Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

There is one quarter left in the game

Although the Lakers were leading at the end of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters, Rockets fans were still full of confidence. It's not like the Rockets had reversed the score in the middle. They had also been in the lead before, and the difference was only two points. What did it matter?

"Just wait and see, we will definitely overtake the score in the last quarter and win the game. I feel that we took too few three-pointers today. If we take more three-pointers in the fourth quarter, the Lakers will be unstoppable."

"Go Team Rocket!"

"Kill the Lakers..."

in the audience.

The home fans were yelling at the court, cheering for the Rockets to beat the Lakers.

A group of Rockets players were also full of fighting spirit, determined to gain the upper hand in this final quarter, tie and surpass the score, win the game, and make the series score between the two sides 1:0.

They played so well this season that they even had the best season in Rockets history, creating the regular season with the most wins in team history.

They not only want to perform at a historic level in the regular season, they also want to go from strength to strength in the playoffs and ultimately win the championship.

That would be perfect.

"Although the Lakers beat the Warriors, if we were to play against the Warriors, we would also win."

"Everyone, take more decisive shots and make the most of our three-point advantage. Don't forget that we are the best three-point team in the league."

"That's right. The Warriors are known as a three-point shooting team, but can they shoot as many as we do and are they accurate?"

A group of players were cheering each other on.

Coach D'Antoni was a little worried.

In this final quarter, they really need to pay attention to three-point shooting and play to their advantage. It is true that the Rockets take a lot of three-point shots, and they are the team with the most three-point shots in the league, but when it comes to accuracy, they are not as accurate as the Warriors.

This season, the Rockets' overall three-point shooting percentage is 36.2%, while the Warriors have a three-point shooting percentage of 39.1%. Even the Lakers' three-point shooting percentage is higher than that of the Rockets, reaching 38.2%.

It was not easy for the Rockets to win the game by three-pointers in the last quarter.

Another point is the players' physical fitness.

Especially the physical fitness of Paul and Harden, because the Rockets do not have the Big Three, in order to maintain sufficient competitiveness in the rotation time. So after the first quarter, Coach D'Antoni adjusted the players' playing time and increased the playing time of Paul and Harden.

After three quarters of the game, Paul and Harden had consumed a lot of physical energy.

Harden scored because the Lakers' defense was so good that he had to expend more energy than ever before to score, while Paul scored because he was over 30 and his physical fitness was far inferior to that of a guy in his twenties.

"coach."

The assistant coach next to him came over and whispered to Coach D'Antoni, "Why don't we wait a while and not rush to let Paul and Harden go?"

This is of course to ensure the physical fitness of the two and allow them to get more rest time.

But Coach D'Antoni thought about it and shook his head and said, "No, one of them must stay on the court, otherwise the score difference may be widened, and the Lakers will not miss this opportunity." He looked at the assistant coach, "Who do you think the Lakers will send on the court next?"

I know that Coach D'Antoni was not asking about the role players of the Lakers, but about Zhuang Yu, Lopez and Holiday.

The assistant coach thought for a moment and said, "Zhuang Yu might be used. Previously, Lopez played in the first quarter, Zhuang Yu played in the second quarter, and Holiday played in the third quarter. Now it is the last quarter, and the Lakers will definitely want to increase the score, so they will most likely use Zhuang Yu and let Zhuang Yu play with the substitute lineup."

Coach D'Antoni nodded, but did not answer yes or no, just frowned tightly.

......

Soon the 4th section begins.

The Rockets sent out Chris Paul to lead the bench lineup and give Harden more rest time.

However, the Lakers not only sent out Zhuang Yu, but also Holiday.

Seeing this, there was a cry of surprise from the audience.

The fans did not expect that the Lakers would send out two core players, Zhuang Yu and Holiday, so early. In the past, at times like this, wasn't it enough for them to send out only one core player?

The Rockets assistant coach on the sidelines suddenly looked unhappy. He turned his head to look at Coach D'Antoni, but saw that Coach D'Antoni sighed without showing much surprise. It was obvious that he had thought of this and expected that the Lakers might send out more than one core player.

"This..." The assistant coach opened his mouth, but couldn't help asking: "Coach, you expected this a long time ago, right?"

Coach D'Antoni shook his head: "I don't have the ability to predict the future. I just had this worry. I didn't expect my worry to become a reality."

This is not groundless worry, but a prediction made by Coach D'Antoni based on his many years of coaching experience and the Lakers' lineup in today's game.

From the first quarter, the Lakers didn't play by the rules.

Because the Lakers' lineup is more balanced, they are excellent on both offense and defense, and the average age of the lineup is only in their twenties, they are able to rotate better, and the three core players are more physically fit than Paul and Harden of the Rockets.

So at this time, with the Lakers only leading by two points and the delicate score situation, would the Lakers simply send out more than one core player, use rotation time to widen the point difference, and dig a huge hole for the Rockets that cannot be filled?

possible!

