Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 221 The defense is broken

At this moment, a very intriguing scene took place on the sidelines.

Joerger called Jones from the bench and asked him to go to the technical table to replace Gay.

Jones is no longer in the Grizzlies' regular rotation, and Joerger's purpose in sending him on at this time is self-evident.

Han Sen's explosive performance not only scares his opponents, but also the head coach.

Hansen played the entire quarter, and even though the Spurs double-teamed him like crazy later in the quarter, he still scored 26 points in the end.

26 points, setting a new record for the most points scored in the first quarter of the NBA playoffs.

Moreover, his 20 points at the start also set a record for the most consecutive points at the start of an NBA playoff game.

In ancient times, Tian Khan captured two kings in one battle, and today, Han Sen broke two historical records in one quarter.

Of course, Tokyo University broadcast this game live. The TV live broadcast was fine, but the website for the online live broadcast crashed directly.

Those who have the means went to watch TV, and those who don’t can only watch the text live broadcast, and then the live broadcast also collapsed.

In the end, the excited fans had no place to vent and could only discuss on the forum, which ended up crashing the forum.

A series of three in a row.

Led by Hansen, the Grizzlies also made history by scoring 38 points in this quarter.

The first quarter ended with a score of 38 to 18.

This also directly set the tone for the game.

In the last three quarters of the game, the Spurs showed their resilience.

However, the Grizzlies are now in a very stable mentality, and they are playing steadily even if they are leading by 20 points.

The result was that the Spurs could not narrow the gap.

Popovich was obviously angry in the end, and he let the main players play until the end of the last garbage time.

This operation is not too surprising for him who can use the "five up and five down" move.

What was really surprising was the post-match press conference, when this famous coach broke down.

And unlike two years ago when Han Sen’s remarks broke his defense, this time his defense was really broken.

"Why didn't we defend Han? How did you come up with such a stupid question? Can't you see how we defended him? Or are you pretending not to see it?"

The reporter was stunned because Hansen scored 45 points in just three quarters against the Spurs' defense.

If he hadn't appeared in the last quarter, tonight would definitely be a new night in Hansen's career.

Popovich's defense broke through, and Joerger was happy.

In the Grizzlies' post-match press conference, Joerger made many golden quotes.

"I don't know what happened, I didn't do anything and we were up by 20 points."

"I also wanted Han to play in the last quarter, but Han wouldn't allow it."

"Why did Han play so well? The great mayor returned to his loyal San Antonio."

Joerger's words made Hansen laugh. He realized that his head coach was not only good at communication, but also had a talent for participating in talk shows.

"You asked me if I would continue the performance like tonight. I would. Whether the team needs me to defend or attack, I will do my best."

Han Sen's answer was as low-key as ever.

The Grizzlies easily passed Game 1, but the Heat had a hard time in their first game.

The Pacers' defense is too strong. In the interior are Hibbert and David West who have not been restricted by the [vertical jump rule]. On the front line are Paul George and Tony Allen in two defensive formations. The only relatively weak one is point guard George Hill.

But the relative weakness of this Heat team is the point guard.

Of course, this is not the point. The point is that Wade is not in good shape after his comeback, and Durant is being targeted infinitely on the outside.

At this time, Durant's poor passing ability was exposed.

You don't have to be very strong for this thing, but you can't live without it.

In this year of "history", Durant, who stayed with the Thunder, was forced to hold the ball more and develop organization because of Harden's trade.

Although it was finally proven that Durant could not play as a point forward, at least he had gone through that process and developed certain coordinating abilities.

Now he's skipping that process and playing in a system that's more suited to his characteristics.

If Wade hadn't been injured, even the Pacers' defensive system wouldn't have been able to stop him.

But now because Wade is in poor condition due to injury, the system is not running smoothly and his performance will naturally be limited.

At this time, an unexpected yet reasonable person came out to save the situation.

After Hill arrived at the Heat, he took another month to recuperate before returning to the game. He only played 20 games in the regular season, and his condition was average, so he did not get many opportunities.

But his organizational skills are still there.

With Wade out, Spoelstra was forced to give Hill more playing time.

