start with scouting

Chapter 700 The road to four consecutive championships

NO.17, the Kings vs. Trail Blazers at home.

Before the game, there was a meeting and discussion as usual. Because there were many injuries, Su Yang paid attention to his health first, and the trainer Phil Handy reported: "The team doctor has already checked, JR Larry Nance can come back to play, and it is also recommended not to Playing for too long..."

Su Yang nodded, "The Blazers' offensive ratio inside is low, there should be no problem..." The scout report shows that the Blazers are still attacking with two shots in the backcourt this season, and center Nurkic actually averaged 12 shots per game. And the hit rate is only 50%.

Thinking about Jordan's 70+% shooting rate, Nurkic can pose a correspondingly low threat, and his substitutes Noah von Lai and Ed Davis are not real centers, the real big center Meyers Leonard, it is difficult to get playing time.

At eight o'clock in the afternoon, the game between the two teams started.

Su Yang didn't care about 'don't be so serious in the regular season', and instructed the whole team to double-team Lelede at the beginning of the game, but Lelede seemed very unconvinced, he just didn't pass the ball hard, and even played super long three-pointers at the logo position, Bang bang bang hit the iron three times in a row.

The king grabbed a rebound and pushed a fast break, Antetokounmpo rushed wildly, leading the king to an 8-2 start, detonating the audience.

However, Lelede continued to make long-range shots. The key was to let him pretend to be successful. He succeeded in three three-pointers and became Lillard.

However, Lillard took a lot of shots, making the other Blazers players become judges, and the Kings easily led by 9 points in the first quarter.

The Blazers didn't change their tactics, but CJ McCollum continued Lillard's firepower, always biting the score and not collapsing.

After the game, the Kings defeated the Trail Blazers 109 to 101. Antetokounmpo scored a large double-double with 32 points and 16 rebounds.

At the press conference after the game, the reporter asked whether he would help Antetokounmpo to start the All-Star game. Su Yang thought for a moment and answered seriously: "Of course, it's his turn to show himself more. He deserves to be selected as the All-Star starter..."

Under Su Yang's guidance, Antetokounmpo's skills matured earlier, but because he was with a bunch of All-Star teammates, he was selected as the All-Star starter later. Strictly speaking, it is a good thing. Other teams did not target him so early, nor did he He needs to carry the team and get more opportunities to practice, so that he won't be like the LeBron Cavaliers 1.0 period, the pressure of leading the team does not allow time to practice shooting.

After a night of rest, the whole team flew to Portland to challenge the Trail Blazers back to back. After a brief discussion, they decided to continue double-teaming.

However, within a few minutes of the game, Rose and LaVine were fouled by Lillard backwards. The double-team plan then failed, and Lillard played more and more smoothly. The Kings were difficult to parry back-to-back. Keech restricted and gradually fell behind.

After the game, the Kings lost 90 to 102. Antetokounmpo is considered to have returned to the world, with only 18 points and 9 rebounds.

They didn't care about the loss. The whole team flew back to Saskatchewan, took a day off, and played at home against the visiting Nuggets.

I don’t know what’s going on, but Jamal Murray suddenly exploded and made four consecutive mid-range shots with an emergency stop. The fifth time, Rose panicked and chose to draw someone to foul, but he still couldn’t stop Murray from scoring. Last foul.

Driven by Murray, the Nuggets team went crazy, and Faried was able to hit ultra-long three-pointers with all kinds of fairy goals.

Su Yang paused twice to try to suppress the tempo, but the Kings couldn't make a hit against the zone defense. Rose's low three-point shooting rate in sports games was magnified. The Nuggets always got fast break opportunities, and the first pass was fast and accurate. , It is really difficult to defend.

Fighting hard to the last second, the Kings regretted losing 114 to 118. In the past three seasons, they have rarely suffered two consecutive losses.

The key post-match replay analysis shows that there is no other better way than improving the three-point shooting rate, that is, the lack of Curry can stabilize the abuse, and it is not so stable when encountering strong teams. The Blazers and Nuggets are typical cases. It's a normal loss and it's acceptable.

There is also something worthy of recognition, that is, Payton Jr.'s performance has become more and more stable, and his defense and rebounding have contributed a lot.

As for the shooting guard's second substitute Javon Te Green, he didn't get too many opportunities to play, so it is difficult to evaluate for the time being.

The next day, the Kings played against the Lakers at home.

Su Yang rushed to the arena at two o'clock in the afternoon, found the team doctor Kaufman and asked about Curry's observation, and got permission for Curry to come back, and then asked Curry's opinion, and finally decided to remove Curry from the injured list In addition, he officially returned to the war.

The pre-match training followed, and Su Yang decided over and over again to let Curry play more easily, and temporarily arranged to train some fixed-point catch-and-shoot tactics, so that Curry could become a simple containment point, and don't hit those strong players who are covering for teammates. confrontational tactics.

At 06:30 in the afternoon, the game is about to start.

According to Su Yang's arrangement, the team canceled the pre-match ceremony and played a short video in tribute to George instead. Then Su Yang and Curry presented George with a championship ring, formally thanking George for his two seasons for the Kings, and Kobe happened to have Empty to watch the battle.

