One Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty-Nine. Tenacious Warrior

At the visiting team training ground at the FedEx Arena, Curry and Iguodala set aside the impatient head coach and held a pre-game player meeting.

They didn't want to force the palace. The two were not stupid. In the seventh game of the playoffs, at such a critical moment, they would not be stupid enough to force the palace at this time. Instead, they wanted the players to temporarily suppress their dissatisfaction with head coach Mark Jackson.

Yesterday, the day after the sixth game, the Warriors followed the Grizzlies to Memphis. That afternoon, Mark Jackson took the team to the FedEx Center to prepare for the game and conducted three hours of expedited training.

This time he was really anxious!

Before the sixth game, Mark Jackson thought that if he lost the sixth game, there was still the seventh game.

But after really losing the sixth game, he found that the situation was completely different! The mentality alone was different from what he thought before!

At that time, he thought that if they lost the 6th game, they could still fight in the 7th game, but now he thinks that idea was stupid, because they won 3 games in a row and were full of momentum. When the 3-game winning streak was ended, they continued to face the same opponent. The ending of the 3-game winning streak felt like hitting their heads against a wall, and all the momentum was knocked away.

The morale of both sides is now completely reversed. Klay Thompson on the opposite side broke out, plus Sun Ce, who has been in hot form since the second month of the regular season, which is December last year, and now is the quasi-league No. 1 player, and Paul George, who plays even better in the playoffs than in the regular season when it comes to big-game players... Their Warriors lineup is more reasonable, and they have the advantage of a center who protects the frame, but when Sun Ce and Paul George have been performing well, the Warriors relied on Harden's outstanding performance and Curry's explosive performance to steadily suppress the Grizzlies during the 3-game winning streak.

When Klay Thompson broke out, the Warriors couldn't hold on.

The key is Game 6. Curry is obviously not in such good shape as in Game 4 and Game 5. Harden's almost stable performance of 30+5+5 in every game in this series is not enough!

Moreover, Mark Jackson feels that the whole world does not understand him.

Doesn't he just like to be steady?

Isn't a steady style of play good? He really doesn't know how to waste time! He has thought of some tactics and tried them, but after the problems were exposed, he dared not use them again. For example, he tried the no-center tactic last year, but gave up after being beaten by Duncan.

When he saw Curry's wasteful play, he said a long time ago that Curry's play would ruin the team. Although he guessed wrong, he was just being safe. He hoped that Curry would play like Ray Allen after Harden. Although Curry controlled the ball like Nash and shot like Sun Ce,

he played well...

Yesterday, Mark Jackson arranged training before he rested in Memphis. He heard a rumor that if the Grizzlies overturned the 3-2 this time, he would be close to being fired.

Impatient, Mark Jackson is extremely impatient now.

The overall mentality of a team is not the mentality of the stars, but the core of the head coach!

It is understandable that Mark Jackson requires training. Most of their team are young players. The oldest players in the main lineup are O'Neal and Iguodala. These two are a little older, but the other main players are the earliest players who entered the NBA in 2008. The intensity of training is not as strong as the game, so it is not a big problem.

But when the Grizzlies took a day off, the Warriors got off the plane and had lunch and ran to the stadium for training, which gave the players a sense of impatience.

As a head coach, he cannot help the team reduce the impatient mentality, but needs the stars to help deal with these things and appease teammates. Curry and Iguodala feel so tired.

Putting aside personal grudges, Curry likes Mark Jackson's coaching very much. Stability is definitely good. In a long season, nothing is more important than stability.

Moreover, Curry personally experienced the situation when Nelson quit and the temporary coach led the team to a bad state for two years. In 2011, Mark Jackson took over and began to build the team system. The management finally got Harden back after patching together everything. The team started to show results last season, and the team's offense and defense system was gradually improved...

Seeing that the seventh game was just around the corner, with less than 10 hours left, Curry was trying hard to adjust his mentality and state, trying to get back to the hot feeling of those two games.

He really wanted to win!

…

On the other side, the atmosphere at the home team's training ground was completely different.

A big win that locked the victory in three quarters ended the opponent's three-game winning streak, regained the home advantage, and dragged into the seventh game. Now they are in high spirits!

Sun Ce and his teammates returned to Memphis yesterday to rest for a day. Today's training volume was also small. It was mainly two tactical running training classes. One class was how to prevent Curry from soaring while limiting Harden as much as possible.

