basketball god

Chapter 138 The Last Five Matches

April NO.12, the Grizzlies have the last five games before the end of the regular season!
First came the Eastern Conference's three-game streak, including against the New Jersey Nets, the Boston Celtics, and the Toronto Raptors.

Followed by home games in the West, back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Grizzlies trained in the arena until about ten o'clock in the morning, and then after eating a nutritious meal that was hard to swallow, the players, led by the coaching staff, took a flight to New Jersey.

After arriving at the hotel, Nelson convened the whole team to study the tactical play against the Nets.

This is the last few games from the end of the season, and all teams will basically not play rotations unless they are injured.

Because those who cannot enter the playoffs need to sell tickets for these games, the teams that can enter the playoffs must also warm up in advance for the cruel games that will follow.

At [-]:[-] p.m., Nelson led the Grizzlies into the Continental Arena. After the interview and the conclusion, players from the two teams entered the stadium.

The two teams were making the final pre-match arrangements. After 10 minutes, the whistle sounded, and the players of the two teams came on the field one after another.

The starting lineup of the Nets is, point guard: Kidd, shooting guard: Carter, small forward: Richard Jefferson, power forward: Nenad Kostic.Center: Jason Collins.

As Nelson imagined before the game, the Nets deployed their strongest lineup, the Three Musketeers plus the inside twin towers.

The Grizzlies coaching staff made changes to the Nets' lineup the day before the game, so the game is on the court at this time.

Point guard: Yang Zhan, shooting guard: Jones, small forward: Battier, power forward: Gasol, center: Chakalidis.

Jason Collins jumped the ball in the opening game, the Nets got the first chance to attack, and Jason Kidd advanced with the ball.

Just after halftime, Kidd passed to Vince Carter on the outside, although Jones is the best point of the Grizzlies' outside defense.

But the gap between him and Carter is really too big. Even with a serious ankle injury, his physical fitness is no longer comparable to Jones.

The latter accelerated after receiving the ball and passed the defender in an instant, but Carter was a little bit blind when he entered the inside line, and there were four people standing inside.

After all, Carter is a scorer who can average 25 points per game, and the main offensive core of the Nets' Three Musketeers.

Facing the nearest Gasol, Carter turned around and passed the opponent, and then challenged Chakalidis under the basket. Carter hit a layup with a freehand drawbar, ending the Nets' first attack.

The atmosphere in the Continental Airlines Arena was instantly ignited. After all, Carter completed a one-for-three on the first attack in the opening game.

In turn, the Grizzlies attacked, and Yang Zhan held the ball across half court and passed the ball to Gasol, who was near the free throw line and wanted the ball from a high position.

Facing Nenad Kostic, the latter chose to attack the basket head-on, used his speed to easily pass the sophomore, and then grabbed the first position and entered the inside lane.

Jason Collins of the Nets was directly attracted by Gasol who broke through, but Gasol has the ability to pass the ball.

Jason Collins Gasol, who was facing the supplementary defense, did not make a strong move, but passed to Chakalidis, who was unmarked at the basket, and the latter dunked with both hands after receiving the ball.

Both sides scored a goal at the beginning, and the score on the field was tied at 2:2.

Kidd controlled the ball in the frontcourt. After all the players of the Nets settled down, Kidd directly handed over the ball to Carter who came out of the pocket.

The latter held the ball at the top of the arc and asked Krstic to come out for a pick-and-roll. After the defense, Carter beat Gasol and directly accelerated to pass the opponent.

Carter, who then entered the free throw line, did not lay up directly, but passed to Richard Jefferson who got rid of Battier and cut inside.

Chakalidis's attention was already attracted by Carter who had just come in, but at this moment.

When he reacted and was about to reach out to block, Jefferson had already raised the ball with his right hand and took off after receiving the ball.

Immediately after the next moment, there was a sound, boom!The dunk was successful.

This ball made the Nets fans even more excited, because from the visual effect, Jefferson's ball looks like a dunk.

Conversely, when the Grizzlies attacked, the mentality of the players did not seem to have much impact. Yang Zhan, who advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, called Gasol to come out for a pick-and-roll at the top of the arc.

The whole league knows about Yang Zhan's mid-dribble shot after the pick-and-roll, so Krstic of the Nets quickly followed the situation.

Facing Kostic's defense, Yang Zhan didn't have the top iron to choose to pull out because he didn't have enough instant burst.

So Yang Zhan took a step forward and made a breakthrough first, then took a big stride while walking, and turned around and entered the inside line next to Kostic.

Seeing Chakalidis and Jason Collins fighting for positions in the penalty area, Yang Zhan made an instant decision to pick the basket.

The basketball hits the net, and the movement is done in one go. If the jump is higher, the visual effect will be better.

If Jefferson's last goal was a demonstration of violent aesthetics, then this ball Yang Zhan explained what is called an elegant offensive method.

The Nets' offensive tactics ran, and Kidd passed to Carter, who was cutting in without the ball. This time, the latter saw that Gasol didn't follow up to make up the defense, so he chose a mid-range emergency stop jumper to shoot.

As a result, the basketball went out of the basket. Gasol protected the backboard and passed it to Yang Zhan. He took the ball to the frontcourt and gave it to Eddie Jones who ran out.

The latter didn't completely run out of position after receiving the ball, but looking at Carter in front of him, thinking of being casually passed before, Jones chose to play one single.

But Carter was also serious about defending against the thief. In the end, Eddie Jones broke through one step and then retreated, and forced a shot against Carter in the middle distance.

Boom!Hit the iron, but the rebound was pulled out vigorously by Gasol, and Yang Zhan took advantage of his height to grab the rebound in the competition with Kidd.

Yang Zhan, who scored a rebound from outside the three-point line, looked up and saw that the timer was only 5 seconds away, and he couldn't play tactics again at this time.

Looking at Jason Kidd in front of him, Yang Zhan planned to play with his back, but he couldn't push it. Is this damn strong?

In the end, Yang Zhan was in an uncomfortable place, he pulled back and shot, boom!off.

Then the Nets attacked, Jefferson caught the ball on the outside and hit the iron with a three-pointer. When he came back, Gasol turned around and scored with a hook on the inside.

Players from both sides came and went on the court. With 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Carter forced a layup after a breakthrough, which caused a thug foul by Chakalidis.

Nelson took this opportunity to replace Yang Zhan and Eddie Jones, and the Nets also replaced Richardson and Kidd. Yang Zhan, who returned to the bench, recalled Kidd who was on the field.

I really think this person is awesome, his style of play on the field makes Yang Zhan feel like he has no tricks to win.

And just looking at his assist data, he only averaged 8.4 per game this season, but he can easily connect the team as a whole.

Because Kidd's style of play is not sticky at all, his contribution to the Nets is not reflected in the statistics.

(End of this chapter)