Two Hundred and Ninety-Fourth: The Test Is Coming

On Monday, the entire league was suspended to allow players participating in the All-Star Game to return to their home teams. Link and Gasol Jr. left Orlando at noon on Monday.

When he was about to board the plane, Link also received a text message from Rachel, "Don't let me dove in summer, I'll wait for your call."

Speaking of which, Link actually didn't expect Rachel to come yesterday. It was past 12 midnight at that time, and Link was afraid of disturbing Rachel's rest.

Unexpectedly, when she heard that it was Link, Rachel readily agreed to the invitation. This caused Gasol to complain when he woke up today, "Okay, you, you secretly sent me away, so I went to find a female partner by myself."

Link is speechless, obviously you are going to talk to fellow Europeans about planting potatoes...

In any case, the All-Star Weekend is over, and Link has put his mind back to the regular season.

While on the plane, Link has been paying attention to the personnel changes before the trade deadline. However, this year's mid-term transactions are really thunderous and rainy.

Before the trade deadline, there were rumors everywhere in the media that Beasley was going to join the Lakers, and the Nuggets were peddling Nene, and were preparing to pull a third party to get Cousins. Even Deron and the Lakers are involved.

In short, the Lakers are always the protagonists in the mid-term transactions every year. But apart from Gasol's one last time, basically nothing really happened.

This year is also the same. Before the deadline, the media is all kinds of YY, the result? The Lakers did make a move, but only in exchange for Fisher for Sessions. The Nuggets did make a shot, but it wasn't Cousins ​​who was replaced, but another center JaVale McGee, who was not very good at thinking.

In terms of the most successful trade, Link thinks it is the Spurs. On the Spurs side, they managed to get rid of Richard Jefferson, and in exchange for the old hero "Martial Saint" Stephen Jackson. This kind of transaction seems to be tepid, but the improvement of the Spurs' strength is obvious.

Richard. Jefferson has proved that he does not fit the style of the Spurs, he does not like the city of San Antonio, playing very unhappy. And Jackson, who was Popovich's old subordinate back then, can seamlessly connect to the Spurs system.

This kind of transaction is the real wise transaction. The Spurs know what they need, so they always get the best players.

The Warriors made the biggest change. They sent Monta Ellis and got the Australian No. 1 pick Bogut from the Bucks. The point of this deal is not that Ellis changed Bogut, but that the Warriors will officially build a team with Curry as the core! This is a deal that changes the direction of the entire franchise.

Therefore, Link believes that this transaction is the biggest change.

Other than that, there's basically nothing worth talking about. In the middle of the season, most teams still seek stability. In the absence of major loopholes, personnel changes are generally not made.

After learning about the changes before the trade deadline, Link looked at the schedule for the next few days. Fortunately, after the All-Star Game, the schedule is relatively mild. The opponent is not very strong, and the game density is acceptable, allowing the Grizzlies players to gradually re-adapt to the game after the 7-day "Golden Week".

Looking at it, Link gradually felt that his eyelids were a little heavy. He simply closed his eyes and rested for a while, in the afternoon, he had to start sweating vigorously for the regular season.

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"Congratulations Link, champion of the three-point contest, great job!"

As soon as he returned to the training hall, Link was congratulated by his teammates. Hollins came up to hug Link first, followed by Randolph, Conley, Tony Allen...

Although I had a lot of fun at the All-Star Game, I also made a lot of friends. But it wasn't until he returned to Memphis that Link felt like "coming home".

Only here can he feel the most comfortable and most energetic.

After embracing the coaches and teammates one by one, the daily training also started step by step. The goal of the Grizzlies this year is still the top four in the West, but don't underestimate this goal. If they really achieve it, then this will be the best ranking in the history of the Grizzlies.

In the confrontation training in the afternoon, under the serious defense of Jimmy Butler and Teacher Tony, Link also quickly adapted to the intensity of the regular season and entered the sprint state.

The opponents are still staring at each other, but they can't be weak in the future.

After the All-Star break, the well-rested Grizzlies were in surprisingly good form.

In the last game in February, the Grizzlies ushered in the defending champion Dallas Mavericks who eliminated them in the playoffs last season.

Although the Mavericks are the defending champions, due to problems such as summer operations and team aging, their strength has not declined compared to last season. Therefore, the Grizzlies easily defeated the Mavericks 96 to 85 at home. Nowitzki only scored 5 points in the game, and even he has passed the golden age of the gods.

The Grizzlies got off to a good start, and the regular season officially entered March.

After entering the final sprint time, the Grizzlies continued to triumph. On March 2, the Grizzlies narrowly beat the Raptors away. The Raptors performed very well today, with 6 players scoring in double figures.

But when Link scored 23 points and 12 rebounds, Gasol Jr. and Conley Jr. also scored 21 points each. The Grizzlies won a winning streak with a "Big Three" victory!

A day later, on March 3, the Grizzlies wiped out the Pistons without breaking a sweat. On March 7, the Grizzlies challenged the Golden State Warriors away. This time, the Warriors did not have Ellis, and Curry injured his ankle again. Therefore, the Warriors were powerless to resist.

The last time the two sides played against each other, Link used a "pass into the net" to kill the Warriors. But this time, the Grizzlies made a huge difference. If it wasn't for the Grizzlies closing in on garbage time, the point difference would definitely be even bigger.

So far, counting from before the All-Star Game, the Grizzlies have won five consecutive victories! Their ranking also officially surpassed the Spurs, ranking second in the West.

People say that the Grizzlies will soar this season, and they will reach the playoffs with a very high profile. Some people even say that the Grizzlies may be able to take the first place in the West!

As a result, this upward momentum was interrupted on March 10 when the Grizzlies challenged the Suns away.

There is not much suspense in this game itself, after all, the Suns have lost their original style. Nash is no longer young, and it is difficult to support the team with MVP-level performance.

The turning point happened in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. Rudy Gay accidentally injured his shoulder in a breakthrough, which made his shoulder injured for the Nth time.

As we all know, Gay's shoulder had just undergone surgery during the offseason last year, and now he has problems again, which is really worrying.

Therefore, Hollins did not continue to let Gay play. At the critical moment of the team's take-off, Gay was absent again like last season!

After Gay was injured, the Suns seized the opportunity to play a wave of offensive climax, and finally ended the game 98-95.

Link originally wanted to chat with his idol, Grant Hill himself, but in the end he lost the game, and Link was really not in the mood. As soon as the game was over, he turned and went back to the locker room.

That night, the Grizzlies officially released a heartbreaking news: Rudy Gay's comeback time is unknown.

The next day, a piece of news on ESPN caused a great deal of heated discussion. The headline of the news is very simple and clear, "All hopes of Memphis are on the No. 0 forward."

The point of view of the news is simple, "This season, with Randolph in decline and Rudy Gay injured again, second-year Link must take over and carry the banner of the Grizzlies. He didn't Anyone can rely on him, but he can only stand on top of himself, as the absolute core, to meet the real test! What level of player Link is, we will get the answer in the remaining half of the season."

Link didn't know whether Gay's trade by the Grizzlies in the original history was related to shoulder injuries for two consecutive seasons.

But he knows how far he can take the Grizzlies has become the team's biggest suspense this season.

The top four in the West has never been that simple.

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