NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 228
Trail Blazers attack.

Batum pulled beyond the three-point line, and after receiving the screen, he made a three-pointer and missed.

"Buzz!"

A big yellow hand ruthlessly pushed the basketball back.

"Just shoot, I'm at the basket!" Wang Zelin glanced at his teammates and shouted after overpowering Marc Gasol to complete the dunk.

"This Asian kid is too arrogant!" The grumpy Zach Randolph suddenly became angry, and he couldn't get angry.

Marc Gasol, who was reduced to a background board, didn't take it seriously, picked up the basketball, and replied lightly: "It's okay, you can return one later."

"Why can't it be you?"

"Are you the boss? Those who can do more work!"

"..."

The big black bear was stunned, because he couldn't find any reason to refute.

The Grizzlies attack, Prince and Mike Conley pick and roll at the top of the arc, the latter breaks through and passes back to Prince, who misses from the outside.

The basketball bounced back and flew in the direction of Zach Lendorf, and as soon as he stretched out his hand, he wanted to get the offensive rebound.

So far tonight, he has got 7 rebounds, which is not far from hitting double figures.

Seeing that good things were coming, a yellow figure suddenly appeared behind him, soaring up, destroying his double-double plan.

"Go, go, go!"

This is Wang Zelin's 10th rebound tonight. After landing, he hit Batum who was closest to him. The latter dribbled and shouted violently.

Lillard saw Wang Zelin grab the rebound and go straight for the Grizzlies basket, just as Batum's pass arrived.

Lillard looked directly at the basket, full of momentum, and slammed it down.

"Damien has no one in front of him, he jumps! OMG! He dunks!!!"

The groom Albert roared excitedly.

If it was a home game, the fans would have already chanted Lillard's name all over the sky at this time, but this is an away game after all, and Lillard was greeted with deafening boos.

"Scream! Shout louder..." Lillard showed no sign of retreating from the surrounding area, and naturally spread his arms, like a king welcoming the worship of his subjects.

"Shhhhhh!"

Lillard's arrogance completely angered the Grizzlies fans, boos flooded in, and there was no intention of letting go of No. 0 on the opposite side.

The Grizzlies landed.

That's when Mike Conley gets an open shot at the right elbow and gets a timely pass from Marc Gasol.

At this time, he was a full three meters away from the low Wang Zelin, and this distance was called safety.

But the moment he caught the ball, Wang Zelin immediately broke away from Marc Gasol's entanglement and took a big step forward.

Mike Conley, who belongs to the late bloomer type, has not yet reached the peak of his career in offensive ability. At this stage, 45.5% of his scoring comes from mid-range shots, which is the highest season of his career.

At this time, Mike Conley will never give up such an open opportunity, he must stop the bleeding for the team.

All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind, Wang Zelin sprinted and jumped after seeing Mike Conley making the shooting gesture, and swung his right hand to the basketball that the latter had just thrown.

"Snapped!"

"The king stepped forward to defend, oh! It's a good hat! He successfully gave Mike Conley a hot pot!" Barkley's roar sounded.

Batum and Tony Allen, who were entangled with the three-point line on the right wing, reacted and immediately scrambled for the basketball. In the end, Batum, who was younger and had better physical fitness, got it.

Batum took the ball and took a look at the situation on the court. The players of the two teams were already returning to defense. There was no chance for a fast break, so they simply dribbled the ball by themselves.

Tony Allen, who failed to grab the ball, was reluctant and stuck to Batum tightly, making the latter very uncomfortable.

When the 8-second violation in the backcourt was about to occur, Lillard came out to respond, and Batum passed the ball quickly and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fuck, this guy is really annoying!"

Batum finally knows why Kobe appreciates Tony Allen so much, and the candy-style defense is too tortured.

With 14 seconds left in the attack time, Lillard chose to suppress the rhythm and look for opportunities.

Wang Zelin inside was just about to bring it up, and the Grizzlies subconsciously shrunk in from the outside line. Seeing this, Lillard made a decisive three-pointer.

"Shh!"

Three point hit.

Dare to let me go?
After the goal, Lillard blew on his opponent's heart.

59: 51.

The point difference instantly came to 8 points.

"What are you doing?"

Hollins next to him was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe his eyes that such a low-level mistake would appear on Mike Conley.

"mine!"

Mike Conley lowered his head in shame and raised his hand.

He didn't know what was wrong, but when he saw Wang Zelin bring it up, he subconsciously wanted to double-team, but the opponent took advantage of a big loophole.

