Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

The day's training is over.

Coach Scott's mouth was almost crooked with laughter.

He was already very satisfied with the team's current lineup, and now that Zhuang Yu has returned and seems to fit in well with Holiday and Korver, he is even happier.

"Come all over."

Coach Scott called out to the players.

When the players came up to him, he swept his eyes over the group of players one by one.

Zhuang Yu, Lopez, Holiday, Korver, Anderson, Deron, Clarkson, Gerald Green, Nance Jr., McCaw, Tyreke Evans, Nick Young, Kuzma, Zubac, Jodie Meeks, Dedmon, Edmond Sumner.

This is the Lakers' current lineup.

Last season's Brown, Wright, Davis, Hill, Johnson and others have all left, and some new players have appeared, but this replacement is obviously beneficial to the Lakers, making the Lakers stronger and giving Coach Scott more confidence.

"Everyone."

Coach Scott said: "In the past three seasons, we have made it to the playoffs and the finals once, but we have not been able to win the championship. This season will start soon, and this time we will make a comeback. I believe that our season will be better than last season."

"This time, we have only one goal, and that is to win the championship."

When he won the championship, Coach Scott's eyes became extremely sharp, and his whole temperament was like a sword drawn from its sheath, with its edge fully revealed.

The players were all shocked and felt their blood becoming hot and about to boil.

Winning the championship is the dream of every NBA player!

Zhuang Yu shouted loudly: "Win the championship."

All of a sudden, the players echoed and shouted loudly: "Win the championship, win the championship..."

The huge cheers echoed in the stadium for a long time.

......

In the following days, Coach Scott and the coaching staff reviewed the lineup and determined the team's starting lineup, which was Zhuang Yu, Holiday, Korver, Anderson, and Lopez.

And, they also designed some new tactics.

In fact, it is not a newly designed tactic. The coaching staff has been studying it for a long time. It’s just that Zhuang Yu has not returned to the team, so there is no way to practice and verify it.

Now that Zhuang Yu is back, they took out the tactics designed for the new starting lineup and let the players practice them.

......

Before we knew it, October was here.

On October 1, the Lakers ushered in the 2017-18 NBA preseason.

The Lakers have a total of 6 games in the preseason, and this is the first one, against the Timberwolves.

This game was played at the Lakers' home court. Although it was only a preseason game, there were still a lot of fans in the stands. The stands were already crowded early on, and it was very lively.

At 6:30 in the evening, players from both sides arrived.

The visiting team came out first.

The Timberwolves have changed a lot this season. They first reached a deal with the Bulls, sending Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 2017 pick in the first round of 7 to get Jimmy Butler and the No. 2017 pick in the first round of 16.

Subsequently, the Timberwolves signed Taj Gibson for 2 years and 2800 million, Jeff Teague for 3 years and 5700 million, Jamal Crawford for 2 years and 890 million, and sent Ricky Rubio to the Utah Jazz in exchange for a first-round pick in 2018...

After a series of operations, the Timberwolves' lineup has changed a lot. Now it is centered around Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins, plus Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson. This is their starting lineup.

Of course, there are some changes in the substitute lineup, but relatively speaking the changes are not that big.

A group of Timberwolves players came onto the court and were greeted with boos from Lakers fans. Fortunately, it was just a preseason game, so the boos were not too loud.

However, compared with the cheers when the Lakers players came out later, the Timberwolves players felt insulted. Why were the boos against us so small, while the cheers for the home team players were so loud? Don’t we even have the qualifications to be booed by you?

A group of Lakers players came on the stage one after another, causing the audience to boil and the boos became louder and louder.

Several new players, including Jrue Holiday, Kyle Korver, and McCaw, also received warm cheers from the fans.

Of course, the cheers reached their peak when Zhuang Yu appeared on stage.

Last season, Zhuang Yu won the regular season scoring title, was named the best defensive player, was selected to the All-Star team, was selected to the All-NBA First Team, the All-Defensive First Team... With a series of honors, he has become one of the top ten or even top five players in the league. He is the new king of the Lakers after Kobe's retirement and a favorite among fans.

It took a long time before the cheers died down.

Players from both teams began to warm up and were sizing each other up, but there was no tension or grudge between the two sides, and it was just a preseason game.

......

After warming up, the game is about to begin.

On the Lakers side, Coach Scott called the players together and made some arrangements: "The opponent has a regular lineup, so we have to play faster and counterattack more quickly. After reaching the frontcourt, we must also execute the offense as soon as possible and try not to fall into positional warfare."

"We must follow our tactics on offense and execute them."

"On the defensive end we play man-to-man and let the other side play one-on-one."

