One Thousand Two Hundred and Seventy-Two. Calm Durant

On the Grizzlies side, Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Paul George, Randolph, and Gasol Jr. made their debut.

On the Thunder side, Westbrook, Sefrosa, Durant, Ibaka, and Perkins made their debut.

Perkins had lost the right to jump ball, and Ibaka came to the center circle for the jump ball.

Seeing this, Sun Ce came to Gasol Jr. before the jump ball: "Mark, how about you jump ball?"

Gasol Jr. pretended not to hear anything, turned his head to look at his girlfriend on the sidelines, and blew a kiss to her...

"Damn! So timid!"

Sun Ce came to the center circle with a complaint in his heart, and looked at Ibaka who was concentrating on preparing for the jump ball, and Sun Ce was ready to retreat.

Amid the cheers of the fans at the scene, at 8 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle to start the game on time and threw the ball into the air.

With better height and wingspan, better bounce, and faster bounce speed... Ibaka, who was focused, defeated Sun Ce and won the jump ball, and the cheers of the fans at the scene turned into the whole audience shouting "defense".

The atmosphere was so violent that the Thunder players seemed to have returned to last year's playoffs!

The Grizzlies fans were already fanatical enough in the regular season, and they were all like crazy in the playoffs. Now that the playoffs are approaching, the Memphis people have begun to show wild folk customs, and they are getting more and more like the playoffs.

Especially in the past six games, the Grizzlies have not played at home. After more than ten days, they haven't seen their own team play at home. The enthusiasm of the fans at the scene can be imagined.

Westbrook pushed forward to the frontcourt with huge pressure. He was not afraid of pressure, but just looked at Sun Ce's triple-doubles, 14 times! Too desperate!

He has learned that the Grizzlies' style of play is very conducive to Sun Ce's rebounding, and the defensive rebounds in the interior are all for Sun Ce to block, but they are not good at the Thunder. They are not a counterattack team, so they can only worry. Moreover, he knows that the team cannot change the style of play for his rebounds. At this stage, he is very eager for the championship. Only that can really catch up with Sun Ce.

After advancing to the frontcourt, facing Paul George's defense, Westbrook forced his way into the inside and avoided Gasol's block and made a layup.

Westbrook, who specializes in breaking into the basket, is really powerful. His stable and swift straight sprint after burst acceleration is hard to defend.

Gasol moved too fast, Westbrook would definitely pass back. If he moved slowly, it would give Westbrook the opportunity to prepare for a layup.

Gasol was not discouraged even though he failed to defend. He just played one ball at a time.

Westbrook couldn't score every time he pulled the ball.

When the Grizzlies attacked, Sun Ce advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Randolph, who was blocking Perkins under the basket.

In the past two encounters, Perkins couldn't defend Randolph. In the last dozen games, Randolph averaged 29 minutes of playing time and scored 18 points and 9 rebounds. In this state, the Thunder didn't let Perkins defend alone, and Westbrook let Tony Allen go to double-team Randolph in the low post.

The Grizzlies were prepared for this. Sun Ce immediately led Durant to the right side of the top arc when Westbrook retreated. Gasol moved one step from the free throw line to the left side of the three-second zone. Tony Allen blocked Durant at the top arc. Randolph passed the ball to the right side of the top arc. Sun Ce received the ball and shot a three-pointer...

The Grizzlies played a beautiful space containment and cleared the passing line this time. Sun Ce's three-pointer after the pick-and-roll was slightly off, but the ball that hit the basket near the neck bounced and fell into the frame!

Sun Ce came up and made a three-pointer!

Durant's words starting with S came out at the beginning of the game.

Last season, even at the beginning of this season, when they played against the Grizzlies, they could still block Sun Ce's cut-in and let Sun Ce shoot from the outside. They won the bet when they played against the Grizzlies for the first time this season. At that time, although Sun Ce's average three-point hits per game were higher than now, they were forced to pull up by breaking the record of three-point hits in the opening game.

But now, a season is almost over, and Sun Ce's three-pointer has really become a regular offensive means.

And Randolph has also recovered...

The strength of the Grizzlies' positional battle lineup has become stronger than last season!

Watching Sun Ce running back to the backcourt and high-fiving the Black Widow on the sidelines, Durant was not affected. He ran well in the frontcourt, holding the space, and creating a better space for Westbrook to organize the offense.

During the run, Durant received the ball and encountered Sun Ce and Randolph switching defense and double-teaming, and passed it to Ibaka at the bottom line, and Ibaka made a mid-range shot at the bottom line.

Very good pass, control and pass Durant is not particularly good, the ball control and pass errors are very high, but the ball receiving and passing is very good, this season's average of 3.7 assists per game is very good.

The calm Durant is terrible. Not only does he use his own containment to help Westbrook create better opportunities for organizing offense and use his own containment to pass the ball, but he can also save energy, killing two birds with one stone.

This makes Sun Ce feel that his efforts to find the Black Widow to stimulate Durant are in vain.

But the tickets were given by the team and they were free, so Sun Ce didn't feel sorry. He just wanted to give it a try.

The offensive rhythm of both teams was very slow at the beginning, and almost every attack took about 20 seconds, but the success rate was very high!

The Grizzlies' lineup was originally meant to play a positional battle, and the slower the rhythm, the better. The Thunder, after many encounters, had more experience, so they couldn't rush to speed up at this time. They had to adapt to the Grizzlies' rhythm and play slowly to have better scoring opportunities.

The Grizzlies switch defense quickly and double-team decisively, which also means that someone often misses someone and needs to be covered. Play slowly, seize the opportunity, and don't rush. The Thunder also has a high shooting efficiency.

The Grizzlies rely on Randolph's recovery, and the starting lineup is stronger than last season, but the Thunder's young stars are also improving, their game awareness is also improving, and they have more experience. The Grizzlies didn't get an advantage in the starting stage!

At 6 minutes and 27 seconds in the first quarter, Durant exerted his strength and made a long-range three-pointer one meter away from the left side of the top arc. The Thunder led the Grizzlies by 4 points 16 to 12. The Grizzlies couldn't hold on and called a timeout first!

Originally, although the two teams had a good hit rate at the beginning, they had fewer shots, fewer free throws, and low scores. However, the two teams were evenly matched and both were reluctant to call a timeout first. However, the Grizzlies missed a shot in the last round and Durant made a three-pointer, so the Grizzlies could only call a timeout.

In terms of momentum, the Grizzlies were temporarily suppressed.

Sun Ce returned to the bench and was ready to play the whole game tonight. He felt that the opponent was more powerful than the previous two encounters, mainly because of Perkins' changes!

After a season, Perkins experienced the reality and knew that he was no longer the same person he was before. Moreover, he was not like Howard who was always unwilling to accept the reality. There was a significant change on the defensive end!