Chapter 90: The Kite Flyer
Tyreek's individual ability was indeed outstanding, but the two teams played a tangled game throughout, going back and forth and alternating leads until the end of the first half, when the Kings only led the Grizzlies by one point.
"Blavin, the first half was evenly matched, what do you think of the first half of the game?"
"Judging from the performance in the first half, our team is about the same overall strength as the Kings, who are balanced offensively and defensively, and Tyrek, the most outstanding young player in the class of '09 at the moment. In the first half, our team played to their strengths and limited the opponent's strength in attack. Tyrek, the Kings' top scorer in the first half, scored 11 points, but shot mediocre from 3-of-9 shooting. However, because the team did not play an efficient performance in the offense, the score of the two teams is still entangled, which is also the most important problem for our team to solve this season, the defense is already the top in the league, and the offense needs a real winner to score key goals......"
"It's like...... Tyrek like that? Wright was interrupted in the middle of his speech by Penica.
"Uh...... That's right, it's almost fair to say that the team needs a star player on the perimeter who has the absolute ability to score key goals. Originally, I thought this person should be OJ Mayo, but his development is really not satisfactory, if only Rudy could go further at his current level......" Blaven said this, and his face couldn't help but show a trace of regret and expectation......
At halftime, Coach Westphale paced around the visiting locker room, and for a while, he suddenly said, "Since the Grizzlies are guarding the restricted area, we will create our own space in the restricted area!" ”
When the crowd heard Coach Westphal speak, they all looked at him.
Coach Westafar looked at Cousins, who was sitting next to Tyrek, and said meaningfully: "DeMarcus, in the second half, you put Mark on the inside. Gasol draws in and creates a breakthrough on the outside, and I think after this game, people will have a completely new understanding of you......"
At halftime, the two teams returned to the game, the Kings took the lead in serving from the baseline, Tyrek dribbled and advanced, and Cousins, who served from the baseline, followed Tyreck's side unhurriedly, he did not fall directly to the inside, Cousins stood directly outside the three-point line at a 45-degree angle!
Blevin...... Cousins this is ......" sideline commentator Pete. Penica turned to look at Blevin beside her, confused. Wright.
"Cousins made three-point shots in the first two games of the season, 1-of-2 in the first game, 1-of-3 in the second, and for a big center who only made 18 three-pointers in the first year of his career, 2-of-5 three-pointers in the first game is already amazing, and you can say that he made two bets on luck in the first game, and he was still shooting in the second game, and he stood outside the three-point line in this game, so you have to consider whether this is a tactic for the Kings......"
Cousins stopped outside the three-point line, and Gasol Jr., who was opposite him, was already in position in the restricted area at this time, he didn't expect Cousins to make such a move, he subconsciously took a step in the direction of Cousins, and then he hesitated...... He was still some distance from Cousins, and at this point he hesitated!
Tyrek gave the ball directly to Cousins, who took the ball and glanced at Gasol Jr. and raised his hand to shoot a three-point shot!
"Bang!" "Huh!" Hit the board into the basket! Three points in hand!
After the goal, Cousins raised his shooting hand high, stretched out three fingers and pointed into the air, with a look of pride and arrogance!
In the next offense, Cousins repeated his old tricks, almost the same position and the same angle, Gasol Jr. once again gave Cousins a large vacancy, and Cousins made a three-point shot again! Again!
The crowd was not calm at this time, and at the moment of Cousins' goal, a wave of amazement spread throughout the stadium......
was shot two three-pointers by Cousins in a row, and the Grizzlies were finally scared and didn't dare to let Cousins go anymore, and Gasol Jr. had to stick to Cousins. With his height and tonnage, Gasol Jr. is a wall when he stands in the penalty area, coupled with Gasol Jr.'s position awareness, combined with the equally strong Zack. Randolph, the Grizzlies' interior is a real no-fly zone!
Gasol Jr. was pulled out of his defensive zone, and the Grizzlies' interior defensive deterrence dropped by at least half, creating an opportunity for Terek to break through the interior.
The Grizzlies faced the outside ball with strong shooting ability, relying on Tony. Allen's strong outside blockade does not give space for outside shots, forcing the outside ball carrier to go into the box, and the black and white bears in the box are waiting for the breakaway to come in. Tyrek is an outside player known for his breakthroughs, and although Tyrek has repeatedly chosen mid-to-long-range projection to finish the offense in the first two games of the season, his main offensive means is still breakthrough, and players like Tyrek are the easiest targets for the Grizzlies' defensive system.
However, at this time, because Cousins' three-point shooting made the Grizzlies have to be jealous, the interior barrier was contained, and Tyreck's breakthrough space suddenly became larger. This put the Grizzlies into a state of taking care of one or the other, and the Kings seized a wave of opportunity to catch the Grizzlies off guard, led by Cousins and Tyreck, the Kings blossomed more, and suddenly opened the score gap between the two teams to double digits!
"Blaven, I didn't expect that Cousins actually practiced his three-point ability after an offseason! Three consecutive three-point performances, which is really unexpected, Cousins will shoot three-pointers, which is simply a Kevin who is taller and more tonnage and more capable of playing in the fifth position. Lefou, ah......"
"That's right, this has disrupted our team's tactical arrangement, and if Cousins still has this kind of long-range firepower in future games, other teams will have to set up tactics for this as well......"
After the Grizzlies were beaten by the Kings with a double-digit lead, they immediately called a timeout, and after the timeout, although the Grizzlies re-made tactical arrangements for the situation on the court at this time, but because they could not play a sustained strong performance on the offensive end, and the whole team maintained high morale after the Kings took the lead, the Grizzlies did not really close the score until the end of the game, and the difference was narrowed to 6 points at most.
In the end, the Sacramento Kings defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 96-88 on the road, and although the process of beating the Grizzlies was difficult, the result was satisfactory, and it was a bad breath for the Grizzlies to be stuck in the playoffs last season......
The number one contributor to the victory in this game was DeMarcus. Cousins, who contributed 25 points and 14 rebounds in the game, shot 3 of 3 from three-point range, and relied on his outside firepower to successfully contain the interior defense of the Black and White Bears. Tyrek's performance was decent, with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, but it was reasonable......