Chapter 18: The Battle of the Spurs
After Parsons returned to the season, the management was also cautious about the use of Parsons, back-to-back, playing less than 20 minutes per game on average, and giving enough respect, the 34 games played, all of them were starters, but Parsons only played less than 20 minutes per game, and was only able to score 6.2 points, shooting 33.8% from the field and 26.9% from three-point range......
In fact, the injury is actually okay, after all, playing in the NBA, it is too normal to be injured, train hard, recuperate well, and Lao Tzu will be a good man again a year later, but the key is that Parsons is in the injury stage, lace news frequently breaks out, either going on a date or going on vacation This irresponsible attitude makes Grizzlies management and fans extremely angry with Parsons.
Parsons isn't the Grizzlies' only takeaway this season, and on July 10, the Grizzlies signed Troy Daniels to a three-year, $10 million contract.
Daniels is 193 cm tall, 26 years old, in his playing years, has not suffered major injuries, and plays with a good attitude. is a qualified three-point shooter, with a career three-point shooting rate of more than 4 percent, but the shortcomings are also obvious, basically no ability to hold the ball, can only play the second position, limited by height, insufficient contribution on the defensive end, easy to be targeted by opponents, but overall, Daniels played well as a bench shooter in the Grizzlies, playing an average of 17.7 minutes per game, scoring 8.2 points, and shooting 38.9% from three-point range.
Randolph, the Grizzlies' original first firepower, was placed on the bench for the first time this season because of his age. Averaged only 24.5 minutes per game and scored 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds, as can be seen from the data, although Randolph was sent to the bench, he is still the most important firepower point of the Grizzlies, just to allow Randolph to focus more on the offensive end, and the fourth position to start with Xiao Jia is Jermichael Green, 206 cm tall, is a draft pick, has been working hard for the Grizzlies for two years, has been a substitute for the previous two years, was promoted to the starter this year, and is a muscle* player who occasionally has a small mid-range shot.
Conley evolved again on the original basis after getting a big contract, averaging a career-high 20.5 points and 6.3 assists per game, shooting 45.9% from the field and 40.7% from three-point range, on January 30, 2017, the Grizzlies challenged the Suns away, facing Bledsoe, the potential guard that the Suns focused on cultivating, Kang used 18 of 12 three-pointers to score a career-high 38 points of 7 of 10 to teach Bledsoe a good lesson, and Bledsoe scored 14 points on 3 of 11 shots, There were 4 assists and 6 turnovers. On March 29, 2017, the Grizzlies beat the Pacers at home, Conley scored 36 points, 6 assists and 4 steals on 13-of-21 from the field and 7-of-12 from three-point range, while Pacers starting guard Jeff Teague scored 4 points and 5 assists on 2-of-6 from the field. On April 7, Conley gave Knicks guard Justin Holiday another lesson, Conley scored 31 points and 6 assists on 12-of-17 three-pointers, and Holiday scored 12 points and 2 assists on 5-of-13 three-pointers.
Conley played 69 games in the regular season this season, of which 10 games were 30+ points, and in Conley's first nine years of career, Conley scored 30+ points in a total of only 5 games, which can actually be reflected from the side, Conley has actually become the first firepower point of the Grizzlies starting lineup.
Xiao Jia is still the Grizzlies' Optimus Prime this season, Xiao Jia suffered an injury with a fracture of his right foot last season, and in the offseason, he strengthened his skills in the back of the inside, and undertook the firepower of Randolph's absence, and played a very good season, averaging 19.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, Gasol Jr. not only has to bear the heavy responsibility of the interior offense, but also the core of the team's transfer organization offense, and the 26.4% usage rate this season has exceeded that of any previous year!
On December 8, 2016, the Grizzlies narrowly defeated the Trail Blazers by 2 points, the game was extremely intense, and in the last five minutes of the last five minutes, Xiao Jia scored 9 points in 4 of 4 to help the Grizzlies defeat the opponent, and Xiao Jia scored 36 points in 13 of 24 in the whole game, only 2 points away from the highest score of his career. On December 21, the Grizzlies defeated the Pistons 98-86, and Jr. faced Drummond and scored 14 of 17 career points! Lead the Grizzlies to a rebounding scramble with all their bodies out!