As for the role players' scoring... I think if a player has a good scoring opportunity, it is generally a very good scoring opportunity. If you can't defend it, there is no way. Otherwise, what will the opponent's three outside players do with it? Just like the Grizzlies, if Klay Thompson hadn't exploded in one game, Yi Jianlian's average score would be the same as Klay Thompson's, averaging 14 points in the first five games.

Another one is the triangle offense that was practiced for 40 minutes with Sun Ce's high and low post back-to-back as the starting point. Although Sun Ce and Klay Thompson didn't quite understand the triangle offense, they seemed to be able to play it after playing it once, and Paul George and Livingston seemed to understand what the triangle offense was, and they did a good job of receiving the ball and organizing the offense on the weak side.

Rest in the afternoon, watch the game video if you want to, take a nap if you want to sleep...

The confidence in the playoffs comes very quickly, because unlike the regular season, there is a long interval between two games. After winning a game under a big disadvantage, confidence is restored all at once.

After a day of preparation, at 6:40 in the evening, after the warm-up, the players of both teams entered the court!

…

Feeling the excited and manic shouts of the fans on the scene, Sun Ce felt that he was also excited!

Looking at the four stars Curry, Harden, Iguodala and Thabeet on the opposite side, Sun Ce was extremely excited. Tonight, fight to your heart's content!

When falling behind 2 to 3, Sun Ce was not afraid, he just played when he should. Now that the score is tied at 3 to 3, what is there to be afraid of? He estimated that the opponent is also afraid, so there is no need to be afraid.

After entering the court, the regular season MVP award ceremony was held, and the atmosphere on the scene became even more exciting!

Professional athletes are a profession that requires a sense of ritual. Sportsmanship is originally a non-substantial thing. After the official award ceremony, the fans really had an emotional change-excited!

Sun Ce became another player who won at least three regular season MVPs after Russell, Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Magic, Bird, Jordan, and James!

On the Warriors side, most players didn't have any special ideas about the MVP, and they didn't think anything of it when they saw the awards ceremony on the other side.

Even Harden didn't care. His goal at the time was to win more best sixth man awards. God knew he could play so well and sit on the top of the team's strength.

But Curry was envious!

Unlike Harden, Curry is a very ambitious player. This is an ambition that gradually expands as his career progresses, just like Sun Ce just wanted to gain a foothold in the NBA at the beginning, and now he wants to attack the strongest man.

After the final preparations before the game, when Sun Ce came to the technical table to put on his equipment and apply magnesium powder, Curry also came.

Sun Ce looked down at Curry, who claimed to be only one centimeter shorter than him, and Curry looked up at Sun Ce.

Back then, when they defeated the Rockets in the opening game of the 2009-10 season, both of them thought that they would do something big in the future. As a result, they have become rivals now. Moreover, according to the current situation of both sides, they may be direct competitors for several years in the future.

Looking back to nearly 5 years ago, the two were teenagers who had not graduated from college. At that time, they were not very ambitious. They just worked hard together. Now, each of them has become the best player in their own field...

There was not much communication. Sun Ce was full of sighs but didn't know where to start, while Curry was afraid that as soon as Sun Ce opened his mouth, he would want to jump up and hit this guy.

The starting lineups of the two teams came to the court. It was the seventh game. The starting lineups of the two teams had been very fixed. The Grizzlies still had the strongest offensive combination, with Sun Ce, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Richard Jefferson, and Yi Jianlian on the court.

It's not that they don't want to change, but there is no lineup that can play stronger than this. Whiteside's surprise attack hit the Warriors, and the opponent began to find a response strategy in the third game. The reason why the surprise attack is a surprise attack is that it came suddenly.

On the Warriors side, Draymond Green also secured his starting position, and started with the Warriors' outside trio and Thabeet.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air...

Yi Jianlian won 7 consecutive jump balls in the playoffs!

When Yi Jianlian touched the ball, Sun Ce rushed forward immediately. The Warriors were very alert. Iguodala and Draymond Green came up and blocked Sun Ce. Iguodala didn't dare to let go of Sun Ce.

In the last game, Sun Ce played hard in the interior. Such a violent performance brought a psychological shadow to the Warriors players that may take several months to dissipate.

