Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 213 Braised Pork Tactics

After the timeout, Westbrook broke through with the ball, threw himself into the air and confronted Gasol Jr. to win two free throws.

This time he didn't care about landing at all, and it looked very painful when he fell.

Although both of them were rushing in, Westbrook was much more decisive than James.

James and Ibaka went over to try to pull Westbrook.

An interesting thing happened at this time. Westbrook had already stretched out his hand, but when he saw James, he suddenly turned over and stood up by himself on the ground.

Han Sen was walking towards the free throw line. When he saw this scene, he was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help laughing.

Westbrook has a high emotional intelligence, so whether there is a conflict over ball possession with Harden or James, he will not show it off the court.

But not showing it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, especially after Han Sen provoked James like that but he didn't respond.

Although Westbrook's playing style is somewhat similar to James, the two have very different personalities.

You may not be as good as others at playing basketball, but you must never be a coward.

He must be looking down on James from the bottom of his heart.

Amid the noise from the crowd, Westbrook made both free throws.

And then he turned around and suddenly rushed out from the side and blocked Randolph's shot.

This time he jumped very high, and after getting the ball, he seemed to be equipped with rocket thrusters. He rushed all the way from the backcourt to the frontcourt, jumped up and did a gliding two-handed dunk.

After the dunk, Westbrook raised his head and roared, causing a commotion at the scene.

Originally, the Thunder was almost defeated by the Grizzlies, but after the timeout, Westbrook pulled the team back with his personal ability.

Conley dribbled across half court and passed the ball to Hansen. The Grizzlies needed to secure a point.

Hansen continued to play pick-and-roll with Carter with the ball.

James pushed Afflalo forward with this ball, but Hansen seized the opportunity and turned to the right and headed for the inside.

Lopez Jr. moved back to help defend, and Hansen and the other two got close and passed the ball to Gasol Jr. who cut in from the middle.

Gasol Jr. was like a fire burning the sky, and he slammed the ball into the basket through Lopez Jr.

The silent scene was once again filled with the cheers of fans.

Westbrook no longer cared about James at this moment. He took the ball and did a pick-and-roll with Lopez Jr., then blasted away and rushed into the Grizzlies' inside line.

This time Gasol's defensive choice was very smart. He retreated to the basket in advance because he guessed that Westbrook would not choose to shoot.

It turned out that he guessed right, Westbrook rushed to the basket and confronted Gasol again.

Gasol just raised his hands without moving. Westbrook showed his physical fitness in the air and made a low layup sideways.

But when the ball was still rising, Han Sen came to assist and snatched the ball directly in mid-air.

And after landing, Han Sen also launched a quick attack immediately.

This time Afflalo returned to defense.

The two rushed to the front court one after the other. Hansen changed hands behind his back to pass Afflalo, then jumped up and shot the ball into the basket with a backhand shot.

This goal showed Hansen's ability to combine man-ball skills with his physical fitness to the fullest.

After Han Sen landed, he waved his hands, signaling the fans to cheer louder.

Accompanied by deafening cheers from the audience, the Grizzlies' momentum that had been suppressed by Westbrook's performance was instantly raised again.

Westbrook has the momentum, but it's clear that he alone can't shake up this Grizzlies team.

108 to 96, the Grizzlies finally defeated the Thunder and got off to a good start in the series.

The Grizzlies shot 55% from the field and were leading their opponents by more than 20 points at the end of the third quarter.

Stan once again transformed into Squidward, and the Grizzlies were actually sweating slightly.

According to post-match statistics, five Grizzlies players scored in double digits. Hansen scored 30 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in three quarters, the highest score of the game.

雷霆队那边，威斯布鲁克三节得到27分5板7助攻，詹姆斯得到25分7板6助攻。

Why does James have little presence on the court, but his final statistics are similar to Westbrook's?
This is a classic James-style game. Although he has little presence during the starting period, he has a strong ability to travel during off-peak hours.

And although the score gap was large in the last quarter, he played the entire fourth quarter and helped the Thunder narrow the gap.

