I just play ball

Chapter 399 Memory of the Times
At 10 a.m. on the 3th, the Lakers flight landed at Memphis Central Airport.

The whole team boarded the bus and took 10 minutes to transfer to the designated hotel.

Li Yue slept until noon, got up and had lunch, played a few rounds of 2K and Halo games with Nick Yang Chang, and then went to the conference room to participate in the video analysis as planned.

Kobe just came back from the gym, the two had a brief chat at the door, and agreed that the Grizzlies' style of play has basically not changed.

Li Yue knew that Kobe's ability to make such a conclusion was not just based on his inherent image, but because he had time to watch the video of the Grizzlies game. After all, he was a video research madman.

And I also watched the video in advance on the plane. The Grizzlies play like a sewing needle saved by grandma. The efficiency may not be so high, but it will definitely solve the problem.

The members of the coaching staff arrived in a blink of an eye, and Wharton presided over the explanation. He first mentioned the Grizzlies core lineup and the members of the coaching staff, without any changes.

In the summer off-season, the Grizzlies' biggest move was signing free agent Vince Carter, and then selecting rookie Jordan Adams in the draft.

If you are not a die-hard Grizzlies fan, you will not realize what the Grizzlies management is doing, but since the start of the season, the Grizzlies have won all 6 games and tied for the first place in the league with the Lakers.

"According to the data of the past 6 games, the Grizzlies averaged 94.9 points per game in the league, and their defensive efficiency ranks first in the league."

"Of course, they averaged only 98.3 points per game, ranking second to last in the league. Behind them is the super bad Knicks."

"The main scoring method of the Grizzlies is exactly the same as in the past few seasons. Their number of three-point shots ranks second to last in the league. Gasol, Randolph, and Conley account for 75% of the scoring.

Guarding has become the main two ways to initiate offense, the offensive rhythm is very slow, relying on giving up offensive rebounds to ensure that they will not be hit by fast breaks..."

Following Walton's explanation, Li Yue also looked at the information in his hand. The Grizzlies have never scored more than 6 points in the past 5 games, and they even won 71 to 69 against the Knicks.

It is conceivable that when the game starts, the Grizzlies will go all out when they are at home, challenge the defending champion, maintain a winning streak and other factors.

Naturally, the Lakers also worked [-]% hard. A hand-to-hand battle is inevitable.

This is why the coaching staff established a rotation mechanism. The schedule is seriously unreasonable, and it is necessary to challenge it through artificial means.

The analysis meeting ended quickly, and the coaching staff put forward two points for attention. One is to help defend Gasol and Randolph's low-post singles, and the other is to pay attention to the Grizzlies' baseline tactics.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the whole team trained in the temporarily rented arena, and spent most of their time practicing two precautions.

When the training was over, D'Antoni announced the starting lineup arrangement, with Clarkson as the starting point guard, in order to better deal with the Grizzlies' high pick-and-roll.

Such an adjustment is a bit risky, because Clarkson has far less actual combat experience than the seasoned Conley.

But Marshall and Price are at a physical disadvantage, and it is difficult to interfere with Conley, who looks ordinary but has great physical fitness. Only through Clarkson's height and speed advantages can he limit it to the greatest extent.

In addition, Gasol changed to serve as the starting power forward, using his rich experience to deal with Randolph, while Gobert served as the starting center, relying on his wingspan advantage to fully interfere with Xiaojia's low-post singles.

Everyone went back to the hotel for dinner, Kobe took everyone to watch the game, and ESPN happened to broadcast the Clippers and Spurs live.

The Lakers had just played the former, and the latter was about to face off. Everyone who was originally low in interest felt really good in a blink of an eye.

Unexpectedly, the two teams launched an extreme defense in the first quarter, and all failed to hit three-pointers. The Spurs only scored 14 points and the Clippers scored 18 points.Although they are all professional players, the game was too ugly. Nick Young took the lead to slip away, and Jokic also left.

In the second half of the second quarter, only four veterans, including Kobe and Iguodala, were left. Li Yue also stayed, but what was in his mind was the basketball movie script provided by Taylor.

After the game, the Spurs won 81 to 79. Kobe appreciated the Spurs' tenacity very much, and pulled a few people to make a replay analysis.
-
At 11 pm on the 3th, the entire Lakers team came to the FedEx Arena, the home of the Grizzlies, to conduct shooting training in advance.

The Grizzlies received little attention, and the Lakers were playing away games. Originally, there were no TV stations to broadcast the games between the two teams.But after accumulating many highlights, TNT temporarily gave up the live broadcast of the Wizards vs. 76ers game, and Miller and Thomas also rushed over from Washington.

After training at 5 o'clock, Li Yue came to the sidelines to accept an interview with Lei and Tuo according to the team's public relations arrangement.

"I know you are an all-around basketball player who is good at scoring and assisting," Thomas said, "but your assists per game have never reached the top. Why has it changed so much?"

"Honestly speaking, I have already left the stage of proving my strength through scoring. I hope that the team will complete the three consecutive championships," Li Yue said. "To achieve this, improving the strength of young players in the team is the best choice. It's a matter of marginal utility, simply put, it means that my high score has little effect on the strength of the team."

