Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Requesting a substitution."

The Lakers requested a substitution.

The score difference had originally widened to 10 points, but after Jokic returned to the court, the gap between the two sides was narrowed again, and now it is only 5 points.

This made Coach Scott unhappy, and he immediately made substitutions, sending in Zhuang Yu, Anderson, Cunningham, and Lopez to replace Clarkson, Holiday, Zubac, and Nance Jr.

At this time, the lineup on the field became Rose, Zhuang Yu, Cunningham, Anderson, and Lopez.

The reason why Rose was allowed to stay on the court was to let him be responsible for organization, while Zhuang Yu focused on scoring. Now he needed to step up and score to help the team maintain its leading advantage.

When Ross arrived at the front court, he looked at Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu shook his head at him and signaled him with his eyes to look at the Nuggets' defense. Rose took a glance and immediately understood.

The Nuggets also knew that after this substitution, the Lakers would most likely bring back starting players such as Zhuang Yu, at least Zhuang Yu would definitely return to the court.

Moreover, the first attack after the substitution would most likely be carried out by Zhuang Yu, so several Nuggets players were staring at Zhuang Yu.

"I play without the ball." Zhuang Yu gestured to Rose again.

Rose nodded, called a pick-and-roll, then moved to the left, tried to break through, and then passed the ball back to Lopez. Lopez passed the ball to Anderson, then walked inside to attract defense.

At this time, Zhuang Yu ran back and got rid of the defense with the help of Cunningham's cover. Rose also came to the three-point line and asked Anderson for the ball.

When the ball was passed and the Nuggets players' attention was attracted by Rose, Rose pushed the ball to Zhuang Yu with both hands.

Swish!

With a soft sound, Zhuang Yu hit a three-pointer.

"Damn, he still scored." The Nuggets assistant coach cursed in frustration.

Coach Ma Long frowned, but was not surprised. He just gestured to the players on the court, signaling them to pay attention to defending Zhuang Yu.

Obviously, Coach Scott substituted Zhuang Yu to let him score, so the Nuggets naturally had to pay special attention to Zhuang Yu.

......

on the field.

The Nuggets attacked and gave the ball to Jokic after reaching the frontcourt, but the person defending Jokic this time was Lopez, who was not as easy to play against as Zubac.

Jokic tried to play a one-on-one game with his back to the basket. The two players were struggling, and the Lakers provided help defense, so Jokic had to pass the ball.

After a while, there was not much time left for the attack.

In the end, Porter Jr. forced a three-pointer against the defense, but failed to hit it...

The Nuggets failed to score in the next two rounds because the Lakers' defense was much stronger than before.

When the Lakers scored again, Coach Malone called a timeout, replaced Murray, Millsap and others, and made new arrangements.

......

After the timeout, both teams changed their starting lineups.

When he came to the frontcourt, Jokic screened for Murray, then received the pass from Murray and passed it to Harris, assisting Harris to hit a three-pointer.

"Another assist."

"Jokic is a big problem at this point."

"Be careful..."

The home fans shouted onto the field.

Zhuang Yu also frowned slightly, came to the frontcourt and asked for the ball, then broke through, took two steps forward, suddenly pulled the ball back, and then leaned back to shoot.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

......

The ball changed and the Nuggets attacked.

Jokic and his teammates made a pick-and-roll and then cut to the basket. However, he did not rush to shoot after getting the ball. Instead, he made a fake shot.

He waited for Lopez to jump before he jumped, causing Lopez to foul. Fortunately, the ball did not go in, but he stood on the free throw line and made both free throws.

This is where Jokic is smart. He knows that the Lakers will focus on defending him, so it will not be easy for him to score, but he can still draw fouls.

Just over a minute later, Jokic once again caused Lopez to foul.

In just a short while, Lopez had already committed two fouls, including one in the first quarter, and now he has three fouls.

"Brook, you have to be careful about fouls." Zhuang Yu reminded.

Lopez Sr. agreed.

Here, Jokic signaled to his teammates, asking them to target Lopez and find a way to make Lopez foul.

However, in the next few minutes, the Nuggets players rushed to the inside one by one, heading towards Lopez.

Although Lopez tried to restrain his movements, he was still called for a foul as everyone was rushing towards him.

"I didn't commit any foul, I really didn't commit any foul..."

Lopez spread his hands in frustration and complained to the referee, "I just raised my hands, I didn't press them down."

It didn't work.

The whistle has already been blown and the penalty will not be changed.

"Requesting a substitution."

Coach Scott shook his head and requested a substitution, substituting Lopez, who already had four fouls.

Lopez walked off the court cursing, his face wrinkled. He sat down on the bench and muttered, "I didn't commit a foul, how could this ball be considered a foul?"

When Lopez was replaced and Zubac was brought on, the Lakers immediately fell into a disadvantage in the interior. Zubac obviously could not deal with Jokic.

Anderson was already at a disadvantage in the interior, and now Zubac is also at a disadvantage. Not only is he undefended, but he also lost a lot of rebounds.

This is a bit harmful to the Lakers.

It would be fine if it was just the frontcourt rebounds, but we lost a lot of backcourt rebounds as well.

For the Lakers it is a backcourt rebound, while for the Nuggets it is a frontcourt rebound, which means that the Nuggets will have one more offensive opportunity if they grab it.

