Chapter 4: The First Trip to the Playoffs
Although Brown took the Grizzlies out of the mountain for the first time was a wave of five consecutive defeats, but this season's Grizzlies are not as ass pouting as before, and they are submissive, on March 5, 2003, under the leadership of Swift 24 points and 10 rebounds, the Grizzlies defeated the Nuggets 96-86, on March 8, Gasol, Miller, and Swift scored 20+ to help the Grizzlies defeat the Cavaliers with a score of 115:89, and a day later, the Grizzlies defeated the Raptors 119-106, and Gasol scored 32 points. Swift 23 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, on March 11, Jason Williams beat the Knicks in 1.4 seconds, Swift hit 20 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, the next day, the Grizzlies defeated the Bulls 124-95, Gasol scored 27 points in 11 of 15, Swift shot all 8, scored 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, on March 16, the Grizzlies defeated the Hawks 124-92, Battier, Gasol, Lorenz White scored 20+!
As a result, the Grizzlies have a team-high six-game winning streak. The Grizzlies have a team-high 28 wins all season, although this result is nothing in the competitive West, but the Grizzlies have created a group of youth stars such as Gasol, Miller, Battier, Swift, White Chocolate, etc., which still gives fans reason to believe in a better tomorrow.
In the 2003-2004 season, the Grizzlies made another big move, bringing in a two-dollar general on the basis of the original.
One is named James Posey, a free agent signed for 4 years and 24 million in the offseason, Posey is 203 cm tall, plays the second and third positions, is the earliest "3D" type player, has strong defensive ability, is the best choice for the opponent's number one outside star, and has a precise three-point shooting kung fu, as soon as Posey came to the Grizzlies, he quickly squeezed out Sean Battier and firmly occupied the team's starting No. 3 position.
In addition to Posey, the Grizzlies also brought in another big man, Bunch Wells.
Wells is 196 cm tall, the second and third positions are swinging, he is the 11th rookie in the first round in 1998, from the nickname "stick", you can also know what kind of body type Wells is, although he is not tall, but his arms are as thick as his thighs, his trick is to hit the back singles, Wells uses his strong power to crush directly to the basket and score easily, it can be said that he is the trumpet "Barkley", Wells has spent the first three years with the Trail Blazers, helping the Trail Blazers reach the playoffs for three consecutive years, Facing Nowitzki's Mavericks in the playoffs last year, Wells went on a killing spree, averaging 19 points per game in seven games and almost grabbing seven grams of the Mavericks.
Such a very practical player, the Trail Blazers only asked the Grizzlies for a 2004 first-round pick to send Wells away, why, the reason is Wells's perverse temper, he can't be said to be irritable, can only be said to be a little weird, only O'Neal Jr. is his best friend in the league, and he is not afraid of the others, especially when it comes to the media, more than once clashing with the media, fighting with fans, insulting opponents and the media, a series of negative news has caused the image of the Trail Blazers to take a sharp turn, from the beautiful home of the Portland Roses, Step by step, it became the notorious Portland prison in the league (of course, during that time, the Trail Blazers accumulated several players with not so gentle personalities, and Wells cannot be blamed all, it can only be said that Wells is one of them), and the Trail Blazers management had to start rectifying the style of play in order to reverse the image, so Wells was sold cheaply by the Trail Blazers.
Grizzlies head coach Huby Brown is originally a big man who is good at * inside, and he naturally can't put it down for a heavy tank like Wells, Wells met Bole, restrained his temper, changed his normal, concentrated on playing, and soon integrated into the Grizzlies family, starting or substitute, Wells has no complaints, this season on behalf of the Grizzlies only played 59 games, including 17 starts, an average of 25 minutes per game, can hit 12.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals, very good performance.
In this way, White Chocolate, Miller, Posey, Lorenz White, and Big Gasol formed the starting five Tigers, who have offense and defense, interior, and three-pointers, and on the bench, Battier, Wells, and Swift are young and energetic, and this year's Grizzlies not only have playoff hopes, but also become a rising star in the league.
On November 29, 2003, the Grizzlies defeated the powerful Cavaliers 122:115 in two overtime, this game can best illustrate the fiery state of the Grizzlies this season, when the stick has not yet come to the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies were beaten by the Cavaliers 14:35 in the first quarter, and fell behind by 21 points in the first quarter, many people feel that the victory is decided, but who knows that the Grizzlies bite the score tightly in the third quarter of the second quarter, and stay in the fourth quarter, Gasol continues to bite the score boldly, Battier hit a three-pointer with 15 seconds left to break the game, and the Cavaliers still had a chance to kill, but McMiller cut off the ball from James, and the game went into the first overtime!
