The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 68 fierce battle
"Hey, what the hell are you doing, do you want to fight?" Stephen Jackson huffed.

In the confrontation training, it is not the first time that brother Wu Sheng has shown embarrassment to others, this time it happened that Zhang Xiaotian was unlucky.

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

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

Speaking of which, Stephen Jackson's bad mood is also related to him. After Zhang Xiaotian became the first choice for the backup striker, Stephen Jackson is almost the tenth man, and the team's main rotation is nine.

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

This is his contract year, and he still wants to play for two more years to earn some dollars. If this continues, he must retire.

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

The strength has deteriorated seriously, and the temper is not good. How does the coach like it?Zhang Xiaotian took it as a warning.

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

On January 1, they went to an away game against the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies have also played very well recently, especially in terms of defense. For some time, no team can score 90 points in front of them.

In the past few seasons, the Spurs have actually been very good offensively, but only defensively is actually a popular impression.

At the beginning of the new year, Duncan was a little tired, especially playing away games, which was also related to his age. The explosion a while ago still consumed a lot of accumulated physical strength.

This game is the same, especially the Grizzlies have two difficult guys inside.

Duncan didn't score, and Parker took up the banner without hesitation. Parker's mid-range is really difficult to guard against.

On the Grizzlies side, Rudy Gay is still the vanguard.

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

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

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

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

Because the Grizzlies only have an eight-man rotation, Zhang Xiaotian may have to match up with different players.

Tony Allen is a famous defensive gate, making people uncomfortable on the defensive end.

But Zhang Xiaotian is now only running without the ball and supporting him, so he won't be too passive.

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

He subconsciously felt that Gay didn't put his heart into defending the last time he lost. Although the Grizzlies have a good record now, the personal relationships of several core players of the team are not good.

Gay is very capable, but he can't make his teammates better, and the team is not very satisfied with him.

During the rotation period, the offensive power of both sides declined, and the score has been stalemate.

But after the main force returned to the field, the situation changed.

Mike Conley made an early effort to suppress Parker on both offense and defense.

More importantly, Gasol Jr. made three consecutive big blocks in the paint, causing the Spurs to have a scoring drought.

The Spurs were afraid of encountering such a hard bone inside. At the end of the half, they were already behind by 8 points.

But Feng Shui took turns, midfielder Parker took a break, and immediately stepped into Conley's life in the third quarter.

Conley's defense is actually good, but he is shorter than Parker, and Parker can't do anything about breaking through and making an emergency stop.

When Zhang Xiaotian played at the end of the third quarter, the two sides had already tied.

In the second half, the Grizzlies had only seven players left in the rotation, and Zhang Xiaotian's opponent became the veteran Darrell Arthur, a dubious striker.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Zhang Xiaotian made a two-point jump to the opponent. Within a few minutes, the Spurs had already taken a 7-point lead.

The reason is very simple. When Zhang Xiaotian is not exerting force, the rotation players of both sides are actually not strong in attack, and Ginobili is also targeted. When he exerts force, the Grizzlies' defense has problems.

At almost 7 minutes, Zhang Xiaotian was replaced again.

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

Unexpectedly, when he was off the field, Randolph and Gay teamed up to overtake the score again.

From the beginning of this game, you will come and go, but at the last moment, it will be dangerous to repeat. Zhang Xiaotian only stayed on the bench for 2 minutes before playing again.

Danny Green was replaced, and he was also the player affected by Zhang Xiaotian's rise.

Those who can only defend and those who can attack and defend, except when targeting special players, Zhang Xiaotian is safer.

In order for Zhang Xiaotian to display his offensive power, Leonard was given the important task of marking the opponent's outside firepower Rudy Gay.

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

The same is true for the Grizzlies. The Spurs score a lot. They want to use Tony Allen on defense, and they want to use Darrell Arthur, who has a good shooting touch, to maintain his height on offense.

The coaches of both sides use their own methods and make frequent substitutions.

In the end, the Grizzlies replaced Gasol Jr. in order to move faster, and the Spurs also got their wish and replaced them with the most efficient first and fourth juniors at critical moments.

Even though Tony Allen looked down upon Zhang Xiaotian a little before, but at this time, he still conscientiously entangled Zhang Xiaotian.

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

After all, the Spurs have so many scoring points and Tony Allen is defending Zhang Xiaotian, so what about Ginobili? In other words, did they underestimate Leonard's offense.

Just after 4 minutes, Leonard made a successful steal and Parker scored in the counterattack.

Then Leonard hit two more points, and the Spurs led by another 3 points in the last 4 minutes of the game, and the Grizzlies were forced to 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 singles ability, and none of them will be soft at critical moments.

After the successful timeout, the situation changed again. First Randolph succeeded in singles, then Tony Allen cut Duncan's ball, and suddenly went to pinch the inside line while defending. Zhang Xiaotian succeeded many times. Unexpectedly, the opponent played this scene in front of him today .

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

The fans at FedEx Arena burst into cheers, and the pressure came to the Spurs again.

(End of this chapter)