Nba: Most Talented

At the beginning of the second quarter, Ginobili came on the court with a group of substitutes.

On the Knicks side, it was Harrington and Robinson with substitutes.

Without Yang Xu on the floor, the Spurs' defense returned to normal.

They no longer have to face the choice of double-teaming or not double-teaming, and normal one-on-one defense is enough.

Facing a player like Yang Xu, their defense is indeed too weak.

Yang Xu has no weaknesses in offense, three-pointers, breakthroughs, mid-range...

Everything is proficient, and can maintain a high hit rate.

The most frightening thing is that there are many shooters around Yang Xu.

As long as Yang Xu is double-teamed, Yang Xu can always pass the ball and find the teammate with the largest shot opening.

A player like this is always a nightmare for defensive players.

Generally, NBA teams will formulate a set of defensive strategies against their opponents before the game 19 starts.

And generally after starting to execute, it will not change.

But today, the Knicks feel really good, whether it is double-teamed or not double-teamed, it will give them a chance to score.

So even a sophisticated coach like Popovich has to keep changing his defensive system.

Now that Yang Xu is out, Popovich has taken zone defense.

The outside players of the Knicks are Robinson and Chandler. Compared with shooting, their breakthroughs are more threatening.

For the Knicks in this lineup, the main attack point should be Harrington.

Zone defense is more effective for inside defense.

Sure enough, the Knicks' offense hit the inside from the very beginning, with Harrington as the main attack.

Harrington played with his back, so he could only choose to turn back, and he would be double-teamed when he turned forward.

But Harrington, who turned around afterward, didn't have a high shooting percentage.

Or there may be Robinson as the starting point of the offense, but his short stature breaks into the inside and faces the zone defense.

There is no chance to make a shot at all, and it is very difficult to even pass to the outside line.

It is even more difficult to shoot directly from the outside.

Compared with the difficulty of the Knicks' offense, the Spurs are much easier.

Constantly moving the ball, and covering, always patiently find open shot opportunities.

Or rely on Ginobili's singles. Although Ginobili is 32 years old at this time, his offense is indeed unambiguous.

In this way, the Spurs will erode the point difference a little bit.

In a blink of an eye, the difference between the two teams came to only 4 points.

At this time, only 4 minutes had passed in the second quarter.

Looking at this situation, Yang Xu immediately couldn't sit still.

He was just about to tell D'Antoni that he wanted to play, and D'Antoni was one step ahead of him, turning around and pointing at Yang Xu and Gallinari.

"You two go prepare, wait for the next game!"

Yang Xu was a little dazed, why the coach sent him to play in such a hurry.

Didn't you strictly control your playing time before?

Why are you more anxious than yourself today!

Yang Xu didn't think too much about it. The coach asked him to play, which happened to be in line with his own ideas.

So he immediately came to the substitution area, waited for the dead ball, and was replaced.

D'Antoni paced back and forth, looking at Popovich from time to time.

Finally, when Ginobili made a breakthrough, he caused a foul on the Knicks.

Yang Xu and Gallinari came on for Robinson.

In this lineup, Yang Xu plays the first position and Chandler plays the second.

Although the mobility of this lineup is a little slower, the defense is relatively better.

The three outside players can switch defenses infinitely.

Ginobili made two free throws, and the point difference was pulled down by 2 points in an instant.

During this time, the Knicks only scored 4 points.

As soon as Yang Xu came on the field, he contributed an assist.

He dribbled the ball on the outside, tried to break through, and attracted the defense of the two.

At this time, Gallinari made an empty cut to the inside, Yang Xu passed the ball quickly, and the latter caught the ball and made a layup and hit the rebound.

Seeing Yang Xu play immediately made the team score better.

D'Antoni finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lucky to have Yang Xu!"

Looking back, on the defensive end, Yang Xu also contributed.

The Spurs passed the ball continuously, and finally Ginobili's breakthrough attracted the defense.

He passed the ball to Bonner inside, and the latter immediately forced himself to dunk the ball.

But just when he was about to dunk the ball into the basket, a big hand appeared in front of the basketball.

Snapped!

Bonner's dunk was blocked by Yang Xu.

D'Antoni saw the ball off the court and immediately clenched his fists, excited for the ball.

On the other side, it was Popovich's turn to frown.

"This kid is really difficult!"

Whispering in a low voice, Popovich immediately turned his gaze to D'Antoni.

Unexpectedly, D'Antoni was also looking at him, with a smug smile on his face.

In this regard, Popovich also showed a smile and walked towards D'Antoni.

Both of them had smiles on their faces, but they were tacitly aware that they both valued the victory in this match very much.

"Not bad! You took a big deal this year and traded such a powerful rookie!"

Facing Popovich's words, D'Antoni also responded eccentrically.

"Yang Xu is very good, very capable, and I like it very much!"

"But if I want to win you, I'm afraid I still have to show mercy!"