One Thousand Six Hundred and Nineteen. The First Part of the Big Scam

73 games, averaging 34.3 points, 13.6 rebounds, 9.7 assists, 3.4 blocks, 1.6 steals, 3 fouls, and 3.6 turnovers. All the games in March are over. When fans took their attention away from Sun Ce's crazy March performance, they saw the latest data after Sun Ce played 4 games in 6 consecutive away games, which once again sparked heated discussions.

In the past month, fans felt that Sun Ce played the data that should have been in the ancient times of basketball. In the past month, Sun Ce's performance has added points to his MVP competition, more than the single-game 70+ and the luxurious quadruple-double of 64+37 before the All-Star Weekend.

Those two games were explosive performances. Unless the data, performance, and record are comparable to other MVP competitors, the explosive performance can affect the final ownership of the MVP.

To choose an MVP, you have to look at the performance of most games throughout the season.

In fact, it was not Sun Ce who first played the ancient-level data this season, but Westbrook.

But while Westbrook also played ancient-level data, Sun Ce came from behind and was even more wild!

The Grizzlies have 9 games left, and fans are looking forward to whether Sun Ce, who currently averages 34.3 points per game, can keep steady and not be surpassed by Durant, who averages 33.8 points per game.

When will Sun Ce be able to lock in a triple-double, that is, the situation where he does not get a triple-double in the remaining games and Westbrook cannot overtake even if he gets a triple-double in all the remaining games.

The most important thing is the ranking of the Grizzlies. In theory, it is unlikely that the Grizzlies will surpass the Trail Blazers. After the Thunder lost to the Grizzlies, it will be difficult for them to catch up with the Grizzlies and Warriors in a short time. The advantages accumulated by the Grizzlies in the first half of the season played a decisive role in their fight for the first round home advantage.

That is, there will be a focus series in the first round - the battle between the Grizzlies and the Warriors!

Just entering April, fans have already started talking about the playoffs. Curry, as a new popular NBA star, was selected as an All-Star starter. With his stability comparable to Klay Thompson and his explosive three-point shooting ability comparable to Sun Ce, he has attracted a large number of fans.

Now fans of the Grizzlies and Warriors are arguing about which team has a greater advantage in the first round.

…

On Sun Ce's side, after playing against the Thunder, the whole team stayed in the hotel after arriving in Denver on April Fool's Day morning, catching up on sleep or watching TV to relieve stress.

After winning the Thunder yesterday, their record improved to 49 wins and 24 losses. After the Warriors defeated the Trail Blazers, they barely relied on the advantage of head-to-head wins to continue to rank fourth in the West.

Now Sun Ce really hopes that his first-round opponent will be the Thunder instead of the Warriors. It's not that he is afraid of the Warriors, but he has a more obvious advantage against the Thunder - Whiteside!

Originally, the overall strength of the Grizzlies was slightly weaker than that of the Thunder. If both teams were in good shape, they could only rely on their three-man team to explode, and the opponent could not explode or explode less than their three-man team to have an advantage.

Otherwise, they could only compete with the Thunder with their overall strength that was slightly inferior.

But with Whiteside, it was completely different!

Sun Ce felt that Whiteside was a natural counter to Westbrook! The restraint effect was even stronger than he had expected!

Whiteside had many problems, such as he was unwilling to leave the three-second zone no matter what. If the opponent had someone within his arm span, he would never leave the three-second zone. If there was no one within his arm span, he would tiptoe outside the three-second zone with one foot every two seconds, and then go back immediately. Sometimes, if the referee did not blow the whistle, he would not go out.

This would be terrible for defending most of the league's point guards, but it would be perfect for defending Westbrook. Since the new century, Whiteside's awareness of blocking shots in the three-second zone is probably only comparable to Ratliff and Mutombo at the beginning of the century.

Anyway, both Sun Ce and Larry Sanders think that Whiteside is the player with the best shot blocking awareness in the league.

Even if Whiteside's physical strength is average,

he can play more than ten minutes in regular time and five or six minutes in critical moments, specifically to deal with Westbrook.

