One Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty-One. The Pelicans' Strong Team Temperament
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The game is about to start, and the two teams start.
After Sun Ce put on his equipment, he went on the court with the starting lineup of Klay Thompson, Paul George, Larry Sanders, and Valanciunas.
Before the jump ball, Sun Ce pulled the two inside players and said a few words.
Larry Sanders had no objection, and he had always played like this.
As for Valanciunas... After joining the Grizzlies, he and Amir Johnson have always heard the trainer and coach emphasize that they should "learn to block for the lord" on the defensive end, not only rebounds, but also many directions of action after blocking. It is very different from playing before. Although it is not used to it, they are also trying to adapt.
The Pelicans have few injuries this season and rarely change the starting lineup. Irving, Eric Gordon, Aminu, Anthony Davis, and Lopez Jr.'s starting lineup appeared.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, the game broadcast live by the Imperial Court Sports Channel began.
Lopez Jr. beat Valanciunas to win the jump ball.
The fans at the scene were speechless. Gasol left, but the center who came was still so sharp in the jump ball. It would be great if Larry Sanders could jump the ball! At worst, let the little bully go!
Irving received the ball, and the Pelicans advanced at a brisk pace.
After Irving advanced to the frontcourt, he encountered Sun Ce's single defense.
This is the advantage of the Pelicans facing the Grizzlies, similar to the Spurs with Parker. Klay Thompson and Paul George are both difficult to defend Irving, so only Sun Ce can defend the opponent's point guard, thereby weakening Sun Ce's role in assisting defense.
Irving already has a way to deal with Sun Ce's defense. He did not want to look for a shooting opportunity, but firmly used a crossover step to break through the basket!
Sun Ce defended Irving very well, but in fact, he did not defend Irving's change of direction, but he could use the bonus of "accelerated change of direction in progress" to keep up with Irving and cover Irving's shooting space.
Sun Ce is not a true one-on-one defense expert. He cannot stop Irving from changing direction. He is not good at oppressive defense. He can only keep up, but that is enough.
After the first change of direction, Irving used the dribble behind his back to pull to the right side, all the way to the right bottom line of the three-second zone. He still did not have a good shooting opportunity, but this was what Irving expected. On the other side, Anthony Davis turned flexibly in the high position on the left side of the three-second zone, which is difficult for most people to do. He passed Larry Sanders without the ball and accelerated faster than Larry Sanders, a physical male inside player, and entered the inside in two steps.
Irving kept an eye on Anthony Davis. When he dribbled behind his back and rushed to the right bottom line of the three-second zone and just stopped, he immediately threw the ball to the left side of the three-second zone, one step outside the reasonable collision zone.
Anthony Davis received the ball, and Lopez Jr. moved out of the way. Although Valanciunas reacted quickly and pushed forward, Anthony Davis jumped up as soon as he received the ball. With his exaggerated arm span, he smashed the ball into the basket through Valanciunas... "Pop"
A person jumped up from behind Valanciunas!
The Grizzlies player wearing the No. 3 jersey slapped the ball that Anthony Davis had dunked away!
Larry Sanders, who followed Anthony Davis but lost the chance to block the shot, just received the ball!
Irving saw that he had just passed the ball, and Sun Ce turned into the basket and seized the opportunity to block the shot!
After Larry Sanders grabbed the ball, he immediately raised the ball,
paying attention to Lopez Jr. who was retreating, using his back and hips to prevent Anthony Davis, a flexible big man like a small forward, from stealing the ball.
After landing, Sun Ce went around to receive the ball. The Pelicans had already retreated. Sun Ce passed the ball to Paul George to advance, took a deep breath, and ran to the front court.
Sun Ce had seen the way Irving and Anthony Davis cooperated this time.
It can be said that there is no technical content. It is simply to use Irving's single breakthrough ability to attract the attention of the inside defense and then pass the ball to Anthony Davis.
