Chapter 955: What Hell Really Looks Like

Link and Conley's double-teaming worked, and the Grizzlies' first defense frustrated Lillard.

It turns out that the Grizzlies' defensive strategy was correct. They force Lillard into a defensive trap, with Link positioned outside and decisively double-teaming Lillard.

In doing so, Link, as a fourth position, is equivalent to giving up fighting for defensive rebounds and giving up guarding Aldridge. But in this case, every time Lillard attacks, he must pass through Link's fingers.

Under such circumstances, coupled with Gasol's help in defense and rebound control, the perfect effect can be achieved.

The successful defense in the first round just proved it.

This strategy in itself is the right medicine, not to mention that Link is one of the best defensive players in the league. You can even remove one of them.

Although Link is in danger of winning the Defensive Player of the Year award this year, it does not mean that Link's defensive ability has declined. On the contrary, his defense is as good as last season.

In addition to averaging 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, Link also limited his opponents' shooting percentage to only 43.5%.

Among them, the reasonable collision area was suppressed to 49.5%, the mid-range was suppressed to 35%, and the three-point line was suppressed to 29%.

Moreover, this season, in addition to Lin Ke still doing an excellent job in tackling opponents head-on and cutting off the opponent's passing routes, he has also used his light-speed reactions to complete steals many times at the moment of opposing passes.

Link's defensive deterrent at this time is just like the deterrent effect of Gobert, DeAndre Jordan and others on players who are preparing to enter the penalty area.

He stood at the top of the arc, pressed his center of gravity, and stretched out his long arms to form an invisible aura. Just like Pippen back then, one person is an army and one person is the full-court press.

In addition to one-on-one defense, Link also did an excellent job in assisting defense and compressing space. He is always able to fill in the right position at the right time. I don’t know how many times this season, offensive players thought he had successfully broken through the defense, but in the end what was waiting for him was not a goal, but a big risk from Link. Or steal.

The most important thing is that Link only averaged 1.8 fouls per game this season! This is completely incomparable to Beverley, Green and others. He often doesn't need to foul to prevent the opponent from scoring.

In the words of Chinese fans, "Link's defense will make you feel like you have been raped without the other party breaking the law."

This is Link, his defensive ability is undoubtedly the top among the top in the league. Indeed, the Spurs' "facial paralysis guy" is also good enough, and his voting rate is only less than two percentage points lower than Link.

But this does not mean that Link's defensive ability has deteriorated. At most, it can be said that the media is tired of Link's softness in winning awards and wants to see a newcomer win awards. In the end, it was still unsuccessful.

The perfect strategy paired with the best defensive player in the league was enough to keep Lillard's hands at bay.

And the round just now, as Link said, was just the beginning!

The Trail Blazers attacked for the second time. This time, Lillard did not continue to call Aldridge for a pick-and-roll. He wanted to break through alone.

But Conley's defense is not a vegetarian. His biggest feature is that he doesn't make mistakes.

Therefore, it is not easy to defeat Conley in 1-on-1. You may not get a steal or a block, but you also can't find an opening on Conley.

Moreover, Link is paying attention to Lillard's movements all the time. Although he didn't double-team directly, Lillard always gave Lillard the feeling that Link was everywhere and it was best not to act rashly.

finally,

Without completely getting rid of the defense, Lillard passed the ball to French teammate Nicolas Batum who was ambushing in the bottom corner.

Batum's performance in the playoffs is still good, and all statistics are better than in the regular season.

But facing Tobias Harris, who has a greater height advantage, Batum's shooting is not so easy.

As soon as he took off to take a shot, Harris raised his arms to block the shot, making the Frenchman unable to find the direction of the basket.

Although Batum was able to shoot 33% of his three-pointers in the playoffs, he was not accurate enough to hit shots against the defense.

Just like that, Batum's shot hit the left side of the basket, and the Trail Blazers' offense failed again!

Since the beginning of the game, the Trail Blazers have failed in two consecutive rounds of offense. Their magical aura seemed to have been plucked off by a grizzly bear.

