Min Congda never expected that the Grizzlies were so vulnerable in the first half.
In the face of the Clippers' sharp offense, the Grizzlies' defense was as if it didn't exist.
In theory, the Grizzlies defense shouldn't be this fragile.
The Grizzlies gradually emerged last season, and their main focus was a flesh-and-blood mill.
He is good at using strong defense to destroy the opponent's offense and drag the game into a difficult confrontation.
On the offensive end, the Grizzlies have Griffin's talent, Conley's offensive sorting ability, and Butler's isolation ability.
Although the Grizzlies are at the bottom of the league in three-pointers attempted and made, their level of suppressing their opponents' shooting percentage is also at the forefront of the league.
In last year's playoffs, the Grizzlies faced the Lakers in the semifinals, causing a lot of trouble for the Lakers.
Many old-school fans admire the Grizzlies' style of play and think their defense has the style of the NBA in the 1990s.
Whenever you encounter a grizzly bear in a game, you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die.
As a result, halfway through the game, the Grizzlies' skin was peeled off and they had almost no ability to resist.
The superficial reason is that the Clippers brought their home power tonight to beat the Grizzlies with championship momentum and good condition.
The underlying reason is that the Grizzlies' retro style of play has found it difficult to keep up with the Clippers' pace.
The Grizzlies' defensive know-how is still the same set of classic principles from the period when NBA defensive theory developed in the past 20 years: pressure on the line, more defense on the strong side and less defense, rapid rotation on the weak side, strong physical confrontation, compressed offensive space, and creation of defensive traps on the baseline. etc.
Faced with such a defense, the classic solution in the past was to create singles space for the team's outstanding singles, and then use the singles to drive the entire team's offense to achieve the effect of breaking the surface.
But the Clippers don't attack this way at all.
After the improvement of the last championship season and hard training in the offseason, the Clippers team's offensive understanding has once again improved.
Under the guidance of Steve Kerr, the Clippers' passing and cutting has developed in a faster, farther and more accurate direction.
Do you play online pressure? My ball carrier starts the pick-and-roll after halftime. Jordan, you come to press.
If you come to press, the basket will be empty and there will be no way to go back and defend.
If you don't press, Curry will have the ability to fire from a distance as soon as he passes half court.
In the first half, Curry hit two ultra-long three-pointers, making the Grizzlies unable to defend.
There is also a switch between strong and weak sides. The strong side has more defense and less defense, and the weak side immediately rotates.
However, the Clippers' passing speed is extremely fast and the space is extremely wide. The huge space prevents the Grizzlies players' legs and feet from keeping up with the pass.
No matter how fast you are, you can't pass the ball quickly. The farther away the opponent is, the more obvious the advantage of the passing side will be, and the harder it will be for the defensive side.
When the Clippers players didn't have such a tacit understanding with each other, they didn't pass the ball that fast, and sometimes the space couldn't be opened that wide. Randolph still had many traditional strong tactics in the low post.
By this season, after three seasons, the passing of the Clippers' core lineup has become very tacit.
In this game, Randolph's low-post offense was almost non-existent in the first half. He moved to the high post to provide support, pick-and-roll, and used mid- and long-range shots to score points.
That doesn't mean Randolph doesn't have the ability, he just doesn't need it.
Once the game gets tense, he can still contribute to the team with low post shots.
What surprises Clippers fans even more is that Anthony Davis and the Clippers' lineup and play style are seamlessly connected.
He has certain mid-to-long-range shooting ability on the offensive end. He graduated from the University of Kentucky and has excellent tactical qualities. He has strong ability to pass down and cut through the air, and has good awareness.
On the defensive end, he has good coverage and excellent rim protection. His movement speed and jumping ability are much better than Randolph.
In addition to being inferior to Fatty Blue in terms of low-post offensive experience and skills, he is an enhanced version of Fatty Blue in other aspects.
In time, when Randolph is old, Anthony Davis will be the perfect replacement for Fat Blue.
This kind of potential made the Clippers fans feel excited and made Min Congda tremble.
"What's going on? Anthony Davis doesn't train well, he plays games with me, and he can't beat me in 2k. How come his performance in this game is okay!"
"But it's just okay. I don't have much dominance. It's far worse than Duncan!"
Min Congda has been reduced to comforting himself with Duncan.
