758: St. Paul
Link closed his eyes and sent the ball in, which made the Memphis fans at the scene orgasm.
When Jordan Jr. had just failed to play free throws, Link immediately made a free throw with his eyes closed. Even the three-year-old child knew how embarrassed Jordan Jr. was at this time.
After Jordan Jr. left the scene, he also got a close-up shot.
I saw Jordan, who was just arrogant and domineering, had no expression on his face at this moment.
Doug Rivers was saying something beside Jordan Jr., but Jordan Jr. seemed to be unable to listen to a word.
As the Clippers' inside defensive pillar, Jordan Jr. was forced to leave the field twice in advance, which was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Clippers' defense.
After all, except Jordan Jr., the Clippers have no decent inside defensive players. Griffin's offense has been improving, but the defense is average. "Big Baby" Glen Davis has no advantage on the defensive end except size.
As for another center, Ryan Hollins, this guy averages only 8 minutes of regular games this season. This playing time is enough to show his ability. You can't expect a person who can't even play in the regular season to suddenly explode in the more difficult playoffs.
Jordan Jr.'s outcome was not only affected by himself, but the entire team and the entire game.
A truly mature and great basketball player will not throw the interests of the team aside for being angry.
So even Clippers fans would not like DeAndrew Jordan's behavior.
Rivers sighed when he looked at Jordan Jr. Now he must not be able to listen to anything he says.
Just a few rounds, Jordan Jr. I have to say that Jordan Jr. is really a distance away from the best defensive player.
Not to mention anything else, even if Noah of the Bulls encountered the things just now, he would definitely not lose control.
Defence is definitely not expected today. Even if Jordan returns to play in the second quarter, he doesn't know how much role he can play.
Fortunately, for Rivers and the Clippers, this is not the end of the day. Because their real pillar, Chris Paul, has not fallen yet.
Seeing Jordan Jr. being replaced for two fouls, Paul felt a pity.
Jordan Jr. is a good player, but he is completely wrong in his direction.
Link deliberately angered him, not because he really had a deep hatred with Jordan Jr. The reason why Link did this was for the current ending.
Really great players have a purpose in doing anything. They will never let emotions overtake the game.
In the second free throw, Link did not continue to close his eyes and free throws the ball normally.
After messing with Jordan Jr., Link immediately returned to normal and put away his arrogance just now.
If this game is compared to playing a game, Jordan Jordan is at most a small boss.
If you want to "pass the level", Link still needs to face Paul, the ultimate boss.
Paul was not discouraged. Although losing Jordan Jr. would make the Clippers very passive on the defensive end. But he believed that with his efforts on the offensive end, the Clippers could still overcome the difficulties!
So in the game after the first quarter, Chris Paul completely turned on the scoring mode!
He is no longer gentle today and has planned to take the initiative from the beginning of the game. He did do that. With the Grizzlies' offense unrestrained, Paul also used his offense to cause great trouble for the Grizzlies.
In the second half of the first quarter, Paul and Redick made three-pointers. They actually got very few absolute open positions, and most of the shots were shot with more or less interference.
Link didn't care much at first, he thought the Clippers were just three-pointers in these few rounds.
Little did he know that once Paul was accurate, he reached the end of the first quarter.
With 2.8 seconds left before the first quarter, Paul got rid of Mike Conley with a double cover close to the midfield line, and then shot a buzzer-beating shot from just one step outside the three-point line!
As a result, this ultra-long three-pointer still entered the net with hollow space!
After seeing this goal, Link became nervous. With this buzzer-beating three-pointer, the Clippers scored 36 points in the first quarter!
Paul made 5 of 5 three-pointers in the first quarter, but he scored 17 points in the quarter!
After the Clippers lost Jordan Jr.'s defensive protection, Paul used his terrible scoring ability to fill the gap in the Clippers' defensive end.
36 to 26, the Clippers led the Grizzlies by 10 points in the first quarter. Paul, the big boss, is not comparable to Jordan Jr.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the two sides fought against the bench, and the Clippers still had the advantage.
The sixth man, Jamal Crawford, succeeded in singles in a row, and Crawford's magical state after winning the award has remained since the last round. Even Tony Allen, there is no good way to deal with Crawford today.
Link had to appear early to stabilize the situation. But at this time, the score difference had reached 12 points!
After Paul appeared, he immediately hit another three-pointer, making 6 of 6 three-pointers in the half! Before he finished the half, he had already scored 20 points!
After fighting Paul so many times, Link has never seen Paul have such a scoring state. Paul is just right in his typical anger value. His anger can make him burst out with greater power, but it will not make him lose his mind.
Later, the Grizzlies strengthened their defense against Paul from outside the three-point line. But Paul is very smart. He is a person who will not be abrupt even if he is a coach immediately after retirement. His grasp of tactics and situation may not be worse than that of many coaches.
He expected the Grizzlies to make a possible change on the defensive end, so in the second half of the second quarter, Paul suddenly stopped taking action outside the three-point line!
Paul’s playing basketball gives people the feeling that it is always very reasonable!
He takes action reasonably and passes reasonably, and he will hardly make mistakes.
When the Grizzlies strengthened their defense outside the three-point line, Paul did not make random shots with his hot touch like other defenders. He would rather not shoot than make a shot than ensure rationality. By ensuring rationality, he could ensure a high shooting percentage.
So in the second half of the second quarter, all people saw Paul's beautiful emergency stop and a beautiful layup. The three-pointer seemed to be completely thrown by Paul, but the Grizzlies had to continue to be wary of it.
After all, that was a pervert who made 6 of 6 shots in a half-time three-pointer!
With Paul's continuous violent output, the Clippers once led the Grizzlies by 21 points at the most! Everyone was shocked. No one expected that the defending champion Grizzlies, who won 74 wins, would be beaten to pieces! The joy that Link brought to people after humiliating Jordan Jr. in the first quarter was instantly wiped out.
Fortunately, in the second half of the second quarter, Link stood up at the most critical moment of the Grizzlies. He scored 8 points in a tough manner and took the initiative to defend Paul on the defensive end, and then led the team to a difficult 8-0 offensive, narrowing the gap.
In the end, after the half-time, the scores of both sides were extremely high.
The Clippers scored 69 points in the first half, and the Grizzlies also scored 56 points. The defending champion entered the midfield with a disadvantage of 13 points!
"The incredible Chris Paul led an incredible half-court offense! The Clippers' total shooting percentage in the first half game was as high as 56.5%, and the three-point shooting percentage was even 56.3%! When Jordan Jr. was troubled by fouls, Paul used his offense to fill the team's lack of defensive end!"
"Yes, 26 points and 6 assists in the half, but only two mistakes! Chris Paul was simply amazing today. If Paul continued to go so crazy in the second half, the defending champion would probably lose a home court!"
Hubby Brown and Van Gundy were both impressed by Paul's performance. This is the ability of superstars. They can change the game with exaggerated data at any time!
After the half-time game, Paul, who performed the most dazzlingly, naturally accepted an interview with reporters.
Facing the camera, Paul raised his chin slightly and showed his arrogant attitude.
"What is the best defensive player? Our offense has not encountered any trouble at all! In the second half, we will continue to attack like this!"
Paul was determined to make Link beat at the Federal Express Arena, and he would beat the team with the highest defensive efficiency today.
After Link returned to the locker room, he stood up first before Jogel spoke.
Chapter completed!