In the 2012-2013 season, the Grizzlies reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time in history, and their opponent was the San Antonio Spurs, and two years ago, the Grizzlies beat the Spurs, but two years later, the Spurs were completely different from before.

Two years ago, Danny Green, who was deeply tapped by the Spurs for defensive and 3-point skills, became the team's starting No. 2 position, and last year, Popovich traded George Hill for the physically strong and defensive Kawhi Leonard, who quickly became the team's starting No. 3 and focused on the opponent's main firepower, but these are not the biggest changes for the Spurs, his biggest change is in the style of play.

Two years ago, the Spurs catered to the small-ball style, let Duncan, the core of many years, play center, and put Ginobili as the starter, so as to speed up the team, but Popovich quickly found that this style of play was not suitable for the Spurs, so Popovich made drastic reforms, re-playing the position he had held for many years, and put Split as the starting center to play, Duncan returned to the power forward, Ginobili continued to substitute, and at the same time focused the ball on Tony Parker, Parker led the offense, and the Spurs gave up the small ball storm, Returning to what they do best – positional offense and defense – has reinvigorated the Spurs this season, knocking out the Lakers with Kobe, Daga, Howard, and Nash and the Warriors with Curry, Thompson, and Bogert in the playoffs to reach the Western Conference Finals again.

Grizzlies and Spurs, both in terms of style of play and configuration, are extremely similar, the offensive end falls into the position to attack, round by round grinding, on the defensive end, because of Leonard's existence, the Spurs are better than the Grizzlies in the defensive cut, the home game is destined to be a meat grinder-level game, by the way, this round of the series is also the NBA history, the lowest rated round of the division finals, there is no outside magic three-point cannon, no energetic dunk against the sky, and even no hot pot that covers the sky, There is only a long rhythm of the game and a one-on-one positional attack, which makes the audience really not interested.

Judging from the Grizzlies' playoff history this year, the Grizzlies are used to slow heating, the first two rounds of games, the Grizzlies lost, and head coach Hollins is used to playing with the opponent in his own way in the first game, playing and playing, and then pondering the opponent's shortcomings to supplement, to put it bluntly, it is still a little lacking in decision-making ability.

In the first game, the Grizzlies still lost tepidly, and what is more crazy is that Hollins asked to pinch Duncan all over the court, in order to prevent Duncan from playing dominance on the inside, so as to stimulate the Spurs' outside shooter group, but now the Spurs, the starting point of their offense is no longer Duncan, but Parker, but unfortunately, Hollins used a loss to see this.

Grizzlies 83:105 lost to the Spurs in the first game, here I have to praise the Spurs center Split again, Split nicknamed "Brazilian tough guy", 211 cm tall, although it doesn't look very strong, but in fact, it is very powerful, is a high-quality interior cannon fodder, and Split is not slow to move at all, and he is very good at cutting and blocking and dismantling, although he does not have any outstanding performance in blocking due to physical fitness, but he is interfering with the timing of the opponent's shooting, and he grasps it very well, In addition to Split, there is another person in the Spurs interior line who has to be mentioned, that is, Boris Dior, Randolph is fat, Dior is even fatter, although he is only 203 cm tall, but his strong body is a station on the inside, even if he is born with divine power, Randolph can't move, he can only make frequent mid-range jumpers, it just so happens that Randolph doesn't feel good in this game, he only scored 2 points in 1 of 8 shots, Bombsett scored 17 points is already the highest score in the team, on the other hand, Parker scored 20 points and 9 assists in 9 of 14, Led the Spurs to a 105-83 victory over the Grizzlies.

After losing the game in the first slow game, in the second game, the Grizzlies ushered in a recovery, and the Grizzlies lost to the Spurs by 12 points at 64:76 in the first three quarters, but in the last quarter, Randolph frequently shot from mid-range to help the Grizzlies play a wave of 21:9 attack waves, Conley made a layup in the last 18 seconds, equalized the score, and the two teams went into overtime, but in overtime, Duncan made a mid-range shot and made 3 shots in overtime, scored 6 points, and led the Spurs to beat the Grizzlies again 93:89. Conley and Bayless both scored 18 points, but the shooting percentage was not high, only 12 of 32 shots, Randolph scored 15 points and 18 rebounds, Gasol contributed 12 points and 14 rebounds, Grizzlies rebounds 60:46 Spurs, frontcourt rebounds 19:4 Spurs, the Grizzlies on the inside can almost be said to have stolen the Spurs, but the Spurs have Parker, Parker revitalized the team with his career-high 18 assists in the playoffs, making the Spurs' shooting rate of 43.4% much higher than the Grizzlies' 34%.