Link and Conley worked together to create a wall of iron and steel, causing Lillard to hit his head with blood.

The defensive efficiency has gone up, and the Grizzlies' offense is not ambiguous.

Link used his speed advantage to cut into the penalty area with his bare hands. Gasol backed up from the mid-range and passed the ball to the ground, allowing Link to catch the basketball as he cut inside.

At this time, Lopez was pulled to the mid-range by Gasol, Aldridge was directly pulled outside the three-point line by Harris, and Batum could not catch up with Link. The Trail Blazers' penalty area was directly wide open.

Easily, Link made a layup to complete the attack.

Three times, five times and two times, the Grizzlies cut open the Trail Blazers' defense.

On the sidelines, Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts became nervous instantly.

In just two back and forths, Stotts realized that the Grizzlies and their last opponent, the Clippers, were not on the same level at all!

Now, Stotts can only count on Lillard to break the deadlock.

Lillard did dare to fight hard. Under the Grizzlies' targeted defense, Lillard did not feel timid, but took the initiative to increase his aggressiveness and become more heroic and fearless.

This time, Lillard chose to force his way through the defense. After taking advantage of the cover, before Conley could catch up, Lillard immediately accelerated and directly challenged Link!

I have to say that Lillard's first step speed is also very impressive. Not to mention forwards, even many small guards can't withstand Lillard's tossing.

But if he's facing a forward who won Defensive Player of the Year, that's a different story.

Link's lateral speed and reaction speed are very fast. Link will compete with Lillard in training camp every summer, and he has long been accustomed to Lillard's speed.

Therefore, he immediately blocked Lillard's breakthrough route!

Lillard was blocked by the strong Link and instantly became difficult to move.

But he still didn't give up. Instead, he forced his way to the basket and forced a layup without completely getting rid of Link!

In the last round against the Clippers, even if he didn't score a goal with this trick, there was a high probability that he would get fouled by Jordan and Paul.

However, at FedEx Arena, Link was not used to this kind of behavior.

Lillard's feet had just left the ground, and before he had time to send the ball to the basket, Link waved his long arm, and with a "bang" sound, the basketball in Lillard's hand flew out of the baseline. .

"Fuck!" Lillard began to feel a little shaken in his heart. At this time, he was extremely determined and was cracked by Link.

After successfully blocking the shot, Link spread his hands towards Lillard with an expression of "I didn't mean to do it".

"I told you, that was just the beginning. Just keep taking it, Damien."

Nothing can break the heart of an enemy more than blocking shots and trash talking.

Lillard did not respond and calmly prepared to receive the outbound serve. But everyone could see that Lillard was just trying to look calm and composed.

After the out-of-bounds ball came out, Lillard chose to hand the ball to Aldridge.

But Aldridge's shooting was seriously interfered by Gasol, and the Spaniard is also the best defensive player. Link was very relieved to leave the inside information to him.

Marc Gasol is exactly what Link needs to double-team decisively.

The Trail Blazers failed on offense for the third consecutive possession, and they were completely eaten up by the Grizzlies.

The game that followed was simply a huge rollover by Lillard.

Mistaken passes, forced shots, missed passes...

The prestige and fame that Lillard had accumulated over Paul in the last round of the series were all lost at FedEx Arena, at the hands of Link and Conley.

No matter where Lillard goes, Link's long arms will be waiting for him. So much so that Lillard started to panic whenever he saw Link...

After Lillard was restricted, the Trail Blazers' offense became monotonous. Ladd tried his best to turn the tide, but he seemed a little too reckless and had no effect.

Lillard started panting, his heart started racing, he started... he started to get scared!

He once thought that nothing could be more difficult than falling behind 1-3. He once thought that he had experienced real hell.

However, Link didn't lie to him. This place, Memphis, FedEx Arena, is what hell really looks like!

The further back the game goes, the more Lillard struggles, and the gap between the two sides gets wider and wider.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the on-site photographer gave Lillard a close-up of his face.

Unlike in the past, when he was always full of fighting spirit, today, Lillard showed only helplessness and powerlessness.

This seemingly invincible fighter is on the verge of collapse.