Chapter 159 Fool's Day

"What I envy most is Shaquille O'Neal. That guy dominated the NBA without much training. That must be a comfortable thing."

Diaw continued to lament, and from his words, it was clear that this guy was a true slacker.

"Alright, Boris, don't promote your theories in front of our rookies. We have limited talent and can only rely on training."

Tang Tian stopped him from continuing. He didn't care, but if Leonard was led astray by him, the Spurs' future would be over.

"Okay, it's good for young people to be motivated, but this is also a good thing. At least I'll have you two guys to accompany me in training in the future."

Diaw said with a smile.

Diaw said it casually, but he was really crazy when he started training.

In just half a month, he successfully lost 5 kilograms of fat, and his body fat percentage also reached the coaching staff's requirements.

Everyone who can survive in the NBA is a ruthless character.

The Spurs' opponents after the All-Star Game were not strong, but after entering late March, the schedule and opponents became unfriendly.

The team had 3 wins and 4 losses in 7 games.

The power forward position has indeed become a relatively big problem.

Duncan's stamina was significantly worse in the second half of the season than in the first half. Bonner, as a substitute, had too obvious defensive disadvantages, and Blair was too slow at the power forward position. Leonard's performance was also unstable while adjusting his shooting style, which made their inside game very disadvantageous during the substitution period.

Before, when Jefferson was there, Popovich could still use him to swing and play power forward.

But now that Jefferson has been traded, Popovich really feels like he's trying to make bricks without straw.

Time came to April 1st, April Fool's Day in the United States, and the Spurs would host the Mavericks at home tonight.

Before the game that day, Popovich went to the locker room and told the players some game tactics and points to pay attention to.

After saying these, he suddenly turned his direction and looked at Diaw: "Boris, get ready to play tonight."

Diaw was tidying up his shoelaces. When he heard this, he looked up for a moment, then opened his mouth and said:

"Coach, Happy April Fool's Day."

Popovich was stunned by his words.

This guy, he took his words as an April Fool's joke!

"If you don't want to play, then treat this as an April Fool's joke."

Popovich said with a straight face.

"No, no, I'm ready to play, really!"

Diaw had only put on one shoe at this time. After hearing Popovich's words, he jumped on the spot with one shoe on.

This move amused his teammates and Popovich.

This guy is really a new treasure of the team.

"Put your energy into the game."

Popovich said and left the locker room.

"Happy April Fool's Day!"

Diaw shouted at Popovich's back, this time it was a real holiday blessing.

There was another burst of laughter in the locker room.

Although Diaw hadn't been with the Spurs for long, his funny personality allowed him to develop relationships with his teammates quickly.

As soon as Popovich left, the players congratulated him one after another.

After the Mavericks released several core members of the championship team this season, their record declined significantly as expected.

They are currently ranked seventh in the West and have to compete with the Nuggets, Jazz, Suns and Rockets for the final playoff spots.

With only one month left in the regular season, any game is critical for them.

The Spurs are the same. They had originally widened the gap with the Thunder behind them.

But the ups and downs of their record in the past period made their first place unstable again, and they also urgently needed a victory to consolidate their ranking.

Both teams desperately needed this victory.

The attendance rate at the AT&T Center that night exceeded 70%. With the team's excellent record, the attendance rate at the arena has also recovered a lot.

After the game started, the Mavericks showed their strong desire to win. Old Driver and Old Carter repeatedly fired from the outside and hit.

About 10 minutes into the first quarter, the score on the field was 25 to 21, and they were still leading the home team Spurs by 4 points.

The two sides entered the rotation one after another. On the Spurs side, Diaw made his debut as a substitute power forward for the first time, and the other four were Mills, Ginobili, Leonard and Splitter.

On the Mavericks side were Beaubois, Terry, Odom, Mahinmi and Yi Jianlian.

Tang Tian rested at this time. He was stunned when he saw the Mavericks' lineup on the court.

Yi Jianlian was substituted at this point?

He entered the rotation?

Tang Tian gave Yi Jianlian advice in late January, and almost 3 months have passed in the blink of an eye.

The last time the two teams played against each other was in early March, when Yi Jianlian had not yet entered the rotation.

Now, has it finally succeeded?

The game on the court continued.

In the Spurs' offense, Ginobili broke through and passed the ball to Diaw, who followed closely. Diaw made a low-handed layup.

However, at the moment he shot, Yi Jianlian chased up from behind him and directly delivered a flying block.

"Bang!"

The ball was blocked on the backboard, it was a nail board block!

There was a commotion at the scene.

Diaw's condition is not good!

Popovich was so angry that he stood up and cursed at this time.

Diaw had been in a rotten team like the Bobcats for too long, and his habits had become very bad. He didn't even look at the defenders around him when he shot!

Tang Tian's eyes lit up at this time.

Diaw's ball was indeed not handled well, but he actually grabbed the position.

But Yi Jianlian's shot was surprisingly fast and decisive.

Because you can't see the subtle changes in body shape through the uniform, but from the ball just now, you can feel that Yi Jianlian must have lost weight.

Yi Jianlian listened to what he said at the beginning.

The ball was blocked, but Diaw reacted quickly, grabbed the blocked ball, and scored a second attack after using his big butt to push Yi Jianlian away.

There was a burst of cheers at the scene.

Whoa! So fragrant!

Tang Tian couldn't help laughing when he saw this. Diaw's big butt was used just right. He was indeed a high-IQ player.

In the Mavericks' offense, Terry broke through to the basket after a pick-and-roll with Yi Jianlian. Splitter stood in the basket at this time to interfere, and Terry's layup missed.

However, Diaw didn't pay attention to boxing out at this time, and Mahinmi grabbed the offensive rebound.

Popovich's face turned black again at this time. Diaw had wasted most of his martial arts skills in the Bobcats.

Mahinmi grabbed the offensive rebound and threw the ball to the outside line.

Yi Jianlian caught the ball outside the three-point line at this time.

Mills, who was mismatched, just symbolically reached out when he saw Yi Jianlian catch the ball.

Yi Jianlian aimed at the basket and shot directly.

The arc of this ball is very high, but the trajectory looks quite straight.

"Swish!"

With a crisp sound, the basketball fell heavily into the net!

Yi Jianlian's three-pointer actually went in!

There was a commotion at the scene.

Tang Tian raised his eyebrows unconsciously at this time.

Yi Jianlian, has changed.