With more playing time and the Heat's strong lineup, Hill's condition has gradually recovered, especially he has found his outside shooting touch.

So he became the guy who dealt the cards at the top of the arc for the Heat.

After he came off the bench, Durant's offense was unleashed again.

So if the Grizzlies really play against the Heat in the end this season, the game will be really interesting.

Of course, Hill's disadvantages are also obvious. His defense is basically gone now, which gives Paul George an opportunity.

The composition of the Pacers is similar to that of the Grizzlies. Both rely on defense and have a breakthrough point on the outside.

Granger was previously eliminated by a kick from James, but George took over, and with his greater talent, he also demonstrated his strength earlier.

The two teams fought until the very last minute to decide the winner, just like in the last game of the regular season.

In the end, Durant faced Paul George and completed the buzzer-beater, and the Heat had the last laugh.

Durant scored 48 points in the game, breaking his personal record for the highest score in a single game in the playoffs.

"This is KD's season!" His performance also made the commentator on the scene exclaim.

Durant led his team to 70 wins, won the MVP, and broke the record for the highest score in a single game in the playoffs. When he arrived in Miami, he was completely surrounded by the aura of the protagonist.

And as long as he wins the championship, he can drink Scarlett's bath water. That's the standard "promotion, salary increase, and marrying a beautiful, rich and beautiful woman" script. It's beautiful just to think about it.

After two days of rest, G2 of the Grizzlies and Spurs series continued in Memphis.

Popovich showed his stubbornness in this game.

It is impossible to help defend. Using help defense against the Grizzlies will only put more pressure on their defense.

He made adjustments to the starting lineup, replacing Split with Dio as the starting center.

Previously, he used Split as the starting player to deal with the Grizzlies' twin towers. Now that the Grizzlies' offensive focus is not on the twin towers, he can use Dio to better assist Hansen in defense.

Hansen's performance in this opening game was not as explosive as in G1, and even his touch was not very good. However, he broke through the basket more often and activated the Grizzlies' offense by attracting help defense.

Basketball tactics are complex and simple at the same time. They have only one purpose: to create easy shooting opportunities.

A team like Princeton plays as a team, and everyone on the team can create such opportunities by moving the ball around.

But more tactics actually rely on offensive strengths to attract double-teaming and then create such opportunities for teammates.

This is also why as basketball develops, those complex tactics will be simplified, because the tactical effect can be achieved simply by the stars playing one-on-one.

When Hansen is in good form, he can rely on singles without any tactics, but when he is not in good form, he can drive the Grizzlies' tactics by increasing breakthroughs.

However, when playing as a team, the Spurs are not afraid of the Grizzlies. Green and Leonard cannot defend Hansen alone, but their ability to help defend is very strong.

Especially Leonard, his big hands can still provide tremendous pressure on defense even if he fails to steal the ball.

Moreover, Popovich's "humiliation" of making the main players play all garbage time in the last game made the Spurs players play more actively and proactively tonight.

At the end of the first half, the Spurs led the Grizzlies 45-40.

This Spurs team was only one free throw from Leonard away from the championship in the "history" that Hansen knew.

In other words, even without Ray Allen's historic equalizer, they would still be champions.

If nothing unexpected happens, they can suppress the Grizzlies and tie the score.

However, in the second half, something unexpected happened.

Han Sen regained his touch!
This scene seemed familiar. Two years ago in the Western Conference semifinals, Hansen also found his touch in the second half despite his poor touch in the first half.

It seemed that when playing against the Spurs, Hansen really had some special mayoral genes.

But unlike back then, Han Sen is now much stronger.

Popovich still stuck to his defensive strategy, and Hansen hit one "lowest cost-effective" mid-range shot after another.

In this quarter, Hansen turned into Anthony, who scored 50 points in the game against the Thunder at the end of this season without entering the three-second zone.

Hansen scored another 20 points in a single quarter, which made Barkley and others begin to question Popovich's coaching ability.

"Did Popovich forget that he was still on the court?" O'Neal wondered.

"He is like a stubborn donkey now, running out desperately but forgetting that his nose is still tied tightly." Just like O'Neal can't forget Kobe, Barkley still can't forget his donkey.