In the first half against the Thunder, the Grizzlies were able to open up the score because Whiteside alone could stop Westbrook from scoring under the basket, and the four-man team on the outside could take this opportunity to play the rotation defense.

In the playoffs, Sun Ce estimated that as long as it was a strong team in the playoffs, they would not dare to do so, unless there was no center available, but against the Thunder, Whiteside was too useful!

Today is April Fool's Day. The Grizzlies were originally going to record a short video today and post it on the short video software invested by Sun Ce. This was planned at the beginning of the season.

But because the leading actor Randolph was not there, it had to be cancelled.

Without Randolph to liven up the atmosphere, the six-game away game was in progress and four games had been played. Sun Ce and his teammates really had no mind and energy to play that.

In Denver, Sun Ce stayed in his room, chatting with Lily Collins and Zoe via video, and talked with John on the phone about some things this summer, and the day passed like this.

On April 2, the Grizzlies' most difficult six-game away schedule came. This time, the Grizzlies' opponents can be considered five consecutive away games in the Northwest Division. Only the Warriors intervened, and the other five opponents were all Northwest Division teams.

Moreover, the 2nd and 3rd of the new month are back-to-back games, playing against the Nuggets and the Timberwolves.

At noon on the 2nd, the NBA officially announced the best players of the week last week.

Sun Ce failed to win the Player of the Week award. The Western Conference Player of the Week award went to Warriors player James Harden, while the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award went to Hornets player Josh McRoberts.

When Sun Ce saw this, he probably thought that Josh McRoberts had never thought that he would win the Player of the Week award one day in all these years since he entered the NBA.

When Sun Ce won the first Player of the Week award, he was surprised after being surprised.

At 5:30 in the evening, the Grizzlies' away game against the Nuggets began.

The Nuggets are now waiting for the holiday. The coaching staff has no ideas. Winning or losing doesn't matter. Brian Shaw is ready to resign at the end of the season. He found that he is more suitable to be an assistant coach to provide tactics. It is too difficult to find a suitable team to play the triangle offense. It is not easy to find a combination like Pippen + Jordan, Kobe + O'Neal, Kobe + Gasol.

But the players played very actively. Many Nuggets players are in the contract year. In terms of record, the Nuggets are not particularly bad. 33 wins and 39 losses are not bad. It's just that there are many injuries and the tactics are not adapted. Basically, the whole team depends on the cooperation of a few players. It's like playing street ball. Of course, NBA first-class or quasi-first-class players are still very good in street ball, but they just don't have a chance to enter the playoffs.

In this year's games, the Nuggets lost most of the games against those disciplined and tactically stable teams; but they basically won against teams with worse records than them.

Although the Grizzlies' record is not as good as in previous years, the team's discipline and tactical stability have always been very good.

From the strongest defensive team in the league, the style of this season has suddenly changed to the strongest offensive team in the league, and they have a good circle of team fans. The discipline and stability can be imagined. The strongest and most enviable thing about the Grizzlies is Sun Ce, and the other is their overall discipline.

And this is based on the fact that each of their main rotation players has at least a good level of strength.

So when playing against the Nuggets, the Grizzlies have been playing under pressure this season, not giving the opponent any chance.

But tonight, I thought it would be an easy game, the main players could take a break, Yi Jianlian and Klay Thompson both rested, preparing for Love's possible outbreak tomorrow.

Love was "humiliated" by Whiteside in the last game, and the opponent will definitely go all out in the last match.

However, in the starting stage, Sun Ce, Beverly, Paul George, Amir Johnson, and Larry Sanders did a good job in defense. Sun Ce played for 9 minutes in the first quarter, got 7 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, helping the team to start 24 to 14.

The Nuggets averaged 104 points per game this season and lost 106 points per game. They were completely defenseless against teams with teamwork. Without George Karl, the Nuggets' defense now relies purely on personal ability, without any cooperation.

But after Whiteside came on the court, something went wrong!

