Champion, please stay!

Chapter 110, Section 108: The First Signs of a Tyrant's Aura!

However, even though he saw through the other party's intentions, Ross racked his brains but still couldn't come up with a solution.

However, as the ball advanced to the top arc, Curry was seen with a serious expression, his stance firmly planted.

Ross put the problem aside, saying he'd figure out a solution later, and just went for it!
Anyone on the team can hesitate, anyone can be confused, but he can't. He must always stay positive and lead the charge!
Curry defended hard, and two seconds later, he stood a step inside the free-throw line, watching Rose pull up to avoid Yi Shui's collapsing block and bank shot into the net.

Elementary school student: He's got some skills after all.

Rose's unstoppable momentum ignited the passion of his teammates.

After Rose took the shot, Marc Gasol sprinted back to the basket, quickly getting back under the basket and leading his teammates into a defensive position, forcing the Knicks into a half-court game.

However, the Grizzlies aren't the only ones with that kind of passion.

After all, the Knicks are a run-and-gun team, so how could they lack passion?

The roses ignited not only the fat woman, but also the elementary school students!
Curry set a screen for Swift, and seeing that Rose was already preparing to switch, he stepped to the right, suddenly slapped the ball quickly, created a rhythm difference, and drove to the left!

Rose quickly moved sideways, but he was still completely outmaneuvered.

Curry drove straight into the paint from the middle, jumped at close range, avoided Gasol's block, and made a high-arcing shot!
Rose muttered under his breath, "What kind of stupid defensive rules are these?"

During his college years, when he encountered opponents like Curry, he would usually stick close to them and grab their jerseys. While he might not be able to stop them, he wouldn't be so easily beaten.

And now... since he was selected, his defensive habits have been 'corrected' since the Summer League. Now, unless he encounters a straightforward and unchanging player, he shows no trace of his former 'Defensive Player of the Conference League'.

However, in this respect, Rose is smarter than Turtle. Turtle can neither defend nor avoid fouls, and still likes to take the initiative as before. In the first 6 games, he played an average of 25 minutes per game and committed as many as 3.5 fouls, ranking sixth on the foul list with Yi Shui. He is currently the only guard in the top ten.

Yi Shui doesn't have the problem of high post fouls. His size advantage is there. He can still interfere with the shot when he stands far away on the perimeter. The reason he has more fouls is because he actively collapses and helps on defense, mainly in the starting phase.

Both teams' offensive desires have been completely ignited, and they have started a high-scoring battle!

Curry and Swift initiated the offense with a pick-and-roll, assisting Yi Shui and creating scoring opportunities for him.

Curry's playmaking ability is only average at the moment, but his chemistry with Yi Shui is extremely high and his passing timing is excellent. With Yi Shui's passing and support, the Knicks' team offense plays very well.

The team's offense stalled. If Marc Gasol stayed under the basket, Yi Shui would attack; if Gasol was pulled out, David Lee would attack Warrick.

Swift and DaQ, both inside and outside support players, really enjoy this kind of fast-paced game and play with great energy.

On the other side, Rose, like a dagger, pierced straight into the Knicks' basket, leading the entire team.

Marc Gasol's playmaking potential isn't as high as his brother's, but he's more versatile and can facilitate from almost any position. As the tallest player on the court, he can find Rose no matter how deep he drives and then facilitate the transition. His defensive ability is currently hampered by his weight, but he's very smart. As soon as he sees a teammate shoot, he immediately retreats to defend, preventing the team from being forced into a 4-on-5 situation.

Gay's playing style is a bit soft, but his shooting is really good, he does a great job of catching and shooting, and he can keep up with Rose on fast breaks.

He's one of a kind among young forwards with a mid-range and long two-point shooting percentage both exceeding 40%. Durant's only significant improvement this season has been in his three-point and rim shooting percentages, while his shooting percentages inside the three-point line and beyond the close range are all below 40%.

With Warrick, Anthony's college teammate, in charge of the drives, Conley's long-range shooting and ball-handling skills are also excellent.

Both teams were firing on all cylinders, trading baskets back and forth, and the score was rapidly escalating!
With five and a half minutes left in the game, both teams were about to break 20 points. The Knicks, playing away, led the Grizzlies 19-18, but the Grizzlies had possession of the ball.

Rose advanced into the attacking third. They can't afford to concede a single goal now, as the official timeout is approaching. They must be in the lead!

Yi Shui naturally wanted to go into the timeout with a lead; with the game going like this, momentum was crucial!
Rose initiated an attack against Curry, and Gasol blocked Yi Shui in the elbow area.

Gay ran to the baseline, David Lee switched to follow him, and Marc Gasol also circled around to the high post to create space and be ready to retreat on defense at any time.

But Yi Shui didn't follow Gasol's lead and extend his reach; instead, he retreated back to the basket!

Rose drove past Curry and into the paint, changing direction in the elbow area to avoid Swift's block before jumping and shooting a floater... Just as the ball reached its highest point, it was slapped away by Yi Shui, who sprang up under the basket!

Curry, relentlessly following up, grabbed the ball that bounced off the floor and launched a counterattack!
With Big Q receiving the ball and scoring a layup, the score was 21-18, and the Grizzlies called a timeout! The official timeout period has begun!

