Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 291 The Unavoidable Tragedy Is Fate

The head coach of the Grizzlies on the sidelines finally couldn't bear it, stomped his feet angrily, and then hugged his head with both hands helplessly.

Before the start of this series, although the Grizzlies did not speak out, they still held the hope of the black eight in their hearts, but after the first game really started, they really realized the playoffs. The state of the Nuggets is far stronger than they expected.

On the scene, it feels very aggrieved, their offense is constantly dismembered, and on the defensive end, facing the luxurious lineup of the Nuggets, except for Gasol who can take advantage of his height in the matchup with Brand Occupying a certain advantage, other positions are either evenly divided or completely suppressed, not to mention Karl's tactical sophistication and Anthony's abnormal ability. In a fight, only players on the field can truly understand feel that.

In the first quarter, the Grizzlies were scored 40 points by the Nuggets in a single quarter. As for themselves, they only scored 25 points and fell behind by 15 points in a single quarter. The deep bench lineup completely overwhelmed them. In the first half of the second quarter, the Nuggets scored 20 points, while the Grizzlies only had a measly 8 points. It’s hard to read, 73 to 37, the scores are exactly the same, but the situation is one world and one underground, the world is different.

The Grizzlies were man-to-man, Anthony and Nash took turns to wreak havoc on the Nuggets' outside defense, defending the zone defense, Korver and Hinrich shot from outside the three-point line, and the whole game was impossible to play, hitting third In the first quarter, when the point difference was stretched to 40 points, the commentators Johnson and Barkley on the sidelines were a little sleepy, while the fans on the scene chatted while watching the game, and the game entered garbage time early.

Anthony contributed 20 points, 8 points, 6 assists, 7 steals and 5 blocks in the first three quarters. If he played in the fourth quarter, he might have won a quadruple-double or even a five-double. , They all feel that this is not necessary. After all, there are four games in the series. If they play in garbage time, the opponent's defensive players will move a lot and easily cause injuries. Such a risk is completely unnecessary.

So in the end, Anthony acted as a spectator for a quarter, and together with the fans at the scene, watched the fourth quarter of both sides.

"beep!"

When the somewhat boring garbage time finally ended, players from both sides covered their hands to signal, and the Grizzlies left the court in disgrace. Anthony was going to go straight to the locker room, but before leaving, he was stopped by reporters on the sidelines. Seeing that it wasn't Vasquez, he said a few polite words and left. On the other side, the head coach of the Grizzlies was also stopped by reporters to ask questions.

Poor Huber Brown is already seventy years old, and now he has to answer the reporter's questions with a sullen face, which really hurts him.

"Coach Brown, today's team's performance is a bit unsatisfactory. Is there anything the team needs to improve?" The reporter's question is still polite.

"The team's condition is not very good today. We have to summarize it when we go back." Brown didn't want to answer too much. After all, he lost so many points at his home court, and no one was in the mood to chat, but out of politeness He did not leave immediately after speaking, but stopped and waited for the reporter's next question.

"Well, the Grizzlies have never won in the playoffs in history, and today they suffered a disastrous defeat in Denver. Is this a kind of fate?" A reporter is a reporter, how could it be so easy for Coach Brown to prevaricate.

Coach Brown's face couldn't help but change. The Grizzlies failed to win even one game in the playoffs. If possible, he really didn't want to answer such a question, but judging by the posture in front of him, it was obviously impossible to do so.

Brown suddenly smiled and said, "Son, there is no such thing as fate, it's just an excuse for the loser to find for himself."

"What does Coach Brown mean, your team will break this fate?" The reporter asked persistently.

Brown put away his smile, and his face became a little unhappy: "There is no such thing as fate, my team will bottom out in the next game, and we still have a home court. We will definitely not disappoint the fans at home. "

"Is this the confidence to win? Or rhetoric?" The reporter continued to ask.

Brown's face became extremely embarrassed. Generally speaking, if you are willing to answer such a question, it is enough to save face. I didn't expect this reporter to push forward without knowing what is good or bad. It seems that he doesn't want to give him a step down.

Brown looked up at the reporter, and when he saw the local Denver reporter on his microphone, he immediately understood, but at this time there were several other reporters standing beside him, and he was not easy to get angry. After being in China for so long, he knows the importance of a coach's image.

