One Thousand Two Hundred and Thirty-Five: Hit a Wall in the First Round

On November 4, the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets once again became a national live broadcast on ESPN.

Two consecutive nationally broadcast games within a week are enough to prove the Grizzlies' appeal this season.

Although this is Link's retirement season, none of the fans who came to the scene came to see Link's retirement tour.

What is a retirement tour? It’s just that the fans don’t expect you to play well at all. As long as you can play on the field, they are satisfied.

But Link is different. Although this is the last year of his career, the fans came to see him beat up the league's No. 1 shooting guard.

"Link and Harden are definitely the two most dangerous scorers in the league this season. One scored 61 points in a single game, and the other scored 59 points in a single game. Such explosive scoring power is absolutely amazing. Hubby, what do you think today? , what will the individual scores of both sides be?”

Before the game started, Kevin Harlan asked Hubie Brown a question that all fans are concerned about.

30 points? 40 marks? Even 50 points? What will happen between Link and Harden today?

However, Hubie Brown's answer was beyond most people's expectations.

"I think they probably won't score too high."

"What? Not too high?" Kevin Harlan was a little surprised.

"That's right, Link said he doesn't want to score points with Harden, which means he wants to use defense to decide the outcome. Believe me, the Grizzlies will not let a player score high points easily. They are different from the Wizards. You never expect to see an All-Star Game score at FedEx Arena."

Hubie Brown knows Link and the Grizzlies too well. He let Davis score 40 points in the last game.

But the Grizzlies are not stretched on the defensive end today. Old Hubie believes that the Grizzlies will put defense first.

The Rockets' biggest advantage is offense, and most of the teams coached by D'Antoni are like this. The Rockets now are like the Phoenix Suns back then, their offense is extremely gorgeous.

Let the Rockets take full advantage of themselves? Only a grizzly bear would be stupid to do that.

However, not many people listened to Hubie Brown's analysis. Do you want to defend well? Then you have to be on guard against it.

Harden and Westbrook,

One averages close to 40 per game, and the other averages close to 30. How to defend against them?

The only way for the Grizzlies is to fight attack with attack!

Before the game started, the referee called on the starters from both sides to get ready.

At this time, Link nervously glanced at the Rockets' starting lineup.

Westbrook, Harden, Danuel House, Tucker and Capela, the Rockets have not changed their lineup and still use the previous starting lineup.

Seeing this, Link's nervous expression disappeared and was replaced by a smile.

It seems that D'Antoni is still immersed in the Rockets' fierce offensive firepower and has not really thought about the problems of this Rockets.

If the offense can really solve the problem, the Rockets' record will not be only 3 wins and 3 losses.

But having said that, the opponents the Rockets encountered in the previous six games did not seem to put too much pressure on the Rockets on the defensive end.

It's no wonder that D'Antoni is so satisfied with his starting set.

So today, Link will let D'Antoni take a good look.

How fragile is his starting set!

Before the game started, Link glanced at Jokic.

Jokic nodded slightly. He has not forgotten what Link told him yesterday.

"Are you ready Nicholas?"

"Well, I'm still a little excited."

"Let's start, put Harden and Westbrook in the cage!"

After Link finished speaking, he retreated behind Jokic. The referee also quickly threw up the basketball. Jokic's Coke bottle bounced so high that he naturally couldn't beat the "Cake King" Capela in the fight for the ball.

The Rockets got the ball first, which is their favorite way to start the game.

The Rockets' philosophy this season is to attack, attack, and attack again!

Harden took possession of the ball and ran across half court, and sure enough, Link personally opened his arms and defended in front of him.

But Harden was not surprised by this. He didn't expect to be able to pinch a soft persimmon like Brooks.

Seeing that Link was defending him, Harden didn't intend to be polite. As soon as he came up, he called Tucker to set up a cover for him and prepare to break through.

P. J. Tucker is still wearing a pair of Link's fourth-generation limited edition sneakers. It can be seen that he is also a fan of Link's sneakers.

But this does not mean that Tucker will be merciful to Link. His cover is very tough. Although this guy is less than 2 meters tall, his protective quality is unequivocal!

In the past, Hayes, who was less than 2 meters tall, was considered weird when he played center.

But in recent years, short insiders like Tucker have become more and more popular.

After hanging up the screen, Harden chose to break through.

But just a few steps after he ran out, Jokic blocked the breakthrough route with his arms raised high.

Harden originally wanted to pass the ball to Capela under the basket, but Jokic also blocked the entire passing route.

In this way, Harden had to make an emergency stop in the mid-range and look for another opportunity.

However, as soon as he stopped, Link was already outflanking him.

"Double-teamed, Harden was double-teamed in the first round! Jokic's positioning was very precise, this was a premeditated defense! It seems that your analysis is correct, Hubby. The Grizzlies are indeed I want to work on defense!”

Kevin Harlan looked at Harden being double-teamed and couldn't help but sigh at the Grizzlies' tactical execution.

Jokic's position and timing of coming forward are just right. Although he can't block shots like other centers, he also has his advantages on the defensive end.

However, Jokic's execution does not appear out of thin air. If he hadn't been called by Link to "make up lessons" at home yesterday, Jokic wouldn't have reacted so quickly.

After all, I sacrificed the opportunity to attend the Internet celebrity party, so I can't sacrifice it in vain.

Harden is trapped in a double-team. If Capela can open up the space at this time, the Rockets can easily get an open three-point opportunity.

But there is no way. As a "pie-eating" center, Capela doesn't know how to score outside the penalty area.

Before Harden could decide who to pass the ball to, Link took advantage of the opportunity and cut the basketball out of Harden's hand.

It's fine if Link doesn't cut the ball, but once he decides to take action, it shows that he is extremely confident.

Sure enough, Link accurately cut Harden's ball in the double team.

In the first round, the Grizzlies completed an almost perfect defense.

Jokic's well-timed blocking and Link's pursuit put Harden in a tough fight!

After cutting off the basketball, Link handed the ball to Dillon Brooks. Brooks held the ball for a fast break, followed by Westbrook.

But when he walked to the basket, Dillon Brooks suddenly passed the ball back to Link who was following up.

Brooks knows that Westbrook's risk-chasing ability is quite strong.

A rash layup while being chased by that guy will usually not lead to any good results.

As an older rookie, Brooks' composure and immediate ability are his greatest strengths.

Link immediately burst into flames after receiving the basketball. Now, even Westbrook was helpless against Link.

"boom!"

The game started with a dunk, which seems to have become Link's habit. It seems that if you don't show off your "muscles" at the beginning, you will be embarrassed to say hello to people.

"Don't panic, keep attacking!"

On the sidelines, Mike D'Antoni didn't seem to notice anything after Link's dunk.

Maybe in his opinion, Harden's mistake was just a coincidence. After all, Harden is someone who averages about five turnovers per game, so he may be used to it.

Hearing Mustache's roar, Link shook his head.

It seems that he is indeed an offense-oriented coach.

In this case, let’s teach them what defense is today!

Link led the team to retreat quickly. This time, it was Westbrook who was attacking with the ball.

Sure enough, it was Harden who attacked the "Turtle" attack.

But it doesn't matter who attacks, the Grizzlies have also prepared a special strategy for Westbrook.

This time, the score will never turn into All-Star mode.