After this training session with Leonard, Tang Tian began to appreciate the young man. Not everyone can come out of such an experience.

Although God had given him some talent for playing basketball, his ability to become a superstar was inseparable from his efforts.

And Tang Tian also knew why his uncle was so important.

After Leonard's father died, it was his uncle who took care of his family, which was actually like a second father to him.

After that night, Leonard also regarded Tang Tian as a true friend and trusted him very much.

The Spurs welcomed a game against the Lakers the next night.

The game was very intense. Kobe erupted in this game, scoring 47 points and helping the Lakers narrowly beat the Spurs by 2 points.

Although the Spurs lost, Diaw and Leonard continued to shine.

The former continued to show his versatility with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, while the latter scored 16 points, breaking his career high.

From a certain point of view, Diaw's appearance made Leonard perform even better than before.

This is also the change that a good passer can bring to his teammates.

After playing the Lakers, the Spurs didn't have much rest time. They would welcome a game against the Clippers the next day.

The two teams almost caused a conflict in the opener, and the gunpowder smell on the court was very strong in the next two games.

Now the Clippers are working hard to grab the third place in the West with the Lakers, and they will definitely fight for this game with all their strength.

Moreover, as city rivals, they will inevitably be compared by fans.

Now that the Lakers, whose strength has declined, can beat the Spurs, if the Big Three of the Clippers can't win, they will definitely be gossiped about by the fans.

So for the Clippers, whether it's the grudges themselves, the playoff rankings, or the fan factor, they must win this game.

The next night, the entire Staples Center was packed.

The Clippers are now close to the Lakers and are on the rise, and have shown the intention of replacing the Lakers next door. The ticket market is quite hot.

The pre-match opening ceremony was overwhelming, and the fans were enthusiastic.

The starting players of the two teams took the stage one after another.

The Spurs' regular lineup included Parker and Green on the outside, Tang Tian and Duncan on the front line, and Blair as the center.

On the Clippers' side, Billups was reimbursed for the season in February and it was confirmed that he would not be able to play in the playoffs. Randy Foye replaced him in the starting lineup.

There was no change in other positions compared with the beginning of the season. It was still the Big Three of Paul, Griffin and Jordan, plus a veteran Caron Butler.

Jordan jumped for the home team to get the ball to attack first, which also kicked off the official start of the game.

After the game started, the Clippers played extremely tenaciously, and both Paul and Griffin were in very hot form.

When they opened up, the entire Clippers team also opened up. Not only the veteran Butler in the starting lineup, but also Mo Williams, Nick Young and others who came off the bench, all scored various goals, which meant they couldn't be completely suppressed.

At the end of the first quarter, the score on the court was 40 to 25, and the Clippers had already gained a 15-point lead.

The Clippers' shooting percentage in the first quarter was as high as 70%.

It seems that the Spurs are a bit unlucky, and they are leaving Los Angeles with a losing streak.

Paul and Griffin were laughing and laughing on the bench. When they took the lead, they always liked to fully reveal this emotion.

It was understandable to be behind by some points when the opponent was in good condition, but Popovich seemed very unhappy.

He could allow the team to be behind, but he absolutely could not tolerate the team being bombarded for 40 points in one quarter.

During the intermission, he almost yelled at the players' noses.

In the second quarter, Popovich put on a lineup that he had never put on before.

The outside line was Ginobili and Green, the front line was Tang Tian and Leonard, and the center was Splitter.

Regardless of the starters and substitutes, he brought up the three best defensive wings in one go.

The intention was also obvious. He could have fewer scoring points, but he would never allow you to score like in the first quarter.

At this time, the Clippers' lineup on the court included Mo Williams and Bledsoe on the outside, Nick Young and Kenyon Martin on the front line, and Reggie Evans as the center.

The Spurs attacked first, and Ginobili's breakthrough was closely guarded. He passed the ball to Leonard. Leonard's feint had some of Kobe's charm, but the pull-up jumper after the shot failed to hit.

The Spurs' lineup was indeed relatively weak in positional offense.

Evans grabbed the defensive rebound, and Bledsoe dribbled the ball to the frontcourt to organize.

Nick Young came out around the pick-and-roll to prepare to catch the ball and shoot.

However, when he ran out to receive the ball, he was completely marked by Green, who had switched defenses, and there was no space to shoot at all.

Young instinctively chose to play one-on-one, and his shot after turning around was interfered with and went wide of the basket.

Splitter protected the defensive rebound.

After Ginobili got the ball, he quickly advanced. After a snake-like breakthrough against Bledsoe, he gave the ball back to Leonard, who was following up, and the latter scored with a layup.