On January 21, 2017, the Grizzlies lost to the Rockets at home, and Xiao Jia scored 32 points in 12 of 20 in the game, and the next game will always come, and Xiao Jia faced the Raptors Big White Bear Valanciunas scored a career-high 42 points in 14 of 25 games! And at the last minute of the game, Valanciunas made two free throws, both of which ensured the team's final victory! In the third game, facing the Trail Blazers to play center Plumlee, Xiao plus 12 of 21 scored 32 points again, completing the feat of scoring 30+ in three consecutive games!
On December 5, 2016, the Grizzlies defeated the Pelicans in double overtime, and the Grizzlies scored 28 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in the triple-double data, on March 16, the Grizzlies defeated the Hawks, and the Grizzlies faced Dwight Howard, the former league's No. 1 interior liner, and responded with the third triple-double of his second career in the season, 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Such an outstanding performance also made Xiao Jia an All-Star for the third time in his career.
In terms of coach, Jogger was laid off again because of conflicts with the management, and the relationship with the core of the team Xiaojia and Conley was not good, the main reason is that in the three years that Jogel led the team, he relied too much on the team's framework players, and did not find decent young players. Judging from the resume, Fitzdale used to work as an assistant coach in the Hawks for 4 years, and worked as a chief assistant coach in the Heat for 8 years, and the main task is to guide the development of young players in the team.
This season, the Grizzlies bench Brydon White only played 28 games, and because of left ankle surgery, the season was basically reimbursed, and the playoff comeback did not help the Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies still brought the team to the playoffs because of the excellent play of Jr. and Conley, 43-39, seventh in the West, and reached the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year, and met the old enemy again, the San Antonio Spurs, in the first round.
The Spurs have perfectly survived the era of Duncan's retirement at this time, the team has rebuilt the team based on Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, with a series of capable role players, and won an excellent 61-21 record in the regular season, and is known as the only team in the West that can compete with the Warriors, while the Grizzlies suffered a setback, the team's chief defensive gate, and Tony Allen, the best player against Leonard, was unable to play in the first round because of a calf strain.
In the first game, the Grizzlies lost to the Spurs 82:111, although Xiaoplus scored 32 points in 11 of 18, but his teammates did not give him the support of small strength, and Conley, it doesn't matter if he plays others, he just can't play Parker, Conley scored 13 points and 7 assists in 5 of 14, and Parker scored 20 points in 8 of 12, in fact, this is not the most critical, in the end, it is the Spurs' small forward Leonard who scored 32 points in 11 of 14, and the Grizzlies were originally in the third position is a pit, and they also met the opponent's strong point, Originally, Mr. Too was the most suitable candidate, but Mr. To's injury was also injured, it's a big deal, it's not surprising that the Grizzlies lost the huge gap in the No. 3 position, and Leonard was unstoppable in the second game, with 37 points and 11 rebounds in 9-of-14 free throws and 19-of-19 free throws, while the Grizzlies' starting second and third positions were 40-year-old Carter and temporary worker Wayne Seldon, who had only played a total of 14 games in his career at the time, the latter was young and strong, mainly defending Leonard, Leonard scored 69 points in two games, and Selden scored a total of 5 points in two games, the shooting percentage was 2 of 10 shots......
In the third game, Fitzdale took the initiative to change the lineup, removed Jermichael Green, went to Randolph, removed the unbearable Selden at the third position, and replaced it with another temporary worker James Ennis, who played in the Heat before, came to the Grizzlies with the trade of Chris Anderson last year, but was cut by the Grizzlies, and was later signed by the Pelicans, but the Pelicans did not keep him at the end of the season, and finally he was signed by the Grizzlies for 2 years and 6 million last summer.
Ennis is physically strong, although the offense is not very good, but at least he can limit Leonard on the defensive end, this recruitment has a miraculous effect, Leonard is not magical, 6 of 11 in the game "only" scored 18 points, and the Grizzlies once again regained the power of the black and white bears, Conley, Randolph, and Xiao plus contributed 20+ to lead the Grizzlies to defeat the Spurs 105-94 and pull one back.
