Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

In the blink of an eye, more than three minutes passed.

During these three minutes or so, the tempo of the game accelerated significantly, and the Lakers' offense became very fast. After the ball reached the frontcourt, it was not immediately given to Zhuang Yu for him to initiate the attack.

Because in this way, the Raptors' defense will be very targeted. They will arrange their defensive formation in advance, and the Lakers can only fight a positional battle.

After reaching the frontcourt, the ball was not given to Zhuang Yu immediately, but Holiday made his own judgment, either breaking through himself or passing the ball to a teammate who had a chance to shoot...

In short, the Lakers will only pass the ball three times at most in each attack, and never more than three times. They usually pass the ball once or twice and then shoot directly.

Of course, playing like this won't give you a good chance to shoot every time, but it can make the offensive rhythm very fast, with quick ball transfers, quick shots, quick retreats...

Of course, the Lakers' counterattack was also quick.

When the Raptors missed shots, Holiday no longer held the ball and advanced the Lakers' court. Instead, whoever got the rebound would hold the ball and advance the court.

At this time, all five players on the field are able to advance with the ball, so there will be no problem with this.

The advantage of this is that the Lakers' counterattack speed is very fast. No one will wait for the ball. Whoever gets the rebound will counterattack immediately. Other players will rush to the front court at the first time. Before the Raptors can complete the retreat or establish a defensive formation, the Lakers' counterattack has arrived.

Moreover, the Lakers' counterattack came quickly and ended quickly, without any delay. There were not many dribbles, no one stuck to the ball, and the ball was transferred quickly from the backcourt to the frontcourt. At most, they would pass the ball two or three times before shooting.

This offensive and defensive rhythm made the Raptors somewhat uncomfortable.

After all, they are not a speed-oriented team. The others are fine, but Gasol Jr. can't keep up at all.

After a while, the Raptors players were only seen running behind the Lakers. The offensive and defensive rhythm of both sides was very fast, but after more than three minutes, the Lakers had the upper hand.

Before we knew it, the gap between the two sides had been narrowed to just two points.

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach Nash called a timeout with a frown on his face.

When several players came off the court, Coach Nurse began to make substitutions, replacing Gasol Jr. and Danny Green with Serge Ibaka and Fred VanVleet.

After this substitution, the Raptors' inside height has been reduced, but they still have an advantage over the Lakers. After replacing Gasol Jr. with Ibaka, the team's speed has also been improved, especially in defending counterattacks and the speed of switching and assisting defense, which is obviously better than before.

But the Lakers also changed players.

Coach Scott replaced Holiday with Clarkson.

At this time, Zhuang Yu became the No. 1 player for the Lakers, and Clarkson became a three-point turret. His three-point shot was much better than Holiday's. He hit a three-pointer shortly after coming on the court, helping the Lakers narrow the gap to only one point.

A moment later, Clarkson cooperated with Zhuang Yu again. He received the pass from Zhuang Yu and made a layup, causing Ibaka to foul. He then made both free throws from the free throw line.

The Raptors players did not expect Clarkson to score 5 points in a row, so they had to strengthen their defense against Clarkson.

But soon Zhuang Yu made another three-pointer.

......

Clarkson broke through with the ball, attracted the defense and then passed the ball out.

At this time, Zhuang Yu used Anderson's cover to get rid of the defense. The Raptors subconsciously contracted their defense because of Clarkson's breakthrough. It was too late for them to rush out to defend Zhuang Yu. They could only watch Zhuang Yu shoot from outside the three-point line.

Swish!

The ball went in and the Lakers took the lead.

This made the home fans very depressed, and coach Nurse couldn't help but frown, but fortunately Leonard quickly responded by turning around and hitting a single shot.

After that, the two sides fought back and forth, and neither could defend against the other...

It was not until there were only two minutes left in the first quarter that Coach Scott replaced Zhuang Yu and Anderson with Rose and Zubac.

The Raptors also replaced Leonard and Lowry, leaving only Siakam on the court among the starting players, and asked him to play with several other substitutes.

Originally, the Raptors' bench lineup was not as good as the Lakers', but at this time the Lakers did not have Zhuang Yu and Holiday on the court. Although they still had Rose and Clarkson, the Raptors' VanVleet and Siakam performed well, and under the leadership of the two, they were evenly matched with the Lakers.

When the first quarter ended, the score was 1:32, and the Raptors were leading by one point.

“I didn’t expect to be ahead by only one point.”

"Yeah, we were clearly in the upper hand a few minutes ago, so how come the Lakers caught up with us again?"

"Don't underestimate the opponent. The Lakers are the defending champions after all. Even without Lopez, they are still very strong."

"We still have to guard Zhuang Yu well. It's only the first quarter and he has already scored 1 points."

"Clarkson played well, too. We underestimated him a bit."

During the intermission, fans in the audience were discussing.

Seeing that the Raptors led by seven points in the first few minutes of the first quarter, the fans of the Raptors couldn't help but feel happy. However, before they could be happy for long, the Lakers launched a counterattack and even overtook the score at one point. After one quarter, the Raptors only led by one point.

But the Raptors clearly have advantages in the interior and on the front line, so the fans are a little confused as to why the score is like this.

In fact, the Raptors players are also a little depressed.

The score shouldn't be this.

"Let me tell you..."

Coach Nash clapped his hands to call the players and began to set up.

Here, Coach Scott is also making arrangements.

Without Lopez, they can no longer keep an All-Star player on the court at all times.

For example, now Coach Scott has no plan to play Zhuang Yu or Holiday, but to play Rose, Clarkson, Hamilton, Kuzma, and Zubac.

"Protect the rebounds, play more pick-and-roll..."

"Derrick (Rose), and Jordan (Clarkson), you two need to be aggressive and attack with determination."

"besides......"

After some preparation, the second section began.

The players from both teams returned to the court, and the Raptors sent out VanVleet, Norman Powell, Patrick McCaw, Ibaka, and Gasol Jr.

The Lakers have the ball. Rose dribbles the ball to the frontcourt and calls for a pick-and-roll. He uses the pick-and-roll to move to the left. Seeing Marc Gasol coming up to delay him, Rose breaks through decisively, changes direction suddenly, accelerates past Marc Gasol and rushes towards the basket.

The Raptors rushed to make up for the defense, but Rose played very resolutely. He jumped up towards Ibaka who came to defend, dodged in the air, and then made a layup.

"Ibaka's defense was still a little slow."

"There's nothing we can do. Kuzma can shoot three-pointers, so he has to defend further out, so his defense will naturally be slower."

It's just a ball, people don't care too much.

However, they soon realized that "MVP is definitely not a dud", and even Rose, who has suffered repeated serious injuries, should not be underestimated...