Six Hundred and Fifty-Three: Vertical Take-Off

Bill Simmons appeared on the commentary stage at the Staples Center as ESPN's special guest. Today, he was invited to participate in the commentary of the game.

Undoubtedly, this has something to do with his conflict with Link.

When Simmons played, he was sought after by many Clippers fans and received a lot of cheers. This group of Clippers fans seems to have forgotten that Simmons did not spare any effort to hack the Clippers last season.

Well, the enemy of an enemy is a friend. Now that Simmons has turned the gun on the Grizzlies, Clippers fans are more than willing to disregard the past and applaud Bill Simmons.

"Hello, Jeff." Bill Simmons sat on the commentary stand and said hello to today's partner Jeff Van Gundy.

"Stay safe, Bill. You seem to be the protagonist today." Van Gundy smiled. Van Gundy was used to Bill Simmons' vicious tongue.

When he was a coach before, Van Gundy's team was also hacked by Simmons.

"I'm just telling the truth, Link just doesn't dare to participate in the slam dunk contest. If he doesn't dare, he doesn't dare, and he answers ambiguous, so I can't stand it. You know what I am, I never say anything. So I don't like people who don't say anything."

Bill Simmons spread his hands, still maintaining that confident expression.

"But can the Clippers really win today? You also watched the playoffs last season. The gap between the Clippers and the Grizzlies is all-round."

"That was last season, Jeff. The Grizzlies actually took a step back this season. Randolph wasn't in that great shape, and Gasol couldn't keep up with the rhythm more and more times. On the bench. , they don't even have a solid one. The Clippers are the exact opposite, they've improved tremendously. Besides, Paul wants revenge more than anyone, and he's definitely going to do everything he can."

Just as Van Gundy and Simmons were chatting hotly, the players from both sides came out to warm up.

On the Grizzlies side, the players looked relatively relaxed. After all, this is just a regular season. They've won 10 games before, and this one is nothing special for them.

But on the Clippers side, the players were just going out to warm up, and they were already gnashing their teeth! As if eager to rush directly to tear up the grizzly bear right now.

After all, the Grizzlies shaved his head last season, and the Clippers players harbor hatred in their hearts.

waited so long,

All they want is this day. Now that the enemy is in sight, the Clippers players will naturally not relax.

So during the warm-up, no one on both sides greeted each other. Before the game started, the smell of gunpowder had already become very strong.

"By the way, have you heard what Link said in the interview this morning?"

A few minutes before the game, Jeff Van Gundy suddenly remembered what Link said in an interview at the airport in the morning.

"What?" Bill Simmons looked confused. He also came all the way to Los Angeles today, so he didn't pay much attention to the news.

Jeff Van Gundy laughed, with a look of anticipation waiting for a good show, "He said, you shouldn't put the word "soft egg" on others, or the consequences will be serious."

"Hahaha, what are the consequences, can he come up and bite off my ear?"

Simmons laughed confidently, his gestures revealing confidence.

Serious consequences? Let me see what the consequences can be!

On the court, the starters of both sides are already in place. The coaches of the two teams also stood on the sidelines, ready to fight.

In fact, without Bill Simmons, Dave Jogel knows that the Clippers have improved a lot this season. The championship coach Rivers and the on-court coach Paul have already determined that this team will not be too bad.

The Clippers' offense this season has been pretty flashy and fast. The dunks in various counterattacks made the fans hooked, which also made the Clippers' popularity soar.

The Clippers can run in all five positions, and even the No. 5 position of Jordan has a good ability to move. After Rivers took the position, he brought the Clippers' fast-paced offense to the extreme.

Because of this, they were able to smash the game against the Thunder a few days ago.

People say that Rivers is just a "chicken soup coach", but the changes Rivers brought to the team after joining the Clippers are still very obvious.

Maybe Rivers is not a tactical master, but it is not enough to rely on a bowl of chicken soup to go around the world.

Link looked at the Clippers players, all of them with terrifying expressions. Even the newly joined Clippers Redick and Dudley were particularly jealous of the Grizzlies under the infection of the team's atmosphere.

The Clippers started similar to last season, replacing Green and Butler with Dudley and Redick. The axis is still Paul, Griffin and Jordan.

Link turned his head and glanced at the commentary again, and found that Bill Simmons was showing a "let's see" smile.

The Staples Center is full of malice.

Under the cheers of the fans, Jordan won the first ball for the Clippers.

This season, Jordan has matured a lot. In addition to his physical fitness, his various awareness on the court has allowed him to make more accurate judgments than before.