The Spurs' lineup didn't look very good in positional battles, but their fast breaks were very good.

In the Clippers' offense, Young's movement was closely guarded by Tang Tian and he had no chance to catch the ball. Mo Williams on the outside was also very uncomfortable being entangled by Green.

The pressure on the Clippers' weak side was very high when the three wings of the Spurs were on the court at the same time.

Bledsoe then reached out to signal Martin's high pick-and-roll to prepare for a one-on-one.

The second-year student's playing style was quite similar to Westbrook's. He was the type who would roll up his sleeves and go for it if he didn't agree.

Martin's pick-and-roll was in place, and Bledsoe accelerated towards the inside against Leonard, who had switched defenses.

His first step was very fast, and after starting to accelerate, he really had the shadow of Westbrook, fast and strong.

He rushed one step inside the free throw line, jumped up and was about to make a flying dunk. His playing style was quite rough.

"Pa!"

However, just as he jumped up quickly to prepare to pull the ball for a dunk, he suddenly felt a lightness in his hand.

His ball had been stolen by Leonard!

Death wrap!

There was a commotion at the scene.

The steal just now happened so suddenly that many people didn't see how the ball was stolen.

After Leonard stole the ball, he gave it to Ginobili, and the Spurs quickly launched a defensive counterattack.

Tang Tian took Ginobili's pass from a 45-degree angle on the right side and made a three-pointer.

"Shua!"

Clean and swift.

The scene was agitated.

In these two rounds, the Spurs relied on defensive counterattacks and abruptly scored a 5-0 run against the Clippers.

Del Negro shouted from the sidelines, obviously very dissatisfied with the performance of the substitutes.

However, he didn't mean to call a timeout or make substitutions.

After Bledsoe dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, he passed the ball to Mo Williams. Williams signaled Martin to drop to the low post, and then passed the ball in.

The Spurs were now applying a lot of defensive pressure on the wings, but in the inside, Martin had advantages over Leonard in all aspects.

They needed to score a goal first to stabilize the situation on the court.

Martin held the ball and played back-to-back against Leonard. He had a great advantage in height, weight, and even experience.

However, Leonard played very cleverly, always looking for opportunities to steal from behind or from the side.

Martin was always worried about the ball in his hand being stolen, and he couldn't concentrate on playing back-to-back at all.

Just when Martin was very uncomfortable, Tang Tian suddenly double-teamed from the weak side.

Martin's attention was all on Leonard, and he didn't react in time. The ball in his hand was snatched away by Tang Tian!

The fans at the scene were stunned.

Continuous steals, the defensive pressure given by the Spurs' wing was too great!

After Tang Tian stole the ball, he gave it to Ginobili again. This time, Ginobili came by himself, killed to the frontcourt and scored with a high layup after passing Williams.

7-0!

The Spurs used their oppressive defense to launch a wave of climaxes, narrowing the point difference to single digits.

Drogny hadn't called a timeout yet, but he called Paul up, preparing to let him come on to stabilize the situation.

In the Clippers' offense, Bledsoe passed the ball to Mo Williams, and then took the initiative to make an off-ball screen, switching Williams' defender from Green to Ginobili.

After being repeatedly disrupted by the Spurs' three wings on the offensive end, they were avoiding those three people.

Williams switched defenses to Ginobili, and tried to get rid of him by dribbling continuously but failed.

Because of his talent on the offensive end, the "Demon Blade's" ability on the defensive end has actually been underestimated.

Defense doesn't just depend on the body. His defensive awareness and prediction ability are definitely above the league average.

Williams had no chance, signaled his teammates to spread out, and then asked Evans to come to the high post for a pick-and-roll.

Evans was strong, and after blocking Ginobili, Williams took a step and rushed past to face Splitter, accelerating towards the inside.

However, at this moment, Leonard directly helped defend from the weak side, and he was very fast.

Williams did not choose to pass the ball, but made a sudden stop and pulled up for a jumper.

"Bang!"

His shot failed to go in the end, and Leonard blocked the ball from the side and directly slapped it out of bounds!

"Oh, shit!"

The commentators at the scene couldn't help but swear.

The Spurs made various steals and blocks, and the Clippers hadn't scored in the second quarter!

And what was even more depressing than not scoring was the situation on the court!

The Spurs were like an airtight wall, and no matter how hard the Clippers tried, they couldn't send the ball into the basket!

Paul was also a little anxious on the sidelines at this time, but because the game had not entered a dead ball, he could only sit and watch!

He chose to stand up and watch.

In the Clippers' frontcourt offense, Williams' dribbling was a bit shaky under Green's pressing.

