900. The Importance of Nash
The process of this game was very different from what people expected.
In the first three quarters, the Grizzlies played a run-and-gun stage only in the first half of the second quarter, and they played poorly, scoring only 11 points, resulting in only 24 points in a single quarter, and the Spurs led by 4 points at halftime into the third quarter.
But the Grizzlies had a leading advantage in positional warfare!
After three quarters, they actually overtook the score.
The most important thing is that the game was very good!
Both teams had clear defensive goals and defensive enthusiasm. Both offense and defense were trying to fight against each other, and scored a high score of 83 to 79 in three quarters.
Then... the viewing experience in the fourth quarter did not decline!
In the fourth quarter, Nash, who played for 20 minutes in the first three quarters, continued to play. Sun Ce, Neil, Randolph, and Jordan appeared on the court. They still played a positional battle, mainly defensively, but they did not fall behind on the offensive end. Randolph and Sun Ce, who were in good physical condition, played singles, and Nash tended to defend Sun Ce and Randolph on the opponent's defense. In fact, it was mainly Duncan or Richard Jefferson, who came off the bench, who expanded to the high right position. When the basket was empty, Nash began to pick and roll with Jordan to break through the basket and play pick and roll breakthroughs.
When the official timeout in the fourth quarter came, the Grizzlies scored 98 to 91, leading by 7 points!
The tactics arranged by the coaching staff against the Spurs, the details discussed by Sun Ce, Nash, Gasol and others, restrained the Spurs!
Although we didn't play against the Spurs in the playoffs last year, we were well prepared. This year, the Spurs are as strong as last season, and most of the loopholes in the playoffs have been made up. The Grizzlies coaching staff continues to regard the Spurs as the most dangerous imaginary enemy and has been studying how to deal with the Spurs.
In this season when the Spurs are missing a key center, the Grizzlies can restrain the Spurs as much as they want, and play their advantages to the limit!
After the official timeout, the lineup of Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Paul George, Battier, and Gasol Jr. came on the court.
Nash, who played for 28 minutes and scored 14 points and 11 assists, and Randolph, who played for 29 minutes and scored 25 points and 8 rebounds, went off the court to rest, and the Grizzlies began to play a deadly defensive style.
One big and four small, Gasol Jr. guarded the basket, the four-man team on the outside switched defenses infinitely, contracted a lot, blocked the basket... plus their own offense was terrible, only 5 points in 6 minutes.
But the Spurs only scored 8 points in 6 minutes.
In the end, with Sun Ce playing a full 48 minutes and scoring 33 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks and 1 steal, Nash 14 points and 11 assists, Randolph 25 points and 8 rebounds, Gasol 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Jordan and Yi Jianlian each got 6 rebounds..., the Grizzlies beat the Spurs 103 to 99, winning 5 consecutive games and improving their record to 17 wins and 4 losses!
The focus of the Grizzlies in this game was actually defense, and the offense was purely based on changes, so that the Spurs, who encountered Nash's style of play for the first time, could not respond ideally.
The Spurs, who averaged 105.7 points per game and 15 wins and 5 losses before this game this season, only scored 99 points. The Grizzlies' defense was quite successful, and the Spurs only lost 96.9 points per game before this game this season, while the Grizzlies scored 104 points, and their offensive performance was very good!
After the game, Popovich looked at Nash, the MVP of the game, who was interviewed after the game. He had criticized the Suns for sending Nash to the Grizzlies during the trade before the draft, and criticized the Grizzlies for robbing, completely ignoring that he had just robbed Gay, and was like a state official who only wanted to set fire.
But he still felt that Nash could only lead the Grizzlies' running and gunning lineup. Positional warfare was a defensive loophole, and he could only serve as a pitcher. After all, the Grizzlies' positional warfare was not suitable for Nash.
The fact is that in many games, Nash's positional warfare performance can only be said to be qualified, not good.
But against the Spurs, Nash actually found a way to cooperate with his teammates, and it seems that he only found a way against the Spurs... It was not easy to play against the Grizzlies. When the Grizzlies played against the Spurs, their weakness was not defense, but the positional warfare offensive firepower could not keep up, and they could not play running and gunning all over the court.
There are mid-range shots from Sun Ce and Randolph, pick-and-roll offense from Nash, and high-post support from Gasol Jr.... The key is to upgrade Conley to Nash, and have a scoring point and organizer who is far stronger than Conley.
Popovich wants to strangle the Suns management!
…
"Wild Bear: S-level event, the second stage event of the strongest system.
Event goal: In the four matches against the Spurs this season, the host needs to help the Grizzlies gain an advantage in the head-to-head record. (The host's team's record against the Spurs: 2 to 0. In progress)
Event reward: The top three random players and the top star experience card...
…"
Sun Ce had just finished practicing the Nash training method, took a shower, and collapsed on the bed. Looking at the progress of this event that has been improved to 2 to 0, he will have to play two more games with the Spurs. As long as he wins one more game, he can get this star experience card.