It seems that he is floating. Whiteside is only concerned with grabbing rebounds and dunking on the offensive end. He is really good at this. Faried, JJ Hickson, Mozgov, and Darrell Arthur can't grab him even if they take turns. But as the game goes on, the Nuggets' inside line found a problem. This guy grabs the offensive rebound but doesn't pass it! He wants to dunk or let it go, and then Faried and Mozgov's blocks become more.

This is not a big deal. If the outside shot can't be made, Whiteside grabs the offensive rebound himself, and he has the right to decide what to do.

However, on the defensive end, Whiteside doesn't go to check the position, but just wants to get the rebound, which is a big problem.

Faried, Darrell Arthur, and JJ Hickson on the Nuggets are all offensive rebounding masters! The Nuggets are so powerful in bullying the weak, relying on the fifth overall rebounding in the league and the third offensive rebounding in the league!

In addition, it was found that Whiteside did not expand when defending the pick-and-roll. Lawson of the Nuggets kept picking and rolling to break through to close-range shots, and Nate Robinson shot directly after various pick-and-rolls, and his touch was good.

When Sun Ce returned to the court in the 4th minute of the second quarter, the score was actually tied by the opponent!

Fortunately, the overall strength was still there. After the half-time, relying on Sun Ce's 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks, the Grizzlies led 59 to 56 by 3 points after the half-time and entered the halftime break.

During the halftime break, Coach Hollins emphasized to Whiteside how to play very sternly.

But after returning in the third quarter, after the lineup of Livingston, Beverly, Paul George, Prince, and Whiteside came on the court, Whiteside's playing style remained the same for more than half a quarter... Fortunately, Paul George just held on, scoring 8 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes, and then he held on to the Nuggets who had already played up their morale.

If we say that Whiteside's poor defense against pick-and-roll and close-range defense, in addition to the three-second zone defense, has the greatest impact, it is that the Nuggets have gained momentum!

This is basically a chaotic team that can run and shoot, and it is difficult to deal with after gaining momentum.

After the official timeout in the third quarter, Coach Hollins did not replace Sun Ce again.

Sun Ce, Paul George, and Larry Sanders, with Beverley, Tony Allen, Hardaway Jr., Prince, Richard Jefferson, and Amir Johnson, the rotation combination, fought the already powerful Nuggets until the last moment.

At 11 minutes and 47 seconds in the final quarter, the talented second-year player Fournier made a long-range three-pointer, and the Grizzlies and the Nuggets tied at 112!

The Grizzlies didn't call a timeout! Sun Ce triggered the "Death Coming" and directly counterattacked with the temporary recovery of full physical strength that others didn't expect. He rushed to the basket and smashed the ball into the basket with Lawson hanging on his body when Lawson chased him back, causing Lawson to foul at the same time.

Although the free throw was not made, the Nuggets paused to arrange the tactics and came back from the timeout. When the frontcourt ball came out, Sun Ce, who had predicted it in advance, stole the ball!

After Sun Ce stole the ball, he ran wildly. This time he really ran fast. Lawson, who played 44 minutes tonight, couldn't keep up.

In the end, relying on Sun Ce, who played 34 minutes, 13 of 29 shots, 35 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals, and Paul George, who scored 29 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, the Grizzlies narrowly defeated the Nuggets 114 to 112!

…

After the game with the Nuggets, Sun Ce's "Lord Show Time" ended, and his 21 consecutive games of non-40+ or ​​triple-double performances were interrupted.

Fans all felt it was a coincidence that Sun Ce's March Madness Lord Show ended just after March ended.

The headline was "The Lord only scored 38+8+8, and the Grizzlies narrowly defeated the Nuggets."

But the Grizzlies finally won their 50th win of the season. The last time the Grizzlies faced a more difficult situation was in Sun Ce's rookie year.

On April 3, when the Grizzlies played back-to-back against the Timberwolves, Coach Hollins directly put Whiteside on the inactive list and put Gobert on the active list.

Although Gobert did not play in this game, Tony Allen and Beverley also rested, but Whiteside was not put on the active list.