It was only at this time that Hollins discovered that it turned out that the most difficult thing for the Spurs to deal with was not Duncan, but Parker.

In a sense, Parker back then was like Curry later, the two were basically the same tactically, which can be regarded as Warriors coach Steve Kerr inherited the essence of Master Popovich, although Parker's three-point shot is not very accurate, but there is a killer feature of a distance pull-up jump shot, he is extremely fast, strong breakthrough ability, on the defensive end, Conley alone can't control Parker alone, and needs to be pinched by Mr. To's defense from time to time, but as soon as Mr. To's pinch shot, there was a hole in the Grizzlies' defense, will give the Spurs a chance to the outside, if Parker rushes into the inside, Randolph and Xiaojia will attack, and Duncan and Split will be given a chance, both of them are very strong finishing interior players and will not let go of any opportunity, and Parker and Duncan's blocking and dismantling is the Spurs' nirvana, making it very difficult for the Grizzlies to defend either one.

The killer feature of the Spurs, in fact, is not only the Grizzlies, any team in the league has a headache, and can't find any good solution, Kerr will also use this trick in the early stage of coaching the Warriors, so that Curry and Bogut can block and dismantle, which was also insolvable at the time, but then let the new coach Tyronn Lue see through, that is, rotate the defense, let James single Curry, and the result is a ......

But at this time, there is no one in the Grizzlies team who has an outside player who holds the ball and tears apart the opposing defense.

In the third game, the Grizzlies still have no way to block Parker and Duncan, and the Spurs Ginobili also made a move, scoring 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and the Grizzlies only hope that Parker can tear up the defense line with Conley's single, but even if Conley succeeds, the Spurs will not pinch Conley, and the Grizzlies still rely on the advantage of the black and white bears on the inside, and the two teams played 86 in the regular season and entered overtime.

In overtime, on the bench, Duncan stood up, shook his shoulders, stretched his hips, and said,

"It's time for the old man's show again......"

Duncan first scored 2 points in the middle of the shot, and then scored 5 points in a row in the second plus one of the small plus, the Grizzlies had to pinch Duncan again, and gave Split a chance, the latter got 3 open shots in overtime, all shots, and finally the Spurs defeated the Grizzlies for the third time 104:93, Parker still had a good play, 26 points and 5 assists in 11 of 22, but there were 7 turnovers, Duncan scored 24 points in 11 of 19, and Split scored 11 points and 6 rebounds on 5 shots, And Grizzlies Conley only 20 points, 4 assists and 5 steals on 8-of-21 shooting, and the Black and White Bears scored 30 points on 12-of-32 shooting, grabbed 30 rebounds, including 14 offensive rebounds, the Spurs have a huge advantage on the inside, but it is difficult to be inefficient Grizzlies 39% and Spurs 50^%, as much as 11% shooting rate difference!

In the fourth game, the Grizzlies lost, or lost to Parker, Parker beat Conley all over the court, scoring the fourth-highest 37 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in the playoffs on 15-of-21 shooting, while the Grizzlies only Bombset played well, scoring 22 points on 7-of-111 shooting, and everyone else played unsatisfactory, and was finally defeated by the Spurs 86:93, and was eliminated by the Spurs with a score of 0:4.

In the whole series, Parker is the unspeakable pain of the Grizzlies, averaging 24.5 points and 9.5 assists per game, with a shooting rate of 53.2%, and the Grizzlies, the most outstanding performance is the role player Pondset, who averages a team-high 15.3 points per game and a shooting rate of 53.7%, Conley, Jr., Randolph, Bayless, Prince, Tony Allen, these major rotation players, the shooting rate is less than forty percent, this is really a causal cycle, the Grizzlies who have been squeezing the opponent's shooting rate for many years, This year, the Spurs also tasted a handful of being squeezed.