And at the moment he broke through, Tang Tian's double-team also came from the weak side.

The ball was passed to Nick Young with difficulty.

However, Tang Tian also returned to defense in place at the first time, and gave a lot of pressure.

Young tried several times but had no chance. Seeing that the 24 seconds were about to expire, he was forced to make a difficult turnaround fadeaway and was also touched by Tang Tian's fingertips.

Continuous steals followed by continuous blocks!

The ball was obviously short after being blocked. It didn't touch the rim and fell directly into Leonard's hands. The whistle for a 24-second offensive violation also sounded on the sidelines.

Because possession had already been exchanged, the game was not stopped.

At this time, Leonard saw Tang Tian running forward and directly made a long throw from the backcourt.

Tang Tian dribbled the ball to the right wing outside the three-point line and stopped. When he was about to shoot, he found that Bledsoe had already flown back to defense, and he had no chance to shoot.

However, at this moment, he found a figure quickly inserting from the middle.

It was Leonard!

Leonard immediately chose to launch a fast break after passing the ball!

Except for Bledsoe, there were no defenders between the two. Tang Tian directly made a bounce pass.

Bledsoe was helping to defend at this time, and Leonard completely ignored him and jumped up directly, making a one-handed slam dunk.

"Bang!"

Bledsoe wanted to pull him but couldn't, and also committed a foul for pulling someone.

And-one!

Top five plays of the day in the NBA!

From the Unicombo of the Ferris wheel!

After Leonard dunked, he turned around and gave Tang Tian a high-five!

The taciturn him, this was the first time he showed excitement on the court!

This move stunned the Spurs' bench.

After realizing what was happening, Diaw directly whistled on the spot.

Duncan raised his eyebrows and wanted to laugh, but held back when he saw Crawford standing not far away.

There seemed to be a hint of jealousy on Ginobili's face.

Popovich nodded with satisfaction.

Almost all of the Spurs' offense in the second quarter was scored through defensive counterattacks, which was what he wanted to see.

The Clippers were in good form, but he didn't believe it, unless they could make all kinds of shots with defenders in their faces.

Otherwise, his requirement was to play a tougher and higher-quality defense.

The game entered a dead ball, and Paul finally ended his standing and came on to replace Bledsoe.

Foye also quickly got up from the bench and ran over to replace Williams at the same time.

Del Negro was bringing on the two starting guards early to stabilize the situation on the court.

Leonard made the free throw, and the Spurs launched a 10-0 run, and the original 15-point difference was narrowed to 5 points!

Paul controlled the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

Seeing Paul holding the ball, the emotions of the fans at the scene finally stabilized a little. Only Saint Paul could make them feel at ease at this time.

Paul held the ball in the frontcourt and called Evans out for a pick-and-roll.

This time, Ginobili didn't let Evans block him easily, and rushed over to pressure Paul.

However, Paul did react quickly. Seizing the moment when Ginobili rushed to the right, he made a change of direction to the left and broke through to the inside directly from the left.

There was an instant burst of whistles at the scene. This was what they wanted to see!

Paul dribbled the ball to the inside, adjusted his position and prepared to directly pass Splitter.

However, before he could start, Leonard had already helped defend quickly from the weak side.

Seeing Leonard coming over, Paul didn't wait for him to form a double-team at all, and directly flicked the ball towards Martin's direction, without even looking.

No-look pass!

This was completely the operation of a top passing master.

So flashy!

"Pa!"

However, the ball didn't really reach Martin's hands!

At the moment Leonard went to double-team, Tang Tian had already anticipated that Paul would pass the ball.

This confident no-look pass directly gave him a chance. His dynamic vision captured Paul's pass at the first time, and then he pounced for the steal!

The entire action was completed smoothly!

The fans at the scene were all stunned. Paul's pass was actually intercepted!

Their most worry-free and most confident "Grandpa Saint Paul" was also not working!

After Tang Tian intercepted the ball, he flicked it to Ginobili, and Ginobili quickly held the ball and advanced forward.

The Clippers' retreat on the court was obviously slow because Paul's ball was intercepted too unexpectedly.

Ginobili killed to the frontcourt and made a low-hand layup again, and the Spurs scored, launching a 12-0 run!

The Clippers had played for more than four minutes and had not scored a point yet!

The Spurs had played a suffocating defense!

Del Negro was a little panicked. The advantage the team had built up in the first quarter had instantly disappeared.

He quickly reached out to call a timeout.

When the timeout returned, he replaced Jordan and Butler on the court early.

Except for Griffin, who was still resting because he had played the entire first quarter, all the Clippers' starters had returned early!