$1,690. The Solution to Deal with the Spurs Is in Place

The Spurs are one of the Grizzlies' strongest opponents. In the past few years, the Spurs have caused them the most trouble, ending their two consecutive championships. When they met the Spurs in the playoffs of the championship year, the difficulty of playing against them was also ranked in the top two among all opponents in the playoffs that year.

Sun Ce has studied the Spurs many times and how to deal with the Spurs' defense.

In terms of defense, the Spurs are not actually the strongest in the league. It is difficult to rank in the top five. Even if the Spurs had Leonard in the original time and space, they would only be ranked 6-10 in defense, not better. The Spurs in Duncan's third peak period were not a strong defensive team in the traditional sense.

The current Spurs' defense is not as good as the Spurs in the 04-05 season with Duncan, Ginobili, Muhammad, Bowen, Malik Rose, and Nesterovic in the second peak.

But the current Spurs defense is also a first-class defensive team. The key is that their defense is suitable for them now. They have high-speed rotation defense, Danny Green and Gay who are good at defending the wing and top arc singles, and Rondo who is good at defending most guards.

At least they can limit the opponent, and use high-speed rotation to block the strong points, expose the weak points, and lure the opponent to shoot quickly.

Originally, the Grizzlies also liked this, and unconsciously followed the Spurs to pick up the pace.

Before last season, Sun Ce didn't care much about the Spurs' pace or pressure, they could deal with it. At that time, the Spurs had not reached the strongest state of Duncan's third peak.

But last season, the Spurs had reached their peak, and this season they also made up for the worst defensive point guard line, making it more difficult to deal with.

Under the Spurs' strong team offense, it is unlikely to be completely defended, and at this time, the Spurs' first-class defense also played an important role.

If you want to find a breakthrough, you have to find a breakthrough from the opponent's weakness, and the opponent's weakness is defense.

But the brisk offense that is popular in this era happens to be the best defense of the Spurs. It cannot be said that the brisk offense is still restricted by the Spurs when the Spurs cannot be defended.

Singles tactics are a good way to deal with the Spurs, but it is not reliable to win purely by singles. The Lakers were able to defeat the Spurs last season because of James's ability to ensure the team's lower limit of strength, which is one of the best in NBA history, combined with Kobe's stable singles scoring ability, who was still at the end of his peak last season.

And do the Grizzlies have the same ability as the Lakers?

Theoretically,

Yes!

However, after the start of the new season, Sun Ce discovered something.

That is, when a team has two All-Star players, the arrival of a third All-Star player may produce a qualitative change, as long as the three are really in sync, or are willing to accommodate the strongest one.

But when three All-Star players usher in a fourth All-Star player, even if it is a suitable fourth All-Star, it can only play a role of icing on the cake, and the improvement effect may be less than one-tenth of the third All-Star player.

Just like the Grizzlies in the 12-13 season, Sun, Randolph, and Gasol were all All-Stars, and Paul George gradually became an All-Star, but Paul George's role in improving the Grizzlies was far less than the improvement brought by Sun's progress.

Sun's ability to coordinate and match Randolph or Aldridge's ability to play the same role as James in ensuring the team's strength, and Paul George and Klay Thompson could play the same singles scoring effect as Kobe in the past two years... Even if they were forced to death, they couldn't do it.

However, last year's playoffs against the Warriors gave Sun Ce an inspiration. The triangle offense that combines personal ability and teamwork may be the best way to deal with the Spurs' defense!

The biggest change in the Spurs over the years has always been offense, not defense. The defense has always been built around Duncan's best defense for 18 years.

Last time they played against the Spurs, the Grizzlies were ready to try to see if they could use the triangle offense to break the opponent's defense and play a better offense than the opponent in an offensive lineup, but they were "tricked" by the Spurs that day. This time they finally have a chance!

And it really works!

The five starters of the Grizzlies can rotate infinitely in the starting point, end point, receiving point, and containment point of the triangle offense!

Of course, the Grizzlies cannot play a smooth triangle offense with four points of infinite rotation. It takes time to run in. What they can play now is the cooperation of the established roles. They can rotate, but they need to discuss it in advance.

However, when this trick is suddenly used, it is enough!

The Grizzlies played the entire first quarter with this lineup, and also forced Parker, Gay, and Duncan on the Spurs to play the entire quarter, because the Grizzlies are determined to play a positional battle, and the success rate is very high! The hit rate reached 60%, 14 of 23 shots, including 4 of 6 three-pointers, plus 4 of 6 free throws, the team scored 36 points in a single quarter!

