Every player on the Grizzlies realized how serious the situation was.
Gobert had already been drained of a lot of energy in the first quarter.
And he wasn't Morant.
Morant was young, and he wasn't as tall, so although he'd been worn down a lot last time, his stamina hadn't started to give out until the latter half of the fourth quarter.
But if Gobert kept getting worn down like this, he'd probably run out of gas in the latter half of the third quarter.
Seeing that everyone understood how serious the situation was, Jenkins addressed the team:
"So in the second quarter, we need to get back to playing our own way and share the ball. We have to keep the ball moving. When the ball moves, the players move. We need to make their defense work hard. That's how we'll get our chances, and wear them down at the same time."
The players all nodded, agreeing with their coach.
The Kings started the second quarter with Paul leading the team for two minutes.
With his midrange shots and assists, Paul gave the Kings a brief three-point lead.
Then James came on.
The two of them led the Kings together.
But after James came on, the team not only failed to widen the gap, but fell three points behind the Grizzlies.
That had been James's awkward situation over the past two years.
After a game, you'd often see that he'd nearly recorded a triple-double, which looked impressive.
But look at his efficiency rating, and it was often negative.
In other words, his team usually lost points while he was on the court.
That had been especially obvious last year when he was with the Lakers.
There was no helping it. He was getting older and couldn't drive to