The San Antonio Spurs, who started the second quarter with an 8-point advantage, now only leads the Grizzlies by 4 points. The Grizzlies decided to use their extremely hard defense to deal with the Spurs. Judging from the current few rounds, the effect is quite significant.

Link is undoubtedly the most active player among them. He has been proficient in destroying the Spurs' passes, steals, assists, blocks and rebounds several times. He used a large-scale run without hesitation to fill in the gaps led by the Spurs.

Spurs assistant coach Budenhozer has begun to feel that Link is a little scary. Even Leonard will not defend like this crazy.

However, Link's madness continued.

After assisting Guy to dunk, the Spurs let Duncan sit in a low position and prepare to play Gasol Jr. As a result, the moment Duncan received the ball, Link immediately doubled up!

"Big Basic Skills" basically don't do anything too out of order now, so after encountering double-teams, Duncan's first reaction is still to pass the ball. The passing target is naturally the hollowed-out Leonard.

When he was a fan, he said that Leonard had a three-point difference. But in fact, Leonard's three-point shooting percentage in the first three years of his career was above 37%. The shooting percentage was good, but he only shot less. Therefore, Leonard was still quite threatening outside the three-point line.

But the Grizzlies' defense replacement was too tacit. Just like just now, this time, Guy rushed directly to Leonard to help Link make up for the defense, while Link defended to Split. The Grizzlies' defense replacement was completed instantly, and it was still easy to leak!

Leonard directly hung the ball to Split when he saw the opportunity, which was an opportunity to misalign!

Split is 2.11 meters tall, while Link is only 2.03 meters, and the gap is still quite obvious. Fortunately, Split does not have the superb offensive skills as Duncan, otherwise he would just turn over and jump shot.

Split is average in offense, without stable shooting, nor has strong low-post offensive skills. Although Split has long been called the No. 1 center in the European League, his most dazzling figure is still his defensive data. In terms of offense, Split averaged only 16 points per game at the peak of the European League.

Last season, Link averaged more than 16 points in the NBA season.

Split was pushing back, but he never expected Link to withstand the first move! If it were last year, Link would probably have been eaten raw. But this year, as long as he did not face those devil muscles, Link could still withstand most of the time after both weight and strength were improved.

The advancement was fruitless, and Split planned to turn around and break into the basket.

However, as soon as Split turned around, Link cut off the basketball. He broke through with the ball, which was not Split's specialty.

This time, small defense is done!

"Link, the second steal in the second quarter! Two steals and one block. Link's performance on the defensive end in the second quarter today is absolutely amazing! Split's independent offensive ability is limited, which is why coach Hollins dares to be in the first, first, fourth, and junior. Now the Grizzlies have completely curbed the Spurs' pick-and-roll to see if they can equalize the score before the end of the half-time game!"

Hollins knew that Link had a strong defensive ability. As long as that guy devoted himself to the defense, he could become a defensive gate like Tony Allen. Last season's playoffs, when he played against the Thunder in the first round, Link's average score was not high. This is mainly because Link focused on how to defend Durant.

In the second round, facing Richard Jefferson, who was not strong in offense, Link scored more.

In other words, as long as Link puts out more attention and energy on the defensive end, what he can do is often beyond expectations. Although this will affect his score, Link seems to be unwilling to care. He hopes to win more than his personal data.

After stealing Split, the Grizzlies made another quick counterattack. In the end, Conley assisted Jimmy Butler easily scored a layup, but Butler was still one goal away, and he was about to break his career highest scoring record!

His previous record was 4 points

"The score difference is only 2 points left, and the Spurs can't stand it!" Cole shouted excitedly. Generally speaking, offense is the most enjoyable part of basketball games. But today, Cole couldn't wait to see Link's defense in the next round.

That boy made the defense very interesting.

"Manu, Bonner, you guys!" Popovich couldn't sit still, and he decided to strengthen the attack.

Ginobili and Bonner went to the technical station to prepare, but before that, the Spurs had to survive this attack.

Parker stopped passing the ball this time. He borrowed the pick-and-roll and directly entered the penalty area and made a layup. But it turned out that Gasol, who was dragging at the end, was not a vegetarian. The big white bear waved his long arm and slapped the basketball out of the three-second zone like a whip. The "French Sports Car"'s own desire to score was also vain, and the Spanish homeless man would not be ruthless in the face of the opportunity he took.

Popovich clenched his fists, he felt a little regretful, he felt that he should have called a timeout to substitute him just now!

Now, if the Grizzlies score again, the score will be tied!

As soon as the second quarter started, I was beaten 8-0. Who can stand it?

Whatever you are afraid of is what you are, even though Popovich prayed in his heart to the Grizzlies again and again, Gasol's singles in the inside still broke the only fantasy in the old man's heart.

Gasol Jr. is indeed not a scorer, and Duncan's effect in defending Gasol Jr. is also very good. But this does not mean that Espanyol won't get a single point.

He successfully scored a goal on Duncan's head with a small hook on the right. At the same time, he completely stopped the Spurs. 26 to 26, and the Grizzlies tied the score!

"Popovich called a timeout, and the timeout was a bit late. Now the Grizzlies are completely in power. The Grizzlies' defense is exhausted and the Spurs are running on the offensive end. Their attack in the second quarter is mainly due to Link, who is one of the most resolute defensive gates I have ever seen!"

Steve Cole used the word "defensive gate". In his heart, Link is already the top outside defender in the league!

Link walked off the court sweating profusely. He had just played a few minutes in the second quarter, but Link seemed to have just played an overtime.

He sat tiredly on the bench, took the towel, and gasped. The price of excellent defense was several times the physical energy consumption of others.

"Link, take a few minutes off. Sean, you substitute Link, let's continue to stabilize the defense and continue to strangle them with a meat grinder-like defense!" Hollins' tactics remained unchanged, and he was still mainly focused on defense.

Link did not refute Hollins' substitution choice, don't think that saying "I don't need to rest" is very handsome. If your status is not as high as James and Kobe, then saying this sentence is actually equivalent to challenging the authority of the head coach.

Link really doesn't want to rest, but he has to save face for Hollins and can't break the relationship.

Therefore, after the timeout was over and everyone else was on the court, Link sat next to Hollins and asked, "Leon, how long do I have to rest?"

"Three minutes! You may have to work hard today, Link!"

"I wish I had to rest for only one minute if I could." Link leaned into Hollins' ear and replied softly.

"One minute!? But you've just finished speaking. Ginobili scored a goal on the court. Behind the bench, cheers from Spurs fans, and the Spurs took the lead again!

Bathir shook his head in annoyance. No one would question Bathir's experience and defensive skills, but Bathir now is indeed difficult to fill the gap by moving quickly. For a 34-year-old veteran, this is really too difficult.

"Damn it!" Seeing the score that had just fought hard and finally equalized again, Hollins gritted his teeth.

If Tony Allen is still there, he can still replace Link, but Tony Allen was injured before the key back-to-back this round. For Pondsett? Although he is a 3D player and has excellent athletic ability, his defense is not as steady as Link. If he makes him go, he may not be able to defend himself from the results he just now.

Hollins looked at Link beside him, and Link shrugged, "This is nothing to do, Leon. I can only rest for so long in one minute."

"A minute and a half, give me a good rest. I will ask you to go to the technical desk to prepare later!" Hollins compromised, and he could no longer let the Spurs break the score.

Link smiled slightly, then leaned on the bench and tried to adjust his breathing.
Chapter completed!