In this draft, Min Congda fully believed in the Clippers management and allowed them to acquire Davis.
In Min Chongda's opinion, it is best for Davis to be a parallel import. Kwame Brown and Olowokandi are the best candidates for Davis.
But looking at the performance in the first half, Davis played really well.
Especially compared to Griffin on the opposite side, Davis' height, wingspan, and advantages are so obvious that they look insulting.
"Let's keep observing. We can't give up hope just because of half the game, right?"
Min Congda still comforted himself, and then he took over the shining championship ring from the hands of team owner Shelley Sterling.
Opening the ring box, a huge ring studded with sparkling diamonds completely occupied Min Congda's eyes.
The ring is square in shape, with a Clippers red and blue logo on the top, carved and inlaid with rubies and sapphires.
Championship rings have always been a tradition in the NBA. Early championship rings were very simple, ordinary larger gold rings that might be dotted with a diamond in the middle.
As the NBA develops and grows, players and teams become richer and richer, and rings become larger and more luxurious.
The Clippers' championship rings can be said to be quite luxurious. Each ring is inlaid with 292 diamonds, symbolizing that over the past three seasons, including the regular season and playoffs, the Clippers have played a total of 292 games and won the coveted championship. .
The rubies and sapphires used to make the LOGO are even more valuable, with the cost of a single ring reaching US$100,000.
There are a total of 20 such player collector's edition rings, and there are hundreds of team collector's editions worth thousands of dollars. The total production cost reaches 3 million US dollars.
Shelley Sterling spent the money very happily.
She also made a special commemorative customized version for Donald Sterling to comfort her ex-husband who was somewhat unbalanced.
Min Congda picked up the ring and put it on his hand, thinking that no wonder women love diamond rings. This thing is so shiny and beautiful.
Subsequently, Adam Silva personally handed the championship banner to Stephen Curry, who raised the banner to the ceiling of Staples Center in front of more than 19,000 spectators.
There is finally a Clippers flag here, and the Clippers players and Clippers fans at the scene are very excited.
The significance of the ceremony is to use a special way to firmly engrave those exciting achievements in people's hearts and form a common memory that belongs to everyone. When this memory is awakened at a certain moment in the future, People who have the same experience will have a strong resonance, which will burst out with emotion and power.
Curry had tears in his eyes as he raised the flag to the ceiling, a feeling that will stay with you forever.
Under this championship banner, the Clippers team gathered together to cheer for themselves.
This Clippers is different from many championship teams that have been put together. There are many young rookie players who have a strong sense of belonging to the Clippers.
Curry, Leonard, George, and Butler are all rookies selected by the Clippers themselves.
Harden, Dragic, and Gasol have only spent one or two years with other teams.
Unlike those championship teams made up of famous stars, the friendships accumulated when they were young are very strong.
Anthony Davis looked at the unity and friendship of the Clippers team and felt a strong sense of belonging in his heart.
He only regretted that he did not come to the Clippers a year earlier and win the championship with the team.
But it’s not too late to win the championship together this year. A strong team like the Grizzlies could easily be crushed in half the game.
The Clippers' strength has made great progress compared with last season.
The halftime championship ring awarding ceremony ended, and the morale of the Clippers team became even higher.
And what about grizzly bears? Lacks of form can be adjusted through halftime, and tactical problems can be changed through a long season, but tactical thinking is restrained and there is no way to deal with it in a short time.
Not only the Grizzlies, but also the Lakers in last season's Western Conference finals, couldn't beat the Clippers using traditional tactics.
The Lakers were already good enough in the regular season. With their lineup, morale, and Jackson's control, they would have been able to enter the finals and even win the championship a few years ago.
But in the new era, they couldn't beat the Mavericks in 2011 and the Clippers in 2012. It's not just about the strength of the players, but the lagging behind in tactical thinking.
After the start of the third quarter, the Clippers continued to use their smooth passing attack to attack the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies' defense can be summed up in one word, "confused."
I don’t know how to deal with it, the daily training things are completely out of order.
Grizzlies head coach Hollins thought: Although the Clippers were difficult to beat last season, they weren't so hard to beat, right?
He had made careful preparations before the game. After all, it was the opening game. If he could win against the championship, it would be a great boost to the morale of the whole team.
But in the first half of the game, the Grizzlies were completely beaten. During the halftime break, Hollins repeatedly emphasized the key points of defense.
