"Blake, you need to be decisive. When you get the ball, attack inside. He can't guard you at all. You're the best power forward. You have to attack decisively!"

During halftime, Rivers was giving Griffin a pep talk.

His pep talk skills were among the best in the league.

He praised while motivating, and Griffin nodded vigorously after listening.

"Guys, we're down by 12 points, but believe me, it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. When we catch up to that 12-point deficit in the second half, our young opponents will panic.

So believe in yourselves, remember what I've told you before, we're here to win a championship, we can't stop here."

Rivers' pep talk was really effective. After a few words, the Clippers players' expressions of frustration visibly lessened, and they even looked excited.

"Come on, put your hands in, let's shout our slogan."

Rivers struck while the iron was hot.

The Clippers players stood up one after another, reaching out and clasping their hands together.

"Clippers!"

"Kings of Los Angeles!"

After shouting the slogan, the confidence on the faces of the Clippers players clearly returned.

"Let's start the counterattack and win the game!"

Rivers shouted to the players one last time.

The Clippers' starting lineup remained unchanged in the second half.

The Pelicans made an adjustment, with Williams replacing Evans with Anderson in the starting lineup.

This adjustment was also expected. The Pelicans basically used this lineup in the initial stages.

The Pelicans attacked first.

Tang Tian played Barnes in the frontcourt, and Redick came to double-team.

This was the Clippers' adjustment in the second half.

The Pelicans could leave Barnes open in the first half, and they could naturally leave Aminu open.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Aminu.

Aminu took a three-pointer from the outside, his first attempt of the game.

"Clang!"

The ball bounced off the rim.

Aminu had already started training three-pointers at the request of the coaching staff half a season ago, but the effect was much slower than expected.

Historically, Aminu didn't develop a three-pointer until he was with the Trail Blazers, and even then it wasn't very prominent.

The Clippers' adjustment in the second half capitalized on the Pelicans' lineup weaknesses.

Jordan secured the defensive rebound, and the Clippers attacked into the frontcourt. Paul immediately passed the ball to Griffin.

Griffin received the ball and turned to attack the basket.

His offensive choices were noticeably more decisive compared to the first half.

Tang Tian didn't have time to double-team, and Davis was also boxed out by Jordan.

"Bang!"

Griffin shook off Anderson, charged in, and slammed a one-handed dunk!

After dunking, he swung around the rim, landed, took out his mouthpiece, and roared at the audience.

He hadn't had many opportunities in the entire first half, and he was finally able to let it out!

The cheers from the audience instantly erupted.

Although they were still down by 10 points, this basket greatly boosted morale.

The Pelicans attacked into the frontcourt, and Tang Tian continued to be double-teamed while holding the ball.

After tasting success, the Clippers continued with the double-team.

Tang Tian recalled the game against the Lakers in the regular season finale. If he were Kobe, he could solve the problem of being double-teamed with a fadeaway.

But he didn't have that scoring ability now, so passing was a better choice.

The ball went to Aminu, who chose to break through after holding the ball.

Davis' shot was blocked by Jordan.

His offensive options were really limited right now.

Jordan secured the defensive rebound.

The Clippers attacked into the frontcourt and played in the post again.

Paul and Griffin ran a pick-and-roll, and after the screen, Paul bounced a pass to Griffin.

Griffin caught the ball without hesitation, and scored a layup over Holiday, drawing a foul.

His performance in the second half was completely different from the first half!

Rivers smiled when he saw this.

His coaching philosophy was a bit different from others, or rather, his coaching focus was on figuring out how to unleash the players' potential.

As for tactics, he could just find a capable assistant coach, like Tyronn Lue, who he had now.

Being specialized and precise was the reason why his pep talks were so effective.

And he had absolute confidence in his pep talk abilities.

Griffin was in amazing form in the second half, and the Clippers were playing with great momentum.

With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, the Clippers had closed the gap to 44-50.

Williams was forced to call a timeout early.

He exchanged a few words with Tang Tian during the timeout.

After the timeout, the Pelicans made adjustments to their lineup, with Whiteside and Morrow coming on to replace Aminu and Anderson.

In theory, Griffin could force his way to the basket before the double-team, and Tang Tian could attack Barnes, so both sides had advantageous matchups.

But the problem was that Anderson's defense was much worse than Barnes's, so Tang Tian's matchup advantage was not as obvious as Griffin's.

Making lineup adjustments at this time was a better choice.

Bringing on Whiteside would strengthen the interior defense while also ensuring a certain ability to score on lobs, while bringing on Morrow would maintain offensive spacing.

This was the result of the exchange between Tang Tian and Williams.

However, this adjustment would mean that Morrow would have to defend Redick, which was a disadvantageous matchup.

But nothing was ever absolutely perfect, and this was the best response the Pelicans could make.

After the timeout, Tang Tian received the ball outside the three-point line.

Unlike when Anderson was on the court, Morrow was an outside player, and Holiday also had three-point ability, so the Clippers wouldn't double-team him in that position.

He had been double-teamed for several possessions in a row, and now he finally had a chance to play one-on-one.

Barnes continued to play physical defense.

Tang Tian took a step and shot directly.

Barnes flew over, but he realized he had been tricked by Tang Tian.

Tang Tian drew a three-point foul on his fake shot and got three free throw opportunities.

Paul turned around and went to talk to the referee again.

The referee didn't change the call. Barnes was too close, and his jump had already encroached on Tang Tian's shooting cylinder.

Although Tang Tian didn't have Harden's ability to draw fouls, he was the basketball godfather in his previous life, and his basketball IQ was at full bar by default.

The boos in the arena were deafening.

Tang Tian made all three free throws under the booing, pulling the score back to a 9-point lead.

These 3 points were crucial, suppressing the Clippers' momentum.

Griffin attacked Davis in the frontcourt, but his shot after a hard drive was blocked out of bounds by Whiteside's help defense.

The Pelicans' adjustment was well in place.

However, Morrow's defense was indeed a bit lacking. The Clippers inbounded the ball from the sideline again, and Redick's catch-and-shoot three-pointer scored for the Clippers.

Tang Tian had a one-on-one opportunity to play Barnes, and Redick had a good feel in this quarter as well, so the two teams stalemated.

After three quarters, the Pelicans led the Clippers 73-68 by 5 points, and the outcome was still unknown.

"Keep the intensity, the next is our advantage time, we are playing at home, we are more experienced, we are more durable, we will win!"

During the break, Rivers started giving the Clippers players a pep talk again, and his emotions were clearly more enthusiastic.

The final quarter would determine the outcome, so his pep talk had to be stronger.