In the first overtime, McMiller stepped up, and when there was one minute left, the Grizzlies trailed by 5 points, Miller showed the hand that assisted Swift's dunk, and then steals James again with 32 seconds left in the game, and got back the precious ball, Gasol forced the inside, caused a foul, and hit both free throws, the Grizzlies still trailed by 1 point, James scored 2 points, and in the last 2 seconds of the game, Miller personally took the pass, received Battier's pass, hit a three-pointer, and the game entered the second overtime!
In the second overtime, it was Swift who stepped up, he actually received a pass from Miller and dunked, and then in the last 27 seconds of the game, he stole Ricky Davis's quick dunk and scored two more points to extend the difference to 6 points, completely killing the game!
Gasol scored 37 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in the whole game, Miller scored 20 points, 13 assists and 3 steals, Battier scored 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Swift scored 19 points and 8 rebounds, this is James' rookie season, this game scored 33 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists, but there were 8 turnovers, this fierce battle was two overtimes, and the difference was as large as 21 points, which impressed James who had just entered the league.
Not giving up, not giving up, daring to fight and not being afraid, is the most favorable portrayal of the Grizzlies this season!
This game was the 15th game of the season and the 7th win of the Grizzlies, and this victory began the Grizzlies to tie the highest 6-game winning streak in team history, and then-
Kill the Green Army, smash the Nets, defeat the Wizards, win the Trailblazers, kill the Hawks, what kind of happy enmity is that, this six-game winning streak no one is very prominent to win the victory on their own, everyone in the team plays very stable and efficient, the next five games, almost no one scores more than 20 points, offensive and defensive balance, both internal and external, teamwork, the Grizzlies who have been weak for many years finally found the key to win, this concept of winning, after more than ten years, has been profoundly affecting the Grizzlies, even if the league has changed greatly, Advocating the style of small ball, the Grizzlies also adhere to their own philosophy, insist on team basketball, let the wind come and go, I will not move!
With the Grizzlies in such good form this season, a six-game winning streak is clearly not the goal.
On January 11, 2004, the Grizzlies challenged the Clippers away, at this time Wells had come to the Grizzlies, the game fought for an overtime, and finally Battier shot the key shot 15 seconds before the end of the game, taking away the game, the next day, the Grizzlies challenged the Warriors away, the game was a fierce battle for two overtimes, and finally relied on Posey and Swift's free throws, won the Warriors, on the 15th, Posey and White Chocolate both 20+ to help the Grizzlies slaughter the Bulls, on the 17th, the Grizzlies played against the 76ers, In the face of Iverson's star play, the performance of the whole court scored 34 points, the Grizzlies were a team battle, four people scored double-doubles, and finally won the game, on the 19th, the Grizzlies won the Rockets with Francis and Yao Ming with the help of 13 points in the last quarter of Posey, on the 21st, the Grizzlies played against the Lakers who rested Kobe, O'Neal, and Malone, and after four quarters of the game, the Grizzlies defeated the Lakers 88:82, thus the Grizzlies tied the 6-game winning streak in team history!
On the 23rd, the Grizzlies ushered in a strong opponent, the peerless king, after the fourth quarter of the competition, Gasol, White Chocolate, Miller scored 20+ and the Grizzlies veteran Bibby performed poorly, only scored 5 points and 2 assists in 2 of 9 shots! The Grizzlies' winning streak continues, and the next game is the Nuggets with superstar Carmelo Anthony, in the face of the Nuggets' star play, the Grizzlies once again beat the Nuggets with team basketball, Anthony scored 25 points, and the Grizzlies scored double figures with seven players, and the highest only Wells scored 17 points.
The Grizzlies failed to win Game 9, and the Trail Blazers' efficient performance of 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting contrasted sharply with the Grizzlies' inefficient performance of 13-of-46 from the top five starters, and as Wells tried desperately to prove that he scored 20 points, he also used 18 shots.
As a result, the Grizzlies' highest winning streak in team history has reached 8 consecutive wins.
