Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 141 Morris Peterson begins to feel uneasy

Chapter 141 Maurice Peterson begins to feel uneasy

比赛时间：2008年4月29日 19:00 CDT
Competition Venue: Smoothie King Center

Matchup: New Orleans Hornets vs. Memphis Grizzlies (Game 5 of the First Round of the Playoffs)

Attendees: 17,446, full house
Broadcasting media: TNT
Commentary Team: Kevin Harlan (Commentator), Doug Collins (Commentator)

Referees: Dan Crawford, Scott Foster, Bill Kennedy
If you were to ask Xu Ling what he learned in these four games, it would be that he deeply realized how difficult it is to be a complete player on both offense and defense in the NBA.

During the regular season, the intensity was kept at a moderate level, and Xu Ling could occasionally control the game like he did in college. However, in the playoffs, the burden increased and the intensity rose. If he also had to defend the opponent's key player, it would be almost impossible not to affect his offense.

From this perspective, Xu Ling discovered more problems within himself.

However, these problems share a common characteristic: they cannot be solved in a short period of time.

Moreover, there are still matches to play.

The Grizzlies arrived at the Hive, and the reporters who wanted to interview Xu Ling finally managed to catch him.

Then, reporters from various media outlets rushed to bombard Xu Ling with their prepared questions, as if Xu Ling would actually answer them.

The question, "Will these criticisms affect your mindset for tonight's game?" made Xu Ling stop in his tracks.

Xu Ling's face remained expressionless. He looked at the reporter who had asked the last question and said calmly, "I've heard that in the deep sea, some small fish gather around sharks, follow them, and eat the scraps they leave behind. Sometimes they try to bite the shark's fins, thinking that this will prove that they are also brave."

At this point, Xu Ling's gaze swept over the other reporters.

"But sharks never stop, because their eyes are always fixed on their real prey."

After saying that, he ignored all further questions, turned around, and headed straight for the locker room, leaving behind a group of reporters looking at each other in bewilderment.

After a long silence, an older reporter said, "Is this kid trying to say we're 'small fish'?"

“At least,” another reporter said, “he made it clear that he was a shark.”

Yes, that's right. Other details aren't important.

The visiting team players always go to the game venue to scout it out first. Although the Grizzlies have been here a few times, this is still an away game, so it's good for them to get used to it.

During this period, some observant people noticed that Grizzlies head coach Mark Jaffaroni had disappeared.

But Jaffaroni did not disappear; he was secretly memorizing his speech, which he had stayed up half the night writing, in the bathroom.

As a coach, Jaffaroni's performance in the series was not particularly outstanding, but compared to Byron Scott, who was always blaming the referees, he didn't actually make many mistakes.

Jaffaroni's greatest sin was simply mediocrity.

Jaffaroni was fully aware of this, and he also knew that his position as manager was in jeopardy. Kidd didn't respect him, and Eli seemed to have some other opinions, so he had to save himself.

There's not much room for tactical flexibility, so let's give ourselves a good pep talk before the game starts.

Let Jerry West see that his cheap coach isn't entirely useless.

Half an hour before the match, the players returned to the locker room to make their final preparations.

Dr. Deckard Ross heard what Xu Ling said to reporters outside the stadium: "You compared yourself to a shark?"

Xu Ling simply didn't want those flies buzzing in her ear, but the professor clearly had a different idea.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

Dr. Ross said seriously, "From a biological point of view, your analogy is quite clumsy. Some sharks must keep swimming to get oxygen; if they stop, they will die. I hope you don't stop tonight."

At that moment, no one noticed that Jaffaroni came to the door and took a deep breath.

Then he strode in, and most of the players just glanced at him before looking away.

Jaffaroni picked up the tactical board, wiped everything off, and then slammed the tactical marker into it with a loud thud. Everyone looked up.

"them!"

"Those people out there," Iafaroni said loudly. "Those who write articles, those who talk big on TV, those bastards who laugh at us online. They want us to believe something."

Jaffaroni paused, letting his words settle in the silence.

"They want us to believe that we got to where we are today by luck or by chance."

