Chapter 145: Guards with Swords
Lillard snorted and a half-court ground-and-drop pass found Matthews on the perimeter again, who hit another three-pointer, this time at a 45-degree angle on the right.
"Oops, this Wesley Matthews is good, he has two brushes." Stoudemire, who is also a three-point shooter, admires the other side.
However, this dude is an inspirational poster, having not been drafted by the NBA after four years of playing for Marquette University, yes, an undrafted pick, and was later spotted in the Jazz's training camp.
Dedicated defense and a steady three-point shot kept him in the lineup.
In the '09-10 season, Matthews gradually became a regular member of the Jazz rotation, and when the mid-season trade deadline expired, the Jazz sent Ronnie Brewer away, leaving Matthews. That season, Matthews played in 82 regular-season games for the Jazz, averaging 9.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
A qualified wing player, Matthews became a restricted free agent after the season. The Portland Trail Blazers made a five-year, $33 million offer, and the Jazz weighed it up and eventually gave up the right to match.
That's how he came to the Trail Blazers and gradually played the main team. And in a game against the Timberwolves, he hit 7 three-pointers in the first half and scored 36 points in the game, which was eye-catching.
In the past season, he averaged 13.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, which was deeply appreciated by head coach Mike Milan, and his average playing time per game was the highest on the team.
With a height of 1.96 and a weight of nearly 220 pounds, he is not inferior to the league's leading point guards, and his strong lower body strength even when pushed to the small forward position adds a lot of points to him.
"It's a good game, lads, don't let Lakouma get the ball on the line, stick to him, and if he breaks through, the guy closest to him will make up for it." Hollins said loudly to Marc Gasol.
Guy sat on the stool at the very edge, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.
Li Ming stood not far from the coach, discussing something with Bayless in a whisper, gesturing from time to time.
On the other hand, on the Trail Blazers' bench, Coach Mike Milan kept writing and drawing on the tactical board, and Matthews, who was next to him, drank the drink in his hand.
With the referee's whistle, the players entered again.
"Rudy!" Li Ming jumped to his feet and commanded Guy to pull the side.
Zach Randolph was resting on the sidelines, and it was Arthur who replaced him.
After Li Ming dribbled under his crotch outside the three-point line, he shot three points coldly. The shot was too quick and bounced out, but the rebound was won by Arthur, who was in a better position.
Arthur flicked the ball in the air into the hands of Bayless, who was already in ambush on the baseline.
Bayless hit the three-pointer with a knife.
"There you have, there you have it!" FedEx Center was restless again.
It seems that Bayless's family and friend group came a lot tonight, but there was also the appearance of a mysterious figure in the stands, which attracted the attention of the live camera.
Daniel, Wang Lele, and Wang Ping were shaking their mouthfuls with beer glasses, obviously, the tickets were given to them by Li Ming after the last date, but strangely, Li Ming's desire to attack tonight was not very strong, at least in the first quarter.
Also lacking in offensive desire is the Trail Blazers' starting point guard Lillard, who has yet to make a shot. I don't know what psychological activities the two have, is it to collect and fight, and then break out in the second half?
As he was talking, Bayless, who was here, turned around and stole Matthews' ball, and came to a chase three-pointer to score, as well as a free throw.
It's amazing, I scored seven points in 31 seconds!!
It's not a mortal who can replace Conley on the court, there are two brushes, didn't you Matthews shoot me three three-pointers in the first quarter? I'll give it back to you as it is, and that's called coming and going.
There was a small change in the Trail Blazers' lineup in the second quarter, Welbarton replaced Tatum at the small forward position, which was a good thing for Guy, the pressure was much less, and this Barton was much easier to deal with than Tatum.
Hickson, on the Trail Blazers' side, was whistled for a foul during a screen, and the ball went to the Grizzlies.
"He can't seem to find his rhythm with the Trail Blazers, not as good as the Bulls and Rockets, after all, he's too slow to move even the slowest forward as an interior player." Stoudemire said.
Sure enough, after a dead ball, Mike Milan was replaced by Jeffries, the eldest brother is the old man of the Rockets, and he has been teammates with Yao Ming after transferring from the Knicks to the Rockets, and there are not many opportunities to play after being traded to the Trail Blazers.
His body is thin, Hixon can still defend, he only mentions the line screen more on the court, and his outside shooting is extremely inconsistent.
On a Trail Blazers offense, Aldridge was blocked by Gasol, and the ball was picked up by Lillard next to him, who rushed straight to the basket, and Randolph could only reach out to protect him.
Lillard relied on free throws to get the first point of the night, missed the second free throw, the rebound was taken by Gay, Gay threw a long throw across the frontcourt, Li Ming threw the ball up while receiving the ball, and Baylors in the middle came with a dunk that split Huashan.
The ball has a decent jump height, and it seems that this small defender has a lot of energy in his body.
"This ball can be oh, this Bayless can be dropped!" Stoudemire was amazed.
"Don't let him break through you from the front, you're going to jam his path." Lillard and Matthews seem to have a bit of a communication problem when it comes to perimeter defense.
Coach Mike Milan called a timeout, and Coach Hollins also took the opportunity to replace Li Ming, Kenyandurin replaced him, and Xiaojia was replaced at the same time, and Bombesett finally got the opportunity to play.
In the first round after the timeout, Aldridge and Lillard opted for a mid-range shot after a simple pick-and-roll on the line, hitting again to shoot six of six, and he was destined to be the brightest star tonight.
However, Bayless here is not bad, and after breaking through the Trail Blazers' multi-player defense in a row, he chose to retreat outside the three-point line and hit an unreasonable three-point shot again.
At 34-41, with less than seven minutes left in the game, the Grizzlies stretched the margin to seven points.
Matthews' defense is not bad, almost the kind that carries bricks in his hands, and even with such defensive intensity, Bayless still hits a difficult three-pointer, which shows his strength.
The Grizzlies are going to be scary this season, as the group of role players are starting to burst out with tremendous energy.
Lillard began to keep interspersing on the line, looking for opportunities on the inside, but Jeffries didn't seem to like the confrontation under the basket too much, and even though Arthur was standing opposite, he still chose to shoot from the outside, and unsurprisingly bounced out.
Coach Mike Milan on the sidelines kept shaking his head, he didn't understand this, but there was nothing he could do, the team didn't have many options for the center, and Aldridge preferred to appear in the position of the power forward.
"Kenyon, get out of the way." Bayless yelled at Kenyon Durin, who had just come on the pitch, and his hands were hot.
Durin hesitated but gave the ball to him, and he was facing Matthews at the moment.
"I heard that your defense is the best in the team, but you still can't defend me, you can't guard me." Baylors kept saying something as he took advantage of the situation and began to turn, and he wanted to push it in.
However, he underestimated the power of Matthews, and he simply couldn't squeeze Matthews.
He could only dribble the ball beyond the three-point line again and start accelerating again to take a big stride inside.
Matthews took his position well, raised his hand, and forced him to walk to the left where his teammates were located.
Bayless leaned over and slotted the ball into the ball at a tricky angle after deftly jumping to the right as Jeffries was about to get the grip on it.
It was a bit of an unbelievable goal, it was all played on the spot without an angle, which requires a particularly good sense of the ball to do, and obviously, Bayless did it.
He yelled and greeted the cheers of the fans, standing in the middle of the field, accepting the worship of the whole stadium like a king, and the big screen kept playing the picture of his goal.