Seeing this, Sun Ce was not in a hurry. After Paul George advanced to the frontcourt, Sun Ce fell to the low post on the right side of the three-second zone and leaned on Iguodala to ask for the ball!

Here we go again!

Seeing that Sun Ce still wanted to play a triangle offense, Thabeet directly took it back, regardless of Yi Jianlian in the mid-range at the baseline, and took it back to double-team Sun Ce.

Sun Ce passed the ball to Yi Jianlian on the weak side. Yi Jianlian retreated from the three-point line when Thabeet retreated, and took a three-point shot from the bottom corner... hit!

Yi Jianlian is getting more and more accurate in three-point shots from the edges of both sides! Although his position is fixed and has great limitations, as a role player, he is already quite good, and his poor defense can be compensated by the pick-and-roll, cutting and rebounding on the offensive end!

When it was the Warriors' offense, Curry received the ball as usual tonight and took a three-point shot against Richard Jefferson who had chased after the switch... But unlike the past few games, tonight Curry missed the three-point shot without running out of the open space and without the cylinder!

This was only the first time. At 2 minutes and 39 seconds in the first quarter, Curry missed another quick three-point shot after receiving the ball and turning around. This is quite unfavorable for the Warriors!

On the other hand, on the Grizzlies side, Sun Ce and Yi Jianlian both made three-pointers at the beginning. When Klay Thompson was closely watched and had no chance at all, Sun Ce played back-to-the-basket in the high and low posts, and Yi Jianlian and Richard Jefferson easily found positions. When Paul George organized the offense, Sun Ce helped Klay Thompson with the pick-and-roll, and then Sun Ce himself got an open spot with the help of Yi Jianlian's pick-and-roll.

As the game progressed, the Grizzlies scored 13 to 9 at the start. The Warriors called a timeout at 4 minutes and 11 seconds, but the official timeout came less than 5 minutes later.

During this period, the Grizzlies took 10 shots and made 5 of 9 shots! Among them, Sun Ce and Yi Jianlian each made a three-pointer, Richard Jefferson made two free throws after a cut-in and caused a foul, and Sun Ce once grabbed an offensive rebound with the help of Yi Jianlian's containment of the offensive rebound, but it was a pity that he was too hasty to release the ball and it bounced off the basket, otherwise he would have led by 6 points.

The Warriors only made 3 of 8 shots, and Curry's two three-pointers did not go in, which affected Harden's playing space and prevented him from shooting the kind of hot hand that could be shot even if he tilted his body and threw it out. The Grizzlies directly switched defense when encountering pick-and-rolls, and there was no need for off-ball double-teaming. Harden's shrinkage when encountering Sun Ce became more frequent.

But Curry is Curry. He made adjustments to his style of play after the timeout. Mark Jackson made a good substitution this time, replacing Iguodala with Harrison Barnes and using O'Neal and Speights, two inside players who can shoot mid-range shots, to play.

Curry changed his style of play after the timeout, focusing on single-player breakthroughs. His burst speed and explosiveness are not good, but his sense of rhythm and combination of man and ball are too beautiful. Klay Thompson can limit Curry's sudden stop jump shot during the breakthrough and cover Curry's space, but he can't prevent Curry from rushing into the inside to find a confrontation layup.

More than a minute after the timeout, Curry caused two fouls and made all 4 free throws, forcing the Grizzlies to call a timeout before 6 minutes, and replaced Whiteside in advance, Sun Ce went to the inside, and sent Beverley, Tony Allen, and Klay Thompson to the outside.

The score difference was narrowed to 1 point by Curry's 4 free throws and Harden's step-back three-pointer!

After the timeout, on the Warriors side, Curry started to play mainly by breaking through, while Harden became a shooter, a stinger, and Harden's secondary offensive organization after Curry passed the ball to him.

On the Grizzlies side, it was very direct, Sun Ce and Klay Thompson shot three-pointers, and Whiteside rushed to grab!

At this time, it was all about the state, and Klay Thompson continued his three-point performance in the previous game. He finally got a chance and seized the opportunity. He shot the first three-pointer of the game at 6 minutes and 48 seconds in the first quarter. Then, Sun Ce made two consecutive three-pointers after pick-and-rolls, and played a wave of 9 to 4, widening the score difference to 7 points!

