One Thousand Three Hundred and Forty-Two. The Demon Sword Is Coming!
So Popovich replaced Split with DeJuan Blair, who has top athletic ability. Since Blair is a small inside player, the Spurs also replaced the lineup with one big and four small players.
It was Sun Ce's mistake that he failed to seize the opportunity to play small against big players in the previous round. Nash originally wanted to find Paul George to pick and roll to attract Duncan to the top arc, so Sun Ce had the opportunity to back up Gay in the low post.
Fortunately, Sun Ce returned a block to Parker, Yi Jianlian grabbed the rebound, and the Grizzlies rushed in to counterattack. When Nash and Yi Jianlian picked and rolled Duncan out on the outside, Sun Ce cut in and received Nash's pass. Facing Gay's pursuit defense, he made a folding layup with a bent body forward.
It was too difficult!
Every ball felt too difficult!
With Duncan, even if he was pulled out for a pick and roll, the others didn't have to worry. They could do their own jobs and do what they should do, because Duncan would definitely defend the area he was supposed to defend.
Maybe Duncan has never been the best defensive player in the league in a certain season, and he has never won the best defensive player. However, except for the 05-06 season when he was tortured by plantar fasciitis, and the three years in the 07-08 and 09-10 seasons when his defensive efficiency declined due to injuries and age, his defensive efficiency has always been one of the top five players in the league for more than ten years.
Fortunately, the Grizzlies were fully prepared and started the offensive mode directly in the first quarter. With Sun Ce's strenuous play, the Grizzlies maintained the score and did not let the Spurs continue to widen the gap.
At the end of the first quarter, Sun Ce felt that one quarter was more exhausting than playing nearly 20 minutes in a normal half.
But this is the playoffs, and he is willing to fight like this against the Spurs.
After the first quarter, the Grizzlies fell behind 29 to 36 by 7 points and entered the intermission.
Finally, Duncan's time was over!
Because the Grizzlies did not start with defense like the first three regular season encounters, the Spurs scored 36 points! 4 three-pointers in a single quarter, 4 of 6 three-pointers, the Spurs used this to make passes and mid-range shots fly. Duncan scored 8 points in the first quarter, plus Gay's 12 points, don't be too strong!
On the Grizzlies side, Sun Ce scored 17 points in 8 of 13 shots in the first quarter, only 1 three-pointer, or a strong shot that didn't go in. It seems that he scored a lot, but it is very different from his playing style this season.
After a season, he is no longer the first three years of playing with baseline hooks and dunks, supplemented by mid-range shots. Three-pointers are very important in his playing style.
This made Sun Ce have to worry about the problem of his team's outside shooting. Nash made a three-pointer in the first quarter, and they scored the remaining 26 points from close range and the basket. If the opponent really consumes their touch and suddenly shrinks the defense... Sun Ce felt an emotion called fear.
This is an open plot, but with this strategy, they can only take advantage of the opponent's medium and short-range gaps, otherwise they have to shoot from the outside, which is even worse.
Fortunately, they did not fall behind too much in the first quarter, unlike the first three regular season matches, when they sent out a defensive lineup that not only failed to defend the opponent's offense but also played very badly, resulting in two games falling behind by more than ten points in the first quarter.
Now that Duncan has gone to rest, Sun Ce feels that there is a chance, but Nash and Paul George are also going to rest.
…
After the break, the Grizzlies sent out a lineup of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Randolph, and Gasol.
On the Spurs side, George Hill, Ginobili, Gay, Dio, and Kwame Brown played.
Sun Ce looked at the opposite side. The three players on the outside were okay, but the two players on the inside were players with obvious defects that other teams did not want, but in the Spurs, they not only played well in the regular season, but also played a very important role in the playoffs.
For example, Kwame Brown averaged 7.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the series against the Warriors, with a hit rate of 75%. Dio averaged 5 assists per game in 23 minutes of playing time in the first round of 6 games.
However, Sun Ce is confident in this lineup, and they are stronger overall!
At the beginning of the second quarter, when the Spurs attacked, Sun Ce took advantage of the "food shortage" prediction to steal Dio's high-post pass, leaving Kwame Brown no chance to eat the cake, and directly counterattacked and dunked to score two points.
31 to 36, Sun Ce's counterattack helped the Grizzlies narrow the gap to 5 points.
This is a good sign for the Grizzlies. In the absence of Duncan, Dio's threat is not as good as Duncan. Without Parker, Sun Ce is also freed up to help defend. Klay Thompson defends Ginobili and Jimmy Butler defends Gay. Although they may not be able to limit much, Sun Ce can help defend.
As Dio missed again and broke through to single out Randolph, the Grizzlies relied on Gasol's high-post support. Jimmy Butler received the ball from mid-range and hit it when Sun Ce, Klay Thompson and Randolph attracted defense. 33 to 36, the Grizzlies narrowed the gap to 3 points!
Seeing the momentum was good, Ginobili stood up!
Popovich did not call a timeout as usual once the gap was narrowed. Ginobili gave a positive response!
Ginobili hit three-pointers in two consecutive rounds against Klay Thompson. During this period, Sun Ce passed the sideline three-pointer to Klay Thompson but missed. The Grizzlies were beaten 6 to 0 and fell behind the Spurs by 9 points at 33 to 42. Instead, the Grizzlies called a timeout!
After a wave of 4-0, they were counterattacked by a wave of 6-0. This was an extremely huge blow to the Grizzlies!
Fortunately, the Grizzlies have a tough mentality and have the desire to become "great" that Sun Ce mobilized before the game. Their confidence did not suffer a big blow, but their morale definitely declined as a result.
Returning to the bench, Sun Ce watched Ginobili suddenly explode... without any warning!
Also, in the second quarter, he was no longer left open by the opponent. Since Randolph is generally a scoring player under the basket, the Spurs helped defend more under the basket. From the pass to Klay Thompson just now, You can tell when the ball was successful, but Klay Thompson didn't score.
The Grizzlies didn't make any adjustments during this timeout, just to interrupt Ginobili's touch.
The offensive coordination was good. Klay Thompson had opportunities to catch and shoot. He even scored in the first two attacks and defended the Spurs for two rounds.
They did nothing wrong and even did everything very well.
Facing Klay Thompson's close defense, which rarely missed his position, Ginobili scored two consecutive strong three-pointers. When this kind of probabilistic situation happened, they didn't even have a way to deal with it.
This is also a situation where opponents are unable to deal with Sun Ce's usual outbursts.