781. Dangerous Situation

Usually the Grizzlies' own three-point shooting is not effective. Their only stable three-pointers are Morrow, Conley, and Battier. Conley and Battier still have limitations in their three-point shooting areas. Paul George is still He is a rookie with poor stability. In the true sense, only Morrow can cover the entire three-point line. Therefore, Morrow usually has a bad touch and the entire Grizzlies team is not good at three-pointers.

But this time Paul George shot a good three-pointer in the beginning, and this time it was the Heat's turn, which brought together Bibby, Eddie House, Chalmers, James Jones, Mike Miller, Arroyo The Heat's six three-pointers didn't feel good!

Battier and DeAndre Jordan defended the basket and actively contracted from the outside. They took advantage of the Heat's poor outside touch and the fact that the seniors and seniors could rotate defense at high speeds and began to suppress the Heat. Not long ago, the Spurs slaughtered the Heat. 30 points, just by playing like this.

In turn, Morrow, Battier, and Conley made shots flying under Sun Ce's pass!

After the Grizzlies created a 13-point lead during the rotation period, although they could not open up any further, James played 42 minutes and scored 29 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists on 11-of-25 shooting, a near-triple-double. , the 10-point difference remained until the end.

Sun Ce played 41 minutes and scored a triple-double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists. He scored his 14th triple-double this season. He also had 2 steals, 2 blocks and only 4 turnovers. Randolph scored 18 points and 19 assists. The two of them combined for 30 rebounds, Randolph had 8 offensive rebounds in a single game, and Jordan had 4 offensive rebounds. They threw them out for Sun Ce to pass to his teammates for a lot of shots, and his teammates also made a lot of them. Throwing wildly without any scruples, the more you throw, the more you bring in.

Including Jordan's 6 rebounds, the three of them have the same number of rebounds as the entire Heat team! Won 13 rebounds in the game, 49 to 36!

Together with Morrow and Battier each making three three-pointers, Conley scored 15 points and five people scored in double figures. Paul George also scored 8 points and hit two three-pointers. The Grizzlies all With all their strength, they defeated the Heat 98-91 and refused to lose in a row!

…

After defeating the Heat, the Grizzlies' record improved to 55 wins and 14 losses, winning the first 55 wins in team history!

Before getting 55 wins, Sun Ce was looking forward to it. After getting 55 wins, Sun Ce felt that it was not an important thing, because he would definitely get it. What was even more satisfying was that he did not suffer a losing streak, and the event that had just been triggered would not fail for the time being.

Sun Ce remembered that he had only received the A-level lottery card twice. He wanted to win this reward, let alone change it to the same hairstyle as the guy next to him!

"Noah, you've had 14 triple-doubles. That's really impressive. Unlike me, I'm missing two or three rebounds and two or three assists in every game." James said, sitting on the beach chair next to Sun Ce.

After playing the Heat, the Grizzlies had two more days to rest and did not immediately go to Sacramento, the capital of California in the West. They played back-to-back away games against the Kings and Trail Blazers on the 28th and 29th, and the Warriors on the 31st.

On the rest day on the 26th and 27th, the owner of the Grizzlies suggested enjoying the sunshine and relaxing on the south coast. Coach Hollins adopted this suggestion. He played four back-to-back games this month. It was really too stressful. Next, there was another one. Back to back, relax and unwind.

There was no strict requirement for the team to play together. Sun Ce and Randolph were invited by James, another member of their dance group, to his beach house in Miami to sunbathe.

Although he just lost to the Grizzlies, James doesn't particularly mind. It's just the regular season. The Eastern and Western teams don't have that big of a grudge. The Lakers and Celtics have deep grudges, and there are very few other Eastern and Western teams. When it comes to mortal enemies, it usually happens when teams in the Eastern and Western Divisions are rivals.

For example, James' team versus the Celtics, Bulls and Pistons.

Wade and Bosh also came. Bosh and Randolph were discussing bringing him to play with the All-Stars next year. Wade was speechless that someone actually made such a request.

Bosh is quite miserable from a certain perspective. It seems that no one takes the initiative to play with him, but he takes the initiative to join in...

