super small forward

Chapter 262.

The referee gave a short whistle, threw the ball into the air, and jumped the ball.

Gasol and Duncan jump ball!

At this age, the difference in vertical bounce between the two is not too much, and the height and wingspan are also similar. Generally speaking, Gasol, who is a few years younger, has an advantage in jumping the ball, but his spirit is completely different!
Gasol has not had much hope for this season, and the Spurs are indeed too strong this year.He has already started planning summer training and looks forward to the improvement of his young teammates next season, and the contract is still long.

And Duncan is still as stable as a rock, without any emotional changes.

Duncan wins a jump ball for the first time in this series!
The Spurs attacked first, and Parker advanced to the frontcourt.

The Spurs position is the same as before, Duncan is low, Diaw is in the left corner, Danny Green is at a 45-degree angle on the right, Diaw is high and ready to receive the ball, Leonard is in charge of the pick-and-roll.

Parker hit Nash, which was called a relaxed and comfortable one. One step passed Nash, and Parker broke into the three-point line.

Parker entered the three-point line and attracted the supplementary defense to pass to Duncan. Duncan swayed Gasol away with a turn, and then Green, who came over from the supplementary defense, held the ball high and lightly put the ball into the basket!
With long arms and soft touch, Duncan's physical talent is the foundation for him to be able to dominate the court at such an age!
From a 1-0 away game to a two-game losing streak at home, the overly powerful Spurs gave the Lakers, a team dominated by young people, a knowing blow.

The Spurs' offense was very smooth, and they knew where their teammates were without even looking at their teammates, while the morale of the Lakers was low.

The Spurs played very aggressively. Parker, Duncan, and Diaw continued to attack the inside after the pick-and-roll. After playing like that in the first game, Diaw changed his bad habits and performed Popovich’s task perfectly. Liu Ren provoked several times to no avail. , I can only watch him thrive in the Spurs system.

Kobe and Liu Ren fought hard, but unfortunately their teammates were really hit and couldn't keep up with the rhythm of the two. The two could only attack the inside line with the ball like holding a dynamite bag to blow up a bunker. The Spurs defended too well outside. In the middle distance, Kobe double-teamed when he took the ball, but the Lakers did not have a second mid-range master, so they could only hit the inside.

As if he had returned to the top, Duncan sent out three big caps in a row, directly suppressing the momentum of Kobe and Liu Ren breaking through the inside line and stepping on the soles of their feet.

Duncan's shot blocking is the most characteristic. He doesn't jump, he predicts the opponent's shot line from the beginning, and the block comes down directly while standing, and his blocking direction is often where his teammates are, so he can counterattack directly. This kind of blocking has been practiced countless times!

The Lakers were forced to shoot from the outside. The Spurs defended very well one-on-one. It was very difficult for the Lakers players to shoot from outside.

The Spurs' offensive team played well and continued to counterattack. Dior sent 6 counterattack long pass assists in the first quarter. The Spurs led 29 to 13 in the first quarter by 16 points.

Just like the previous game, the Spurs did not relax in the second quarter. They suddenly launched a bombardment in the first half of the quarter, and suddenly opened up the point difference. In the second half, they replaced Duncan to play positional warfare. Duncan's defensive dominance in the interior became stronger and stronger. , At the end of the halftime, they had already got 5 blocked shots. The Spurs team's style of play has reached the peak. They are too strong in this playoffs!The second quarter scored 33 to 20 in a single quarter.

62 to 33 at halftime, the Spurs led by 29 points at halftime!
After the start of the second half, the Spurs directly replaced the bench lineup, thinking that the Lakers would give up the game, but they did not expect the Lakers to still use the main lineup.

Among the young Lakers, only Liu Ren still has fighting spirit. Whiteside, Green and others were beaten by Duncan inside and lost confidence. Duncan almost touched their heads and said: The future is yours.

The young players of the Lakers on the perimeter were taught by Ginobili and Parker. Leonard devoted himself to defense, which was terrifying. He couldn't guard Liu Ren, but he could help defend others!

The Spurs are using practical actions to say to the young people of the Lakers: Go to your basketball dream!

Among the veterans, Gasol and Nash strategically stopped fighting. Nash thought about not getting injured and looking forward to the young people growing up next season. The same is true for Gasol. The former is to win the championship more securely, and the latter is to win I don't care about this year if I have passed the championship.

The only ones who have been fighting are Liu Ren and Kobe!
Liu Ren waved his arms and crazily rushed to the inside, which really scared Popovich. He hurriedly asked the players to loosen their defense to avoid injury to the players, and simply confronted the Lakers.

The Spurs can defend their opponents to death, and they can also fight against each other. This is why they can change their rhythm at will and make their opponents mess up!
Both Liu Ren and Kobe scored 17 points in a single quarter. They led the Lakers to 40 points in a single quarter, but the Spurs also scored 37 points.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers chased the score to 73 to 99, still trailing by 26 points.

The Lakers gave up in the fourth quarter. Kobe played too hard. D'Antoni was really afraid that something might happen to his Achilles tendon in the past few months. Although in theory the injured area would become tougher, but no one would take this risk. To take a risk for a game that is no longer relevant and very difficult to win!
Everyone can see that this year's Spurs are no worse than the peak dominance of the OK combination!Unrivaled!

The fourth quarter became garbage time. A group of substitutes on the Spurs side played like robots according to the Spurs system, and the substitutes on the Lakers side were blown up.

127 to 100, the Spurs defeated the Lakers by 27 points in the fifth game to advance to the finals!
The main players of the Lakers sat on the sidelines in a daze, and Liu Ren refused to leave the ATT Center for four consecutive games, from a 1-0 surprise, to a three-game losing streak, and the score became 1-3. Now in the away game and eliminated, everything came too fast!
Although Liu Ren knew that this year's Spurs were among the best teams in the history of championships, he thought he could win, and he thought his group was no worse than anyone else!

"Next year! You are still young, don't worry!" Kobe patted Liu Ren on the shoulder and walked to the locker room.

The Spurs are already celebrating winning the Western Conference Championship, waiting for the league to send out the division championship banner. Kobe admitted the fact that he lost earlier than Liu Ren. After all, he has failed. He knows how to adjust himself, but he doesn't want to see that picture at a glance. .

And Liu Ren watched the whole scene on the spot, he must remember this moment, and remember that he was eliminated in the playoffs for the first time in a real sense.

……

They drink to celebrate when they win, drink to relieve their worries when they lose, a group of Lakers drink in a hotel that they have booked out, and some even find exotic women who live in the local area, and vent their filth while drinking. own dissatisfaction.

Liu Ren sat alone in the corner, he was very unwilling, he wanted to beat the strongest opponent, this year's Spurs is obviously the strongest team in the past ten years, and the future Spurs will never be as strong as this year Yes, even if they really beat the Spurs in the future, it's not the current Spurs.

With the pain of losing and not having this abnormally strong opponent in the future, Liu Ren accepted the fact of losing with complicated emotions.

(End of this chapter)