One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-One. This Season's Mid-Season Is Unusual

There are many ways for a person's thoughts to change, and subtlety is the most common, and it is not uncommon for Harden's mentality to change once a major event occurs.

The first change in Harden's mentality was when he first entered the NBA. He saw how good Durant and Westbrook were, Ibaka was not bad, and Jeff Green... So Harden chose to be a good player. Little brother.

The second time was when the Thunder refused to give him an annual salary of tens of millions, which made him cry...

Then there was the need to take responsibility during the Warriors era, and the attitude on the court changed dramatically.

The most recent time was when Curry told Harden that he had become desperate with the Warriors management and coaching staff, was not prepared to renew his contract, and applied for a trade.

The 27-year-old Harden really has the mentality of "I want to carry the team forward", giving people a sharp-edged feeling... just a bit tough.

Being used to playing with Curry, Harden's usual mid-range singles are all one-on-one, and Sun Ce doesn't dare to help defend easily, otherwise his interception of the cutting route or his defense against Curry will be affected.

The main thing is that Curry averages about 5 assists per game and has the strongest three-point performance in history. Anyone who plays with him will have an easier time. Harden can develop a connection with Curry so quickly after joining the Warriors. The chemical reaction, in addition to Curry taking the initiative to give up the ball, is that Curry and Durant are very similar offensively, the type that can be plug-and-play in most systems.

Curry was replaced by Russell, who averaged 14.2 points and 5.4 assists per game. Russell was not bad. He was not delayed by Kobe Bryant during the tour season for a year like in the original time and space. He started to transform potential into strength early. He is a An all-star prospect, but obviously a long way from Curry.

After using Sun Ce to score a layup at the beginning, the Warriors did not take the initiative at the beginning. Sun Ce directly defended Harden, which had a great impact on Harden's single game.

Harden's strategic idea is simple and clear. He opens the game first and then leads his teammates. However, Sun Ce easily saw through the opponent's demeanor and determination in the first attack to see what Harden wanted to do, and took the initiative to switch defenses with Paul George.

"Error" has been upgraded to level 5, and there is "acceleration and direction change in progress level 5". These two skills are Sun Ce's defensive steps and ability to keep up with changes in direction. As long as the judgment is correct, his shortcoming of only being first-rate in explosive acceleration will be eliminated. To make up for it, the key is to predict.

As for the strength gap between Sun Ce and Harden, the height gap between Sun Ce and Harden will meet the 10 cm requirement, triggering the skill "Death Coil". The triggering conditions for the ultimate effect of this skill are that the height gap reaches 10 cm and the weight is greater than the opponent. Although Sun Ce is not as strong as Harden, he is heavier and gets two small levels of strength bonus, so he will not suffer in one-on-one situations!

After Harden's successful counterattack at the beginning, the Grizzlies went on a 14-9 run in less than half a quarter! Sun Ce's defense is indispensable! The Warriors call timeout!

Many people's impression of Sun Ce still rests on the title of "the strongest help defender in history." Tonight, Sun Ce defended Harden alone and prevented Harden from making 2 of 5 shots in the half quarter. Putting aside the counterattack layup, Sun Ce When defending Harden alone, Harden only made 1 of 4 shots from the field. Only then did many fans realize that Sun Ce's single defense was already so strong!

Among them, there must be the factor that Sun Ce does not often go to single defense, and his defensive intensity, awareness and ability exceed Harden's expectations, but the defensive intensity, defensive awareness, and defensive ability can only be shown if Sun Ce has them.

Harden was shocked during the game, but after the timeout, with his golf intelligence, he quickly understood that when Sun Ce played against the Warriors, he rarely showed single defense ability, and occasionally had single defense, generally speaking They all have to defend Curry. It's not that Sun Ce can't defend others, but that he can't let Curry go!

In terms of running ability and stability of catching and shooting, Russell is far behind Curry. Wiggins' ability without the ball needs to be improved... Sun Ce can ignore those two people and focus on guarding him!