"Understand, understand." Miller nodded, "Then why does Kobe seem to be back to his peak in 06 recently?"

"It's best to ask him in person," Li Yue said with a smile, "but according to my observation, the desire for victory is powering him, and he desperately wants to achieve three consecutive championships."

"Have you ever thought about two consecutive MVPs?" Thomas asked. "Although you must be worthy, those who vote are very tricky. You have to come up with new tricks to satisfy them."

"Yeah, you did almost everything a basketball player can do last season," Miller said. "What are you going to do this season?"

"I don't care so much about personal honors anymore. Like Kobe, I hope to achieve three consecutive championships. What do they like?"

After Li Yue finished speaking, he answered a few more questions, then left the arena and returned to the locker room.

After taking a shower and changing his clothes, he lay on the chair to receive a massage to relax, and took out his mobile phone to browse the news.

ESPN, as usual, launched an early vote count on which team could win, and the proportion in favor of the Grizzlies reached 46%.This means that the public fans are still optimistic about the Lakers' victory, but 41% is the highest proportion of support for the Lakers among all their opponents this season. At least it shows that the public fans are optimistic about the Grizzlies and can cause great trouble for the Lakers.

At seven o'clock, Li Yue led the team into the arena and found that the fans filled the entire arena, and the attendance rate was not as low as mentioned in the report.

At the end of the pre-match ceremony, Kobe and Carter hugged and greeted on the sidelines. The two Gasol brothers also greeted each other with a smile.

The starting players of the two teams entered and stood on the field, point guard Clarkson against Conley, shooting guard Kobe Bryant against Tony Allen, small forward Li Yue against Courtney, power forward Gasol against Randolph, center Gobert against Gasol Jr.

The short whistle sounded, and the referee held the ball and stood in the middle circle, gestured left and right, explained the precautions, raised his hands up and threw it lightly.

Xiaojia jumped up, touched the basketball first, and swung it back vigorously.

Conley picked it up, bent forward slightly, and the Grizzlies attacked first.

Walking to the left and right, Conley threw the ball to the top of the arc, and accelerated himself to the left corner.

At the same time, Xiaojia took the ball at the top of the arc, changed hands and then divided the right wing.Courtney caught the ball with both hands raised high, his eyes fixed on the bottom line, Li Yue subconsciously turned sideways to make room, trying to lure the opponent to attack the inside line and destroy Conley's bottom line running.

Who would have thought that Conley rushed to the basket, suddenly stopped and ran back, and returned to the three-point line with the help of Randolph.

Courtney immediately passed the ball. After Conley got the ball, he took advantage of the cover of Xiaojia and went left to hit the basket. Clarkson hurriedly chased, but was seriously delayed by Xiaojia's generous body.

Gobert was forced to move laterally to intercept, Xiaojia immediately disassembled and went down, received the pass from Conley and went straight to the basket. Li Yue shrank and intercepted when he saw this, and the basketball immediately flew to the right wing.

From the right corner, Bryant strode to the right wing to cover Courtney, but the ball flew toward him.Allen took a quick step after receiving the ball, took off from the short corner, and shot two points steadily, while Li Yue stopped under the basket at this time and was about to intercept the layup.

Swish!Hollow into the net, 0 to 2.

"Although Tony Allen doesn't know much about offense, he definitely knows how to shoot open shots. I'm careless!" Li Yue sighed in his heart. Make a better shot, tough!"

The Lakers attacked, Clarkson dribbled the ball across the center line, raised his hand and passed it to Gasol on the left wing, and continued to run to the left corner.

Dajia held the ball high with both hands, pretending to pass to the waist, but the Grizzlies' defensive formation remained unchanged, because it was hard for anyone to believe that Gobert would play back singles.

Dajia threw the ball to the top of the arc in embarrassment, then rushed into the inside line, covered by Gobert, and ran around the bottom line to the right half.

Kobe received the ball and passed it to the right. Li Yue got it in his hand, hit the ground and passed it back to Dajia who circled to the right, and then ran to the left to open up space.

Unexpectedly, Courtney did not hesitate to shrink the attack. In the chaos, Dajia almost dropped the ball.Seeing this, Li Yue ran to the right sideline, received a pass from Dajia, made a fake shot, easily swayed Courtney away, stepped down the ball, and rushed to the basket.

Randolph moved laterally to intercept, Li Yue stepped sideways on the edge of the baseline, rushed to the basket to take off, and hit the board with his backhand.

boom!The basketball rebounded into the net, 2 to 2.

The Grizzlies attack, the audience cheers and shouts

Conley rushed to the left wing with the ball, observed for a moment, and raised his hand to the top of the arc.

Xiaojia received the ball and turned around, with his left elbow as protection, and slowly shifted the ball to the right.Courtney received the ball close to the body, rushed to the top of the arc and hit the ground to pass back to Conley, while Xiaojia twisted his hips into the paint area, used Randolph to cover, and after a large circle, stopped at the left waist.