Even if he failed to attract attention, it doesn't matter. No one in the current inside line can compare with Anthony Davis' athletic ability. As long as the space is good enough, Anthony Davis can score the ball purely by personal ability.
Ordinary insiders cannot complete the defense. Even top defensive forwards such as Leonard and Iguodala can't play much when defending Irving and Anthony Davis.
When Sun Ce turned to Valanciunas's back, he couldn't block it normally, but the effect of Olajuwon's hand straps worn by Sun Ce allowed him to just reach the ball and successfully complete the block!
After Paul George advanced to the frontcourt, he saw Klay Thompson being chased by Irving and Sun Ce was entangled with Aminu, so he chose to single out Eric Gordon, broke through to the mid-range, and made a long two-point shot.
With Eric Gordon's height, defending a big small forward like Paul George can only depend on Paul George's touch.
It was the Pelicans' turn to attack again. Anthony Davis was blocked by Sun Ce once, but Irving's style of play remained unchanged. He rushed all the way to the right side of the three-second zone near the baseline, dribbled behind his back, turned around and grabbed the ball... Just as Irving expected, Sun Ce wanted to block the shot, turned around and rushed towards Anthony Davis who turned and cut in from the other side. Irving did not pass the ball, dribbled behind his back and turned around to shoot a jump shot... Hit!
Sun Ce was a little anxious to complete the block, but was fooled!
Irving grasped this point very keenly.
Moreover, Sun Ce not only wanted to complete the block, but also had to help Valanciunas with the defense. Valanciunas' defense was OK, but it was just OK. He could squat under the basket to defend ordinary outside breakthroughs or shrink to help defend. Facing Anthony Davis rushing in to receive the ball, he would most likely be a background.
Because Anthony Davis is really strong!
But Irving is also very strong, with a high basketball IQ, and excellent judgment in scoring, and he seized the opportunity himself.
The point is that Valanciunas's movement was a beat slower. Compared with Gasol in his best state, Valanciunas could not compare with him in terms of defensive awareness, movement, and defensive execution. Valanciunas is not a top defensive inside player... It's not that his defensive combination with Larry Sanders is not good enough, but now that most inside players in the league are becoming more and more single-function, the inside defense formed by these two people is enough to defend most inside players.
But Anthony Davis is a new generation of super inside players with excellent skills, athletic ability, and basketball IQ! This makes the defense of this inside combination seem very ordinary, not as effective as the cooperation between Larry Sanders and Randolph.
Anthony Davis made great progress from his freshman year to his sophomore year, which allowed Irving to find a way to deal with Sun Ce and the joint defense of the inside line.
As the game went on, the two teams entered a state of positional warfare.
The overall defense of the Pelicans was good, but there was a shortcoming. The back line was too short. When Aminu needed to defend Sun Ce, no one could defend Paul George.
Paul George scored continuously with a scoring-first style, and Klay Thompson and Sun Ce also seized the opportunity to shoot three-pointers or cut in to score.
On the other side, Irving played a double team with Anthony Davis.
Lopez Jr. had a high-up shot at the edge of the three-second zone, which prevented Valanciunas from defending Irving. Anthony Davis always found opportunities to shoot and cut in to score. Aminu's cutting ability and Eric Gordon's mid-range and long-range shooting ability... With the core combination of Irving and Anthony Davis, the Pelicans played very well in positional warfare!
The Pelicans were once ranked third in the Western Conference, which was not given for nothing. They have made great progress this season, and the key to the significant improvement in their record is Anthony Davis.
In addition, the Pelicans did a good job of retreating defense, rarely allowing the Grizzlies to play fast breaks.
However, although Valanciunas did not do a good job of defense, he took the initiative to do pick-and-rolls for Paul George and shoot on the move, which was better than Gasol, and even better than Gasol in his best condition.
Another unexpected point is Valanciunas' fast break awareness.
The Grizzlies did not play many fast breaks in the first half of the first quarter, only twice, and one of these two times was Valanciunas following up and taking one step to the free throw line and dribbling one step to the basket, relying on his strong body to make a layup.
