Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Soon, the timeout ended and both sides returned to the court.

After arriving at the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu ran back to get the ball. The Nuggets immediately started double-teaming him. Zhuang Yu passed the ball and then started running, making a circle along the inside line. With the help of his teammates' cover, he got rid of the defense and returned to the three-point line to receive the ball.

When his teammate passed the ball to him, Zhuang Yu shot immediately, giving the Nuggets no chance to double-team him again. The basketball flew out from his fingertips and spun towards the basket.

Swish!

There was a soft sound, and the basketball hit the net.

"nice shot."

"Finally made a three-pointer."

The home fans cheered loudly. This was also the Lakers' first three-pointer of the day.

However, the Nuggets played a pick-and-roll match. Jokic went to the top of the line for the pick-and-roll, Murray moved to the left, and then passed the ball back to Jokic. After Jokic got the ball, he did not pass it to anyone else, but shot directly from outside the three-point line and hit it.

The score difference is still eight points.

In the last few minutes, the Lakers relied mainly on Zhuang Yu's personal ability on the offensive end. It's not that the others were afraid to play, but the Nuggets defended very well and were very active in helping with defense, making it difficult for the Lakers to find good opportunities to shoot.

After a while...

Although the score difference did not widen further, it remained around eight or nine points.

This made Coach Scott look grim, and he called another timeout and began to gradually replace the rotation players.

Zhuang Yu was also replaced, while Lopez stayed on the court and played with Rose, Clarkson and others.

The Nuggets replaced Jokic and kept Murray and Harris on the court.

In the previous few minutes, Murray, Jokic, Millsap and Barton of the Nuggets played well, only Harris did not score much.

At this moment, Harris seemed to have suddenly entered the scoring state.

He first received a pass from Murray and hit a three-pointer from outside the right three-point line. Then he ran back and made a layup after receiving a pass from his teammate. He scored 5 points in a row and helped the Nuggets expand the score difference to double digits.

On the offensive end, Clarkson wanted to fight back, but he was fouled by the opponent before he could even shoot after rushing into the inside.

The foul count had not yet arrived, and Clarkson's ball was not a shooting foul, so he could not go to the free throw line.

When the ball was passed back to Clarkson, he chose a three-pointer from the outside.

However, with a bang, the basketball bounced out of the basket.

"Shit." Clarkson shook his right hand angrily.

The opponent's foul just now cut his right wrist, which was still a little painful at this time, and also affected his three-point shot.

And this is actually the purpose of the Nuggets. They want to use fierce defense to disrupt the Lakers' offensive rhythm and offensive state.

Sometimes even fouls prevented the Lakers from scoring.

Obviously they succeeded.

Of course, there are risks in doing this.

If the foul fails to disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm and state, then the foul is not worth it.

It would be an even bigger loss if the opponent scored 2+1.

Neither side was able to score in the next two rounds, but it was a good thing for the Nuggets because they were still leading by 11 points. They were not in a hurry, as long as they could maintain this score and drag the time down until the end of the first quarter, they would win.

"Only one minute left."

Rose looked at the time and frowned. He took the ball from the backcourt and quickly advanced to the frontcourt, then gestured to his teammates.

When his teammates came up to screen and roll, Rose immediately broke free and accelerated towards the basket.

This time he was very determined and very fast. He didn't even give the opponent a chance to foul early. He rushed into the three-second zone and jumped up. However, he didn't intend to act recklessly. Facing the Nuggets' defense, he chose to jump shot.

This is also one of Ross's tricks.

Swish!

Rose made a layup and the score difference became 9 points.

There were only a few dozen seconds left in this quarter, and both sides had one offensive opportunity, but neither of them was able to score. When the first quarter ended, the Nuggets led by 1 points.

This score made the home fans somewhat depressed. They didn't expect that the Nuggets would have the upper hand after returning to their home court.

But this is only the first section.

......

Soon, the game entered the second quarter and both sides rotated their players.

However, the Nuggets made a substitution after only two minutes, replacing Jokic.

Originally, the Nuggets' rotation lineup was not as good as the Lakers', but at this time Jokic was on the court. Under his leadership, the Nuggets not only did not fall into a disadvantage, but instead had a slight advantage, and the difference between the two sides widened to more than 10 points.

At this time, the Lakers also made substitutions and started to replace the main lineup.

A moment later, the main players of both teams returned to the court. The Nuggets' defensive strategy was the same as in the first quarter, double-teaming Zhuang Yu.

This time, Zhuang Yu did not choose to pass the ball, but accelerated suddenly in the face of the opponent's double-team, and passed through the two defenders before the opponent's double-team was formed. He passed the two defenders in one go, and then he grabbed the basketball and rushed to the basket, and scored a layup.

In the next few rounds, Zhuang Yu played very resolutely on the offensive end, and even the double-teaming of the Nuggets could not limit his scoring.

But apart from Zhuang Yu, the other players of the Lakers still haven't found their form.

On the contrary, several players of the Nuggets seemed to be getting more courageous as the game went on and performed very well. By the end of the second quarter, the Nuggets were leading by 2 points.

"What happened? The Nuggets were able to lead by so much."