So far this season, Jordan is averaging 12.4 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. For a blue-collar player, the results are quite outstanding. If the numbers hold up, it will be the first time in his career that Jordan has averaged double digits in scoring.

Paul accelerated immediately after receiving the ball. From the beginning, the Clippers wanted to pull the rhythm to the fastest!

In the fourth year of playing professional basketball, Link can clearly feel that every year, the overall offensive and defensive rhythm of the league is accelerating.

Once, the black and white bears took Link and the Lakers' championship towers against each other. At that time, the two-tower tactic was still very mainstream, and everyone was playing hand-to-hand combat. Link and Kobe saw tricks and tricks, and the twin towers of the two teams also showed their demeanor in the low position.

But now, few teams are willing to send a twin-tower lineup. More and more teams are looking for speed. Sometimes the offense ends before the two sides are on top of each other. In this context, the power of the black and white bears is also being weakened.

Once the rhythm is brought up, the black and white bears are undoubtedly the most uncomfortable to play.

Perhaps, this is why in the original history, the Grizzlies gradually lost their dominance.

Conley went to block Paul, but Paul pushed Conley away directly and roughly. Today, Paul's movements are very large and rougher than usual. Bill Simmons is right, Paul will do his best.

Without letting Conley stick to him, Paul took the opportunity to play a pick-and-roll with Jordan.

This block, Gasol had to delay Paul. If you put Paul in the shot, it's no different from sending points.

Bill Simmons clenched his fists, ready to celebrate! This is a very classic pick-and-roll tactic of the Clippers. Once the opponent's center is delayed, Paul only needs to hit the ground to pass the ball, or even just throw the ball into the air, and Jordan can score!

This kind of ball, the Clippers do not know how many goals they will score in a game. A guard like Paul and a center like Jordan are a match made in heaven.

Paul did exactly that. At the moment Gasol clipped, Paul threw the ball into the air. He turned and retreated ahead of time. Is this ball worth watching? Jordan can definitely bomb the rim! So far this season, he has not missed a match with this kind of cooperation.

However, after a long time, Paul did not hear the sound of smashing the frame. Paul couldn't help turning his head to look, only to find that Link was advancing with the ball!

"What!?" Paul was stunned, what happened just now? How did the ball fall into Link's hands!

And Jeff Van Gundy in the commentary box saw the whole process of the ball just now.

"It's incredible that Link actually intercepted the pass from the air before Jordan! As we all know, Jordan's athleticism is terrible, so Paul's alley pass is also very high, just to ensure that except for the small Jordan No one other than Jordan can get it. But Link...as a wing player, getting the ball over the head of an athletic center is horrible!"

Van Gundy felt that his tongue was a little knotted, and this time, Link was just showing off his athletic ability!

Bill Simmons also swallowed, what did he just see? There was only one word in his head to describe what had just happened - vertical takeoff.

Paul originally wanted to turn around to celebrate and pretend, but it made him look even more embarrassed.

Link moved fast and Paul had to go to delay Link. If he didn't ask, Link would just go in and dunk.

Paul rushed up and slapped Link. Today, Paul played very rough. And the referees at the Staples Center also turned a blind eye "tacitly", and they didn't want to break the flow of this fierce game.

However, Paul's rude collision did not stop Link, on the contrary, it was exchanged for Link's more rude active confrontation!

Link gave Paul a shove, and Paul felt his chest tight in an instant.

After pushing Paul to gain a little space, Link jumped straight away, he wanted to attack the frame directly!

Jordan came up from behind, and thanks to Paul's delay, Jordan managed to catch up.

He jumped with Link, and he was going to take revenge with a chase!

However, Link seemed to have eyes behind his back. When Jordan was about to touch the basketball, Link suddenly switched the ball from his right hand to his left, and Jordan threw himself in the air.

Pull-up layup?

No, it's a change of hand dunk!

"Bang!"

Staples Center finally ushered in a dunk, but unfortunately, it was not the Clippers who completed the dunk.

Link roared at the rim, causing the fans in the Staples Center to tremble with fright.

This beast is more bloodthirsty than last season!

"A dunk in the air, another fancy dunk in actual combat. God, Link should not go to the slam dunk contest, let's leave a way for the young people to survive!" Jeff Van Gundy's scalp was numb from the show .

And Bill Simmons next to Van Gundy had goose bumps all over his body. He was about to celebrate the Clippers' goal, but Link abruptly turned everything around.

Under the terrified eyes of all the Staples fans, Link reflexively retreated. Of course, he didn't forget to glance at Simmons, whose face was pale with fright, and said, "Who's the jerk now?"

Simmons swallowed, his opponent this time was a bit interesting.