Chapter 18 Griffin is deflated, Junior Brother's personal show!
Griffin failed in his post-up play in the last round. This time he learned his lesson. After receiving the ball, he switched to a face-to-face attack.
After getting the ball, he lowered his center of gravity and assumed a triple threat posture.
Bang bang bang.
I saw Griffin taking three short and powerful tentative steps in succession.
Faced with such a realistic fake action, even if his defensive ability is as strong as Tucker's, his center of gravity has shifted.
Griffin saw the right opportunity, immediately dropped the ball, and broke through to the right with a cross step.
His first step was too quick!
Not as fast as an inside player at all.
Tucker had no time to adjust his center of gravity and could only watch Griffin rush past him.
However, he didn't give up!
Tucker discovered that Griffin did not protect the ball well after passing through.
He saw the right moment, stretched out a hand behind his back, and poked the ball away.
Poor Griffin, he just wanted to pull onions on dry land and show off a dunk, but when he jumped, he found that the ball was gone!
"Wonderful steal!"
a-Smith exclaimed.
"Our No. 1 pick was so careless! If he can hide the ball now, he can show us his proud physical fitness."
He commented with a smile.
On the court, Griffin was also very upset.
He turned around and gave Tucker a meaningful look.
The opponent's figure is very different from the insiders Griffin has encountered in the past.
Tucker is not tall, only a little over two meters tall, but his whole body looks like an inflated balloon.
Especially his upper body, bulging and full of power!
Although Griffin was very confident in his own strength, he was at a loss when facing Tucker.
"Welcome to the nba."
Tucker felt Griffin's gaze and said with a smile.
In fact, he himself is also a newcomer to the NBA.
This sentence was said to him by his teammates during team training before.
But it’s really cool to say this to the No. 1 pick!
Griffin shook his head and did not respond. Obviously he was not satisfied with his performance.
Offense and defense transition.
Ismail Smith advanced with the ball and passed the ball to Jeremy Lin who was in charge.
Brother Hao accelerated, passed the defender in front of him, and headed towards the basket.
At this time, there was no one in front of him.
The basket is right in front of you, but behind you there is Griffin desperately trying to defend.
Just when people were looking forward to the duel between the two in the air, Brother Hao suddenly passed the ball to the bottom corner as if there were eyes in the back of his head.
pj Tucker rushed over, caught the ball and shot.
The basketball left his fingertips, spun at high speed, and drew a beautiful arc in the air...
"Shua~"
The basketball hit the net crisply, giving the Rockets another three points.
6:0, the Rockets continue to lead!
Seeing this, Shen Fei in the stands joked: "It seems that Griffin has not fully recovered yet."
Frank's face looked a little livid, and he pursed his lips, but in the end he didn't say anything.
The game continued, and the two sides began to get into a tug of war.
For the Clippers, after Griffin failed in two consecutive singles, they shifted their offensive focus to the outside.
The team's rookie - Bledsoe relied on his strong upper body strength to defeat Ishmael Smith in three consecutive singles.
Mark Jackson reacted immediately off the court and switched to Jeremy Lin to face Bledsoe, which stopped the latter's personal show.
As for the Rockets, Stephenson is in hot form.
Facing the Clippers' other first-round pick, Aminu, he showed great confidence.
The junior first dribbled the ball from a 45-degree angle on the right side with a dazzling step, stopping Aminu in place. Then he took a step back and bounced to the outside line, hitting a three-pointer!
In the next round, Stephens made a comeback.
This time, he used a huge crossover to pass Aminu, rushed to the basket, and faced Griffin for a layup.
After scoring such a wonderful goal, Stephenson was completely excited and played his beloved air guitar on the baseline.
The Clippers generals looked at his arrogant look and dared not speak out in anger.
After all, in less than 5 minutes, Stephenson had already scored 8 points in a row!
"How's it going? Our rookie is pretty good, right?"
Shen Fei asked in time.
"Well, this young man has good combination of human and ball skills, and he plays with great passion."
Frank nodded and said.
"Although Griffin has excellent jumping, his wingspan is still a bit short. If there is no big center in the team to help him protect the frame, he will struggle very much on the defensive end."
Shen Fei analyzed.
Frank frowned and wanted to refute, but the other party's analysis was very objective, leaving him unable to say anything.
In these five minutes after the game started, Griffin's shortcomings can be said to be fully exposed.
On the offensive end, he lacks shooting ability and cannot protect the frame well on defense.
These shortcomings, in the original time and space, were not completely improved until Griffin became an All-Star.
His shooting has been improving, but he has never been able to protect the rim well.
Whenever the opponent's inside line gets stuck before taking off, so that Griffin cannot fully take off, our White Monster can only watch the ball and sigh.
It can only be said that because Griffin's offense is so dazzling, his deficiencies on the defensive end have not been mentioned repeatedly.
After the first quarter, the Rockets led the Clippers by 13 points, 40:27!
Among them, Lance Stephenson performed well, scoring 15 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in a single quarter.
The Clippers' No. 1 pick, Griffin, made 2 of 7 shots, only scored 5 points and 3 rebounds, and made 2 turnovers.
Comparing the two, the fans at the scene couldn't help but wonder, is Griffin worthy of last year's No. 1 pick?
During the break, Shen Fei brought up the deal between the two parties again.
"Although Griffin didn't play well in the first quarter, I still believe he can cheer up."
"Last time you said you would add Aaron Brooks to the deal. I talked it over with the boss, and he was finally willing to bear the pain and give up."
"Really, if we weren't aiming to rebuild, we would be reluctant to hand over such a rising quasi-All-Star guard."
"In addition, we are also willing to provide two draft picks. I wonder what your team thinks?"
Shen Fei asked.
He didn't specify whether the two picks were in the first round or the second round. He just wanted to see the other party's reaction and then adapt accordingly.
But what is certain is that if Griffin can be acquired with Brooks and two draft picks, then the Rockets will definitely make a lot of money!
Griffin's weakness in rim protection can be well compensated for by the Rockets.
After all, the one guarding the interior of Space City is the Little Giant from the East!
In the previous life, the inside line composed of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan repeatedly hit the wall when encountering the Grizzlies' black and white duo.
But Yao Ming's performance against Randolph has always been outstanding!
Therefore, Griffin's shortcomings in the Clippers will most likely be perfectly hidden under the Rockets' defensive system.
In this way, he will be able to sway freely on the offensive end and become a stronger existence than the "Gelifen" and "White Monster" in people's minds!
Frank hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and then slowly said: "em...I hope to add Stephenson to the transaction."
"As you can see, although Griffin's performance was average in the first quarter, he has fully recovered."
"As long as you give him time to adapt, I believe Blake still has a high probability of growing into an All-Star level player!"
Shen Fei smiled slightly when he heard this, and thought to himself: [I took the bait!]