965. Becoming the Chosen Opponent (Part 3)
The game between the Lakers and the Spurs, one of the key battles at the end of the season, has a very high level of attention and high live ratings.
On Memphis's side, Sun Ce watched the game and saw that Kobe Bryant helped the Lakers defeat the Spurs 109-103 with a mid-range shot and scored 55 points.
Paul has a mid-range shot, Kobe Bryant has a mid-range shot, Pau Gasol also has a mid-range shot, and Brand also has a mid-range shot...... Relying on his teammates to contain him, Kobe Bryant made 14 mid-range shots!
And the Spurs' Duncan did not have a big center who could help guard the basket, and Kwame Brown and Split will not come in handy until next season, and they were shot to death by Kobe.
It's a bit of a heavenly gram.
Sun Ce's mentality is good, since they are all soaring, who is afraid of whom!
On the other side, in Miami, according to unreliable gossip sources, another man with a higher and higher hairline was seen in tears at the beach that night......
After watching the game, James's mentality was a bit explosive.
"This bastard is almost 34 years old, what are you fighting for? As for it? Isn't it just a scoring champion? ”
Kobe Bryant can throw 30 or even 40 times at every turn, but he James can't!
And Kobe Bryant is now a catch-and-shoot pitcher most of the time, and he has a strong mid-range shot, averaging 5.6 mid-range shots per game with a shooting rate of 42.2 percent, the league's first this season.
Can't play!
A Sun Ce, a Kobe...... James felt like he was caught in the middle......
……
Unlike James, who is going all out to win the MVP this year.
Kobe Bryant had Paul to help him on a whim, and chose to compete for the scoring title, and he also competed for MVP when he had the opportunity, but he didn't care so much, so he was very peaceful, and he just received the ball and shot, which was simpler and more efficient than the previous work, with a career-high shooting percentage of 47 percent, and a career-high shooting percentage of 23.2 shots per game.
Sun Ce's side, competing for MVP was not something he planned, at the beginning of receiving a new event to compete for MVP, he felt that there was a high probability that he would not be able to get it, and worked hard to complete the phased event, just to improve the score, even if he didn't get it, he had to increase the reward.
Now I can fight, of course, I have to fight, and my mentality is much calmer than James.
On the 21st, they will host the Cavaliers.
OJ Mayo's performance tonight is good, it should be said that Mayo's performance this season is okay, averaging 17.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, and he did not get an early contract extension from the Cavaliers, so Mayo naturally played hard.
The strength Mayo definitely has, it's no problem to be a starter, the strength of the B+ level, and it's good to play the sixth man.
The Cavaliers are really not the worst team, currently 23-39, they still have the strength to play, Cosby, Jamison, Tristan Thompson, Vallejo, Alonzo Key and other players have also performed well this season, and at the end of the season, they are also playing very hard, after all, most of their players are about to expire after playing this season, and the rookies also want to perform well, and they really play well with the Grizzlies.
Sun Ce wanted to get good data, but he was not in a hurry, he played steadily, Sun Ce played 21 minutes in the first three quarters, and the Grizzlies trailed the Cavaliers by 3 points 69-72, mainly because they were 8 points behind in the first half of the game, and they couldn't suppress the Cavaliers' side in the third quarter.
But in the final quarter, Sun Ce took Klay Thompson, Paul George, Yi Jianlian, and Jordan Jr. to run and run, and blasted out a score of 35-25 in a single quarter, relying on the performance of 11 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in a single quarter in the final quarter, Sun Ce scored 23 points, 12 boards, 10 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals, helping the Grizzlies reverse the Cavaliers 104-97 and win four consecutive victories.
At the same time, Sun Ce's triple-doubles this season reached 17, tying Magic Johnson's record for triple-doubles in a single season!
After the game, the magician congratulated Sun Ce on Twitter, expecting Sun Ce to surpass him soon.
And this, for James, is tantamount to another critical hit......
But for the fans, these five days are too exciting! 65 points, 62 points, 51 points, 55 points, triple-double, the three MVP contenders turned on Hurricane mode at the end of the season.
So who's next?
……
……
On April 22, the Grizzlies' offseason, followed by the last home game of the season, against the Magic, the Grizzlies still had a day off, and the coaching staff continued to discuss the upcoming playoffs.
With 52-11 and three games left in the regular season and wins the last four, most of the Grizzlies were surprised, and three of those games were directly related to Sun Ce's outburst.
When playing the Timberwolves and the Trail Blazers, it should have been impossible to beat, after all, it is not simply the four main players who reduce their playing time, but they have to run tactics when they are on the court, and it is okay when they run well, such as playing the Bobcats, but sometimes they have to experiment with new tactics, and when the new tactics are not suitable for dealing with the opponent of the night, they will not play well, such as playing the Trail Blazers.
