Chapter 311 Popovich Injured
Spurs attack.

Horry lay in ambush in the left corner, Ginobili was at the forty-five-degree position on the left wing, and Duncan was in the low post on the right wing.

Tony Parker launched an attack from the right wing, and after breaking through Nash, facing Battier's backup defense, he made a flexible turn, broke through another person, and entered the penalty area.

He Zhongqiu, who was standing behind Duncan, quickly made up for the defense, and Parker immediately passed the ball to Duncan who cut in from the low post on the right wing.

But at this moment, He Zhongqiu turned around and pounced on Duncan in one step.

"Whoosh!"

Duncan moved sideways to the baseline, pressed He Zhongqiu with his left elbow, passed the ball with his right hand, and the basketball in his hand flew to the left wing.

He Zhongqiu moved quickly and pounced on the left waist.

His movement is a requirement of zone defense. When the ball is passed to the left wing, the left wing is the strong side, and the defensive formation must move to the left wing immediately.

In the left corner, in order to get rid of the mailman in the left blocking area, Horry moved up along the three-point line, and then the ball flew over.

The 42-year-old postman was really old, his feet slipped and he was completely unable to keep up.

He Zhongqiu, who took two steps to the left waist position, noticed this, so instead of stopping, he continued to exert force and accelerated towards Horry.

The distance from the left waist to Robert Horry was four and a half meters. He landed on his third step and shortened the distance to just three meters.

At this time, Horry received the ball and jumped up with all his strength.

"Snapped!"

His figure instantly crossed two meters in the air, and then with a wave of his hand, he pulled out the basketball thrown by Horry, and the basketball flew backwards like a meteor.

It was just a coincidence that the Spurs bench was behind Horry, and Popovich was standing on the sidelines, and the basketball instantly hit his face.

"what!"

Popovich cried out in pain, covered his face and fell to the ground.

"Oh!"

The scene erupted in exclamations.

"Wolverine definitely did it on purpose. There is nothing he dare not do." Bowen's eyes twitched when he saw this scene.

He felt that he had escaped a disaster. If he dared to harm Nash today, he might be beaten to a pulp by Wolverine.

"What an unexpected surprise." Zhang Heli said hurriedly.

"What a surprise." Yu Jia said quickly.

"Oh, God, Mr. Coach is so unlucky," Barkley exclaimed.

"Yeah, he was not standing in a good position," said Kenny Smith.

"Too bad he was right behind Horry," Jordan added.

"Ha ha……"

After the three of them finished speaking, they all laughed at the same time.

Fortunately, the camera was always focused on Popovich's face, and the three of them did not appear in the camera.

Popovich let go of his hand, his nose was covered in blood, probably because he hit his nose.

He Zhongqiu ran over and said, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Mr. Popovich, I didn’t mean to do that, it was an accident.

You know, it's hard to avoid accidents in the game, such as Bowen's black feet, as you said, those are all accidents."

Popovich was so angry that he vomited blood. Wolverine, Bowen's black foot was of course an accident, but your throwing knives were so accurate that you could throw them with your eyes closed, is that also an accident?

In order to gain benefits, he ignored the fact that his nose was still bleeding and roared angrily:
"Wolverine, you did it on purpose. You are so accurate in throwing rocks and knives, how could you make a mistake?"

"This is a block, which are two different things. You are slandering me. I will complain to the league about you." He Zhongqiu said unwillingly.

"You're still complaining about me?" Popovich was really about to vomit blood.

The team doctor determined that Popovich had a fractured nasal cartilage, stuffed two cotton balls into his nasal cavity, and sat on the sidelines to continue directing the game.

After this goal, the Spurs' morale suffered another blow, and Bowen did not dare to do anything dirty. The Spurs had no chance of turning the game around in the second half. After falling behind by 32 points in the third quarter, they gave up the game in the final quarter.

At the end of the game, the score was 112:65, the Knicks won by 47 points, won Game 4, and got the match point in the finals with a score of to .

贺中秋上场30分钟，21投17中，命中率高达81%，一半属于快攻，加上8罚7中，轰下41分11篮板2助攻1抢断10盖帽2失误3犯规的三双豪华数据。

Duncan played for 35 minutes, made 18 of 5 shots, with a hit rate of only 27.8%. He was blocked 7 times by He Zhongqiu and was almost vomiting from eating too much.

Zhang Heli said happily: "Congratulations to Zhongqiu. You got the match point and are about to defend your title. At the same time, you had a triple-double for the first time in your career and broke the single-game block record in the playoffs, which was 9 before."

"41 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks, that's awesome!" Yu Jia said excitedly.

In the TNT commentary booth, Barkley said with a smile: "Congratulations to Tim Duncan, you set two blocked shot records."

"What record?"

"Blocked shot record?"

Kenny Smith didn't get it, and neither did Jordan.

Barkley chuckled and said, "The record for being blocked by the same opponent in a single game, and the record for most blocked shots in a single game."

"Haha..." Jordan and Kenny Smith laughed.