And now this possibility has become a reality.

The assistant coach asked anxiously: "What should we do now? Should we replace Harden as well?"

Coach D'Antoni shook his head: "We will still need Harden in the last few minutes. We must let him rest for a little while. Play for one minute first, and then replace Capela. With Paul and Capela playing inside and outside, maybe we can last for a while."

The teaching assistant wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't.

He felt that this was a bit risky. Even if Eric Gordon could offset Clarkson, the combination of Paul + Harden was no match for Zhuang Yu + Holiday.

Coach D'Antoni naturally knows this.

But he also has his own ideas. He hopes that the combination of Paul + Capela + Gordon can last for a few minutes. He doesn't ask them to have the upper hand, and it's okay even if they fall slightly into a disadvantage. As long as they can last for a few minutes and don't let the gap between the two sides widen too much, it will be fine.

If they can hold on for a few minutes, the situation between the two sides will change.

At that time, Harden got enough rest time, and the Lakers sent Holiday and Zhuang Yu on the court too early, which caused both of them to deplete their physical strength. Maybe in the last few minutes, it would not be the Rockets but the Lakers that would have physical problems first.

......

On the court, the 4th quarter begins.

The Lakers launched an attack. At this time, the five players on the court were Holiday, Clarkson, Zhuang Yu, Kuzma, and Nance Jr.

Holiday was responsible for advancing the ball, and after reaching the frontcourt, he immediately passed the ball to Zhuang Yu.

At this time, there is no clear position assignment for Zhuang Yu, Holiday and Clarkson in this lineup, and the three players at positions 1-3 can rotate at will.

Of course, on the offensive end, Zhuang Yu mainly plays the No. 3 position, Clarkson plays the No. 2 position, and Holiday plays the No. 1 position.

On the defensive end, Zhuang Yu and Holiday rotated between the 1 and 3 positions. Both of them could face the opponent's 1 or 3 position.

After all, both of them are excellent defenders.

"Pull away."

After Zhuang Yu got the ball, he gestured to his teammates, indicating that they should move away, and he went on to play one-on-one. At this time, the Rockets still had a rotation lineup. Except for Paul, the other four were substitutes. The one responsible for matching up against Zhuang Yu was Luke Richard Mbah a Moute.

Bamford was on the Clippers last season and only joined the Rockets this season.

He is a 203cm tall forward and is also familiar with Zhuang Yu, because Bamford graduated from UCLA and is an alumnus of Zhuang Yu. When Zhuang Yu was still playing at UCLA, Bamford and Love came to the stadium to watch his games.

Later, the two became friends and trained together in Westbrook's small training camp. However, Bamford's situation deteriorated and he gradually faded out of that small training camp.

At this time, the two sides faced each other. Zhuang Yu was very calm, while Mbah a Moute was a little sad and emotional: "I didn't expect that the boy has grown to this point now in just a few years. Kevin (Love) still has a better vision."

When Zhuang Yu was still playing at UCLA, Bamford and Love were sitting on the sidelines. At that time, Love admired Zhuang Yu very much and praised him endlessly.

Although Bamford didn't say it out loud, he actually disagreed in his heart.

He is just a young man from China. He played well at UCLA, but can he perform well enough in the NBA?

He thought it was difficult.

How did Jeremy Lin perform at Harvard University?

That is also very outstanding, even phenomenal.

But after arriving in the NBA, he still sat on the bench and served as a water dispenser guard.

If it weren't for his good luck and his crazy performance in the Knicks for a while, he would still be an unknown water cooler guard, or he might have left the NBA.

Zhuang Yu is not Yao Ming. There is only one Yao Ming in China.

At that time, in Bamford's opinion, if there was another Chinese player who could gain a foothold in the NBA after Yao Ming, he would definitely be a center, or at least a power forward like Yi Jianlian. It would not be a guard, because China did not have good guards.

At this time, there was a Chinese center Zhou Qi sitting on the Rockets bench.

This should have been a "Huaxia Derby", but the media didn't even mention it because Zhou Qi hasn't played since the playoffs.

During the regular season he was able to occasionally play for a few minutes.

But when it came to the playoffs, not to mention him, some players who had more playing time and played better than him in the regular season did not get a chance to play.

Therefore, Zhou Qi basically had no chance to play in this game, unless the Rockets were leading by too much and the game lost suspense early and turned into garbage time.

But if that were the case, Zhuang Yu would definitely have been substituted, and the two of them would not have the chance to be on the court at the same time.

Now, after playing for several teams, Bamford came to the Rockets, and went from being a main player to a substitute. His personal data and playing time have declined a lot.

Zhuang Yu has been the scoring champion twice and has been selected to the All-Star team three times...

When the two sides faced off, in addition to sighing with emotion, Bamford also felt nervous and flustered. He felt that he might not be able to defend against Zhuang Yu.

No, it is definitely unpreventable.

How to do?