"They want us to believe that our success is built on some kind of mistake. They want you to doubt the brothers standing beside you, and to question every drop of sweat we've shed along the way."

Jafaroni's gaze swept across the entire arena once more.

"But let me tell you what is true."

"Game 1 is real. Right here in this arena, we gave it our all and won our first playoff victory in Memphis professional basketball!"

“Josh is real!” Jaffaroni pointed at Howard. “You used your defense, your damn muscles, all your energy to make it difficult for David West to move!”

Josh Howard met his gaze, his chest involuntarily puffing out.

“Eli is real!” Jafaroni’s gaze finally settled on Xu Ling, stating a fact that no one in the room could refute. “He’s the one who draws the most defense every night, creating space for each of us! He’s the one who carries the team on his shoulders when we need to score the most! They say he’s inefficient? Screw efficiency! Screw excessive defense!”

Xu Ling also greatly admires Marc Jafaroni's masterpiece, "It's True".

"Let those damned savage dogs howl in their powerless rage! Tonight, only warriors stand here! We will fight for each other until the very last second!"

The only difference between this moment and those high-octane sports movies is that there was no appropriate background music during the speech. Jaffaroni's speech had an effect; he ignited the locker room.

Even Kidd had to admit, "Mark, your oratory skills are ten times better than the Hornets' head coach."

As for how much personal grudge was involved in those words, we can't think about that too much.

When the Grizzlies prepared to return to the arena, the previously relatively empty space was now 90% full.

The people of Memphis were met with a cacophony of hostile voices.

For New Orleans fans, this is not only a pivotal Game 5, but also a day of reckoning for the Game 1 loss and the arrogant attitude of that Chinese rookie.

"Xu Ling, get back to China!"

"Overpraisers! A cancer!"

"Get ready to cry your way home!"

Various banners were waved in the stands, and vicious curses were mixed with the rousing music played by the home DJ, attempting to devour the away team's will before the game even started.

Eli Xu was the last Grizzlies player to emerge from the player tunnel. The decibel level reached its peak as he stepped onto the courtside. Wearing a gray warm-up suit and headphones, he expressionlessly performed simple stretches, surveying the hordes of fans who seemed ready to devour him whole, like an outsider.

“Wherever Eli goes, hatred follows.” Kevin Harlan had barely uttered this statement when he realized he seemed to have violated the commentator’s duty of absolute neutrality, so he quickly added, “And that’s precisely Eli’s charm, Doug. Have you ever met anyone like Eli?” Doug Collins looked at his partner with amusement and casually mentioned the name most suitable for the question: “Kobe Bryant.”

"Oh right, I completely forgot about Kobe!" Harlan laughed. "Kobe. Indeed."

There's only one problem: rookie Kobe wasn't hated that much.

However, the hatred that Kobe suffered after his triumphant reign in Eagle County is something that Xu Ling cannot yet achieve.

This is the ceiling; it's too high to reach.

In this respect, Kobe is the GOAT of "most hated" in NBA history. Great, Kobe has finally won another GOAT besides the limited edition Simplified Chinese hellish joke GOAT.

The Grizzlies made a special adjustment tonight.

This is West's advice to Jafaroni.

LOGO suggests that Jaffaroni start Theo Ratliff, allowing him to dominate the Grizzlies' interior defense in the opening minutes. If the opponent struggles with their outside shooting and can't penetrate the paint tonight, the Grizzlies are very likely to get off to a great start.

Jaffaroni readily accepted the suggestion and did not have Xu Ling immediately guard Paul.

Moreover, the Grizzlies started with a very conventional lineup. Jaffaroni hoped that Xu Ling would focus on offense first, get into a good rhythm, and then take on defense. Josh Howard would also start at the small forward position because they heard that David West had a back injury that might affect his performance. If that were the case, Hakeem Warrick might be able to handle it.

The final pre-match warm-up session ended quickly.

After the DJ announced the starting lineups for both teams, the match was about to begin.

In the opening jump ball, Tyson Chandler once again demonstrated his beastly explosiveness, flicking the ball to Chris Paul.

Paul showed no intention of testing the waters; he took the ball and quickly led the Hornets to execute their most effective tactics.

