Six Hundred and Seventy-Six. Confrontation with Nowitzki!

It is true that the Mavericks did not send Yao Ming, and the opponent did not send Gasol either!

Although in terms of strength, Yao Ming has been selected for the All-NBA Team since his sophomore year, and Gasol cannot even compare, but in terms of importance, Gasol is no less important to the Grizzlies than Yao Ming is to the Mavericks!

Without Gasol, the Grizzlies can rely on resilience and some players' seemingly strange changes to withstand the Mavericks' counterattack every time.

A team has been leading, and the opponent has been chasing points, repeatedly narrowing the gap to two or three points. The leading side will definitely be under pressure, and the pressure is getting bigger and bigger.

But on the other hand, a team has been chasing points. Every time they chase two or three points, when the timeout comes, the opponent makes adjustments and immediately the gap is pulled back to five or six points. The psychological pressure on the lagging side is no less than that on the leading side!

At this time, it depends on the ability to withstand pressure, to see who can grind better.

Compared to the ability to grind, since the new century, except for the Pistons in the Five Tigers era, the Spurs before 2008, and the Rockets in the Yao Ming era, no other team can be more grinding than the Grizzlies. Even the Celtics in the past two years can't do it. It's not that the Celtics are not tough, but they are not as good as the toughest teams, because the toughness shown by the Grizzlies this season, that is, the ability to never let go of victory as long as they can get the lead, is too outstanding!

In the second half, Randolph took advantage of Sun Ce's restraint on the center and played singles continuously, helping the Grizzlies to start with a 9-4 wave. When Carlisle called a timeout, the Grizzlies had already taken a 10-point lead!

Carlisle knew that he couldn't be at a disadvantage from the beginning when playing against the Grizzlies. He was well prepared at the beginning and scored 31 points in the first quarter, but he didn't expect the opponent to score 32 points in the first quarter.

Carlisle didn't give up and made a lot of adjustments. Every time he was at a disadvantage, he could always find a way to get back.

However, there was always a little difference. Every time when they were about to overtake, just a little difference, the Grizzlies pulled back!

Look, in the last attack of the third quarter, Sun Ce took advantage of the threat brought by Jordan, who had already scored 20 points in three quarters, and made a false shot after breaking through the inside line with a pick-and-roll. He accelerated and changed direction while moving, slipped to the bottom line to the left side of the three-second zone, and hooked the ball to score two points, 87 to 76. With Sun Ce's hook shot, the Grizzlies led by 11 points and ended the first three quarters!

Nowitzki was helpless. He scored 14 points and 2 assists in the third quarter, which was higher than Randolph's score in this quarter. Sun Ce only scored 6 points in the third quarter and only made 2 of 5 shots. However, he made two free throws in the last time in the third quarter that caused Marion to foul. In the last attack, he used Randolph, who had scored 12 points in a single quarter, to force him not to double-team. He also used the threat of Jordan, who had scored 20 points in three quarters, to trick Chandler into turning around and blocking Jordan.

He slipped to the bottom line with three steps and hooked the ball.

This kid is so good at using his teammates! Conley's pass from the outside, Battier's three-pointer from the bottom corner, and the threat from the two inside players... In the third quarter, the Grizzlies did not change from point guard to power forward. Yi Jianlian and Jordan took turns to play, and they scored a single quarter score of 31 to 25!

Moreover, when watching the video, this kid saw that his physical strength declined after 32 or 33 minutes in many games, but today, after three quarters and 31 minutes, it felt like he had only played half a game, and even in the third quarter, when he was desperately switching defenses and breaking through picks and rolls, he seemed to be able to go all out for another quarter!

However, there was still one quarter left, and the score difference was 11 points. Nowitzki didn't want to give up!

...

On the other side, Coach Hollins saw a chance to win!

Not only was he leading by 11 points, but he also saw the loopholes that Carlisle wanted to cover up. With Nowitzki as the main attack point, he was not able to fully integrate into the system!

In the third quarter, Nowitzki scored 14 points and 2 assists in a single quarter. To be precise, he scored 14 points and 2 assists in 9 minutes. He was substituted in the fourth minute of the third quarter. He made two assists. One was a pass to Kidd for a three-pointer, and the other was a 2+1 when Mahinmi received the ball and scored and caused Yi Jianlian to foul. That is, Nowitzki alone created 20 points, while the Mavericks only scored 25 points in the whole quarter!

After Nowitzki was substituted, he couldn't help but break away from the system and returned to the single-player scoring style he had played for many years. It is true that Nowitzki wanted to play singles, and Randolph couldn't compete with him. But in this way, the Mavericks' smooth offensive system stagnated. It was okay for Nowitzki to pass the ball. If he was trapped and failed to pass it successfully, it would be like the second half of the second quarter, when Sun Ce repeatedly counterattacked!

Such loopholes must be seized by Coach Hollins!

…

After the break, the Grizzlies sent out a lineup of Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Paul George, Battier, and Yi Jianlian.

On the Mavericks side, Kidd, Jason Terry, Brewer, Nowitzki, and Ratliff played.

Sun Ce scored 12 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal! He played the entire third quarter, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal in a single quarter, and performed very well.

