play for it

Chapter 33
"Beautiful three-pointer! Yang Ke played with so much confidence!"

"I think Asian players, in the NBA, should play more confidently like Yang Ke!"

Xinlang's two commentators saw that Yang Ke's first attack was a hit, and they clapped their hands and applauded, and they used this to express their thoughts.

In a blink of an eye, the point difference was only two points, and the Grizzlies team became more serious. Conley advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, intending to test Yang Ke's defense.

So he didn't slow down the rhythm, but gestured to let his teammates open up the space, so that he had enough space to single Yang Ke.

Seeing that Conley was going to singles him, Yang Ke felt a little happy. If Conley chose to organize or use pick-and-rolls to attack, he would be really difficult to defend.

But if it's one-on-one, he has enough confidence that Conley can't pass him. After all, practicing solo with Ginobili is not a joke.

Standing firmly in front of Conley, his eyes fixed on his shoulders, and his peripheral vision scanning the basketball, Yang Ke slowed down his breathing and was always ready to face Conley's attack.

Conley held the ball, took a quick step, wrapped his body, and rushed over.Faced with Conley's impact, Yang Ke chose to stand up. Conley is not a particularly strong guard, and after a long period of weight gain and physical confrontation with Ginobili, it is still possible to face the impact .

The physical confrontation was not obviously dominant, and the tentative impact failed. Conley was not surprised. His eyes flickered, and his awake head at that moment as a front-line defender quickly turned.

What about the technical side?
Thinking of Conley taking a step back, he made several changes of direction in a row, and even added a few fake moves, but the effect was not satisfactory, although Yang Ke was swayed a little away.But he knew that, judging from the speed Yang Ke showed when he attacked just now, this distance was not enough for him to break through.

The rookie of the Spurs defended very well. Conley tilted his head, gave up trying to continue, but went out from the back and passed the ball long to Gay.

Gay held the ball and faced Jefferson, who was shorter than him, after a tentative step, he directly chose to pull!He jumped up high, and in front of his slender body, Jefferson also jumped up, trying to reach out, but still couldn't reach the basketball.

With a clean shot, the Grizzlies once again led the Spurs by four points!Seeing that Jefferson couldn't guard the young Gay, Popovich directly called a timeout.

When the players returned to the bench, Popovich first announced the substitutions. Leonard replaced Jefferson, and Splitter replaced Blair. Defensively, requires a quicker transition.

After the timeout was over, when Yang Ke went to eat, he smiled and asked Leonard beside him, "Do you think you can defend against Guy?"

"Try it, and then you'll know."

Leonard said with a blank face, as if he couldn't get interested, and then stepped away from Yang Ke and walked towards the right side of the frontcourt.

It seems that my friend has made a lot of progress. Looking at Leonard's back, Yang Ke smiled. Since Popovich gave him a suitable training method, he rarely talked with Leonard. Leonard practiced together.

But now it seems that Leonard has not stagnated. As a good friend, he knows very well that Leonard is an introverted young man, but as long as he speaks out, he is sure.

With this more rationalized lineup replaced, the Spurs gradually began to occupy the advantage on the court, with the experienced Duncan and Parker organization on the offensive end, it is not a problem at all.

Defensively, with the tacit understanding of Yang Ke and Leonard forming a slightly immature perimeter gate, although the Grizzlies' perimeter offense can still hit some balls, it consumes a lot of energy.

If it weren't for the black and white bears inside the Grizzlies, which had a great advantage, and the Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins replaced OJ Mayo in time, the Grizzlies' offense would recover slightly. , Barely able to play against the Spurs.

In this way, the first half ended soon after, and the Spurs led the Grizzlies by 50 points 40:10. The scores of the two teams were not very high throughout the first half, but this is also normal, after all, both teams emphasize defense. team.Compared with their outstanding defense, their offense is much worse.

"Mike, Rudy, what do you think of the defense of the two rookies on the outside of the Spurs?"

During the intermission, in the locker room of the home team, Lionel Hollins asked Conley and Gay, who were holding snacks to replenish their energy, with a tactical drawing board.

"The Leonard I'm playing against has excellent physical fitness and a very positive defensive attitude, but he lacks defensive experience."

Putting the dessert in his mouth to fill up the slight emptiness in his body, Guy said with a headache when he thought of Leonard's entanglement with him, "Overall, it's very difficult."

The answer is not surprising, Lionel Hollins nodded in conversation, and these advantages of Leonard were all reported when he participated in the draft.

Compared with this, Lionel Hollins was more curious about another Yang Ke who turned out to be without any data in the team. He turned his head to look at Conley who was meditating with a snack, and asked aloud: " Mike, what do you think about Yang?"

"His individual defensive ability is extremely strong, and his experience is not bad, but his physical confrontation is weak, but it is also above the average. In general, Yang seems to often face the offense of top scorers. Very skilled."

Putting the snacks back on the plate, Conley frowned and said, often thinking of this, he felt a little unbelievable. As a rookie, Yang Ke has so much experience in defending top scorers.

"However, Yang's assist defense and switch defense are relatively immature, but..."

In the matchup at halftime, Conley not only discovered Yang's excellent defense, but also found his deficiencies in defense, but what puzzled him was that even though he found a flaw, he somehow couldn't take advantage of it.

"Because of Leonard."

A glint of praise flashed in his eyes. As expected of the top point guard in the league, he has full observation skills on the court. Lionel Hollins was very satisfied with Conley's excellent observation, and said immediately.

"Leonard and Young, they have an agent. During the suspension of the league, they didn't go to any league. Instead, they spent a lot of money to hire top assistant coaches to train their defense."

"During the training period, they formed a very high tacit understanding. When the two are on the court at the same time, they complement each other, just like a self-contained defensive system."

Lionel Hollins said a bit trickyly, Yang and Leonard's own defensive system, even he can't find a flaw for a while.

"Hey, Popovich, that old man, he really got shit luck this year!"

Shaking his head, Lionel Hollins sighed, for these two players who have their own defensive system and are still working hard.As a coach who emphasizes defense, he is very envious.

Although I am envious, the game still has to continue now. Since we can’t find any problems in defense, we can find problems in their offense. Lionel Hollins asked Conley: “Mike, that rookie has a soft touch. , but there was no breakthrough in the first half, do you know how to defend?"

"Let's let it go but don't let it go."

Conley opened his mouth and spit out a condensed sentence. In fact, he did so early in the morning, so Yang Ke only took two shots in the first half. Of course, this is also related to Yang Ke's tactical status.

(End of this chapter)