But Sun Ce scored 65 points in one game and 51 points in one game, raising his average to 24.1 points per game while winning both games.
Playing the Bobcats is a steady win, playing the Cavaliers, Sun Ce got a triple-double steadily, and he should also come down.
The development at the end of the season was not what Coach Hollins had envisioned, but it was a good thing, and the tactics were practiced a few times and they won, so it was still according to the original plan.
Now there are 3 games left, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, that is, on the 23rd and 24th, home and away back-to-back games against the Magic and Hornets, then the 25th and 26th rest, and the 27th to Dallas and the Mavericks to play the regular season curtain call.
After discussion, the coaching staff unanimously decided that in the next three games, they will not compress their playing time, even if it is back-to-back, they will go all out to play their form, and play against the Mavericks at the end of the regular season to meet the playoffs.
But tonight, suddenly there was a big problem - the Mavericks fell to eighth in the West!
……
On April 23rd, the day of the game against the Magic arrived, and yesterday the Magic team was already in Memphis.
After Sun Ce came to the arena in the morning, he finished practicing his two sets of three-point practice, and did not train again, but watched the video, not the video of tonight's opponent Magic, but the video of their Grizzlies and Mavericks meeting twice after the All-Star weekend.
The Mavericks rested the five main players last night, including Conley, who lost to the Clippers unsurprisingly, and are now ranked eighth in the West at 35-28, overtaken by the Jazz at 36-27.
Sun Ce felt that there was a problem with the Mavericks' record before, although he couldn't squeeze into the top four, but he wouldn't fall to seventh, and he still had a little hope of competing with the Nuggets for fifth, but now it's okay, the other party fell to eighth directly through rotation!
The ninth-place Warriors are currently 31-31, although with a 12-6 record in the last 18 games, plus the Rockets' poor state after Anthony's comeback, the Rockets' record has not risen but fallen, and the Warriors have stabilized the ninth position in the West, but even if they win the next four games, they can only tie the Mavericks' victory, and the Mavericks have a 2-1 win against the Warriors this season, that is, the top eight in the West have been locked, and the Mavericks can completely control the record and enter the playoffs as eighth!
Then their Grizzlies will face the defending champions in the first round!
This makes Sun Ce incomprehensible, they are the regular season champions, and they have already defeated the Mavericks three times in the regular season, and the Mavericks still have to pick them up? What does this mean?
I couldn't figure it out, after the tactical training in the morning, before lunch, Sun Ce found the old-timers of Stockton and Nash and asked his doubts.
Stockton had already discussed this with the coaching staff yesterday and responded: "I don't know Carlisle, but if I were him, I would have dropped to eighth, right, Steve. ”
"yes, if I were the defending champion head coach, I wouldn't have wasted my energy in the second half of the regular season fighting the Nuggets for fifth place, and I wouldn't want to go into the playoffs as sixth or seventh." Nash chimed in.
"Why? It's better than just hitting the first, right? What Sun Ce didn't understand was this.
"It seems so, but their goal is to defend the championship, so they will definitely play against us, even if they play fifth, in the first round against the Thunder, the weakest team in the top four, they will have to play with us later, so there is no need to waste energy to fight for a ranking, they have no home court advantage in the top four, and the goal is to beat all opponents, so it makes no difference who plays first and who fights later." Nash analyzed.
Stockton took over: "And the reason why they don't choose sixth or seventh is very simple, they play with the Lakers and the Spurs, and it's not much different from playing with us, but if they beat the Lakers or the Spurs, they will definitely meet another of them in the second round, and they will meet us again in the Western Conference finals, and I don't want to play a series in the playoffs and the top three in the division."
Although falling to eighth is also likely to play three of the top four, if you win the first round, it will definitely be better to play against the Thunder than against the Spurs or Lakers......
Listening to the analysis of the two seniors one by one, Sun Ce understood, but felt weird.
Playing basketball is playing basketball, and actually playing strategy?
However, it seems that sports are wars in peacetime, and it seems that playing strategy is the right thing to do, and it is necessary.
It's just that their Grizzlies haven't had real success yet, and they don't have the capital to settle down and do it slowly.
At this time, they are the first, but they are a little passive, and they are picked by the opponent to fight.
Picked and beaten...... Sun Ce was a little unhappy, but there was no way, who made them first? Didn't the Spurs in the original time and space also be picked and beaten in the 2011 playoffs...... Sometimes you can't hide, you can only face it.
Fortunately, there are still good things happening next, whether it is Ji Tailai, at 12 noon, the NBA officially announced the best of the week in the last week of the regular season, and when James won the 5th weekly best of the season, he Sun won the 6th weekly best of the season by winning all 4 games in the past week and winning two 50+ games, one of which was 60+, and a triple-double performance.
However, Sun Ce is still hurting for being provoked and beaten, and the Mavericks have chosen the most difficult path!