One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Two. The Eagles Collapsed

Sun Ce scored 23 points in a single quarter against Jordan's team to pay tribute to Jordan, which was very impressive, but that night, a new topic emerged.

When facing the Thunder, Lillard made 17 of 39 shots, including 7 of 17 three-pointers and 11 of 12 free throws, and scored 52 points... and then helped Whiteside get 10 points and 17 rebounds, and helped Plumlee get 6 points and 14 rebounds.

However, it was not just these two people who assisted and rebounded. The Thunder also had a lot of assists and rebounds. Durant made 6 of 21 shots, Dion Waiters made 8 of 18 shots... On the contrary, Westbrook made 11 of 15 shots.

Although the Thunder defeated the Trail Blazers 122-117, it was Lillard who became popular after the game.

Since the first time Lillard shouted that he should be in the All-Star Game, he has been nicknamed "Troublemaker" in the basketball circle.

In the past two summers, the Blazers' starting lineups have left one after another. Comparing the starting lineups in the 13-14 season, the Blazers now have only Lillard left. People mourned for Lillard, but they had also long speculated whether Lillard would shoot wildly this season. As expected, he started to shoot wildly in the preseason, and threw 39 times in 38 minutes.

This time, Lillard's 52 points were wildly complained after the game. Not only did he play so fiercely in the preseason, but he didn't win the game. Without Matthews, Westbrook's sudden appearance was like playing. Lillard's defense against Westbrook made Whiteside in the interior desperate...

However, some fans found that Whiteside's defensive end has changed a lot. Originally, Whiteside had begun to show signs of changing in a good direction on the defensive end last season, but in the second half of last season, the Blazers fell behind in the playoffs, and no one paid attention to this team.

But this time, Lillard scored 52 points in the preseason, which attracted the attention of the Trail Blazers again. Whiteside's new characteristics of being more active in close-range defense and willing to block positions have entered people's vision.

The Los Angeles Times broke the news that Whiteside's friend revealed that because pure defensive player Larry Sanders got a non-Bird rights quasi-maximum salary of 15 million per capita, it gave Whiteside confidence that he could get a good contract without such explosive data, which strengthened Whiteside's determination to change.

According to the detailed revelations, Whiteside was very afraid that he would not be able to get a contract extension after the end of this year's contract. When he had confidence and had the experience of playing in the Grizzlies, the change became a matter of course.

…

On the Grizzlies side, teammates were ecstatic about the effect of Sun Ce's first low-post attack! Especially those newcomers, they didn't know how to describe their feelings.

He was strong enough in training, and he became even stronger in the game! This is completely different from most other players. Other players are better in training than in games, such as Howard's free throws.

But Sun Ce is better in games than in training!

Sun Ce's old teammates have long been accustomed to it. In his rookie year, Sun Ce was average in training, but he played very well as a substitute in the game. In his rookie season, he scored 58 points in a single game and won the best sixth man and best rookie awards, overshadowing Evans who averaged 20+5+5.

After Mo Williams and David West and others came to the Grizzlies, their worldviews were refreshed. First, when recruiting players, they wanted to give away the mini-middle class to everyone they met; when interviewing, the old players seemed so comfortable in the crowds of reporters; they turned a blind eye to Sun Ce's big step forward every year; the league's No. 1 player was a hands-off third brother, and Randolph, the boss on the surface, didn't care about anything. Paul George, who obviously wanted to be the second-in-command, was forced to become the team leader...

When Sun Ce showed his brilliance in the preseason and showed a stronger strength than in training, his teammates didn't seem to notice it...

But even if they won, there were many problems exposed in the first preseason game.

First, some changes in the players' playing style made the triangle offense not so good, and it needed to be fine-tuned.

The defensive combination of the substitute lineup was not good. The combination of Nance Jr. and Randolph had a bad defense, not as good as Sun Ce and David West's inside defense.

Mo Williams is too sticky to the ball, Sessions is not confident enough when there are so many strong teammates, always wanting to pass the ball, but Sessions himself has no outside shooting ability, which leads to his teammates playing 4 vs 5...

There are many problems that need to be solved, but the coaching staff is happy. The sooner these problems are exposed, the better, so that they can be adjusted in the preseason and early regular season, and find ways to avoid them when they cannot be adjusted.

However, it does reveal that this year's rotation lineup is not as good as last season. In this way, improving the performance of the starting lineup has become a top priority, and the core players need to bear more tasks than last season!

The coaching staff does not think there is anything wrong with the increased pressure on the stars. Four of the five starters are top-paid, and the four of them occupy more than 60% of the salary cap, so they should bear more responsibilities.

Moreover, Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, and Paul George are all almost 26 years old, entering the golden period of their careers, and they also need more performance opportunities.