Kidd finished the three quarters with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists, which was also a near triple-double. He played for 28 minutes in the first three quarters and made three three-pointers. He played beyond his level, but was still suppressed by Sun Ce!

Mainly physical strength! Tonight, unlike the last match, the Mavericks took a big lead early, and Kidd could squander his aging physical strength wantonly. This time he controlled the play, not to mention that he did not have an advantage. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, he had to continue to play, instead of resting until the critical moment, because the kid on the opposite side was in great shape in the second half!

The reason why Kidd felt that Sun Ce was in great form was that Sun Ce's performance did not fluctuate much throughout the game, and was very stable, almost unaffected by physical strength. Others, even Kobe and James, had to slow down. Kidd had such good physical strength when he was young, and there were also periods of stagnation in a game, but Sun Ce did not!

At the beginning of the last quarter, Sun Ce received the serve and advanced quickly. In order to target Nowitzki, the Grizzlies once again sent out a lineup of one big and four small.

Sun Ce had helped Jordan get 14 points, while Chandler only got 10 points after three quarters, and only 8 points were obtained by Kidd's pass.

In terms of rebounds, Sun Ce was 14 to 8 Kidd.

So far, Sun Ce's attention has not been on the competition with Kidd, but on winning the game!

After advancing to the frontcourt, Brewer defended, Sun Ce moved sideways to the right, and Brewer also moved sideways. Facing Sun Ce, Brewer's speed was not at a disadvantage, but Yi Jianlian did not need Sun Ce to summon him, and took the initiative to help Sun Ce block Brewer, triggering the ball pick-and-roll expert level 1!

Sun Ce quickly broke through to the middle distance on the right side. Ratliff did a good job in switching defense this time. He did not fully expand. His defensive awareness, who had been in the top ten of the best defensive player votes many times and the three-time block king, was displayed. When Sun Ce broke through to the middle distance, Ratliff appeared in front of Sun Ce!

When Sun Ce broke through the pick-and-roll, he judged that he would be blocked here based on Ratliff's position and lateral movement tendency. When he came into contact with Ratliff, Sun Ce took the initiative to turn sideways and move towards Ratliff, pulled the ball to the left and back with his left hand, turned 270 degrees to the left, avoided Ratliff, jumped, and shot a jump shot from the free throw line at a 60-degree angle on the right...

Sun Ce turned a little dizzy with this ball, mainly because he was so excited that he couldn't help but be sexy.

However, this 270-degree back turn jump shot that made him dizzy, a hollow hit!

The throats of the fans at the scene may not be healed for three to five days, this ball is too beautiful!

This smooth turn, Jordan-style turn and jump shot... The scene exploded again!

At this time, there was an embarrassing scene. Nowitzki stood at the baseline and stretched his arms towards Sun Ce, who was more than one meter away from him. That scene fully explained what it meant to be far away...

Nowitzki, who was defending Battier's three-pointer in the bottom corner, shrank back, but he thought Sun Ce was going to break through the baseline. Who knew that Ratliff blocked Sun Ce in the mid-range, and he didn't expect Sun Ce to make such a cool turnaround jumper!

In the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies scored first again, 89 to 76, and the score difference was widened to 13 points.

Nowitzki couldn't stand it anymore. When the Mavericks attacked, Nowitzki directly asked Battier for the ball outside the three-point line to avoid being double-teamed inside the three-point line. After receiving the ball, Nowitzki pushed Battier away, turned over, and made a three-pointer... hit!

Nowitzki scored 31 points!

Nowitzki is not a high-scoring player. He should have made this kind of shot at a critical moment, but he used it to chase points. In the eyes of Coach Carlisle on the sidelines, it was a waste!

Nowitzki played like this in the scoring phase, and his physical strength at the critical moment... Coach Carlisle really feels that this game is going to be explained.

When the Grizzlies attacked, Battier went to the top arc to receive the ball outside the three-point line, and Sun Ce went to the inside to lean on Brewer and play a low-post single!

Sun Ce easily turned around and hooked two points, and his movements were so fast. With Brewer's weight, he could still defend well on the perimeter with his height, wingspan, movement speed, enthusiasm, and defensive awareness. But in low-post defense, he couldn't even stop Sun Ce from turning around. He weighed 89 kilograms, just like Sun Ce couldn't defend Kidd in the low post last season.

Nowitzki made a three-pointer, and Sun Ce immediately returned a low-post single!

When Sun Ce met Brewer in the first three quarters, he didn't choose a low-post single. First, there were other ways to score at that time, and second, it was to exert force at this critical moment!

It was the Mavericks' turn to attack again, and Nowitzki made another long two-pointer. This shooting god, whose average long two-pointer hit rate this season exceeded 50%, shot accurately when he was exerting his strength!

When it was the Grizzlies' turn to attack, after Sun Ce advanced to the frontcourt, he found that the opponent's position had a clear tendency to wait for him to fall to the low position, so Sun Ce chose to break through!

It's not that you have to play at a certain point because it has an advantage. That point has an advantage and creates a threat, and it is also using that advantage. Sun Ce used the pick-and-roll to break through to the mid-range, and before Ratliff's defense was in place, he moved sideways and stepped to jump and shoot...

Another hit!

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Nowitzki exerting his strength, Sun Ce came up and scored 6 points in a row!