On the morning of April 29, the Spurs arrived in Houston.
After getting off the plane, Popovich took a deep breath, smiled and said to Rudy guy walking beside him, "the weather in Houston is really great. It's sunny, pleasant and makes people happy."
"Yes, the weather here is always so good. I heard it seldom rains in Houston," Rudy guy said with a smile.
"Enjoy all this. I believe God will bless us. Tonight, we will have a good result," Popovich said calmly.
"Mr. Popovich, I also think God will be on our side tonight. The Rockets are just playing by one person. As long as the Huaxia boy has a little problem, I believe we can win the game," Rudy guy said.
"No, no! You can't place your hope on this." Popovich shook his head.
"Do you think you can limit the king?" Rudy Gay blinked.
"Of course, Wang is just an ordinary man. He is not a God. I don't think he is invincible," Popovich said.
As they walked, they talked.
When I came out of the pick-up port, there were many reporters standing in the hall.
When they saw the Spurs coming out, reporters poured in.
"Mr. Popovich, would you like to talk about your views on the next series?"
"Mr. Popovich, do you think your team can win this series?"
"Mr. Popovich, what are you going to do with Wang?"
The reporters are asking their own questions one after another.
Popovich closed his lips and didn't say a word.
The Spurs' players also lowered their heads one by one, pushed their luggage and walked away quickly.
Arrived at the hotel and settled down.
Popovich held a pre war mobilization meeting.
The tactics against the Rockets have been run in and practiced before. Popovich believes that the top priority is to mobilize the enthusiasm of all players.
"Gentlemen, tonight, we are going to usher in the semi-final rival Rockets! I have stressed many times before that to play rockets, we must drag them into the rhythm of our game! We can't play fast with them, we must play steadily and fight positional warfare with them. We must grasp every attack opportunity and can't deal with it hastily."
"We must admit that the opponent is really strong. They have a very powerful rookie Wang Fei. The Chinese boy has been making waves since he entered the NBA. His speed is very fast, his steals are faster, and his shooting is extremely accurate. In this case, if we can limit Wang, we will have a chance to win the game! On the contrary, if we can't If we limit Wang's play, our probability of failure will be very high! "
"So, how to limit Wang Fei?"
"Here, I want to emphasize again, entanglement! Entanglement! Entanglement! We must entangle him when defending him, and use reasonable entanglement to make his speed lose room for play! In addition, we should make his fouls as much as possible. When he comes to steal US, we should make his defensive fouls. Someone may ask, when he comes to steal, he is so fast When we can't even make a reasonable reaction to protect the ball, how can we make his foul? This problem is actually very easy to solve. As long as he comes to grab the ball, he must be infinitely close to our ball holder at the moment of grabbing the ball. At that time, we don't want anything. Let the body spontaneously go to the conditioned reflex and knock him away. In addition, We should try our best to avoid long-distance passing. Long-distance passing is easy to be cut off. We should make the most secure short-distance passing. While passing, we should try our best to pick and roll to create obstacles for him... "
Popovich emphasized his tactical arrangement again.
The Spurs are an old strong team. Under the guidance of Popovich, they have always played team basketball.
Moreover, their playing style is very traditional, and many attacks are completed in the form of positional warfare.
Now the NBA has evolved into the small ball era.
In the era of small ball, fast break and three-point shooting are emphasized.
In this era led by warriors, the Spurs are somewhat out of place.
As Popovich complained, the current NBA game relies too much on three-point shots, which is a bad phenomenon. If everyone keeps throwing three points, the game will become too monotonous and lose the past brilliance and blood boiling.
Complaining is complaining. Popovich has been making adjustments.
Just like Popovich's tactics specially arranged for the Rockets, he has always stressed the need to slow down the game! We should rely on positional warfare to slow down the game and suppress the opponent's momentum with tough defense and attack.
De Anthony believes that although Wang Fei is fast, the confrontation is too weak.
De Anthony is now asking his players to increase their confrontation and deterrence against Wang Fei.