After the tribute was over, Kobe’s pre-match interview was played on the central big screen, and Kobe said seriously: “Last season, the Lakers had gathered a group of talented players, but they lacked some experience at critical moments, so they often lost at the last moment. The ball, but now after getting Paul George, they can choose to trust George at the critical moment, and they will achieve better results..."

After the interview was broadcast, it was shown that the Lakers had a record of 8 wins and 10 losses since the start of the game. They only won 26 games last season.

Amidst the cheers of the audience, the Lakers won the jump ball. In a few rounds, with Kuzma hitting a three-pointer, the Lakers led the Kings by 5 points, and then remained in a stalemate with the Kings, but with 5 minutes left Clarkson came on to replace Russell Well, the Lakers are starting to crumble.

Although Walton focused on mobile offense, someone still had to decide what tactics to play on the court. Clarkson really didn't have much organizational skills. The Lakers' offense was a mess. The Kings took the opportunity to play an 11-0 attack wave and ended the first quarter 31-19.

Entering the second quarter of the substitute stage, the Kings substitutes are even more random. The Lakers don’t know why they arranged for Randall to play as a substitute. He doesn’t care about Corey Brewer and Josh Hart at all. , Let Covington and Green easily handle it.

After the second quarter, the Kings returned to the locker room with a 24-point lead, and Kobe left the arena at the same time with a slight embarrassment.

There is no need to wait until the critical moment.

The Lakers collapsed early.

Su Yang finished the summary with a smile, and heard Curry report that there seemed to be something wrong with his left ankle, so he quickly called the team doctor over for a checkup. He didn't see any problems for a while, but to be on the safe side, he also respected Curry and decided to rest in the second half. No more battles.

"At the beginning, I planned to rest two more games, or because of the pressure of a sudden two-game losing streak, I came back in the least time..." Su Yang regretted it. Fortunately, he decided to only use Curry as a spot-up shooter before the game, otherwise he might be in trouble. Bigger troubles arose.

The second half of the game followed closely.

Curry's truce didn't affect too much, Rose played well, Cousins ​​also bullied Mozgov in the interior, and Su Yang suddenly wondered whether the offseason could be missed and the choice was too small Big Lopez?
Daluo has not been traded to the Lakers this season, and is still receiving his last high salary from the Nets, with the lowest statistics in his career.

If Cousins ​​cannot be kept, then signing Lopez would be an excellent choice, whether as a starter or a substitute.

After thinking about it, after the whole game, the Kings beat the Lakers 113 to 102, but they were not happy.

Answering the locker room, the team doctor Kaufman gave a diagnostic conclusion: "Curry's ankle has not found any new problems for the time being. The discomfort he felt before is due to the impact of not participating in the game for a long time, but it is recommended to rest for two more games for observation to avoid accidents..."

Su Yang decisively agreed, mainly the next two games will be the Clippers and the Bucks, two weak teams, and they can win without Curry.

In a blink of an eye on the 25th, the Kings played against the Clippers at home.

The Clippers without Paul have 6 wins and 11 losses in the new season, mainly the backcourt composed of Rivers Jr. and Lu Wei. The defense is too weak. Griffin, who is completely concentrated on the ball, has no intention of defending. Jordan has no willingness to defend.

The scout report shows that the Clippers averaged 113.3 points per game, ranking second in the league, and their rebound protection is relatively poor.

The Kings won the game without bloodshed. Antetokounmpo and Cousins ​​scored 54 points, 24 rebounds and 11 assists.

27号对阵雄鹿的比赛也是轻取，主要雄鹿交易得到布莱德索表现太坑，让米德尔顿16投11中的高效发挥沦为泡影，还让罗斯打出25分14助攻1失误的超级控卫表现。

The whole team flew to Oakland after a night's rest to challenge the Warriors back to back. Curry tried to come back, but also did not have high confrontation tactics.

苦战四节时间，国王106比110输球，库里发挥较差只有14投5中，以至于考辛斯牛逼的18投12中，没能抵挡19投15中的更牛逼表现，更别说克莱14投11中。

After the game, ESPN made a summary, pointing out that since the new season, the Kings have lost to the Wizards, Celtics, Trail Blazers, Nuggets and Warriors. Although they are affected by injuries, their dominance is not as good as the previous three seasons. Similar to the Lakers back then.

After the Lakers' three consecutive championships at the beginning of the century, the regular season record in the fourth year ranked fifth in the Western Conference. It failed to be like the previous three consecutive championship seasons. The worst record was the top three in the Western Conference. The pinnacle of the Spurs, stopped in the Western semifinals.

Su Yang saw the report and thought: "This is the reason why I want to fight for the No. 5 in the Western Conference. It is very difficult to see now..." After losing to the Warriors, the Kings lost [-] games, one level behind the Warriors, Spurs, and Rockets, and they are catching up. It was stressful.

It's a pity that I don't have time to think about it. The King will play 4 consecutive away games, and the last away game opponent is the powerful enemy Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Bulls also seem to be strong rivals. The main thing is that after Love left the Cavaliers, he worked out crazily in the summer. He is currently in a good state. The average data per game has returned to the level of the Timberwolves. In addition, Wiggins, who has released the ball, is enough for the Kings to drink. pot.

Su Yang didn't dare to expect a complete victory and return to Saskatchewan. He only hoped that Curry's injury would not repeat again, so as to prevent other players from spending more time.

(End of this chapter)