: 653: Vertical takeoff

Bill Simmons appeared on the commentary stage of the Staples Center as a special guest of ESPN. Today, he was invited to participate in the commentary of the game.
There is no doubt that this is related to the contradiction between him and Link.
When Simmons played, he was sought after by many Clippers fans and received a lot of cheers. This group of Clippers fans seems to have forgotten that Simmons did not spare any effort when he blacked the Clippers last season.
But, the enemy of the enemy is the friend. Now that Simmons has turned his gun to the Grizzlies, Clippers fans are very willing to ignore the predecessors and applaud Bill Simmons.
"Hello, Jeff." Bill Simmons sat in the commentary booth and greeted today's partner Jeff Van Gundy.
"Don't be unharmed, Bill. Today, you seem to have become the protagonist." Van Gundy smiled. Van Gundy was already used to Bill Simmons' poisonous tongue.
When he was a coach before, Van Gundy's team was hacked by Simmons.
"I'm just telling the truth. Link just didn't dare to participate in the dunk contest. If he didn't dare, he didn't dare, and I couldn't bear to answer ambiguously. You know what I've always said or something. So I don’t like those who don’t say anything."
Bill Simmons opened his hands, still maintaining his confident expression.
"But can the Clippers really win today? You saw the playoffs last season. The gap between the Clippers and the Grizzlies is all-round."
"That was last season, Jeff. The Grizzlies actually regressed slightly this season. Randolph's form is not so good anymore, and Gasol has been unable to keep up the pace more and more times. On the bench. , They don’t even have a reliable number one position. On the contrary, the Clippers have made great progress. Besides, Paul wants revenge more than anyone, and he will definitely do his best."
Just when Van Gundy and Simmons had a lively chat, players from both sides came out to warm up.
On the Grizzlies side, the players' expressions are relatively relaxed. After all, this is just a regular season. They have won 10 games before, and for them, this one is nothing special.
But on the Clippers side, the players just came out to warm up, they have become gritted teeth! As if wishing to rush to tear the grizzly to pieces.
After all, the Grizzlies had their head shaved last season, and the Clippers have hatred in their hearts.
After waiting so long, what they want is this day. Now that the enemy is in front of you, the Clippers players will naturally not relax.
So when warming up, no one between the players on both sides greeted each other. Before the game started, the smell of gunpowder had become very strong.
"By the way, have you heard what Link said in the interview this morning?"
A few minutes before the start of the game, Jeff Van Gundy suddenly remembered what Link had said during an interview at the airport in the morning.
"What?" Bill Simmons looked dazed, he also rushed to Los Angeles today, so he didn't pay much attention to the news.
Jeff Van Gundy laughed with a look of expectation that he was waiting for the show to be performed, "He said, you shouldn't just put the word "soft" on others, otherwise the consequences will be very serious."
"Hahahaha, what are the consequences, can he come up and bite my ear?"
Simmons laughed confidently, showing confidence in every gesture.
Serious consequences? Let me see, what are the consequences!
On the court, the starting players of both sides are already in place. The coaches of both teams are also standing on the sidelines, standing by.
In fact, without Bill Simmons, Dave Georg knows that the Clippers have improved a lot this season. Champion coach Rivers and on-court coach Paul have already destined this team to be no worse.
The Clippers' offense this season is pretty gorgeous, and the pace is fast. The dunks in various counter-attacks made the fans hooked, which also made the Clippers' popularity soar.
The Clippers can run in all five positions, and even the fifth position of Jordan has good mobility. After Rivers took over, he took the Clippers' fast-paced offense to the extreme.
Because of this, they were able to hit the game with the Thunder a few days ago.
People say that Rivers is just a "chicken soup coach", but the changes that Rivers has brought to the team after joining the Clippers are still very obvious.
Maybe Rivers is not a master of tactics, but it is indeed not enough to take the world with a bowl of chicken soup.
Link looked at the Clippers players, all of them looked terrifying. Even Redick and Dudley, who are new to the Clippers, are particularly jealous of the Grizzlies under the influence of the atmosphere of the team.
The Clippers’ starting lineup was similar to last season, replacing Green and Butler with Dudley and Redick. The axis is still Paul, Griffin and Jordan.
Link turned his head and looked at the commentary again, and found that Bill Simmons was showing a "let's go and see" smile.
The Staples Center is full of malice everywhere.
With the cheers of the fans, Jordan won the first strike for the Clippers.
This season, Jordan has matured a lot. In addition to his physical fitness, his various consciousness on the court allows him to make more accurate judgments than before.
