Chapter 76 He Is Their Guiding Light

"Haha, don't worry, Tang, we will definitely win this game. We must win this game!"

Whiteside was standing next to Tang Tian at this time. Seeing his reaction, he laughed and said.

Tang Tian looked up at Whiteside, whose face seemed to have two big words written on it: confidence.

Obviously, after playing well, his confidence had reached a peak in his career.

Tang Tian smiled and nodded.

"We will win. We are different now."

Davis also came over and said at this time.

What he said had another meaning. He knew the entanglement between Tang Tian and the Spurs.

Not only must they win this time to compete for first place, but they must win every time they face the Spurs.

Tang Tian smiled.

It seemed that they lacked nothing in morale and confidence when playing against the Spurs.

The game was about to begin soon. Williams arranged the tactics as usual, and then led the players into the court.

The AT&T Center was packed. The encounter between two powerhouses, and with Tang Tian there, they naturally wouldn't miss it.

Tang Tian went over and greeted the Spurs players one by one.

Duncan touched Tang Tian's head again, and Ginobili also patted his butt.

Tang Tian didn't dodge, reliving the old days.

It was only the Spurs who had the least personnel changes in the league. Otherwise, he would have to travel all over the world to meet this group of former teammates.

The arena quickly entered the opening ceremony, and the visiting team was introduced first.

Although the Spurs players still had a good relationship with Tang Tian, when Tang Tian was the last to be introduced, there was still a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Tang Tian shook his head helplessly. It seemed that time had diluted his and Popovich's inner thoughts, but it had not diluted those of the San Antonio fans.

The Pelicans had their regular starting five, and so did the Spurs.

Parker and Green on the outside, Leonard and Pau Gasol on the front line, and Duncan at center.

Gasol and Davis were in the center circle for the jump ball.

Davis tipped the ball back to his own half, and the Pelicans got the first chance to attack.

Holiday passed the ball to Tang Tian at the front court.

Green defended closely, and Leonard immediately came to help.

Popovich didn't mean to be polite at all.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Ariza. The Spurs rotated to help defend at this time, and Duncan had already pounced on him.

Ariza had no chance to shoot, so he lobbed the ball to Whiteside under the basket, who had a chance to beat Leonard one-on-one.

He was full of confidence, leaned in, turned around, and was about to take off.

"Pa!"

But as soon as he got up, he felt a lightness in his hand, and the ball had been cut off by Leonard.

He bent down to try to grab it back, but it was too late. The ball was in the hands of the Spurs.

Fortunately, the Pelicans retreated quickly and didn't allow the Spurs to score on a fast break.

The Spurs played a hammer tactic in the frontcourt. Gasol went down after the pick-and-roll, received a pass from Parker, and scored against Whiteside with a time difference.

Whiteside didn't block it and jumped up and down in anger.

In the Pelicans' offense, Tang Tian continued to be double-teamed.

This time the ball transitioned to Davis' hands. Davis turned around and hit a beautiful bank shot over Duncan.

However, Duncan was very smart and always held the ball high to interfere with his vision.

"Clang!"

The ball bounced off the rim.

Davis reacted quickly, using his long arms to grab the offensive rebound and shoot again.

Gasol judged the situation accurately at this time, standing under the basket in advance to interfere.

"Clang!"

The ball still didn't go in.

Duncan had already retreated back to the basket at this time, reaching out to protect the defensive rebound.

Back on the defensive end, Whiteside was faked out by Gasol, who scored a layup under the basket.

4 to 0.

The Spurs gave the Pelicans a head start.

Whiteside and Davis's twin towers used to have the upper hand in the interior matchup, but they felt unable to exert their strength against the Spurs.

In the Pelicans' offense, Ariza took the ball and quickly shot a three-pointer, but it didn't go in either.

The Pelicans failed to score on three consecutive possessions to start the game.

Turning around, Leonard drove to the basket for a layup and scored, also drawing a shooting foul on Davis.

The Spurs started with a 6-0 lead and had a free throw opportunity.

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

The Pelicans had performed strongly this season, but they were still juniors in front of the Spurs.

More importantly, Tang Tian's team couldn't win!

Tang Tian quickly called the players on the court together at this time.

"Slow down, don't worry, think about how we won in the past, think about how we won last season."

It was a good thing for a young team to be confident, but it might not be a good thing if it went too far.

The Pelicans were too eager to win, leading to a very anxious start, as if they wanted to swallow the Spurs in one bite.

But that was obviously unrealistic. The Spurs were the most resilient team in the league.

In particular, Popovich's team basketball had reached a peak this season, coupled with the addition of Gasol, no team could beat them in one wave.

"Hassan, did you hear me?"

After Tang Tian finished speaking, he specifically called out to Whiteside.

Whiteside nodded. The ball that was cut by Leonard at the beginning made him hotheaded.

Tang Tian patted him on the head, then signaled everyone to go back.

Leonard made the free throw, and the Spurs led 7-0 to start the game.

"Defense! Defense!"

The perfect start made the fans in the arena excited, and they spontaneously started cheering and cheering at this moment.

Tang Tian's words to the players just now temporarily stabilized their emotions, but the shouts made them restless again.

The Pelicans were still young after all.

Tang Tian went to the frontcourt and made a tactical gesture directly before receiving the ball, telling Ariza and Davis to sink to the baseline.

When Holiday passed the ball to him, he also signaled Holiday to go to the other corner.

This kind of positioning prevented the Spurs from double-teaming him immediately, leaving only Tang Tian and Green at the arc.

Green stood half a step away from Tang Tian. He knew that Tang Tian could both drive and shoot, and this distance was the most suitable.

After Tang Tian saw it, he accelerated directly.

If it were last season, he could only try to get rid of the dribble, or actively seek confrontation to squeeze past, but it was different now.

This step was extremely fast, and Green didn't keep up even though he reacted, and Tang Tian passed him directly.

Tang Tian didn't drive in after passing Green, but pulled up for a jump shot near the free throw line.

His posture was as beautiful as a picture.

"Swish!"

The basketball went through the net.

The Pelicans finally broke the scoring drought.

Westbrook's first step was very fast and could be compared with McGrady and Rose.

But his problem was that his shooting ability was too poor. His stiff jump shot was not only ugly but also bricked, and he could only rely on breaking through to the basket and fighting hard.

This made it easy for opponents to target him.

But Tang Tian had McGrady's jump shot, which just made up for this piece.

So as long as he felt good, the saying that scoring was as easy as plucking something from a pocket was a description of him.

This jump shot also brought a burst of cheers from the Pelicans' bench.

At a critical moment, Tang Tian, the team's boss, was still reliable. He was the guiding light of the Pelicans!