pelicans side, and Leonard and Parker led the team on the Spurs side.

At the beginning of the game, Jokic received a pass from Davis and hit a large three-pointer from the outside to help the Pelicans take the lead.

His touch in these two games was really good.

But no one expected that in the next few minutes, the game would be directly dominated by one person.

That person is the veteran of the Spurs Manu Ginobili.

He was in good form in the first half, scoring 4 points and 3 assists with consecutive breakthroughs.

But this quarter was where he really broke out.

He first hit a large three-pointer one step away from the three-point line facing Gordon, and then another iconic step-back three-pointer in the next round.

That's not counting, after he faked the third ball and flew Gordon, he broke through to the basket and confronted Jokic and scored 2+1.

Under his leadership, in just four minutes, the Spurs played a wave of 15-3 attacks, instantly opening the point difference to 12 points.

Ginobili contributed 9 points and 2 assists in this wave, which means that every round of the Spurs' scoring is related to him.

There is a saying among Spurs fans: Look at Parker in good times, Duncan in adversity, and Ginobili in desperate times.

This sentence refers to the strength of GDP, but if you read it carefully, it is actually blowing Ginobili's big heart ability.

Now the game is not in a desperate situation, even adversity is not considered, but Ginobili directly changed the situation of the game.

Although he is old and completely bald, his scoring explosive power is still very terrifying.

Thanks to Xingfeng Xiaoye for the reward.