“7投5中，三分球2中2，这个0号今天手感很棒啊！都已经拿到了12分了。

The Grizzlies should consider strengthening their defense beyond the three-point line next. "

Groom Albert explained.

"But groom, don't forget that all five players on the Blazers have shooting ability, and their shooting range can extend beyond the three-point line. If they stick to the outside line, LaMarcus and Wang on the inside will probably be very happy. How will the Grizzlies defend?" Barkley asked.

"That's Hollins' problem." The groom Albert smiled indifferently.

Hollins did not want to see the sudden change in the situation on the court, and what Barkley said was exactly what he had been worried about.

All the members of the Trail Blazers can shoot. If the handle is developed, even if the Grizzlies can defend, they still have shortcomings.

And this shortcoming is Zach Randolph. He is the worst defensive player in the Grizzlies starting lineup. Especially when the offensive efficiency is guaranteed, it would be good to have a few brilliant rounds on the defensive end.

Calling a timeout at this time is probably useless, because this is already the strongest lineup of the Grizzlies, and how far they can go depends on the players on the test field.

In the next round, Zach Randolph couldn't wait to take the initiative to go deep inside and began to force his position.

This look is obvious, he is going to beat Aldridge hard to help the team chase points.

But the Trail Blazers have found a strategy to deal with the Grizzlies' inside offense, which is double-teaming.

If Zach Randolph on the defensive end is the only loophole for the Grizzlies, then on the offensive end, Tony Allen, the defensive gate, has become a point worth targeting.

As the 04th pick in the first round in 25, Tony Allen has very outstanding physical fitness, but because of his lack of shooting and ball-handling ability, not many people are optimistic about him. From the first year of his career, he has been positioned as a defensive vanguard.

It turns out that Tony Allen proved himself on the defensive end, and he can do it better than anyone.

At the same time, his autonomous offensive ability has declined year by year, and it is not even comparable to the NCAA period.

Maybe Tony Allen has forgotten that he is the first player in the history of Oklahoma State University to score 1000 points in just two seasons.

"damn it!"

Seeing that Batum gave up Tony Allen on his own initiative, rushed in from the bottom line on the left side, and completed Zach Randolph's front and rear pincers together with Aldridge, Hollins thought to himself and jumped up anxiously.

Knowing that Tony Allen is an excellent defensive leader, why does Hollins choose to control his playing time? In addition to physical problems, the lack of sufficient offensive threats is also one of the reasons for limiting his playing time.

In the face of ordinary playoff-level strong teams, the Grizzlies can simply rely on defense to grind their opponents to death, but facing the top teams of the same level, the disadvantages of the Grizzlies' weak offense and strong defense are naturally exposed.

It is generally said by the outside world that the Blazers are small experts in abuse, but they don't know that the Grizzlies are even worse.

Zach Randolph in the low post didn't notice the quietly attacking Batum after receiving the ball. The moment he completed a half-turn, the latter made a big copy.

"Snapped!"

"The ball was broken! The Grizzlies made a mistake, and the Blazers got a great opportunity to expand the score to double digits!" Barkley's commentary came again.

Michael Conley didn't have time to scold his mother, and ran side by side with Lillard, not giving the latter a chance to catch the ball.

But Wang Zelin broke free from Marc Gasol's entanglement and rushed to the front court. The big pyrenes were like a tractor, and even Wang Zelin's exhaust didn't smell bad.

I saw a long pass from Batum, over the heads of everyone, and passed the ball to Wang Zelin, who was outside the three-point line in the opposite position.

Only Lillard and Mike Conley were inside the three-point line, and the two switched positions in an instant, becoming the interference of the former, and the latter struggling to break free.

2 on 1 in the frontcourt, Wang Zelin bypassed Mike Conley, stepped into the paint, took another step, and took off with the ball.

"Boom! Blind Karaka! The difference between the two sides came to 10 points. The Trail Blazers seem to have found the key to open the door to victory."

Groom Albert explained.

In just a few minutes, the Grizzlies made frequent mistakes, which will eventually lead to the current bitter fruit.

In the contest between strong teams, the victory or defeat is often in an instant, if you grasp it, the victory is just around the corner...

Obviously, the Grizzlies failed to grasp it!
"Timeout, Coach Hollins stopped the game.

But please forgive me, I don't think the Grizzlies can come up with any decent coping strategies.