The Timberwolves were ready to beat Whiteside tonight, but they didn't expect that Whiteside, who played 14 minutes last night and scored 6 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, did not play today!

But this did not prevent the Timberwolves from desperately trying to regain their face.

The Grizzlies, who were in the last game of their six-game road trip and back-to-back games, were already missing two important perimeter defensive players and had not yet let the new inside players play. They struggled to hold on, but failed.

98 to 104, the Grizzlies' two-game winning streak was interrupted, with 2 wins and 4 losses, ending this six-game road trip against five teams in the Northwest Division with a not very ideal record.

Fortunately, the Warriors also lost. In the last match against the Spurs this season, the Warriors were slaughtered by 20 points, 92 to 112.

Currently, the Grizzlies and Warriors have a record of 50 wins and 25 losses.

After losing the game against the Timberwolves, Coach Hollins was asked about Whiteside. Some media asked why Whiteside did not play tonight and whether he was injured.

Coach Hollins' answer was simple, this is the team's preparation for the playoffs.

But the media didn't write it that way. This is not the answer they want. Of course, they won't make it up directly, but "ask questions" in various ways.

For example, is Whiteside injured? Is Whiteside hidden? Whiteside is this and that...

When the media praises a person, they will praise him to death. Maybe they will not pay attention to the problems of this player, but only praise the positive things. Maybe they know, but pretend not to know.

The media that hyped this matter may really not know, but there are not many basketball media who don't understand basketball, but they have to pretend not to understand in most cases. "Not understanding" can give them more room to play, and "not understanding" can't see what people who understand basketball can see. Whiteside messed up the team's defense against the Nuggets despite good data.

It just so happens that many fans really want to see the duel between Whiteside and Love, whose data has been explosive in the past six games, and who can get almost double-doubles + 3 blocks and a triple-double of blocks in 21 minutes per game. Unexpectedly, the Grizzlies suddenly didn't use Whiteside, and the key is that they still lost.

So, the topic about the Grizzlies that the fans discussed was suddenly led by the media to the question of why Whiteside didn't play in the game against the Timberwolves.

…

…

Six consecutive away games, 2 wins and 4 losses, this record is a bit bad, and the original hope of getting 55 wins has been greatly reduced.

Now we have lost 25 games, 50 wins and 25 is not bad, there are still 7 games left, and there is still hope to get 55 wins, and we must rush for 55 wins, otherwise the fourth place in the West may really not be maintained.

Coincidentally, Sun Ce found that it was after Whiteside joined the team that the team lost three consecutive games in the first six away games. Of course, Sun Ce felt that this could not be blamed on Whiteside. The opponent has been playing very hard, and the team’s strength is indeed not as good as in previous years. Moreover, the victory over the Thunder was so easy because Whiteside played so hard that the opponent could not react.

But the nearly losing game against the Nuggets was really to blame Whiteside.

Sun Ce felt that there were many reasons for this. First of all, Whiteside played better than expected, and then, he was crazy praised by the media... In addition, Sun Ce felt that a very important point was Whiteside’s sense of crisis!

Sun Ce can understand Whiteside's sense of crisis. When he was selected by the Warriors to play in the summer league, he didn't get playing time in the preseason, and was traded during the game... Sun Ce also had an infinite sense of crisis at that time, and he still has it now.

His goal back then was to stay in the NBA, and the sense of crisis came from the possibility that he might not be able to stay; the sense of crisis now is that he has ambitions that ordinary stars or even ordinary superstars dare not think of, but the sense of crisis that he is not strong enough.

Whiteside's situation is simple. Sun Ce thinks that Whiteside wants to "show his ability" too much, and the way he shows his ability is to get good data, and he does have the ability to get good data.

Sun Ce decided to have a good chat with Whiteside after returning to Memphis. Just like he told the coaching staff before, Whiteside is just a minimum-salary player. If you are not satisfied with him, just don't let him play.

But Whiteside's ability, if used in the right place, will definitely play a role in the playoffs.

However, Sun Ce thinks that the way he chats with ordinary teammates may not be effective, so he needs to think about it carefully...