"Zhuang, Jimmy Butler is in your hands."

"Anderson, if the opponent gives the ball to Wiggins and lets him play one-on-one, you have to help Korver with defense."

Several people agreed.

......

After some preparation, the competition officially began.

Players from both sides come to the field.

The Lakers team includes Zhuang Yu, Holiday, Korver, Anderson, and Lopez.

The Timberwolves' starting lineup is Teague, Butler, Wiggins, Gibson and Towns.

First there was a jump ball. Lopez and Towns jumped almost at the same time, but Towns' bounce was obviously better. He touched the basketball first and hit the ball to the backcourt. Teague controlled the basketball and began to advance. After reaching the frontcourt, he first glanced at the Lakers' defense. Seeing that the Lakers were playing man-to-man defense, he immediately made a plan and gestured to his teammates.

Towns went forward for a screen, and Teague took the opportunity to move to the left, trying to get rid of Holiday's defense, but Holiday had already bypassed the screener and caught up with Teague in the first time.

Meanwhile, other Timberwolves players were also on the move.

Gibson and Butler moved across the court, and he set a screen for Butler. The two used to be teammates on the Bulls, and they had a tacit understanding with each other.

Butler used the screen to get rid of the ball outside the three-point line.

However, the Lakers' delay was very fast. Anderson quickly left Gibson and rushed in front of Butler, with one hand raised and the other hand at his side, guarding against Butler's shot as soon as he caught the ball.

"The defense switch is so quick." Butler raised his eyebrows slightly and did not attack immediately.

And during this delay, Zhuang Yu had already rushed over, taking Anderson's position and standing in front of Butler again.

Butler took a look at the basket, then slapped the ball to his side and chose to play one-on-one, because the others had helped him pull away the defenders on this side, leaving enough space for a one-on-one.

He first took a step to the left, but was unable to get past Zhuang Yu. He immediately dribbled the ball between his legs to change direction, lowered his right shoulder, and exerted force to break through to the right. His speed was not very fast, and he still could not get past Zhuang Yu.

However, Butler did not expect to be able to pass Zhuang Yu directly. After all, Zhuang Yu was the best defensive player. He wanted to mobilize Zhuang Yu's footsteps. At this time, Zhuang Yu had just adjusted his center of gravity, and Butler leaned towards Zhuang Yu and took the initiative to confront him physically.

Then he took a step back and quickly shot.

"Shh!"

With a slight sound, the ball hit the target.

There was a sudden cheer from the Timberwolves bench.

Zhuang Yu smiled indifferently. It was just a ball. He quickly ran to the frontcourt. When Holiday pushed the ball to the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu ran back to ask for the ball.

It was also Butler who was defending Zhuang Yu at this time. He opened his arms, bent over, stared at Zhuang Yu with a focused expression.

As the former star player of the Bulls, Butler has averaged 20+ points per game in the past three seasons, and has been selected to the All-Star team for three consecutive years, and has been selected to the All-Defensive Second Team for three consecutive years. He is an All-Star player with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

However, when facing Zhuang Yu, he still felt a little unsure.

"Pull away."

Zhuang Yu made a gesture, signaling his teammates to move the players apart. He did not call for a pick-and-roll, but instead wanted to play Butler one-on-one.

In the audience, the fans suddenly became excited.

"Zhuang is going to play solo."

"Butler just scored a goal under Zhuang Yu's defense. Zhuang Yu must have returned the favor. I wonder if it was a three-pointer or a two-pointer..."

Under the gaze of the fans, Zhuang Yu suddenly started, hit the ball to the right, and instantly passed Butler by half a body length.

Butler's heart trembled.

This was not the first time he had played against Zhuang Yu. Although they had not met in the playoffs, they had played against each other more than once or twice in the regular season. He was no stranger to Zhuang Yu, but at this moment, the speed that Zhuang Yu had unleashed still frightened him.

So fast, so fast!

Although he was well prepared and had judged that Zhuang Yu would break through from the right side, when Zhuang Yu burst into speed, Butler knew it would be difficult for him to get in position first.

There was simply no time.

As an excellent defensive player, Butler's first reaction was to retreat and turn sideways to the left (Zhuang Yu was on the right and he was on the left) to avoid being completely passed by Zhuang Yu.

But just as he turned sideways, Zhuang Yu suddenly stepped on the brakes, and it only took a split second to go from acceleration to stationary.

"Not good." Butler said inwardly.

Towns in the interior is ready to provide backup defense.

At this time, Zhuang Yu only needed to change direction to pass Butler, but he didn't. Instead, he tapped his toes on the floor and stepped back for a three-pointer...