Chapter 135: That’s A Profound Truth
At the start of the second quarter, both teams’ young cores were sitting on the bench resting.
Xu Ling got a bottle of formulated Gatorade from Dr. Ross, gave feedback after drinking it.
“A bit sour.” Xu Ling was always nitpicking the Doctor’s skills. “The flavor needs improvement.”
Dr. Ross said without changing expression: “Your taste bud discomfort is inversely proportional to your stamina recovery rate. Simply put, the worse it tastes to you, the harder it’s working.”
“.Really?”
“Fake. But next time you can try imagining it as peach flavor.”
The answer was heartwarming.
Unlike the Grizzlies’ No. 1 who still had time to chat idly with Dr. Ross, on the court, the Grizzlies’ bench guard Kyle Lowry was facing a tough test.
Although the Hornets had taken Pau off the court, that didn’t mean they couldn’t play ball.
Admittedly, Pau’s style of “dribble, dribble, dribble then individual offense or passing” easily solidifies a team’s playstyle,
but the Hornets could still find those standout personality players to energize the second unit.
Jannero Pargo, with a mob enforcer face, came on court and immediately used his highly aggressive ball style to torment Lowry.
This style somewhat alienated the steady ball style Pau had imprinted on the Hornets.
Pargo got hot right away, using a teammate’s screen, directly accelerated breakthrough past Kyle Lowry, drove inside, used a high-difficulty layup to dodge Darko Milicic’s block, reverse layup good.
On the other end, Lowry tried to organize offense, but the Hornets, as a top-five league defense team, weren’t bad even without their absolute core.
Pargo himself was the epitome of playing like a mad dog, paired with Bonzi Wells and Morris Peterson, with Tyson Chandler holding down the inside like a pillar.
Offense became a problem for the Grizzlies.
Lowry had some individual offensive ability, but what he lacked was tactical role and ball-handler confidence.
Moreover, he completely saw himself as Kidd’s substitute.
Whatever Kidd did, he did, which was completely unrealistic.
Continuous ball movement couldn’t find good opportunities, and Ariza finally took a reluctant three-point shot that rimmed out.
The Hornets protected the defensive rebound, Pargo pushed fast break immediately, his speed was incredibly fast, like a black leopard straight into the Grizzlies’ territory, drew defense then passed to the trailing teammate, but the layup rimmed out.
But in the chaos, the Hornets grabbed an offensive rebound, Pargo reorganized at the top of the arc facing Lowry’s defense, a realistic shooting fake move lifted the opponent, dribbled one step and sidestepped, decisively three-point shot.
“Swish!”
30 to 28
Pargo came in and scored 5 points straight, helping the Hornets take the lead.
Iavaroni furrowed his brows on the sideline, however, the Hornets’ momentum was already up.
Grizzlies set play missed again, Pargo used speed to drive strong inside on the next possession, passed to Chandler, and drew a foul on Grizzlies’ bench center Ratliff as he rose for the dunk,
Chandler two free throws one made, 31 to 28.
“Don’t waste time!” Confidence bursting, Pargo waved his fist, taunting Xu Ling on the bench, “Put in everyone who can play!”
Xu Ling didn’t change expression, long immune to this level of provocation.
He knew a rule well: the more unassuming the scorer seems, the more they like to flaunt so-called “personality” on court.
Pargo was indeed an energetic bench bandit, but such personality was overly prominent for a bench scorer.
This sounded counterintuitive, but it was court truth: flashy bench scorers and focused defensive blue-collar workers represented two starkly different survival modes. The former was a double-edged sword, hurting enemies but also self; the latter, no matter what, provided stable defensive contributions. When your value could stable output, those extra emotions would be tolerated by the team.
Seeing the situation dire, Iavaroni had to bring back the starters early.
Xu Ling and Kidd returned to battle after less than four minutes in the second quarter.
As soon as Xu Ling checked in, he received the ball on the wing, facing Pargo’s mismatch defense, unhesitatingly used height advantage for a direct pull-up jump shot, ball swished through the net.
“How’s it feel?” Xu Ling looked at the unconvinced Pargo, said lightly, “Wishing and dreams come true right away, must be a wonderful experience.”
This light taunt instantly ignited Pargo’s anger.
Pargo shone in the second quarter, confidence swollen to the point even 193cm Kidd couldn’t contain it. He directly called for pick and roll, insisting on isolating Xu Ling.
Pargo continuous crossover dribble, suddenly accelerated breakthrough from the right, but Xu Ling’s defense stuck like glue.
Seeing no breakthrough, Pargo pull-up at the free throw line, forced fadeaway jumper.
The instant the ball left his hand, Xu Ling leaped like a leopard, a clean block swatting the ball away.
The basketball flew straight out of bounds, New Orleans Arena erupted in a mix of gasps, protests, and boos.
Xu Ling ignored the full arena noise, just looked at that “dreams come true” opponent, asked faintly: “Any unfinished wishes left?”
If Pargo had any unfulfilled dream, it was hoping the head coach would give him more patience. Unfortunately, Byron Scott appreciated his hustle, but that was premised on the Grizzlies’ weak bench. When he challenged Xu Ling, the outcome was doomed.
Scott didn’t give him more chances, Chris Pau headed to the scorer’s table to check in.
As Pau walked to the bench, he smiled and raised his hand to Pargo for a dap encouragement.
But indignant Pargo completely ignored his teammate’s hanging hand, head down straight back to the seat.
