One Guard

Chapter 862 :pay tribute

With 40 points in the third quarter, Yiyang took the praise of the Mavericks fans to the court and chatted with Nowitzki about his fishing experience last summer.

Popovich sat on the sidelines, and the on-site photographer gave Popovich close-up shots more than once. At first people thought Popovich was staring at the court, but then they realized that this guy was just in a daze.

After the fourth quarter, a reporter found Popovich on the sidelines. At this point, the San Antonio Spurs are 23 points behind the Dallas Mavericks.

“Craig, in the fourth quarter, how do you think you can make adjustments to win?” The reporter asked a common question. Interviews during the break during the game are usually these questions.

Popovich closed his face, obviously in a bad mood. But instead of saying nothing, he said a nonsense that is no different from not saying a word.

“How to adjust? We have to get more points.”

“Can you tell me about Leonard’s injury? Does he have any hope of making a playoff appearance?”

“Leonard, well, he is 1.4% better than yesterday.”

After two problems, Popovich returned to the bench. This weird old man born in 1949 sat on the bench with messy silver wire and slightly wrinkled eyes. He continued to sit there in a daze, as if the ongoing fourth quarter game had nothing to do with him.

In the end, the San Antonio Spurs were naturally defeated at the US Route Center Arena. With 40 points in three quarters, Yiyang defeated the once unbeatable Spurs in just three quarters.

After the game, Popovich went straight back to the locker room and did not accept any media interviews. Popovich lost, without any suspense.

After the game, Aldridge also admitted that the Mavericks’ fast pace made the Spurs breathless. However, Jean Yiyang scored 40 points in the three quarters, and Aldridge used the term “disaster” to describe this matter.

The Spurs did bring some trouble to the Mavericks, but it was only a while.

After this game, people discussed Yiyang with 40 points in three quarters, the Mavericks who staged a **** massacre in the first game of the playoffs. However, the Spurs and Popovich were rarely forgotten by reporters and the media.

On the second day after the game, the two teams got a day’s breathing opportunity. During the training session that day, the reporters photographed Tim Duncan. Duncan sat on the bench in the training hall and chatted with Popovich. It was a very magical thing for a little “idiot” to chat with an old man with a weird temper.

It may take a long time for them to say a word, maybe they’ll be stunned in the first second, and laugh in the next. But reporters know that Duncan’s visit to the Spurs training is definitely more than just wanting to chat with Popovich.

On April 16, the third game day of the first round of the NBA Western Conference Playoffs, the Spurs and Mavericks also ushered in their second game.

Before the start of the war, Popovich received such a question. “Duncan, who has retired, came to the training hall to watch your training. Will this help the team?”

“No help, he just came to Cengfan.”

Popovich still looked unhappy. This guy looked depressed. It stands to reason that Popovich’s state after losing a game should be irritable, not depressed. After all, in Popovich’s career, defeat and victory accounted for half.

“The last game also scored 40 points in three quarters. What do you think of his performance?”

“I was watching from the sidelines.”

Popovich is still the bastard, but it doesn’t seem the same as usual. Even after the start of the game, Popovich was still in low mood. Not only that, there were several timeouts and tactical arrangements, all of which were done by Popovich’s assistants. The silver-haired old man did not move at all!

The Spurs played tenaciously on the court, and Aldridge, the silent leader, yelled on the court rarely. But Yiyang found that they didn’t seem to be competing with themselves, but just wanted to show in front of Popovich.

They strictly implemented every tactic and every task set by Popovich. Even if Yiyang threw two three-pointers in a row, Aldridge didn’t say “restrict that guy”. It’s “We can’t let Popovich down, never!”

In the first quarter of the game, Aldridge let Majori and Kuzma know what a real low singles is. With 12 points in a single quarter, half of the Spurs’ points came from Aldridge. In a team like the Spurs, it is very rare for a player to score 12 points in a single quarter, because Popovich will definitely call you a selfish bastard.

But after Aldridge was off, Popovich still didn’t react much. He just touched Aldridge’s head, like touching his own child. Maybe Popovich, who was in a daze, regarded Aldridge as Tim Duncan.

After stroking Aldridge, Popovich sat in the distance again. At this time, the tactic is arranged by the Spurs female assistant coach and former NBA superstar Becky Harmon. A woman sitting in the middle of a group of muscle sticks holding a tactical board to write, write and draw, the unusual Spurs brought an unprecedented picture to the NBA.

“Boss, what’s the matter with that guy?” During the break, Yiyang sat on the bench and looked at Popovich on the other side of the court in confusion.