If there is a fifth quarter in the game, I believe the Thunder will still have a chance.

Hansen and Gasol Jr. attended the post-match press conference together.

"The free throw difference between the two teams tonight was 31 to 16. I don't know what my players should do to avoid being called for fouls." Joerger did not skip the issue of penalties just because he won the game.

"Russell caused us a lot of trouble. I won't say that it's an honor to lose, but the will to play that he showed as the star player of the Thunder is admirable." Hansen praised Westbrook.

If Durant was still in the Thunder, this Thunder team would really cause them a lot of trouble.

But then again, if Durant hadn't left, Westbrook wouldn't have evolved earlier.

But Han Sen's words sounded different to the reporters.

What is the star player of the Thunder? According to the statistics, the star player of the Thunder is obviously James!
Han Sen's words were reported by the media after the game, which earned him a lot of black fans, but also attracted widespread discussion among fans.

Originally, the Thunder's problem was the battle for ball possession and the compatibility of the two ball-handling core players.

But after watching this playoff game, the fans had a different feeling.

The eighth one versus the first, no matter what the reason is, the strength gap is there.

Since the implementation of the 1947-team playoff rule in 16, the NBA has a history of 66 years. Among 130 times, there have only been four black eight miracles.

Especially since the implementation of the best-of-seven format in the first round, there have only been two such events, one of which was because Rose was injured.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is a game that is basically impossible to win.

As Hansen said last year, failure divides people into different types, and so do difficulties.

Westbrook did not back down in the face of difficulties, and he lost while standing.

On the other hand, James disappeared immediately after being trash-talked by Han Sen, and only managed to improve his stats by traveling during off-peak hours and playing in garbage time.

It is foreseeable that in the history books of the future, fans will not remember what happened in this game. What they can see is that James and Westbrook have similar statistics, and the Thunder did their best.

But that's for the future, and now what fans see are the Warriors and the Cowards.

Especially when James made that shocking kneeling move, the fans' feelings would only become more profound.

"Why would Nike choose a coward as its front-runner? Is this their brand identity?"

This was a popular comment, and then a fan followed up with a comment:
"I'd rather choose KD, at least he's not a wimp."

This sentence instantly enlightened many people. James is not the only star of Nike!
Kobe is old, and he came from Adidas, so he can't be the top star, but Durant is a younger star than James.

And he led the Heat to 70 wins this season, which is the second person to achieve this after Jordan.

Why can't Nike make Durant its top player?
"Do you think Nike will change?" This topic was so popular that Rondo even started chatting with Hansen.

"When will LeBron's contract with Nike expire?" Hansen didn't pay much attention to this. He only remembered that when James first entered the league, Nike and James signed a 7-year, $9600 million contract.

In terms of time, the contract expired in the summer of 2010.

“他们在2010年的时候续约了一份4年8000万的合同。”隆多对这些信息的掌握很到位。“2010，2014。”

Han Sen kept repeating these two years as if he had discovered a new world.

The first decision in 2010 was brotherly basketball; the second decision in 2014 was hometown basketball.

This is definitely not a coincidence.

He seemed to understand a lot of things at once.

A plaything of capital.

Just like what Carril said at the beginning, "Nike pushed LeBron to the throne." James was selected by Nike and then deified.

It’s just that this false god is just a tool, and as a tool, it is possible that he will be replaced.

"If LeBron can't win the championship before 2014, I think that will be KD's chance." Hansen made a judgment.

Durant has no temperament, but how good is James' temperament?

Without those packaging, James is probably even worse than Durant.

This is Nike's power. Even if you are a piece of shit, it can make you taste like chocolate.

Durant's so-called negative things are nothing in comparison.

He suddenly looked forward to the arrival of the summer of 2014.

After two days of rest, the G2 between the Grizzlies and the Thunder continued in Memphis.

The course of the game was not much different from G1.

In fact, even if James and Westbrook can handle the ball possession issue well, it will be difficult for the Thunder to beat the Grizzlies.

