Double stars shine in Los Angeles

Chapter 57
As the buzzer came to mind, the first quarter ended. The Lakers scored 25 points to 24 points at home, temporarily leading the Thunder team in the away game by one point.

Tracy McGrady returned to the bench, took the water bottle handed over by the staff, and drank it in a big gulp.In the first quarter of the game, he alone scored half of the team's points. At the same time, he was a little bit overwhelmed by the high-intensity confrontation with Kevin Durant.Tracy McGrady has gained a lot of weight in the past two years. Although he has begun to lose weight in a planned way after the injury has been effectively treated, the effect is not so obvious.

The head coach of the Lakers, Mike Brown, frowned as he sat there after drinking two bottles of water and was still panting, but he didn't say anything.Just seize the time to explain the next arrangement to the players.

"Next, Josh comes on and replaces Paul; Barnes comes on and replaces World Peace, and then Kevin Durant will definitely still be on the court, so you have to follow him closely and don't let him take it easy. Score and consume his energy as much as possible; Derek comes on the court, Lin Fengzhe goes to the shooting guard position; Lin Fengzhe waits until the second quarter starts, you have to strengthen your personal offense and try your best to open the score."

"Kevin, how is your physical strength?" Head coach Scott Brooks asked Kevin Durant with a slight frown. Seeing that he is usually obedient, he didn't pursue anything.

"Don't worry, coach. My physical strength is fine." Kevin Durant replied immediately, "I can continue to play.

"That's good. Next, the Lakers will definitely replace Tracy McGregor to rest. Matt Barnes will definitely guard you. Don't tangle with the defenders. Try to save energy and take action when necessary." The pick-and-roll gets the shot,” Scott Brooks tells Kevin Durant.

"Eric Maynor replaces Westbrook, James Harden stays on the court as a secondary attacking point, Nick Collison replaces Kendrick Perkins, and when necessary Serge Ibaka double-teams the opponent's Chinese center, don't let the opponent score easily, and pay attention to the protection of the rebound."

After a 2-minute intermission, players from both sides returned to the court again.

Eric Maynor took Nick Collison's baseline serve, ran the ball upfield, and handed the ball to Kevin Durant in the frontcourt.Eric Maynor is very clear about his responsibilities. As long as he can bring the ball safely to the frontcourt and hand it over to the team's main attacker, the rest is to do a pick-and-roll for his teammates and the like.

As soon as Kevin Durant caught the ball, Matt Barnes immediately came up and started pressing the defense.Kevin Durant dribbled the ball with his right hand, put his left arm against Matt Barnes, paused, and began to force a breakthrough.

Matt Barnes clings to Kevin Durant to keep the opponent from easily breaking through his defense.After Kevin Durant took two strong steps, he made an emergency stop and took a step back to shoot a jumper. The arc of the ball was very high, and it almost fell straight into the basket.

After Derek Fisher took the ball to the frontcourt, he gestured to signal his teammates' running positions, and then dropped the ball to Li Yifeng who requested from the inside.As soon as Li Yifeng received the ball, the Thunder's Nick Lusen and Serge Ibaka immediately came up to double-team. They also knew that Li Yifeng was very popular in the league recently, and he played at the All-Star level in a row. An inside player with dominant strength.

Li Yifeng did not choose to force the shot, but passed the ball to Lin Fengzhe who was weak on the right wing.Lin Fengzhe made two mistakes in a row without shaking James Harden who was defending him. He moved his body laterally in the air and shot the ball. The basketball swiped into the basket and scored two points.

Kevin Durant's touch is still hot. Under the strong defense of Matt Barnes, he scored six consecutive points and made three of three shots. Before halftime, his personal score has reached [-] points. It seems that today Tonight, Kevin Durant is about to get another high score.

On the Lakers side, Li Yifeng received the opponent's strict defense. As soon as he received the ball, he would be double-teamed by the opponent's inside players, so he had to pass the ball to the outside again, guard the basket, and prepare to grab rebounds with peace of mind. They are all very powerful, with a high shooting percentage, and there is no chance for him to grab rebounds at all.

Kevin Durant takes on Matt Barnes again with the ball.Matt Barnes hated in his heart, "Damn it, can't you let this guy go!" This time, Kevin Durant didn't make a breakthrough, and shot directly in front of Matt Barnes .

Kevin Durant's cooking undoubtedly irked Matt Barnes even more.This time, Matt Barnes adopted the defensive method that Shane Battier often used to defend outside players-eye protection.

Kevin Durant, who was in the air, saw a big hand rushing towards his eyes, and he could see the wounded lines clearly, his heart trembled, and he couldn't help it. leaned back a bit.Such a tiny movement affected the angle of the basketball shot, and the basketball bounced high at the front of the basket.

