Seven Hundred and Fifty Eight: St. Paul

Link closed his eyes and threw the ball in, which made the Memphis fans on the scene collectively climax.

When Jordan had just missed three free throws, Link immediately made a free throw with his eyes closed. Even three-year-olds knew how embarrassing Jordan was at this time.

After Jordan got off the court, he also got a close-up of the camera.

I saw little Jordan, who was still arrogant and domineering just now, and his face was expressionless at this time.

Doc Rivers was saying something next to Jordan, but Jordan didn't seem to hear a word.

As the Clippers' interior defensive pillar, Jordan was forced off the court with two fouls in advance, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Clippers' defense.

After all, the Clippers don't have any decent interior defensive players other than Jordan. Griffin's offense has been improving, but his defense has been decent. "Big baby" Glen Davis has no advantage on the defensive end except for his size.

As for the other center, Ryan Hollins, this season is only 8 minutes per game. This playing time is enough to show his ability. You can't expect someone who couldn't even play in the regular season to explode in the more difficult playoffs.

Jordan's end affected not only himself, but the entire team, the entire game.

A truly mature and great basketball player will not put the team's interests aside for the sake of anger.

So DeAndre Jordan's behavior, even Clippers fans won't like it.

Rivers sighed as he looked at Jordan's appearance. What he said now, he would definitely not listen.

In just a few rounds, Jordan was destroyed by Link. I have to say, as far as Jordan's mind is concerned, he is still a long way from the best defensive player.

If nothing else, even if Noah of the Bulls suffered what happened just now, he would definitely not lose control of his emotions.

Defense, today is definitely not to be counted on. In this state of Jordan, even if he reappears in the second quarter, I don't know how effective it will be.

Fortunately, for Rivers and the Clippers, this is not the end. Because their real pillar, Chris Paul, hasn't fallen yet.

It was a pity for Paul to watch Jordan get substituted for two fouls.

Jordan was a good player, but he was pushing in the wrong direction.

Link deliberately angered him, not because he really had a deep hatred with Jordan. The reason why Link did this was for the present ending.

Really great players who do everything with purpose. They never let emotions take over the game.

For the second free throw, Link did not continue to close his eyes, but instead made the free throw normally.

After taking down Jordan, Link immediately returned to normal and put away the arrogance just now.

If this game is compared to playing a game, Jordan is at most a small boss.

In order to "clear" the Clippers, Link still needs to face Paul, the ultimate boss.

Paul is not discouraged, although the loss of Jordan will make the Clippers very passive on the defensive end. But he believes that with his efforts on the offensive end, the Clippers can still weather the storm!

So in the game after the first quarter, Chris Paul completely turned on the scoring mode!

He is no longer gentle today,

From the very beginning of the game, we intend to take the initiative. He did it, too. With the Grizzlies' offense unfettered, Paul also caused a lot of trouble for the Grizzlies with his own offense.

In the second half of the first quarter, Paul and Redick hit consecutive three-pointers. The absolute openings they get are actually very few, and most of the shots are made with more or less interference.

Link didn't pay much attention to it at first. He thought that the Clippers were just making three-pointers in these few rounds.

As everyone knows, Paul is on the verge of the end of the first quarter.

With 2.8 seconds to go before the first quarter, Paul got rid of Mike Conley with a double screen close to the midfield line, and then made a shot at the buzzer from a step beyond the three-point line!

As a result, this ultra-long-distance three-pointer is still hollow into the net!

Link also became nervous after seeing the ball. With this three-pointer at the buzzer, the Clippers scored 36 points in the first quarter!

And Paul made 5 of 5 three-pointers in the first quarter, but he scored 17 points in the quarter!

After the Clippers lost the defensive shelter of Jordan, Paul used his terrible scoring ability to fill the gap on the defensive end of the Clippers.

, the Clippers led the Grizzlies by 10 points in the first quarter. Paul, the big boss, is not comparable to Jordan.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the two sides fought off the bench, and the Clippers were still dominant.

The best sixth man Jamal Crawford succeeded in consecutive singles, and Crawford's magical state after winning the award has been maintained from the previous round to the present. Even Tony Allen has no good way to take Crawford today.

Link had to play early, which stabilized the situation. But at this time, the difference has come to 12 points!

Immediately after Paul came out, he hit another three-pointer, making 6 of 6 three-pointers in the half! Before halftime was over, he had already scored 20 points!

Playing against Paul so many times, Link has never seen Paul in such a scoring state. Paul is a typical anger that has just the right amount of control. His anger can make him burst into more power, but it will not make him lose his mind.

Later, the Grizzlies stepped up their defense against Paul from beyond the arc. But Paul is smart, and he's someone who doesn't feel abrupt when he's a coach right after retirement. His grasp of tactics and situations may not be worse than many coaches.

He anticipated the possible changes the Grizzlies might make on the defensive end, so in the second half of the second quarter, Paul suddenly stopped shooting from beyond the arc!

Paul plays with the feeling that it's always very reasonable!

He shoots reasonably, passes reasonably, and makes few mistakes.

When the Grizzlies strengthened their defense from beyond the 3-point line, Paul didn't shoot like other guards with a fiery touch. He would rather not vote, but also to ensure reasonableness. And to ensure the rationality, you can ensure a high hit rate.

So in the second half of the second quarter, people saw only Paul's beautiful stop-and-shoot mid-range shot and a beautiful breakthrough layup. The three-point shot seemed to be completely thrown behind Paul's head, but the Grizzlies had to continue to be on guard.

After all, that was a pervert who made 6 of 6 three-pointers in the half!

Under Paul's continued violent output, the Clippers once led the Grizzlies by 21 points when they had the most! Everyone was stunned, no one thought that the defending champion Grizzlies, who won 74 wins, would be beaten to pieces! The joy that Link brought to people after humiliating Jordan in the first quarter was instantly swept away.

Fortunately, in the second half of the second quarter, Link stood up when the Grizzlies were at their most critical. He scored 8 points in a row toughly, and took the initiative to defend Paul many times on the defensive end, which led his team to play a difficult 8-0 offensive and narrowed the point difference.

In the end, after half-time, the score for both sides was terrifyingly high.

The Clippers scored 69 points in the first half, while the Grizzlies scored 56 points. The defending champion entered halftime with a 13-point disadvantage!

"The incredible Chris Paul led an incredible half-court offense! The Clippers shot 56.5 percent in the first half and 56.3 percent on three-pointers! In Jordan's foul trouble Under these circumstances, Paul was stunned to use offense to fill the team's lack of defense!"

"Yeah, 26 points and 6 assists in the half, but only two turnovers! Chris Paul is amazing today. If Paul continues to be so crazy in the second half, the defending champion will probably lose a home game!"

Hubby Brown and Van Gundy were both impressed by Paul's performance. This is the ability of superstars. They can change the game with exaggerated data at any time!

After halftime, Paul, who performed the most dazzling, naturally also accepted an interview with reporters.

Facing the camera, Paul raised his chin slightly, showing his arrogant posture.

"What the best defensive player, our offense didn't encounter any trouble at all! In the second half, we will continue to attack like this!"

Paul was determined to let Link overturn at the FedEx Arena, and he was going to blow up the team with the highest defensive efficiency today.

After Link returned to the locker room, he stood up first before Joger spoke.

"In the second half, I'm going to defend Paul!" Link's tone was not like asking for advice, but more like telling everyone that I was going to do that.