In the previous few games, the Grizzlies rarely played fast breaks when Valanciunas was on the court. They didn't notice this. The Raptors played positional warfare and didn't try to arrange more playing styles for the second-year Valanciunas. The Grizzlies didn't know that Valanciunas could play fast breaks!
With Irving and Anthony Davis in such a hot state and very good cooperation, the Grizzlies did not fall behind. After 7 minutes of the first quarter, when Paul George was shot out of bounds by Lopez Jr. at the baseline, and the referee blew the whistle for an official timeout, the Grizzlies and Pelicans tied 17-17!
5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, Sun Ce's performance in 7 minutes was okay, but his defense was not good.
Defending Irving made him lose the opportunity to connect defense, and the combination of Valanciunas and Larry Sanders did not do a good job of defending the basket, so Paul George could only shrink to make up for the defense, which did play a big role in defending Anthony Davis and Irving, but the opponent's outside shooting opportunities increased.
Irving scored 6 points and 3 assists in a little more than half a quarter, which can be regarded as a blast to Sun.
Compared with the match at the beginning of the season, Sun Ce obviously felt that the opponent had better cooperation and made better use of his abilities!
Irving scored 6 points and 3 assists, Anthony Davis scored 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks. These two played better than Sun with a purposeful style!
…
After the official timeout, Paul George went to rest, and the combination of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Livingston, Richard Jefferson and Yi Jianlian appeared.
Sun Ce calmed down during the timeout and put the block aside for the time being.
The opponent had been on guard since the first ball and took advantage of this. At the beginning, there were three attacks, and the opponent relied on him to block and score. Later, when Sun Ce defended well, he was already feeling the opponent and could not suppress it.
There is also the defense of Anthony Davis and Lopez Jr., which can be regarded as the enhanced version of the Grizzlies' interior defense, which is much more enhanced. Sun Ce and Larry Sanders were blocked by Anthony Davis once each.
Looking at the lineup of Irving, Anthony Morrow, Aminu, Ryan Anderson, and Anthony Davis on the opposite side... There is no doubt that the opponent's lineup has stronger offensive firepower!
Ryan Anderson has averaged 3 three-pointers per game so far this season, which is more than Klay Thompson's 2.8 three-pointers per game. Morrow has an extremely strong hit rate, with a three-point hit rate of 45.5% and an average of 1.4 three-pointers per game.
The game continued, and the Grizzlies were still attacking. Now Sun Ce didn't care about whether to block or not. It was more important to hold off the Pelicans' offense, which had already shown momentum!
Sure enough, the Pelicans were already on the rise after a tie with the Grizzlies away from home, two big blocks from Anthony Davis, and the sharp offensive cooperation between Irving and Anthony Davis!
The Grizzlies' lineup was poor in defense, so they mainly focused on offense.
Sun Ce started to assist, and fell into a positional battle. Sun Ce played pick-and-roll with Yi Jianlian, or let Livingston play back, and Sun Ce connected the offense in a fast break.
After the first quarter, the Grizzlies were 1 point behind the Pelicans 31 to 32 and entered the intermission.
In 5 minutes, the Pelicans beat them 15 to 14, and the Grizzlies' offensive firepower was not as strong as the Pelicans!
…
10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks. After Sun Ce stopped pursuing blocks, he blocked Irving once, but it was a pity that the block was not Anthony Davis.
But the score was behind, and the Pelicans were obviously already in high spirits and in good form.
In the second quarter, Sun Ce was replaced for a rest, and the combination of Beverley, Tony Allen, Paul George, Amir Johnson, and Larry Sanders was replaced.
On the other side, Irving and Anthony Davis, two young players, did not plan to rest, but to seize the opportunity and establish an advantage!
Morrow, Aminu, and Lopez Jr. played together.
Coach Hollins wanted to use iron-blooded defense to curb the opponent's momentum, but failed!
