Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 288 288. "Zen Master" Jackson Dismisses get out of class, Grizzly Makes History Again!
On January 1, local time in the United States, Artest, who was suspended by the league for four games due to fighting, ushered in a comeback.

Artest's comeback has made the already strong Grizzlies lineup more organized, even though Luke has begun to arrange for the main players to rest in some away games.

But the Grizzlies' excellent lineup depth can still ensure that the team remains aggressive in every game.

In particular, the joining of Zach Randolph allows Luke to arrange more rest games for the Gasol brothers. Randolph's strength is not inferior to Pau Gasol at all, and he does not need to rely too much on the Gasol brothers as before. play.

After joining the Grizzlies, Randolph scored 19 points and 7 rebounds against the Chicago Bulls in his first game, crushing his opponent Nocioni.

With Zach Randolph's strength, even if he competes with the league's top power forwards like Tim Duncan, he will not lose at all. Now the second team that bullies other teams on the bench is really a killer.

Once Randolph successfully receives the pass inside, there is at least a 75% chance of converting it into a score. Unless the opponent double-teams Randolph at this point, no substitute player can stop Zach Randolph footsteps.

Throughout January, Luke carried out the rotation plan in an orderly manner, and the Grizzlies, who were short of major generals in almost every game, not only did not decline in the slightest, but once again played a wave of winning streaks.

As of mid-January, the Grizzlies record has reached 37 wins and 2 losses, and the gap with the Boston Celtics behind them is four games, and there is no suspense to secure the first position in the league.

The Grizzlies' status in the league is unshakable, and the dominance shown on the field has shocked other teams even more.

Even the powerful Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference were slaughtered by the Grizzlies by 27 points in the second match, so that Lakers coach Casey showed a wry smile helplessly after the game.

"As the team that personally ended the Grizzlies' 22-game winning streak this season, the Lakers have the capital to show off to the outside world."

"But after only one month, the Grizzlies have become more and more terrible. I have never seen any team improve as much as the Grizzlies."

"A month ago, the Lakers could have the upper hand in the contest with the Grizzlies, but a month later, the team can only watch the Grizzlies put the damn ball into the basket!"

"Especially the joining of Trenton Hassell has made this Grizzlies more and more cohesive. The unity shown by the Grizzlies on the court is amazing."

"I really can't think of any team that can steal this championship ring from the Grizzlies this season."

Whenever Dwayne Casey felt that the gap between himself and Luke was getting smaller and smaller, Luke would always jump out and give him a blow in the head.

Dwyane Casey, who originally won the game after the first meeting between the two sides, also believes that the Lakers have the opportunity to become the biggest enemy of the Grizzlies on their way to defending the title this season.

But just over a month later, the Grizzlies slaughtered the Lakers in the second game.

After three quarters, clocking out of get off work, and Kobe sitting on the sidelines with a lonely look in his eyes, these images made Casey deeply aware of the gap between himself and Luke.

Not only the lack of coaching ability, but also the construction and planning of the future.

When Zach Randolph came off the bench and scored a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds against the Lakers, Casey didn't think it was unacceptable to lose such a game.

Especially with Randolph and Michael Reid scoring 46 points from the bench, Casey felt that no team could steal the victory from the Grizzlies.

In the next period of time, the Grizzlies, who had won many battles and victories, remained in the same state. It was not until the end of January that they challenged the Golden State Warriors away, and the Grizzlies ushered in their third loss of the season after a long time.

The offensive efficiency of the Grizzlies in this game is still good. Although the overall state has not reached its peak, it is definitely not cold.

However, the Golden State Warriors, which ranked second in the league in points per game this season, are firing on all cylinders. Many players feel hot to the touch, which seems to mean that the basket is as wide as the sea.

Under the leadership of Jackson, Corey Maggette and others, the Warriors scored 23 three-pointers, breaking the team's historical record, second only to the Grizzlies' 25 three-pointers in a single game.

Among them, Crawford, who was traded to the Golden State Warriors by the New York Knicks, ushered in an explosion. In the whole game, Crawford hit six three-pointers alone, and scored 39 points and 4 rebounds against Kevin Martin. A super performance.

Snatching a victory from Luke made Warriors head coach Don Nelson very excited. When he attended the press conference after the game, the old Nelson still had a smile on his face. to the back of the ear.

It seems that defeating Luke once made Nelson more excited than the Warriors' black eight.

Crawford's excellent personal performance made the "Zen Master" Jackson, who had just announced his dismissal not long ago, look livid.

During the coaching of the Knicks, Crawford's poor offensive efficiency often played less than 40% shooting performance, which also made it difficult for "Zen Master" Jackson's triangle offense to exert the greatest threat.

As the Knicks' record has not improved, they only handed over a record of 30 wins and 8 losses in the first 22 games. The management finally lost patience with the "Zen Master" Jackson who was only crazy about bragging. Get out.

After getting out of class from the Knicks, Jackson's rhetoric in the offseason was repeatedly ridiculed by fans.

The poor record of leading the team has hit "Zen Master" Jackson, the nine-time coach. The Lakers and the Knicks have swept him out of the two consecutive giants. his home.

Although Jackson, who has won nine championships in his career, will not face the situation of no one being hired like Rivers, but those teams with larger markets but do not want to hire Jackson, Zen Master is almost the same as being unemployed .

Unless "Zen Master" Jackson can accept the invitations of small teams such as the Raptors and Bobcats, try to prove himself again in the new team and prove that he can still keep up with the trend of league reform.

