One Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty-Five. Splash Brothers vs Kuhao Part 1!

After the warm-up, at 6:40 in the evening, the players of both teams entered the stadium.

When the Warriors players entered the stadium, the cheers of the fans resounded throughout the stadium. They were going to win! They were going to beat Sun Ce! The voices of the 20% of fans who supported Sun Ce and the Grizzlies were completely drowned out.

The more they were unwilling to lose Sun Ce, the more they wanted to win! Only by winning, only by defeating Sun Ce, could they heal the pain of the year.

Just like the Mavericks fans were unwilling to lose Nash before 2011, the current fans 10 years later could not imagine how badly Cuban was scolded after Nash won two consecutive MVPs.

At that time, Cuban already had the title of a fanatical boss, but the year when Nash won the MVP for the first time and led the team to the Western Conference Finals, Cuban was scolded when he ate in a restaurant in Dallas, and a basketball fan chef refused to go to his house to cook dinner for him.

When he was eliminated in the black eight, he reached the peak of being scolded, and he was still scolded until the 09-10 season.

But after winning the championship, everything is not a problem. Now the argument has become "the two have achieved their respective MVPs", which was not the case back then.

Although Nowitzki also won the MVP, he was eliminated in the first round of the draft that year...

Warriors fans now hold the same mentality, and let Sun Ce stop in the first round for the first time in his career!

And this is what Curry wants to do.

He is more sad than anyone about the trade that year. Now it seems that the trade is equivalent to exchanging Sun Ce and Paul George for Thabeet. Although they themselves will not choose Paul George, they gave the draft pick.

Thabeet is very good. He showed good mobility and rim protection in college. Now they are very comfortable using him, but Curry is still very sad. That guy is like forgetting the roommate relationship of the year. Every time he meets them, he beats them to death as long as he has the opportunity.

Now, Curry wants revenge!

This year's opportunity is too good. Randolph was reimbursed, which forced the Grizzlies to send Gasol away to make changes and exchange for more functional inside players. As a result, another inside singles player Valanciunas was also reimbursed.

It can be seen as the Grizzlies are missing the league's best offensive player Randolph and the best defensive player Gasol; it can also be seen as the Grizzlies are missing the league's best offensive player Randolph, plus the Grizzlies' center Valanciunas who can protect the frame.

The former,

can be seen as the Grizzlies being weakened by at least 30%, and the latter, can also be seen as the Grizzlies being weakened by 10% to 20%.

If Sun Ce's progress exceeded everyone's imagination, Paul George and Klay Thompson also made steady progress, and the three of them were good at offense and defense, especially Paul George's first-class defense, the Warriors might have solved the problem in 5 games. The second game really relied on Sun Ce's big triple-double.

Curry believes in his ability, but he also thinks Sun Ce is the best player in the world, and he thinks this year is the best opportunity!

Looking at Sun Ce on the opposite side, biting his lower lip with his teeth, Curry has a feeling that it may be difficult to have such an opportunity in the future.

The opposite side's outside trio is simply amazing! Paul George, a fourth-year player, and Klay Thompson, a third-year player, are so good, and they are a good match for Sun Ce! They are simply explosive when paired with Sun Ce. This year, the Grizzlies relied on these three guys to win 56 games.

On the other side, Sun Ce bit his lower lip and thought about how to respond today.

In the previous games, because their three outside players played for a long time, except for Beverley, the point guard, the playing time of their other outside players was reduced. Livingston, Tony Allen, and Prince did not get much playing time.

In addition, there is no clear rotation method for the inside line. Whoever is not useful will be replaced, and whoever is useful will play more. There is no way. Their inside line is so crappy. Except for the clear use of Yi Jianlian's three-point cutting flow, there are problems with the use of Whiteside, Amir Johnson, and Larry Sanders, and there is no way to match them!

Sun Ce looked at the two inside players, Speights and Drummond Green, who did not have the ability to defend in the future. If Randolph was there now, he would make these two cry.

But it's not!

Now we can only continue to fight, and see the situation in the first quarter. If Curry still plays so strongly, then just go for it!

