In the past offseason, the Thunder's recruitment, tactical changes, and playing time changes can be said to be very successful in these three aspects.

The addition of Dion Waiters and Morrow adds a single-player sixth man and a top shooter to the Thunder bench, making the Thunder's offense more diverse.

The tactical changes on the defensive end are mainly the card position strategy of collectively grabbing defensive rebounds, so that the Thunder can get the league's highest average of 36.5 defensive rebounds per game, which is more than the Grizzlies' average of 35.5 defensive rebounds per game, and the Grizzlies rely on more offensive rebounds to rank first in the rebounds per game list with an average of 47 rebounds per game, and they have 0.5 more rebounds per game than the Thunder.

Being able to defend so many defensive rebounds means that the Thunder have a high defensive success rate!

The timing of the game is the most critical, allowing Durant to be on full fire during the playing time, allowing the Thunder to maintain a very good offensive success rate in their very traditional slow-paced offense and defense.

These changes are either for other teams, or for the Spurs and Grizzlies, two teams that played briskly last season, and the most important of them is for the Grizzlies, who have lost more than they won over the past few years.

Judging from the change of the Thunder for most of the first half, they used to play the Grizzlies in a rather unfavorable situation for most of the time, and tonight they played well, with the score tied in the first 18 minutes, and also relied on Durant's opportunity to rest for almost 9 minutes of the first half to lead the Grizzlies by two points at halftime.

However, Durant feels that the most critical link in their change has lost its effect!

Durant didn't really relieve physical exertion through the 9-minute game time at the first half break, that is, 17 minutes of game time + timeout, dead-ball time, and intermission time.

This is unexpected, if it was last season, the Grizzlies except for Tony Allen could limit him, and no one else, including Paul George, could limit him too much, in that case, he could rest for that long at halftime and stay in shape for longer in the second half.

This is the most important of their three changes.

However, their changes have become useless because of the improvement of Sun Ce's single defense!

The Grizzlies have become stronger as a whole, and the Thunder have also become stronger, if his reduced playing time in Durant can really help him relieve physical exertion, the Thunder have a high probability of beating the Grizzlies in a win-lose game, even if it is a best-of-7 system, the Thunder have a hope of winning the series.

But just because Sun Ce was alone, the improvement brought by their changes was neutralized.

This gave Durant, who was not very strong in his mentality and even had a glass heart, a great sense of frustration.

Coming back in the second half, the third quarter began, and the Grizzlies sent a combination of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Richard Jefferson, and Yi Jianlian to fight for offense.

On the Thunder's side, the lineup of Reggie Jackson, Morrow, Lamb, Durant, and Ibaka played.

Thunder head coach Scott Brooks had a good anticipation of the Grizzlies' rotation this time, and it was clear that the Grizzlies were ready to rush with an offensive lineup in the third quarter.

Durant and Ibaka each had an 8-9 minute break in the first half, and it's normal for them to play 38 to 40 minutes against an opponent like the Grizzlies, who have played less time in most games this season than they did last season, in order to reduce consumption in their usual games and allow them to play more time when they encounter strong opponents.

The Grizzlies lineup is more difficult to prevent, although the playoffs are not very easy to use, but the regular season is really strong, last season relied on this combination to rush to the fourth place in the West, so the Thunder must also have to replace the best shooting lineup, in the case of Morrow and Lamb can open up space, use the personal ability of Durant, Reggie Jackson, Ibaka and the Grizzlies to contend with.

Durant is also working hard, in the first half of the third quarter, Sun Ce on the Grizzlies' side didn't care about his physical strength tonight, and he rushed wildly for more than 8 minutes with 11 points and 3 assists, helping the Grizzlies score 22 points, Durant also led the team to carry it, he scored 10 points personally, helping the team score 21 points in 8 minutes, and the Thunder still led the Grizzlies by 1 point 76-75.

But in the last 4 minutes of the third quarter, after the Thunder called a timeout and the two teams switched to the regular lineup, the Thunder had a big problem!

The combination of Westbrook, Andre Robertson, Durant, Ibaka, and Adams was beaten by the Grizzlies' lineup of Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Pierce, Randolph, and Larry Sanders!

Durant Liang Xu was blocked by Sun Ce twice, and the Grizzlies came back from a timeout with a wave of 5-0, Sun Ce scored a counterattack dunk, and Klay Thompson scored a counterattack to chase three points.

80-76, after this wave of counterattacks, the Grizzlies overtook the Thunder by 4 points!

Sun Ce's two successful defenses obviously felt that Durant, who scored 29 points before the end of the third quarter, had a serious decline in physical exertion, shooting feeling, and decisively contracted to help Klay Thompson and Randolph prevent Westbrook from breaking through, and also covered Andre Roberson's cut, Westbrook gave it to Durant, and Durant was empty three-pointer!

Sun Ce grabbed the defensive rebound, rushed to the front court with an unacceptable start from the opponent, Klay Thompson hit a three-point shot just now, and the probability of 80% triggered the splash for his grandson, Sun Ce chased three points and ignored the shooting impact of the emergency stop, and Klay Thompson completed a three-point two-point shot, playing a wave of 8-0!