Conley immediately passed the ball, Xiaojia received it, turned around to face the basket, and Conley ran from the side, walking the baseline to open up space.

In the blink of an eye, there were only two people left in the left half, and Xiaojia made three strong tops, strode forward and turned around, resisting Kobe's interference and Gobert's block, and forced a throw.

when!The basketball bounced off the hoop.

Allen seemed to go back to the time when he was a dunker, took a big step from the free throw line, jumped up like a spring, and grabbed the basketball before everyone else.

Cheers erupted in the arena, and the three Lakers formed a siege. Allen calmly took the ball to the top of the arc, raised his hand and passed it to the right wing.

Courtney caught the ball and waited with his arms around his waist. Randolph, who had given up on offensive rebounds and rushed to the center line ahead of time, ran back and set up a wall as a cover.

Thinking of teammates guarding the basket, Li Yue took a decisive step forward and chose to block the upper line, forcing Courtney to go off the line and break through.

But Courtney stayed put, and Randolph ran to the waist on the right side, put his back against Dajia, and raised his left hand to signal a pass.

Courtney immediately passed the ball, and then took advantage of the trend to the baseline, went straight to the basket, while Randolph passed the ball back, and the two played the baseline slip tactic that the Grizzlies are quite good at.

At this time, Gobert and others had already withdrawn from the three-second zone, and the Lakers basket was temporarily unguarded, and the audience cheered and celebrated upon seeing this.

However, Li Yue did not squeeze through the screen to catch up, but bypassed the screen and intercepted obliquely, taking off almost at the same time as Courtney.

Snapped!Big hat on the side, the basketball flies to the left bottom corner.

Clarkson bent down to grab it, but it was a pity that Conley took the first step, picked up the basketball and broke through directly.

The three Lakers surrounded, Conley stopped the brakes suddenly, and scored the ball 45 degrees to the right.

Randolph received the hand, took a big step forward to the right elbow, then turned his back to protect the basketball, and passed back hand to hand.

Conley caught the ball and walked off the assembly line. Seeing that the attack time was running out, he stopped and jumped against Clarkson and Dajia, and made a mid-range shot.

Swish!Hollow into the net, 2 to 4.

The scene cheered and applauded, Clarkson received the ball and advanced, went to the top of the arc and passed the ball to the left.

Li Yue received it and waited with his hands raised high. Seeing that Kobe was holding Allen with his back on the left waist, he immediately lobbed the ball.

Perhaps considering that Allen's basic defensive skills are too good, Kobe turned over and shot a jumper after catching the ball without making any extra moves.

The basketball crashed into the net, 4 to 4.

For this attack, the Lakers took a total of 8 seconds, but it was not a three-pointer. Many spectators at the scene showed confused expressions.

The Grizzlies attacked, Conley dribbled the ball across the center line, passed it to Courtney, strode to the free throw line, and went straight to the left sideline.

Courtney got the ball to the top of the key, handed it to Randolph, and Randolph passed the ball to Allen on the left wing, and then ran to the left elbow.

Conley, who arrived at the short corner on the left before, ran towards Randolph head-on, slightly delaying Dajia who was catching up.

Randolph took the opportunity to rush to the left waist, back to the main position, raised his hand to receive the pass from Allen, and made a strong sideways attack.

With a high pressure and a low center of gravity to defend, the two are like a master duel. They are already familiar with all kinds of beckoning, and they simply rely on brute force.

Hearing a roar from Randolph, it seemed that he had finally squeezed out of the space, turned around suddenly, stepped into the paint area with two steps, took off against the big reinforcement, and staggered toss.

when!The basketball hit the basket and rebounded, knocked down the rebound and rebounded again, and finally fell into the Nets. The Grizzlies led 6-4.

The audience cheered and cheered, Clarkson drove the ball forward, went to the top of the arc, and passed the ball to the left.

Li Yue caught the ball and held it high, and threw it to Kobe again, but this time Courtney immediately retracted the attack.

Kobe passed the ball back, but Li Yue still held it high. Seeing Kobe turned around and slipped to the baseline, he stepped lightly and made a precise pass.

Kobe caught the ball under the basket, put his back against Allen, stopped suddenly and slowed down to face Xiaojia, kicked off the ground with both feet, and hit the board with a high throw.

Xiaojia wanted to try to block the shot, but he couldn't reach it, and watched the basketball hit the board and bounce into the net.

The Lakers caught up to 6-6, and the game was tense. The on-site announcer took the lead to guide, and the audience shouted loudly for the Grizzlies.

In the TNT commentary seat, Miller said with a smile: "The director Gao told me just now that since the game started, the ratings have maintained a high growth rate, and there is also a hot topic on Twitter. The taste is definitely not to be missed, and many tweeted that they have given up watching other shows."

"This shows that the fans know what a real basketball game is. In the past six offenses, the two teams have not sold a single three-pointer, including two low singles, two mid-range shots, and two layups." Thomas said. The offensive options that are currently prevalent in the league are contrary, as if they belong to the memory of a previous era."

(End of this chapter)