Double stars shine in Los Angeles

Chapter 58
The Los Angeles Lakers-Oklahoma City Thunder focus battle was tied at 52 at halftime.

"Today's game was very good. It can be seen as a preview of the playoffs between the Lakers and the Thunder. The players on both sides are very hard. In the first quarter, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Durant's offensive battle was also very exciting. In the second half of the second quarter, both teams could not help strengthening their defensive strength, but obviously the Lakers' defense in the second half was better than that of the Thunder. It was worse, did not keep the advantage played in the first half, and was finally tied by the Thunder at the end of the half. Coach Mike Brown will definitely let the team strengthen the defense." A guest commentator said.

"Through the performance in the first half, we can see that the Thunder made good use of their speed advantage. Although the speed of the two lineups of the Lakers has improved, they are still much worse than the Thunder. The only players running were Lin Fengzhe, Li Yifeng, Josh, Mike Roberts and Matt Barnes, but the offensive power was not stable when the four were on the court at the same time. However, the Lakers still had reservations, because the first half of the game Among them, the Lakers did not attack too much inside." Another commentator analyzed.

In the Lakers locker room, Mike Brown first commented on the team's performance in the first half, and then said what should be paid attention to in the second half, "In the next game, we must strengthen our defense, pay attention to assisting defense, and don't let Russell easily · Westbrook breaks into the penalty area to score and draw fouls. In the next game, strengthen the defense against Russell Westbrook. His dribbling is not very good. Improving the defensive intensity will increase the probability of his mistakes. So as to use the opponent's mistakes to launch a quick counterattack." Mike Brown paused and continued, "Lin, in the second half, you mainly focus on sorting out the team's offense, but you can also score directly if you have a good opportunity. The offense in the second half should start from the inside, attracting the opponent's defense to shrink, and strive for more shooting space for outside players."

In the locker room of the Thunder, Scott Brooks first praised the performance of the players, but he still emphasized that Durant should not focus on fighting alone with his opponents, "Russell, continue to strengthen the breakthrough in the second half, but pay attention to the teammates after the breakthrough." In terms of position, pay attention to the points after the breakthrough. Serge and Kendrick, in the second half, still pinch the opponent's inside players holding the ball, and try to make the opponent make mistakes."

Soon the intermission ended, and the players from both sides returned to the field again.The starting players of both sides in the second half are:

Lakers, center Li Yifeng, power forward Pau Gasol, small forward World Peace, shooting guard Tracy McGrady, point guard Lin Fengzhe.

Thunder, center Kendrick Perkins, power forward Serge Ibaka, small forward Kevin Durant, shooting guard James Harden, point guard Russell Westbrook.

The guest commentator saw the players from both teams and commented, "The Lakers' starting lineup in the second half was the same as in the first quarter, and there was no change. The Thunder replaced the shooting guard with James Harden. With the Thunder’s three players on the court at the same time, it is the team’s strongest lineup on the perimeter. Alright, the game will continue, and the Thunder will attack first.”

As soon as Russell Westbrook arrived in the frontcourt, Lin Fengzhe followed the arrangement of coach Mike Brown to defend Russell Westbrook closely.

Russell Westbrook obviously didn't expect that the opponent would put him on defense as soon as he came up, and he couldn't help slowing down some movements suddenly.It was this small, almost negligible pause that Lin Fengzhe seized the opportunity to stretch out the long arm of his left hand and hit the basketball that Russell Westbrook had just left his hand. , the first step to catch up with the basketball that has been out of Russell Westbrook's control, and rushed towards the Thunder's half court.

Russell Westbrook reacted quickly, and he immediately chased after Lin Fengzhe without grabbing the basketball.Russell Westbrook's speed is indeed ranked first in the entire league, and his speed is not much slower than that of Lin Fengzhe.

Subsequently, all the fans at the Staples Center saw Lin Fengzhe's alternative three-pointer again.When Lin Fengzhe was about to go down, he took the time to look back and found that Russell Westbrook was only a little bit behind him. I will definitely eat a hot pot.Lin Fengzhe didn't seem to give up the idea of ​​fast-break three-pointers, so he thought of a trick he had used before.

I saw Lin Fengzhe kicking his left foot vigorously on the ground outside the three-point line, his body was already in the air, and he also hugged the basketball with both hands.I saw that Lin Fengzhe, who was in the air, took two steps and his body had passed the free throw line, and then he smashed the basketball in his hand to the basket before falling.

Lin Fengzhe smashed the basketball to the basket to avoid shooting, but Russell Westbrook blocked his own shot.The basketball hit the back edge of the rim with a "bang" and then fell into the rim.In fact, Russell Westbrook had already given up defending Lin Fengzhe when he saw Lin Fengzhe stepping up from beyond the three-point line, otherwise it might cause injuries to offensive players.

The referee signaled that the ball was scored, and it counted as a three-pointer. After all, Lin Fengzhe took off from the three-point line and had already thrown the basketball in his hand before it landed.All the fans stood up and applauded Lin Fengzhe's goal. After all, Lin Fengzhe is the only player in the entire league who shoots three-pointers in this way, and he completed the only two shots.