The two teams began a tense stage of chasing each other. The double point guard combination of Curry and Harden is really amazing. Their role transition is smooth. If Curry shoots accurately, Harden will be the main point guard and Iguodala will be the auxiliary point guard. If Curry shoots inaccurately, Harden will be the main point guard and Harden will be the auxiliary point guard. Iguodala will come on the court when one of the two is resting to help control the ball.

The rotation lineup in the second half of the first quarter, the defensive battle in the first half of the second quarter and the sudden sneak attack by the Warriors' three-man lineup, the Grizzlies relied on Livingston and Sun Ce's consecutive mid-range shots to withstand the opponent's sneak attack...

The official timeout was entered at 6 minutes and 33 seconds in the second quarter, and the Grizzlies led the Warriors by two points with 41 to 39!

As the game went on, both teams gradually turned into blocking the opponent's three-pointers and shrinking the defense to defend the basket. In the crucial battle, the key to the victory or defeat of the two teams became mid-range shots!

Although the area outside the three-point line is vast, the position is fixed, and the basket is so small. Now the easiest area to score is the mid-range shooting area.

After the official timeout in the second quarter, the Warriors had a lineup of Curry, Harden, Jordan Crawford, Speights, and O'Neal.

The Grizzlies sent out a combination of Sun Ce, Livingston, Klay Thompson, Paul George, and Yi Jianlian.

Every player on both teams has a mid-range shot!

On the Warriors side, seeing Sun Ce and Yi Jianlian partnering up in the interior, Sun Ce guarding the basket, Iguodala, Barnes, and Thabeet were not there, they were really afraid of Sun Ce's ability to protect the basket. O'Neal and Speights did not sit in when they encountered Sun Ce's single defense or switch defense. Tonight, Sun Ce triggered the "Sky Pillar Level 3" vertical jump at the basket and blocked Harden's hook shot with his butt sticking out, making the opponent mistakenly think that he, Sun, had the same explosive defense dominance at the basket tonight as in the last game.

On the Grizzlies side, facing the interior combination of Speights and O'Neal, the impact was slightly insufficient.

Now it's a matter of mid-range shooting accuracy!

Curry's 9 free throws in the first half tonight and Harden's 19 points in the first half became the key for the Warriors to close the score!

While Sun Ce desperately looked for opportunities to make 6 mid-range shots in the first half, which was more than the total number of mid-range shots made by Harden, O'Neal and Speights, Curry, who scored 15 points and 5 assists in the first half, and Harden, who scored 19 points and 3 assists in the first half, worked together to lead the team to close the score!

Sun Ce, who tried his best to get 25 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in the first half, still did not help the team to widen the gap. The Grizzlies led the Warriors by 4 points with 59 to 55 and entered the halftime break.

…

During the halftime break, Sun Ce returned to the bathroom in the locker room and was so tired that he was about to explode!

Not to mention the offense, he shot 19 times in the first half, 10 of 19 shots, which was quite good. The 9 mid-range and long-range shots were beautiful, but the most tiring thing was defense. He was terrified squatting in the paint, fearing that the opponent's outside player would rush in desperately. Fortunately, the deterrence of blocking Harden worked.

I opened the prop space and was planning to use the scoring champion card. If I could win the seventh game, the scoring champion card would be worth it, but the scoring champion card has James on it... and the mid-range shot is not okay!

"Forget it, Brother Learning Machine, use the urinal card... No, it's Rick Barry's invincible mid-range shot card!"

"The host uses Rick Barry's 1966-1967 version of the star experience card, ability rating S (peak), offense S+, defense A+, no three-pointer, mid-range shot S+ (the farthest shooting area is 22-23 feet), layup S-, speed A+, strength A-, endurance S+, bounce: S-, injury tendency: absolutely healthy...

Average 35.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists..."

No three-pointer... Sun Ce looked at the ability evaluation and data statistics of this true small forward, that is, the star who mainly scores, in his peak year. It's really amazing!

But the farthest mid-range shot is 22-23 feet... Sun Ce remembers that the bottom corner three-pointer is only 22 feet!

At this time, the system prompt came.

"Combining the characteristics of playing style, body shape, and physical fitness, the host and Rick Barry match 70%.

Special conditions of use: Wearing No. 24 jersey in games involving the Warriors..."

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