Barkley added: "Wolverine blocked 10 shots, breaking his own record, but still far from the league's block record.

The Sharks have a record of 15 blocked shots in a single game, with Elmore Smith's 17, Nate Thurmond's 12, and Hakeem's 11. The Wolverines can only tie for fifth place with the Admiral.

On the way back to the locker room, Nash asked He Zhongqiu with a smile: "Wolverine, Popovich, did you do this on purpose?"

"Of course not, it was an accident." He Zhongqiu denied it immediately.

"Really?"

"of course it's true."

On the other side, the Spurs returned to the locker room. Popovich stopped Bowen outside the door, called him to a secluded place, stared at him, and didn't speak for a long time.

Bowen was feeling very nervous, but he had already made his choice, so he was not afraid.

"Bruce, you didn't do anything."

Popovich's voice was very strange because his nose bone was broken and there was a cotton ball stuffed inside, so he couldn't breathe.

"No sir, I tried hard to defend Nash in the second half, but he was too fast and I couldn't defend him. This should not be my responsibility."

"you?"

"Sir, I'm sorry, I've thought about it and I don't want to be the second Artest," Bowen whispered.

"you?"

Popovich was furious.

An hour later, at the Spurs' press conference, Popovich faced the media and harshly accused the Wolverines of intentionally hitting him with the ball.

However, this statement was only recognized by local media, and was not accepted by other media.

After all, everyone saw it. It was an accident after the block, and He Zhongqiu didn't deliberately hit the ball with it.

At the Knicks' media conference, a local reporter from San Antonio also asked about this accident.

"Wolverine, Coach Popovich said you hit him with the ball on purpose, do you agree with him?"

"We were leading by so much, why did we have to do such a trick? And he did whatever it took to win the game. He was deliberately slandering me."

"But your flying knives and locust stones are so accurate, it's hard to believe that they were accidents," the reporter immediately questioned.

He Zhongqiu stared at the reporter and said, "Sir, surgeons perform surgery every day, but people still die on the operating table. Is that murder?"

"Of course not." The reporter said hurriedly.

"Medical accident?" He Zhongqiu asked again.

"Of course not." The reporter said hurriedly.

"Then those surgeons must be not very good at surgery and deliberately used those patients to practice?" He Zhongqiu said again. "No, it was an accident, an accident. Okay, I admit it, everything was an accident." The reporter was really panicked.

He Zhongqiu said disdainfully: "I know you want to help the Spurs, but there are some problems with your approach. Don't mess with me. This won't help the Spurs, it will only make me more angry."

After the Knicks got the match point, many media outlets reached a relatively consistent conclusion on who would win the finals, which was that the Knicks would successfully defend their title.

Among the mainstream media, ESPN's prediction data is the most conservative, believing that the Knicks have only a 95% chance of defending their title.

On the morning of the 12th, Barkley accepted an interview with the media at the hotel and said:

"In the history of the league, there has never been a comeback after falling behind 3-1 in the finals, so I think the Knicks will win the championship 100% this time.

The Knicks in 1951 and the Lakers in 1966 were both down - in the finals and had to go to Game , but those two teams failed to come back successfully. I don’t think the Spurs have a chance to come back this time either.”

On this day, the Knicks management was busy preparing for the celebration ceremony.

We won the championship in Los Angeles last year, and this year we will probably win it away from home again, so we hope to make it as lively as possible.

On the 13th, Game 5 of the Finals.

There were no match points in the previous two games, so there were not many stars, but tonight there were a large number of Hollywood stars watching.

The wives, girlfriends and family members of both teams were present.

David Stern also appeared on the scene with the championship trophy and the Finals Most Valuable Player trophy.

The Spurs, with no way out, fought to the death, with no chance of defeat. As soon as the game started, led by Duncan, they launched the most fierce counterattack against the Knicks.

The game started at 8:30. Duncan first blocked He Zhongqiu's bank shot, then made three of three shots, leading the team to a 6-2 attack wave, and the Spurs' morale reached its peak.

He Zhongqiu made one of three shots, dunked one, was blocked once near the basket, and missed a mid-range shot. His condition was not as good as in Game 4.

Rick Carlisle immediately called a timeout, asking He Zhongqiu to strengthen the low-post and basket offense, and asking Nash to speed up the offensive tempo and play fast breaks.

After the timeout, He Zhongqiu entered the basket and was double-teamed in advance. At this time, the Postman stood up and made a mid-range shot.

4:6, Spurs attack.

"Go ahead!"

Popovich's extremely cold voice rang out from the sidelines.

squeak...

With the sound of sneakers rubbing against each other, Tony Parker started to break through with the ball from the right wing.

He first broke through Nash, and Battier and the Postman double-teamed him at the right waist, forming a closing situation. At this time, he suddenly jumped and passed the ball.

Duncan on the left side of the basket suddenly moved sideways from behind He Zhongqiu, stretched out his right hand to receive the pass from Parker, pressed He Zhongqiu with his left elbow, and then made a side hook shot.

