Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Shh!"

The ball goes in.

This three-pointer caused cheers from the fans in the audience and also made Coach Scott breathe a sigh of relief, with a smile on his face.

In the regular season, the Lakers successfully restricted the Warriors' "five-small lineup", but they may not be able to do the same in the playoffs.

Coach Scott is also aware of this.

So when the Warriors used the "Death Five", Coach Scott immediately realized that the real test was coming.

Indeed, the Warriors' "Death Five" is sharper than in the regular season. The players move faster, the ball is transferred faster, and it is difficult to defend.

What should we do at this time?

Since they can't defend, they have to fight back on the offensive end. The Lakers have to score goals, and preferably three-pointers.

Zhuang Yu's three-pointer was the best response to the Warriors' "five-small lineup".

A moment later, Zhuang Yu made another three-pointer.

This time it was a counterattack three-pointer, shot from more than one meter outside the three-point line, without giving the Warriors any chance to double-team him, and he made the shot steadily.

After two three-pointers, Coach Kerr began to frown. Their "five-small lineup" had a good effect, but there were still problems on the defensive end. Zhuang Yu's two three-pointers came at the wrong time.

Originally, the Warriors should have relied on the sharp offense of the "five-small lineup" to gain momentum, but they were interrupted by Zhuang Yu's two three-pointers.

At this time, the first quarter was already halfway through. Coach Kerr thought about it and did not make any further adjustments. He quickly began to make substitutions, replacing the main players with substitutes one after another.

The Lakers also started to make substitutions.

In the past few minutes, the two sides were evenly matched and neither side was able to gain much advantage, but the Warriors still took a 2-point lead thanks to the sharp offense of the "small five lineup".

After switching to the rotation lineup, the Lakers kept Holiday on the court and played with Clarkson as the substitute lineup.

The Warriors kept Klay and Draymond Green.

In terms of lineup, the Lakers have the Big Three and the Warriors also have the Big Three, and both teams can have at least one All-Star player on the court at any time.

After all the back and forth, neither side was able to gain an advantage.

The combination of Holiday and Clarkson on the Lakers is very sharp on the offensive end. Holiday can score by himself and feed the ball to Clarkson. Although Clarkson's defense and organizational skills are a bit weak, his scoring ability is unquestionable.

Clarkson's average points per game in the past few seasons have been around 16-18 points, but that's because he is the team's "sixth man" and a substitute player, and the team also has star players such as Zhuang Yu and Lopez.

If he is given enough ball rights and a tactical position like Lopez, allowing him to throw the ball freely, it is not impossible for Clarkson to score 20 points in a game.

But the Warriors also have Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

Draymond Green is mainly responsible for organization and defense, but he is not incapable of scoring.

Of course, the offense still mainly relies on Klay. His scoring ability is unquestionable. Due to his role positioning, his statistics in the Warriors are not as good as Durant and Curry, nor are they as important as Curry and Durant. But if Klay can really find his form, his scoring is no worse than Curry.

After all, he is the man who set the NBA's single-quarter scoring record.

On January 2015, 1, the Warriors beat the Kings 24-126 at home. Klay made all 101 shots in the third quarter and scored 13 points, setting an NBA record for individual quarter scores. He also made 37 three-pointers in the quarter, also breaking the league record for individual three-pointers in a quarter.

Such a scoring maniac and three-point shooter should not be underestimated at any time.

"Shh!"

With a slight click, Klay hit the last buzzer-beating three-pointer in the first quarter, changing the score to 34:32, with the Warriors leading by 2 points.

In this quarter, both teams scored more than 30 points, which shows that they played very well, and the score difference was only two points.

"Both sides are very strong."

"It's not just strong, it's too strong."

"From this situation, it's not clear who is stronger. I don't think this match will be easily decided. It may go down to the last few minutes."

In this quarter, both the Lakers and the Warriors played very well, so well that the fans couldn't help but be amazed, and the situation was evenly matched.

Obviously, this match will not be easily decided.

......

China.

Sharks Club, in the locker room.

Xiao Qingyang and Zhou An withdrew their gazes and relaxed.

"I have to say, the Warriors are really strong." Zhou An smacked his lips, "Especially their five-small lineup, it's so fierce."

Zhou An has only played 40 games for the Nets this season, and most of them were garbage time. He has never seen the Warriors' "Death Five" because when he played, the Warriors only had substitute lineups.

But just by watching him on the sidelines, one can feel that the "Death Five" is really terrifying.

"The Warriors made a three-pointer today." Xiao Qingyang frowned and said worriedly, "Originally, the Lakers should have focused on limiting the Warriors' three-pointers. As long as the Warriors can't make three-pointers, the Lakers will be able to gain the upper hand. But looking at the current situation, the game is really difficult to play."

