Four Hundred and Ninety-One. The Beginning of the Brutal Six-Member Series
Early on the morning of the 4th, Sun Ce flew to Houston on a chartered flight with the team.
If it were last season, every game between the Fire and the Bears would trigger a basketball craze in Asia, especially when the Grizzlies went to Houston to play away games, and the publicity in the United States was very intense.
But this time, there wasn’t even a live broadcast.
Yao Ming is so comfortable playing in Dallas!
The Mavericks have 2 wins and 1 loss in the first three games. Putting aside the pain of Nowitzki slowly transforming into a team-oriented scoring core, the Mavericks have a good momentum.
Yao Ming averaged less than 24 minutes per game in three games, averaging 19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. His performance was terrifying! The 22 points in the first game and the 21 points in the second game were both scored in 25 minutes of playing time. The efficiency was so high that it scared the opponent's center.
Nowitzki is not the type who has to ask his teammates to sacrifice to cooperate with him before he has adapted to the team's team play. He is the core. In the process of his own transformation, he strives to make the team play better and temporarily reduce the number of players. The core of the tactics is the right to take action, mainly to cooperate with teammates.
Even if he is the core scorer, he only takes about 20 shots in a game. Counting free throws, he takes about 25 shots at most. Nowitzki is a key point for the Mavericks as a tactical containment point.
Yao Ming has become the biggest beneficiary, after all, he is the strongest player on the Mavericks team besides Nowitzki.
In other words, with Kidd controlling the court, Coach Carlisle taking the lead, Nowitzki cooperating, and not having to worry about physical problems, Yao Ming, who also had Chandler on the bench, truly demonstrated the most dominant force in the modern era. What a center should have!
Although the subsequent efficiency will definitely not be as explosive as the beginning, Nowitzki will gradually take control of the initiative after finding the feeling. Yao Ming's subsequent performance will most likely decline, but Yao Ming's current performance is too terrible.
If Yao Ming had retired directly, the Rockets might still maintain their reputation as the "China's home team." But domestic fans have seen Yao Ming in his strongest form playing at a real championship level. Let alone maintain the Chinese market, the Rockets will Public opinion was overwhelmingly accusing the Rockets of not using Yao Ming.
This is no longer Yao Ming at his peak. Yao Ming averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds per game in the season when he was 26 years old. If the team can make good use of it and make it easier for him in the regular season, O'Neal has declined in those years and Howard is still growing. As long as the Rockets If the record is better, Yao Ming will not only be in the second team! You must know that Yao Ming only played 48 games in the second team season, which is enough to prove his dominance in the eyes of the North American media.
However, Yao Ming did win over the Americans and was selected to the All-NBA Team since his second year. Except for the year when he did not make the playoffs and his rookie season, he was selected to the All-NBA Team in all the remaining seasons.
Sun Ce was watching the schedule for the next six consecutive away games on the plane.
The three-game winning streak at the beginning is very sweet. It is one game away from the first four-game winning streak in the team's history in the 2004-05 season.
But the next wave of six consecutive visitors will be too difficult!
The most difficult one... is the Texas duo!
No. 5 plays the Rockets and No. 7 plays the Mavericks!
Starting from playing the Mavericks, it was a wave of 4 games in 5 days. After playing the Mavericks, they played back-to-back games against the Nuggets, then back-to-back games against the Warriors and Suns on the 10th and 11th, and finally flew back to the East to play the Bulls on the 13th.
Six games in 9 days, this is not over yet. From November 15th to November 30th, the Grizzlies still have 8 games.
The Grizzlies' schedule throughout the season is okay, but the schedule in the first month is really difficult and not conducive to running-in.
But the schedule was arranged like this, and Sun Ce could only complain to his teammates.
It's the Rockets... Sun Ce looked at the scouting report sent by the coaching staff on the plane this morning. The Rockets are not easy to deal with!
On the 2nd, after the three-month signing period passed, the Rockets changed their core bargaining chip from Brooks, whom the Nuggets did not want, to their important summer signing Courtney Lee, plus a high pick. Protected the first round and one second round, and acquired veteran Chauncey Billups from the Nuggets.
The Nuggets took a bite out of the Rockets. After correcting the point guard combination of Lowry and Lawson, they also got rid of Billups' remaining two years of more than 27 million in his contract.
The Rockets spent a lot of money, but by trading Billups, they now have a core point guard who can combine Anthony and Al Jefferson, two killers who can shoot in the low post.
Because Billups has the experience of controlling Anthony and allowing Anthony to perform the best performance in the playoffs of his career, the Rockets trade received a high evaluation from Billups in the scouting report, and the media also evaluated the transaction. Very high and seen as a win-win deal.
Sun Ce feels that this game has to continue to grind out, and defense is fundamental.
Fortunately, this is not the third consecutive trip to Texas. There is one missing Spur, otherwise the skin will really peel off!
