Zach LaVine put on an offensive stance, but the Grizzlies defense in front of him surprised him. A familiar feeling came over me.
LaVine didn't hesitate, dribbling and then rushing toward the basket. He is very fast, but the Grizzlies players react faster, especially when he rushes into the penalty area, two players double-team him at the same time.
In the chaos, LaVine jumped up and planned to throw the ball. However, the moment he threw the basketball, JaMychal Green, who came up from defense, jumped high and slapped his shot away.
Snapped.
The scene was filled with exclamations of surprise.
Raven himself was dumbfounded!
"Can this be enough?"
The basketball rolled out and was quickly snatched away by a Grizzlies player. The ball was given to Mike Conley, who took the ball and accelerated towards the half court.
Halftime passed in the blink of an eye, and without any hesitation, Conley made a layup and threw the ball under Ricky Rubio's guard.
Uh-huh.
The basketball fell steadily into the basket.
Although he was blocked once, LaVine was not discouraged. Instead, after getting the ball again, he continued to attack towards the half court. This time he was much more cautious than before, sprinting to the basket through the pick-and-roll screen of his teammates. But just as he was about to take action, Marc Gasol stepped up to defend him again.
This immediately blocked LaVine's shooting space.
Snapped.
In order not to be blocked at the critical moment, LaVine still moved the ball outside. Adrian received the basketball and rushed inside from the wing position. After encountering an obstruction, he chose to take a mid-range shot.
Uh-huh.
The ball finally went in.
At 5 minutes and 11 seconds into the game, Timberwolves head coach Eric Stotts finally called the next timeout.
After the referee's whistle sounded, the Timberwolves players returned to the team bench.
"The defense trained by Coach Tom is really something!"
"The Grizzlies' forward line is already very strong, so it will be very difficult for us to break through. This fact makes Coach Tom's defense very useful..."
The players couldn't help but chat after sitting in the team bench.
Regarding the problems they faced, the team's interim coach Eric also picked up the tactical board and rearranged the tactics. Of course, he also noticed the problems his players had on the offensive end.
"We increase long-range shooting opportunities...to draw out their people..."
"Don't be afraid of their defense...haven't we experienced all this? Regardless of whether we can suppress the opponent in the next time, we must consume their physical energy as much as possible..."
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
The pause ends.
The Timberwolves after the break are indeed different from before. Under Coach Eric's tactical arrangements, the players reduced the number of attacks inside and also increased the number of mid-range and long-range shots.
It just so happens that Rubio, LaVine and others are not bad at hand, so with this style of play, the Timberwolves, which had been in decline, temporarily found some offensive motivation.
However, the Grizzlies' forward strength is indeed very strong, which the Timberwolves cannot compare with. Therefore, with the opponent's continuous and stable output of defensive counterattacks, the Timberwolves inevitably fell behind the opponent at the end of the first quarter.
33 to 28.
The difference of 5 points is not much.
The best performers for the Grizzlies were Gasol and Randolph. One of them scored 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, and the other scored 9 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. The two strikers can be said to support the entire Grizzlies defense and offense.
For the Timberwolves, the best performer was not LaVine who returned from injury.
Perhaps LaVine has not participated in training for a long time, and his condition after recovering from injury is not very good. The long-range shooting feel is okay, but the breakthrough is much worse.
The best performer is Rubio, who has never been very eye-catching.
He played all the time in the first quarter and scored 13 points and 3 assists.
Another player who performed well was Adrian. He seized the opportunity from the wing position and scored 8 points while grabbing 5 rebounds.
During the break, the Timberwolves players sat on the bench chatting.
One thing that everyone is more concerned about is how Coach Thibodeau will arrange the Grizzlies' lineup in the second quarter.
"I think Coach Tom will send out a substitute. He has fallen out with the team before because of things like this. Will he continue to do this now?"
"I also think he will send in a substitute. Although I don't know why, my intuition is like this..."
Adrian and others discussed.
LaVine, however, stood up to express a different opinion.
"No, I don't think Coach Tom will. He will still do it according to his own style! That is, he will definitely not send in substitute players, at most, he will only replace one or two players!"
"What is style? This is his style. If he is not paranoid enough, I am afraid he will not leave the Timberwolves in the end..."
Each of the players had different ideas. When the discussion became lively, everyone also looked at Zhao Feiyang who was standing aside.
After all, as the core of the team, he never spoke, just sat there and remained silent.
"Zhao, what do you think Coach Tom will do?"
Raven asked.
Everyone's eyes fell on him.
