The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 437 - 224 Hansen Horse Racing 2.0_2

This year’s finals would be the last of the old system.

So although they lost G2, the good news for the Grizzlies was that they would have three home courts coming up.

After returning to Memphis, the players also relaxed quite a bit.

When playing in Miami, Heat fans had not spared them from extracurricular tactics.

After G1, there was noise in the hotel late at night, those colored discs were stuffed into their rooms, and even the calls transferred from the hotel’s front desk were harassment calls, and so on.

After losing G1, Heat fans were mentally collapsing, as last year’s sweep had hurt them deeply, and losing again this year would be hard for them to accept.

After returning to Memphis, Joerger gave the players half a day off to adjust their mentality.

Hansen and Jamison went fishing at a spot on the Mississippi River.

This time they did more than just fish—they also brought a chef to prepare and eat the freshest fish while they fished.

However, maybe it was because of the tides, they fished for a long time but came back empty-handed.

In the end, Hansen simply had the chef buy fish from other anglers to cook.

After all, it was all fresh, and it didn’t matter who caught it.

A fragrant fish hot pot, the two ate while they chatted.

"If the team can win the championship this season, I’m ready to retire," Jamison said with anticipation.

"Not planning to stay and chase a Dynasty together?"

"I want to start a new life sooner," Jamison laughed and patted his leg.

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For veterans who have made enough money in their careers, the remaining reason or obsession is that championship ring.

Grab it, and they’d retire on the spot.

Like Jamison said, retiring would be the start of a whole new Chapter in life.

For an athlete, nearly 40 years old may be the twilight of their career, but for life itself, that’s at most only halfway through, if not less.

With money, leisure, complete enjoyment of life, just the thought of it is exciting.

But all of this is predicated on the Grizzlies winning the championship this year, otherwise, he would most likely stay for another year.

"Han, I think it’s very difficult to beat this Heat team with defense alone," Jamison said when the topic of the championship arose, and he is someone with a wealth of experience in the game.

Hansen nodded, defense was just to keep the baseline, and with the Heat’s strength, it was indeed not easy to push them to their lower limit every time.

"Do you have any thoughts?"

"Our only advantage over them is you," Jamison said after pondering for a while.

In their 4 encounters with the Heat, the Grizzlies had 2 wins and 2 losses. In the two victories, one came from Hansen’s 61 points, and the other with Hansen scoring 36 points and locking down Wade.

So what Jamison meant was for Hansen to give up defense and put all his energy into offense.

Hansen shook his head, this method was dismissed when he first discussed it with Joerger.

Scoring 61 points in a regular-season game wasn’t that hard, but it wasn’t so easy on the finals stage, especially against a coach like Spoelstra.

However, after shaking his head, he suddenly stopped the movement of his mouth.

"What you said is wrong, our advantage isn’t me."

On the evening after finishing fishing, Hansen went to find Joerger, and the two talked all night.

The next night, the finals G3 between the Grizzlies and the Heat kicked off in Memphis.

FedEx Forum was filled to capacity, and the fervor of the Grizzlies fans was not a bit lower than that of Heat fans.

The fans also wore dark blue T-shirts distributed by the arena, plus that yellow towel, to maximize the atmosphere.

And then, during the opening ceremony, the Grizzlies’ coaching staff also gave a surprise to the Heat team.

For the first time since the playoffs began, the Grizzlies adjusted their starting lineup, with Battier replacing Guy as the starting small forward.

This left Spoelstra somewhat bewildered. Was there an injury issue with Guy?

No one knew because the Grizzlies had not released any information before the game.

Amid the Heat’s somewhat dazed state, Game 3 began immediately.

Hansen was still matched defensively against Wade, and Battier’s appearance seemed to be just a substitution for Guy.

The only change for the Grizzlies was that their defense was more ferocious than before.

But they still couldn’t contain the firepower of the Heat, whose starting lineup’s offensive firepower was at its peak.

However, there were some unexpected surprises.

Now, Battier, like Guy, was a bit slow on his feet, not the best against Durant, but when it came to corner threes, he was more reliable than Guy.

During the starting period, he hit two three-pointers from the corner, showing what a corner three-point master looked like, which kept the Grizzlies not far behind in the score.

When the starting period ended and it was time for rotation, Guy came off the bench.

He immediately found an opportunity for a cutting dunk to score, showing no signs of injury.

Although Guy would also stagger his playtime in past games, clearly, the Guy who had exhausted a lot of energy defending Durant and the fully energized Guy were two different players.

It was at this point that most people belatedly realized that after the Heat had put Ray Allen in the starting lineup, their bench was way too weak.

This forced Spoelstra to extend the playing time of his starters.

Such a tactic only helped the Heat maintain their advantage; with a fully energized Guy on the court, the Grizzlies’ bench could fight toe-to-toe with the Heat.

At halftime, the Heat still held a slight lead over the Grizzlies.

But in the second half, with their stamina declining, their offensive efficiency inevitably slipped, and they began to be slowly overtaken and then surpassed by the Grizzlies.

In the end, the Grizzlies, who had initially been losing, came from behind to defeat the Heat 106 to 99, securing a victorious home-court opener.

At the end of the match, Joerger and Hansen gave each other a vigorous high five.

The two had talked all night, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of both teams and how to capitalize on their advantages.

As the discussion progressed, Joerger realized that in Game 2, Spoelstra had led him by the nose a bit.

This wasn’t surprising, as Joerger was a student of Hollins and specialized in defense.

Defensive-minded coaches are passive in their problem-solving because defense itself is about how to stop the opponent, an inherently passive action.

Thus, when Spoelstra moved Ray Allen to the starting lineup, Joerger was thinking about matchups and how to defend them.

Hansen had also failed to realize this until he was enlightened by Jamison’s words.

The Grizzlies’ main advantage over the Heat was not him, but their roster depth.

LeBron fans were somewhat correct; with three All-Stars and two near All-Stars, plus a bunch of quality substitutes, there currently wasn’t a team in the League with deeper roster depth than the Grizzlies.

As long as this roster depth was properly distributed, allowing the Grizzlies to maintain a relatively high level of play, the situation would be entirely different.

A 48-minute game is like a relay race; the Heat did indeed have better top horses, and with Ray Allen in the starting lineup, their high-class horses were unrivaled. But they couldn’t expect these top horses to run the entire course.

The Grizzlies, on the other hand, could turn their lower-class horses into middle-class ones with proper allocation.

So what’s the use of your top horses leading a bit in the top horse against top horse stage? Because your lower-class horses lose more when up against the middle-class ones.

If you try to turn your lower-class horses into middle-class horses, then by the end of the race, your top horses won’t be able to compete with the Grizzlies’ top horses.

Even to achieve this, you would see the Grizzlies defend more fiercely from the start, aiming to drain more energy from the Heat’s starters.

So this game was an outright victory for the depth of the Grizzlies’ roster.

Of course, it was also a victory on a strategic level.

And just as the Heat had The Big Three, the Grizzlies’ advantage in roster depth was always there.

to 1, the Grizzlies now seemed closer to the championship.