In this playoff match, Sun Ce knows why the Thunder were overturned by the Warriors. The referee's whistle may have an impact, but Curry's almost uninterrupted high-level performance after the Warriors started to gain momentum is the key! When Curry is on the court, the Warriors players have confidence, just like when he, Sun, was on the court, his teammates were not discouraged when the Grizzlies lost three games in a row.

…

At 6:58, Sun Ce pulled on Olajuwon's hand straps, Howard's arm guards, and Magic's balance bracelets, and walked onto the court.

The first two have been integrated into Sun Ce's strength. Olajuwon's wristbands block shots, Howard's arm guards protect his arms from injury, increase his rebounding height, and amplify his emotions. All of these have added to his strength. Even Howard himself, once he is frustrated, he tends to be frustrated all the time. For him, once he decides to fight, he will fight hard.

Tonight, the Grizzlies still have Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Richard Jefferson, and Yi Jianlian as their starting lineup.

For the Warriors, the outside trio of Curry, Harden and Iguodala remained unchanged, and Drummond Green and Thabeet started the game together.

In terms of defense, although the 24-year-old Drummond Green has not yet reached his peak, he has risen in this series and his performance is obviously better than Speights. Speights is only better than Ramon Green in mid-range shots and offensive rebounds.

The players of both teams seemed to have sparks in their eyes when they came on the court. Both teams were going to fight tonight!

The Grizzlies were fighting a desperate battle, and the Warriors wanted to take advantage of the victory and directly break the Grizzlies.

At 8 o'clock, the referee blew the whistle to start the game on time and threw the ball into the air. Yi Jianlian won the jump ball and the Grizzlies attacked first!

Since the fourth game, Sun Ce no longer had any physical reservations. He played the whole game in the past two games. He made the same decision tonight. When the ball reached the highest point, Sun Ce rushed directly to the front court!

This is just like the trust in Yao Ming's jump ball in the national team game before. Sun Ce has full trust in Yi Jianlian, a big man who can win 8 games in 10 jump balls in the regular season!

Sun Ce rushed to the front court, and Iguodala did not stop him at the first time. Paul George received the ball and lobbed it directly. When Sun Ce received the ball, he had already entered the low post and was blocked by Draymond Green. Sun Ce didn't like this guy, but he had to admit that this guy has a really good defensive awareness.

Sun Ce, who entered the low post area in the three-second zone and received the ball, shook a shot. Draymond Green jumped up directly. Sun Ce ignored Draymond Green who was pressing down and jumped up to dunk!

Draymond Green quickly hugged Sun Ce and stopped Sun Ce from dunking directly. Sun Ce struggled to throw the ball out, but he didn't make it, but the referee whistled and he got two free throws!

Sun Ce didn't fall when he landed, and he was also surprised. Draymond Green seemed to be very gentle in this foul, so he hugged him hard and it was more ruthless. He also protected him when he landed.

But when Sun Ce turned around and high-fived Yi Jianlian, he saw Randolph standing up from his own bench... This guy has entered the rehabilitation stage and recovered well, although he has gained weight... Randolph followed him from the sanatorium in Miami to cheer for his teammates on the spot.

From being arrogant to being scared in seconds, Sun Ce felt that Draymond Green was really a big shot!

There is a reason for his success. You can see from the details that this guy is very smart.

Just like he scolded Durant for the big contract but didn't scold the other two top-paid players on the team, his eyesight is very good.

Sun Ce went to the free throw line and felt good this time, and both hooks went in.

The Warriors were already used to the Grizzlies' fierce start. After Iguodala advanced to the frontcourt, he used Harden's cut to contain Yi Jianlian. After Curry used Draymond Green's off-ball pick-and-roll, Richard Jefferson directly switched to defend Curry. Klay Thompson also guarded against Curry's counter-run. Iguodala passed the ball to Draymond Green who cut in, and the latter made a layup before Sun Ce received it!

