"Hey, what the hell are you doing, do you want to fight?" Stephen Jackson was furious.

In the confrontation training, it is not the first time that Brother Wusheng has given people a face, and this time it happens that Zhang Xiaotian is unlucky.

In the team's internal training, Zhang Xiaotian doesn't even talk trash to his seniors, and of course he doesn't clash with his teammates.

He just spread his hands and smiled, and the two would definitely not be able to fight.

Speaking of Stephen Jackson's bad mood is also related to him, after Zhang Xiaotian became the first choice of the substitute forward, Stephen Jackson is almost the tenth man, and the team's main rotation of nine is enough.

In other words, this old man with an annual salary of tens of millions has become a marginal person on the team.

This is his contract year, and he still wants to play for another two years to make some dollars, so he has to retire if he continues like this.

It has something to do with Zhang Xiaotian, but it has little to do with it, the key is that the team boss Popovich is not satisfied with him.

The strength is seriously degraded, and the temper is not good, how can the coach like it? Zhang Xiaotian took it as a warning.

The Spurs have a good relationship with the big guys, so the team as a whole is very harmonious, but the players below have to think about their own future, of course, they can't be as calm as the big guys.

On Jan. 11, they traveled to the road to play the Grizzlies again.

The Grizzlies have also been playing very well in recent times, especially defensively, and it has been a while since a team has scored 90 points in front of them.

In the past few seasons of the Spurs, the offense has actually been very good, and only the defense is actually everyone's impression.

At the beginning of the new year, Duncan was a little tired, especially when playing away, it was also a matter of age, and the outbreak some time ago still consumed a lot of accumulated physical strength.

It's the same in this game, especially with the Grizzlies having two tough guys on the inside.

Duncan didn't score, Parker didn't hesitate to carry the banner, Parker's mid-range is really hard to defend.

On the Grizzlies' side, it's still Rudy Gay who is in the lead.

His style of play, in fact, Leonard's defense is similar to Zhang Xiaotian's defense, anyway, most of the time it is half iron and half hit, it's just a matter of timing.

Guy stayed on the court for a long time, and Leonard was still on the court when he came off the break.

Seeing Zhang Xiaotian, Guy felt a little annoyed, the man who had made him depressed was just a substitute, which was really unpleasant.

However, the two didn't face each other for long, and the player in front of Zhang Xiaotian quickly became Tony Allen.

Because the Grizzlies are only in an eight-man rotation, Zhang Xiaotian may have to play against different players.

Tony Allen is a well-known defensive big man who makes people uncomfortable on the defensive end.

However, Zhang Xiaotian is only running without the ball and responding, and he will not be too passive.

Tony Allen was a little disappointed, he didn't play last time, Zhang Xiaotian played the main force and gave them a lot of trouble, he originally planned to try Zhang Xiaotian's quality, but he didn't expect it to feel a lot weaker than he imagined.

He subconsciously felt that the last time he lost was because Guy didn't defend hard, don't look at the Grizzlies' current record is good, but the personal relationship of several core players of the team is not good.

Guy is very capable, but he can't make his teammates better, and the team isn't very happy with him.

During the rotation period, the attack power of the two sides decreased, and the score was deadlocked.

But when the main team returned to the field, the situation changed.

Mike Conley pushed forward and pressed Parker on both ends of the floor.

What's more, Gasol Jr. made three big hats in a row on the inside, which made the Spurs have a scoring drought.

The Spurs were afraid to touch this kind of inside hard bones, and by halftime, they were already eight points behind.

But the feng shui took turns, and midfielder Parker took a break, and immediately kicked Conley in the third quarter.

Conley's defense is actually good, but he's shorter than Parker, and he can't do anything about Parker's breakaway stop.

When Zhang Xiaotian came on the court at the end of the third quarter, the two sides had already been tied.

In the second half, the Grizzlies were left with only seven people in rotation, and Zhang Xiaotian's opponent became veteran Darrell Arthur, a non-trivial forward.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Zhang Xiaotian burst the opponent by two, and within a few minutes, the Spurs had taken a seven-point lead.

The reason is very simple, when Zhang Xiaotian does not exert his strength, the rotation players on both sides are actually not strong in attack, and Ginobili is also targeted.

When it was almost seven minutes, Zhang Xiaotian was replaced again.

The rotation of the team is regular, and if he plays again in the fourth quarter, he may play full, and he will go down in the middle of the third quarter to rest for two or three minutes.

Unexpectedly, when he left the game, Randolph and Guy teamed up to overtake the score again.

This game has been back and forth from the beginning, but at the last moment, it is a bit dangerous to repeat again, Zhang Xiaotian only stayed on the bench for two minutes before playing again.

Danny Green was substituted, and he was also a player affected by Zhang's rise.

can only defend and can attack and defend, except for the characteristics of the player, Zhang Xiaotian is more secure.

In order to let Zhang Xiaotian exert his offensive power, the responsibility of marking the opponent's outside firepower Rudy Guy was handed over to Leonard.

But the Grizzlies have twin towers, and it's not good to have one big and four small in defense.

It's the same with the Grizzlies, the Spurs score a lot of points, they want to use Tony Allen in defense, and they want to keep Darrell Arthur in their shooting touch on offense.

The coaches of both sides are using their own means and making frequent substitutions.

In the end, the Grizzlies traded Gasol Jr. for moving speed, and the Spurs got their wish by replacing them with their most efficient big four in key moments.

Even if Tony Allen underestimated Zhang Xiaotian a little before, at this time, he still pestered Zhang Xiaotian conscientiously.

Zhang Xiaotian is Mr. Key, and it is no secret in the alliance, it only depends on how the opponent chooses.

After all, the Spurs have so many scoring points, and Tony Allen is the main defense of Zhang Xiaotian, so what should Ginobili do, or rather, are they underestimating Leonard's offense.

Just four minutes into the clock, Leonard made a steal and Parker scored on the counter-attack.

Leonard then hit another two-pointer to give the Spurs another four-point lead in the final three minutes of the game, and the Grizzlies were forced to take a timeout.

This is the strength of the Spurs, but at the same time, the distribution of the ball is also a headache, because everyone on the court has the ability to play alone, and none of them will be soft when it comes to critical moments.

After the timeout was successful, the situation changed again, first Randolph scored a single shot, and then Tony Allen cut Duncan's ball, and suddenly went to the inside line in the defense, Zhang Xiaotian repeatedly succeeded, but he didn't expect the opponent to stage this scene in front of him today.

Rudy Gay hit a two-pointer, then Parker hit an iron and the Grizzlies hit the mid-range again.

FedEx Arena fans cheered, and the pressure came to the Spurs again.