Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

As December approaches, the Lakers embark on a new journey.

On December 12, the Lakers traveled to challenge the Denver Nuggets.

This season, the Nuggets signed All-Star player Paul Millsap for 3 million over three years. They originally hoped that with the addition of such an All-Star player, and the continued growth of several young players in the team, such as Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Gary Harrison, the team would have a chance to make the playoffs.

But after 20 games, the Nuggets ranked only tenth in the Western Conference, behind the ninth-placed Spurs, which is similar to last season.

In other words, the Nuggets brought in an All-Star player, but their record did not improve.

Of course, it is also due to injuries to a certain extent.

Not long after joining the Nuggets, Millsap suffered an injury, and the team's new core center Nikola Jokic was also troubled by injuries and missed some games. In the past 20 games, the Nuggets have almost never put together a complete lineup, so it is not surprising that the record is not satisfactory.

For example, in today's game, Jokic and Millsap were both absent. The two sat on the sidelines in suits and could only act as cheerleaders to cheer for their teammates.

Without two key players, the Nuggets can only rely on Jamal Murray and Gary Harrison to carry the banner, but they are obviously far inferior to the Lakers.

After only a few minutes of play, the score gap between the two sides widened to ten points.

After that, Murray broke out and scored consecutively, helping the Nuggets narrow the gap to single digits, but soon the Lakers launched a wave of shock waves and widened the gap again...

Until the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led by 10 points.

After entering the second quarter, the Lakers continued to lead, and the difference between the two sides remained at around ten points. By the third quarter, the gap had even widened to as much as 17 points.

Watching the Lakers leading all the way and playing effortlessly, Jokic scratched his cheek, feeling somewhat depressed.

Millsap, who was sitting next to him, had even more complicated feelings.

The Lakers recruited him during the offseason and were even willing to offer him a contract that would qualify him as an All-Star player, but he chose to join the Nuggets instead.

Now the Nuggets are only ranked tenth in the Western Conference, while the Lakers are third in the Western Conference... Comparing the two, Millsap can't help but wonder if his choice was wrong?

If I join the Lakers, will I...

Of course, there aren’t so many ifs, and time won’t go back.

......

Soon, the game came to an end.

At this time, the Lakers were still leading by 13 points. The Nuggets attempted a final counterattack, but failed.

Murray and Harris tried three-pointers respectively, but both failed under the defense of Holiday and Zhuang Yu, and the game lost its suspense.

In the end, at the end of the game, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 117:103 and won another victory.

In this game, Zhuang Yu scored 27 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. After handing over the organizational task to Holiday and further dividing the work, Zhuang Yu's average assists per game decreased, but this also allowed him to focus more on other aspects, such as defense and rebounding.

Although his personal average assists per game has decreased, his average points and average rebounds per game have increased. Today's game saw him score more than 1 points and get rebounds, which is not the first time.

In addition to Zhuang Yu, Holiday, Lopez, Anderson, Clarkson and others also performed very well. It can be said that they defeated their opponents easily without any bloodshed.

The best performer on the Nuggets was Jamal Murray, who scored 26 points, plus 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Harris scored 19 points, while the performances of others were a bit poor.

After the game, the Lakers boarded the plane overnight and returned to Los Angeles, where they will face a back-to-back game tomorrow.

......

On the plane, the players weren't talking about the game that had just ended.

For them, beating the Nuggets is not worth mentioning and there is nothing to discuss. What they care about is the next game and the results of the selection of the best players in the East and West in November.

November has passed, and the selection of the Eastern and Western Conference Player of the Month will soon be announced.

"In the East, it should be LeBron James. After Irving left, he had to take on more responsibilities. His statistics have improved significantly compared to the past two seasons."

"I don't think James wants this to happen. With his style, he usually plays conservatively in the regular season and only goes all out in the playoffs. But given the current situation of the Cavaliers, if he plays conservatively in the regular season, it's hard to say whether the Cavaliers can make the playoffs."

"What about us in the west?"

"That must be Zhuang Yu. Last month, Zhuang Yu averaged 30+8+5 per game. He must be named Player of the Month."

"Harden's performance was also outstanding, and the Rockets' record was too good."

Zhuang Yu just listened to his teammates' discussion and did not participate.

Not to mention the Eastern Conference, the competition in the Western Conference can be said to be very fierce. Westbrook averaged a triple-double, which is unique in the league.

Harden averaged 31.5 points, 9.8 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game, and the Rockets successfully surpassed the Warriors to become first in the Western Conference.

Of course, Zhuang Yu's performance was also outstanding.

In the past month, Zhuang Yu averaged 31.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. In addition, he averaged 2.6 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. The Lakers' record was also very stable, remaining in third place in the Western Conference.

One averages a triple-double, two average 30+ points, all in the Western Conference, making the selection of the "Western Conference Player of the Month" confusing.

At the same time, Zhuang Yu, Harden and Westbrook also occupied the top three places in the "Regular Season MVP" list.

Currently, Harden ranks first, Zhuang Yu ranks second, and Westbrook ranks third.

This year's "Player of the Month" is also considered by some to be a sign of the times. If Zhuang Yu or Westbrook can win the Player of the Month award, they will be able to surpass their opponents on the MVP list - although it is only a temporary ranking, it is still talked about by fans.

......

The next morning, the NBA officially announced the results of the November "Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month" selection.

There was no suspense in the Eastern Conference, as the Player of the Month was LeBron James of the Cavaliers.

In the Western Conference, the Player of the Month award went to James Harden of the Rockets.

"It really is......"

Zhuang Yu was not surprised to see this result.

After all, the Rockets' record last month was so good that they surpassed the Warriors to become first in the Western Conference, which was unexpectedly good.

Harden's performance was also exceptional, averaging 31.5 points, 9.8 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game, almost getting a double-double of 30+10. He was slightly higher in scoring than Zhuang Yu, and had much more assists. Only his rebounding was inferior to Zhuang Yu, but the Rockets' record was better than the Lakers.

So Zhuang Yu was mentally prepared to lose to Harden.

Coincidentally, the Lakers are at home tonight, and their back-to-back opponent is the Rockets...