The Warriors scored very steadily! Thabeet has an absolute height advantage at close range. Although he can't score independently with a height of 221 cm and has no ability to play high, he is very stable in catching cakes. He scored 7.9 points with a hit rate of 71% in the regular season, and his hit rate is second only to Jordan among players with more than 10 appearances.

The center stands at a close distance and has the ability to catch the ball and take a step to dunk directly, but he dare not let go.

Big centers are always useful, just like Boban Marjanovic in the original time and space. He is not as mobile as Thabeet, has no mid-range shots, no sense of blocking shots, and can only play for 10 minutes a game, but he can eat cakes in the paint with his height. When the salary cap skyrocketed in 2016, he got a 3-year, 21 million contract... Thabeet got a 4-year, 30 million contract, and his performance is worthy of this salary.

At the beginning of the game, both teams had no way to deal with each other's offense, which was the same as the past three games.

The Grizzlies wanted to take advantage of the fact that the confrontation at the beginning had not been completely started and the touch had not declined due to the confrontation to try to widen the gap. The Warriors, on the other hand, attacked with all their strength to avoid being overly advantageous by the Grizzlies at the beginning.

However, the offense played by the Warriors was not just a counterattack, but an excellent one!

For the third consecutive game, Curry exploded again!

In the first quarter, Curry scored 3 of 4 shots, two three-pointers, a layup 2+1, and one of two free throws that caused a foul. Curry scored 10 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, and 1 steal in the first quarter, helping the Warriors score 32 points in a single quarter!

On the contrary, the Grizzlies only scored 28 points in the first quarter, trailing by 4 points in a single quarter!

Sun Ce has been very hard, but this time he failed to beat Thabit like last time. With a player of such height who can defend at close range and under the basket, the Warriors' perimeter defense is very assured.

This makes the Grizzlies very depressed. They have a player who is as strong as Thabit in the basket defense, and his blocking efficiency is almost the same as Thabit. The defensive efficiency of both is slightly higher than Sun Ce, but their physical strength is not good.

But Thabit has the awareness to help defend at close range, but Whiteside can't. Sun Ce thought Whiteside was unwilling before. Of course, Whiteside was unwilling, but the bigger problem is that Whiteside's grasp of the position at close range is not as good as the basket. When he moved out, Curry slipped to the baseline and scored 2+1!

It is much easier to deal with Whiteside, an inside player with obvious strengths and weaknesses, than to deal with Thabeet, a center who is not so good but plays honestly.

In the first quarter, Sun Ce scored 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists with 4 of 9 shots. They scored 28 points in one quarter, which was not bad. However, when Curry scored 10 points in a single quarter, the other players took advantage of Curry's threat and scored 22 points in a single quarter!

This gave Curry a chance to rest in the first half of the first quarter, which was an unfavorable signal for the Grizzlies.

After the intermission, the Grizzlies sent out a combination of Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Paul George, Amir Johnson and Larry Sanders to defend.

Tony Allen played for 3 minutes in the first quarter, Paul George played for 7 minutes in the first quarter, Amir Johnson and Larry Sanders just came on the court, they were full of energy, just right for defense, and Sun Ce continued to fight!

In the first half of the second quarter, the Grizzlies restricted the Warriors' offense, but their offense was also defended by the opponent's Harden + Iguodala backcourt combination. Harrison Barnes's forward defense was stable, coupled with Speights and O'Neal, the overall defense was good.

In particular, the Warriors are now focusing on using Harden's tonnage advantage on the defensive end. This guy, who is half a head shorter than Sun Ce but weighs the same, can take on the strengths of Amir Johnson and Larry Sanders, and Mark Jackson has taken advantage of it.

Although he dare not try those strange ideas, Mark Jackson has made good use of what he has shown, and he can lay a solid foundation for the Warriors' offense and defense. He is good at it.

In the first half of the second quarter, the Grizzlies tried to replace Tony Allen with Beverley and Amir Johnson with Prince to strengthen the offense, but the effect was not good, and they only scored 9 points in 5 minutes and 47 seconds.

The Warriors' offense was not very good either. Harden did not explode tonight and focused on defense.

Because he did not need to fight hard on the offensive end for the time being, they maintained their lead.

