The black and white bears inside the inside lineman, for many years, Gasol Jr. + Randolph vs. Embiid

Let's turn back to last year's 2024. When Marc Gasol announced his retirement, the arena retired, not only to bid farewell to a legendary center forward, but also to a silent observation for the era when writing basketball code with muscles. At this moment, we can't help but fantasize: If the healthy Embiid and Downs travel back to the heyday of the Black and White Two Bears in 2025, who will win this forbidden zone war that spans time and space? The tactical manual of the grizzly bear was written with a hammer rather than a pen. On the night of the Black Eight Miracle in 2011, Randolph's 283-pound weight broke out of bruises on Duncan's shoulder blades after losing weight, while Gasol Jr. built a mobile Great Wall with his 2.16-meter body. The space formation carefully prepared by the Spurs was dismantled into scrap iron in 48 minutes - the Grizzlies grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in the game and crushed the penalty area by 56-28. This violent aesthetic made Popovich bluntly say after the game: "They dragged us back to the 1990s."

Ten years later in Philadelphia, Embiid is using a backward jump shot to deconstruct the definition of a traditional center. Behind his average 35 points per game this season is the exquisite balance between 287 three-point shots and 89 back-to-body singles. When he dribbled the ball behind the Crawford style at the top of the arc, the commentator exclaimed: "This is the seven-foot-three Iverson!" This subversive performance is exactly the most unfamiliar offensive form of Gasols. If the Spaniard wants to defend such a monster, he must violate his defensive belief - leave the fortress in the penalty area and step into the minefield of the three-point line. The ghost of Tony Allen is still wandering around the corner of the court. In the 2015 Western Conference semi-finals, this defensive man made Curry's three-point shooting percentage fall below 40% in the series. The secret is to predict the pass route. But facing the Timberwolves in 2024, he needs to deal with Towns' 41% three-point shooting percentage and Edwards' violent breakthrough. When Towns raised his hand to shoot 9 meters away from the basket, Allen's defensive choice will become a philosophical problem: Fast and defending the outside line means allowing Gobert to get around, and sticking to the penalty area will have to witness the three-point rain fall.

Randoff's back-to-back singles textbook might teach Embiid a lesson. In the 2013 Western Conference Finals against the Thunder, he averaged 18.8 points + 10.3 rebounds per game in the series, and his hook shot rate after pushing Ibaka with a wide back. But this classical skill has become an endangered species in the league today - Embiid accounts for only 28% of his back score this season, and he chooses more to pull up jump shots after the threat of face frame three. When the Cameroon Giants use defender skills to play with defenders, Randolph may need to relearn how to defend a center that is 7 meters away from the rim.

As the spotlight at Gasol Jr.'s retirement ceremony dimmed, the big screen replayed the footage of his 2013 blocked Durant. The defensive artist who once made the front line of the league scare may be whispering to Embiid in the locker room passage: "Your generation will never understand that real basketball is the language of bones talking to bones."