Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 264 264. Rick Carlisle, who showed his prestige in the preseason, was beaten!
At the beginning of October, the preseason game before the start of the new season officially came.

The preseason is a game arranged by the league in order to allow the teams to run in advance and adapt to the new season.

Often the main players of each team don't have a lot of playing time, and they treat the preseason as a kind of training, and basically don't care about winning or losing the preseason.

As the defending champion, the Grizzlies don't even care about warm-up games like the preseason.

But the Grizzlies have added a lot of new faces in the new season. Compared with the group confrontation with all their teammates, the preseason is indeed more suitable for the team to run in.

In the first game of the preseason, the Grizzlies met the Dallas Mavericks in the same division.

The Mavericks have undergone some changes in the lineup this season. The original team building policy of the Mavericks is very clear, which is to cultivate young players as much as possible around Nuo Tianwang.

While being able to reduce the team's salary space to the greatest extent, it can also single-handedly cultivate the championship helpers around Nuo Tianwang.

After Mavericks sent away the "three bullock carts", the strategy of the era of the king of heaven is to build high walls, accumulate food widely, and slowly become king.

Therefore, vigorously cultivate Xinrui players such as Howard, Harris, and Diop.

The Mavericks have been the team with the most reasonable lineup in the league in the past few seasons, but this year the management has obviously lost patience and is eager for success.

During the offseason, the Mavericks got Jason Kidd from the Nets through a trade. Although Kidd is a very good point guard player, Kidd's age is a very big problem after all.

Kidd is now 35 years old. Before the end of the new season, Kidd will enter the 36-year-old mark. For a point guard player, this age will expose many problems.

Even though Jason Kidd is considered one of the best defensive point guards in NBA history, time has taken away Jason Kidd's speed, making Kidd's already slow speed even slower, which will be affected on both ends of the offense and defense.

Last season, Kidd averaged 11.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game with the Nets.

This data is very confusing, but if you look at it from a deeper perspective, Kidd's efficiency on both ends of the offense and defense has already declined.

If it weren't for the Nets to trade Kidd later in the season and let him hold a lot of offensive ball rights, Kidd would not have played such bug data.

Letting go of the younger and more potential Harris ushered in Jason Kidd, which means that the Mavericks must succeed in the new season, otherwise Kidd's age will not only drag down the team, but also make Nowitzki's peak Step by step towards sinking.

The Mavericks' attempt is to replace Harris with the old Kidd, but no matter how you look at the Mavericks in the new season, it looks like a luxury chariot with an outdated luxury motor.

At least in this short preseason confrontation, the league's number one point guard Chris Paul taught the veteran Kidd a good lesson.

As soon as the game started, Paul made a big fuss by taking advantage of Kidd's decreased lateral speed, and succeeded in consecutive mid-range jumpers through pick-and-rolls.

In addition, when the rest of the Mavericks cannot defend Kidd immediately, Paul can also easily pass Kidd one-on-one, like a runaway wild horse, go straight to the basket, forcing the Mavericks Center Eric Dampier had to do both.

Although the old Kidd also showed his rich offensive experience on the offensive end, he connected the entire Mavericks' offense with his excellent organizational skills.

But Kidd's arrival put the Mavericks in a dilemma where they had to slow down and play positional warfare.

Facing the offensive team jointly created by Luke and "Bombard Master" D'Antoni, the Grizzlies' fast-paced play simply made the Mavericks miserable.

Especially when Josh Howard is difficult to connect with Artest's defense at this point, this forces the Mavericks to transfer more offensive shots to Nowitzki alone.

Looking at Nowitzki, who was more like fighting alone on the court, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle stood off the court and frowned.

The Mavericks' current style of play on the court is definitely not what Carlisle thought in his mind. According to Carlisle's thoughts during the offseason, Carlisle hopes that the Mavericks will become an overall offensive team like the Spurs in the new season.

Even if the offensive rhythm is slow, he can still kill the opponent through grinding points again and again in the positional battle. At the critical moment, Nowitzki, the jumper killer, ends the game.

As a result, before the start of the new season, the Grizzlies shattered Rick Carlisle's fantasy in the preseason.

