When the lights first came on, the eyes of North America were focused on Vancouver.

The hustle and bustle in the GM arena had overflowed, and Qiao Hai stood on the sidelines, waiting for the game to begin.

The two teams have already started the game, and on the Grizzlies' side, the starting five tigers are point guard Chancey Billups, scoring guard Maddy, small forward Sean Marion, power forward Raheem and center Brad Miller.

The main force is out!

On the Spurs' side, starting point guard Avery Johnson, scoring guard Mario Arie, small forward Sean Elliott, power forward Duncan, and center David Robinson are also the main players.

Popovich felt that it was wrong, Qiao Hai actually did his best in this game, and the point guard was still Billups.

Others don't know, but Popovich knows a lot about the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies point guard position can put two starters, Billups or Mike Bibie, the strength of the two is not much different, for the time being, Mike Bibi is stronger.

But the two have different styles, with Billups leaning towards controlled tempo and defense, and playing as a team.

Mike Bibi is more offensive and can be used as an outside offensive core when necessary, but the defensive deviation is not a good fit with the Grizzlies lineup.

It can be said that if it weren't for taking care of the stronger and better Mike Bibby, Qiao Hai would have let Billups start a long time ago, and the Grizzlies starting from Billups are the strongest Grizzlies, of course, having both Mike Bibby and Billups is a happy worry for Qiao Hai.

In this game, the Grizzlies' starting point guard was Billups, which made Popovich wary, maybe Qiao Hai didn't mean to be waterproof.

David Robinson walked to the center of the court and faced Brad Miller.

The referee came between the two with a basketball in his hand and a whistle in his mouth.

There was a beep, a whistle sounded, and the basketball was thrown into the sky......

Jump Ball!

Regarding the jump ball, there is a statistic in the NBA, Brad Miller jumped the ball a total of 78 times (excluding the two who did not start), and only won the jump ball 17 times, ranking third from the bottom in the league, which is a complete jump ball black hole.

David Robinson, on the other hand, is a jumper, winning 62 jumpballs this season with 79 jumps, the most in the league.

So, in this jump ball battle, David Robinson won easily.

In the opening, the Spurs attacked first.

Tim Duncan takes the ball at 45° on the left side and singles Raheem.

The Grizzlies were forced to split their men to attack, of course, this was also arranged by Qiao Hai before the game, for Duncan, it is definitely impossible to prevent Raheem alone, even if Raheem has joined the iron and blood trait now, but the gap in physical fitness still exists.

Therefore, the Grizzlies can only separate Sean Marion to flank.

Marion strikes, and Duncan splits the ball.

But the Grizzlies consciously put the Spurs player on the weak side, so the open position appeared outside the three-point line on the other side, and Avery Johnson was empty.

Duncan first passed the ball to the top of the arc, and Sean Elliott at the top of the arc was entangled by Maddie, and Sean Elliott received the ball and made a direct cross to the sideline, which was near the sideline, and it was Avery Johnson who received the ball.

As a result, as soon as Avery Johnson got the ball, the Grizzlies' defense made up for it again, and the speed was very fast.

In this way, the Grizzlies used a quick rotation defense to directly block the Spurs' old-fashioned offensive play.

Avery Johnson received the ball, facing Billups' defense, time was running out, he could only play by himself, and after a few shots, Avery Johnson glanced at the basket, an acceleration, and a pull-up jump shot.

Bang, miss!

Brad Miller on the inside grabbed the rebound, and the Grizzlies turned around to play the fast break.

Popovich in 2000 is not the almost demonic Zhuge in later generations, but he still did a very detailed job in the preparation before the game, the Grizzlies will play fast break, Popovich is naturally very clear, and he also responded.

As soon as Avery Johnson made a move, he quickly retreated to the defense.

Except for David Robinson and Duncan, who grabbed rebounds in the backcourt, the other three Spurs all retreated as soon as possible.

The Grizzlies forced to play the fast break, and the frontcourt hit three to three.

There are three outside players on both sides, and in this case, the Grizzlies have always forced fast breaks.

Because the opponent did not have an inside line, Maddie accelerated directly, and in a one-on-one situation, the Spurs could not find a player who could defend Maddie alone, so the result of the forced fast break was that Maddie crossed Mario Alley and made a layup.

In a wave of fast break, the Grizzlies scored first, 2:0.

The Spurs serve in the backcourt, and it's their offensive turn again.

Avery Johnson held the ball to organize the attack, Duncan gave Shaun Elliott a single block, retreated to the left 45-degree mid-range position, received the ball, shot directly, and hit!

2:2 draw.

The Grizzlies' offense was also the Grizzlies' first positional offense of the game.

Brad Miller responded high, Maddy cut to catch the ball, and the Spurs instantly sandwiched.

Maddie took two steps with the ball in hand, but there was really no chance, and Tim Duncan spread his arms and obscured his sky.

Maddie was helpless, glanced at the three-point line, behind the ball, and passed the ball instantly.

Sean Marion catches the ball and shoots a three-pointer, no one defends, but with a bang, it doesn't go in.

David Robinson grabbed the rebound, gave the ball to Avery Johnson, pressed down the tempo, and continued to attack the position.

Avery Johnson passes, Mario Alley catches the ball and breaks through to the basket, misses the layup.

The Grizzlies grabbed the rebound, fought back again, and scored two more points, with a score of 4:2.

Immediately afterwards, the Spurs offense continued to play iron, and on the Grizzlies' side, the fast break failed, but Sean Marion grabbed the rebound and reorganized the offense, Maddie held the ball and singled, and after the ball was divided, Chauncy Billups hit a three-pointer, 7:2, and the Grizzlies led by 5 points!

The Spurs' offense, Avery Johnson and Duncan played blocking and pick-and-roll, broke into the interior, and distributed the ball to the basket, and David Robinson dunked and scored 2 points.

Turning around the Grizzlies' offense, Maddy broke through the middle and missed a pull-up jumper, and the Spurs grabbed the rebound and then counterattacked.

But Sean Elliott didn't score a three-pointer, 7:4, and the Grizzlies still led by three points.

Inside Sean Marion grabbed the rebound, another wave of counterattacks, and in the counterattack, Maddie made a layup and scored another 2 points, 9:4.

On the court, the Grizzlies continued to score quickly, the Spurs were led by the nose to run, and the point difference continued to widen.

After five minutes in the first quarter, the Grizzlies went on a 17-8 run to open the game with a nine-point lead.

Popovich originally wanted to wait for the official timeout, but in the subsequent wave of offense, the Grizzlies forced to play fast, taking advantage of the Spurs' unstable defensive footing, Maddie hit the interior and scored another 2 points.

At 19:8, the Grizzlies led by 11 points.

Faced with a double-digit deficit, Popovich had to call a timeout.

The Grizzlies' opening style of play is very simple, that is, play fast, no matter what.

The benefits of playing fast are obvious, the Spurs twin towers are dragged by the Grizzlies' fast-break counterattack and can't exert their strength, because every time the Grizzlies break fast, the Spurs' twin towers can't keep up with the speed of the Grizzlies, and when they are still running wildly on the road, the Grizzlies' offense has been completed.

So, most of the time, on the offensive end, what the Grizzlies need to deal with is the Spurs without twin towers.

Without the Spurs of the Twin Towers, the defense is more than half useless.

The Grizzlies scored 19 points in five minutes and continued to let the Grizzlies continue to attack like this, and the Grizzlies scored 40 points in a single energy, and their attack power was off the charts.

So, Popovich had to adjust.