Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

A plane lands at Los Angeles Airport.

This is a chartered flight for the Nuggets. They have already played two games against the Lakers, and the third game will be at the Lakers' home court. So the Nuggets players came to Los Angeles in advance, and after a short rest, they will face the third game of the series.

A group of Nuggets players got off the plane silently. No one talked and there was no smile on the players' faces.

Because at this moment their hearts are heavy.

The previous two games were both played at the Nuggets' home court, but the Nuggets lost two games in a row at home and fell behind the Lakers 0:2.

Under such circumstances, the players were naturally in a bad mood.

In fact, the Nuggets played pretty well in Game 2. Murray, Millsap, Harris, Barton and others all performed better than in Game 1.

However, Jokic did not perform as well in the second game as in the first game. He only scored 2 points, 1 rebounds and 20 assists. Although it was also a double-double, it was obviously much worse than the first game.

This is partly due to the Lakers' defensive adjustments.

Considering that Jokic scored so many points in the first game, the Lakers made targeted arrangements in the second game and further strengthened their defense against Jokic.

On the other hand is Jokic's own condition.

Jokic was too tired in the first game of the series, so his physical fitness was not very good in the second game and his performance was affected.

At the end of the game, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 110:104.

After losing two games in a row, the Nuggets fell into an extremely unfavorable situation. If they lost the third game again, the series would basically be over.

Therefore, they are determined to win the upcoming Game 3 of the series, but at the same time they are under heavy pressure as they have already lost two games.

......

The next day, the Lakers played at home against the Nuggets in the second game of the series.

In the afternoon, the Nuggets players had already arrived at the stadium, entering four hours in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment, practice, and find their touch.

Compared to the Nuggets, the Lakers were much more relaxed. The players did not arrive at the stadium until after 4 p.m.

A group of players sat in the locker room, each preparing their own equipment.

"It will be easy after today's match."

"Don't worry, it's easy to beat the Nuggets. Just keep your eyes on Jokic. Brook, you have to work harder. You were suppressed by Jokic in these two games."

"Humph, that's just his luck. I'm already familiar with his attacking style in these two games, just wait and see."

"And what about Murray? Murray scored 27 points in the last game."

"Just leave it to Zhu, don't worry."

"Ha ha......"

Everyone was laughing and talking in a relaxed atmosphere, and their tone was full of contempt. After winning two games in a row, they had begun to look down on the Nuggets.

Zhuang Yu frowned slightly, but still warned: "Don't take it lightly. The opponent has already lost two games. He will definitely go all out in this game. You still have to be careful."

Everyone agreed with laughter.

......

The competition officially started at 7 pm.

The Nuggets knew that if they lost this game, they would basically lose the entire series, so they fought hard from the beginning. The game became intense from the first quarter, with the Nuggets' defense being fierce and the physical confrontation fierce.

This made the Lakers a little uncomfortable.

After more than three minutes, the Lakers' offensive efficiency was not high. Holiday, Korver, Anderson, and Lopez all took shots, but their hit rates were not high.

On the contrary, the Nuggets seemed to have given it their all today.

Every player played very aggressively and was very determined on the offensive end, and their efficiency was actually higher than that of the Lakers.

For a moment, the Nuggets gained the upper hand and took the lead in the score.

This made Coach Scott frown and gesture towards the court. Zhuang Yu nodded in understanding.

When he reached the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu ran back to ask for the ball, then signaled his teammates to move away, and then played against Patton alone.

However, just as he moved, Millsap rushed over and double-teamed him together with Barton.

The reason why it was Millsap instead of other players was because Anderson's outside shooting was not stable, so the Nuggets dared to let him go, but did not dare to let go of Holiday or Korver.

"Double team?"

Zhuang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, but he was not surprised.

Because if the Nuggets want to win the game, they can't ignore Zhuang Yu, they have to limit Zhuang Yu's offense. In the previous two games, the Nuggets have tried various methods, and the only one that can play a role is double-teaming.

Of course, the situation at this time is somewhat different from the past two games.

In the past three minutes, the Lakers' players, except Zhuang Yu, did not have a good shooting touch and missed shots under the fierce defense of the Nuggets. It was precisely because of their low offensive efficiency that the Nuggets dared to double-team Zhuang Yu without hesitation.

