super small forward

Chapter 232 232. The real playoffs are coming!

On May 2014, 5, the first game of the second round of the Lakers playoffs was held at the Staples Center, home of the Lakers.

As soon as Liu Ren walked into the stadium, he found that the atmosphere was very different from usual!
If there were a lot of Lakers fans in the first round against the Clippers, the atmosphere would be very... cozy?You can probably use the word cozy to describe the atmosphere of the scene. If there are a lot of Clippers fans, then the scene is an atmosphere of hatred. It is quite rare for a team's fans to hate their team, but it is not as big as the Lakers. It doesn't matter, they just need to clock in and get off work.

But today the Lakers fans rarely put on the team's jersey uniformly, most of them are No. 8 and No. 24 of Kobe, and there are also many No. 1 of Liu Ren, and there are some No. 34 of O'Neal and Odom and others. It seems that the jerseys are usually not worn very much, and they were found temporarily today.

The fans were very serious. When Liu Ren stepped into the stadium, he saw that the fans took the game very seriously. He was stunned for a while. He didn't expect the fans to be so serious about the Thunder!
The attitude of the fans has affected the mentality of the Lakers fans, and everyone is serious.

Kobe clapped his hands and gathered everyone to the bench: "Okay, don't be too nervous, we lost to the Thunder two years ago, and the fans felt that loss was a shame, now what we have to do is to put this shame Wash it off! I'm pretty confident about it because you guys are there, do you have any?"

"Yes!" Everyone yelled.

Kobe's words are understated, but in the ears of others, they are full of enthusiasm!

The young people didn't expect Kobe to trust them so much!

"Of course! My uncle is ready to overthrow them!" Thackeray said passionately.

"Let them see how powerful Uncle Nick is!" Nick Young is an 'old boy' who is second only to Thackeray in blood.

Although the others didn't say much, the fighting spirit in their eyes could be seen at a glance.

Kobe nodded in satisfaction.

D'Antoni watched Kobe mobilize his teammates silently, with no expression on his face.

"Mike, this group of players don't take us seriously, and put us aside..." D'Antoni's brother, the Lakers' chief assistant Dan D'Antoni, looked angry.

D'Antoni glanced at his brother and didn't say a word. If it wasn't for this guy being his brother, he couldn't get rid of his mother's face. He wouldn't let his brother be his assistant. Even the team has a veteran like Kobe. Do not know at all.

After the warm-up, the game will start soon.

The starting lineup of the Lakers has not changed from the first round. Nash, Kobe, Liu Ren, Gasol, and Green will play together.

The Thunder team became the most familiar starters in Liu Ren's memory, Westbrook, Sefulosa, Durant, Ibaka, and Perkins.

Ibaka is still fighting!
Liu Ren is full of respect for Ibaka's professionalism. From his future memories, he knows that Ibaka's injury is not healed, but because the two big white guys inside the Warriors are too powerful, he had to force the line of fire to come back to save the field, otherwise It is possible to be eliminated in the first round, but in this way, Ibaka's injury will become irreversible, and he will enter a big landslide from this playoffs!From then on, he will never be able to recover to the strength that he had the opportunity to hit the best defensive player before!

The referee whistles, jump ball!
Originally, when it came to the playoffs, both sides would use the player with the best jump ball in the starting lineup to jump the ball, such as Battier's jump ball used by the Heat, but Ibaka has a knee injury, so he can use it as little as possible. They still let Perkins jump the ball, and Gasol relied on his wingspan advantage to win the jump ball over Perkins!

The Lakers go first.

No one would expect D'Antoni's defense, but his offense is best at catching the opponent's weaknesses, especially after spending a week thoroughly researching the Warriors and the Thunder, and watching the games of the two teams. Let's study the two teams together. He already knows the Thunder well. He can't command him on the spot, but if he prepares in advance, there may be few coaches in the league who can be better than him!

D'Antoni also appreciates Ibaka's professional attitude, but the game is so cruel, and a very important part of his tactics is to target Ibaka!

Gasol threw off the title of soft guy, and forced the ball inside from the beginning of the game!
Ibaka has ranked first in defensive efficiency among power forwards in the past two years. Few teams will take the initiative to find him to play. For example, the Warriors David Lee was basically abandoned in the first round.

But D'Antoni is looking for him to play!

D'Antoni knows very well that the Thunder can run from position [-] to position [-] if they play bombardment, and running and bombing may actually follow the opponent's wishes. Ibaka has a knee injury, but it does not affect his running. His injury The biggest problem is that he can't fly around the three-second zone like before to block shots. If he hadn't been injured, this year's block king really wouldn't fall to Anthony Davis!
Gasol usually looks soft, but when he really wants to be tough, he can still be tough, holding the ball high on Ibaka's head and putting the ball into the basket.

If it is normal, although Ibaka is not likely to directly block the head, but at least it will not let Gasol forcefully score on his head, which will definitely play a great role in interference.

On the offensive end, the Lakers implement D'Antoni's tactics. This is the consensus of everyone. D'Antoni's offense is really powerful!

But when it comes to the defensive end, it depends on the method discussed by Kobe and other veterans before the game.

D'Antoni analyzed the Thunder for a long time the day before, but most of them were analyzing the Thunder's current defensive loopholes. There was no defensive arrangement, so he just said a few words that Durant is very good, so everyone should not relax.

What really worked was what Kobe said in the afternoon's practice!

When training yesterday afternoon, Kobe called the players together and said: "The focus of our next series is Durant. He is very strong. He is a super shooter, but he also has more shortcomings. The offense with the ball has improved, but it's still poor. He seems to be efficient with the ball because he's too threatening to shoot..."

Hearing this, Liu Ren felt that his task was coming, and interrupted: "Kobe, you mean to cut off the connection between Durant and his teammates, just like how we defend the Heat, let Durant play singles like James? Don't worry. , I will do it!"

Who knew that Liu Ren's words were scolded by Kobe: "Idiot, Durant and James' offense are completely different. If you want to defend Durant like James, you will die!"

"What we're going to do is double-team!"

(End of this chapter)