Chapter 31: Fierce Battle Under the Grizzly Bear
Sean? Battier remembers his parting senior year when Duke's "old K" coach (Michael?) William? Mike? What Shashewski said to himself, the coach warned him never to let his guard down and to always be in awe of outside shots. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 info
At that time, in the NCAA competition in his senior year, Shaun, who was the captain of Duke? Battier led the team to win that year's championship, and in the semifinals, Duke trailed Maryland by 22 points in the first half. Battier can be said to be a grasp of individual and collective honors, he won the best player in the country, best defensive player, nay? Smith Awards, as well as John? Wooden Award.
After Battier arrived in the NBA, he always remembered what his coach said to him, he took the game as seriously as a week, no matter how difficult the situation on the court was, no matter how fierce the opponent was, Battier would not hesitate to go to the most dangerous place.
Now they've come up against the Mavericks, who have won nine in a row, although Liu Han is led by James? Posey defends the main line, but Sean? Battier has always paid close attention to Liu Han's movements, and whenever he has the slightest opportunity, Battier will not hesitate to wrap Liu Han.
Liu Han didn't expect that the seemingly weak Grizzlies would have such an excellent defensive player, James? Posey has excellent physical fitness, his foot movement is also first-class, and his defensive attitude is quite similar to Liu Han who just entered the NBA, which can be called a body hair level defense, and what surprised Liu Han even more was the No. 31 player of the Grizzlies, this resolute player has a very good defensive awareness, he seems to be able to accurately predict Liu Han's movement line, and carry out the bag, which makes Liu Han very uncomfortable when controlling the ball.
In desperation, Liu Han could only hand over the ball to Odom to deal with, and he himself played more without the ball or asked for the ball in the low post.
But today's Mavericks players seem to be a little too contemptuous of their opponents, Odom focused more on show shooting, Nowitzki also hit the iron again and again, only relying on Liu Han's few forced shots in the low post to make the Mavericks not be pulled away by the Grizzlies too much, but when the first quarter was halfway through, the Mavericks still very rarely trailed the Grizzlies by 7 points.
Nielsen had to call a timeout early, and if it continued like this, maybe a 10-game winning streak would be a pipe dream.
During the pause, Nelson unceremoniously criticized the Mavericks players on the court, including Liu Han, and he criticized Liu Han for being too hesitant and not resolute, so that Liu Han could play more decisively and self-consciously in the next game, and not care too much about others.
After the timeout, Nelson made changes to the team's lineup, with the underperforming Odom and Nowitzki being substituted, two rookies coming in, and veteran Allen McGee also being replaced with Nahoola, who was taller and better defensively.
After the game restarted, Liu Han increased his shots on the outside. Although Posey posted it and tried to block Liu Han's shot, the effect was not obvious, and then Coach Hubie Brown immediately made adjustments, he asked Battier to defend Liu Han and James Posey to defend Josh Howard.
After Battier defended Liu Han, he did not try to block Liu Han's shot outside the three-point line, but got as close to Liu Han as possible, and then directly put his hand close to Liu Han's face, this kind of defense made Liu Han very uncomfortable, after all, the people who defended him before were trying to block.
The Mavericks' offense is not smooth, and the defense has become a loophole, they have not always been known for their defense, and now the Grizzlies' offense is more reasonable and methodical, Xue Yuyang's defense of Pau Gasol is a joke at all, Mike Miller on the outside also makes Jamison want to die, this six-foot-eight player is very fast outside the three-point line, and even once his shoes fell, but he still hit three points in the bottom corner, and then picked up his shoes and ran back to defend, the Mavericks originally wanted to take the opportunity to play fast break, But Mike Miller was very resolute and threw his shoe straight to knock the basketball that passed by him, and although he received a technical foul for it, the Mavericks' rhythm was interrupted again.
At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks not only did not catch up with the score, but on the contrary, the Grizzlies extended the margin by 9 points.
In the second quarter of the game, Liu Han was still on the court, and now the Mavericks' offense basically relies on him, and although the Grizzlies have changed to a bench lineup, Sean, who defends Liu Han? Battier has not been rested, he has always been guarding Liu Han, and he is meticulous to complete his task, he is not frustrated by Liu Han's three-point forced shot, nor is he excited because he made Liu Han's offensive foul.
With five minutes left in the second quarter, Liu Han went off to rest, but the Grizzlies still led the Mavericks by six points.
At the end of the half, the Mavericks were never able to close the gap again.
In the second half, the Mavericks players recovered their feelings, Odom and Nowitzki began to find their touch outside the three-point line, and Liu Han's pressure suddenly became much less, but the Grizzlies completely played momentum today, Mike Miller and Sean Battier, and James Posey also made repeated gains outside the three-point line, so the difference between the two teams has been hovering around 6-9 points.
Liu Han played the whole quarter in the third quarter, and he has so far cut 30 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds, but the rest of the Mavericks played too poorly today, and the opponent Grizzlies played a fairly united basketball, so that the Mavericks' speed has not been played.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Liu Han rested for two minutes, and then he returned to the game, at this time Liu Han actually felt some fatigue, which is very rare, you must know that his current physical strength will not be too difficult even if he plays the whole game, but today he is in trouble.
Sean Battier also felt a little tired, but his physical strength was still very good, when he was in the draft, in the Chicago training camp, the future dunk king Jason Richardson and Battier dunked together in two baskets, but in the end Richardson collapsed on the ground tired, and Battier went to perform on the other side of the basket.
It can be seen that Battier's physical strength is outstanding, but today Liu Han still made Battier spend too much strength.
The game was not decided until the final moments, Liu Han hit consecutive three-pointers with two minutes left in the fourth quarter to help the Mavericks narrow the gap to four points, but in the last two minutes, it was Sean Battier who made a steady shot to help the Grizzlies stabilize the situation.
In the end, the Mavericks lost 108-101 to the Grizzlies on the road, and their ten-game winning streak ambition turned into a moon in the water and a flower in the mirror.
Although Liu Han scored a big triple-double again in this game, he couldn't stop the team from losing, in the current league, one person's strength is indeed too limited, and what is needed in the confrontation is more and more motivating, and the tactics are more and more refined in the game.