Chapter 1 After the Opening Ceremony

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both teams took to the court one after another.

For the Pelicans, it was Jrue Holiday and Tang Tian in the backcourt, Trevor Ariza and Anthony Davis in the frontcourt, and Hassan Whiteside at center.

For the Grizzlies, Mike Conley and Tony Allen in the backcourt, Courtney Lee as the starting small forward, and Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol as the Twin Bear power duo inside.

Whiteside out-jumped Gasol, kicking off the Pelicans' playoff journey this year.

Tang Tian received a pass from Holiday in the frontcourt. Facing Allen's defense, he lowered his body, dribbled, changed direction, and then accelerated towards the inside.

Just then, Lee rotated over to help from the weak side.

During the regular season games between the two teams, Dave Joerger used Allen to defend Tang Tian one-on-one, but he was beaten every time.

Now that it was the playoffs, he finally smartened up, forcing the ball out of Tang Tian's hands, better than letting Tang Tian shoot directly.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Ariza at the first opportunity, who caught the ball and shot directly before the help defense arrived.

"Swish!"

The ball drew a high arc in the air before going into the net cleanly.

Ariza seemed to have a great touch.

Conley dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, passed it to Gasol to organize, and then cut into the basket himself, catching the ball and going up for a layup.

"Bang!"

Davis showed no mercy under the basket, delivering a huge help-defense block.

Whiteside grabbed the defensive rebound.

The fans in the arena erupted in cheers.

With this offense and defense at the start, the Pelicans looked to be in great shape tonight!

Although Tang Tian told the little girl that he wouldn't seek revenge, the entire Pelicans team was being very honest with their bodies!

Holiday dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and continued to pass it to Tang Tian.

This time, the Grizzlies changed their double-teaming strategy, with Conley shrinking his defense inward.

As a traditional defensive powerhouse, the Grizzlies had a hundred ways to defend.

Tang Tian still chose to pass the ball.

The fans could feel that the Pelicans were in good shape on the court, and as a player on the court, he could feel it even more.

The ball was passed to Holiday at the first opportunity.

Holiday didn't hesitate when he received the ball, raising his hand and shooting.

"Swish!"

Another clean shot!

The Pelicans had made two three-pointers in a row to start the game!

And from two different people.

It wasn't just Ariza who had a good touch; the whole team did!

6 to 0!

A perfect start!

The home fans' emotions were completely ignited by these two three-pointers.

"Defense! Defense!"

The fans were already spontaneously chanting and cheering for their home team.

Randolph attacked Davis forcefully under the basket, and Davis put all his strength into it.

Randolph turned and leaned back for a shot, and Davis tried his best to interfere.

"Bang!"

Another big block!

He had delivered two big blocks since the start of the game!

Davis roared excitedly after the block.

His condition was really like in the game, with fire coming out from under his feet!

He never wanted to experience the scene of sitting on the sidelines crying like last season again!

The Grizzlies inbounded the ball from the sideline, and Gasol's mid-range shot from the free-throw line was also off under Whiteside's interference.

Davis grabbed the defensive rebound and threw it directly to Tang Tian, who took the ball, changed direction to avoid Lee's early foul, and charged to the frontcourt to score despite Conley's defense.

8 to 0!

The Pelicans' momentum was like a rainbow at the start!

The fans' emotions were also exceptionally excited. The feeling of wanting revenge and getting it right from the start was like waking up and finding that the goddess was really in your arms.

Absolutely a climax!

Gasol scored in the low post against Whiteside with a difficult fadeaway, finally breaking the Grizzlies' scoring drought.

He roared and waved his fist after scoring, and the Grizzlies' bench also erupted in excited shouts.

The Grizzlies in the playoffs were not so easy to mess with!

Tang Tian received the ball in the frontcourt and was double-teamed again, still by Conley. He passed the ball to Holiday again.

This time, the Grizzlies were prepared, and Lee's help defense rotation came quickly.

Holiday passed the ball to Ariza, and Conley quickly supplemented the defense.

This airtight defense was the foundation for the Grizzlies to wreak havoc in the playoffs.

But just then, Tang Tian suddenly turned and ran back to the three-point line.

Ariza passed the ball back, and he took it and shot a three-pointer directly.

Allen's footsteps were a little slow, and Tang Tian was too much taller than him. He couldn't even get close enough to block this kind of pull-up shot, so he could only reach out to interfere as much as possible.

"Swish!"

Tang Tian's pull-up three-pointer over Allen went in!

11 to 2!

The Pelicans had made all three of their three-point attempts to start the game and were going crazy!

"I... I don't know how to explain the Pelicans' condition. All I can say is that they are all playing with the flames of revenge."

Broadcaster Breen, seeing the Pelicans' hot start, couldn't hide his excitement in his experienced commentary.

The word revenge is always being staged on the NBA stage, but few really succeed.

Being fortunate enough to witness and commentate on it, this emotion was completely natural.

The Grizzlies' frontcourt coordination couldn't be executed at all.

Their defense was almost at the same level as the Grizzlies on the other side.

Perhaps it was really like Breen said, that they were playing with the fire of revenge, or perhaps they were stimulated by Tang Tian's pre-game offer of a week-long trip to Hawaii with celebrity models. The Pelicans' condition tonight was really exceptionally good.

The Grizzlies couldn't execute their plays, and in the end, they could only give the ball to Randolph for a low-post single.

This time, Randolph turned towards the basket.

"Bang!"

What greeted him was a huge block from Whiteside.

When had the Big Black Bear ever been subjected to such treatment, being blocked repeatedly by the Pelicans' twin towers inside?

But he had no chance to vent his anger. With little time left on the shot clock, Conley forced a three-pointer from outside, but it was an air ball.

The Grizzlies' offense was once again unsuccessful.

Holiday controlled the ball to the frontcourt and gave it to Tang Tian again.

Conley continued to double-team, and the ball was given to Holiday, who shot this time against Lee's defense.

"Clang!"

This time, the three-point attempt finally hit the iron.

However, Davis flew into the inside, tapped the rebounding ball, and put it directly into the basket.

13 to 2!

Dave Joerger called a timeout.

The game had only been played for more than three minutes, and the Pelicans had already taken a double-digit lead!

He had to call a timeout to curb the Pelicans' momentum.

After the timeout, Randolph turned and forced a shot over Davis in the basket, and after the shot missed, he scored on the putback, finally saving some face for himself.

Turning around, Tang Tian held the ball again, and seeing that the Grizzlies didn't immediately double-team, he called Davis for a pick-and-roll.

After the screen, he moved outwards, and seeing that the Grizzlies still hadn't double-teamed, he directly stopped and pulled up for a shot at the high post.

Randolph saw it and pounced on him, but couldn't control his body and hit Tang Tian's hand.

"Beep!"

"Swish!"

The ball went into the net cleanly after the referee blew his whistle.

A 2+1!

Cheers of "MVP" already rang out in the arena.

Tang Tian's free throw missed, and Whiteside tapped the ball out.

After Tang Tian got the ball, he dribbled it to the three-point line, suddenly turned, and pulled up for another three-pointer.

"Swish!"

It went in again!

Tang Tian had scored 5 points in one possession!

18 to 4!

Five minutes into the game, this score, the Grizzlies were getting hammered tonight!