Whoosh!

Zhuang Yu swung the ball with one hand and passed it to Anderson.

Anderson received the ball and rushed towards the basket, while Jokic quickly stepped forward to defend.

"Just waiting for you to come up."

Anderson smiled secretly in his heart and made a ground pass. The basketball bounced from Jokic's feet and was about to fall into Lopez's hands.

However, at this moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Lopez and snatched the basketball away.

"not good."

"It happened."

Anderson and Lopez both felt a tightness in their hearts.

The ball was intercepted.

In the audience, the home fans couldn't help but exclaim.

I thought it would be a great pass and Lopez would grab the basketball and do a two-handed slam dunk, but I didn't expect it to be intercepted halfway.

"Damn it."

Anderson reacted and hurried to catch up.

It was Harris who stole the ball, and it was not accidental that he appeared in front of Lopez. Jokic had already signaled him when he rushed to defend Anderson. Knowing that Anderson would pass the ball to Lopez, Harris decisively left Korver, who was defending him, and rushed to the inside, lying across the passing line, and stole the ball.

After completing the steal, Harris immediately launched a counterattack and rushed to the front court. Several Nuggets players also rushed to the front court.

After glancing ahead, Harris pushed the ball with both hands and passed it to Murray who was already in the frontcourt. Murray grabbed the basketball and ran towards the basket.

However, at this time, Zhuang Yu had already returned to his own half, bent down, then jumped up, raised his hands high, covering the sky and blocking all of Murray's layup space.

"Oh, I didn't say I wanted to do it myself."

However, Murray was not flustered. The corners of his mouth turned up and he showed a smile. After jumping up, he passed the ball behind his head to the middle.

At this time, Jokic had already stepped into the three-point line, reached out and grabbed the basketball passed by Murray, took a step forward, rushed to the basket and made a two-handed dunk.

With a "bang", Jokic slammed the basketball into the basket.

The Nuggets' bench was suddenly in an uproar, and a group of substitute players all jumped up and cheered loudly.

Coach Ma Long couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

It is rare to see Jokic dunking. It’s not that he can’t dunk, but he doesn’t like dunking and thinks it is a waste of energy.

And when Jokic dunks, it means he means business.

In the next few rounds, the Nuggets double-teamed Zhuang Yu, but when Zhuang Yu passed the ball when he was double-teamed, none of his teammates scored.

Either it's a mistake or it's a miss.

This made the home fans feel a little depressed.

"What's going on? Why do all of them seem to be struggling with the basket today and all of them missed the shot?"

"Yeah, we've been playing for almost half a quarter and not a single three-pointer has gone in. This shouldn't be the case."

The Lakers' offense was indeed not good today. In the past, by this time, the Lakers would have scored at least fifteen or sixteen points.

At this time, the Lakers scored only 8 points, two of which came from Zhuang Yu, two from Holiday's free throws, and one each from Lopez and Holiday. Up to now, Anderson and Korver have not scored.

And the first quarter was almost halfway over, and the Lakers hadn't made a single three-pointer. It's not that they didn't have opportunities, but they just didn't seize them.

As one team gained strength, the other lost strength. The Lakers encountered trouble on offense, while the Nuggets played very aggressively. Jokic, Murray, Millsap, and Barton all scored. Among the five starting players, only Harris has not scored yet.

At this time, the score was 16:8, with the Nuggets leading by eight points.

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach Scott frowned and called a timeout.

It's only been half a quarter and the score difference is almost widened to 10 points.

When several players came off the court, Coach Scott, with a stern face, first replaced Korver with Kuzma, then spread out the tactical board: "Since you don't have a good feel from the outside, go inside. Even if you can't score, there is a chance that the opponent will foul."

"Also, don't make it too easy."

"Today the opponent's defense was very fierce and the confrontation was very intense. We need to create better shooting opportunities through tactical coordination. Do you understand?"

Several people agreed.

Then, Coach Scott looked at Zhuang Yu and said, "Zhuang, you have to score more points. They will help you with screens and pick-and-rolls later, and you can play without the ball."

Zhuang Yu agreed.