On the morning of March 24, Liu Mang arrived at the arena before eight o'clock more than an hour ahead of the team's training schedule, just to avoid the media.

Recently, there have been a lot of reporters at the Hawks' home games, and most of the time they have to be interviewed. After all, they just beat the Kings, Mavericks and other teams.

Today's game, Liu Mang felt trouble even before it even started. In addition to Duncan being a big trouble, this game is different from the previous games against the Kings, Mavericks, Pacers, and Pistons. What the Eagles are about to play is

The real super team, the defending champion Spurs!

It's time for the playoffs. The Spurs, who have always been strong in the playoffs, although theoretically their strength will decline if they lose Bowen, they have peak Duncan, so nothing is a problem.

Duncan is undoubtedly the most popular inside player in the United States besides O'Neal. If the Spurs' reputation wasn't so bad, it wouldn't be difficult for Duncan to rival O'Neal in popularity.

Playing a game with such a team, and with the huge grievances between the two teams, Liu Mang thought there would be many reporters, so he hid away.

But when all the teammates arrived and the team training started, except that the court TV station was going to broadcast the game today and interviewed a few Eagles players, and it was just an ordinary routine interview, there was nothing else.

.

There is no exclusive interview with a major American TV station, no open interview...

Generally speaking, in games broadcast live across the United States, the coaching staff of each team will use it to motivate the players during team meetings. When the training is over and the team meeting is held, Liu Mang realizes that this

This second match against the defending champion was not broadcast live across the United States...

As the defending champions, the Spurs have a total of 11 scheduled national live broadcasts this year, and including additional broadcasts, there are only 14 games, which is very different from the treatment of the Lakers in previous years...

The game between the league's best team and the defending champion was not broadcast live across the country. This made Liu Mang feel that the Spurs were really unpopular, and by the way, he also lost an opportunity to be broadcast live across the country.

Who doesn’t want to show their face on a live broadcast across the United States? Liu Mang also thought that if you show your face more, your gangster value will increase even more.

Fortunately, there is still a live broadcast in China, which is a little comforting.

…

How can we find a way to play Duncan badly? Liu Mang studied this problem while studying the Spurs game video.

This guy has a bit of a problem. Ratliff and Rahim have to take turns today. The two best candidates to flank Duncan are not playing, which has a great impact on Liu Mang's torture plan.

If they can sweep the defending champions in the regular season, the U.S. may not pay much attention to the Spurs, but domestic players will definitely gain a lot of rogue value, which is still very important.

Of course, the more important thing is to win this game! Dealing with Duncan is very important.

The tactical training and team meeting in the morning, and the coaching staff's arrangements were all normal. They were all tactical arrangements based on the best lineup available now. They were very reasonable and normal tactical arrangements. Can they deal with Duncan and Liu Mang?

I feel hard to say.

The arrangement of the coaching staff is understandable. After all, it is just the regular season. The team can win the best. The outcome of this game does not have anything to do with the overall situation. The current record pressure of the Eagles is not as high as when Liu Mang just shouted that he would win 68 games.

Dangerous, after 15 consecutive victories, the Eagles' goal of 68 wins has become relatively easy.

But Liu Mang wants to win!

Although the Lakers are Liu Mang's expected opponent in the finals, what if the Spurs win? With Duncan here, it's hard to say. Bowen has never guarded Kobe in the playoffs, and was beaten by Kobe.

He has won the title of King of the Western Conference Finals. If someone else replaces Malik Rose, he may not be able to defend him.

However, as the consecutive MVP in the past two years, Duncan is too strong. It was after 2005 that Duncan's plantar fasciitis completely broke out before he reached his peak period. After that, Duncan was still a super giant.

, this guy has always been difficult to deal with and should never be underestimated.

Stockton came to the lounge after lunch break and saw Liu Mang looking at the TV with a worried face. He was confused, could Liu Mang still be anxious?

"Ace, what are you worried about?" Stockton asked curiously. This guy is about to win the MVP, so what are you worried about?

"John, oh..." Liu Mang breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm trying to think of a way to deal with Duncan. If Theo and Sharif don't fight today, it won't be so easy to deal with Duncan."

"Deal with Duncan?" Stockton was shocked! The relationship between him and Malone has become more than just teammates. It can be described as family. Duncan has only played for a few years and made Malone the biggest player in history.

The title of forward was taken away, and Stockton disliked Duncan very much, just like Malone would rather risk internal strife in OK and go to the Lakers than go to the Spurs.

Stockton suddenly became interested: "Ace, let me help you. How do you want to deal with Duncan? Let's figure it out together!"

Stockton is one of the core duos of the only team other than OK that has defeated Duncan in the playoffs in the past six years. He has some experience in dealing with Duncan.

In the past six years, Duncan has won two championships. Except for the time when he was eliminated in the playoffs and was killed by the Suns, which was not included in the number of times he was defeated, the only people who defeated him in the playoffs were Stockton and

Malone, Kobe and O'Neal.

Seeing Stockton being so active, Liu Mang remembered, didn't he have an experienced teacher here? Rasheed Wallace didn't have any good ideas for Duncan. Liu Mang asked, but it was in vain.

Sid Wallace was swept by the second-year Duncan, but Stockton and Duncan's playoff record was 4 wins and 1 loss, easily defeating the Spurs' top twin towers, although Stockton defeated a rookie.

Duncan was born in 1996, but Duncan is different from ordinary rookies. He was the strongest power forward when he entered the NBA. He was already as strong as Malone, who was at his peak when he just won the first MVP of his career in the 1996-97 season.

, in the first year of entering the NBA, he was a first-team second defense, and the second defense was squeezed out by Malone, who performed slightly better on the defensive end.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Ever since, Liu Mang and Stockton, the insidious master and apprentice, began the evil plan to "slaughter the Buddha"...