When Sun Ce heard James talk about a triple-double, he thought of James' data. Starting from the 2007-08 season, and now for four consecutive seasons, he averaged more than 7 rebounds and assists per game, but the season with the most triple-doubles, Also "only" 7 times.

Westbrook, in his third year, started pursuing the triple-double king, but he has already had 8 triple-doubles and has not played in more than a dozen games.

Sun Ce felt that James seemed a little envious and said: "LeBron, if you grab two or three more rebounds and two or three more assists per game, you will average a triple-double per game. Do you want to try it?"

Hearing Sun Ce's words, James laughed and said: "Haha, don't tempt me, otherwise we will lose at least 20 more games a year, and I won't be so stupid to fall into your trap."

"No, no, no. With your strength, I think you can lose 15 more games at most and still make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Do you want to give it a try?"

"How about you give it a try? Your rebounding is so good, just get a few more assists."

"No, I want to win."

"Haha, I also want to win..."

Getting a triple-double, sometimes just to get one or two more rebounds, is likely to cause the team's defense to collapse. Not every team has four towers like the Grizzlies and can defend the interior well, because it requires Getting one or two more rebounds is not a matter of one or two rounds. You may focus on shrinking and grabbing rebounds throughout the game, and the opponent you are defending has countless opportunities to pick and roll for teammates or simply catch and throw.

Sun Ce and James both get triple-doubles if they have them, but it doesn't matter if they don't.

Of course, Sun Ce needs to be special. When the game is determined to be won, if there are just one or two data difference...

…

The Heat have a home game tomorrow, and the Big Three of the Heat are fine. Sun Ce and Randolph spent a leisurely day with the Big Three of the Heat. On the morning of the 27th, Sun Ce set off from the south coast with the team. Arrive in Sacramento, the capital of California.

Since the Princeton era, the Kings have been squandering draft picks for several years, hoping to select a talent they want to cultivate. They did not like to cultivate Evans, so they sent him away in exchange for a player who averaged 25 minutes per game. The No. 2 pick with only 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in the game was undoubtedly a loser.

But the Kings management doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, and the fans are used to it. They drafted parallel imports not once or twice, but many, many times, and this time the two top-five picks were not all wasted. Cousins After the fight came out, they tried their best to train Cousins.

Although the fans and even their players don't understand, the Kings management forced Evans to leave as a shooting guard. Cousins' rookie year was much worse than Evans' rookie year, but he was so dedicated. To train Cousins, why didn't the Kings have the brainpower to let Cousins ​​play power forward?

So far in the season, Cousins ​​has performed well overall, averaging 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, but it is far from the amazing performance at the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the season, he averaged 20+8 per game and competed with Griffin for the Western Conference MVP. He had a sense of deja vu as a top rookie, but as the season progressed, Cousins's bad temper became more and more obvious. He contradicted the head coach and fought with teammates. Although his teammates angered him first... he was even sent to the bench for a beating. moon.

At the beginning of the season, Gasol was beaten once by Cousins, but this time when the Grizzlies and Kings played against Randolph, Gasol broke out. Facing Cousins' poor defense, Gasol With the help of Sun Ce, Er scored 30 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, beating Cousins ​​​​who scored 15 points and 6 rebounds. In addition, Sun Ce scored 19 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, and the iconic 4 times 5 data. With 5 blocks, the Grizzlies defeated the Kings 106-81 and won two consecutive victories.

Sun Ce scored a triple-double in two consecutive games, which was also an unexpected surprise for him. Gasol alone contributed 5 assists to him, and 4 of them were by catching the ball and hitting the ball with ease.

It's a pity that the score did not reach 20. After Sun Ce reached double figures in assists in the second minute of the fourth quarter, he was replaced by coach Hollins. He was already leading by more than 20 points after three quarters. Sun Ce played 31 minutes in the first three quarters and already had 19 points. He had 12 rebounds and 9 assists. Coach Hollins sent him up to get an assist and then came down. Sun Ce also grabbed two rebounds from Jordan and Yi Jianlian.

In defeating the Kings, Sun Ce achieved a small milestone. He tied Jordan with 15 triple-doubles in a single season, and tied with Jordan for fifth in history in triple-doubles in a single season.

