One Thousand Four Hundred and Eight. Both Sides' Goals - Section 3

After the second quarter started, the Heat found that the Grizzlies no longer tried desperately to overtake the score.

In other words, the two stages of Sun Ce's main attack in the first half of the second quarter and Randolph's main attack in the second half were separate. Unlike the first quarter, the two played together and worked hard to cooperate in the attack, connecting high and low positions, and played the strongest positional attack of the Grizzlies.

Even in the second half of the second quarter, Sun Ce and Randolph played together, but they did not play like the first half of the first quarter.

The desperate players became Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Gasol, Battier, Nash, Yi Jianlian, and Larry Sanders.

The Grizzlies still had two lineups. In the first lineup, Randolph rested and Gasol supported him. The Grizzlies did not play run-and-gun, and the offense became stable. Moreover, they were not in a hurry, played steadily, tried their best to defend, and tried their best to attack.

In the second half of the second quarter, Nash came up and led Klay Thompson and Yi Jianlian to attack with Sun Ce and Randolph.

Sun Ce and Randolph played one-on-one when necessary in the second quarter, and if not, they would contain or run to attract defense, helping Gasol or Nash organize the offense.

During this period, except for the two of them, everyone else tried their best when attacking, and the two of them did not stop fighting. When they needed to play one-on-one, they fought to the end, but did not do anything extra, allowing this group of talented teammates to fully release their strength.

Indeed, even if others tried their best or even played beyond their normal level, they were not as efficient as the two of them fighting to the death, but playing like this made Randolph play relatively easily and reserve physical strength for the second half.

On Sun Ce's side, he tried his best to defend on the defensive end, and ran to play without the ball on the offensive end to contain or look for opportunities to score, and occasionally played one-on-one, choosing to trust his teammates.

Trust was rewarded. These teammates were trustworthy. In the second quarter, with a three-pointer and a long two-pointer from Klay Thompson, three assists from Nash and two assists from Gasol, and 10 points from Yi Jianlian and Paul George, the Grizzlies scored 23 to 23 in a single quarter.

The first half scored 9 to 11, and the second half scored 14 to 12!

At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies fell behind by 3 points at 50 to 53 and entered the halftime break. In the second quarter, they relied on team offense and did not let the Heat widen the gap!

…

Back in the locker room, Sun Ce looked at his own data. He played for 24 minutes, 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals, 2 fouls, 8 points in the first quarter, 4 points in the second quarter, and devoted himself to the defense.

The second quarter was indeed not as efficient as when he was attacking with all his strength, because two of the three assists were obtained in the first quarter.

But it wasn't that bad. He didn't always dominate the ball, but played as an off-ball shooter and cooperated with his teammates. His teammates always had more room to play. His teammates were indeed talented and their talents had begun to turn into strength. With the core organizers Gasol and Nash, they played very well!

First, they relied on a big and four small players to slow down the rhythm, and then relied on Nash to stabilize the offensive efficiency. In the first half, they didn't play as well as Wade + James + Nene, but in the second half, James went to rest and Nash led the team, playing better than Wade and Bosh.

The key is to play like this, Sun was much more relaxed. In the second quarter, he only had to defend and run to catch the ball and shoot. The Heat would definitely not let him shoot in an open position. He only had two open shots, 1 of 2 shots, and 1 of 2 shots in a high-post single-handed single, without initiating, and only got 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 2 steals.

But the score difference was still only 3 points!

The situation is moving in the direction of Sun Ce's plan. Next, in the third quarter, it's time to start changing!

...

Coach Hollins did not intervene in Sun Ce's adjustments during the halftime break, but only helped to think of a better lineup to suit Sun Ce's ideas. This is what Coach Hollins is good at, arranging the lineup according to the opponent's lineup, playing style, status, and the status and strategic needs of his own players.

After the halftime break, the Grizzlies' Sun Ce, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Randolph, and Larry Sanders played.

On the Heat side, James, who had rested for half a quarter, played, with Chalmers, Wade, Bosh, and Nene. The Heat made regular rotations and sent out all starters at the beginning of the second half.

Randolph played for 13 minutes in the first half, scored 7 points in 7 and a half minutes in the first quarter, 2 points in 5 and a half minutes in the second quarter, 9 points and 4 rebounds in the first half. In general, he played very restrained, mainly in the second quarter, with only one single play. The rest of the time, he was threatening + rushing for offensive rebounds. The threat was maintained, but the Heat was very stuck on him in offensive rebounds, and he was unable to make more contributions. He also adjusted his style of play within the tactics that Sun Ce wanted to play, maintaining the threat of rushing to consume Nene and Chris Anderson, and not forcing to reduce his own consumption.

Sun Ce's style of play made him and Randolph consume less in the second quarter. When Sun Ce was not resting at halftime, he used physical potions, and Randolph only played 13 minutes in the first half; similarly, their impact was lower than the Heat expected, which also gave James half a quarter of rest in the second quarter, unlike when he played against the Bulls, when James played 45 minutes per game.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Grizzlies attacked first. Sun Ce received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt. Jimmy Butler ran to the weak side of the mid-range. Larry Sanders kept the ball at the bottom line. Klay Thompson moved on the left sideline. Randolph blocked Nene in the low post and asked for the ball. Sun Ce passed the ball to Randolph.

It depends on Randolph to dig it!

During the halftime break, Sun Ce's play was discussed in detail. Randolph knew that he was the most important in this quarter!

In today's interior, Howard has lost his explosive power, Duncan, Nowitzki and Yao Ming are getting old, some are declining in singles, and some are retiring... In this case, if Randolph's low-post attack considers himself second, no one dares to claim first place!

Randolph took a strong step, used his explosive force to carry Nene away, turned around, and with flexibility that was extremely inconsistent with his body size, he took a step to the right side of the three-second zone, switched the ball from his left hand to his right hand, and made a small throw... James was also avoided by Randolph's hand change, and Randolph scored two points in a low-post single!

52 to 53, the Grizzlies narrowed the gap to 1 point!

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Heat felt the Grizzlies' very obvious changes. They no longer played slowly like in the second quarter, and seemed to want to use the team's best players to start rushing!

The Heat are not afraid. The opponent has two superstars, and they have three!

In the second quarter, the Heat's personnel adjustments were in line with the Grizzlies' less aggressive style of play. Now James has rested for half a quarter, also for the third quarter!