In the fourth game, the Grizzlies, who had eaten the sweetness, continued to use the lineup of the previous game, and Randolph and Xiaojia fought frantically on the inside to kill the Spurs inside, and the Spurs also took the initiative to change the formation, removing the big center Diamond, and David Lee desperately went around Randolph to prevent Randolph from receiving the ball, in the first half of the game, Leonard scored 15 points under the crazy attack of the Grizzlies, Parker scored 14 points, and although the Grizzlies did not play well with the two bears, Conley scored 14 points, Carter shot down 3 three-pointers and scored 11 points, Led the Grizzlies to a 55-51 lead over the Spurs at halftime!
In the third quarter, it was extremely difficult for both teams to score points, the Grizzlies played 19:20 Spurs, no one could pull the score away, and in the tenth minute of the fourth quarter, Conley first made a small throw, and then David Lee made a basket without a score, and Daniels came back with a long-range three-pointer against Ginobili, and threw in! 79:71! The Grizzlies took the biggest lead of the game! Spurs had to call a timeout!
After the pause, Aldridge hit the teacher with his back, didn't push twice, and turned over and made a jumper! Conley's layup attracted a two-man attack from Mills and Aldridge, the ball popped up in the basket, and Randolph poked his finger under the basket and poked the ball into the basket! Parker forced Conley to score, Conley held the ball and counterattacked and made a layup! At 83:73, the Grizzlies opened the score gap again, and there were seven and a half minutes left in the game! The Spurs called a timeout again, and when the timeout came back, Leonard drew the bag and distributed the ball to Danny Green, who cut in on the left, after Green missed two three-pointers, but this one didn't shoot a three-pointer, but cut into the air and pulled the ball up! And it also caused Ennis to foul and hit a free throw! Ennis missed a three-pointer and Parker broke through for a foul and made both free throws to narrow the score to 78-83.
In the ensuing offense, Carter's throw was blocked by Aldridge, and Parker singled out, offering a killer spinning top in rapid acceleration, scoring two points, and the Grizzlies only led the Spurs by 3 points at 83:80! After the Spurs scored 7:0*, the Grizzlies took a timeout.
After the timeout, Carter couldn't break through, but he grabbed the rebound in the front court and hit the basket! Parker hit Conley strongly, he couldn't shoot in the drift, Conley faced Aldridge after the small block, the other teammates all pulled away, and Conley directly pulled out a three-point shot! The Grizzlies have another 8-point lead! There are still 5 minutes left until the end of the fourth quarter! However, at this time, a big player in the Spurs team broke out silently! He's Leonard!
In the last five minutes, Leonard played a god-like performance!
The Grizzlies continued to block and dismantle high, and Conley faced Aldridge again, but this time Conley chose to break through the pass, but the passing route was predicted by Leonard, and after the steal, he went to the front court to face Jermichael Green, who pounced, and hit a three-pointer! Carter fouled on offense, and Leonard stepped on a small step into the interior to cause a small foul and hit both free throws. Then Leonard directly cut off the ball in Ennis's hand, and scored it under the basket quickly, causing Ennis to foul!
Free throws, free throws, Leonard single-handedly equalized the score at 88:88!
Then the Grizzlies twin towers made a mistake, and Xiao Jia's pass went directly out of bounds, and when he turned around, Leonard faced Xiao Jia's straight long arm and Carter, who flew over, and directly pulled out three points! Hit!
At this time, there were two and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Leonard scored 11 points alone, leading the Spurs to a 91-88 victory over the Grizzlies!
Mills missed a three-point shot, and Conley counterattacked causing Leonard to foul and hit both free throws to help the Grizzlies narrow the score to 1 point! Then the Grizzlies changed their strategy, used Carter to defend Leonard and got on the power, forcing Leonard to a dead corner, plus a small bag, Leonard hurriedly passed the ball to Parker, Parker couldn't break through with the ball, Carter broke through with the ball and passed the ball to Randolph, Randolph easily put the basket and succeeded! Grizzlies 92-91 over Spurs!
With one minute left in the game, who can stand up for the Spurs! Or Leonard! Three-pointer on the left side of the shot! Individually, he scored 14 points in a row! The Grizzlies fell behind by 2 points at 92:94 in an instant! Small reinforcement attack Aldridge, causing a foul, steady hit, 94 draw! There are 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter! The race has entered the white-hot stage!
Leonard singled Jermichael Green, leaned back with a stop-and-go break on the right side and shot the ball into the basket! I've seen this action with Jordan, I've seen it with Kobe, and I've seen it again with Leonard today! Leonard in the fourth quarter was like a god, scoring 16 points in a row to lead the Spurs to bite the Grizzlies! The Grizzlies are two points behind with 12 seconds left! The most critical moment! The grizzly bears didn't coax either! It was Conley who stepped forward!