Otherwise, the "nine crown coach" Phil Jackson will fade out of the fans' vision in this embarrassing posture, and he can only grit his teeth and watch Luke step on his shoulders.

Even though the experience from the Knicks dismissal cannot be blamed on Luke, it is entirely thanks to Luke that "Zen Master" Jackson can have what he is today.

If time could be turned back, Jackson would have announced his retirement at the stage when Luke first entered the league.

At the very least, he can continue to pretend to be coercive with a good reputation and nine championship rings, instead of not even daring to speak big words like now, for fear that his old face will be slapped in pain!
…………

As the time enters late January, the four rounds of voting for this year's All-Star Weekend are officially drawing to a close.

For the Grizzlies, five players were selected to the All-Star lineup this year, tying the Timberwolves and setting an NBA record together.

Among them, Kevin Martin, Chris Paul, and Pau Gasol almost defeated their opponents in the same position by a crushing advantage and became the All-Star starters.

And Artest returned to the All-Star ranks again after many years. As for Marc Gasol, who was selected to the All-Star team for the first time in his career, he was even more excited for a long time.

Although the channel for the fourth round of All-Star voting has not yet been officially closed, the number of votes the players have received has basically been finalized.

As excellent center players are becoming increasingly rare, Marc Gasol is second only to Yao Ming and Duncan in the votes for the center position this season, ranking third in the Western Midfield.

If it weren't for Duncan being a power forward and center who can play both positions, Marc Gasol would have been the second-choice center in this year's All-Star Weekend after Yao Ming.

It is worth mentioning that due to injury, Yao Ming will miss this All-Star Weekend, and Tim Duncan, who has the highest number of substitute votes, will replace Yao Ming as the starter in the Western Conference.

This year, the battle between Kevin Martin and Kobe Bryant for the backcourt ticket champion was once very fierce. Even though the Grizzlies have the capital to crush the Lakers in terms of record advantage, Kobe Bryant's popularity in the United States is too high, so Kevin Martin's backcourt The position of the vote king has been hit a lot.

So far, Martin and Kobe have received more than 270 million All-Star votes, second only to "Warcraft" Howard.

And Martin only leads Kobe by a slight three-digit advantage. Until the last moment, no one knows which of the two will become the player with the highest number of All-Star votes in the backcourt this year.

As for the All-Star ticket king, even if he is as strong as Kevin Martin, he can't shake Howard's current position in the league.

With the decline of center players and the blurring of positions, Howard is undoubtedly the signature of the league in the current new generation of center players.

The general trend of the small ball era has led to more and more fans' counterattacks against the decline of the center. Only when something is about to be lost, people will know how to cherish it.

Howard, who has performed well in the past two years, is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary during the period from the center era to the small ball era.

Even if Kevin Martin leads the Grizzlies to a record of 41 wins and 3 losses, he still lags behind Howard in the All-Star voting.

At present, "Warcraft" Howard's All-Star votes have reached as high as 310 million, becoming the first player in NBA history to break through 300 million votes.

Howard is not only very popular in the United States, but also has many fans in other countries.

Looking at the entire history, Howard is still not comparable to many NBA stars, but since Howard led the team to the finals last year, Howard's current status in the league can be described as high.

Many fans even put the heavy responsibility of reviving the center on Howard, hoping that Howard can use his excellent inside dominance to defeat Luke, which is gradually changing the league's small ball style of play.

However, the fans look at things too one-sidedly. Even though Howard's 20.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks this season are extremely explosive, the offensive end still relies on physical crushing, and the technical aspect is still not as good as when he first entered the league. Too much growth.

And when facing an excellent defensive tank like Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, Howard's already average offensive efficiency has become even more bleak.

This season, the Grizzlies and Howard have played against each other since the finals. In that game, the Grizzlies beat the Orlando Magic by 26 points.

Marc Gasol even defended Howard, who only made 14 of 5 shots in the game, which reminded fans of the fear when Howard was dominated by Marc Gasol in the Finals last year.

Looking at the personal data alone, Howard is definitely the bright pearl after the center era withered, but it is undoubtedly a bit of a dream to rely on Howard to crush the small ball.

The five players who will start this year's Western Conference All-Stars have basically been decided, namely: Paul, Martin, Kobe, Gasol and Duncan.

Among the five positions, the Grizzlies have three seats alone, and Martin and Paul are also ranked in the top three in the Western Conference. It is definitely the most dominant year since the establishment of the NBA All-Star Weekend.

In the East, among the Celtics with the Big Five, only Garnett was selected as the All-Star starter, and the other three All-Stars were all just substitutes.

And the number of votes is ranked at the bottom of the 12-man roster, and the ability to overwhelm other players to be selected as the All-Star is entirely due to the advantage of the team's record.

Among them, Paul Pierce, who is always talking nonsense in the face of the media, was more than doubled by James.

This made Pierce, who often boasted that he was on par with James, a little embarrassed.

Even Kevin Garnett, who was selected as an All-Star in the East, relied on the prestige he had accumulated in the past few years and the extreme shortage of power forwards in the East to secure this position.

Otherwise, Garnett, whose average per game this season has dropped to 12.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 blocks, is indeed not worthy of the status of an All-Star starter.

If nothing else, this year's Eastern Conference All-Star starters will be: Iverson, Wade, James, Garnett, and Howard.

From the perspective of prestige, they are stronger than the Western All-Stars, but from the analysis of overall strength, the probability of winning the Western All-Stars is undoubtedly greater.

(End of this chapter)