Because their technical features overlap so much, adding them together has the effect of 1+1<2.

Of course, the Thunder management is only focused on making money and is not aiming to beat the Grizzlies or the Lakers.

It can only be said that the management did not expect Westbrook to improve so quickly and the conflict between the two would intensify so quickly.

It's not that they are stupid. Without the help of their third eye, isn't this lineup of Westbrook, Afflalo, James, Ibaka, and Lopez Jr. several times stronger than that of the Nuggets?
If we can get into the top four in the Western Conference and advance to the second round, then our goal will have been achieved.

The Grizzlies secured the advantage in the game early on, and the situation was even better than in the first game, leading by 15 points before the end of the first half.

It was at this time that a conflict broke out on the field.

When James was confronting Randolph, he first made a small move to make Randolph unhappy, and then put his elbow on Randolph's neck.

Despite Joerger's prior warning, Randolph, with his hot temper, could not tolerate this and he hugged and threw James to the ground on the spot.

The referee finally gave James a technical foul and Randolph was ejected.

James doesn't dare to play dirty, so he can only play shady.

After the technical timeout, Joerger decisively sent Jones on.

Jones is also a real talent. He actually imitated James's approach and provoked Westbrook in various ways.

"You can't win a game without KD!" His words after the elbow finally angered Westbrook. The two wrestled together and were both ejected.

It is worth mentioning that this is the first time Westbrook has been ejected from the playoffs in his career.

Although he is stubborn, he has always been good at controlling his emotions on the court.

The reason why the situation got out of control this time was not entirely due to Jones.

From what he said to Stan before the game, it can be seen that he wants to win.

Even if he couldn't win, he didn't want to be humiliated again and again like James.

When he finally left the scene, his expression looked calm, but his anger and dissatisfaction inside were probably boiling to the point where he couldn't control it.

After Westbrook left the court, James began to dominate the ball, scoring, rebounding, and assisting.

Except the point difference has not changed.

This changed in the second half as the score gap became larger.

In the end, despite some minor incidents, the Grizzlies still won another game at home with 103 to 88, changing the score to 2-0.

James had a triple-double of 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

You can question any of James' abilities, but you can't question his ability to get stats.

The league's punishment for this conflict was exactly the same as in the previous finals, with fines issued but no suspensions.

Although this round of games was one-sided, the ratings were the highest in the first round. Stern would not go against money.

G3 of the series will be played in Oklahoma City.

Before leaving, Jorgel found Hansen and talked about Randolph.

Because many times before on the court, it was Hansen who calmed Randolph's emotions.

However, Han Sen put forward some ideas of his own during the discussion.

He believes James' behavior is not repetitive.

Given James's personality, he is the kind of person who will only take action when he is forced into a corner.

But this time, his actions were somewhat related to the topic involving Nike's top brand on social media.

Since saying he is a wimp is not in line with Nike's brand characteristics, he will just be tough once, and then the negative voices will naturally die down.

Of course, this is only one aspect.

On the other hand, Han Sen thought that it was also related to the huge score difference on the field.

It was a strange angle, but he had his basis for it.

Because he summarized the scenes where James had conflicts with others. I can’t say all of them, but most of the time they happened when the team was trailing by a large margin.

Or maybe this situation is not just for James, most of the conflicts happen after people lose the game and become angry.

As Joerger emphasized at the beginning, the Grizzlies' goal is bigger and they are not playing a game of exchange with others in the first round.

Therefore, how to reach the finals in the most stable way is their priority.

After all, if we lose a main player to the finals, it will be really difficult to win against the Heat.

"Dave, do you know Chinese food?" Han Sen suddenly asked an even stranger question.

This question completely confused Jorgel. They were discussing the game, why did Hansen suddenly mention food?

However, Hansen didn't seem to care whether Jorgel knew it or not, and just introduced himself.

"In Chinese cuisine, there is a very famous dish called braised pork."

Jogel still didn't understand what Hansen meant by Hansen.

"Its method is very simple, and can be summed up in eight words: simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens."

(End of this chapter)