So although the Lakers played well on offense and were as efficient as the Nuggets, and even higher than the Nuggets, they actually scored fewer points during this period than the Nuggets because the Nuggets had more offensive rounds.

Before we knew it, the first half came to an end.

There are more than ten seconds left in the quarter and the Nuggets have the ball.

They first wasted some time, and then started to attack when there were only 10 seconds left. Jokic still had the ball. He pretended to play one-on-one, attracted the defense, and then passed the ball to Murray, assisting Murray to make a jump shot.

The ball was scored and the first half ended.

At this time, the Nuggets had narrowed the gap to just 1 point.

"Damn, there's only one point left."

"The inside line suffered a lot. After Lopez went down, the inside line was completely at a disadvantage, allowing Jokic and Millsap to score a lot of points."

"Yeah, we were at a disadvantage in the paint, otherwise we would definitely be leading by more than just one point right now."

The home fans were discussing the game gloomily, feeling a little unhappy.

Some fans also complained about the referee, thinking that the referee was messing around and called three fouls on Lopez in one quarter, which was really too much.

This is the Lakers' home court.

Where is the home whistle?

Which side are you on? You actually support the Nuggets. Aren’t you afraid of being criticized?

......

The Nuggets players returned to the locker room.

Coach Malone smiled and praised the players, affirming their performance in this quarter. He said, "We will continue to play like this. Go to the inside more often, just go to Lopez. If he gets fouled again, the Lakers' inside line will basically be useless."

"Yes."

"I understand, don't worry."

A group of players responded excitedly, full of fighting spirit.

We were only one point behind at halftime. What did this small difference matter?

Moreover, the opponent's starting center had four fouls. The situation was clearly in our favor and we just needed to keep up the good work.

What about the defending champion?

They are the ones who did it!

......

The second half begins.

Entering the second half, both sides fielded their starting lineups.

As soon as they saw Lopez, several Nuggets players laughed, exchanged glances, and understood each other.

Lakers possession of the ball.

Holiday came to the frontcourt and called for a pick-and-roll, then passed the ball back to Lopez. After Lopez got the ball, he passed it to Zhuang Yu.

When Zhuang Yu took the ball to attract the defense, Lopez cut into the inside and Zhuang Yu made a ground pass to Lopez.

Lopez was very tough. He got the ball and hit it forward with force, then leaned towards Jokic, looking for a confrontation, and then scored the ball.

"nice shot."

"Well done."

The home fans cheered excitedly.

Lopez looked at Jokic and snorted unhappily.

However, when it came to the defensive end, Lopez was depressed to find that the Nuggets players were rushing towards him one by one, clearly targeting him.

First, Jokic took the ball in the low post and played one-on-one. The Lakers double-teamed him, but when he saw there was no chance, he passed the ball. Then Murray broke through and also headed for Lopez.

"Damn it, you all think I'm easy to bully, right?"

Big Lopez was annoyed and took a step forward with his hands raised high.

He also knew that he already had four fouls, so he didn't dare to take action rashly. He just raised his hands and didn't take action.

But in this way, the defensive effect was naturally compromised. Murray was sure that he would not dare to attack, so he was not afraid at all and shot towards Lopez.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

Now Lopez was depressed again.

In order to avoid being called for a foul, he could only restrain his movements, but this made his defense less effective and less intimidating, and even Murray was not afraid.

Seeing the Nuggets' intention, Zhuang Yu came to Lopez and reminded him again: "Be careful, the other team is going after you on purpose, trying to make you foul."

"I know." Lopez agreed.

Although they knew it, the Nuggets players attacked the inside again and again, constantly targeting Lopez.

What’s even more infuriating is that when they scored the goal, they did not forget to mock Lopez.

Even a clay figure has some temper.

Lopez couldn't help it after all. Seeing Murray coming towards him again, he chose to block the shot.

Snapped!

However, Murray fought back in the air and avoided the block, while Lopez's palm hit Murray's arm with a crisp sound.

"Oh no." Lopez's heart trembled.

Sure enough, the referee blew the whistle and called a hand-hitting foul, signaling Murray to stand on the free throw line and take two free throws.

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

"Why did you commit a foul again?"

"Lopez couldn't help himself. He committed four fouls. He shouldn't have done that."

"Yeah, that's five fouls now. There's still more than one quarter left in the game, so we have to replace him early..."

Including this foul, Lopez already has five fouls. If he has one more, he will be "six fouls graduated", and there is still more than one quarter left in the game.

Coach Scott shook his head in frustration and could only request a substitution, replacing the frustrated Lopez.

Without Lopez, the Lakers' inside line fell into a disadvantage again.

Although Lopez restrained his movements on the defensive end just now, he is always effective as long as he is on the court and can also help the team on the offensive end.

When he went down, the Lakers were affected on both offense and defense.

For the Nuggets, the gap in lineup has been narrowed.

Originally, they had no advantage over the Lakers in terms of lineup or matchup, but now at least they can gain the upper hand in the interior.

"We have the upper hand in the interior now. Nikola and Paul (Millsap) played well, but Lopez will come up again."

"If we want to maintain our advantage, we have to get rid of Lopez..."

Coach Malone muttered to himself.

Lopez has already committed five fouls, so the next step is to find a way to make him foul out.

This way, the Nuggets will be able to continue to maintain their advantage in the interior, and it will also be a blow to the morale of the Lakers.

Of course, the Lakers will definitely not play Lopez again in this quarter and can only wait until the fourth quarter.