Five Hundred and Forty-Four: Warm-Up Storm

Carter Lyles has been the doorman at the FedEx Arena for 8 years. It can be said that he and the Grizzlies entered the arena almost at the same time. After all, this "most artistic arena in the NBA" is only 9 years old.

Old Lyles, a native of Memphis, had gray hair. However, I worked as a bodyguard when I was young, and my family is a Grizzlies fan, so I found this job as a gatekeeper.

It's not a high salary to be a guard, but it's fun to get up close and personal with the Grizzlies. He has a collection of autographed jerseys, sneakers and basketballs of many players, and the Grizzlies players and old Lyles are also quite familiar with each other.

Lyles stayed up all night, and last night FedEx Arena replaced the posters on the exterior walls overnight. Now, the outer wall is full of promotional posters of the Grizzlies VS Clippers, and the tension of the Western Conference semifinals has spread in Memphis.

Lyles is now waiting for his colleagues to come and take over. After going back to rest, he will come to watch the game at night.

Today is May 7th, the day when the Western Conference semifinals officially start!

Just then, Lyles saw a big man walking toward the arena. The visitor wears a hood and cannot see his face. But with this height alone, Lyles can guess who it is.

The entire Grizzlies can't find a second player taller than Marc Gasol.

"Mark! You got to the arena 12 hours ahead of the game!" Lyles yelled and waved at Gasol.

"I didn't expect it? I have to prepare well today, so I came to find out in advance. When others find out that I was the first to arrive, they will definitely be very surprised." Gasol rubbed his hands excitedly, he said yesterday I can't sleep at night, just waiting to meet Little Jordan face to face.

"The first player to arrive? Hahahaha, no, you're not the first to arrive, Mark. Half an hour ago, Link went in." Lyles pointed to the arena with a smile, it seemed, Someone is more excited than Gasol.

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Chris Paul and the Clippers arrived in Memphis yesterday afternoon, facing a 70-win opponent in the regular season, but the Clippers weren't nervous.

When participating in the pre-match training, the reporters saw that everyone in the Clippers was talking and laughing. I didn’t know, but they thought that the Clippers were the team that advanced ahead of time.

The Clippers are not without reason for their confidence. They were still fighting the Nuggets two days ago, and the last time the Grizzlies played was more than a week ago.

Therefore, the Clippers players firmly believe that in terms of competitive status, the Grizzlies are definitely not as good as themselves now!

The Clippers' strategy is very simple, start today with intensity. They are used to fierce fighting, but the Grizzlies may not be able to adapt at once.

If the Grizzlies can't react, or can't keep up with the rhythm, the Clippers will likely win Game 1.

A win at FedEx Arena means a lot to the Clippers. Winning it would be a crucial step for the entire series.

By the time the Clippers started to warm up, the Grizzlies were already shooting.

At this time, there was no one in the arena, only a few cameras were shooting.

The two sides looked at each other and didn't speak much. Both teams are ruthless, and there is some friction between them, so there is no need to express friendship before the game

It's hard to imagine Zach Randolph putting his hand on Griffin's shoulder and encouraging him to cheer.

Link wanted to have a chat with Grant Hill, but found that the other Clippers players looked at him with hostility, so he dismissed the idea.

The two teams were all warming up to themselves, and there was no overlap. But Jordan quit, he just wanted to do something.

After the number of fans waiting to enter the stadium gradually increased, Jordan took the basketball and walked beyond the three-point line, attracting the attention of many people.

Could it be that this guy is going to practice three points today?

Link was sitting on the ground pressing his legs at this time, just facing the Clippers' half court, so he was also attracted by Jordan's actions.

I saw that Jordan did not shoot after getting the ball beyond the three-point line, but threw the ball forward at will.

The basketball rose and landed, and then bounced high. It was at this moment that Jordan started, kicking his legs hard, sending that strong body into the air.

In the air, Jordan just caught the bouncing basketball. He gliding gracefully for a distance, then swinging his arms, he smashed the ball into the frame with one hand!

"Boom!"

The hoop made a loud noise, which was enough to attract everyone's attention before the game started.

Jordan did a pull-up on the rim before he was willing to let go. Anyway, the game hasn't started yet, and no one will call him a technical foul for as long as he hangs on the rim.

After landing, Jordan turned to look directly at Gasol, and then gave a high five with his teammates.

There is no doubt that this is Jordan's provocation to Gasol.

The camera immediately gave Gasol a close-up of his face, and the Spaniard was expressionless, as if he hadn't seen the dunk of Jordan just now.

But everyone knew that he must have seen it, but he just didn't want to respond.

Gasol is not the kind of person who has a particularly strong desire to perform, and his style is not suitable for performance.

Seeing Gasol "cowardly", Jordan immediately became complacent.

Before the game started, the smell of gunpowder was quite strong.

Gasol can endure this kind of thing, but Link can't bear it anymore. This isn't Los Angeles, and it's not where your little Jordan is showing off. So Link stood up from the floor and asked the trainer to throw a ball to himself. Then Link held the ball and walked to the Clippers half court!

When the fans saw this, they immediately started to boo. Although there are not many people now, their voices are enough to attract the attention of Clippers players.

Finding Link walking towards the Clippers' half court, all the Clippers players stopped their movements and stared at Link. No matter what he wants, the Clippers won't back down!

However, Link, who was wearing a training uniform, stopped between the center circle and the three-point line and did not continue to approach.

Little Jordan twitched the corners of his mouth. He thought Link had stage fright.

"Hey, DeAndre!" However, after Link stopped, he yelled at Jordan.

Everyone in the Clippers was stunned, even Paul had never seen such a situation, what was he going to do?

"Don't you like to play? Let's play a game. I'll shoot here. I'll make this shot. Do you dare to bet with me? How about a $100,000 bet? Dare!"

Jordan looked at his teammates, and he didn't know how to respond.

Link smiled playfully, then shook his head. Today, he started to warm up very early, so now he feels very hot, which is the source of his self-confidence.

Without waiting for Jordan to speak, Link, who was wearing the training uniform, didn't even aim much, and casually took off from a long distance and shot.

Seeing the basketball fly into the air, Jordan swallowed. This goal, so good... It looks like it's really going to score.

"brush!"

The crisp rolling sound of the Nets sounded, and some fans cheered in the stands. Link spread his hands, his face relaxed. Then, Chong Jordan made a zipper action on his mouth.

If you don't dare to accept the challenge, then shut up!

"Hahahaha, Link may be thinking, are you kidding me? Are you watching me play on your first day? This is FedEx Arena, are you sure you want to fight me here? All I can say is, do it. Gotta be fucking pretty!"

Charles Barkley laughed from ear to ear on the commentary stage. This is simply the most failed case of pretense. Provoking others, but was shown a face instead.

Even Grant Hill almost couldn't hold back his urge to laugh, but when he thought that he and Jordan were on the side, old Hill could only restrain his urge to laugh very aggrievedly.

After Link returned to his own half, he gave Gasol a light high-five. Now the revenge, he helped Gasol to avenge. But in the next official game, Gasol will have to carry it himself.

Gasol felt Link's intentions, and he knew that what Link did just now was not to pretend, but to help himself out.

This time, the Spaniard's expression became more serious.

If Link is disappointed, then he will not forgive himself.

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