Li Yifeng, Serge Ibaka, and Nick Collison at the basket looked at the basketball in the air and were about to grab a rebound. Just when the basketball started to fall and everyone was about to jump up to grab the ball, an appointment near the free throw line Sh McRoberts came in, rushed to grab the rebound, and then immediately passed the ball to Derek Fisher.

Derek Fisher didn't stick to the ball too much. As soon as he caught the ball, he passed the ball here, and passed it to Lin Fengzhe, who was about to get off.Lin Fengzhe received the pass, stopped outside the three-point line, raised the knife and dropped it, and made a three-point shot. Of course, this is also Lin Fengzhe's special fast break method.

Next, Matt Barnes still closed his eyes on Kevin Durant.Obviously, Kevin Durant had difficulty adapting to this defensive method for a while. This time, the mid-range shot came directly to the three non-sticks, and the basketball fell directly into Li Yifeng's arms. Li Yifeng stabilized and passed the ball to the Derek Fisher himself ran towards the frontcourt slowly.Anyway, it was not his turn to attack. He was double-teamed in the second quarter, and coach Mike Brown also said that the team focused on Lin Fengzhe.

Lin Fengzhe demanded the ball from James Harden in the high position, and was going to single James Harden in the high position.I have to say that James Harden's foot movements are really unpleasant, at least in Lin Fengzhe's opinion.After arching back a few times, Lin Fengzhe felt James Harden's strength, then leaned back suddenly, took the opportunity to turn over, and became facing the basket, while raising his center of gravity to shoot.

James Harden, who was pushed away, immediately stabilized his body and jumped up to block the shot. Lin Fengzhe withdrew his shooting hands, and after passing James Harden's block, he raised his hands again, with his arms on James Harden's body After a while, the basketball was handed over to the left hand, and the basketball was thrown with one hand. At the same time, the referee's whistle sounded, and the finger pointed to James Harden, indicating that James Harden made a defensive foul. At this time, the basketball was also bouncing on the basket. After a few hits, he fell into the basket, and Lin Fengzhe succeeded in playing two plus one.Lin Fengzhe made an accurate free throw.In a blink of an eye, they have already led the Thunder by seven points.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks called a timeout, interrupting the opponent's game and rearranging his team's tactics.

When the players from both sides returned to the court again, the Lakers replaced Li Yifeng and Lin Fengzhe, replaced Pau Gasol and World Peace, and Matt Barnes went to the position of shooting guard; Swaps Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor for Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha and Russell Westbrook .

After receiving the ball, Russell Westbrook went straight to the Lakers basket, passed two defenders in a row with speed, faced Pau Gasol's defense, and evaded Pau Gasol's defense with an aerial pull , a backhand layup, the basketball fell into the basket after wiping the board, and the referee whistled, indicating that Pau Gasol had made a defensive foul just now.

Pau Gasol stepped forward to communicate with the referee, but the referee just said that he was fouled and ignored him.Pau Gasol wanted to go up and say something, but was pulled away by Derek Fisher.

After Russell Westbrook made a free throw, the game was back within five points again.However, in the next period of time, the shooting percentages of both sides were not very high, and most of the points were obtained by offense at the basket and free throws.

Pau Gasol scored six points and grabbed four rebounds after hitting three of five field goals near the free throw line.Josh McRoberts, who had been on the court all the time in the second quarter, also gave Russell Westbrook a large hot pot when he rushed to the basket. However, this clean defense was fouled by the referee-a typical star whistle.

The offense after the Thunder's substitution was mainly completed by Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka also scored four points on a second attack after grabbing an offensive rebound.As for James Harden, he only got three shots after the timeout.It's not that he's in a bad position, it's that he knows three passes.

Russell Westbrook needs to hold the ball to attack. James Harden is unable to create too many open shots due to his lack of athletic ability, and even if there is an open space, the basketball may not necessarily reach his hands.Therefore, now James Harden also needs to attack with the ball, score by himself or create a chance for the opponent's defensive foul to get a free throw, so as to score.

When Russell Westbrook broke into the inside again and dunked successfully, the difference between the two teams was only one point.The Lakers called a timeout while replacing Matt Barnes with Tracy McGregor.Correspondingly, the Thunder also replaced Kevin Durant and replaced Thabo Sefolosha.

The fans present saw Tracy McGrady and Kevin Durant playing at the same time again, and couldn't help but look forward to their confrontation again.But this time, both of them were instructed by the head coach and began to cooperate with the team's tactics to attack.

When the halftime whistle sounded, the score was tied 52-52, and the Lakers did not hold onto the lead they had established early in the second quarter.

(End of this chapter)