James Harden averaged 11 assists per game.
That figure even surpassed pass-first point guards like Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, and Ricky Rubio.
So before the game began, people compared Link's playmaking ability with Harden's.
When Link saw that comparison, he could not help but laugh.
With the way Harden racked up assists, who couldn't put up a dozen or so?
Today, Link proved on the court that he was not merely being arrogant. His pick-and-roll chemistry with Harrell alone gave him four easy assists in a single quarter!
Of course, unlike Harden, Link handed out four assists without committing a single turnover.
Harden, meanwhile, had already turned the ball over twice in the first quarter alone.
Harrell and Link's pick-and-roll was clicking beautifully, putting the Rockets completely on the back foot from the very first quarter.
D'Antoni had to be extremely displeased right now, not only because the Rockets were behind, but because the Grizzlies were using the Rockets' own tactics against them!
Harden and Capela's pick-and-roll had been perfectly transplanted onto Link and Harrell.
More precisely, Link and Harrell were doing it even better than Harden and Capela!
To contain Link and Harrell's pick-and-roll, D'Antoni even had Capela match up against Harrell for a stretch, hoping to curb that wild power forward's attacks on the rim.
But that gave Gasol Jr. several opportunities to post up Anderson down low.
Though the 2.08-meter Anderson was a power forward, his rim protection was almost negligible.
If Harrell had been able to space the floor, Gasol Jr. surely would have run wild in the post again tonight.
After the first quarter, the Rockets trailed by 11. They had Eric Gordon's outstanding performance off the bench to thank for trimming the deficit at all.
After watching the first quarter, Draymond Green was so