So far this season, Jordan has averaged 12.4 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. For a blue-collar player, the results are quite outstanding. If this data can be maintained, it will be the first time in his career that Jordan averaged double-digit points per game.
Paul speeded up immediately after receiving the ball. From the beginning, the Clippers wanted to maximize the rhythm!
In the fourth year of professional basketball, Link can clearly feel that every year, the overall offensive and defensive rhythm of the league has been accelerating.
Once, the Black and White Bears brought Link and the Lakers' championship twin towers against each other. At that time, the twin tower tactics were still very mainstream, and everyone was fighting positional battles one by one. Link and Kobe saw their moves, and the twin towers of the two teams also showed their demeanor in the low position.
But now, few teams are willing to send the Twin Towers lineup. More and more teams are beginning to pursue speed. Sometimes the offense is over before the two sides face up. Against this background, the power of the black and white bears is constantly being weakened.
Once the rhythm is brought up, the black and white bears are undoubtedly the most uncomfortable to play.
Perhaps this is why in the original history, the Grizzlies gradually lost their dominance.
Conley went to block Paul, but Paul directly pushed Conley away. Today, Paul's movements are very big and rougher than usual. Bill Simmons is right, Paul will indeed do his best.
Without letting Conley stick to him, Paul took the opportunity to play a pick-and-roll with Jordan.
In this block, Gasol had to delay Paul. If Paul is put in the vote, it is no different from sending points.
Bill Simmons clenched his fist, ready to celebrate the goal! This is a very classic pick-and-roll tactic of the Clippers. Once the opposing center is delayed, Paul only needs to hit the ground to pass, or even just throw the ball into the air, and Jordan can score!
For this kind of ball, the Clippers don't know how many they will score in a game. A guard like Paul and a center like Jordan are a match made in heaven.
Sure enough, Paul did, and when Gasol caught up, Paul threw the ball into the air. He turned around and retired early, so he still needs to watch this ball? Little Jordan can definitely bomb the basket! Playing this season so far, this kind of cooperation has not missed him.
However, after a long time, Paul did not hear the sound of smashing the frame. Paul couldn't help but turned his head and saw that Link was advancing with the ball!
"What!?" Paul dumbfounded, what happened just now? How could the ball fall into Link's hands!
Jeff Van Gundy, who was in the commentary, saw the whole process of the ball just now.
"It's incredible. Link actually intercepted this pass from the air before Jr. Jordan! As everyone knows, Jr. Jordan's athletic ability is very terrifying, so Paul's pass is also very high, just to ensure that in addition to the small No one outside Jordan can get it. But Link... as a striker, he got the high-altitude ball over the athletic center forward, which is terrible!"
Van Gundy felt his tongue knotted a bit, and Link was simply showing off his athleticism this time in the steal!
Bill Simmons swallowed too. What did he just see? Now there is only one word in his mind that can describe what has just happened-take off vertically.
Paul wanted to turn around to celebrate the pretense, but it made him look even more embarrassed.
Link moved fast, and Paul had to delay Link. If you don’t ask, Link will just go in and dunk.
Paul rushed forward and slammed Link. Today, Paul played very rough. And the referees at the Staples Center were also very "tacitly" with one eye closed. They did not want to break the smoothness of this fierce game.
However, Paul's brutal collision did not stop Link, but instead it was exchanged for Link's more brutal active confrontation!
Link slammed Paul, and Paul felt his chest tight and panicked.
After driving Paul to gain a little space, Link took off directly, he wanted to attack the frame directly!
Little Jordan rushed up from behind. Thanks to Paul's delay, little Jordan tried his best to catch up.
He took off with Link, he wanted to take revenge with him!
However, Link seemed to have eyes behind his back. When little Jordan was about to touch the basketball, Link suddenly switched the ball from his right hand to his left, and little Jordan made a shot.
Pull rod layup?
No, it's a dunk by changing hands!
"Hey!"
The Staples Center finally ushered in a dunk ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Unfortunately, it is not the Clippers who completed the dunk.
Link roared at the basket, making all the fans in the Staples Center shudder.
This beast is more bloodthirsty than last season!
"A dunk change in the air is another fancy dunk in actual combat. God, Link should stop participating in the dunk contest and leave a way for the young people to survive!" Jeff Van Gundy was numbed by the show. .
And Bill Simmons next to Van Gundy had goose bumps all over his body. He was ready to celebrate the Clippers' goal, but Link abruptly reversed everything.
In the horrified eyes of all Staples fans, Link turned back. Of course, he didn't forget to glance at Simmons, who was so pale in fright, and said, "Who is the soft guy now?"
Simmons swallowed, his opponent this time is a bit interesting.