Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 230 230. A dispute occurred, the rift between Maddie and Casey (4.6K words)
Throughout the first quarter, McGrady and Kobe played the entire game, and most of the time they played singles with the ball on the offensive end.

This extremely exhausting style of play made McGrady obviously a little tired.

Although McGrady is the main offensive point of the Grizzlies in the new season, the Grizzlies do not rely on McGrady on the offensive end.

On weekdays, Luke is also very cautious in using McGrady, and the average playing time in each game is controlled to just over 30 minutes.

It was the first time this season that McGrady let go to play like this game.

Facing Kobe, McGrady does not suffer in terms of offense. Even if there are really no opportunities, McGrady can use his iconic pull-up jumper to forcibly create opportunities.

It's just that McGrady is obviously at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength. When Kobe was breathing slightly, McGrady was already sweating profusely. While the amount of training was not up to the star standard, physical strength has always been one of the factors that troubled McGrady.

However, McGrady, who is born with scoliosis, is destined to be unable to perform high-intensity training, otherwise McGrady would not start to decline in a straight line at his golden age.

Back in the second quarter, when Tracy McGrady and Kobe went off the court to rest one after another, the two sides replaced the substitute lineup to compete.

After the introduction of Okafor this season, the Lakers' starting lineup has been perfected, and it can be called comprehensive on both offense and defense around Kobe.

But the biggest problem for the Lakers right now is the lack of depth in the lineup. When they meet opponents of the same level as themselves, it is difficult for the bench to help the team expand the score.

And Jackson can only gain an advantage by increasing the playing time of the main players.

Although Farmar, Vujacic and Walton on the bench all averaged 7 to 9 points per game, it doesn't look as bad as the outside world expected.

However, in addition to having big problems on the defensive end, these few players are also not tough players.

On the contrary, the Grizzlies are the team with the most bench points among the 30 teams in the league this season.

Since the Grizzlies have a lot of players who can play, Luke is also very flexible in the use of players.

Throughout the second quarter, during Kobe's off-court break, the Grizzlies have been firmly in the upper hand. Even if Jackson brought Odom and Gortat back to the court early, the Grizzlies' offensive firepower was still unstoppable.

The reason why the Grizzlies bench is strong is that everyone can participate in the offense. No matter who the five players are on the field, they can serve as the final offensive end point, and the offensive efficiency is not bad.

In the face of Vujacic's defense, Mike Miller was like a god in the second quarter, playing a star-level performance.

As the boyfriend of the tennis goddess Sharapova, Vujacic's shooting ability is very good, and even the Lakers even sent Vujacic to make free throws when implementing free throw tactics. These are enough to prove Vujacic's shooting stability.

However, Vujacic, who is 190 meters tall, is too thin, and his confrontation ability is at the bottom of the league. His weight of [-] pounds is not even as good as Kapono's collision resistance.

Even though Vujacic averaged 8.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game this season, scoring a record high in his career, he still seemed powerless in front of Mike Miller.

Although Mike Miller had to be placed on the bench by Luke due to the relationship between the lineup, Mike Miller's strength is capable of starting any team.

And this season Mike Miller is also a strong contender for the best sixth man.

As Mike Miller made consecutive jump shots on the offensive end like chopping melons and vegetables, Jackson, who was sitting off the court, obviously had something wrong with his face, and there was a faint sour smell.

The excellent lineup depth of the Grizzlies made the "Zen Master" Jackson extremely envious. It has been three years since he re-coached the Lakers.

As a result, Luke turned the Grizzlies from a bottom team in the league to a dark horse in just one summer, which made Jackson bitter and fearful at the same time.

The originally even situation on the court was gradually occupied by the Grizzlies. Jackson had no choice but to bring Kobe and others back to the court, trying to let the main lineup open the score.

Seeing Jackson's substitution, Luke didn't rush to adjust. He just took Pau Gasol as center and replaced Chris Webber. The other positions were Stoudemire, Mike Miller, Kapono and Novak. four people.

Luke knows that the scariest thing about a shooter is the consecutive goals after feeling hot. The offensive state of several players on the field is very good. Instead of taking them down at this time, it is better to continue the game with this lineup.

After Gasol came up, this shooter-centric lineup became more flexible. The continuous supporting passes on the offensive end made it difficult for the Lakers to block positions through man-to-man defense.

In the next period of time, Novak and Kapono also started to exert their strength from outside the three-point line, and once the game fell into anxiety, Gasol would use his personal ability to attack the basket.

The clear division of labor allows the Grizzlies to play extremely smoothly on the offensive end. Even if the Lakers have worked hard enough to participate in the defense, the Grizzlies still provide output in an orderly manner without power outages.

At the end of the half game, with the excellent offensive firepower of the bench, the Grizzlies led the Lakers by 7 points in a single quarter, and ended the first half with a 7-point advantage.