Zhao Feiyang hesitated for a moment, and then responded, "I think Coach Tom will definitely continue to send the main lineup. I agree that this is his style."
call out.
The second quarter arrives.
Of course, the Timberwolves did not send out the main lineup this time. Instead, Zhao Feiyang, who had rested for one period, led the substitute lineup.
From Taylor at position 1 to Gorgi at position 5, some of the players are not liked by coach Thibodeau.
Now that they finally have the opportunity to play, they naturally hope to launch a strong counterattack in the coming time.
On the Grizzlies' side, after their lineup debuted, everyone in the Timberwolves couldn't help but start discussing.
"Oh! Sure enough, Zhao guessed it right! They only replaced one main player..."
"Sure enough, Coach Tom hasn't changed at all! He's still the same paranoid middle-aged man..."
Snapped.
The Timberwolves gave the ball away.
Substitute No. 1 Tyers Jones held the ball across half court. After arriving at the half court, he made gestures with Zhao Feiyang.
This gesture is something only Timberwolves players understand.
"Zhao, come and cover me!"
A substitute player gives orders to a core player, although it is in a requesting manner, but this situation is simply impossible in other teams.
Zhao Feiyang did not hesitate, he understood what Tails wanted to do. Pretending to respond, he actually helped him attract the defensive attention of other Grizzlies players.
When he came behind Tails, he deliberately made a covering motion to catch the ball.
At this moment, the Grizzlies players were deceived and Taylor took the opportunity to rush to the basket with the ball. After shaking off a defensive player one after another, Tails entered the two zones.
The moment he was about to take action, Gasol came up inside to cover the defense. Tails did not push forward forcefully, but just looked around, and then threw a throw.
Snapped.
The basketball fell on Gorgi's head. Gorgi jumped up to catch the ball in mid-air and tipped the ball firmly into the basket.
The ball went in.
It was the Grizzlies' turn to serve.
Mike Conley held the ball for half the game. Zhao Feiyang and Tails switched defenses and came up to mark the core player of the Grizzlies.
There isn't much news about Conley, and the outside world doesn't pay that much attention to him. However, for the Memphis Grizzlies, Conley is the team's hero.
He has played with the Grizzlies for the past nine seasons, and it can be said that he dedicated the best period of his career to the Grizzlies. Although he has not been selected as an All-Star, because of his contribution to the team, the Grizzlies management gave him a pretty good contract when they renewed his contract before the start of this season.
This five-year contract worth 153 million yuan simply shocked the entire league!
Whether it is the media, players, or even many fans, they all believe that Conley's contract is not worth so much money. With his status in the world, his average annual salary of 30 million is not a small amount of money.
You know, the player with the highest annual salary this season is LeBron James, whose annual salary is only US$30.96 million. Judging from the annual salary in the first year of this season, Conley's contract of US$26.54 million is already one of the largest contracts in the league.
Like him are James Harden and Kevin Durant.
These two are All-Star players, and they are also the league's top defenders and forwards. They have all led teams to achieve certain results.
Judging from Conley's reputation, he cannot be compared with these two people.
But he got so much money, and the Grizzlies management was willing to give him so much money. Therefore, after signing this big contract, there have never been fewer questions about Conley from the outside world. Especially some stars whose contracts are about to expire always use Conley's contract as an excuse.
"Mike Conley can get 30 million, why can't I?"
"Below this price, you don't have to talk to me..."
His eyes returned to the field.
Conley brought the ball across half court, and Zhao Feiyang went up to guard one-on-one. Perhaps Conley also wanted to play against Zhao Feiyang, the league's top star, so he ignored his teammates' requests for the ball and planned to have a head-on confrontation with Zhao Feiyang.
"What are you doing? Mike."
Coach Thibodeau on the sidelines saw something was wrong and immediately shouted to Conley who was dribbling.
"Execute our tactics and don't do anything stupid..."
Of course Conley heard what Coach Thibodeau said, but he didn't pay attention. After finally getting such an opportunity, he would naturally not let it go.
Although he failed to be selected as an All-Star, Conley's mentality has always been optimistic. He knows that his talent is limited, but he is not willing to give in. He also wants to have a head-on confrontation with these stars. How can he know that he can't do it if he doesn't try?
The next second, Conley dribbled the basketball and suddenly made a change of direction. Zhao Feiyang was not shaken away by his test and continued to assume a defensive posture. Conley was not in a hurry when he saw this. He opened a little distance and made a feint, then suddenly dribbled from the right to the left.
His movements were quite skillful. However, at the moment when he changed direction, Zhao Feiyang suddenly slapped his dribble away.
Snapped.
The whole audience exclaimed.
