Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

At this time, most of the first quarter has passed.

In these few minutes, Doncic's performance was still excellent, but when facing Zhuang Yu, it became increasingly difficult for him to play one-on-one, and it was difficult for him to get easy shooting opportunities. He either had to rely on his teammates' screens and pick-and-rolls, as well as tactical coordination to score, or he had to take difficult shots.

For example, twisting the body in the air to throw the ball, or doing a one-legged fadeaway jump shot like Nowitzki...

In short, as the game progressed, Zhuang Yu got to know Doncic better and better, and the pressure he put on Doncic on defense became greater and greater.

But Doncic is really good. He can score even some difficult shots. The title of "Magic Luka" is not an exaggeration.

"Shh!"

With a slight click, the Mavericks hit the target again.

This ball did not come from Doncic's scoring, but it was his assist. After the breakthrough, he passed the ball to Smith Jr., who assisted Smith Jr. in the open cut and scored a layup.

The home fans cheered again.

"Well done."

"Luka's passes are always so wonderful. He can always find the teammate in the best position and pass the ball to his teammate in time."

"Yeah, it's only the first quarter and Luka has already made three assists and scored 1 points. How many points did Zhuang Yu on the opposite side get? It seems like only 9 points?"

"5 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, not as good as Luka."

Doncic played very well in the past few minutes, scoring 9 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, which are even better than Zhuang Yu's statistics.

Under the leadership of Doncic, the Mavericks have maintained their leading advantage and are now leading by as many as 7 points, which makes the home fans very happy.

"Requesting a timeout."

At this time, the Lakers requested a timeout.

After several players came off the court, Coach Scott began to make substitutions, replacing Zhuang Yu, Anderson, and Korver with Rose, Clarkson, and Zubac.

Coach Scott then spread out the tactical board and made some tactical arrangements. He then clapped his hands, signaling the players to go on the court. He then sat down next to Zhuang Yu and asked, "Why didn't you take any shots on the offensive end in the last few minutes?"

In fact, Zhuang Yu did take shots, but he took fewer shots. He only took three shots, made two of them, one two-pointer and one three-pointer, and got 5 points.

In terms of efficiency alone, it is of course very high, but compared with Luka Doncic on the opposite side, Zhuang Yu's number of shots is obviously much less.

Doncic took a total of 8 shots and made 4 of them, with a pretty good hit rate, including a three-pointer, and scored 9 points.

Doncic is naturally better in personal data, but Coach Scott knows that Zhuang Yu just didn't put in enough effort to score, otherwise he would never lose to Doncic.

Zhuang Yu smiled and replied: "Don't you think Doncic is interesting? He is a very talented rookie."

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I want to see how much more he can do."

Coach Scott said, "Oh," and smiled, "So how was it?"

Zhuang Yu said: "He plays very calmly, has a high basketball IQ, has many ways to score, and is very good at using his strengths. He is also very imaginative in passing the ball, has a broad vision, and has an excellent overall view. Although he is still a rookie, he is already very strong and has no stage fright. He has a high ceiling and still has a lot of room for growth."

Oh?

Coach Scott couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He rarely heard Zhuang Yu praise a player like this. But thinking about Doncic's performance a few minutes ago, he nodded and said, "Yes, this is a very talented young man with a bright future."

He looked at Doncic who was still on the court, then retracted his gaze to look at Zhuang Yu, and suddenly felt a little touched, as if there were more and more outstanding international players in the league now.

Although there were some international players who performed very well in the NBA in the past, and even some superstars, such as Steve Nash, Dirk Lowitzki, the Gasol brothers...but in general, it was still American players who dominated the NBA.

However, in recent years, more and more international players have emerged and risen rapidly, occupying half of the NBA.

In fact, if we leave out James, Durant and Curry, the remaining American players may not be able to beat international players.

This can be seen from the fact that the All-Star Rookie Game was changed from the previous freshman team vs. sophomore team to the US team vs. the world team.

Anyone who is selected for the All-Star Rookie Game is naturally the best among the first and second year rookie players.

Since 2015, the All-Star Rookie Game has been changed from the previous matchup between first- and second-year rookies to the American team vs. the world team. It can be seen that among the top first- and second-year rookie players, international players now occupy half of the sky.

As they grow, they will naturally affect the entire league.

Look at the players who were selected for the NBA All-Star team last year, Zhuang Yu, Towns, Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Porzingis, these are all international players.

This season, it is estimated that the proportion of international players in the All-Star lineup may increase as more international players perform outstandingly.