However, although this game was won, it was not easy to win. With Gay's Spurs, it is much stronger than last season!
He played for 48 minutes, made 12 of 26 shots and scored 33 points. He really tried his best, but even so, the team was still 4 points behind at halftime. Fortunately, except for him, the other players on the team had balanced playing time tonight and maintained defense throughout, which limited the opponent's offense in the second half and completed the comeback.
Although he won the first two games, Sun Ce will probably have a hard time in the next match on February 21st. The opponent must be prepared. Nash wants to help him drive other people's offense so smoothly. It won't be as easy as this time.
With Gay, there is one more outside single point, and one more small forward with better defense. Even if the Grizzlies have improved for another year and added Nash, the Spurs will have half time in the first half. Still got 56 points! If it weren't for Nash's 9 points and 5 assists in the half, he did a good job in scoring individually and connecting with his teammates. In addition, he was ready to use star experience cards or physical potions. In the first half, he did not hesitate to score 15 points while trying his best. After completing the assisting defense, the opponent may not only score 56 points, but they will not be able to score 52 points.
Fortunately, the defense went very smoothly in the second half. Sun Ce used physical potions and did not change his style of play. There was no situation that might disrupt the team's rhythm. Thanks to Randolph's outstanding performance in the third quarter, he was stable. It took a performance of 7-10 points in each quarter for the team to win.
Sun Ce once again felt the importance of Nash. Maybe without Nash, their team would have thought of other ways to deal with the Grizzlies, but with Nash, it is obviously easier to find a clear direction to deal with Parker, George Hill, and Patrick Mill. Si and other defenders, Nash is at ease.
While paralyzed to review the details of tonight's game, Sun Ce fell asleep...
…
…
On the first day of the new month, Sun Ce got up early and sent the ancestral goose to school after eating breakfast.
In the second month of the new year, Lily Collins is also busy. She is going to Miami for a business trip to shoot an advertisement for a swimsuit brand and endorse Miami.
Although even in Miami, the tourist season will not start until mid-March, we cannot launch advertisements during the tourist season. All these things must be done in advance and the publicity must be done well. Only when the tourist season arrives can we attract enough people from the beginning. passenger flow.
After sending Zuer to school, Sun Ce went directly to FedEx Arena.
When they played the Spurs yesterday, the Nuggets had already arrived in Memphis.
From December 25 last year to yesterday, the first competition month passed.
38 days and 21 games. When Sun Ce saw the completed schedule, he felt it was long and difficult, but personally felt that it passed very quickly.
Sun Ce felt that this strange feeling was normal. After playing a game, he would take at most one day off and then another game would start again. There would be a wave of 5 consecutive visitors and a wave of 6 consecutive visitors. That is to say, half of the time it would be the first game after the game. I was on a plane for two days, and then there was a game the next day. The work was very tight, and naturally it felt like time passed quickly. Just like people who do other jobs in this increasingly fast-paced era, they are busy every day. One year, two years, three years passed by accidentally.
Taking a closer look at the new month's schedule, Sun Ce saw that from the 1st to the 22nd, there were 13 games, and only one had two days of rest. The rest of the time, they either had a day off or were back-to-back.
Looking at the schedule, Sun Ce thought: "Probably there will be a large-scale rest period..."
…
At the team meeting in the morning, it was exactly as Sun Ce had guessed. Tonight they played the Nuggets back-to-back. Nash, Randolph, and Gasol took turns resting. Vazquez and Jimmy Butler were both on the active list. .
The team is currently 17 wins and 4 losses, two games ahead of the Spurs, who are second in the Western Conference with 15 wins and 6 losses. They have some lead and can take a rest. At least before the All-Star weekend, they have to take a good rest and then welcome the 7 days of rest to prepare for the remaining 32 games in the second half of the season.
After the personnel adjustments and tactical arrangements in the morning team meeting were completed, they were disbanded. For the game at 7 o'clock in the evening, there were no training arrangements, just a simple arrangement of tactics and rest arrangements.
Sun Ce practiced two more sets of left-hand layups. After completing today's 300 left-hand layups, he ended today's training, returned home, waited for lunch, and went to the gym after a nap in the afternoon to warm up and prepare for the game.
At 12 noon, when the servant sister informed Sun Ce to have lunch, Sun Ce responded, got up from the sofa in the study, turned on the computer, and opened the NBA official website.
After last year's award announcement method was complained about, this year it has changed back to the previous model, the official website announced.
Seeing the best of the week and best of the month lists announced today, Sun Ce shouted excitedly.
In the fifth game week of this season, the best player in the Western Conference is Sun Ce!
In the first competition month, he was the best in the Western Conference!
With 65 points in the last two games and 33 points in the other, Sun Ce not only secured the Player of the Month award, but also won his third Player of the Week award this season with a record of winning 4 games in the last week!