Back in the second half, although the Lakers were behind in the score, Jackson did not make any changes to the team's overall style of play.

This is also in line with the consistent style of "Zen Master" Jackson. As long as the triangle offense is put out, it will be played from the beginning to the end, and other problems will depend on the players to adjust themselves on the court.

This is also the fundamental reason why some fans have always questioned that Jackson would not play without the star. After all, the performance of the national lineup depends more on the team system, while Jackson's triangle offense relies on the star to form its own system.

The situation on the court throughout the second half has been very anxious. Even though the Grizzlies felt good in this game, the maximum point difference was only opened to nine points.

The toughness shown by the Lakers already has the basic elements of a championship team, but the depth of the lineup is a problem that the Lakers have never been able to solve.

When Kobe was strictly guarded by the Grizzlies, it was undoubtedly more difficult for the Lakers to come back, especially Pau Gasol failed to join the Lakers, which made Kobe still lack help on the offensive end.

It wasn't until more than five minutes into the fourth quarter that the Grizzlies widened the point difference to more than double digits for the first time with a wave of three-point rain.

The Grizzlies' perimeter offense has become the team's offensive means to end the game in the new season. Although the roles of Novak and Kapono are single, their self-confidence at this time is extremely high.

With less and less time on the court, the Lakers barely forced the score close by relying on Kobe's mid-range jumpers again and again, but there is still a long way to go before reversing the game.

"dudu~"

Finally, the whistle sounded for the end of the game, and the Grizzlies beat the Lakers by 11 points away, winning the much-anticipated "Human-Bear War"

After the game, Kobe first hugged McGrady on the court to signal, and then looked at the teammates around McGrady before leaving the court, obviously a little envious, but turning his head could only turn into a sigh.

The Gasol combination completely blew up the Lakers Twin Towers in terms of personal performance throughout the game.

面对埃梅卡奥卡福的防守，保罗加索尔全场轰下24分13篮板6助攻以及3次封盖，用高达59%的投篮命中率向众人表明了自己与奥卡福之间的差距。

No wonder Lakers general manager Kupchak was so excited when he learned that Gasol had no hope of joining the Lakers. Gasol's personal ability is really too attractive, and Okafor, as Gasol's backup tire, is even more absent. a notch.

I believe that after this game, Kupchak will definitely become more uncomfortable, and the resentment towards Luke can no longer be described in words.

As for Gasol, he also performed well in this game, with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks, which completely suppressed Gortat.

Although still only a first-year rookie, Marc Gasol has shown maturity on the court like a guy who has been in the league for many years.

In addition, Tracy McGrady, who started a rivalry with Kobe in the first quarter, tried to avoid his edge in the last three quarters, and chose to use a more stable way to help the team win the game.

McGrady contributed 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Except for up to six turnovers, McGrady's performance was still very comprehensive.

Although Kobe Bryant scored 39 points in the killing mode, the help provided by his teammates on the offensive end is really limited.

Except for Kobe, Odom and Okafor who scored in double figures, the entire Lakers scored in single digits, and they could only pull away at critical moments. Watching Kobe playing alone on the court can be called Spectators on the pitch.

…………

The fact that the Grizzlies defeated the Lakers by 11 points in an away game quickly spread to the outside world. After defeating the Lakers, the Grizzlies' team record has reached 7 wins and 0 losses, surpassing many veteran teams in the league and rising to the league's first place.

At present, there are only two teams in the league, the Grizzlies and the Celtics, who have not lost. Due to the schedule, the Celtics have only played six games, so the number one position in the league is temporarily held by the Grizzlies .

The start of seven wins and zero losses not only set a record high in the history of the Memphis Grizzlies since the establishment of the team, but also made outside fans begin to re-examine the team.

Before the start of the season, the most discussed topic in the outside world is whether the rebuilt Grizzlies can return to the playoffs in the new season.

As a result, once the season started, the fighting power shown by the Grizzlies not only opened the eyes of fans, but also deeply shocked many veterans in the industry.

In history, there are not no cases where the bottom team reached the top of the list next season, but these teams all have one thing in common, that is, through a lot of operations in the off-season to attract top stars to join forces, they are unanimously favored by the outside world before the start of the season .

However, McGrady is probably the only top star in the Grizzlies now, and McGrady's performance in the new season is also mediocre.

The data of 24.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game is not shocking, but the threat shown by the Grizzlies made the entire league tremble.

If you look closely at the Grizzlies through the data, you will find that the Grizzlies have scored about 40% of their points off the bench this season. This kind of thing is extremely rare throughout history, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is rare.

And in those games where they beat their opponents, the Grizzlies' bench performance was perfect, and they even had to fill in the holes for the main players, which became an important means for the Grizzlies to catch up with the score.

