Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

On April 4, the Rockets vs. Clippers series entered a decisive seventh game.

在经历48分钟的厮杀之后，火箭队以108：103击败快船队，大比分4：3晋级西部半决赛。

This is the last game of the first round of the playoffs and the games of other teams have already ended.

In the West, the Lakers, Warriors, and Spurs have advanced one after another, and with the Rockets, the semi-final roster is complete.

The games in the Eastern Conference looked tense and difficult to decide, but in the end, no team went to a game seven. The Celtics beat the Bulls 4:2, the Wizards beat the Hawks 4:2, and the Raptors beat the Bucks 4:2. The black seventh and black eighth that the fans expected did not appear, and there was not even any upset. In the end, the top four teams in the Eastern Conference all advanced to the second round.

In May, the second round of the playoffs officially kicked off.

On May 5, the Lakers went on the road to face the Spurs in the first game of the series.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the players all came to the court. After some warm-up, the players from both sides returned to the sidelines and the game was about to begin.

On the Spurs side, Popovich spread out the tactical board and said to the players: "Kawhi should be in charge of defense. Kawhi, you have to focus on limiting his shooting. Get closer and give him physical confrontation. You have the advantage of height and wingspan, so defend better and don't let him shoot easily."

After that, he looked at the other players and said, "If the opponent sets a pick-and-roll or uses a screen to get away, you must rush over to delay Zhuang and prevent him from shooting. He is also very good at playing without the ball, so we must keep an eye on him at all times."

"Paul (Gasol), LaMarcus (Aldridge), you two should pay attention to the defense and go up quickly."

"Once Zhuang breaks through, it will be up to you to defend."

"It's the same point. Don't let him shoot. It's better to let him attack the basket than to let him shoot. Do you understand?"

"Also, we need to protect the rebounds. We have the advantage inside, so we must protect the rebounds. Otherwise, if the opponent's big man and four small players counterattack, we will be at a disadvantage."

"As for the offensive end, you two must also play resolutely, but don't play too simply, play in and out, don't be anxious, play steadily."

After some arrangements, Popovich reminded again: "Remember, the focus is to defend Zhuang, and then Lopez. We don't need to double-team, just one-on-one. My requirement is not to completely defend one of them, but to find a way to reduce their efficiency, or limit their shots, so that they can pass the ball to other Lakers players."

"That's it. Go ahead."

A group of players all agreed.

......

The Lakers here.

Coach Scott said with a serious expression: "We have to play faster, Deron, you have to control the rhythm. We can't fight a positional battle with the opponent, we have to fight more counterattacks. The combination of Gasol and Aldridge is indeed very strong, but the speed is a disadvantage."

"Also, the opponent will definitely focus on defending Zhuang and Lopez. You must take decisive shots when you have the chance, and you must also run actively. Everyone must run, understand?"

Zhuang Yu and others responded in unison.

Afterwards, Coach Scott made some arrangements for defense, mainly emphasizing help defense. The Lakers' one big and four small players are at a disadvantage in terms of height, especially in the interior. So when the opponent's interior players get the ball, they must help defend immediately and not give the opponent a one-on-one low-post single.

After some arrangements, Coach Scott waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

......

Players from both sides came to the court and the game officially started.

First there was a jump ball, Gasol and Lopez jumped up, Gasol touched the basketball first and hit the ball to the backcourt, and Parker advanced with the ball.

The Spurs' starting lineup is Gasol, Aldridge, Leonard, Danny Green and Parker.

The Lakers still have one big and four small players, Lopez, Anderson, Gerald Green, Zhuang Yu, and Deron.

Both sides were very clear about each other's strengths and weaknesses, so when they came to the frontcourt, Parker made a gesture, Gasol moved forward to screen, Parker broke through and passed the ball to Leonard, and as soon as Leonard got the ball, Zhuang Yu stuck to him, and the two faced each other directly.

However, Leonard did not play by himself. Instead, he walked to the right, passed the ball to Danny Green, and fell to the right side outside the 30-degree three-point line.

Danny Green walked to the left, then made a ground pass to Aldridge who was asking for a low post shot...

The ball passed through the hands of Parker, Leonard, and Danny Green before finally being given to Aldridge, but in fact, all three passes were just to pull the defenders away to create a single-player opportunity for Aldridge.

From the beginning, the Spurs' goal was to play inside.

Aldridge got the ball and made a fake shot. Anderson didn't fall for it, and Aldridge didn't care. He immediately pushed the ball forward, dribbled one step, turned half-way, and played a back-to-the-basket singles, using his back to push Anderson towards the basket.

Anderson was somewhat helpless. He was still lacking in height and weight, and he was not an inside player to begin with, so he really couldn't hold on.

The Lakers quickly came up to assist in defense.

"really......"

Aldridge smiled secretly, he was mentally prepared, and immediately made a ground pass to Danny Green.

At this time, Danny Green was facing Gerald Green, who was helping Anderson with defense just now. However, the Spurs were well prepared. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Gerald Green went to help defend, Danny Green cut along the middle, received the pass from Aldridge and made a layup.

The score is 2:0.

"nice shot."

“That was a great pass.”

In the audience, the home fans cheered loudly.

The Lakers attacked. After Deron came to the frontcourt, he faced Parker. While protecting the ball, he looked at Zhuang Yu. Leonard was sticking to Zhuang Yu. Zhuang Yu made a gesture to Deron. Deron understood and directly singled out Parker, dribbled between his legs, and then used his weight to squeeze forward.

The Lakers have an advantage in this matchup. Although he has long passed his prime, the same is true for Parker.

Both of them were All-Star guards and are over 30 years old, but Deron is two years younger than Parker and has a bigger advantage in size, so he squeezed Parker out of the way.

Behind, Gasol provided backup defense.

Deron passed the ball to Lopez. Just as Lopez grabbed the ball and was about to shoot, a big hand appeared behind him. It was Aldridge.

This made Lopez's heart skip a beat. He took the ball back and passed it to Anderson. Anderson did not shoot the ball but continued to look for someone, wanting to find Zhuang Yu... After a few times, there was not much time left for the offense, and finally Anderson had to shoot by himself.

boom!

There was a muffled sound, iron struck.

Coach Scott frowned on the sidelines: "We are at a disadvantage in the interior. Anderson's shooting is not stable. Even if there is an opportunity, he can't punish the opponent. Moreover, our offensive rhythm is not fast enough."