Although the Grizzlies had a road game tonight as part of a back-to-back, Tony Allen and Link were both the kind of people who got straight to work. So, when the team was getting used to the court at the Air Canada Centre that afternoon, Tony Allen and Link were already itching to get started.
The sight of Link going one-on-one with Tony Allen on the basketball court drew a crowd of Grizzlies players, who gathered around to watch and heckle. Even just for fun, no one on the Grizzlies would choose to go one-on-one with Tony Allen. That would be asking for trouble.
Everyone knew that Kobe Bryant was a stubborn superstar scorer who refused to yield to almost anyone. Yet, when a reporter once asked Kobe who the best defender he'd ever faced was, he named Tony Allen without the slightest hesitation.
No one wanted to mess with a defensive expert admired even by the Black Mamba.
Link didn't expect to beat Tony Allen when his own athleticism hadn't fully developed yet. In fact, going one-on-one with Tony was also one of the ways Tony taught him.
As Tony put it, "You need to feel what it's like to have me guard you firsthand. Then you'll know how to make other people feel the same way."
"Come on, man, don't hold back. We're not playing American one-on-one, with some stupid rule like you can only dribble three times. If you can only dribble three times, nobody can get past me." Standing in front of Link, Tony Allen was brimming with confidence.
He liked Link. The kid was versatile, had a high basketball IQ, didn't hog the ball, and didn't take reckless shots. But none of those compliments meant Link was a superstar scorer. For a player whose scoring