A similar thing was happening on social media at the same time.

"Meeting Duncan is the luckiest thing in Popovich's coaching career. Duncan's aging is the biggest difficulty he faces in his coaching career."

"The first reason for the Spurs' success is the selection of Duncan, the second reason is the GDP salary cut, and the third reason is Popovich."

"The third reason you mentioned is that he sent people to destroy the opponent's core when the team encountered difficulties?"

……

In the last quarter, Popovich put up GDP at the beginning, trying to regain the initiative of the game in this way.

Putting aside his coaching ability, he always does something cool that others have never seen.

At this time, Joerger was surprisingly calm and did not let Popovich lead him by the nose.

Of course, the reason why he dared to do this is also related to the depth of the Grizzlies' bench.

After trading for Carter, the Grizzlies can field a pure bench lineup of Livingston, Carter, Battier, Jamison and Faried.

This does not include Guy, who had to travel during off-peak hours.

This lineup alone is better than the starting lineups of some Eastern Conference teams.

This is also the main reason why the Grizzlies can still maintain their top spot in the Western Conference even in the second half of this hellish season.

The Spurs relied on GDP to make up some points in this period, but it did not meet Popovich's expectations.

Because he failed to catch up with the score in one go, his initiative will turn into passivity as GDP is consumed.

The facts soon proved this point. After the Grizzlies replaced their main players, the score on the field was widened again.

Leonard played well in this period. When GDP was over-exerted, he relied on open cuts and outside shots to help the Spurs continue to score.

The Spurs' trade for him is comparable to the Lakers' trade for Kobe and the Grizzlies' trade for Hansen.

But he has not yet developed the ability to play one-on-one with the ball, and is destined to be unable to influence the outcome of the game.

The Grizzlies eventually defeated the Spurs 95-85, bringing the overall score to 2-0.

Hansen scored only 9 points in the first half, but he scored 31 points in the second half and 40 points in the whole game.

After two games, his average points per game reached 42.5 points.

Barkley initially predicted that Hansen would score 40 points, but his prediction turned out to be conservative.

At the post-game press conference, Popovich was once again broken by reporters' questions.

"Why does the Spurs always allow Han to score high points? Is there something wrong with the team's tactical arrangement?" This was a question from a reporter.

"The person sitting in this position is me. I coached this team and won four championships. I know how to win the game better than you do." Popovich's answer reminded people of James. Perhaps he should really try to coach the Chosen One.

"I hope they can stick to that defensive strategy, then my stats will definitely look good." Hansen also joked about Popovich during the post-match interview.

The Grizzlies are leading the Spurs 2-0, while the Heat suffered a setback in Game 2.

Wade is still looking for his form. The game process between the two teams was exactly the same as the previous game, and the game was evenly matched in regular time.

But this time, the one who shone in the final quarter was George.

With 0.7 seconds left in the game, George received a hand-off pass from West and made a tying three-pointer against Durant.

In overtime, it was him who again defended Durant with high pressure in the final moments, forcing Durant to make a traveling mistake.

The Pacers eventually won Game 2, and George also greatly increased his popularity with his performance in this game.

The nickname "Little Maddie" from the original draft was also brought up by fans.

"Han, Miami won't really be eliminated early, right?" During the pre-match training session for G3, Guy couldn't help but get close to Han Sen.

If the Grizzlies really play against the Pacers in the finals, their chances of winning are much greater than against the Heat.

The matchup with the Spurs showed that with a super scorer like Hansen, the Grizzlies have a better chance of winning against defensive teams.

Moreover, the Lakers have been eliminated early from the two toughest opponents this season. If the Heat continue to be eliminated early, the Grizzlies' luck will be extremely good.

"Whether they are eliminated early or not, it's good for us."

Hansen doesn't think the Pacers can really beat the Heat. For one thing, Wade can't stay in that state forever.

However, the Heat have already consumed so much energy in the regular season. If they consume more energy in the Eastern Conference Finals, how much strength will they have left in the finals?

You know what, when Gay asked this, he thought of the Warriors with 73 wins.

(End of this chapter)