Harden was very excited about this,

He could feel that when he played against the Grizzlies in the past, Sun Ce's attention was on Curry, as if he could delay the Warriors' entire offense by restricting Curry.

Now, playing against the Grizzlies, he, Ha Lao San, has become Sun Lao San's strongest opponent!

On the other side, Sun Ce sat down to rest after entering the official timeout. Next, he will send out a rotation lineup. Coach Hollins seems to have no tendency to let him continue playing. It seems to be a regular rotation.

After all, the Warriors without Curry may have won the future in people's eyes. When Russell and Wiggins enter their peak period in five or six years, will Curry, who will be 29 years old in three months, still be there? Playing is a problem, but at this stage, without a superstar like Curry, the strength will definitely decline, and the Grizzlies are not placed in the first opponent series, but in the second series.

Sitting on the bench, Sun Ce watched the lineup of Brogdon, Carter, Paul George, David West, and Dieng come on the court with Russell, Iguodala, and Nick Young from the Warriors. , Draymond Green, and Mozgov's lineup are aggressive in attack.

Generally speaking, the Grizzlies have the advantage. The coaching staff's arrangements in yesterday morning's tactical meeting were very good. As coach Hollins said, the biggest problem for the Warriors is not that Russell is far inferior to Curry, but that Russell is far inferior to Curry. It's a question of the playing styles of Russell and Wiggins.

Russell has a talent for off-ball shooting. He is very good at catching and shooting. In terms of catching and shooting, he is better than Sun. However, his ability to run, use pick-and-roll, and get rid of defense is average. Wiggins' off-ball ability is even worse. In addition to standing outside the three-point line, he plays a cutting style.

The Clippers' slow positional battle can adapt to Wiggins's style of play, but the Warriors, who emphasize dynamic offense, these two people drag Harden down.

When Curry was still playing for the Warriors, Sun Ce kept staring at Curry because he didn't want Harden to successfully use Curry's containment to easily create three-pointers and cutting opportunities for other Warriors players, and one of the two players, Iguodala or Draymond Green, served as the key point of the transfer ball.

Although it cannot be completely contained, it can have a limiting effect.

Compared with Harden's singles, Sun Ce is more afraid of the Warriors' full-team offense. After all, Sun is not afraid of scoring points, but if the opponent's entire team scores points, it is really impossible.

But now, the situation is very different! Without Curry, the Warriors were fine when playing against teams with less strong defense, but it was difficult for the Warriors to form a three-man team against the Grizzlies, a team that ranks in the top five in overall defense.

Sun Ce always felt that the "triangle offense" tactic was very rogue, because most of the small-scale cooperation, if you insist, can be pulled into the idea of ​​triangle offense.

Taking the initiative at the beginning, by the end of the first quarter, the Grizzlies had scored 33 to 24, leading by 9 points in a single quarter. If Harden had not been replaced in advance with two minutes left in the first quarter, the Grizzlies would have widened the gap.

Look at Paul George when the wind is favorable and look at Buddha when the wind is against. At the beginning, Sun Ce's defense played an advantage. Coach Hollins' rotation in the second half of the first quarter was quite good.

In the second quarter, Sun Ce was still not sent up immediately. With the advantage, of course, the main players had to rest for a while.

Brogdon, Jaylen Brown, Paul George, JaMychal Green, Gobert, the Grizzlies sent out a tank lineup in the second quarter.

The Warriors replaced Harden, Troy Daniels, Wiggins, Kevin Rooney, and McGee.

Two rushing inside players and three ball-holding outside players, all of whom have the ability to catch and shoot at a fixed point, the Warriors' style of play is very simple and rough, completely without the complicated and ineffective extra things at the beginning of the season, just simple and rough play.

Few teams are willing to compete with the Grizzlies in personal ability, even the Lakers and the Bulls are unwilling to do so. Only young teams like the Suns or teams with stubborn core players like the Thunder will be easily brought into the star competition by the Grizzlies every time they play against the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies have a very high probability of winning by competing with the stars in personal ability!

