Almost instantly, Popovich hurled phrases like "French softie," "damned thing," and "if you don't want to play, get lost" at Parker's face.

At this moment, looking at Parker with a face full of grievances, Qin Yue was greatly shocked.

But despite his shock, Qin Yue immediately focused on breaking the Spurs' zone defense.

After all, what did Parker's masochistic tendency to enjoy being scolded have to do with him?

Near the free-throw line, seeing Duncan being drawn away by Artest's cut, Qin Yue suddenly amalgamated the ball and made a jump shot.

This was a shameless ambush from a junior to a senior.

Although Duncan quickly expanded outward to block, Qin Yue still managed to get his shot off as he wished.

Swish—!

On the court, Duncan "angrily" cursed at this shameless ambush: "Despicable villager!"

In response, Qin Yue retorted: "I'm your junior, scolding me is like scolding yourself; anyway, I learned it from you!"

Duncan: "..."

Compared to the first game, Duncan found that Qin Yue seemed to have grown quite a bit.

Because now he...

could actually break his own defense.

After the first quarter, it was 35 to 30.

This night, the Warriors maintained the good form they had shown since entering the playoffs.

Faced with the Spurs' zone defense, under Qin Yue's leadership, the Warriors showed no panic.

Moreover, on the defensive end, they successfully contained the scoring momentum nearly sparked later in the first quarter by Duncan and Parker through proactive contraction of their defense.

This season, the Spurs' two most accurate shooters in the playoffs were Bruce Bowen and Brent Barry.

Though unbelievable, Bowen's three-point shooting percentage in this year's playoffs indeed exceeded 50%.

However, his three-point production was inadequate to create offensive space for the Spurs.

Now, even Popovich had to admit that the significant disparity in three-point production between the Spurs and the Warriors was severely impacting the series' balance.

Especially when Qin Yue was in rhythm.

His scoring method made it destined that he would play more effortlessly than Duncan.

In the first quarter, Qin Yue shot 3 out of 4 inside the three-point line and 2 out of 4 outside, constantly finding angles to punish the Spurs' zone defense.

Moreover, the other Warriors players also stood the test, unhesitatingly taking shots when the opportunity arose, even if the previous shot missed the mark; the next shot would be decisively taken.

All of this made Popovich start to agonize over whether the Spurs should continue using zone defense in the game.

But regardless of how troubled Popovich was, the Spurs now had to hold out through the first half of the second quarter.

So...

Before Ginobili came on, the same Popovich who previously wanted to trade this "Argentine idiot" immediately patted Ginobili's shoulder with an expression of "real fragrance" and used the most affectionate tone and manner to say: "'Manu', we need you."

It must be said, being able to bend and stretch is also one of Popovich's major strengths.

After Ginobili came on, he performed his task exceptionally well.

In the first half of the second quarter, shooting 5 for 8, including 1 out of 2 on three-pointers, he even made Mulin, who followed the team to San Antonio, curse his mother: "Why does God always favor the Argentines?"

However, even such an outstanding Ginobili only managed to prevent the score gap from widening for the Spurs.

Because on the court, the player who self-proclaimed as "a no-good" Little Deng Liwei was equally accurate, making Popovich curse his mother: "Why can Mike Dunleavy spawn such an excellent son?"

Historically, due to the Warriors' chaotic and lackluster team atmosphere and court performance in the 05/06 season, Little Deng Liwei, who struggled to showcase his skills on the court, couldn't fully display his true level.

In fact, Little Deng Liwei's excellent shooting skill has always been a major selling point.

However, he needs off-ball movements and tactical support to get shots off.

In Qin Yue's previous life, Deng Liwei's career regular-season three-point shooting percentage was close to 38%, while in the playoffs, his three-point shooting percentage was 45%.

To put it simply, a player like Deng Liwei can only play to his full potential under appropriate tactical backing.

He is truly a system player indeed.

But as long as he is provided with the appropriate system, he can also deliver devastating blows to the opponent through his movement and shooting once on the court.

For instance, in this Celestial King Mountain battle against the Spurs, in the 11 minutes he played in the first half, Little Deng Liwei efficiently scored 12 points on 4 out of 6 shooting.

Yes, all four of his baskets in the first half were crucial and deadly three-pointers.

In front of their TVs, fans in China at that time had already honored Little Deng Liwei with the title of "Majestic Deng."

Nowadays in China, Little Deng Liwei is generally referred to by Chinese fans as "God Deng."

This night, "God Deng's" outstanding performance not only helped Qin Yue and the Warriors endure the toughest early period of the second quarter, but also, in a sense, indirectly increased Duncan's energy drain in the second half of the second quarter.

Because the Spurs failed to establish a leading advantage under Ginobili's leadership, Duncan naturally had to close that damned score gap one possession at a time.

As the half ended, the fear that forever lingered in Dallas fans' minds began to spread in the ATT Center.

On the scoreboard, it showed 63 to 55.

Scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the first half for the Spurs, Duncan instead made all Spurs fans more fearful.

Prosperous Parker, adverse Buddha.

Since Tim Duncan has already proven with his actions that the Spurs are in adversity, how could these fans, who are most knowledgeable about the Spurs, not be afraid?

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