With the Grizzlies holding the ball for the final possession of the first quarter, James Harden stood outside the three-point line, drenched in sweat. Standing before him with the ball was Link, the older rookie making his first appearance today as an official Grizzlies player.
The Thunder had gotten off to a strong start today, only to fade as the game went on. At first, the two sides had been evenly matched. But after Brooks put Harden and Ibaka on the floor, the Thunder gradually seized control. However, once the Grizzlies made their own personnel adjustments, the Thunder found themselves in trouble again.
Ever since Westbrook and Durant had gone to the bench, the Thunder had not scored another point. Their six-point lead had now become a four-point deficit.
Several of James Harden's drives had been disrupted by that yellow-skinned number-zero forward. Facing Link, Harden had found scoring extremely difficult.
Now, the game had reached the final possession of the first quarter. If the Thunder could not stop this ball, they would enter the second quarter down by six. And if Harden could not stop it, he would be utterly humiliated.
Seeing this, many Thunder fans searched online for Link's information, wanting to know where this rookie had been drafted that he could make the third overall pick Harden look so helpless.
But the result shocked many Thunder fans who knew nothing about Link.
Under draft position, Link's profile did not list a number, but a single word—undrafted.
An undrafted player had practically shut down James Harden?
The Thunder fans swallowed hard. This was beyond embarrassing.
With the ball in his hands, Link looked up at the clock above the backboard. There were 12.5 seconds left in the first quarter.
He calmly dribbled the ball, planning to run down the