At the start of free agency in the summer of 2013, the Grizzlies sent Darrell Arthur to the Nuggets in exchange for Costa Koufors and a 55th draft pick. Arthur's rookie contract expires and he wants to renew a big contract, which is about seven or eight million according to the market price that year, and Koufors's salary is 3 million that year, and the Grizzlies secretly have another three or four million salary left through this transaction......

Simply, Koufus is not a no-brainer, 213 cm tall, serving as a center, with good interior offensive skills, but the body is not strong enough, defense is a weakness, this season in the Grizzlies mainly played as a substitute, averaging 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Dealing with Arthur, in the blink of an eye, the Grizzlies used a second-round pick to sell last year's rookie Rotten to the 76ers, and as a result, Rotten got 18 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in his first appearance after the injury of 76ers' guard McCarvey, becoming the first person to have a triple-double in 1970......

The Grizzlies are in the development league and signed James Johnson for $680,000 a year, Johnson is 206 cm tall, plays as a forward, relies on leaks on offense, and has good defensive ability.

On July 17, 2013, the Grizzlies played the emotional card in the free market, and signed the Grizzlies player at an ultra-low price of 400 for 2 years, sharpshooter Mike Miller, after Miller left the Grizzlies, he went to the Timberwolves, Wizards, and Heat, and took two championship rings in the Heat, but Miller has been plagued by a back injury in the past few days, which has greatly affected Miller's value, but there is no doubt that Miller in a healthy state will never have an annual salary of more than $2 million.

At the draft, the Grizzlies got the No. 22 pick in the first round, although the 2014 draft did not come out with many All-Star level players, but this pick does not want to be an All-Star, it is already very good to be able to get back a qualified rotation player, but as we all know, the Grizzlies have always had a bad look in the draft, it is simply a waste of one, all the rookies are trembling, expecting not to let the Grizzlies be selected, in the end, this unlucky guy is Jordan Adams - Adams has only played for two years in his career, He averaged 3.2 points per game in 32 games before disappearing from view......

And after the Grizzlies No. 22 pick -

No. 23 pick Rodney Hood: Thank you to the Memphis for not choosing! Hood averaged 12.6 points per game in his career, peaking at 16.8.

No. 24 pick Shabazz Napier: Thank you Memphis for not choosing! Napier was the first big bench for All-Star guard Russell with the Nets this season, averaging 9.4 points and 2.6 assists per game.

25th pick Clint Capela: Kneel down to thank the Memphis for their unchosen grace! Capela has grown into the league's best cake eater with the Rockets, averaging 16.6 points and 12.7 rebounds per game this season!

26th pick PJ Hairston: Kneel to thank the Memphis for not choosing! Hairston became the starting guard for the Hornets in his second season, but unfortunately retired due to health reasons after only playing two seasons.

27th Pick Botanger-Bogdanovic: Thanks to the Memphis for not choosing! Bogda Noves is averaging 14.1 points per game for the Kings this season.

In addition, Kyle Anderson with the 30th pick, Joe Harris with the 33rd pick, Spencer Dinwiddie with the 38th pick, Nikola Jokic with the 41st pick, and Jordan Clarkson with the 46th pick thanked the Grizzlies for not choosing the favor......

Not to mention the regular season, the Grizzlies still adhere to the strategy of double evil on the inside, so that the rest of the league is frightened, their overall strength is not very strong, but it is difficult, you can beat me, but you must also take off a layer of skin, this is their purpose!

When the Grizzlies ended last season, they surprisingly did not renew the contract with the meritorious coach Hollins, saying that it was unexpected, but in fact, the news broke out long before the Western Conference finals against the Spurs, whether or not they can step on the Spurs, Hollins will definitely not pick up the Grizzlies coaching whip next season, the reason is the conflict between Hollins and management.

The so-called management is mainly the team's vice president John Hollinger, Hollinger is playing with data, similar to Morey, he hopes to be able to play according to the data, but who is Hollins, the famous iron-blooded coach in the league, can tolerate your pointing, on the eve of the Spurs on the team's training, Hollinger suddenly appeared on the training ground, instructed Daye to shoot, was seen by Hollins, the two broke out a fierce conflict because of the team's philosophy, and finally broke up, and the final result was that Hollins got out of class, Chief assistant coach Dave Joggle temporarily took over as the whip, Joggle is the first time to serve as the team's head coach, he has no previous coaching experience, he has been in the team's coaching system as an assistant coach since the 2007-2008 season, and then the next year, Hollins came to the Grizzlies for the third time as head coach so far, and has been leading the Grizzlies to the present, Joggle has followed Hollins for many years, and there will naturally be no major changes in tactics, but compared to Hollins's hot character, Joggle is much gentler, That's what the management wants to see, on the one hand, to ensure the team's results, and on the other hand, to make the manager listen to the management.