But tonight, after the start of the second quarter, the Warriors did it!

Steve Kerr is definitely a very good coach overall. The change in playing style at the beginning of the new season failed, and that was just a failure. Any attempt has the possibility of failure.

In terms of coaching, Steve Kerr is capable. After the first quarter, he knew that his new three starting outside players could not play well against the Grizzlies as they did in the first two games against weak teams, and they could not cooperate.

In this case, send three outside players with strong singles ability and two rushing inside players to compete with the opponent!

The five players on the Warriors side saw that Sun Ce and Klay Thompson were still not on the court, and even Aldridge was not on the court. They actually wanted to use a purely defensive lineup to drag the score. It was simply contemptuous!

Who can stand this?

In the first quarter, Sun Ce was very actively defended, allowing Sun Ce to choose to invest more physical strength on the defensive end. Wiggins took the lead in the second quarter!

Wiggins is a very magical player. He has played against James 6 times in his career so far. Although the team has only 2 wins and 4 losses, Wiggins averaged 27.3 points against James, which is much higher than James's average of 23.5! The key is that the hit rate is still very high, with an average shooting rate of 57% in 6 games!

This is one of the reasons why people still think Wiggins is extremely talented even though his average points per game has declined this season. Tonight, Wiggins was still playing with the resentment of being sold out, and he was very upset when he saw the Grizzlies trying to drag the score with such a lineup. When he saw Paul George, he beat him like James!

So, Coach Hollins, who wanted Sun Ce to rest for half a quarter, caused Paul George to be beaten by Wiggins... When Sun Ce came up, Harden and Wiggins on the Warriors side were already playing high. The scoring speed was not fast, but very stable! Daniels was also replaced by Iguodala, and Draymond Green and Thabeet came on the court. When the stars are in shape, of course they have to decisively show off their stars!

The Warriors, who were behind 24 to 33 in the first quarter, scored 29 to 21 in the second quarter. The Grizzlies' offense was too bad at the beginning of the second quarter, and their defense was not good, so when Sun Ce and others came up, they were directly in an extremely passive state.

At the end of the first half, the Grizzlies' lead was reduced to only 1 point!

During the halftime break, Coach Hollins made targeted tactical arrangements with only one goal, which was to suppress the opponent's momentum.

The players on the Grizzlies focused their attention on Sun Ce. When the halftime break was about to end and Sun Ce returned to the court with his teammates, the opponent's attention, the fans' sight, and the TV live broadcast camera were all on Sun Ce.

Sun Ce rested well in the first half. Although the score difference was close, the Grizzlies achieved his goal of getting more rest.

Sun Ce was also ready to start the second half, but before he could start, Klay Thompson got excited! He received the ball twice in a row and hit a three-pointer from the Warriors player Yan Ye who was in place!

Sun Ce was also inspired by his touch, and Klay Thompson made a three-pointer. The two teamed up to play a wave of 9 to 5 at the beginning of the second half, widening the score difference to 5 points.

Harden and Wiggins have already played well. It is unlikely to defend a superstar like Harden, and Sun Ce can't do it either. He can only try his best to interfere. On Wiggins' side, Klay Thompson is also trying to interfere.

The Grizzlies can't defend on the defensive end, so they play offense!

Sun Ce and Klay Thompson joined hands to score 3 three-pointers, which scared the Warriors to defend more on the wing. There was a vacuum under the basket, and Yi Jianlian, Aldridge, and Carter all got a lot of opportunities to cut in and shoot mid-range shots.

Finally, at 8 minutes and 22 seconds in the third quarter, Harden and Draymond Green played a pick-and-roll, and Sun Ce switched to Draymond Green. Klay Thompson, who was defending Wiggins, quickly went to assist, and Wiggins cut in from the weak side!