"Yeah." Zhou An nodded. "It looks like the score difference is only two points, but the situation is actually unfavorable to the Lakers. In this quarter, the Warriors rely on three-pointers from Curry and Klay. Don't forget that they also have Kevin Durant."

Xiao Qingyang said: "Fortunately, Zhuang Yu didn't exert much effort. Holiday, Clarkson, Lopez, Anderson and others all played very well."

In this quarter, because of the Warriors' double-team, Zhuang Yu didn't actually exert much effort. Just like Durant, both of them were holding back.

Durant will definitely make an effort later, but the Lakers also have Zhuang Yu.

I'm afraid, in the end it will all depend on Zhuang Yu and Durant.

This was the same idea shared by Xiao Qingyang and Zhou An. Both of them were professional players, so their vision was naturally not comparable to that of ordinary fans.

As for whether Zhuang Yu is Durant’s opponent...you’ll know only after the fight!

......

Los Angeles.

The second quarter begins quickly.

Both sides sent out their rotation lineups. The Lakers had Lopez and Clarkson, plus Gerald Green, Nance Jr., and Deron.

In the regular season, Deron didn't have much playing time, as the team still had guards like McCaw, but in the playoffs, Coach Scott felt that the veterans had to be allowed to play.

After all, veterans have experience and are less likely to make mistakes.

In a game like the playoffs, especially when both teams are equally strong, what matters is who performs better and who makes fewer mistakes.

This is also why the stronger the team, the fewer rotation players they have in the playoffs. Young players and rookie players basically don't get any opportunities.

The Warriors sent out McGee, David West, Iguodala, Livingston and Curry, with Curry playing with the bench lineup.

This is actually a strategy of "Tian Ji's Horse Racing".

When the Lakers sent Holiday, the Warriors sent Klay and Draymond Green, and the stars of both teams did not directly match up. When the Lakers sent Lopez, the Warriors sent Curry, and they also did not directly match up, and both teams formed a mismatch, you play yours, I play mine.

From this point, we can also see that Coach Kerr is very confident in his players. He believes that even if "you play yours and I play mine", as long as everyone competes in offense, his players will definitely be able to gain the advantage.

This is indeed the case at this moment.

Lopez's scoring ability is indeed not comparable to Curry's. Although Lopez is also scoring, he is obviously not as good as Curry.

After Curry made two three-pointers, the Warriors further widened the gap.

Fortunately, the Lakers still have Clarkson.

Last season, Clarkson was able to explode with Curry. He was not afraid of Curry. He took the initiative to ask for the ball when he came to the frontcourt, and then singled out Curry, very determined.

Clarkson first took a tentative step, then suddenly accelerated and broke through. Curry immediately retreated, and Clarkson dribbled behind his back and accelerated. Curry's reaction was not slow, and he quickly adjusted his steps and moved sideways, but Clarkson suddenly rebounded, stopped and shot, facing Curry.

Limited by his lack of jumping ability and explosive power, Curry couldn't jump up to block the shot in a hurry. He could only raise his hands and try to interfere.

Swish!

Yet the ball went in.

"nice shot."

"That was a beautiful shot, really great."

In the audience, the home fans cheered excitedly and applauded Clarkson, not only because the shot was scored, but also because it was scored facing Curry.

This is very morale-boosting.

On the other side, Coach Kerr frowned: "Compared with last season, the Lakers not only have a stronger main lineup, but also a stronger rotation lineup."

It’s not easy to deal with!

After a few minutes, the score between the two sides remained close and did not widen.

At this time, both sides began to make substitutions, gradually replacing their main players. The Warriors did not use Pachulia, but instead sent out a "five-small lineup".

The Lakers were not in a hurry to replace all the starters, but instead sent out Zhuang Yu, Holiday, Anderson, Clarkson and Lopez.

"Huh......"

Coach Kerr raised his eyebrows, a little surprised that the Lakers actually put together such a lineup. Could it be that they wanted Zhuang Yu to play the No. 3 position?

This is indeed the case.

At this time, Holiday was at position 1, Clarkson was at position 2, and Zhuang Yu was at position 3, facing Durant. Anderson was at position 4, and Lopez was at position 5.

When the Warriors arrived, Zhuang Yu quickly stepped forward and stood in front of Durant.

Seeing this situation, Durant frowned slightly, but he quickly made a decision. He stretched out his hand to ask his teammates for the ball, and then played against Zhuang Yu.

Since Zhuang Yu took the initiative to defend him, Durant decided to fight back. He couldn't let the morale drop and make people feel that he was afraid of Zhuang Yu.

There is another reason, which is that before he came on the court, Coach Ke Er told him that he needed to improve his personal offense in this quarter.