At the beginning of the new season, Gasol Jr. is still the Grizzlies' conveyor belt and defensive gate, but this season Gasol has suffered injuries and has only played 59 games, which is the fewest number of games he has played in six seasons, averaging 14.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.

Although the black and white bear fell down for more than a dozen games due to illness, but the other bear is extremely ferocious, Randolph returned full of blood after a major injury with a torn knee ligament, and is still the first firepower of the Grizzlies, averaging 17.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, although Randolph's defensive pace is slow, but on the offensive end, he is a heavy tank, and his extremely disproportionate technology makes all the interior lines in the league quite a headache, November 18, 2013, the Grizzlies defeated the Clippers 106-102, Randolph re-educated Griffin, finishing with 26 points and 15 rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting; On December 21, the Grizzlies defeated the Knicks 95-87, facing the defense of Banyani and Tyne Chandler, scoring 25 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in 9 of 18, and two days later, Randolph faced the Rockets, who were the strongest center in the league in the past, Howard, who was sitting on the inside, scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in 8 of 20, and Howard was fouled several times by Randolph throughout the game, and only got 2 points and 6 rebounds in 1 of 5 in the game; On January 20, 2014, Randolph faced Anthony Davis and the inside lineman, and handed over a double 20 data of 23 points and 20 rebounds...... Randolph has gone from a cancer that gives the alliance a headache to a meat grinder that makes the alliance even more headache!

In the 36 games that Xiao Jia missed, the Grizzlies only won 17 of them, and at that time, it seemed that the Grizzlies this season were in the fiercely competitive West, and even had problems entering the playoffs, but Randolph stood up and carried the Grizzlies' interior line, and finally put the Grizzlies into the playoffs!

If you comment on the most gratifying player this season, it is not Randolph, but Conley, Conley last season with the departure of Gay, faintly became the team's main firepower on the outside, but this season, Conley is completely worthy of this name, averaging 17.2 points per game, plus 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals, shooting 45% from the field and 36.1% from three-point range, of which the average points per game and shooting percentage are career highs! On January 7, 2014, the Grizzlies and the Spurs trembled and lost in overtime, Conley scored 30 points on 12-of-23 from the field, plus 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, and the Grizzlies defeated the Suns at home the next day, Conley contributed 30+ back-to-back again, 11-of-19 scored a career-high 31 points and 7 assists, and there was no turnover! Although in the All-Star selection, Conley was not selected because the competition for the Western Conference spot was too fierce, there is no doubt that Conley this season really has the strength of an All-Star!

However, despite the solid roster, the Grizzlies made two small trades in the middle of the season, one was to claim the guard Benno Yudri who was cut by the Knicks, and the other was to send Jerry Bayless, who has not played well this season, to the Celtics, and got Courtney Lee and a second-round pick.

Udri is a decent bench guard for the rotation of the backcourt, and Lee, a player who even if you don't know you, should be able to guess, is also a player who defends more than attack, and the Grizzlies are in suppressing the opponent This is a way to go to the black, vowing to die to depress the opponent to death! If you are depressed, you will be disgusted, and you will be disgusted to death!

This season's competition in the West can be called miserable, second only to the 2009-2010 season, that year, even the eighth in the West has 50 wins, and this year, the eighth in the West is 49 wins, all the mountains are recruiting and vowing to fight to the head to break the bloodstream, and this season with 50 wins, in the final moment of the regular season, sacrificed a wave of five consecutive wins, successfully squeezed out the 48-win Suns, and pressed the Mavericks in the qualifying, ranked seventh and entered the playoffs, avoiding encountering the Spurs in the first round (Grizzlies 0 in the Western Conference finals last season:4 The scene of being educated by the Spurs is still vivid), but their opponent in the first round is not a soft persimmon, coincidentally, it is still an old enemy, the Oklahoma City Thunder.