Sun Ce pulled back from the baseline when Wiggins cut in from the weak side and received the pass from Harden. He seized the opportunity and slapped the ball that Wiggins was holding up and dunking!

Yi Jianlian grabbed the defensive rebound, passed the ball to Sun Ce who landed after blocking the shot, and then started a fast break. Sun Ce rushed to the frontcourt, and Russell who followed him chose to give up... Sun Ce rushed to the opponent's basket and turned 360 degrees to dunk, scoring two points.

This block and counterattack dunk blocked the Warriors' hot momentum from the second quarter to the middle and late third quarter.

The Warriors' offense gradually cooled down, giving the Grizzlies some time to breathe. After three quarters, the Grizzlies led the Warriors by 4 points, 85 to 81. In this quarter, the Grizzlies and the Warriors played 31 to 28!

When the game entered a headwind state, the Warriors had already narrowed the gap to 1 point, and were about to be overtaken, Klay Thompson stood up and ignited Sun Ce's touch, which led to the offense of the whole team!

In this situation, in Wiggins's view, he had tried his best, but the strongest player on the opposite side was at ease!

In the fourth quarter, Sun Ce seized the opponent's defensive loopholes as soon as he came on the court, broke through the pick-and-roll and entered the basket, scoring three goals in a row, one of which was a hook shot that caused Thabit to make up for the foul, and the free throw was also made. He scored 7 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter!

The Warriors seemed to be a little confused in the more than one minute, and both attacks ended in irons. The Grizzlies directly widened the gap to 11 points with a wave of 7 to 0, leading 92 to 81!

Wiggins watched them work hard for two quarters. The score difference was narrowed to 1 point at the smallest point. At the end of the third quarter, they were only 4 points behind. However, the score difference was immediately pulled to 11 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Unlike Harden who quickly focused his attention and wanted to help the team turn the tables with anger, Wiggins looked at the nearly omnipotent Sun Ce, and the first thought that came to his mind was - can I beat him?

Then Wiggins gave himself a positive answer - no.

He worked hard for 30 minutes in the first three quarters and scored 28 points with his life, while the lord was slacking for a long time, and it seemed that he just shot casually. In the fourth quarter, he just made a casual effort and scored 30 points.

Wiggins immediately felt that health preservation was more important, so when the Warriors attacked, Wiggins no longer asked for the ball to play alone, but stood in the sidelines on both sides and waited for the ball to shoot from mid-range and long-range.

Without Wiggins' efforts in the first three quarters, who scored 28 points with 10 of 18 shots, Harden immediately felt the pressure doubled!

This is Wiggins' third game after being traded to the Warriors. He scored 31 points in the first game and 25 points in the second game. Tonight, he was expected to break his career-high 39 points in a single game with 28 points in three quarters, but Wiggins suddenly lost his fire... It can't be said that he lost his fire. Wiggins had no desire to cut into the inside line.

This is a heavy blow to the Warriors' offense!

Seeing the combination of Harden and Wiggins had the feeling of double guns at the beginning, who knew that in the crucial final quarter, Wiggins disappeared!

Throughout the fourth quarter, Wiggins made 0 of 3 shots, and it was not clear whether he was frustrated because Sun Ce blocked two shots. It came very suddenly and disappeared suddenly. There was no sign at all in the eyes of others.

Relying on Sun Ce's performance of 11 points and 3 assists in the final quarter, the Grizzlies scored 29 to 19 in the final quarter.

After playing for 34 minutes, he made 14 of 23 shots, including 4 of 6 three-pointers, plus 8 of 8 free throws. Sun Ce got a triple-double of 40 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals, helping the Grizzlies beat the Warriors 114-100!

Harden scored 37 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists. Seeing Wiggins scored 28 points in three quarters, but still 28 points after the whole game, Harden's mentality was about to explode.

The guy with the green headband back then, people rushed to shoot at critical moments! Unlike this guy, he stood outside the three-point line at the critical moment, without even running.

How did he become like this when he encountered a little setback?