Brown smiled and said: "The probability of winning or losing every game is [-]-[-]. There is no winning team, but our team is a team that will not give up lightly, so there is no slightest speculation now." Let’s wait until the day of the game to talk about the meaning, I’m sorry, I have to rush back to do post-match analysis, I’m sorry.”

After Brown finished speaking, he didn't give the reporter another chance to ask questions, and walked directly to the player tunnel. The other reporters who stayed behind all looked at the reporter who asked the question with some unkind eyes. The reporter saw that the situation was not good. He walked away in a hurry.

After the game that day, news that the Grizzlies head coach threatened to win the Nuggets at home soon appeared in Denver newspapers, which quickly attracted the attention of local fans, and soon there were fans from both sides on social forums In launching tit-for-tat remarks on this matter, of course, these are just some remarks after the first game. The Grizzlies and Nuggets, who are at the center of the remarks, have not been affected by the remarks at all, and they are all doing their best. A game is ready.

For the Nuggets, what they have to do is to maintain the current competitive state, and don't relax psychologically just because they beat their opponents. After all, the NBA playoffs are different from the NCAA. It is not a game that determines the outcome. There must be at least four games in the first round, and then to the semi-finals, finals, and finals. Of course, there are many games to be played. Any team in history that can finally win the championship, not only in terms of skills and tactics Stronger than their opponents, they are also very strong psychologically.

For the Grizzlies, their task is relatively heavy. They have to discover the team's shortcomings from the disastrous defeat, and they must also discover some of their small advantages and magnify them as much as possible. Yes, no matter what, they have to win even one game in this round of the series, otherwise, for them, talking about not winning the playoffs may really become their destiny.

The second game was still held at the Pepsi Center Arena in Denver, home of the Nuggets. The local Denver fans still packed the entire arena to the brim, and they didn’t say they couldn’t watch the game because they watched so much garbage time in the first game. For them, the playoffs are one less game.

At the beginning of the second game, the Grizzlies did show a lot of competitiveness. Coach Brown put Posey directly into the starting lineup. With fierce defense and steady play, they fought against the Nuggets in the opening game. It was evenly divided, but it was just the beginning. At the end of the first quarter, when the two sides entered the rotation lineup, their substitute lineup was suddenly beaten, and it went straight to 8-0, and the balance of the situation was suddenly broken. up.

The Grizzlies had to replace the main force in advance, but the Nuggets waited for work, and the substitute lineup played for another three or four minutes before replacing the main force. It was another burst of beatings, as if the previous ones were just warm-ups, and the result was very realistic. The Grizzlies were beaten to the ground again at halftime, trailing by 4 points at halftime.

In the second half, the main players of the Grizzlies wanted to catch up with the score, but they backfired after being impatient. Not only did they fail to catch up with the score, but because they were too anxious, they made many mistakes. After beating the Grizzlies by 15 points, the score was pulled back to 30 points in an instant, and the fourth quarter once again became garbage time.

The Grizzlies players sat on the bench with their heads bowed one by one. Their moods were really indescribable in words, but they just lowered their heads and didn't want to watch the score on the court anymore.

However, the players of the Grizzlies never expected that such a disastrous defeat would not change qualitatively because of the change of home court. When they returned to the home court of the Grizzlies, under the watchful eyes of more than 2 spectators, the Grizzlies The Bears played harder, but the gap in bench strength seemed to be an unsolvable problem for them. This time, they persisted for a little longer than the last game, but only for a little longer. At the end of the quarter, their point difference changed from 10 points to 20 points, and then they hit 30 points in the first half of the fourth quarter, and the second half became garbage time again. This time, the Grizzlies players really I want to cry but have no tears.

The last game was supposed to be a jedi counterattack and a back-to-back fight. The Grizzlies coach Brown and the team's core Gasol mobilized the players before the game, but in the end, the chicken soup in their hearts didn't work. They worked hard to change the huge gap in strength between the two teams, but in the end, they still lost to the Nuggets by 20 points.

After the whole series, the Grizzlies averaged a negative point difference of more than 30 points per game. It can be said that they were completely hanged and swept directly. Once again, they failed to win even a single victory in the playoffs. However, the tragedy seems to have really become a kind of destiny.

(End of this chapter)