Sun Ce doesn't care much about this ranking. After the triple-double king truly embraces the sewer, 15 triple-doubles in a single season... I guess he won't even be in the top ten in the single-season triple-double rankings.

…

After playing the Kings that night, the Grizzlies came to Portland. After resting for half the night, and most people catching up on their sleep the next day, they challenged the Trail Blazers back-to-back away at 7:30 p.m.

As the regular season enters the countdown, the competition for playoff rankings is in full swing. The Trail Blazers have won six consecutive victories and feel that they will secure fourth place in the Western Conference. The current record has reached 45 wins and 25 losses. Getting 50 wins is not a big problem. They are two games ahead of the sixth-place Thunder.

Before and after the All-Star Weekend, the record situation of the top seven in the Western Conference has changed dramatically. Originally, the media predicted that in addition to the Spurs, there is a high possibility that six 55-win teams will appear in the second through seventh places at the same time. However, after the All-Star Weekend, , the Lakers, Colts, and Bears have lost too few games. They are both Western Conference teams, and the teams ranked second to seventh have played against each other a lot. The Thunder, Nuggets, and Trail Blazers will naturally have a majority of three or four games and a chance of 55 wins. It doesn’t look like much. The Nuggets have lost hope of winning 55 games. With 12 games left, the Nuggets only have 42 wins. Even if the 12-game winning streak ends, they will only have 54 wins and cannot break the single record in team history. Season win record.

In other words, the Trail Blazers relied on their incredible victory in the terrifying schedule of 6 games in 8 days, and defeated the Grizzlies back-to-back in the sixth game to maintain their hope of hitting 55 wins.

But it’s a bit difficult to win 10 out of 12 games.

This time the Grizzlies came to Portland to challenge the Trail Blazers back-to-back and were well prepared. Yesterday, the entire Grizzlies team only played more than 30 minutes for Gasol and Sun Ce because they were in good shape and both had 30 minutes. Many minutes of playing time were concentrated in the first three quarters. When the opportunity to defeat the Kings appeared in the first three quarters, coach Hollins let the main players play longer in the first three quarters, defeating the Kings in one fell swoop. He did not want to delay it in the fourth quarter. Conley, Battier, Tony Allen, and Gasol all rested throughout the game. Only Sun Ce had two minutes of data and got 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block.

This time the Grizzlies came to Portland with a vengeance mentality, and immediately began to defend to the death after the game started.

The Trail Blazers have a chance to win 55 games. Although the chance is slim, of course they have to fight for it. It is expected that the Grizzlies will focus on defense, with Batum and Gerald Wallace as the core of defense, and Al Delic plays center, Roy and Matthews play guard, and they defend well.

The two teams were so scared that the steel mills were afraid of being robbed of their jobs. The sound of hammering was heard continuously throughout the night. The pace of the game was slow, the confrontation was fierce, and the scores were low... The most important thing was reflected in the rebounding of the two teams. In this game, the two teams The team got a total of 98 rebounds and almost exceeded 100 rebounds.

In the end, with their excellent low-scoring experience, the Grizzlies, who got 53 rebounds, overwhelmed the Trail Blazers, who got 45 rebounds, and defeated the Trail Blazers 82-76, winning their third consecutive victory.

The "all-round showdown" between Sun Ce and Batum was very eye-catching. Batum played 31 minutes and scored 9 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks. Sun Ce played 34 minutes and scored 11 points, 22 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks. In terms of blocks, both of them were just a little bit different by 5 times 5.

Randolph was beaten by Aldridge in the last game, but he came back this time. Aldridge was targeted and his performance of at least 30 points in 6 consecutive games could not continue. He only scored 12 points and 6 rebounds. Randolph scored 21 points and 11 rebounds, 5 of which were offensive rebounds. He continued to overpower Love and remained the king of offensive rebounds this season.

…

In the game against the Trail Blazers, Sun Ce had 20 rebounds in a single game for the fifth time in his career. This time he relied purely on opportunities given by the opponent, and his teammates were willing to let him get the defensive rebounds. He can counterattack, and he already has size+ Speed ​​advantage and excellent rebounding awareness.

With three consecutive wins, the Grizzlies' record has improved to 57 wins and 14 losses, with 11 games left. If they can win 8 games, they will have a chance to play the top regular season in history!