The Grizzlies used the strongest defense Leonard against Conley, the Grizzlies' main scoring point, Troy Daniels came up to block Conley, after Conley used the block and dismantled, Daniels immediately pulled outside the left three-point line, Leonard was afraid of Daniels' three-point firepower, and did not make up for Conley, Conley faced Parker, threw the ball directly, and threw the ball into the basket!
96 flat!
With Leonard arc top single Ennis no, the match went into overtime!
At the beginning of overtime, Parker single-handedly Danny Green hung all the way to the bottom of the floor and scored 2 points on the inside layup, and in turn, Parker single-handedly beat Randolph and scored a layup! Conley broke through Aldridge's pass to Ennis, who caused a foul on David Lee and hit both free throws! Aldridge singled Randolph and made a mid-range jumper! The two sides are not lively when you come and go!
Then both teams maintained super high defensive efficiency, and the decline in physical strength also made a lot of undeserved low-level mistakes on both sides, Parker's dribble to the foot, Randolph's pass to Xiaojia directly out of bounds, both sides were unable to score for two minutes, and it was Leonard who stood up to break the deadlock!
Singles Ennis in the middle line, stops and shoots to pick up Ennis, and makes a backward jumper! With 2 minutes left in the game, Spurs lead by 2 points!
At this time, the game changed dramatically, Conley's pass was stealed by Parker, the French sports car went all the way to the floor oil on the floor and hit the front court in five gears, cutting into Mills, the Spurs frontcourt two to one, the Grizzlies only one person retreated, the guard Andrew Harris, who is 198 tall, is still a rookie this year, but Harris actually blocked Mills's layup with one defense and two defenses, and then Ennis got the rebound and threw it to Conley near the halfline, Conley did not stop the ball, and immediately passed it to Xiaojia, who had not yet run half the court, Xiao Jia took the ball all the way to the Spurs inside, and after making physical contact with David Lee, David Lee was knocked down, and Xiao Jia bowed and threw the ball! The whistle blows, the ball goes in! Two plus one!
Small plus hit a free throw, and the Grizzlies led by one point!
Leonard's subsequent attack was defended by Ennis, and Conley once again made a killer move! Parker scored a breakaway throw, and with 47 seconds left in the game, the Grizzlies led by 3 points! Then Leonard made a mistake, simply dribbled under the crotch, and actually dribbled the ball out of bounds, Conley broke through to kill Leonard, causing the latter to foul and make one of two free throws! With 30 seconds left in the game, the Grizzlies lead by 4 points! Then Mills made a mistake on the dribble, but fortunately protected the ball, Bertans passed the ball to Leonard in the middle line, Leonard directly pulled up a three-pointer and hit!
With 22 seconds left in the game, the Grizzlies only led by one point, and the Spurs had to use foul tactics, Andrew Harrison hit both free throws, and the Grizzlies led by three points again! But then, it was Leonard! In Mills' transmission, Leonard found an opportunity outside the left three-point line and made a decisive three-point shot!
"Brush!"
It's in again! What a godlike Leonard! The score of the two sides is tied at 108! There are 12 seconds left in the game, but the Grizzlies have the ball! The Grizzlies called a timeout, but did not arrange any complicated tactics, that is, Gasol Jr. singled Aldridge, Conley took the ball in the high position and threw the ball to Aldridge near the free throw line, and Jr. took a step in the face of Aldridge, jumped up directly, and threw the ball out with half throw and half throw!
"Brush!"
Entered! There are only 0.7 seconds left in the game! Small plus lore Spurs!
In the whole game, the god-like Leonard scored 43 points on 14-of-30 shooting and 7-of-10 three-pointers, Parker scored 22 points on 9-of-19, and Conley scored 35 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists on 13-of-23, and finally hardened up in the face of Parker, and Xiaojia, who contributed to the lore, scored 16 points and 12 rebounds, Carter, Randolph, and Jermichael Green's scores all reached double digits! Leonard had a great night, but he still lost to Xiao Jia's final kill!
In the first two games of the playoffs, the Grizzlies struggled to pull back two games after falling behind 0:2, and in this round of games, who will go to the end!