83-76, the Grizzlies led by 7 points, and the Thunder called a timeout again!

But this timeout only strengthened their role on the defensive end, and the offensive end stagnated, and the Grizzlies replaced Pierce with Tony Allen during the timeout, with the Splash Brothers, Larry Sanders and Randolph's interior combination, and the Thunder played a wave of 2-1 scores in the last two minutes or so, the Grizzlies only relied on Randolph's offensive rebounds to foul and hit both free throws, and the Thunder only had Adams hit one of the two free throws, and after the third quarter, the Grizzlies led the Thunder by 8 points 85-77!

……

Although Durant scored 29 points in the third quarter and shot 11 of 18, Tony Allen and Sun Ce didn't defend it, but they didn't let Durant get too many free throws, only 4 of 5 free throws, 3 of which were fouls caused by Paul George's defense, the key is that Durant's shooting percentage was 11 of 15 shots, and he hit 11 of 18 shots, and in the last 4 minutes of the third quarter, Durant's shot was 0 of 3!

Just like him before this season, no matter how accurate he shot when he had enough physical strength in front of him, once his physical strength declined, he played and played, and the shooting percentage was less than 5.

And this, in the eyes of the TV commentator, is the role played by Sun Ce's defense, which offset the advantage that Durant brought to the Thunder team in the first half for 9 minutes!

From the second half of the second quarter, although Durant shot accurately most of the time, shooting 3 of 5 in the second half of the second quarter, and 4 of 5 in the first 8 minutes of the third quarter, once his physical strength declined, Durant's shooting performance had an avalanche trend.

After entering the intermission, as early as 10 minutes and 16 seconds into the third quarter, the caddie who was instructed by Sun Ce at the timeout had already prepared the jersey for Sun Ce.

As a result, Westbrook saw the last thing he wanted to see - Sun Ce changed his jersey on the spot!

Watching a group of people surround Sun Ce and wipe his sweat with a towel, now even the hot towel is ready, hand the jersey to the hand...... Westbrook was not good.

He got 15 points, 6 boards, 9 assists and 2 steals in the third quarter, and his performance was good, and Durant played very well, but their excellent physical distribution after adjusting their condition and running in this season was broken by Sun Ce!

And Sun Ce's side...... Looking at Sun Ce, who was refreshed after changing his jersey and seemed to have just started the game, Westbrook felt a trace of despair!

With 17 points in a single quarter, plus 17 points in the first half, Sun Ce played 29 minutes in the third quarter and scored 34 points, 9 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

This performance is terrible!

Some retired celebrities have analyzed that Sun Ce's three-point shooting is not as good as Klay Thompson and Curry, his mid-range shooting is not as good as Durant, Nowitzki, and Kobe, and his offense under the basket is not as good as James, Ellis, Rose, and Westbrook...... But Sun Ce is top-notch in every aspect - in the eyes of others, the top level that Sun Ce has played through skill bonuses is Sun Ce's personal ability.

Such a Sun Ce, once COSCO has a feel, it is simply impossible to prevent it!

The intermission time passed quickly in Westbrook's somewhat flustered thoughts, the Thunder's side, Durant had to be replaced for a few minutes of rest, given that Durant and Ibaka have been injured in the past two seasons, Scott Brooks's use of Durant has also changed, it is time to rest, eat a trench and grow wise, he replaced Westbrook with a combination of Morrow, Lamb, Perry Jones, and Ibaka, all of whom have the ability to shoot, allowing Westbrook to play breakout points like James.

However, Westbrook came on the court to see the combination of Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Klay Thompson, Paul George, and Gobert.

The Grizzlies don't use Randolph and Aldridge's twin towers and start playing!

After a season, Westbrook still misses seeing the classic rogue combination of the Grizzlies' two-game championship period again...... What a fart!

How can this be fought!

……

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, relying on Sun Ce and Paul George's speed of switching defenses, relying on Tony Allen's defense against Westbrook, relying on Klay Thompson's pursuit of Morrow, and relying on Gobert's basket guard, the Grizzlies allowed the Thunder to score only one sports goal in more than 5 minutes, and only scored 5 points.

The Thunder's substitutions also came quickly, Andre Roberson and Adams were on the board quickly, and the Grizzlies just defended, and the Grizzlies only scored 8 points in more than 5 minutes, but that was enough!

At 93-82, the Grizzlies' lead extended to 11 points!

6 of these 8 points were scored by Sun Ce, Sun Ce relied on physical fitness medicine to return to the physical state at the beginning of the game, and rushed desperately, although he only shot 1 of 5, but there were 6 free throws, 4 of 6 free throws, which improved his data to 40 points, 13 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 4 steals!

The 11-point difference is not big, but it depends on who the opponent is, and tonight's opponent of the Thunder is the Grizzlies who have regained their defensive state!

The most important thing is that Durant's side may be well rested, but Ibaka, who played 34 minutes, is also tired, and he has two open shots just now!