For example, if you come to grab my ball, I'll hit you directly with my body.
No matter how fast you are, as long as you get close to me, I can fight with you.
In fact, D'Antoni's emphasis is mainly to increase the intensity of the game! Try to squeeze Wang Fei's activity space with the strong body of his own players.
After Popovich finished his tactical arrangement, he began to arrange the main candidate to defend Wang Fei.
His eyes turned to Patty mills.
"Mr. mills, I think you are the important task of defending the king. Do you think you can complete this arduous task?" Popovich said seriously.
Patty mills immediately straightened his chest and said, "Mr. Popovich, I think I can do it! He's fast, I know, but I'm not slow. All I have to do is keep following him and entangle with him, making him feel like he's in the mud. I think I can do it."
Patty mills is a second round show. In 2009, he was selected by the pioneers in 55 places.
Then, in 2012, the Spurs signed him with a base salary.
The advantage of this person is that he is fast, has a high defensive enthusiasm, and has a strong defensive focus. He can run tirelessly and meticulously catch up with his defensive target.
He can be regarded as a defensive backbone of the Spurs.
This is also the main reason why he can play in the Spurs for so many years.
Popovich nodded admiringly, smiled and said: "Your defense experience is very rich. I trust you very much! Mr. mills, your task on the court is to defend the king! As long as you do this well, your contribution to the team is better than those top scorers! Of course, I know that Wang is the fastest guy in the world. He can run the 100m world series. I think this guy may He runs faster than bolt! Moreover, he not only runs faster, but also changes direction and moves faster than all NBA players. In view of this, I won't let you go to the single defense king. In defense, I'll let DeMar help you! Your two guards go to guard him and interfere with his catch, so that he can't easily get out of the phone. "
DeMar drozan sat aside and listened to Popovich say his name. He also stood up and said, "Mr. Popovich, please rest assured, I know what to do."
DeMar drozan just came to the Spurs last year.
He switched employers with Leonard.
Seriously, drozan is very dissatisfied with the deal. He thinks he has been betrayed by the team.
But after the start of this season, drozan actually had a good time in the Spurs.
He was regarded as the tactical core by the Spurs. There were a lot of mobile phone meetings and ball rights.
Therefore, drozan's data this season is quite good.
Slowly, drozan's resentment of being traded by the team dissipated.
DeMar drozan's offensive ability is still quite strong. He has good explosive power, good speed, various offensive means and high shooting percentage.
But he has a weakness that prevents him from further growing into a superstar.
This weakness is: defense!
Drozan's defense is only unsatisfactory.
The Rockets also held a pre war mobilization meeting in the morning.
D'Antoni also carefully analyzed the characteristics and defects of each spurs player, and arranged special defensive tactics for each spurs main player.
After talking, de Antony glanced at Wang Fei and said, "Wang, do you have anything to add?"
Wang Fei smiled and said, "Mr. de Anthony, you have spoken very well."
D'Antoni smiled and said, "the Spurs are much better than the Clippers. They are a traditional strong team. They have rich experience in the playoffs. I have a hunch that they will launch crazy defense against you tonight. You have to be mentally prepared."
"The Spurs are also my favorite team. I know them. Their lineup is very stable. They are always good at tapping the potential of players in each team. I won't deny that they are very strong, but I don't think they can cause me trouble." Wang Fei shook his finger and said.
"Wang, you should take it seriously. Popovich is a cunning old fox. He probably has done a lot of in-depth research on you. He will come up with a unique way to defend you tonight. I think Patty mills is the most likely to defend you in the Spurs. He defends very crazy. He is very fast and can tirelessly implement the coach's intention "I hope it will attract your attention," said D'Antoni.
"I know Patty mills. I saw the 2014 finals between the Spurs and the heat and was impressed by him," Wang Fei said.
In 2014, the Spurs can beat the heat to win the championship, which is beyond many people's expectation.
Because, at that time, when the heat big three were in full swing, LeBron James was at the peak.
However, the Spurs still stubbornly overturned the heat.
Patty mills also played a great role.