Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 129 Everything is ready
"Champions, us?" Battier's reaction was exactly the same as Randolph's before.

No, he might be more realistic.

After all, the gap between him winning a playoff game and competing for the championship is a bit too big.

However, despite the similar reaction, what Hansen said next was completely different from what Randolph said at that time.

"Who do you think is most likely to make it to the finals in the Eastern Conference this year?"

"Miami." Battier gave the answer after just a little thought.

There are several possible teams in the Eastern Conference this year, including the Bulls, Heat, Celtics, and Magic.

The Celtics are really old, the Magic are really bad, and the Bulls are too young.

In comparison, although the Heat have some problems with running-in, the playoffs are the stage for superstars, and they have already won in this regard.

"Do you think we have a chance of winning if we play against the Heat in the finals?"

"Yes." Battier said without hesitation this time.

The problem of playing style restraint definitely exists. Everyone says that the Lakers restrain the Heat, but in fact, the Grizzlies are the team that restrains the Heat the most.

This is not just a chance of winning, but a big chance of winning.

"We've beaten the Spurs, Lakers and Mavericks this season. We have a chance against them all, so it's not like we don't have a chance to get out of the West."

Battier looked at Hansen and said, “You are quite right.”

"But Rudy..." Battier thought of Gay.

If Gay hadn't been injured, the Grizzlies would have really had hope.

"We can still win without Rudy, and..." Han Sen looked directly at Battier.
"An unfinished business, is it only worth one season?"

Gay's season is over, not his career.

Battier looked at Han Sen at this time. With his high IQ and EQ, he already knew what Han Sen meant. He wanted to keep him.

"Han, you know what? You are the second Dongda student who makes me feel that you can really do it." Battier did not give a direct answer, but he gave Han Sen a high evaluation.

As for who the first person is, of course it is Yao Ming.

Yao Ming is indeed admirable as a player, especially his comeback two years ago.

I believe that the Rockets players who played for that team must have admired Yao Ming as much as Willis Reed's Knicks players did back then.

"Trust your instinct, Sean." Han Sen didn't really want to force Battier to give a direct answer at this time.

Because in this season's playoffs, even if the Grizzlies can't win the championship, as long as they can take the team far enough and let Battier see that the Grizzlies have the strength to win the championship, Battier will naturally stay.

If you can fight for your dreams where they begin, who would want to go far away?
Even the Battier who stayed would be stronger than the Battier Hansen knew, because he had more motivation.

……

A day later, the Grizzlies faced the Thunder at home.

Both teams made big moves on the trade deadline, and this game was also a test of the success of the trade.

After the game started, the competition became intense.

The addition of Perkins has directly raised the Thunder's inside strength to a higher level. He and Ibaka are good at top defense and assist defense respectively. The Grizzlies' previous inside advantage against the Thunder is obviously not that great.

However, the impact on the Grizzlies from both inside and outside the court was no less severe.

Especially Durant.

Before, with Gay around, the team could still have certain limitations due to his talent, but Young's defense in front of Durant is really useless.

Hollins had to replace Battier early.

However, Battier's effect against Durant was not very good either. Although he could limit Durant's shooting to a certain extent, his pace was indeed unable to keep up when Durant broke through.

To put it figuratively, he won Durant's respect, but that was it.

In the end, Hollins chose the latter between sending Tony Allen and letting Hansen switch defense.

毕竟托尼·阿伦身高只有1米93，让他去防官方身高2米08，实际上可能已经有2米11的杜兰特，稍微想一下就知道这样的对位会有多灾难。

Hansen performed very well. His improved physical fitness allowed him to limit Kobe's performance and also caused considerable interference to Durant.

However, after the first quarter, the Grizzlies trailed the Thunder 12-20.

Randolph and Hansen are now the offensive core of the Grizzlies, one inside and one outside. The two cores failed to perform on the offensive end, and it was difficult for the Grizzlies to avoid falling behind.

During the transition period between the bench and the bench, the main players of both teams went off the court to rest, and Hollins replaced Jordan Crawford.

Crawford didn't have many opportunities with the Hawks before, and he had just joined the team. Hollins arranged him in the rotation order before Ish Smith, which was really giving him an opportunity.