Let's not talk about how Harden views his teammates. Sun Ce played so easily tonight! He easily got a 40+ triple-double and won the game at the same time.

Facing the Warriors' onslaught, although the lineup led by Paul George did not play well, when the two teams played smoothly before, Paul George's stability under the tailwind was indeed outstanding.

And when the opponent was already gaining momentum, Klay Thompson hit a three-pointer.

The scoring of Sun Xin and Aldridge focused on regular scoring.

Although the point difference was once narrowed to only 1 point, Sun Ce felt that the game was very stable and he played easily.

Sun Ce clearly felt the progress of his teammates! Compared with before the All-Star Weekend, their tactical execution was obviously more stable. Although it was because the Warriors' strength declined that they played so steadily, Sun Ce was not looking at this, but the overall situation, although there were some surprises in the process. situation, but they all performed steadily as they should. When the team performed well, the stars had the opportunity to seize the opportunity to widen the point difference and widen the point difference again.

One more thing, let alone Harden's side, Sun Ce was shocked when he saw Wiggins' performance!

After the first three quarters, he and Sun were ready to fight the opponent in the fourth quarter. After the 7-0 wave, he was also guarding against the double-gun combination of Harden and Wiggins to continue to surge. Who knows Not only did Wiggins fail to help Harden as he did in the first three quarters, but he also directly became a hindrance...

But even if Wiggins continues to fight, Sun Ce is not afraid. It’s not that the Warriors didn’t fight hard in the third quarter, but their Grizzlies still have to be better and beat the stars. They really have nothing to fear!

…

With 25 wins and 9 losses, after the Christmas Day game, the Grizzlies officially passed the early season together with other teams and entered the middle of the season.

Voting for the starting lineup for the 2017 All-Star Weekend in New Orleans has begun.

Originally, this All-Star Game was held in Charlotte, but because of strange things happening there, local black people opposed the construction of new road signs and billboards, saying that it affected their freedom to drive and honk their horns... and even Parades, mass demonstrations... directly go to the public and online to say that they are being discriminated against because many of them don't understand what the signboards mean.

The black people Sun Ce comes into contact with on a daily basis, no matter how stupid they are, have entered the NBA and earned millions of dollars in annual salary. Over time, they have become separated from the black group in a broad sense.

Sun Ce was speechless when he saw this, but it was good to go to the Pelicans to host the All-Star Weekend. They were all by the sea, and the south coast was warmer than the east coast.

Moreover, rather than where the All-Star Games will be held, Sun Ce cares more about which members of his Grizzlies team can make the All-Star Game. If he is fully prepared, it is their outside trio and Aldridge. Only four of them are likely to be selected for the All-Star Game. .

Sun Ce is very confident that he can become an All-Star starter. In terms of popularity, Paul George is also a possibility. Judging from the data, Klay Thompson, who averages 18.8 points per game, is also hopeful.

Aldridge will have to look at luck.

As for Gobert, if Sun Ce remembers correctly, although this guy later won the Best Defensive Player, he made very few All-Star appearances. He did not make the All-Star Game two consecutive times when he was the Best Defensive Player.

Compared with Randolph’s mentality of scoring once and earning once, Gasol’s mentality of loving to score but not Sun Ce’s mentality of “how could I not score”, Klay Thompson, Paul George, and Aldridge are all the same. People still care about whether they can make the All-Star bench.

It is difficult for players to control these things, and it is even more difficult for a championship-level team like them to control because the team must be ranked first.

After a day of rest after the Christmas game, the Grizzlies ushered in the last game of their four-game series against the Hawks on December 27th.

At 6:10 in the evening, after the players from the two teams entered the stadium, the opposite backup point guard Anfernee Hardaway came over to say hello before the game. Because Hardaway was unwilling to accept the early renewal of the Trail Blazers' multi-million-year salary. contract, the Trail Blazers traded him to the Hawks. Relying on his performance of 15.5 points per game so far this season, Hardaway Jr. got a 4-year, $72 million early contract extension that he was satisfied with, which will take effect next season. , with an average annual revenue of US$18 million.