"Fourth shot," Barkley called.

"Take it!"

He Zhongqiu jumped with all his strength, with the basket hoop a full foot above his head, and he grabbed the ball with his left hand.

"Oh!"

The Knicks bench, hundreds of Knicks fans who came from afar, and Yang Xue all burst into cheers.

"Whoosh!"

Before He Zhongqiu landed on the ground, he threw the ball forward with his left arm, and the ball flew behind Nash on the right wing, but the speed of the ball was not very fast.

When Nash saw this, he turned around and ran, and after three steps he caught the pass.

Bowen at the top of the arc tried his best to return to defense, but his speed was not much faster than Nash, and he fell behind when he returned to defense from the middle.

Nash rushed to the frontcourt, moved from the left wing to the middle, and broke into the restricted area from the left elbow area before Bowen, and made a successful layup in two steps.

"6:6, tied! Zhongqiu's block just now was at least 1 meter high, so strong!" Yu Jia shouted excitedly.

The Spurs attacked, Ginobili held the ball and attacked, and after using Duncan's pick-and-roll to break into the restricted area, in order to get rid of He Zhongqiu's defense, he twisted his body into a knot, and completed the shot after creating distance.

However, He Zhongqiu caught up and still made a high-quality block. Although he did not touch the ball, he forced Ginobili to raise his shooting angle.

It was a three-pointer, the Mailman received the ball at the basket and the Knicks attacked.

"Great defense!" Barkley praised.

"Both teams shot 5-for-3," Jordan said.

At this time, He Zhongqiu had already run to the frontcourt basket, Duncan had just reached the free throw line, and Nash's ball flew over from the center line.

Even the 208-centimeter-tall Nazir only ran to the left elbow area, and there was only Bowen returning to defend under the basket.

"boom!"

He Zhongqiu jumped with his back to the basket to catch the ball, then pushed it behind his head and pushed it into the basket.

Duncan rushed to the basket and the Knicks' offense was complete.

"Beautiful! A reverse slam dunk in the air relay, Zhongqiu is trying some fancy moves. Now the score is 6:8, the Knicks are leading." Yu Jia praised.

Zhang Heli smiled and said: "The cooperation between Nash and Zhongqiu is getting better and better. Nash's long-distance passes are very accurate and bold, and Zhongqiu also has enough physical fitness to complete the aerial relay."

"New York, the city of alley-oops, haha!" Yu Jia laughed.

The Spurs attacked, and Duncan asked for the ball in the low post on the left wing.

Ginobili passed the ball, and Duncan took the ball and turned around and slipped to the bottom. When He Zhongqiu retreated, he took advantage of the situation and made a small layup.

"Take it!"

Although He Zhongqiu's defensive reaction was a little slow, he jumped high and fast, as if there were springs under his feet. He soared into the sky in an instant, and when the ball reached its highest point, he grabbed it with one claw.

Duncan was extremely helpless. Even such a ball was blocked. How could he play?
He counterattacked on the spot, deliberately entangled his arm with He Zhongqiu's arm, and then did not let go, even after He Zhongqiu passed the ball.

"Let go." He Zhongqiu said angrily.

"You're the one who's pestering me." Duncan said shamelessly.

The two of them ran forward with their arms entangled.

Jordan in the TNT commentary booth laughed. He was familiar with this scene. Rodman had defended the Mailman in this way before.

"Asshole, Tim Duncan, you are not the Worm, do you still have any shame?" But the postman on the court was cursing.

The two men were entangled until halftime, when Duncan finally let go of his arm. At this time, He Zhongqiu naturally had no chance to make a fast break.

"If Tim had used this trick earlier, maybe the situation of the series would be different," Jordan joked.

"No, he will force Wolverine to be ruthless to him and secretly give him a claw. Can he bear it?" Barkley also joked.

He Zhongqiu entered the low post on the left wing and the Spurs double-teamed him in advance.

At this time, the Postman was in the low position on the right wing and made eye contact with Nash.

The next moment, Nash suddenly pulled to the right top of the arc, dodged Bowen, pulled the ball up with his right hand, and then swung it inward with one hand.

"Whoosh!"

With a surgical pass, the basketball went straight into the hands of the postman who had just cut into the penalty area.

"brush!"

The Postman took advantage of the situation and made a layup, easily scoring a goal.

The Spurs attacked and called a timeout.

Jordan nodded and said, “Just play like this, the Mailman doesn’t have to move farther to get an open position, just get closer to the basket.

Although Nash is a defensive black hole, his passing is at a historical level. He has such a passing ability and can pass the ball in time. "

Barkley said: "It's 6:10 now. The Knicks went on an - run after the timeout. It was beautiful."

Kenny Smith said: "After the timeout, the Wolverines played several very good defensive games, including two blocked shots. It was his defense that allowed the Knicks to launch this wave of attacks."

Jordan said: "Start with defense. As long as we play excitedly, I think the Wolverines' offensive state will come back."

(End of this chapter)