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The sixth consecutive guest trip was tough, but there was good news. After Sun Ce and his teammates arrived at the hotel, they rested all afternoon. In the evening, Sun Ce, Yi Jianlian, DeAndre Jordan, Randolph, Gay, Battier, and Gasol arrived. Seven people, namely band members + Yi Jianlian, came to Toyota Center to watch the game between the Rockets and Celtics.
In other words, when they play the Rockets tomorrow, the Rockets will be playing the second game of back-to-back games, which is a good thing for the Grizzlies.
Tony Allen was originally invited, but Tony Allen now hates the color green and rejected their invitation, preferring to play fishing games with Paul George in the hotel.
Sun Ce can understand fishing, but fishing games...
Everyone pays attention to different things when watching the game. Like Yi Jianlian, he is listening to Battier talking about tactics. He rarely replies. Basically, Battier takes care of him and talks to him, but in this way, he can communicate with his teammates and watch the game together. Something he hadn't experienced in the past three years.
Several other band members were watching the game while discussing how to recruit Yi Jianlian into the band. This task was very challenging, but the more challenging it was, the more they wanted to do it.
Sun Ce was analyzing the opponent's defense. The team's general direction must be to hone their positions and hone their defense. With a basic 10-man rotation like them, and a backup defensive genius like Paul George available, it would be a pity not to play defense.
Therefore, the key to breaking through the offensive obstacles lies with him. Whether he can launch a defensive counterattack is crucial.
But after watching the Rockets game, I found it was not easy!
The Rockets traded Kevin Martin for Al Jefferson...so awesome!
According to the scouting report, due to previous serious injuries, his athletic ability has declined and he can no longer play power forward. In order to play center this past summer, Big AI increased his weight to 130 kilograms. It can be seen in terms of body shape, and Randolph About the same height, with thicker arms than Randolph!
Al Jefferson lost speed after a serious injury when playing power forward, but when he played center, his athletic ability looked very good. He looked like he was playing against Perkins, with jump hooks around the three-second zone and no blind spots at 180 degrees. It can be thrown in from all directions.
When the Celtics used Big O'Neal to defend Big AI, Al Jefferson also had a step-back jump shot that his weight shouldn't have, and he could shoot as far as the free throw line for two points in one step. …
The only flaw of Al Jefferson playing center is that on the defensive end, he cannot prevent the opponent from hitting high and high, but the tonnage is also very jammed, and it is basically impossible to dig in. The opponent can only score in the paint with the accuracy of shooting from close range.
The Celtics have indeed suffered a serious decline this season, which is also related to their lack of preparation in the regular season. Last season, they only had 50 wins in the regular season, and they still ranked first in the league with 32 points in the playoffs.
The Rockets defeated the Celtics 97-91 with difficulty, turning their record into 2 wins and 2 losses.
Al Jefferson's performance made Sun Ce worry about his center position, but the strongest opponent was Melo Anthony, who had the absolute upper hand against Pierce!
With Al Jefferson in the paint to contain the defense, Anthony shot well and accurately from mid-range today, scoring a game-high 36 points on 14-of-24 shooting.
Billups seemed to have only 7 points and 5 assists, but this game was very different from the season opener between the Rockets and Mavericks that Sun Ce watched on the night of October 30!
After having Billups, the Rockets quickly entered the state!
The most important thing is the Rockets' resilience, which makes Sun Ce feel very familiar.
From the bottom of their hearts, Rockets players want to win! No matter how weird the team's crazy saving of money was when Yao Ming was there and how crazy it was after Yao Ming left, the players really wanted to win. In Sun Ce's impression, the team would rather win the lottery for three consecutive years than make the playoffs. Don't have a bad temperament either.
Such an opponent... is a bit difficult to deal with!
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The next morning, the Grizzlies came to the visiting team's training ground at Toyota Center and held a tactical meeting.
The Grizzlies' attitude towards the game this year is very different from last season.
If it were last season, with this kind of situation of 6 games in 9 days, a goal would definitely be set, and 3 wins and 3 losses would be considered the end.
But this season is different. The coaching staff’s idea is to strive for every game!
Coach Hollins is swollen right now and he has people on his staff! There are not many superstars, just Randolph, and Randolph still needs to lose weight.
But he has the deepest lineup in the league! If you disagree, he will give you five ups and five downs, or even send out a purely defensive lineup, just like doing magic, he will grind you to death.
There is no doubt that the players like the coaching staff's sharp-edged attitude of wanting to win every game! Compared with last season's attitude of hiding from strong teams and bullying weak teams, the players must agree more!
As long as you are not holding a thermos cup, you will want to prove yourself on the competition field.
What is now in front of the Grizzlies players is to once again start to refresh the records in team history.
For example, what is right in front of us...the first winning streak in team history!
The Grizzlies players were more or less paying attention to the Rockets game last night. After all, they were about to play the Rockets.
As for the resilience shown by the Rockets and the performance of the two top players, the Grizzlies attach great importance to it and are actively preparing for the game.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, just as the Grizzlies players were preparing to run one more tactics after the lunch break, Sun Ce's system prompt came.
About the incident of winning streak at the beginning!