On the first possession, Paul and David West executed a pick-and-roll at the top of the key.
Kidd struggled to get past the screen, but West's screen was excellent, completely blocking Kidd behind him. Paul used this fleeting opening to cut to the free-throw line, stop abruptly, and jump shot.

2 is better than 0
Back on offense, the Grizzlies attacked. Kidd controlled the ball, trying to find Xu Ling, but Maurice Peterson stuck to Xu Ling like glue, constantly interfering with his arm and moving his feet quickly, not giving him any easy chance to receive the ball.

Theo Ratliff tried to set a screen, but he is, after all, an old-school defensive big man who doesn't usually play as a substitute and doesn't coordinate much with Xu Ling, so the screen was ineffective.

Kidd couldn't find an opportunity, so he passed the ball to Josh Howard for a one-on-one.

Howard faced Peja, dribbled and faked out before shooting a jump shot that missed.

Chandler secured the rebound and immediately passed it to Paul.

The Hornets' counterattack was fluid and seamless.

Paul quickly advanced, drawing the defense's attention before delivering a bounce pass to Peja Stojakovic, who was cutting in from the wing.

Peja received the ball and easily made a layup.

4 is better than 0
The Grizzlies attacked again, and Xu Ling made a cut along the baseline, finally gaining a sliver of space in the left corner. Kidd immediately delivered the pass. But the moment Xu Ling received the ball, Peterson and West, who were helping on defense, rushed in almost simultaneously, forming a double-team.

Xu Ling didn't force a shot, but passed the ball back to Kidd, who immediately took a three-pointer, but missed again.

Paul then grabbed a long rebound and led his team on another counterattack.

6 is better than 0
The Grizzlies were forced to call a timeout just one and a half minutes into the game.

Marc Jaffaroni's face was a little pale. It was clear that Milicic had better chemistry with the other key players than with defense, and this was not a problem with Ratliff.

If the Grizzlies' offense doesn't pick up at the start, they need to bring Milicic back.

This scene made Jerry West, who was sitting in the VIP box, feel a chill in his heart. He wondered if he had given Jafaroni the wrong advice.

After the timeout, Milicic broke the Grizzlies' scoring drought by scoring under the basket, but the situation did not improve.

The Hornets started the game with extremely aggressive defense. Maurice Peterson played defense as if he had no future, and his switching on Xu Ling after calling a screen was also extremely decisive. They continued to devote most of their defensive resources to Xu Ling.

This requires the rest of the Grizzlies to break the deadlock.

Under the pressure of playing away from home, everyone was playing too tightly.

The point difference widened, and the Grizzlies' offense appeared sluggish and difficult. Six minutes into the game, the Hornets took a 15-8 lead.

The Grizzlies seem to be completely out of form offensively.

Seeing that they were about to be helpless against the Hornets' defense again, Kidd was getting anxious. At this moment, Xu Ling decided to abandon all tactical runs, come to the outside, and directly take the ball from Kidd.

With the help of his teammates and his own desperate defensive efforts, Maurice Peterson, who had kept Xu Ling scoreless in the first half of the game, has overcome his fear of Xu.

He lowered his center of gravity, spread his arms, and kept talking: "Come on, rookie, let me see what you've got. Throw it! You don't dare?"

“！#￥！￥”

The boos from the crowd were like thunderclaps echoing in our ears; the will of the entire New Orleans, no, the entire state of Louisiana, was united here.

Go to hell, you arrogant Chinamen!

Then, Xu Ling simply took a probing step to shake Morrison off, then pulled up from the spot and shot the ball out of his hand.

"Eli's three-pointer from beyond the arc!!!"

"Whoosh!!!"

"Goal!" Harlan shouted excitedly. "You can't stop him! He's the kind of player who can create scoring opportunities no matter what!"

Doug Collins added, "Just like Kobe!"

The score is now 15 to 11.

After scoring, Xu Ling didn't say anything trash; he just glanced at Maurice Peterson.

There was an indescribable mockery and murderous intent in his eyes.

Amazingly, Peterson could completely receive the information in those eyes.

Worse still, Peterson had a bad feeling.

This may only be the beginning.