This made Sun Ce smack his tongue!

At 6:30 in the evening, the game between the Grizzlies and the Eagles started.

Aldridge and Klay Thompson took turns resting, and the Grizzlies sent out a starting lineup of Sun Ce, Carter, Paul George, Yi Jianlian, and Gobert.

The Hawks sent out a starting lineup of Schroeder, Korver, Bazemore, Millsap, and Howard.

Maybe it was because it was too difficult to win against the Grizzlies in the past two years. Every team saw that the Grizzlies had lost 9 games this season, so they all played very hard.

Sun Ce has become accustomed to the fact that every team wants to beat the Grizzlies this season. Every opponent beats them like Teddy, wanting to beat their Panda Legion.

The same is true for the Hawks. The Hawks have defeated the Grizzlies once in the past two seasons. Of course, that is already amazing. The Grizzlies have only lost 17 games in the past two regular seasons combined.

Sun Ce saw the thought "We are going to upset" from the faces of the players on the opposite side. It was too obvious.

However, although the Grizzlies rested two starters and the Eagles performed fiercely, the Grizzlies' offensive firepower can withstand it!

Relying on Sun Ce's 34 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, Paul George's 14 points and 12 assists, Gobert's 15 points and 11 rebounds, Yi Jianlian's 12 points and 7 rebounds, Brogdon's 16 points... The Grizzlies beat the Hawks 116-108, improving their record to 26 wins and 9 losses, temporarily avoiding the 10th loss of the season.

…

On December 29, the Grizzlies narrowly defeated the Timberwolves 95-92; on December 31, the last day of 2016, the Grizzlies defeated the Kings led by Irving, Randolph and Randle 116-104 away from home. They didn't give the former boss face, and they beat him when he deserved it. The ring will not be given until the Kings go to Memphis to play... Mainly because there is no atmosphere to give Randolph the championship ring at the Kings' home court.

Sun Ce could see that Randolph was not very happy playing for the Kings. The Kings' performance was similar to that of a team that had not played badly.

However, if Randolph had another chance to choose, he would still choose the Kings.

There was no way. The Kings gave too much and he could not refuse.

After the game with the Kings, the Grizzlies had another away game to play back-to-back.

And the opponents were very difficult to deal with. This time, the away games were against the Suns and the Lakers.

However, the situation of the game was not quite the same as what the Grizzlies expected and what Sun Ce expected. On January 2, 2017, the Grizzlies defeated the Suns 109 to 97 in the away game against the Suns.

It may be the first time that many young players of the Suns played such a good record. In the middle of the season, they became impatient.

Because the middle of the season is a period of time when physical strength, energy, patience, etc. are consumed a lot and the heart is very tormented, which will amplify some negative emotions.

Being too positive to accomplish something is actually a negative emotion.

This is the difference in experience. The Grizzlies have too many veterans, and they took advantage of the Suns' eagerness to end the regular season and lock in their rankings in the middle of the season.

On January 3, the day after playing the Suns, the Grizzlies came to Los Angeles and played the Lakers back-to-back.

107 to 92, the Grizzlies' score in the front and the Lakers' score in the back.

This game was broadcast live across the United States. Fans who watched the game, if it was their first time watching the game, would have thought it was the second game of the Lakers' away back-to-back.

Sun Ce played for 22 minutes and scored 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Klay Thompson scored 17 points and 5 rebounds, Aldridge scored 11 points and 3 rebounds, Paul George scored 10 points and 7 assists, Brogdon scored 14 points, Yi Jianlian scored 14 points, Gobert scored 12 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks... 7 Grizzlies scored in double digits, and no one scored more than 20 points.

The Lakers' inside line was weak in the middle of the season. Their inside line had too much burden in the early season, mainly because there were only a few rotation players. Although James had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, Leonard had 26 points and Louis Williams had 17 points, the Lakers did not have a fourth player who scored in double digits, including Kobe and Lopez.