This was the chain reaction of flashy personality—such character might annoy opponents, but easily sowed discord in the locker room.
But Pau was indeed a clever guy. Facing this awkward moment, he smoothly turned the dap into a ball hand signal, shouted to on-court teammates: “Hold the rhythm, let’s reorganize!”
Xu Ling took it all in, lightly teased as Pau passed: “Your team’s ‘wish list’ a bit too long?”
Pau didn’t know how to respond, so he chose not to, letting the game speak was the hard truth.
Moreover, after these minutes of rest, Pau decided to change rhythm.
In the frontcourt, Pau faced Kidd.
Based on Pau’s first-quarter play, Kidd chose to give a bit more space, mainly defending his driving.
This choice was sound, because though Pau averaged 20 points, he wasn’t an extreme shooter who fired at any opportunity.
But Pargo set the tone for the Hornets’ second quarter.
Pau clearly wanted to continue that offense.
So when Kidd sagged off, Pau decisively pulled up, surprisingly shooting a three over Kidd.
“Swish!”
Pau gained full confidence from this shot, couldn’t resist continuing the attack.
Moreover, Kidd might be the league’s most versatile No. 1 defender, but facing a core point guard like Pau who excelled in all-around development, he couldn’t grasp the defensive focus.
Then Xu Ling dribbled drive to the basket drawing Chandler’s second foul tonight, two free throws both made.
But Pau responded immediately, weaving like an elf through the Grizzlies’ defense, another high-difficulty drift mid-range shot good.
As Kidd nearly helplessly watched Pau do whatever he wanted in front of him, Byron Scott on the sideline was excited like hitting the jackpot, waving arms and cheering loudly.
As the Grizzlies’ most emotionally stable player, Kidd rarely became an opponent’s penetration point like tonight. That overflowing mentor-apprentice bond between Scott and Pau made his chest tight.
The veteran wanted to do something, but what could he do?
Pau even deliberately gave him an open shot.
Kidd knew it was bait to shoot, but he bit anyway, and missed.
This formed a vicious cycle. Chandler fought for the defensive rebound, Pau fast break solo to the frontcourt.
Xu Ling full-speed chased to block, but the opponent wasn’t a hothead like Pargo—Pau proactively leaned into Xu Ling before shooting, then flicked his wrist lightly.
Whistle, ball in!
Clearly this annoying 183cm shorty sent the cylinder right to him, but the referee called him for defensive foul?
“I didn’t foul.” Xu Ling raised his hand to accept while complaining to head referee Dick Bavetta.
Bavetta turned immediately upon hearing, his weathered face full of unquestionable authority.
Fine, even the fearless regicide on court had untouchables: referees.
Moreover, a Hall of Fame ref like Bavetta who personally called infamous bad whistles had unquestionable mental toughness; complaining to him was pure time waste, and risking a technical foul was a big loss.
Xu Ling stepped aside, looked at Pau.
This shorty was becoming the Grizzlies’ big trouble, his MVP power with home court momentum clearly beyond Kidd’s handling.
Xu Ling thought, could he try?
Xu Ling didn’t directly ask Kidd to switch; he wanted to continue observing Pau’s play from one side.
While Pau single-handedly drove the team’s offensive push.
His continuous offense made the Grizzlies wary, but the more wary, the more attention focused on him.
Once two Grizzlies moved for him, this seemingly unable-to-see-the-whole-floor little guy could pass instantly.
In the first half, Pau as core guard completely outplayed Kidd, leading his team to a 48-36 12-point lead over the Grizzlies with three minutes left before halftime.
Grizzlies had no rhythm, basically relying on Xu Ling and Howard isolation plays to stop the bleeding.
But unless the Dream Team dropped into the playoffs, no basketball team in the world could keep up with a fully firing opponent just on isolation plays.
Then Iavaroni made a substitution adjustment, pulling Kidd for Jarrius Jackson to share possession with Xu Ling, basically the Grizzlies’ regular play before Kidd arrived.
When the old hero malfunctioned, could simple playstyle work?
The answer was yes.
Maybe some luck, the Hornets didn’t expect the Grizzlies to pull Kidd and go chaos ball.
Jarrius Jackson hit two jump shots after checking in, finally the space opened comfortable isolation opportunities for Howard; Xu Ling disrupted Hornets defense with more frequent movement.
Grizzlies responded to the all-out MVP with chaotic offense, closing the gap to 6 points before halftime.
53 to 47
Xu Ling walked through the player tunnel amid fans’ boos.
Tonight’s brutal battle gave him a whole new understanding of playoff cruelty.
Completely different from regular season—intensity worlds apart, focus night and day, physicality fully elevated, tactical targeting razor-sharp, defensive rotations airtight. When he couldn’t easily get shooting space like usual, he had to rely on team tactics or teammates’ gravity.
And like tonight, with Kidd fully suppressed and team offensive system on the brink, he was stuck unable to exert force. If not for Iavaroni’s final sub adjustment working, they might not even get breathing room.
No game made the path ahead so clear.
Shooting was crucial, but to go further in playoffs, he must greatly improve ball-handling offensive ability and physicality, elevate face-up threat to new heights, hone post technique to Kobe-level mastery. Otherwise, his future might be as his college mentor possibly watching on television said.
“Without doing this, you won’t even see Kobe’s taillights.”
Turns out the General predicted today a year ago.
Truly words of wisdom, Coach.