After playing against the Trail Blazers, Sun Ce followed the team to the familiar yet unfamiliar Oakland of Oakland the next morning. The last game of the month was an away game against the Warriors.

After arriving at the hotel, Sun Ce sent a message to Curry and Ellis.

After a while, Curry replied to Sun Ce's message and asked Sun Ce to call Moreau and have dinner together that night. Ellis was even slower and only replied: Stephen and I will come together.

Sun Ce feels that his old teammates are so awkward...

After notifying Morrow, Sun Ce returned to his room and played against the Warriors. Sun Ce really couldn't find anything interesting to study.

The characteristics of the Warriors are obvious, that is, they fight in chaos, no one can win when they get mad, and no one can win when they are pitted.

There is no pattern or logic. The Warriors, who have played 72 games so far, have a record of 32 wins and 40 losses. They have no hope of the playoffs. They are bad but not bad. They have Ellis, Curry, Wright, Big David Lee, among whom Curry and Wright average 2+ level three-pointers per game, give Ellis and David Lee a very good singles space. They can't be bad even if they want to, but they are good. Not strong.

This kind of opponent is quite troublesome. If they really break out, there is a high probability that they will suffer a defeat. However, they fight in a chaotic manner and cannot find a place to attack. They can only rely on their strength during the game.

But it’s time to do some research. Sun Ce also wants to see what scouts think of Curry’s younger brother. Curry is incredible this season, averaging 22 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game, ranking first in the league in three-pointers per game.

In particular, Curry and Sun Ce have different impressions. In the early stage of his career, Curry was a glass man, but now, Curry has only missed 15 games in two seasons. Due to normal injuries, Durant has missed 15 games in the past two seasons. He also missed 10 games this season. He had no injuries in the third year. He was only banned for one game because he helped Harden. He missed 5 more games this season, one of which was to help Harden...

However, Sun Ce was shocked when he opened the latest scouting report and saw the current Western Conference rankings and winning streak.

"how so?"

Sun Ce quickly turned on his computer and opened the official website. Sure enough, the headline was the news that the Spurs had won seven consecutive games and improved their record to 60 wins and 13 losses, becoming the first team to win 60 games this season.

Sun Ce remembered that after they lost to the Celtics, he specifically checked the Spurs' record and schedule. At that time, the Spurs were 56 wins and 13 losses, and the Grizzlies were 54 wins and 14 losses. The Spurs were 2.5 points ahead of the Grizzlies. After a victory, the Spurs will face the Rockets, Thunder, Pacers, and Hawks successively, two home games and two away games, four games in six days from the 24th to the 30th. Based on the Spurs' rotation strategy, it shouldn't be difficult to win them all. Most likely.

Sun Ce searched the game report and saw the Spurs' roster...

Sure enough... the Spurs did not continue to rest!

Sun Ce understood this. After 18 games of rest strategy, the Spurs suddenly stopped taking rest. This time it was the opponent's turn and they were unprepared. The opponent could not guess whether they would take a rest or not, and it was difficult to prepare for the game.

The Grizzlies have now played 71 games, with 57 wins and 14 losses, and there are 11 games left to play. The winning gap is widened to 3 by the Spurs, who have 60 wins and 13 losses!

"They are poisonous! If you have a chance to win 70 games, don't rush, but now you have lost 13 games and start sprinting?"

Seeing that the gap between losses was only one, the Spurs suddenly started to sprint and won two games first, leaving the pressure on the Grizzlies... which made Sun Ce want to point at Popovich's nose and curse!

Originally, if the Spurs lost the second half of the games without any injuries or illnesses after the All-Star Weekend as Sun Ce thought, it would be a matter of time before the Grizzlies surpassed the Spurs.

But now, we have to fight!

Behind them are the Lakers with 56 wins and 16 losses, the Mavericks with 55 wins and 17 losses, and in front of them are the Spurs with 60 wins and 13 losses... Sun Ce feels that his team with 57 wins and 14 losses is like a poor little thing caught in the cracks...

"Don't I just want to be the first in the league? You three brothers have won the first place in the West 9 times in the past 12 years, and all won the regular season championship. Do you have to compete with a rural team like us in the mountains?"