The current situation of the Lakers and the Suns is a very typical mid-season situation.

Fatigue, physical fatigue and mental fatigue, the Lakers have both.

Impatience and impatience, the Suns showed it very clearly.

Because they played well in the early season, it was very obvious when this happened at this time.

Not only these two teams, the Celtics, Bulls, Trail Blazers, Raptors... and other teams have fluctuated in performance after the All-Star Weekend. Some stars played very hard, such as Westbrook, and some started to slack off, such as Wiggins who scored 20 points per game...

Compared with many teams, the performance of the Grizzlies is very surprising!

Since the Christmas game, the Grizzlies have won 6 consecutive games! From 24 wins and 9 losses before the Christmas game, they rushed to 30 wins and 9 losses!

In Barkley's words, the Grizzlies still have the possibility of surpassing the second-best record of 72 wins and 10 losses in history.

The more normal commentators are amazed at the stability of the Grizzlies in the middle of the season.

The Grizzlies seem to be quite experienced in dealing with the rhythm of the middle of the season. This year, their performance in the middle of the season, not only did not show obvious fluctuations in strength in the middle of the season like other teams, but it seemed more stable!

The point is that other teams have changed a lot since the end of last season. Among the strong teams, there is probably only the Bulls who have not changed much.

Experience, the stability of the core lineup, and the efforts in the early season have allowed the Grizzlies to increase their winning rate in the middle of the season!

Even last season and the season before, the Grizzlies had obvious fluctuations in strength in the middle of the season. Perhaps it was because the rest came earlier this season, or perhaps it was because Aldridge was injured at the beginning of the season, and the playing time of the main players has been reduced, including Sun Ce, so the players' physical condition is better, they play fewer games or have less playing time, and their desire for the game in the middle of the season is stronger than in previous years...

This series of reasons combined made the Grizzlies like a peacock with its tail spread in the middle of the season, and it was difficult for others not to notice them.

On January 4, Sun Ce returned to Memphis with the team. At noon, the statistics of the first stage of the All-Star Weekend voting came out.

Obviously, this wave of 6 consecutive wins has brought a lot of popularity to the Grizzlies. The league originally promoted the Grizzlies' games in the middle of the season, and most of the games arranged were popular teams. The Lakers and the Suns were both confirmed to be popular teams in the new season after the end of last season. At least they have popular stars, such as Cousins ​​and Howard... Cousins's side became Irving, which did not affect the live broadcast. Anyway, the Kings have always been like that.

After the first stage of voting, Sun Ce led the league with 690,000 votes. In the Western forwards, James, Paul George, Durant, and Antetokounmpo followed closely.

In the Western backcourt, the West Coast has a No. 24 player who played 19 minutes last night and made 2 of 7 shots. He continues to occupy an All-Star starting position. Westbrook, Harden, and Curry have very close votes.

In the Eastern frontcourt, Griffin, Evans, Gasol, and Porzingis are in the top four, and Gasol and Porzingis have very close votes.

In the Eastern backcourt, Rose and Paul are temporarily in the top two.

Looking at the results of the first round of voting, Sun Ce felt that he could roughly see the final vote situation. There is a possibility that someone will explode continuously, but the possibility is very small. The real candidate list has almost come out.

Sun Ce's attention was attracted by the votes of the Eastern Conference frontcourt. The fifth place in the Eastern Conference frontcourt players is not those old players who have played for many years, such as Love. Love's vote ranking is not high. The fifth place is Embiid, who has played a total of 21 times so far in the new season...

Sun Ce is very curious, can Embiid's attendance rate in his rookie year reach half?

Paul has made it again. After the fans lost patience with Wall and Lowry was ranked as a garbage brother, Paul, who had been out of the All-Star starting lineup in the past two years, has now returned to the All-Star starting lineup.