When the official timeout came, although the Warriors only scored 8 points in more than 5 minutes, they still led the Grizzlies by 3 points with 40 to 37, creating enough rest time for Curry, and they still had the ball!

…

After the official timeout, the Warriors replaced the lineup of Curry, Harden, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, and Thabeet.

The Grizzlies replaced the lineup of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Richard Jefferson, and Yi Jianlian.

The Warriors attacked, Curry came up and hit a three-pointer, pushed forward to the frontcourt and shot directly against Klay Thompson. Klay Thompson's face was full of veins, the opponent was too crazy!

Facing the strongest three-point combination in the history of the Grizzlies, Curry played too arrogantly in this series!

As for why Klay Thompson does not consider himself the strongest three-point shooter... There is still some truth to this, but he is very persistent in the title of "the strongest three-point combination" formed with Sun Ce.

But this year's playoffs, Curry single-handedly challenged the Grizzlies' Splash Brothers!

Curry averaged 5.5 three-pointers in the first four games, and he averaged more than Klay Thompson and Sun Ce combined!

This is intolerable!

Attack and defense transition, Klay Thompson couldn't stand it, and Sun Ce couldn't stand it either!

37 to 43, 6 points behind!

In the frontcourt, Sun Ce received the pass from Paul George and went directly to Klay Thompson for a pick-and-roll. Curry had already pressed to the three-point line when Sun Ce used the pick-and-roll, and stood on the left and right sides of Klay Thompson with Iguodala. No matter where Sun Ce wanted to shoot a three-pointer, they could stick to him. Sun Ce wanted to break into the basket, and there was Thabit under the basket. Sun Ce wanted to shoot a mid-range shot. The two admitted that it was impossible to lock Sun Ce. In this round of the series, they defended Sun Ce desperately, and Sun Ce's hit rate was still 48%.

But this time Sun Ce was not calm. He was stuck by Curry during the pick-and-roll. There was no cylinder to limit his jump. Sun Ce directly shot a three-pointer while being stuck by Curry...

The shot was outrageous. Theoretically, this shot should not be shot, but the ball hit the backboard and bounced into the frame!

Luck-ball! Lucky ball, or a magical ball, Sun Ce responded to Curry's three-pointer just now!

Curry looked at Sun Ce's quick retreat and sighed, this can also go in!

But he had scored more amazing shots than Curry before, so he was fearless and ran to the frontcourt.

This time, Harden took advantage of Curry's threat, broke through to the bottom line without anyone following him, turned around and shot a jump shot... Unfortunately, it didn't go in, but the opportunity came. Except for the missed shot, it was a good positional battle overall.

Thabit didn't go to grab the offensive rebound, and his teammates shot and retreated directly. This was the key for the Warriors to limit the Grizzlies' fast break.

Sun Ce received the defensive rebound, advanced to the frontcourt, and saw Klay Thompson's particularly active running position. He naturally knew what Klay Thompson was thinking, and made a cross step change of direction. This time, Sun Ce was in an extremely nervous state, but his movements were very smooth. After the exploration, he subconsciously changed direction and moved sideways with a big step according to Iguodala's lateral movement, and got a gap in his position. The "pseudo-flower butterfly step" was triggered, and the burst speed was increased to S-!

This is rare, and Sun Ce has triggered it no more than 10 times this season.

Because Sun Ce did not use the pick-and-roll, nor was he forced to go to the bottom line by Iguodala, but directly broke through, his outside teammates knew that Tabit had no time to move, and Speights did not follow Yi Jianlian out, but returned to block Sun Ce.

Sun Ce was forced to stop one step inside the free throw line, and was sandwiched by Iguodala who turned back to defend and Speights who shrank back, and jumped! At this time, Klay Thompson used Yi Jianlian's pick-and-roll to create an open space, and Sun Ce jumped up and passed the ball.

Because Sun Ce made a three-pointer in the previous round, Klay Thompson, who received the ball, wanted to compete with Curry. His confidence soared and he found the best shooting feeling, and the three-pointer went in!

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