……

……

The preseason is in full swing. The league did not arrange for the Grizzlies to participate in this year's China Games. The Warriors, Lakers, Spurs and Mavericks went to play in the China Games.

Mainly because there are rumors that Kobe and Duncan will retire after this season.

This actually made Sun Ce feel relieved. It's not that he doesn't like playing in the China Games. He is still very excited if he really plays.

But after playing in the China Games twice, even he felt exhausted, not to mention his teammates. Flying back from them is much farther than the Lakers, Ma, Niu and Yong.

After the first preseason game, Sun Ce's playing time increased, but it was more fragmented. He played for about 20 minutes in each game, and worked with different teammates to run tactics. It didn't matter whether he made the shot or not. The main purpose was to exercise tactical execution.

Rockets, Pacers, Pacers, Magic, Magic, Hornets... In the remaining 6 games, the Grizzlies only had 2 wins and 4 losses, but they were making fine-tuning in every game, and the progress was obvious.

On October 14, the preseason was over, and all the adjustments that could be made had been made. The Grizzlies did not arrange training on the 15th, and rested for 1 day. On the 16th, they prepared for the opening game with the Hawks.

If new problems are exposed in the regular season, we will continue to adjust. The long regular season is a process of constantly adjusting and preparing for the playoffs... Of course, this is for championship-level teams. For ordinary strong teams, they have to fight hard in the regular season, otherwise they can't even enter the playoffs. Reality is always so cruel. The stronger the team, the more opportunities it has.

…

On the morning of the 15th, Sun Ce got up after a rare late sleep. While brushing his teeth, he used his mobile phone to check the news and saw that the player and team strength rankings had all been released.

This time, there was nothing strange. Their Grizzlies ranked first in the team rankings.

The second place was the Bulls, the third was the Spurs, and the fourth was the Hawks. This is a very consistent ranking in the three major lists.

In terms of the fifth aspect, Sports Illustrated and ESPN both ranked the Lakers fifth; but T.N.T only ranked the Lakers eighth, the Warriors fifth, the Thunder sixth, and the Raptors seventh.

The Nets, which Sun Ce cares about more, are ranked 11-14, which is in line with his expectations. The Nets have a rising momentum, but it is estimated that it is difficult to compete with the Bulls, Raptors, and 76ers. It is possible to enter the playoffs with the fourth or fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks won the first place in the Eastern Conference last season and successfully renewed the contract with Millsap. Although the playoffs did not perform well, they are still very optimistic in the regular season.

But Sun Ce clearly remembered that the Hawks would collapse like the Nuggets...

Has something changed?

Sun Ce thought it should be like this. Two days passed in a flash. After a day of rest on the 15th and serious and focused preparation on the 16th, on October 17th, the first game day of the new season, the Grizzlies were the finale of the day. At 7:40 pm, Sun Ce and his teammates entered the court together to meet the challenge of the Hawks, the Eastern Conference regular season champion last season.

After entering the court, the ceremony of awarding the championship ring and raising the championship flag began.

Seeing this scene again after a year, the fans at the scene felt more familiarity than the ecstasy of that year!

It was so Grizzlies style, and the fans were infected by the temperament of their own team.

Paul George enjoyed the honor of wearing rings for his teammates. Stoudemire and Richard Jefferson, who chose to retire, came to the scene to receive the rings. Blake finally chose to go to the Pistons to get a salary of 4 million a year. He would choose to retire with a basic salary, but 4 million a year is indeed very tempting.

After Sun Ce got the championship ring and was snatched away by Zu Ge, he began to observe the opponent's lineup.

In terms of player strength, Teague has made some progress and seems to have the potential to break through to the quasi-top level, but not yet. For others, in terms of personal ability, there seems to be no change. Millsap is still A+, Horford is A, Korver is S-level three-pointer, and Sefrosa has returned to A level in defense because of weight loss... Moreover, Bazemore and Schroeder have improved their strength, and they also traded for Hardaway, who was a substitute for Lillard in the Trail Blazers last season... Carroll, who averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds per game in the main lineup, was poached by the Raptors with a 4-year, 60 million poison contract. It shouldn't collapse, right?

Sun Ce felt that the Hawks might have changed their fate against the sky, and would not collapse like in the original time and space.

However, after the game started, Sun Ce knew that he was too young. Sometimes, looking at the strength of the players, it is really impossible to analyze whether a team is strong or weak!

In the first quarter, relying on Aldridge's various strong eats of Millsap in the low post to open the situation, the Grizzlies scored 41 to 24 in the first quarter, leading by 17 points in a single quarter!

Sun Ce felt that it was not just that the Hawks could not defend Aldridge, he really felt that this team was so weak, at best on the edge of the Eastern Conference playoffs!

Sun Ce didn't understand! Why did the Hawks suddenly become so weak?