More than 4 minutes before the second quarter, the Pelicans played a wave of 13 to 7, and the score became 45 to 38! Seeing that the opponent had a chance to widen the gap to 10 points, Coach Hollins was forced to call a timeout in advance!
In the second quarter, the Pelicans' offense was mainly concentrated outside the three-point line. The guard combination of Irving and Morrow shot three-pointers. Among the 13 points, 9 points were scored by three-pointers, and the two made 3 of 4 three-pointers!
Never underestimate the explosive power of a young team!
The five-man team of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Stoudemire, and Yi Jianlian were replaced in advance. Yi Jianlian made a 2+1 with a cut-in dunk, which caused Aminu, who was defending, to foul and helped Sun Ce get the fourth attack, which eased the crisis and narrowed the score difference to 4 points again.
However, the Pelicans were not defeated by the Grizzlies' strongest offensive combination, and maintained a lead of about 5 points. They were still strong after the official timeout in the second quarter. Whether it was Ryan Anderson, Brian Roberts, Rivers Jr., or Luke Babbitt, who came off the bench, they all played very well.
At 8 minutes and 11 seconds in the second quarter, Stoudemire was anxious to make up for the dunk when Paul George missed the sideline because the score difference had reached 8 points, and he was injured!
Stoudemire really has the will but not the ability. His sharp face-to-frame singles are gone. Now he relies on pick-and-roll awareness, mid-range shots, speed and cutting awareness to score. During the rush, he collided with his old teammate Lopez Jr., fell to the ground, pulled his calf muscle and was replaced.
However, the referee still gave face to the old generation of stars. This ball that can be called or not, called a foul on Lopez Jr., and the Grizzlies got two free throws.
Since Stoudemire was replaced and went back to the locker room for treatment, the Pelicans designated Richard Jefferson, who was substituted by the Grizzlies, to take free throws... This is the player with the worst free throws this season among the Grizzlies' current players on the court. The Grizzlies' current players on the outside are three young outside players, and the center is Yi Jianlian.
With Richard Jefferson making both free throws, the score difference was narrowed to 6 points. The Grizzlies were 6 points behind 51 to 57, and there were more than three minutes in the first half!
Fortunately, in the last 3 minutes or so, the Grizzlies shot well enough, and when the opponent defended the basket, they played a wave of 9 to 9. At the end of the half, the Grizzlies were 7 points behind the Pelicans 60 to 67 and entered the halftime break.
…
In the second quarter, the Grizzlies had no major problems with substitutions and game status, and played at the normal level of this season, but the opponent played too well after the momentum!
After the halftime break, Sun Ce used up the physical potion that had been charged in the past few games, changed his jersey, and temporarily ignored the bullying issue. Irving and Anthony Davis were no longer opponents who could be bullied if they wanted to.
Winning is more important! The Grizzlies' top four position in the West is not so stable.
The combination of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Amir Johnson, and Yi Jianlian played.
As for Stoudemire, after a detailed examination during the halftime break, in addition to a calf muscle strain, his right knee was also slightly sprained.
Stoudemire's legs have suffered too many injuries, and they are prone to injury if they are not careful. He will have to rest for at least two weeks, which means he will not be able to play before the All-Star Weekend! If it weren't for the trade for Amir Johnson, the Grizzlies would be in a crisis of inside manpower again.
On the Pelicans side, Irving, Morrow, Aminu, Anthony Davis, and Lopez Jr. played.
Irving felt the pressure and hope!
Just like the last time they played, no matter how well they played, the opponent could hold the score tight, at least not let the score difference open to more than 10 points, and maintain the momentum of chasing points.
But the Pelicans did not mess up this time, unlike the last time when they played so well and the score difference was tight, they were so panicked that the opponent's Splash Brothers seized the opportunity to overtake with a wave of consecutive three-pointers, and then fell into a slump... This time, they held up!
Even though Sun Ce and Klay Thompson combined to score three three-pointers in the last three minutes of the second quarter, the Pelicans did not panic! They firmly maintained a 7-point lead!