Crawford can really seize opportunities.

After he came up, he received a pass from Gasol Jr. and hit a three-pointer from the outside.

Immediately after the Grizzlies defended a goal, he faced Westbrook's pursuit block during a fast break and made a long pull-up layup to score.

This instantly lit up the FedEx Arena, and even Han Sen felt his eyes light up.

In the following time, he also paid close attention to this new player who was ignored by everyone.

Apart from the previous [video scandal], Hansen didn't know much about Crawford.

In other words, because his name is also Crawford, and they are both thin guards, Hansen would easily associate him with Jamal Crawford, or instinctively feel that they are the same type of players.

But after observing for a while, Han Sen found that it was not the case at all.

Jamal Crawford is called "K6" by fans. His strongest skill is his ball control, and he can easily make various changes of direction.

But Jordan Crawford's control of the ball was average, and he couldn't shake off his opponent Eric Maynor in the last attack at the end of the first quarter.

However, his ability in open three-point shooting is very good, which is much better than "K6".

In addition, his physical fitness is even better than that of "K-6". Although he is thin, his jumping and air-staying abilities are both top-notch.

After watching it, Han Sen seemed to understand why the Eagles chose him but didn't train him.

He was chosen because of his good physical talent, and he was not developed because he is only 1 meters tall and is essentially the same as Allen, with poor dribbling and insufficient height, making him a mediocre player.

It’s just that Allen has transformed into a defensive player, and it seems that he has added skill points to offense.

Well, this kind of player is very suitable for Dongda CBA.

But you know what, he is quite suitable for the current Grizzlies. After Gay was reimbursed for the season, the Grizzlies' bench lineup lacked a scorer.

However, he has to be paired with Marc Gasol on the court, because his dribbling level cannot support him to be the core of the ball handler.

This was very obvious after Gasol left the court at the beginning of the second quarter. After he dribbled past someone on his own initiative and was intercepted, Hollins replaced him.

He played for 6 minutes, scored 7 points, committed 2 turnovers and 2 fouls. His strengths and weaknesses were obvious, but overall his performance was still good.

After the main players returned, the game was still close. At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies trailed the Thunder 52-58.

It turns out that Battier really knows how to play basketball, and having Hansen invest heavily on the defensive end will inevitably weaken his offensive performance.

Although the Grizzlies won the previous game against the Lakers, they won in the interior. Randolph can't play like before, and the Grizzlies will be passive in the situation.

Coming back in the second half, Durant was still in great shape.

As he showed last summer when training with Hansen in Memphis, Durant is now a top-10 or even top-5 superstar in the league.

Yang was like air in front of him.

As a last resort, Hollins had to try his luck with Tony Allen.

This also became a turning point of the game.

After Allen came on the court, he directly defended Durant and made him depressed.

Obviously, there is a height difference of almost a head between the two men, but Allen focuses on his lower three-way defense, making it very difficult for him to control the offensive rhythm with the ball.

If you are not careful, the ball in your hand will be cut off.

And it's not just when he's holding the ball. When he wants to find opportunities through off-ball screens, Allen is always with him like a ghost.

In fact, Tony Allen's one-on-one defense is not that effective due to his height limitation. Durant is tall and has a high center of gravity when dribbling, which will be restricted by him, but he also "defends" Kobe many times.

Defense requires physical talent, which is the same for any player, not to mention that Allen has suffered a torn ligament and his physical fitness has declined significantly.

But Allen has one strongest defensive ability that even Hansen cannot match: the ability to set screens around pick-and-rolls.

He can basically get past with just a flash, which requires not only extremely fast speed but also extremely strong defensive reading.

In this regard, he is almost the best in history.

Durant's performance was limited and the Thunder's offensive efficiency began to decline.

And Allen's defense of Durant also freed Hansen.

Although the Grizzlies played 4 against 5 on the court, Hansen has now developed his mid-range shooting. He can make mid-range shots after reaching the free throw line and before the double-team forms.

These changes also allowed the Grizzlies to eventually defeat the Thunder 112-106 and win this "trade test battle."

