Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 764 764 506 They Came_2

?Chapter 764: Chapter 506 They Came_2 Chapter 764: Chapter 506 They Came_2 The Spurs, lacking new breakthroughs on the perimeter, started to place their hopes in Ginobili calling upon the divine.

15 minutes of Jordan wasn’t enough; they needed at least 35 minutes of Jordan to have a chance of making the Supersonics scared.

But tonight, Ginobili was neither the 15-minute Jordan nor the underperforming player Popovich couldn’t wait to trade after the game; he simply oscillated between being a god and a beast.

Sometimes, he could go one-on-one against Yu Fei on the outside.

He used changes in pace to create space for three-point shots, and then scored.

Seeing such a Ginobili, every 300-pound San Antonio person proudly puffed up their belly.

“Oh my God, Manu! Our Manu, do you have a Manu like this?”

However, soon enough, out of nowhere, he would throw a cross-court pass that was a defensive grenade—successful, it’s a top highlight; failed, it’s a groan-worthy blunder.

Tonight he failed more often than not.

The problem was he didn’t need to take such risks. He just needed to pass the ball steadily to his nearby teammates and let it flow slowly.

Yet, it seemed as if Ginobili lived in a world where not showing off meant death; he made risky choices on his own accord, and every time he did, he looked resolute.

“He truly believes he can do it!”

Statistics do not lie.

Tonight, Ginobili demonstrated the standard of 15-minute Jordan on the offensive end; matched heavily against Yu Fei, he scored the team’s second-highest 24 points with 15 shots and 8 makes. However, his 9 turnovers for the entire game were enough to negate any contribution he made offensively.

When the Argentine wavered between godliness and beastliness, the Spurs needed extra reliance on the other three.

But both Luol Deng and Iguodala played a kind of civil servant basketball; as starters, they were indispensable in their respective positions. Yet Iguodala needed to devote energy to defense, while the British Jordan was like a carbon copy of Antawn Jamison.

You could expect him to contribute 15-20 points every game, but hoping for more was delusional, especially in the playoffs. Content like a working-class man having reached his limit after scoring as much, he would then vanish from the floor; whether on offense or defense, his presence was imperceptible. Yet at the end of the game, you’d see—18 points, 6 rebounds? Doesn’t he play well?

In the end, the Spurs needed luck to advance.

Starting the fourth quarter, they were behind by 14 points, and then, the greatest luck in their team’s history stepped forward.

13 years ago, they won the lottery on draft night, leaving an infinite regret among a generation of Boston basketball fans.

This draft pick turned into Tim Duncan. In the dreams of die-hard Celtics Fans like Bill Simmons, Duncan would wear a Celtics jersey, leading them to a glorious era.

Decades passed, and even though Duncan was twice defeated in the finals by Yu Fei, he still led his team to championships in 1999 and 2005. At the power forward position, the NBA’s most barren, he established a consensus as the Greatest of All Time. Now at 34, he was still All-Star caliber. But injuries and lasting impacts of weight loss plagued him.

He had played like Luol Deng for more than two and a half games already.

Could an average of 17 points and 11 rebounds let Duncan rest easy playing with his cars after being sent home by Yu Fei once again?

Of course, the answer was no.

Duncan stood up, dominated Kwame Brown, making people realize that the rumors of being dominated by the opponent were just a ridiculous tale.

Chris Bosh was equally unable to stop him.

In the fourth quarter, Duncan’s low post shooting was 100% successful.

However, Yu Fei’s breakthrough with a 2+1, Durant’s three-pointer, and Moro’s three-pointer made Duncan’s desperate fight seem ineffective.

Amidst the Supersonics’ stable perimeter shooting and Yu Fei’s overwhelming paint threat, Duncan’s rebound only lengthened the Spurs’ life by 6 minutes.

34-year-old Duncan couldn’t attack until the last moment like he used to.

When out of stamina, he couldn’t hit The Shot like Ultraman defeating a monster.

From his missed putback to the beginning of his struggle to post up, the Spurs’ struggles came to an end.

The Supersonics were like a python that, after 42 minutes, finally asphyxiated their opponent.

The final six minutes were garbage time, with both teams successively substituting their main players.

Popovich was reluctant to accept it, but what could he do?

Duncan was old, Ginobili’s divine-beast duality was no secret, Dragic was too young, and both Iguodala and Luol Deng seemed inadequate for this level of competition.

It was understandable with Iguodala; the Spurs couldn’t expect him to score 30 points each game, but the British Jordan… Starting from his second season, he has consistently contributed 15 points a game, and now he could still contribute 15 points. But to get over the mountain that is the Supersonics, the Spurs needed a player who could change the game.

3 to 1
Even though the process had its complications, the Spurs couldn’t stop the Supersonics’ advancement.

In the upcoming fifth game, the teams would return to KeyArena Center.

For the Supersonics, it was just an extra game to sell tickets.

Kwame Brown spoke arrogantly after the game, believing Duncan’s last quarter performance proved nothing.

Moreover, he had no respect for the Spurs.

“We all know only one round of the series matters.” Brown said with a smile, “You’ll see soon enough.”

Brown’s outlandish comments drew criticism from several media outlets.

This led him to double down on Twitter: “Hate me, I don’t care about losers’ opinions!”

Angry Spurs fans replied to his tweet: “You’re just Frye’s dog, nobody cares about what you say!”