In this situation, Scott Brooks did not let Durant play as hard as he did in previous years, but replaced Durant and Ibaka to rest, and let Westbrook take the combination of Morrow, Lamb, Perry Jones, and Adams to fight for a wave of three-pointers.

Sun Ce feels that the Thunder's substitutions are actually good in the long run, the health of the forward line of Ibaka and Durant is more important to the Thunder than anything else, Westbrook can make the Thunder guarantee a playoff level, but Westbrook and Paul have similar functions and cannot play a decisive role in the outcome of the game.

But for tonight's game, the Thunder's side has already given up half of it, and now Scott Brooks' idea, in Sun Ce's view, is to bet on Westbrook's breakout, the shooting touch of the Thunder's perimeter players and Adams' offensive rebounding.

And they're the Grizzlies...... Coach Hollins didn't adjust to an offensive lineup at all because the Thunder might replace Durant and continue to defend himself!

The combination of Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Klay Thompson, Randolph, and Larry Sanders came on the court and carried the defense to the end!

……

When the Grizzlies and Thunder played 85-77 after the third quarter, fans in front of the TV, in front of their mobile phones, and in front of their computers thought that tonight would be another game that was very regular this season, with both teams scoring about 110 points, even if Durant didn't go to Westbrook with a pitcher and a tower, they also thought so, and the TV commentator also predicted this, they felt that Durant would play at least after the official timeout in the fourth quarter.

However, the Grizzlies slapped the commentator in the face again, and didn't care at all whether the team's meritorious coach Hubby Brown, who had just blown Sun Ce's entire game, had a sore face...... With a score of 16-15 in a single quarter, the Grizzlies defeated the Thunder 101-92!

The Grizzlies, who have averaged 116.5 points per game and conceded 105 points per game so far this season, played another game tonight with a super low score for their season.

The Grizzlies only scored 8 points in the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, and only scored 8 points in the next 7 minutes, but successfully limited the Thunder's scoring to 15 points in a single quarter!

Durant is not there and even Ibaka has been replaced, even if Westbrook is so strong, there is no stable scoring point, Morrow shoots accurately, but it is not a stable scoring point, he does not have the ability to find opportunities as well as Durant and Ibaka, Klay Thompson defends him to death.

Westbrook's lack of one-man leadership to beat the top teams has once again been exposed.

However, not many people think that Westbrook is not good, each player has his own characteristics, and there are very few cases of all-rounders like Sun Ce, even Jordan, who switched to a puzzle-type play, which is similar to Durant's style of play, and led his teammates to win the championship with Pippen.

Players similar to Sun Ce are mostly unlucky, two famous examples are Anfernee Hardaway and Tracy McGrady, these two do not have such a long peak period, and they do not have as good teammates as Sun Ce, but the characteristics are still relatively similar, but neither of them has really succeeded, so players like Sun Ce are a special case.

A core combination like Westbrook + Durant + Ibaka + Adams is already a perfect match, and it has played really well this season.

But the better the Thunder team played after the run-in this season, the more it set off how well Sun Ce played in tonight's game!

43 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 5 steals in a single game...... As well as 5 fouls and 4 turnovers, the alternative 6 times 5!

Su Qun of the imperial court station laughed and said that Sun Ce had one less mistake, he felt that his obsessive-compulsive disorder had been committed, and Sun Ce almost got the second "7 times 5" in his career.

It's too fierce! played such a performance in 39 minutes of playing time, although Sun Ce had a small half block, steals, and rebounds in the fourth quarter when Durant was away, Sun Ce's defense against Durant in the second half of the second quarter and the third quarter was amazing!

Durant's shooting percentage is very high, but Sun Ce's attrition role is something that no one else on the Grizzlies team can do, even Tony Allen and Paul George, two players who have been selected for the first defense, can't do it!

Combined with Sun Ce's single-defense efficiency in the point guard position this season...... Although most of the time the point guard is not his defense, he guards other position role players, but people's evaluation is like this, a high-light defense, with such defensive efficiency, his best defensive player call skyrocketed overnight!

Of course, the most important thing is the record, the Grizzlies have won 23 consecutive games at the beginning!

……

"Because the number of hosts in a single game 5 times 5 times reached 7, breaking the all-time record of 6 times 5 times 5 in a single game held by Hakim Olajuwon, congratulations to the host for receiving the achievement reward: Hakim Olajuwon 5 times 5 in a single game to perform a chapter of the Random Season Star Experience Card this season."

After the game, Sun Ce couldn't immediately see a few system prompts that popped up, after such a popular game, he was surrounded by the media and asked for a long time, coped with it for a while, and returned to the locker room to take a shower and hurry up, the first one is the achievement reward.

Sun Ce remembers that the period when Olajuwon got the data of 5 times 5 was concentrated between the 86-87 season and the 93-94 season, which was the peak period of Olajuwon! It was the peak of his 5 double-firsts!

Looking at the two big dream cards in the prop space, Sun Ce fell into deep thought......

What is this implying here? Implying that my grandson got 25 consecutive victories and got the blessing of a random legendary superstar to draw a center card? Don't! Big dreams can be learned from him for money! ”