Link's One-Stop Service

Down by seven at halftime was hardly the end of the world, but it had indeed put the Grizzlies in a passive position.

During the break, Iguodala panted heavily. Defending Josh Smith had been even tougher than he had imagined.

"We have to establish an advantage in the third quarter. There's no need to keep grinding it out with them. Link, try to open up the score in the third. Andre, this time, you have to contain Josh Smith during the rotation minutes. Keep your head up. You can do it."

Dave Joerger's instructions were clear. At this point, the Rockets' biggest problem was not Harden, but Josh.

Harden's foul-baiting and high scoring had been within Joerger's expectations. In other words, even if Harden put up huge numbers, Joerger was still confident they could win.

But Josh Smith was an unexpected variable. His emergence had completely disrupted the game plan.

Over the first two quarters, the Grizzlies' starting lineup had actually played quite well. But nearly every time, they got thrown off during the rotation minutes by the "Headband Gang" of Josh, Terry, and Brewer.

Brewer and Terry had both been fairly ordinary today. The biggest threat was Josh.

As long as they could contain Josh, the Grizzlies could take the lead!

Iguodala nodded silently without saying anything. He knew he had not played well in the first half, but he had not given up.

"Hey, how's your body feeling?" Link sat beside Iguodala and patted him on the shoulder.

"I... I'm not sure whether I can recover in the second half."

"Don't worry, it's only Josh Smith. Didn't you make LeBron completely helpless last season too?" Link shrugged, helping Iguodala relax.

From the start of the game until now, the phrase Iguodala had heard most was, "You can do