After being chased one after another, Duncan began to play in the paint, and the bench team was forced to shrink in.

Duncan's passing was extremely good. Green continued to hit the ball from outside. After a wave of offensive, the starting group still won 20-10.

However, the loss did not conceal Tang Tian's outstanding performance, he alone contributed 6 points, 3 steals and 1 block.

There are fifteen people in a team, but only 8 ~ 9 people can play in general games. Popovich is special, but only 10 ~ 12 people are used at most. There will definitely be people sitting on the cold bench throughout the game. .

(Note: The NBA 15-members roster, but a maximum of 12 players in a game, that is, the activation list of 12 people, this year is the exception to the shrinking season, because the game has a short interval and many back-to-back games, a maximum of 13 players are allowed for a team.

In other words, if you want to play, you must squeeze into the coach's rotation list, and to squeeze into this list depends on the performance of the training match, because the training match has status besides personal strength.

Superstars are indispensable. They must play regardless of their status, but role players have relatively little defensive pressure and simple work. The coach definitely hopes that they can play a role as soon as they play, and they will naturally choose a good state.

Tang Tian's competitive state in this game is the result of his hard work all summer, and Popovich has put him on his list.

The training camp opened on December 9. The Spurs' first preseason game was on December 18. There were only nine days in the middle.

In these 9 days, the team is basically training every day, and the old players are looking for the game feeling and tacit understanding, because the time is short and the difficulty is not small.

For Tang Tian's three rookies, they have to learn team tactics, which is even more difficult.

However, in the process, Tang Tian's performance continued to surprise the coaches of Popovich and the Spurs.

The speed of mastering tactics of this rookie who has just turned 19 years old is incredible. He is not like a rookie at all, but a person like Duncan and Ginobili who has been with the team for more than ten years.

"We really have a genius." Budenholzer has said similar things before Popovich more than once.

Popovich is still relatively stable. After all, he has been coaching in the league for a long time, and the players who have performed well in training but failed to play once have not met, so he just holds a optimistic attitude.

Time passed quickly, and on December 18th, the Spurs team boarded the plane to Oklahoma City, where they will usher in the first preseason game of the new season, the opponent is the Thunder.

The Thunder have selected talented rookies such as Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden for several consecutive years. Last season's record has reached the fourth in the West. Not only is the potential unlimited, but the combat power is also quite outstanding.

Because there are only two preseason games for each team in the shrinking season, the fierce degree of this game can be predicted, and it will definitely not be a half-time game to investigate newcomers like in the regular season. This will definitely be a battle.

When he arrived in Oklahoma City, Popovich arranged daily training, which shows that he also attaches great importance to this preseason.

"Our goal for the new season is the championship. The Thunder will be our main competitor this year. We need an uplifting morale to win this game." Popovich's mobilization before the game fully demonstrated his vision.

After training, he also announced the team's starting lineup and 13-man activation list.

Starting: Parker, Green, Jefferson, Duncan, Blair.

The starting lineup is the same as the training match. Although Tang Tian's excellent performance in the first training match made Popovich think of putting him in the starting lineup for a time, but that was just a passing thought. Because of the importance he attached to the game, he Still the safest lineup to put on.

The remaining eight substitutes: Neil, Ginobili, Leonard, Bonner, Split, Joseph, Tang Tian, ​​Malcolm Thomas.

Oklahoma City is a well-known small city, but one of the characteristics of the small city is that the locals have relatively few entertainment options, and the ball game has naturally become a popular target.

Especially in the past two years, the Thunder team's rapid rise, coupled with the suspension season, this preseason game, the attendance rate on the scene actually exceeded 80%, the scene on the scene is really different from the ordinary season.

It is said to be a preseason game, but both the importance of both sides and the attendance rate at the scene have been no less than the regular season.

The game started more than half an hour, and players from both sides came to the stadium to start the final warm-up before the game.

When Tang Tian came out, there was a small surprise. He saw that the front row of the stands had fans holding the "Godfather" brand. Although the number was not large, this road game was really rare.

It seems that the "godfather" has more influence than many expected.

However, this is also an invisible pressure. If he does not perform well in the official competition ~ lightnovelpub.net ~, this popularity will quickly disappear.

"Don't be nervous, don't worry, I'm covering you." Ginobili also saw the sign and came over and leaned on his shoulders.

Tang Tian glanced at Ginobili.

Ginobili smiled at him.

"Manu, I played 70,000 live matches."

"..." Ginobili froze.

"In 2 games, I have also hit the ball, so don't worry about me."

"..."

"Haha ~" Parker was next to him at this time. He couldn't help laughing when he heard the conversation. This was the first time he had seen Ginobili eating a glutton.

Ginobili also laughed. He reached out and touched his head. After touching it for a while, he realized something, and put his hand down again.

On the other side of the court, Kevin Durant, the core of the Thunder, sat on the side of the field to rest.

He looked around the stadium and found the fans and the signs they were holding.

His face became ugly.

In the offseason, because of the trumpet incident, his image became very bad. Now seeing this again is like opening the scar that has just healed in the wound.

"Boss." At this time team rookie Reggie Jackson finished warming up and sat on the sidelines.

Durant glanced at Jackson and said, "I heard you challenged the" Godfather "in the summer?"

Jackson heard Durant say here, and nodded embarrassedly. He wanted to step on Tang Tianti's popularity at first, but he failed. Durant knew this.

But Durant's words made him rejoice.

"Wait a minute if you are on the court with him, coach Brooks needs to see this, and I believe you have the ability."