“I don’t know, he seems to have no intention of coaching today. I heard that his wife is seriously ill, but I don’t know how much it is that Popovich did.” Carlisle also looked at his idol, the “old bastard” “Today is unusually quiet.

After the start of the second quarter, Carlisle began to speed up. Yiyang, Mitchell, Hayward, Gay and Kuzma, the Mavericks once again presented their extremely extreme no inside lineup. Of course, if you really think of Kuzma as a power forward, it’s a different story.

But the Spurs are so tenacious today that they have completed beyond Yiyang’s imagination. This group of guys can still organize effective offense and defense even when they are 11 points behind.

Aldridge worked very hard. After all these years in the league, Yiyang has never seen Aldridge work like he does today.

In the middle of the second quarter, Aldridge was roughly brought down by Majori after a breakthrough. Of course the Tunisian did it unintentionally, after all, this is his playing style.

After falling to the ground, Aldridge didn’t even wait for his teammates to come up to support him, so he got up and clapped his hands vigorously.

This guy is so strong, you can hardly imagine that a season ago, the media would think the Spurs would trade this guy away. If you ask Aldridge what he learned from Popovich, you Aldridge won’t tell you those complicated tactics. He can only answer one word: strong.

Now, Aldridge also wanted to use his performance to make the silver-haired old man stronger.

Seeing Aldridge working so hard, Popovich seemed to suddenly return to his soul. Under the horrified gaze of the Spurs coaching staff, Popovich, who was silent for a quarter and a half, stood up, walked to the sidelines, and gave Aldridge a thumbs up. “Just do LaMarcus, just do it.”

This is the first sentence Popovich said from the sidelines today.

Although Aldridge is very desperate, but as Carlisle said. No matter how strong the No. 21 forward is, it is only Aldridge. The San Antonio Spurs have never been the kind of team that wins games by the play of a star. And Aldridge is not that type of star.

After halftime, the Spurs are still 11 points behind. Yiyang scored 16 points at halftime. This guy who performed best in the first half naturally became the subject of interviews by reporters on the spot during the intermission.

Yiyang stood on the sidelines, the beauty reporter of the TV station. What would she ask herself? In fact, Yiyang can probably guess that it is nothing more than how to treat his 16-point performance in the half, or how to stabilize the situation in the second half.

But Yiyang found an oddity. Generally speaking, young female reporters always smile when interviewing players. In addition to showing their beauty in front of the camera, it is also very polite. But today this young female reporter has no expression on her face. This reporter Yiyang is very familiar and should not be a newcomer. How could he make such a mistake?

The reporter had already started asking questions before Yiyang had finished the run.

“Also, during the game we received a very unfortunate news. The Spurs officially announced that the wife of coach Popovich, Irene Popovich, passed away earlier today. We all know that you and Popovich met For many years, what do you want to tell him at this time?”

“Oh!” Yiyang frowned and swallowed. It must be admitted that the No. 1 defender, who has always been known for his calmness, was really scared this time.

He knew that Popovich’s wife was in poor health recently, but he didn’t expect…

No wonder the old man has been sitting on the sidelines today without saying a word, no wonder Aldridge has worked so hard today to make Popovich survive. No wonder it was Becky Harmon who set the tactics for the Spurs today, no wonder the female reporter didn’t smile on her face. All these seemingly unusual things turned out to be for a reason.

Yiyang may not know that Popovich’s kiss on the forehead of his wife when he left San Antonio was the last kiss of the couple. But Aldridge saw it, so he worked so hard just to make his coach feel better…

“It’s a tragedy, it’s definitely a tragedy. God, I mourn this deeply. God…I know I’ve been in competition with Popovich, but now I really want to let everything go, I offer my sincerest greetings…”

Yiyang and Popovich have a personal relationship, far from being friends. But I think about Popovich Yiyang still can’t help but choke.

When his wife died, Popovich failed to accompany her, but continued to fight on the basketball court! This old man, he really dedicated everything he has to basketball and to the Spurs. Just because he is the great Popovich!

This incident brought Yiyang’s soul impact, no less than Aldridge. If you have played against Popovich for so many years, what Yiyang has learned. In addition to cunning and humor, it may also be strong. When did you see that old man give up? Even in such unfortunate days as today.

In the second half of this game, the Spurs have been on the verge of collapse. In the end, Yiyang scored a game-high 38 points and led the Mavericks to turn the series total score to 2-0.

After the game, Yiyang did not celebrate. He also warned all his teammates not to celebrate. This one just walked towards Popovich, hugged him, and then left silently.

This is the greatest respect he can pay to Popovich. (https:)

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