Four Hundred and Sixty-One: Can You Still Stand Up?

The San Antonio Spurs have been trying to destroy the Grizzlies all the time, but they haven't been able to.

In the third quarter, Link's dunk across Split caused Popovich to almost have a nervous breakdown.

Obviously success is in sight, but suddenly died. This kind of thing keeps repeating, who can stand it.

Popovich didn't know it at the time, it turned out to be just the beginning of Link's torment.

In the second half, Link played very hard. But in the end, it helped the Grizzlies stabilize the score and was not pulled away by the Spurs in one fell swoop.

Whenever the Spurs were ready to take a game away, the guy who was sweating and panting, with a different skin tone than everyone else on the court, would always step up and give the Spurs a blow.

In the fifth minute of the third quarter, Parker made a successful throw and the point difference expanded to 6 points. Then, Link took a tentative step outside the three-point line and directly pulled up to shoot. With one arrow, the point difference was reduced to 3 points!

In the seventh minute of the third quarter, Manu Ginobili made a breakthrough in Europe. He was stunned to magically advance the ball under Gasol's supplementary defense, and the point difference was expanded to 5 points!

Before the advantage was in his pocket, Link used a layup in transition to knock the Spurs back to before liberation.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Parker hit a three-pointer, and the French were quite strong today. But then, Link grabbed an offensive rebound in the three-second zone, and then assisted Conley to score a three-pointer!

This kind of thing has continued until now, and there are still 42 seconds before the end of the game. Ginobili's layup was blocked by Link, and the Grizzlies got the ball.

Seeing Ginobili break through Iguodala and make a layup, Popovich couldn't help but want to cheer. As a result, the damn No. 0 was killed again, which abruptly suppressed Popovich's excitement.

Popovich felt like he was going to vomit blood! At the same time, he was also amazed. They are so tired, and they can still burst out with strength. What a terrible perseverance!

What a terrible desire to win!

Popovich has carefully observed that in the fourth quarter, when both sides made free throws, Link would take the opportunity to rest on his knees. This proves that Link is indeed exhausted, no matter how good his physical fitness is, he can't stand such torment.

However, Link always forced himself to do something beyond his physical capacity. It can be seen that Link also does not allow this game to be lost.

The moment the Grizzlies got the ball, Stevens called the game off. At this point, there are only tens of seconds before the end of the game, and any ball may change the trend of the game.

Link slumped onto the bench, his chest heaving violently. The live camera also gave Link a close-up and played Link's game data at the bottom of the screen.

41 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, 40 points and double-doubles!

Popovich forced Link to play singles, but Link did not "live up" to Popovich's expectations.

Not only did he not misfire in the second half, but he played astonishingly efficient in the second half.

"This is the third time that Link has scored 40 points this season, and his explosiveness is beyond doubt. But because Link has a lot of shot power, even if Link scores 40 points, the Grizzlies are still only and The Spurs tied. It was a great game and a brutal game for Link. If he loses, all the sacrifices he made will be in vain." Hubie Brown looked at Link's stats At the same time, his hands trembled slightly.

Scored 40 for the third time in a single season. Before, did anyone dare to imagine that the Grizzlies could produce such a star?

Link has done his best, and he made Popovich pay dearly. But the game is not over yet. In the end, who will have the last laugh, but not necessarily.

Take 40 points and lose the game, what's the point of 40 points?

Stevens laid out the offense and defense for the next possession, with one final timeout, just in case. After the timeout, the Spurs made a substitution, Popovich replaced Split with Diaw, and Duncan played the 5th position. Replaced Ginobili with Green, solid defense and three points.

The Grizzlies, on the other hand, are still the same. The Grizzlies' five starters were all tired, and Link was the hardest among them. Conley was tired and was replaced by Vasquez. Iguodala is tired, Jimmy Butler and Tony Allen. If the big black bear is tired, there are Speights and Arthur, and if the big white bear is tired, there is Ezeli.

Only Link, no one can replace him. So, he is also the player with the longest playing time for the Grizzlies today.

Now the two sides are tied, so the Spurs have also paid special attention to the defense this time. Whoever wins this round will get the key to the road to victory.

Even Leonard is now somewhat frightened when facing Link. Getting 41 points on top of someone's head isn't a great experience. Although these 41 points were not all on Leonard's head, it was Raona who was mainly against Link today. Therefore, he must carry this pot.

At this point, Popovich has actually changed his strategy. He admitted that his strategy of forcing Link to play singles was wrong. Nonsense, scored 41 points by someone else in singles, if this is considered a success, is there any defense in this world that fails?

Therefore, he specifically instructed Duncan, "Help to defend Link! If Link breaks through, immediately protect the basket!"

Link did not hold the ball this time, but cut into the penalty area without the ball and received a pass from Gasol Jr. Popovich must admit that Stevens' tactical arrangement is very subtle. In order to keep Link unhindered, Gasol was deliberately pulled to the middle distance to support him, which has also taken away the Spurs' center by the way.

Popovich nodded approvingly, worthy of being a well-known NCAA young marshal, and worthy of being the man who made the Grizzlies turn upside down in his first year in the Grizzlies.

But again, it is the players who play on the court and decide the situation of the game.

When Duncan saw Link catch the ball and hit the frame, he rushed to the basket with two big strides. He was very decisive!

Link thought Duncan would not come up, so he didn't prepare to pass the ball. When he had already made a layup, he realized that Duncan had come over.

This time, Link didn't have the strength to curl up in the air and use the lever for a layup to avoid blocking, and he didn't have the strength to turn the shot into a pass and send the ball to Gasol.

He was too tired, and his physical energy had already passed the final critical point and had long since been exhausted. In the face of Duncan's defense, Link was powerless.

In the end, Duncan made a slight leap, and with his excellent judgment, he easily slammed the basketball off Link's hand. Although Duncan's jumping ability is better than nothing, as an old monster who can block shots while standing, he will not miss when facing such an exhausting layup.

Link fell to the ground in embarrassment. He wanted to get up immediately and turn around to chase, but he really couldn't. By the time he got up to speed up, the Spurs had already formed a more-play-less situation in the frontcourt.

Parker ended up driving the Memphis fans into despair with his mid-range shot.

"Tony Parker scored the 30th point of the game! The French almost..." Hubby Brown paused, remembering how hard the Grizzlies had played today, and how much Link had already played Perfect, he couldn't bear to say the next words, "The French almost, killed the game..."

Duncan rushed up to hug Parker, Split waved the towel frantically, and Dio threw his fist. The Spurs players seem to have started to celebrate the victory.

Once again, the Spurs are on the brink of victory. But this time, can Link stand up to stop them?

Looking at the Spurs players celebrating, Link limped off the court with his hips on his back. In the end, he couldn't walk anymore, so he called out two teammates to help him.

Stevens and all Memphis fans were taken aback, but fortunately, Link just cramped.

so tired.

Seeing Link's state, Popovich's brows finally stretched out. After 48 minutes of delay, he finally broke down!

Stevens hurriedly asked the team doctor to massage Link, and they had the last 10.3 seconds left. In this physical condition, playing overtime is also a waste of time, because it will definitely not be able to hold up. So, the only way is to get a three-pointer!

Of course, Stevens wasn't going to let Link take the final shot. After all, he is so tired that his hit rate is not necessarily guaranteed. Mike Conley, Stevens' last choice!

But just before Stevens spoke, Link, who was sitting on the ground receiving a massage, spoke first.

"Brad, I'm okay." Link's eyes were firm, and he wanted to stand up again and completely break the Spurs' dream!