"I felt a little careless at the beginning. I probably didn't expect the Nuggets' defense to be so strong. I couldn't adapt, so I missed shots one after another. Later on, I couldn't find my touch at all, so I let the Nuggets take a big lead."

"It's okay, it's only the first half..."

In the audience, some fans were shaking their heads, disappointed with the Lakers' performance today, while some fans were shouting, still full of confidence in the Lakers.

......

Halftime.

When they returned to the locker room, Coach Scott frowned and scolded everyone harshly.

He could see from the first quarter that the players were a little lax, did not take the Nuggets seriously, and underestimated their opponents, so they were a little uncomfortable facing the Nuggets' high-intensity defense.

As some fans have said, a big reason why the Lakers fell behind so much was that they underestimated their opponents and did not take the game seriously enough, thinking that the Nuggets were vulnerable and that defeating them would be easy.

In the end, I was taught a lesson.

"This is the playoffs, the Western Conference semifinals, and every game is extremely important." Coach Scott said with a straight face, "Don't think that we can sit back and relax just because we won two games, and that we can underestimate our opponents. Everyone should be serious in the second half. If anyone dares to take it lightly and underestimate the enemy again, I don't mind putting him on the bench."

After saying that, he snorted coldly, slammed the door and left.

Zhuang Yu shook his head and did not comfort his teammates.

Sometimes, being too smooth is not necessarily a good thing, as it can easily make people blindly arrogant and proud.

As the saying goes, arrogant soldiers will be defeated. It's time to pour a bucket of cold water on everyone.

Of course, Zhuang Yu doesn't want to lose this game to the Nuggets.

......

Soon, the second half begins.

The Lakers' offense improved, but the Nuggets also played well.

Especially several role players, Harris, Barton, and Millsap stepped up to score one after another, catching the Lakers off guard.

Coach Scott's plan was to defend Jokic, followed by Murray, but he didn't expect Harris, Barton and Millsap to suddenly explode.

Fortunately, the Lakers' offense had improved significantly compared to the first half, so they did not fall into a disadvantage. However, the Lakers were already behind, and after a few minutes, the gap between the two sides did not narrow much, and the Lakers were still 9 points behind.

Coach Scott called another timeout and made substitutions and tactical adjustments.

After that, both sides began to replace their main players with rotation lineups, but the Nuggets did not replace Jokic.

Jokic stayed on the court for the next few minutes and finished the third quarter. Under his leadership, the Nuggets maintained their lead.

At the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets were still leading by 8 points.

In fact, the Lakers had already caught up some points in the third quarter, but they had not yet met Coach Scott's expectations.

But fortunately, the difference was only 8 points. Moreover, Jokic played a lot of time today, and his physical fitness would definitely be a problem in the fourth quarter.

However......

What made Coach Scott depressed was that in the fourth quarter, Jokic's physical condition did have problems, and the Lakers once tied the score.

Unexpectedly, Murray suddenly jumped out at this time, hit two consecutive three-pointers, and then used Jokic's pick-and-roll to create a dislocation, and made a difficult turnaround jump shot.

But in a short while, he scored 8 points by himself, and widened the score that was originally tied again.

Zhuang Yu quickly responded with a three-pointer, but Jokic also hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc soon after...

......

After a while, the fourth quarter came to an end.

At this time, the Nuggets were still leading by 6 points, and there was only one minute left in the game. The Lakers called a timeout, and after the timeout, they used a three-point tactic. With the help of his teammates' screens and pick-and-rolls, Zhuang Yu returned to the three-point line, received the ball and shot, and made it steadily.

However, Murray turned around and broke through, causing the defender to foul, and twisted his body in the air to score the ball.

When he stepped up to the free throw line and made the extra free throw, it basically killed the game.

"Damn it."

"It's not worth it to let them score 2+1 at this time."

"In fact, Anderson had already defended well, but I didn't expect Murray to score such a ball. He was just lucky..."

The home fans were depressed, and the Lakers organization was also depressed.

But time is running out.

In the last bit of time, Zhuang Yu from the Lakers threw another three-pointer, trying to grab the first one, but he failed to make it, and the game completely lost suspense.

"Beep..."

At the end of the game, the score was 108:102. The Nuggets defeated the Lakers by 6 points, changing the series score to 1:2.

The Nuggets played very well in this game. Jokic scored 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Murray scored 32 points with an outburst in the final quarter, plus 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Millsap, Harris, Barton and others also played well.

On the Lakers side, Zhuang Yu scored a team-high 31 points, plus 8 rebounds and 6 assists, but apart from him, no one else scored more than 20 points.

After the game, everyone returned to the locker room, and Coach Scott gave them another violent scolding, without giving them any face at all.

Zhuang Yu did not help his teammates to excuse themselves, but just got scolded along with them.

Although we lost the game, it may not be a bad thing in the long run.

This is only the second round of the playoffs, and they are ahead of their opponents and can afford to lose.

If something goes wrong in a crucial game, we might not just lose one game, but the entire series.

In fact, the reason why Coach Scott was so angry was because of this. It’s not that they can’t afford to lose, but he has to let the players know that they can lose, but as a championship team, they can’t lose because of underestimating the opponent and being blindly arrogant.