In the West, Sun Ce feels that Paul George is a little bit uncertain about being selected as an All-Star starter. He and James will definitely occupy two positions. The third position in the frontcourt is really difficult with Durant and Antetokounmpo competing with him.

Then they have to increase the probability of having multiple players on the Grizzlies being selected as All-Star substitutes.

Considering the recent good state of his team... Sun Ce has felt that excellent state since the beginning of the Christmas game, which is the result of years of experience and excellent rotation and playing time arrangement this season.

With such a good state, should we try to overtake the curve - surpass the ranking in the middle of the season?

It doesn't matter what place the team ranks at the end of the regular season, as long as they can enter the top four, but when the head coaches of each team vote for the All-Star substitutes, their Grizzlies rushed to the first place in the West, which is likely to affect the votes of those coaches!

...

Looking at Sun Ce with an expression of "Look, I have another crooked idea, are you surprised?", Coach Hollins felt a headache again.

But he has been used to this kind of pain. For many years, his head hurts a hundred or eighty times every year. He may choose to retire. He has made a lot of money and won enough honors.

Coach Hollins still attaches great importance to Sun Ce's proposal. He analyzed it and found that although they are in good condition recently, compared with players from other teams, they had rest in the early stage of the season and the main players had less playing time. Now the rest is more certain, and the main players have obviously more playing time when they are not resting, so they play more actively, excitedly and focused.

But this kind of "stimulation" will definitely become less and less effective as time goes by, and they will get used to it.

There is still more than a month in the middle of the season, about 20 games.

If the Grizzlies are in average condition, Coach Hollins will not care about it, but if they are in good condition, they can strive for a higher ranking or better rest opportunities in the late regular season after the All-Star Weekend.

In addition, the Grizzlies have been "low-key" for too long this season. Although Sun Ce is still often in the news, they have been low-key for a long time as a whole, and they should give the players some extra motivation.

Seeing that they have won 6 games in a row, 30 wins and 9 losses, they have rushed to the second place in the West, and they are only two wins away from the Lakers with 32 wins and 7 losses. Now they have the conditions and a certain necessity.

Then give it a try?

And if they can really rush to the first place in the West before the All-Star Weekend, since the Warriors were the first in the West before the All-Star Weekend last year, then this season, the Grizzlies will be ranked first in the West before the All-Star Weekend, and he can coach the All-Star Game again!

So, Coach Hollins was tempted...

Paul George, Klay Thompson, Aldridge, and Gobert were called by Coach Hollins to a small meeting to discuss how to maintain the current stable and excellent state, enthusiasm, and other issues, and also talked about their goal, rushing to the first place in the West before the All-Star Weekend.

Maintaining the state and enthusiasm, this is easy to understand, these players all hope that this good chemical reaction can continue, preferably until the end of the season to win the O'Brien Cup again...

But rushing to the first place in the West... Regarding this matter, the Grizzlies coaching staff has been emphasizing not to care about the record.

The reason for emphasizing is that they don't want the players to compare this season's record with last season and the season before, because the gap will be too big.

But at this time, they have to hit the first place again, which makes several core players feel weird.

At this time, Klay Thompson, who had the least to say, was the first to react.

"Striving for first place in the Western Conference... is to create a higher possibility for us to be selected as an All-Star?"

As soon as this was said, the other three teammates all thought it was reliable! Otherwise, there was no other reason.

Paul George immediately reacted: "It was probably San Ge's idea! He might occupy a starting position as long as he plays like Kobe, but we are different. Only he will help us find a solution at this time."

Paul George habitually praised Xiao Ba Wang, and he was suspected of being a lackey, but the fact is that for Sun Ce, what difference does it make whether these teammates are selected as All-Stars? And this season is a crucial season for Sun Ce to defend the two consecutive championships. The dynasty is the most important to Sun Ce, but Sun Ce can still think of them at this time...

Just as Sun Ce expected, these core teammates were about to start to decline in excitement because they were used to the increased playing time. At this time, they were stimulated by the goal of "rushing into the All-Stars"!