He couldn't change the system temporarily. He could only tell Jordan to stay at the basket and don't come out. He would be walked to death in the first half.
The whole team no longer shrinks, but becomes a simple one-on-one. Everyone can fight on their own. It’s good to keep an eye on your own people.
But no, the team fell into a huge disadvantage in terms of tactics and morale.
Halfway through the third quarter, the team could no longer find a comeback point.
Hollins lowered his head helplessly. He saw Gasol's precise passing, Randolph's tough layup after receiving the ball, the Clippers' smooth passing from the outside, their attack without blind spots, and their versatile choices. There is also a rich imagination, and I can't help but think of the powerful but regrettable Trail Blazers in 1977.
It was the youngest championship team in NBA history. Hollins was in the lineup at the time. He was only 24 years old. Under the leadership of coach Jack Ramsey and Bill Walton, they played extremely beautiful team basketball.
1977 was the year the NBA and ABA merged, and ABA geniuses poured into the NBA.
So the Blazers' championship that year was quite valuable.
By 1978, the Trail Blazers were unstoppable in the regular season.
Before Bill Walton was injured, their record was an astonishing 50 wins and 10 losses.
It's entirely possible that they could have built a dynasty in the late 1970s, before Bird and Magic were in the league.
The SuperSonics and Bullets, the champions in 1978 and 1979, may be the weakest championships in NBA history in terms of strength.
It's a pity that Walton's devastating injury ruined everything. Sometimes a wonderful start is not necessarily a good thing.
Hollins came out of his brief memories. At this time, the Clippers were already leading the Grizzlies by almost 30 points!
The Grizzlies no longer have the ability to counterattack. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Hollins replaced the main player and used garbage players in garbage time.
The Clippers also acquired their "garbage players" during garbage time: Anthony Davis, Bonner, Tucker, Ricky Davis, and the newly signed undrafted player in the summer, Bazemore.
Davis is certainly not a garbage player, but as a rookie, Tyronn Lue still hopes that he can play more games to accumulate feeling and experience on the court.
As for Bazemore, the undrafted guard who was signed, he stayed with the Clippers entirely on his own strength.
In the summer, because Min Congda did not renew the contracts of Jeremy Lin and Fisher, the two "cancers", the Clippers need to add fresh blood to the back line.
Because Dragic, Curry, and Harden all have strong organizational skills, the Clippers need an attack-oriented small guard.
There are more than one player who wants to sign up for the Clippers training camp, because everyone knows that once the Clippers meet the requirements, the Clippers will be very generous with the contract.
When you become famous one day and want to go out and get a big contract, the Clippers won't make it difficult.
Jeremy Lin is a good example. A Chinese second-round pick, the Clippers used a guaranteed contract to support him for two years.
He was raised and played well, and then he was released to the Warriors to get a long-term contract with a higher salary, and it was in San Francisco, where there are many Chinese fans, so Jeremy Lin is very grateful to the Clippers.
After two years of solid training and improvement with the Clippers, he suddenly became famous all over the world. He had advertisements and endorsements, went to San Francisco to get a long-term contract, and won the coveted championship. Don't be too perfect.
In addition, as we all know, the Clippers provide generous money in the summer league. Transportation, accommodation, and meals are the best and highest-level treatment among all teams, so outstanding players want to come to play with the Clippers.
This is simply an NBA state-owned enterprise.
For low-level players who are struggling and have no guarantee, such a stable and good unit is too difficult to find.
Bazemore was confirmed in the Clippers' trial training, and then performed well in the summer league and was retained by the Clippers.
Generally speaking, teams will give you a short contract and continue to observe later.
Or there are some teams that are particularly stingy and keep short-term contracts. They sign one on a short-term contract today and cut them off. Then in a few days they sign another on a short-term contract for one or two games and then cut them off. The short-term workers will be used until the end of the season, and they will not be used in vain.
The shrewdness and cunning of capitalists are brought into full play.
The Clippers were different. After identifying Bazemore, Min Congda didn't pay much attention to the trial. With a stroke of a pen, he signed the contract with a two-year minimum salary!
How many short-term contracts does this cost? Bazemore settled down, trained hard and played hard with the Clippers.
His goal is to make a name for himself with the Clippers like Jeremy Lin!
(End of chapter)