Battier was not on the court at the last moment, but he was always on the sidelines cheering for his teammates.

Moreover, the excitement on his face was visible to the naked eye, because he truly understood what Han Sen had said to him before.

Even without Gay, the Grizzlies still have a chance to make it out of the West.

Because they have already won against all the championship contenders in the Western Conference.

Just after the game between the Grizzlies and the Thunder, the league ushered in the last critical time node of the season: the buyout deadline.

Somewhat different from previous trade deadlines, the buyout deadline does not mean that players cannot be bought out after this day, but that only players who are bought out before this deadline are eligible to play in this season's playoffs.

This day is also quite lively.

For example, Mike Bibby has reached a buyout contract with the Wizards and is expected to join the Heat.

For example, Corey Brook reached a buyout agreement with the Knicks and joined the Dallas Mavericks for 3 million over three years.

West had been bought out and moved to Dallas before this and did not appear in the news that day.

These bought-out players are either veterans or players with certain abilities but no opportunities. Most of them will choose a team that can compete for the championship.

The Grizzlies also made a move on this day, signing veteran Jason "White Chocolate" Williams, who had reached a buyout agreement with the Magic.

This buyout is different from other buyouts because the Magic are also a championship-contending team.

If anything, Williams and Battier had similar starting points.

As a former Grizzlies player, he helped the team reach the playoffs from 03 to 05 and then was swept.

The Grizzlies had previously traded three players in exchange for two, so there were vacancies in the lineup. After sending West away, they indeed lacked a point to organize the offense.

After the buyout deadline, until mid-March, the Grizzlies had a good run of results and did not continue to decline, maintaining their fifth place in the Western Conference.

However, during this period of time, there were some discordant voices within the team, and the person who made this voice was Crawford.

Crawford played well in his debut against the Thunder, but was abandoned after the team traded for Jason Williams.

In fact, if you observe carefully enough, you can find out the whole story. Hollins wants obedience, but in the game against the Thunder, Crawford acted on his own.

Crawford was naturally unhappy, and he was somewhat of a troublemaker, so he directly quarreled with Williams during the training session.

Conley's attempts to dissuade him did not have any effect. To put it bluntly, Crawford was venting his dissatisfaction in this way.

Hollins was furious when he saw this. If it weren't for the fact that the buyout deadline had passed, Crawford would probably have been given up by the Grizzlies.

In the end, it was Battier who stepped in. He first persuaded the two men to leave, and then had a conversation with Hollins.

Then, magically, in the next game against the Hornets, Crawford was included in the rotation again and played well, scoring 14 points, the most from the bench, and helping the team defeat their opponent.

This made Han Sen stunned.

Afterwards, he couldn't help but talk to Battier, and one of Battier's words left a deep impression on him.

"Everyone who can enter the NBA has their own skills. As long as they can find the right position for them, they can help the team."

This statement makes a lot of sense. Both Crawford and Williams are what the Grizzlies need now.

However, what really surprised Hansen was Battier. Not only could he solve the conflicts that Conley couldn't, he could even communicate with the coaching staff.

With Hollins' personality, he actually listened to the advice of a player.

This reminded Han Sen of a word: locker room leader.

This kind of role generally requires the ability to maintain good relationships with teammates and coaching staff, and also a certain status in the league, so that when you stand up to solve problems, others will give you face.

Conley has that potential, but he's still too young.

Battier just filled this gap.

The Grizzlies are now fully prepared.

It is now late March, and there is only more than half a month left until the end of the NBA season.

There have been some adjustments within the Grizzlies during this period. Tony Allen, who performed well against the Thunder, replaced Young as the team's starting player, and Hansen also moved from his familiar No. 2 position to the No. 3 position.

With Battier's presence, this change in the starting lineup did not bring any impact to the team.

Also because of Battier's presence, Hansen enjoyed the mixed sparring with Allen & Battier for nearly a month, which enabled him to achieve four times the result with half the effort, and his mid-range shooting improved rapidly, allowing him to reach the bottleneck of [Classical Master] ahead of time.

Then on March 3, the Grizzlies will face the Heat for the second time this season.

(End of this chapter)