When the slow-moving Mavericks encountered the Grizzlies' crazy acceleration and a large number of ball transfers outside the three-point line, Carlisle found that all the Mavericks could do was grit their teeth and persist, and there was no good way to deal with it.

On the other hand, the Grizzlies played very easily from the very beginning. Chris Paul and Kevin Martin had a clear division of labor.

Especially when the young Chris Paul faced Kidd, this set of matchups was simply horrible. Rick Carlisle, who was standing off the court, couldn't bear to look directly at him. He could only look at Kidd and let out a helpless sigh. Forgive me."

In the rotation stage, the Mavericks have Jason Terry, who averaged nearly 20 points per game last season, and Brandon Bass, the "CIC king" who is gradually playing worth.

The two, one inside and one outside, are very threatening on the offensive end.

Originally, Rick Carlisle was still imagining that even if the Mavericks' rotation depth is not as good as that of the Grizzlies, at least they can have a [-]-[-] chance of winning.

But when the lineup of Louis Williams, Michael Reid, Kapono, Novak and Hibbert appeared on the stage, Carlisle found that his previous ideas were simply too whimsical.

Michael Reid is not bad at this point, and Carlisle took countermeasures before the game started.

Although Jason Terry can't defend against Michael Reed on the defensive end, he can explode with Michael Reed on the offensive end.

What really made Rick Carlisle feel desperate was that the "black big man" Roy Hibbert of the Grizzlies who had just entered the league completely blew up Brandon Bass inside.

Although Bass, who is 114 meters tall, has a weight of [-] kilograms, which is not much different from most [-]-meter-tall centers in the league, but facing Hibbert, who is [-] meters tall, Bass is like a man who has been beaten. Students who were hanged and beaten.

In many cases, Bass could only stand under the basket and raise his hands high, watching Hibbert score on his head.

Even if the offensive shot is missed, Hibbert can always tiptoe to grab the offensive rebound in the first place, leaving Brandon Bass helpless.

Carlisle couldn't believe it at all. The big black man with his arms trained to outline his muscles turned out to be the guy who was still as thin as a bamboo pole when he was selected in this year's draft.

Relying on Roy Hibbert's height advantage in the penalty area, the Mavericks had to shrink their defense closer to the basket, and power forward Singleton had to step forward to pinch at the first time, otherwise Hibbert would be like Yao Ming Possessions are generally unsolvable.

And once the Mavericks start to shrink the defense, the Grizzlies' four guns on the outside will fire the bullets they have hoarded for a long time.

Especially for Novak and Kapono, after a whole summer of three-point training, the threat of the two outside the three-point line has become even greater. Although there is little improvement in other aspects, just a single three-pointer, That's enough to cause headaches for other teams.

What makes the Mavericks feel even worse is that Michael Reid's good off-ball style of play not only liberated "Black Yao Ming" Roy Hibbert to some extent.

At the same time, it also made Louis Williams, another chaotic master in the backcourt, play more fiercely. Facing Jose Barea's defense, Lu Wei gave full play to his speed advantage. The man named Allen Iverson.

As the younger brother next to Iverson back then, Lu Wei did learn a lot from Iverson, and this summer Lu Wei ushered in another career mentor, Kevin Martin.

Louis Williams is also a defender who likes to make fouls very much. The combination of sharp breakthrough and shooting ability allows Lu Wei to always find the safest way to attack in chaotic battles.

For Louis Williams's humbly asking for advice, Kevin Martin was also very generous, and he was often picked up by Lu Wei for training alone during the offseason.

Although Martin's unique sense of foul-making smell cannot be learned in a few words, as long as Lu Wei can master [-]% of it, he is enough to call the wind and rain on the bench and become one of the most powerful sixth men in the league.

Relying on the advantage of the rotation lineup, Luke simply did not let the main players appear in the second half, but sent a third team to fight.

In the new season, even the third team of the Grizzlies should not be underestimated. "Reaper" Smush Parker, James Jones, Grant Hill, and Rathall Butler, etc., all have good offensive firepower.

