One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Six. Dare to Play 5 up and 5 Down in the Western Conference Finals?

Because there is a very important issue. When a team wins 75 games, before the start of the playoffs, the media may even dig out and hype the color of the players' shorts.

There is almost nothing that the Grizzlies have not been studied. Every tactic, every combination, every player... all of their points are exposed to the eyes of all major opponents.

Just like the Bulls won 72 games in the regular season, but lost one game to the Knicks, who only won 47 games in the second round, such a team does not have any "hidden strength".

The 72-win Bulls played against the 47-win Knicks. In addition to losing one game, there were two other games with very small score differences. In one game, if John Starks, a super shooter who won the regular season three-point king, could not make an open three-pointer, the Bulls would have been overturned. In that game, the Bulls only won by 3 points and defeated the Knicks 94-91.

There was another game where the Knicks lost 84-91. If Ewing had been tougher in this game, and had stopped shooting from the outside and gone to the inside to cause some damage, the Knicks would have had a chance to win the decisive battle.

Although the Grizzlies may be stronger than the Bulls in terms of overall strength, Kobe and James think that the Grizzlies will also encounter similar difficulties.

Their ideas are consistent with those of most people. No matter how fierce and dominant they are in the regular season, it is a different matter in the playoffs. Perhaps the comparison is not appropriate, but this season's Hawks and the 12-13 season Nuggets have proved this point well.

The fact is the same. In terms of small-scale cooperation and the tactical system used, Kobe and James think that the Grizzlies are using those things that have long been analyzed by experts and the media.

But with the adjustment of strategy and the change of the general tactical framework, the Grizzlies have played new tricks with those old routines that others have long been familiar with!

In the game, facing the Grizzlies' familiar small-scale cooperation that cannot be defended, Kobe and James felt heavy pressure!

Especially Kobe, when he and O'Neal got a 15-1 playoff record, it was not easy at all. In the second round, they won three games against the Kings by a narrow margin, which is very similar to this year's Grizzlies! Although it was dangerous, the Grizzlies could win!

It also means that the opponent is stronger than they thought!

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The Grizzlies coaching staff refused to allow their players to accept any interviews during the playoffs, and asked and asked each player's family to cooperate in the team meeting to ask the players not to pay attention to any news during the series. This decision did not have much effect in the second round, but after the first game of the Western Conference Finals, it immediately played a very important role!

Last night, the Bulls narrowly defeated the 76ers 104-102, defending two home games and making it 2-0, but not many people paid attention to it.

Fans and the media are discussing the terrible dominance shown by the Grizzlies!

This is a topic that has become more and more heated and in-depth since the end of the game between the Grizzlies and the Lakers.

The main reason is that the more they discuss the Grizzlies' 9-game winning streak in the playoffs this season, the more incredible it is. They originally thought that the Grizzlies had a lot of difficult games. Looking at the scores and some processes, it was indeed the case.

But now, after watching the comments of the legendary commentator combination of .T Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley after the game, the fans found that their understanding was somewhat wrong.

It was very difficult to win the game... On the other hand, it can also be regarded as the Grizzlies can win no matter what kind of opponent they encounter, no matter what strange tricks the opponent comes up with, no matter how good the opponent's state is, no matter what kind of predicament the Grizzlies are in!

It's exactly the same thing, but it's viewed from different angles, as if it's two completely different things.

And such public opinion, Coach Hollins doesn't need his players to pay attention to and understand.

He discovered before that the perspective of his players seemed to be the same as most people, thinking that the second round was difficult.

But Coach Hollins has the latter view.

After the second round, he felt that he was about to swell up. He suppressed his swelled emotions and instead constantly emphasized the strength of the Lakers and the Spurs in team meetings. After the Lakers advanced, he continued to emphasize the Lakers' good performance and the points where the Grizzlies might be beaten by the opponent...

Coach Hollins has already felt the strong self-confidence of the players. If they become more confident...then there may be a kind of arrogance and pride.

In the eyes of others, Sun Ce's "King of the Western Conference Finals" and "Light of Leader" are two buffs. Sun Ce has a unique personal charm. With him, his teammates will feel more confident. Coach Hollins also understands this.

But Sun Ce's characteristics and such strong personal charm will also cause problems if they raise the confidence of his teammates too high.

So he needs the head coach, Huo Tu, to balance and adjust...

After the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, the next game is on the 25th. The Grizzlies' next game is tomorrow, which is the 24th. Finally, they are staggered. However, when the Grizzlies and the Lakers play their third game, it will coincide with the fourth game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

This makes it difficult for the media to hype the topic of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals separately, but there is no way. The playoffs have a fixed competition system, and the first two rounds of this season formed such a schedule.