The screen above the court also replayed Lin Fengzhe's unconventional three-pointer just now. After watching the replay, Lin Fengzhe thanked Russell Westbrook.Russell Westbrook knew what Lin Fengzhe was talking about, didn't say anything, just nodded.

James Harden came back to serve Russell Westbrook the baseline ball. Except for Russell Westbrook who returned to the defense, the rest of the Thunder did not chase back at all. Who made Lin Fengzhe and Russell Westbrook's speed is insane.

This time Russell Westbrook was more careful when he dribbled the ball to the frontcourt again.Seeing Lin Fengzhe came up to defend himself again, he immediately lowered the height of his dribble, and at the same time signaled his teammate James Harden to cover for him.

Russell Westbrook, who had covered Lin Fengzhe, immediately dribbled the ball and accelerated the breakthrough. Facing World Peace's supplementary defense, he hit the ground and passed the ball to Kevin Durant on the other side.Kevin Durant didn't stop the ball in the face of Tracy McGrady's defense, but passed it to the high post Serge Ibaka.

Pau Gasol's defense was one step late and could only watch as Serge Ibaka hit a two-pointer on a jumper.

Lin Fengzhe grounded the ball slowly.The rest of the Lakers quickly wanted to run up the court.When Lin Fengzhe took the ball to the frontcourt, the other four Lakers players had already settled down.The Lakers started a positional battle.

Lin Fengzhe really took advantage of Russell Westbrook's defense. He was ten centimeters taller than his opponent. There are not many people with Lin Fengzhe's height playing point guard.Pau Gasol and Tracy McGrady crossed positions, and at the moment when the two passed by, Lin Fengzhe passed the ball to Pau Gasol.

After the mismatch, the man guarding Pau Gasol became Kevin Durant.Serge Ibaka gets blocked by Tracy McGrady and doesn't move up in time to double-team.Pau Gasol made a mid-range jumper against Kevin Durant.

Lin Fengzhe got his first assist in the second half.

It's still the same routine, but Pau Gasol and Tracy McGrady crossed positions again.But this time Lin Fengzhe didn't pass the ball to the two of them, but passed the basketball to Li Yifeng who was under the basket.Li Yifeng squeezed away Kendrick Perkins, took off to catch the basketball, and made an alley-oop backhand dunk. While he added two points, Lin Fengzhe also added another assist to his statistics.

In the fifth minute of the third quarter, Lin Fengzhe had already received five assists, two of which were passed to the inside.The Lakers relied on crossovers to make the Thunder's attempt to rely on inside double-teams to limit the Lakers' intentions to fail completely.

At this time, the Thunder trailed the Lakers by 3 points. If Kevin Durant hadn't hit two three-pointers, the point difference would have been widened to five points by the Lakers.Scott Brooks called a timeout.

"Defend the opponent's point guard! Don't let him pass the ball easily! Nick replaces Kendrick, you are responsible for defending Pau Gasol, Serge, you are responsible for defending Li Yifeng. Remember to pass the ball more, don't stop Ball, move the ball around to get a shot!"

Russell Westbrook took the ball to the frontcourt and handed it to James Harden. After receiving the ball, James Harden quickly moved the ball and passed it to Kevin Durant in the middle.Kevin Durant faked the pass and then passed back to James Harden for a mid-range jumper for two.

Lin Fengzhe broke through with the ball, changed direction to pass James Harden's supplementary defense, and hit the ground to pass the ball to Li Yifeng who was under the basket and dunked with both hands.

Facing the double-teaming of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Lin Fengzhe passed the ball from the base, and the basketball passed under James Harden's crotch and reached the hands of World Peace at a 45-degree position on the left.At this time, there was no one defending World Peace within one meter in front of him. World Peace made a three-point shot, and the basketball went into the net.

……

With 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Thunder had replaced Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and the Lakers led the Thunder by [-] points.

Lin Fengzhe sent out wonderful assists in the second half. With 3 minutes left in the game, Lin Fengzhe had already received 26 assists, eight of which were obtained in the first half, and the remaining [-] assists were all in the first half. Got it in the second half.At this time, all the Lakers home fans have stood up, expecting that Lin Fengzhe can tie or even break the league's halftime assist record.

Lin Fengzhe took the ball from the flank, accelerated in disguise, passed Tzabo Sefolosha and went straight to the penalty area. Facing the defense of Thunder center Nick Collison, he passed the ball from the opponent's armpit to Josh McRoberts violently. The dunk succeeded and got his 27th assist, and tied the league's halftime assist record at the same time.

The league record for assists in a half was set by Bob Cousy with 1959 assists in a half against the then-Minneapolis Lakers on February 2, 27.

With 48 seconds left in the game, Lin Fengzhe broke through and gave Matt Barnes an open three-pointer on the right baseline. He got his No.20 eight assists and created a new halftime assist record in the league. --20 times.

Mike Brown called a timeout and replaced Lin Fengzhe.All the fans cheered for Lin Fengzhe, Lin Fengzhe created a new history, 20 assists in the half, 28 assists in the game, tied for second place in the single-game assist list with Bob Cousy (28 assists in the game) , second only to Scott Skiles' 1990 assists in a single game against the Nuggets on December 12, 30!
(End of this chapter)