The current strength of the Grizzlies has not only attracted many fans to wait and see, even industry experts have begun to re-analyze the Grizzlies team.

The most intuitive thing is that in ESPN's new championship prediction list, the Grizzlies have risen from ninth to second in the league, second only to the Celtics who formed the "pseudo" Big Four during the offseason.

McGrady and Pau Gasol are also among the top in the MVP list. The strange thing is that Pau Gasol is ranked third on the list, even ahead of McGrady who is ranked fourth.

You know, McGrady has far more fans than Pau Gasol, and before McGrady joined the team, the outside world also agreed that McGrady came to the Grizzlies as a star, and Pau Gasol was just a helper around McGrady.

As a result, Gasol is now ahead of McGrady on the MVP list, which undoubtedly makes McGrady's fans a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, McGrady's performance in the new season has been very stable, although from the visual point of view, McGrady's physical condition seems to have declined.

But before the Grizzlies' excellent team record, McGrady's poor reputation for leading the team has obviously improved, even if there are many voices who question McGrady's teammates getting stronger.

In addition, the most discussed topic in the outside world is who will lose the game first between the Grizzlies and the Celtics.

As the only two remaining undefeated teams in the league, the competition between the Celtics and the Grizzlies has become a private pleasure for fans.

Luke doesn't have much desire for comparison, he just wants to lead the team to play well in every game as much as possible.

After all, judging from the schedule, the next opponents of the Grizzlies are generally very strong, and the team is still exploring in the rebuilding stage. Once the outside touch is cut off, the Grizzlies' two-sided performance is likely to surprise fans.

The small ball era has proved that teams that rely on touch to win will eventually lose the game because of touch.

Even though the Grizzlies are not a full-fledged shooting team, the three-pointer has become an important means for the Grizzlies to kill the game. Once the situation cannot be opened beyond the three-point line, the Grizzlies will become very passive.

.........

After defeating the Lakers, the Grizzlies faced the challenge of the Washington Wizards again. It was very difficult for the Grizzlies to win this game. It was not until the last moment with Kyle Lowry's two plus one that they barely beat the Wizards with a three-point advantage.

The Wizards' offensive firepower has always been top-notch in the league. As a typical representative of an offensive team, Arenas, Butler and Jamison have brought great trouble to the Grizzlies.

The Wizards threw a total of 17 three-pointers from the outside in the whole game, leading the Grizzlies by 12 points at the most, but the poor defense caused the Wizards to collapse in the final quarter.

At the same time, the Grizzlies' strong desire to win also helped the team complete this reversal, and then improved the team's record to 8 wins and 0 losses, while still maintaining the undefeated golden body of the season.

.........

Just when outside fans were arguing about who would be the first team to lose the game between the Grizzlies and the Celtics, the Grizzlies lost to the veteran western powerhouse Dallas Mavericks on the night of November 11th.

The Mavericks have not adjusted much in terms of lineup this season, but the Mavericks who retained the core lineup are still one of the most powerful teams in the league.

Throughout the game, Nowitzki teamed up with Josh Howard to penetrate the Grizzlies' defense. The two combined to score 72 points, completely blocking the Grizzlies' defense.

To make matters worse, McGrady's performance in this game was poor, and his offensive efficiency was only 17 of 4 shots. The fans worried that McGrady would knock the home basket by himself.

Poor offense, coupled with poor defense, let the Grizzlies experience the taste of defeat for the first time this season.

A 17-point defeat was like a pot of cold water that suddenly extinguished the flames on the players' heads.

And it is rumored that the team's head star McGrady had a dispute with assistant coach Casey after the game. Some staff members heard McGrady greeting Casey's family and angrily slamming the locker room door.

Although it is still far from the point of action, it has cracked the momentum that the Grizzlies have finally gathered.

As an assistant coach who just joined the Grizzlies during the offseason, Casey's status and status are very average.

To have a dispute with McGrady, the team's top card, it can only be that some of McGrady's performances on the court were pointed out by Casey, and then the discussion gradually evolved into a dispute.

Even though Luke said in the press conference after the game that losing is a good thing for the team, only losing can make the team realize its shortcomings.

The Grizzlies, as a team that was just pieced together during the offseason, both the running-in process and the experience of losing are indispensable.

In this regard, Luke also repeatedly emphasized with a smile on his face that he doesn't care which opponent the team loses to. What he cares about is whether the team can sum up experience after losing again, so that they can play better in the future.

Luke still had that calm look, as if it wasn't a big deal as long as the sky didn't fall, but the reporters in the audience still felt that the atmosphere was a bit weird.

In particular, Gerald Wallace sat next to him without saying a word, and assistant coach Lambiel also looked gloomy. When these three people sat together in this posture, the reporter always felt that the atmosphere was a bit depressed.

(End of this chapter)