Even though the Spurs relied on Parker, Gay, and Duncan to play the entire first quarter, relying on the three-pointers of Danny Green and Belinelli, and the ability of Split and Aron Baynes to catch the ball, they scored 32 points in a single quarter, but the Grizzlies still fell short of a clear lead in the first quarter!

**Vic's reaction was quite fast. If he hadn't replaced Danny Green with Belinelli, who was more stable in three-point shooting, and replaced Split with Aron Baynes, who was more efficient in catching dribbles, the score difference might have been widened by the Grizzlies.

Every failure makes one wiser. **Vic has learned a lot over the years. When such a situation that he couldn't solve appeared, he would at least find a way to narrow the disadvantage.

However, when he entered the intermission and watched the five starters of the Grizzlies excitedly high-fived and celebrated as they walked to the bench, **Vic felt a huge pressure!

The triangle offense, a tactic that requires at least two superstars, was actually played by the Grizzlies!

If we talk about who is a superstar on the Grizzlies at this stage, **Vic thinks that only Sun Ce is there. Klay Thompson, Paul George, Randolph, and Aldridge are not superstars.

However, the structure of the Grizzlies made up for this very well, combining Klay Thompson's containment and shooting, Paul George's shooting support, Aldridge's shooting and high-post passing to low-post ability, Randolph's low-post singles and high-post scoring ability, and Sun Ce's singles ability very well!

On the other side, on the Grizzlies bench, Sun Ce, who returned to his seat, was really excited.

In the first quarter, he scored 8 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal. All the data were not high, after all, he played the whole first quarter.

However, this is a rare case where he scored single digits in a single quarter and the team scored more than 35 points in a single quarter! The last time this happened was when Klay Thompson scored 20+ in the third quarter.

How to combine the offensive abilities of Aldridge and Randolph when they are not compatible on the defensive end is a problem that the Grizzlies have been considering. They can't always have one person playing singles and the other watching the equal points. That would be too passive.

What should we do if the opponent does not double-team and the one who plays one-on-one is not feeling well, or when we encounter the inside combination of Ibaka and Adams?

Using them separately is a good idea, but we can't let Randolph play as a substitute this season, right?

Moreover, such a lineup has been formed. We can't always let Aldridge and Randolph play separately with an inside player. Although it is possible, I feel unwilling to think about it.

Now, together with the question of how to deal with the Spurs' strong offensive in the first quarter, there is a way to deal with it!

The scoring efficiency of the running and gunning lineup was played with the positional battle lineup, which was simply explosive! The strength of the five All-Star level stars was truly brought out!

Although it caught the Spurs off guard, it also proved to be useful. Now what they have to do is to make the cooperation of the starting lineup more diverse and the rotation of the four major roles more tacit.

Furthermore, this tactic should be integrated into the team like the tactics used before, and it can be changed and used at any time!

…

Entering the second quarter, the Grizzlies' lineup of Livingston, Tony Allen, Paul George, Pierce, and Gobert came on the court.

For the Spurs, the lineup of Rondo, Ginobili, Danny Green, Dio, and Aron Baynes came on the court.

For the Spurs, the current situation is very unfavorable. They failed to take the lead in the first quarter, and the second quarter will be difficult to play, especially when Duncan played the whole first quarter and might not play until the last two or three minutes of the second quarter.

Rondo was very rational and wanted to take advantage of Ginobili's Jordan moment, that is, the demon sword state, but unfortunately, Ginobili was a demon tonight, but it hurt himself!

A three-pointer shot that missed three shots and a turnover, Paul George seized the opportunity to hit a counterattack dunk, and passed the ball to Pierce, who made a stable three-pointer.

At 3 minutes and 28 seconds in the second quarter, the Grizzlies were already leading the Spurs by 10 points, 46 to 36. In these two and a half minutes, the Spurs only scored 4 points, and the Grizzlies played a wave of 10 to 4!

Rondo could not count on Ginobili, and began to connect the offense with Dio. **Vic also took advantage of the defensive foul in time to replace Ginobili with Danny Green. Rondo's pick-and-roll to score under the basket, Dio's high post and top arc pass and three-point containment, Danny Green's catch-and-shoot three-pointer, Aron Baynes's dunk, and the Grizzlies' outside line Livingston, Pierce, and Paul George's singles.

The Spurs' cutting play was not good. Aron Baynes looked at Gobert, who was abused by him in the European League, and now has NBA-level first-class defense and top frame protection ability. He could only sigh that 99% of the effort is no match for the genius who works just as hard but has 1% more talent!