For example, Doncic, Ben Simmons of the 76ers, Nikola Vucevic of the Magic, Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets...

These people were not selected for the All-Star team last season, but they have performed very well this season and have a chance to be selected for the All-Star team.

If we add in players like Zhuang Yu, Towns, Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Porzingis, who were selected to the All-Star team last year, we can almost form a team.

Of course, Coach Scott doesn't care whether the NBA league is dominated by local players or international players.

The NBA is an international league, the best basketball league in the world and is very inclusive. He is concerned about another thing - the emergence of so many outstanding international players in recent years, whether this means that some concepts of European basketball are already ahead of the United States to some extent.

So, should I learn more about European basketball? Perhaps there are things worth learning from it.

"Well, I have to study it when I have time."

Coach Scott secretly decided that he should study some of the concepts of European basketball when he had time. There was no harm in it anyway.

......

On the court, the game continues.

At this time, the Mavericks also made substitutions. Doncic, Matthews, and Jordan were all replaced by substitute players Jose Barea, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dwight Powell.

After Doncic was substituted, the Mavericks quickly fell into a disadvantage and the gap between the two sides narrowed rapidly.

Coach Scott smiled and made another substitution, replacing Holiday and Nance Jr. with Cunningham and Zubac.

The Mavericks team plays with Doncic as the main player and the ball-holding core, and they don't have many other tricks. Once Doncic is replaced, it's like they have changed a different team, their fighting power is sharply reduced, and they don't even need Holiday to stay on the court, they can just use a full bench lineup.

At this time, the Lakers replaced Rose, Clarkson, Cunningham, Kuzma, and Zubac, but even so they were still able to gain the upper hand.

"Shh!"

With a slight click, Clarkson made a three-pointer, narrowing the gap between the two sides to 4 points.

After just a few dozen seconds, Rose broke through the pick-and-roll and made a layup, narrowing the gap between the two sides to just two points.

Coach Carlisle frowned and looked at the time. There were only a few seconds left in the first quarter. He requested a substitution and substituted Doncic in.

As soon as he came on the court, Doncic made a wonderful pass to his teammates, assisting Powell to score in the paint and helping the team stop the bleeding.

But turning around, the Lakers also returned one.

This time it was Kuzma who scored. When the 24 seconds were about to expire, he forced a shot against the defender and made the shot.

At this time, the first quarter also came to an end, the score was 1:32, and the Mavericks led by 30 points.

Looking at the score, Coach Carlisle frowned deeply.

Doncic played very well in this quarter. Under his leadership, the score difference was even widened to nearly 10 points at one point, but unexpectedly, when the quarter ended, they were only leading by two points.

"In terms of overall strength and lineup depth, we are still a little bit behind." Coach Carlisle shook his head helplessly.

......

Soon, the second section began.

Both sides sent out their rotation lineups. The Lakers still fielded Rose, Clarkson, Cunningham, Kuzma, and Zubac, a full substitute lineup.

The Mavericks fielded Jose Barea, Smith Jr., Dory Anfernee Smith, Maxi Kleber, and Dwight Powell.

Their lineup has an advantage in height inside. Kleber and Powell are both 211 cm tall. The twin towers they form inside have the upper hand in protecting the rim and fighting for rebounds. Zubac was completely suppressed by the two of them.

For a while, the two sides were evenly matched.

The main reason is that the Lakers' outside shooting efficiency is not high enough. Clarkson and Kuzma shot okay, but Rose and Cunningham are not good at outside shooting. When the opponent put up double towers, their breakthroughs were restricted and their outside shooting was not good. With only Clarkson and Kuzma to support the offense, they were on par with the Mavericks.

Looking at the situation on the court, Coach Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief. He did not expect that the twin towers would play such an unexpected effect. As long as the team does not fall into a disadvantage during the rotation time, and later replaces Doncic, Barnes and others, maybe they can still gain the upper hand like in the first quarter.

But he was obviously a little too optimistic.

......

In a blink of an eye, a few minutes of the second quarter had passed and the Lakers began to make substitutions, replacing Clarkson and Zubac with Zhuang Yu and Anderson.

The lineup on the court became Rose, Zhuang Yu, Cunningham, Anderson, and Kuzma, which is equivalent to a five-small lineup.

Seeing the Lakers make substitutions, Coach Carlisle also made substitutions immediately, replacing Doncic, Barnes and Jordan Jr. The lineup on the field became Doncic, Matthews, Barnes, Kleber and Jordan Jr.