After this wave of eight straight wins, the Grizzlies' record has reached 25-18, and the playoffs are faintly visible.
In the subsequent game, the Grizzlies did not drop the chain, four consecutive wins, five consecutive wins, seven consecutive wins, seven consecutive wins, wave after wave of consecutive wins, so that this season's Grizzlies, won 50 wins and 32 losses, after eight years of ups and downs, the team entered the playoffs for the first time in team history, and head coach Brown was named the best coach! Jerry West is the General Manager of the Year!
Although the Grizzlies have achieved breakthrough achievements this season, it is a pity that there is still no player who can earn any personal credit after the end of the regular season.
The Grizzlies are sixth in the West and face the San Antonio Spurs in the first round with GDP.
In fact, generally speaking, the Grizzlies' style of play is similar to that of the Spurs, and they also take the team route, but the staffing is much stronger than that of the Grizzlies, especially Duncan, which is simply an inexplicable existence for the Grizzlies, Gasol is a player who is strong in offense and weak in defense, and Swift is clearly conditioned by Duncan.
In the first game, the Grizzlies have been pressed by the Spurs, four quarters of the game, there was no quarter of the score more than the Spurs, and finally the Grizzlies lost to the Spurs 74:98, Duncan shot 12 of 18 from the field, and scored 26 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, Gasol was completely at a disadvantage in the duel with Duncan, with only 14 points and 2 rebounds on 3-of-11 shooting. The Grizzlies were not only penetrated by Duncan on the inside, but also killed by the Spurs on the outside, and the sharpshooter McMiller was completely killed by Bowen, and only relied on free throws to score 1 point on 0-of-5 shooting in the game.
The second game is completely a copy of the first game, the little fresh meat Grizzlies are still adjusted by the old fritter Spurs clearly, the inside and outside are penetrated, 70:87 lost two games in a row, Gasol scored 20 points and 11 rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting, and the performance finally returned to normal, Wells scored 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting off the bench, and everyone else performed very averagely, Battier, Swift, Miller, White Chocolate, Lorenz White, Posey, the six main rotation players combined only 43 shots and 13, Duncan was still as steady as a dog, scoring 23 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists on 8-of-14 shooting, Parker scored 27 points and 7 assists on 11-of-20 shooting, and Hawley scored 14 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals on 6-of-9 shooting off the bench.
It's not terrible to lose, but it's scary that after two games, the Grizzlies can't find any flaws with the Spurs.
The Grizzlies returned to their home court in the third game and tried their best to win a victory, Gasol and Wells posed a lasting threat to the Spurs on the inside, the former scored 18 points and 5 rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting, and the latter scored 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but the helpless outside play was really bad, Miller couldn't get rid of Bowen's dogskin plaster defense the whole game, scoring 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting, Jason Williams scored 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting, Duncan scored 22 points and 13 rebounds on 10-of-18 shooting, Parker, Turkoglu Ginobili scored double-doubles, and in the last 4.6 seconds of the game, Gasol scored 2 points on the inside to help the Grizzlies only fall behind by 1 point, and then Jason Williams made free throws to Ginobili, and the Pampas vulture made one of two free throws to give the Spurs a two-point lead over the Grizzlies.
In the fourth game, the Spurs didn't give the Grizzlies any chance, 11:97 eliminated the Grizzlies cleanly, four games, Duncan's play was as steady as a dog, averaging 24.3 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2.5 blocks per game, with a shooting rate of 58.8%, while Gasol averaged 18.5 points, 5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, with a shooting rate of 57.1%, in the duel with Duncan, Gasol was slightly inferior to Duncan on the offensive end, but there was a huge gap with Duncan on the defensive end, And Duncan also has Parker, who averages 21 points per game, and the Grizzlies side except for Stick Wells, who averages 11.8 points per game, everyone else is not playing satisfactorily.
The Grizzlies entered the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and although they were swept out by the powerful Spurs, the Grizzlies managed to get their own winning defense in this series and even throughout the season.
It turns out that the Grizzlies' group of young people have very good potential, stabilize the lineup, and will be able to perform well over time, but because this season the Grizzlies gave the 2004 draft pick to the Trail Blazers in order to get Wells, and this pick eventually became the No. 23 pick in the first round, the Trail Blazers used this pick to select Sergei Monya, a small player who only played 26 games in one year in the NBA and averaged only 3 points per game.