Through the rules of previous games, once the Grizzlies are in the lead, they have a good chance of maintaining their lead until the end of the game; and once they are behind, the same is true.

This team lacks final players, or superstars! "

Barkley shook his head. The Grizzlies are very strong, but they are a bit weird. Once the opponent finds a weakness, it is difficult to have a chance to come back.

If Rudy Gay is still there, maybe this Grizzly can have a chance to come back now, but he was traded away.

It's not that the Grizzlies traded Rudy Gay was a wrong decision, on the contrary, traded Gay, in exchange for Prince who is more suitable for the team system, the Grizzlies are much stronger... This is most of the time.

And at certain critical moments, a pure scorer like Gay is really needed to break the game.

Right now, the Grizzlies lack such a type of player to turn the tide.

Grizzlies bench.

All the players gathered around Hollins, who was gesticulating tactics, and found helplessly that the words were just two words.

Defense!

……

"Hahahaha! The opponent's mentality has collapsed, Damien, continue to shoot three-pointers as soon as you get a chance, you feel good tonight, don't let it down!"

The Trail Blazers bench laughed together, and the team is now gradually gaining momentum, with the oppressive atmosphere in the first half.

After the timeout, Wang Zelin took a look at the Grizzlies players. Everyone, including the black and white bears, looked in a trance.

It's still a little bit worse, and we need to work harder!

"Brothers, let's drink bear blood tonight! Eat bear meat!"

Wang Zelin yelled out immediately.

"Drink bear blood! Eat bear meat!"

This sentence made Lillard and others excited and shouted in unison.

In the second half of the quarter, the Grizzlies' tempo was still very slow, but the Blazers players could clearly sense that the opponent's offensive rhythm was filled with anxiety factors, and they were definitely not as calm as they seemed.

"The game is going to go far. The Grizzlies are going to fall at home today, and their spirit is more than one grade weaker than in the first half." Groom Albert said seriously.

The army is in chaos!

It could not be more appropriate to describe the current Grizzlies.

"Wang Zelin's block, Lillard's three-pointer, and Batum's steal... the few rounds just now directly destroyed the Grizzlies' belief in a strong team based on defense.

Their defense can no longer save the current situation! "

Barkley put away his hippie smile and explained with the same seriousness.

Until the end of the second half, the Grizzlies only made 8 shots and hit 3 goals. In addition to Mike Conley's 2 free throws and 1, only 6 points were accounted for.

On the other hand, the Blazers confidently made 11 shots and hit 5 goals, including two open three-pointers by Matthews and Batum, scoring a total of 12 points.

At the end of the third quarter, 73:57, the Blazers led away by 15 points.

No one expected that the Grizzlies only scored 10 points in the entire third quarter.

The grizzly was completely lost, and nothing but death awaited it.

……

The fourth quarter started quickly, and the Blazers served from the bottom line.

"Defense! Defense!"

The fans in the Express Federal Arena were furious and chanted with emotion. They wanted to use their voices to infect the fans on the field.

Let go of this ball, maybe the Grizzlies still have hope of chasing points.

Yet the results were brutal.

Terry Stotts, who intends to take away the game directly, has no plans to rest the main players, and still plays with all the main players.

As soon as Wang Zelin came up and turned over and made a jumper, he scored two points steadily, and the entire FedEx Arena was silent.

17 points!
All 17 points!
How can I chase after it?
Some people in the auditorium have already left the venue one after another.

Some people didn't want to see the home team being slaughtered, while some people were disheartened and had no hope for the final result of the game.

For the Grizzlies, who are not good at chasing points, they are 17 points behind and want to catch up unless a McGrady falls from the sky.

But is it possible?
What's more, the Blazers are an offensive-oriented team, averaging 103.6 points per game in the regular season this season, ranking fourth in the league.

Once this type of team has a touch, it is difficult to stop the wave of offense.

Therefore, most people can already foresee the scene where the Grizzlies are shot to death on the beach by waves of attacks.

What happened inside the arena was seen by Barkley and groom Albert in the stands, and they looked at each other and shook their heads.

"There is no hope. Perhaps, we can celebrate the Blazers' two consecutive victories in advance. Congratulations to them!" Barkley said.

"That's right, after this game, the Trail Blazers and the Grizzlies had a 1:1 tie in the regular season. Facing the younger Trail Blazers, the Grizzlies completely lost their chance to compete for the fourth place in the Western Conference."

The groom Albert explained regretfully.

(End of this chapter)