Once the Grizzlies have the upper hand in the situation, there is no pressure after the substitute players come on the court.

"Reaper" Parker's sharpness on the offensive end made D'Antoni unbelievable off the court, "If it weren't for the facts, who would have believed that Smash Parker was actually a fringe player who almost left the league in the offseason."

"This offensive firepower, I think at least half of the teams in the league will be interested. Being able to sign Parker with such a cheap contract really fits your title of "God's Hand"."

D'Antoni's words made Luke, who was sitting on the sidelines, twitch. The fundamental reason why Smush Parker was forced to leave the league was not that his offensive ability was not strong enough, but that the offensive end was not stable enough, and the defensive end was often targeted.

When these two points are combined on a role player, it is definitely a very fatal thing.

However, the Grizzlies have excellent lineup depth, and Smush Parker only needs to wait to play as the team's third point guard.

When Luke waved Smash Parker on, the team was bound to lead by more than double digits.

With such a big score, Smash Parker does not have any offensive pressure. Even if he misses many offenses, he does not have to worry about being replaced or scolded by the coach.

When Smush Parker can play with confidence on the court, Parker is the real "Reaper" on the court.

As the Grizzlies entered training early in the second half, Carlisle had the cheek to continue to let the main players chase points.

Carlisle doesn't care about winning or losing a preseason game, but if even the main players can't catch up with the score on the field, Carlisle really can't afford to lose him.

At the end of the game, the Grizzlies won the first preseason game with a 26-point victory.

Although Chris Paul and Kevin Martin only played for more than ten minutes, in the limited playing time, the two showed a tacit cooperation on the court, which dispelled the worries of many fans who suspected that the two were incompatible.

In addition, Roy Hibbert, who stayed in the team during the offseason, made people shine in this preseason.

Due to the existence of Nicolas Batum in the summer league, Hibbert's performance can only be regarded as remarkable, and he did not play the expected data.

As a lottery player selected by Luke in the draft, Hibbert has received a lot of attention since entering the league.

The performance of the summer league not only caused discussions among the outside world about whether Hibbert would become the first Luke rookie to lose, but also caused Hibbert himself to be questioned a lot.

In this preseason game against the Dallas Mavericks, Hibbert scored 18 points and 15 rebounds in just 7 minutes of playing. I saw the offensive talent hidden in Hibbert.

Maybe the performance in the preseason can't explain the problem, but the physical changes will not lie.

Some media found that Hibbert is now more than a circle stronger than when he was just selected by the Grizzlies at the end of June.

It seems that Luke intends to train Hibbert to be a low-post killer, so Hibbert gained a lot of weight in his rookie season.

Although some people question whether Hibbert, who is only 22 years old, can bear the sudden weight gain and make his fragile ankle even more fragile, but when Hibbert played the performance expected by the fans on the court, these doubts Slowly start to dissipate.

Hibbert, as a player selected with such a high pick, Luke definitely has plans for his training and development.

Judging from the success rate of the Luke faction in the past two years, the fans' worries about Hibbert seem to be idle.

After all, no one hopes that Hibbert can play a good personal performance more than Luke. At present, Hibbert has indeed lived up to Luke and picked him off at such a high position.

At the press conference after the game, reporters mainly asked questions about Chris Paul and Kevin Martin.

No way, the status of Paul and Martin in the league is too high. One is the shooting guard who was selected to the best team last season and won the regular season MVP.

One is the point guard who was selected to the best second team last season and won the league's assists title.

When these two players make up the double guns in the backcourt in the new season, no team in the league can have a more luxurious backcourt configuration than the Grizzlies.

As Paul and Martin easily answered some questions from the reporter, the reporter asked Luke whether the Grizzlies had any intention of breaking the Timberwolves' record of 74 wins and 8 losses in the new season.

Facing the reporter's question, Luke just spread his hands lightly: "The Grizzlies must have this kind of thinking. After all, no one wants to be the holder of historical records."

"But it doesn't matter to me, because the holder of the historical record is also the team I brought out."

"Break your own record, which, IMHO, is not very fun."

reporter:"………"

(End of this chapter)