$708. The Wine Bottle Is Not that Easy to Hold.

George Karl's defensive accomplishments are indeed beyond words. Although the Nuggets lost 101 points per game this season, it was mainly because of the fast offense and defense rhythm and many rounds. They averaged 107.3 points per game and a net score of 7.3 points. You should know that the Grizzlies' net score was only 9.2 points.

The Nuggets averaged 85 shots per game with only 9.1 offensive rebounds per game, while the opponent averaged 86 shots per game.

The Grizzlies averaged only 82 shots per game with 13.5 offensive rebounds per game, while the opponent averaged only 78 shots per game. The rhythm is not at the same level at all.

The Nuggets are relatively not suitable for positional warfare offense, but they are very good at forcing opponents into positional warfare defense!

To compare with a team, a team very similar to them is the Miami Heat, which forces opponents into positional warfare offense on the defensive end and plays defensive counterattacks!

The Grizzlies, who had a clear advantage at the start, rarely suffered a loss in the rotation stage!

The game was suspended for almost two minutes. The Grizzlies only scored two points with a dunk by Jordan, and no one else scored!

On the Nuggets side, Lawson, the counterattack engine, helped the Nuggets score 6 points in a row!

The two teams tied at 16!

After the official suspension, the Grizzlies continued to adjust. Battier was replaced, the three-man lineup remained unchanged, and the double emperor inside combination was replaced to play the rotation stage.

Facing the starting lineup of the Nuggets, the coaching staff of the Grizzlies, together with three players with strong defensive strength and strong analytical ability, worked hard to study and defended well.

The Grizzlies also studied the rotation lineup led by Lawson, but when faced with this lineup and style of play with excessive athletic ability and impact, the Grizzlies fell into a tough battle!

After the first quarter, the Grizzlies fell two points behind 26 to 28 and entered the intermission!

Lawson played for more than 7 minutes and got 3 points and 4 assists.

Sun Ce scored 9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block in the first quarter, mainly because of the 7 points at the beginning. He only got two points later. The 7 minutes or so after that were considered normal performances, with 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Fortunately, with the 7 points and 1 assist at the beginning, Sun Ce's data could steadily suppress Lawson.

Since the last game of this month was against the Thunder, which is theoretically stronger in the playoffs, Coach Hollins did not continue to send Sun Ce to death at the beginning of the second quarter, but let Sun Ce rest and replaced him with Conley, Morrow, Battier, Randolph and Gasol, trying to slow down the pace.

Lawson's physical condition was average, B+ level, which was even averager than Sun Ce. At the beginning of the second quarter, George Karl replaced Lowry, Courtney Lee, Wilson Chandler, Al Harrington and Nene.

This lineup is evenly matched. Randolph and Gasol are stronger inside, but the opponent's outside combination is obviously better than the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies are a strong team in the interior, and the outside players are actually mainly defensive players. There are two core players in Randolph and Gasol in the interior, and Jordan can barely be considered core players. However, among the three positions in the exterior, there are only two independent offensive points in the main rotation, Sun Ce and Conley.

It was only because Randolph basically did not exert any strength in the first quarter, was in good physical condition, and recovered his desire on the offensive end, that he caught Nene and Al Harrington and kept the score close in the first half of the second quarter.

41 to 42, the Grizzlies narrowed the gap to 1 point when the official timeout came in the second quarter. This half of the quarter was still very stable. Randolph scored 8 points alone, raising his personal score to 12 points. With a three-pointer from Morrow, Conley and Gasol each scored two points to overwhelm the Nuggets positional battle lineup led by Lowry.

But this is enough for the Nuggets!

Relying on Lowry's outstanding performance, the Nuggets withstood the moment when Randolph showed his power!

The situation was unfavorable, but Coach Hollins did not panic. After all, the score difference was almost zero. He re-deployed the double point guard combination of Sun Ce and Conley, plus the front court trio of Paul George, Battier, and Yi Jianlian, and prepared to use a small lineup to deal with the upcoming track and field team's impact.

Tony Allen had defended Lawson before, but it must be said that the Grizzlies made mistakes in their preparations to defend Lawson today. Tony Allen did not defend Lawson well, but Coach Hollins and defensive assistant coach Dave Joerger were reluctant to use Sun Ce to defend Lawson. First, it was a problem of consumption, and second, it would affect Sun Ce's help defense, which was not so friendly to team defense. Unexpectedly, this decision was completely wrong. Not only did it fail to defend Lawson, but Sun Ce's help defense also did not play a big role in the Nuggets' style of play where all players had independent offensive capabilities.

So this time Coach Hollins simply sent out two point guards!

The Nuggets were in high spirits!

They were not sure at the beginning, after all, they were beaten badly in the last match against the Grizzlies.

But as the game went on, confidence came!

The combination of Lawson, Courtney Lee, Wilson Chandler, Gallinari, and Nene appeared!

There is a saying that Sun Ce now truly recognizes.

Don't compare your hobby with other people's profession!

Pushing counterattacks are not Sun Ce's hobby, but it is definitely not the aspect he focuses on improving, but it is enough.

His pushing counterattacks are based on his teammates' positioning. After he grabs the defensive rebound with his own positioning awareness and body advantage, he uses his passing awareness, plus his teammates' counterattack ability and his own speed to play a pushing counterattack.

This routine has been tried and tested, and he has not deliberately strengthened his ability in this area. After all, this is just a rotation stage of play, which is enough. He is more focused on improving his technical and tactical qualities.

But since the Nuggets traded Anthony and abandoned Billups, and he and Lowry became the team's main point guards, Lawson has focused on studying this style of play, ignoring everything else and focusing on being the core of the defensive counterattack.

Lawson already has this talent. George Karl has created the best defensive counterattack tactics for him, coupled with so many teammates who have excellent running and jumping ability, strong counterattack awareness, and independent offensive ability to respond when he cannot organize the offense. After almost a season, Lawson's counterattack ability has improved much faster than Sun Ce!

Speaking of the counterattack alone, Lawson has a little bit of Kidd's shadow back then. Of course, it's just this point. He doesn't have Kidd's defense and rebounds, but in terms of counterattack, Lawson is better than Sun Ce!

At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies were 54-59, 5 points behind the Nuggets!

Sun Ce watched Lawson play for 13 minutes and get 5 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists and 1 steal... His performance was better than the season average!

Lawson's bottle was not that easy to get!