The discussion between the two became more and more energetic, and the teammates one after another came to the arena two or three hours in advance after the lunch break to prepare for the evening game. After arriving in the lounge, they heard a pair of bad masters and apprentices in the corner.

He laughed sinisterly from time to time, and it felt like the temperature of the entire locker room had dropped a lot...

…

…

The Eagles' home game against the defending champions is about to begin!

Fans in other parts of the United States are not interested in this game. If it weren't for Duncan and the Spurs' behavior of destroying so many stars over the years, the league would probably expel the Spurs from the NBA.

But Atlanta fans take this game very seriously!

The enemy of the Hawks on the road to the championship is the enemy of Atlanta basketball fans!

Now for the Eagles, the biggest obstacles on their way to winning the championship are the Nets, Spurs, and Lakers. As the defending champions, the Spurs don't seem to be as strong as the Lakers, but Eagles fans still pay attention to it. When Spurs fans

When we entered the stadium, there were boos all over the place!

In addition to being one of the three biggest enemies, there is also the conflict between the Eagles and the Spurs. During the last match, Bowen's malicious stepping in shocked the Eagles fans. Fortunately, Liu Mang was fine.

Bowen also said that evil deeds are rewarded and now it is abolished, otherwise Atlanta fans will not only be hostile to the Spurs!

When the Eagles players came on the field, the fans immediately turned into cheers. The fans tried to use their own voices to suppress the morale of the Spurs.

After Liu Mang came on the field, he saw the Spurs' troika. Compared with when Liu Mang met the Spurs in the first half of the season, the troika was obviously about to take shape! It's not far away from the troika reaching the peak of strength next season.

Got it!

Ginobili has an ability rating of 89. At the age of 27, he is about to reach his peak and is only one goal away from being a top star.

Parker, with an ability rating of 84, is not far behind a first-class star. Moreover, Parker is only 22 years old and his future is limitless.

Duncan has an ability rating of 99, surpassing O'Neal, Garnett, and McGrady. He is the player with the highest ability rating among the more than 400 players in the league.

Of these three guys, except for Duncan, who is definitely the No. 1 pick, the other two are low-ranking rookies. Popovich's vision is really great!

If Duncan is the basis for Popovich to have the opportunity to make mistakes, then Popovich's own low-ranking vision is the best way for Popovich to make up for those mistakes on the basis of Duncan's mistakes.

, If it weren’t for the two rookie bonuses of Parker and Ginobili, even if Duncan’s presence allowed Popovich to make mistakes, last season the Spurs had three players with middle-level salaries sitting unable to play, and at most they would only have one season.

With the strength in the second and third rounds of the playoffs, there is no possibility of reaching the finals. It depends on the combined salary of Parker and Ginobili in the past two years, which is only 2 million.

The Mavericks and Lakers are strong because of their wealth, while the Spurs owner is stingy in selling tractors and relies on Popovich and Duncan.

After giving the troika a thumbs up, Liu Mang turned around to practice his mid-range shooting. In today's game, mid-range shooting is the key!

Every time Ginobili sees Liu Mang, he will feel the "warmth" of the world, because every time Liu Mang looks at him, his eyes are filled with appreciation and a little sympathy. Ginobili doesn't know that he has

There was nothing to sympathize with, so I thought it was a mistake. I just felt that Liu Mang admired him.

This makes Ginobili very happy.

Parker was scared when he saw Liu Mang because he was afraid of being abused. There was no player in the 2001 class who was not afraid of Liu Mang.

Ginobili watched Liu Mang go to practice shooting, and really wanted to have a chat with Liu Mang. Although they are both NBA players and employees of a big company, Ginobili has been with Liu Mang for a year.

The number of times we talked was only a few times. Counting the All-Star Weekend, I met Liu Mang three times this year. Including this and the last match, Ginobili only met Liu Mang five times in total.

However, Popovich prohibited Spurs players from talking to Hawks players before the game. Nothing more. Popovich took note of Bowen's grudge!

Just when Ginobili was a little regretful that he couldn't chat with Liu Mang due to team regulations, a big hand touched Ginobili's head.

Without even looking up, Ginobili knew who it was and said, "Tim, who is more powerful, Ace or me?"

Ginobili and Duncan are actually only one year apart. Ginobili has entered the NBA for his second year, and his social relationship is no longer as timid as the rookie last season as an international player. He is very interested in communicating with Duncan.

Very calm.

As to who is better between himself and Liu Mang, Ginobili really wants to hear the answer from Duncan, the best player in the world.

Duncan continued to stroke Ginobili's head like a child. Ginobili used to object to this action, but now... he's used to it.

Duncan had no expression on his face. He seemed to think about it for a while and then said: "Ace needs to be more powerful. He defends better."

Boss, do you want to be so honest?

Ginobili was a little depressed. In addition to being sullen, Duncan's other characteristic was honesty, otherwise he wouldn't have been exposed for handing over his property to a high school classmate. Even Popovich told Duncan that it was wrong to do that.

, but Duncan was too honest, thinking that he was a high school classmate and would not harm him.

Looking at Liu Mang on the other side of the court, who was making a great mid-range shot, Ginobili gritted his teeth and said, "I will be better than Ace! I will definitely beat him!"

Just after Ginobili said these words, he saw Liu Mang, who was practicing his hot shot on the other side of the court, suddenly turned his head and stared at him with surprised eyes. Then, his eyes became full

It's a joke.

Ginobili felt something in his heart, as if he was speaking ill of someone behind his back and was overheard by the person involved!

But it’s more than ten or twenty meters apart!
To be continued...