In the East, Rose finally gained some attention for a while by shouting out the declaration of "sweeping into the finals" in the second round, but when they were about to continue sweeping and had already led 2-0, not many people were discussing them... There was no way, when people changed their views on the Grizzlies' playoffs, they felt a surprise!

Just like the surprise brought to people by the Lakers in the 2000-01 season!

It was surprising to be surprised by a team that won 75 games... This kind of thing itself is worth a surprise.

The Grizzlies, who are the focus of public opinion in the sports world, spent a day of rest unusually calmly. They should prepare for the game and rest. The outside world did not get any substantive updates from the Grizzlies, and no interviews were leaked.

The attention of this round of series was originally high, and now it has become higher!

At 8 pm on May 24, the second game of the series between the Grizzlies and the Lakers started.

Can the Grizzlies continue the incredible dominance of the Lakers in the 2000-01 season? Can the Lakers play a different game to snipe the Grizzlies?

It's just that the game is affected by many things, such as public opinion.

On the Grizzlies side, the whole team has the same goal. After winning the game, the coaching staff's arrangement of not receiving external news information was implemented very well, starting from the core and going down.

But on the Lakers side, I really can't help but want to see how the outside world evaluates them. The core players are fine, but the role players are obviously affected! Then, at the beginning of this game, the Lakers' overall offense had huge problems.

In the first quarter, the Lakers made 4 coordination errors in a single quarter, and only scored 16 points in 6 of 18 shots in the whole quarter! To get 16 points, Nick Young, who came off the bench, made 2 of 3 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers and 2 of 2 free throws to get 7 points, which allowed the Lakers to keep the difference within 10 points in the first quarter, 16 to 24 behind the Grizzlies by 8 points into the intermission.

Seeing that the opponent's offense was impatient, the Grizzlies seemed to want to prove themselves, so they naturally focused on defense.

Old Bickerstaff adjusted quickly. In the second half of the first quarter, he sent out a single defensive lineup, using James and Leonard as forwards and Boozer as center to carry the low post. These three people supported the bottom line, but the two nerves came on the court.

Relying on defense and Nick Young's outstanding performance, the Lakers did not collapse in the first quarter.

The rotation and tactical changes made by old Bickerstaff this time, as well as the Lakers' excellent execution and execution effect, made the fans at the scene and in front of the TV shine. There is no doubt that the Lakers are definitely one of the favorites for the championship and have the strength to defend the title!

In the second quarter, the adjustments on the Lakers side began to show results. The two teams fought hard on defense. The Lakers once narrowed the gap to 4 points while Sun Ce and Klay Thompson were in the lounge, but after 5 minutes and 11 seconds, Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Randolph, and Larry Sanders came on the court and widened the gap by 3 points again.

In the second quarter, the Lakers scored 22 to 21. At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies led the Lakers by 7 points, 45 to 38, and entered the halftime break.

Originally, the Grizzlies thought that they could not widen the gap in the first half, and the opponent once narrowed the gap to 4 points. However, they had no idea that they would widen the gap again after the Lakers had finally narrowed the gap, and it was only when Sun Ce rested that the Lakers could narrow the gap. Sun Ce widened the gap right at the beginning, which was a huge blow to the Lakers!

Sun Ce prepared to use the physical potion today, ready to use it when the physical strength declined significantly, but in the first half of the third quarter, the Lakers scored zero points in the running game at 5 minutes and 6 seconds...

0 out of 9 shots! The Lakers only scored 2 points in more than 5 minutes! The Grizzlies played a wave of 11 to 2! When the official timeout came, the Grizzlies were already leading the Lakers by 16 points, 56 to 40!

Although the Lakers' situation improved in the second half of the third quarter, they only scored 9 points with 4 of 11 shots in the second half. The Grizzlies relied on Randolph and Sun Ce's singles, Paul George's pass and catch-and-shoot for nearly 7 minutes to score 13 points.

In the third quarter, the Grizzlies scored 24 to 11 in a single quarter. After three quarters, the Grizzlies led the Lakers by 20 points 69 to 49 and entered the intermission!

In this situation... Coach Hollins's tricky operation came again, replacing Livingston, Carter, Pierce, Aldridge, and Gobert with a combination of five up and five down!

On Sun Ce's side, the opponent fell down before he even used the physical potion! However, watching his own coach go up and down five times without a word, Sun Ce felt his heart throbbing! Why is his own coach so tricky? This is the Western Conference Finals!