Rose cursed. He actually saw Gasol open, but there were no second options on the wings, so he didn't dare pass. Gasol's mid-range shot from the free-throw line was quite good in the previous few games, shooting 42.8% and averaging 3 points per game. After his shooting was inaccurate at the Olympics, he practiced his free-throw line shot for two and a half months. He was very lax in Spain, but in the NBA he became both talented and hardworking.

But Gasol missed two shots tonight, the reason being—his back-and-forth running.

Yi Shui on the other side clearly noticed this, so he immediately left Gasol unattended.

Rose also saw Yi Shui under the basket, so he chose a high-arcing shot that he wasn't so good at. He was prepared to miss, but he didn't expect that such a shot would be blocked!
A scene flashed through his mind: the live broadcast of the finals six months ago, where Yi Shui, like a center, crouched under the basket to lock down Westbrook's drive... After that game, some media analyzed that although Yi Shui looked like he was playing the 5 position, strictly speaking, he wasn't playing center; it was Yad who was guarding Love.

Rose had believed this claim before.

But now, looking at Yi Shui between David Lee and Swift as they walked toward the bench, he clearly wanted to nod.

He can defend Rose on the perimeter and block shots like Howard and Oden in the paint. His physical gifts are just too exaggerated!
...

Rose is having a headache because of opponents like Yi Shui, and Grizzlies' new head coach Hollins is also having a headache.

Gasol's stamina started to decline after running for half a quarter... Taking over a team that suddenly decided not to tank midway through the season is really tough.

With two substitute center forwards, Milicic from Serbia and Haddadi from Iran, I really don't know who to bring on.

Haddadi has decent mobility for a player who is 218 cm tall, but he's not much better than Marc Gasol at the moment, and he lacks physicality and scoring ability.

Milicic… Hollins thought of the spirited Balkan youth he had seen five years ago when he was still a coaching assistant.

With a height of 213 cm and a weight of 110 kg, his athleticism was compared to Garnett's during the tryouts, and he was evaluated as being able to play small forward.

Now, at only 23 years old, Milicic looks like he's approaching middle age, and his physique has become increasingly bloated, reaching 125 kilograms, turning him into a pure meat shield.

Normally, with these three centers taking turns, they manage to maintain the 'consistency' of slow center movement and tall stature. But tonight…

If only he hadn't traded Swift to the other side, but he knew the necessity of getting Tinsley back. Conley was going to be traded eventually, and they needed a third point guard in addition to Rose and Lowry.

Although Hollins is a student of Hubie Brown and emphasizes defense, he is also very daring!

Since centers who are good at using stamina are not good, and those with full stamina are not good either, then we won't use them!
Pause back.

The Knicks brought in a lineup of Duhon, Chalmers, Yi Shui, Harrington, and Anderson.

Compared to the bald coach on the other side who was so conflicted, the young man with a full head of hair and a mustache made substitutions much more efficient.

However, the opposing team's lineup still surprised D'Antoni a bit—Rose, Lowry, Gay, Warrick, and Darrell Arthur.

They actually abandoned their center and tried to outrun him! But he wasn't afraid; he'd see who could outrun whom!

The Grizzlies were on offense. Rose advanced to the frontcourt and passed to Lowry, then ran to the baseline to receive the pass.

Chalmers was about to explode. During the timeout, he was still bragging to Curry, "With Chris and me together, I don't have to guard Rose."

Indeed, he didn't need to guard Rose. The opposing team substituted Conley, who wasn't strong enough at driving to the basket, early on, and replaced him with a small but powerful player who was even stronger than Rose!
Lowry used his strong body to push past Chalmers and drive into the paint, then passed... Gay used a screen to hit a high-post jump shot, bringing the Grizzlies' score to over 20!
During the transition between offense and defense, Du Hong received the serve and quickly advanced, passing the ball to Chalmers who had crossed the halfway line earlier... The strong counterattack failed to materialize, and they didn't even create a mismatch. The opponent's overall speed was even faster than theirs.

Guy dislikes physical contact and was dominated by Yi Shui. Hollins assigned him to defend Harrington, who also preferred to avoid physical contact. Guy defended against the skill-based style quite well.

Warrick followed Birdman, who lacked independent offensive capabilities, while Arthur, with his outstanding athleticism, fierce physicality, and active defense, followed Yi Shui.

But before Hollins could even celebrate successfully dragging the Knicks into a half-court game, he witnessed a scene he couldn't understand.

Instead of launching a team offense, the Knicks spread out, and Yi Shui didn't pull out to launch a long-range attack either. Instead, he forced Arthur into the three-second zone, turned around, stepped on the three-second zone sideline, and leaned on Arthur to call for the ball!

Chalmers looked at his old teammate who was being overtaken by his boss, and thought to himself, 'Sorry, bro,' before decisively lobbing the ball into the net.

Yi Shui leaned back abruptly, received the ball, turned around, faced Arthur who was pressing forward again, started running, took a step to push past his opponent, grabbed the ball, and slammed it into the basket with one hand!
Elementary school student and Rose: You really are a center!

(End of this chapter)