Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Soon, the second half begins.

The Celtics still double-teamed Zhuang Yu, but the biggest change was not in defense, but in offense.

The Celtics' offense in the first half was mainly based on Irving, who scored a lot of points, but was not as good as Zhuang Yu in terms of both the number of points and efficiency. He also took up too much of the ball, leaving other players on the team, such as Brown, Tatum, and Horford, as spectators.

This is obviously not the most reasonable way to play, nor is it the way the Celtics should play.

This season, Irving averaged 24 points per game, making him the Celtics' leading scorer and the only player on the team to score 20+ points.

But besides him, the Celtics have seven other players averaging double-digit points per game.

They are Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, Greg Monroe, and Marcus Smart.

From this we can see that the Celtics are actually a very balanced team with many players who can score, and their offense does not rely on Irving.

For the Celtics, the best offense is to play in multiple places.

They did not achieve such an effect in the first half. The scoring mainly relied on Irving, and the role of others was weakened.

So in the second half, Coach Stevens made adjustments.

Irving reduced his individual singles, increased passing, and consciously reduced his possession of the ball, allowing his teammates to attack and motivate them.

The effect is obvious to all. In the second half, the Celtics' offense improved significantly, and Tatum and Horford both performed well on the offensive end.

Only Brown was obviously in trouble facing Zhuang Yu's defense.

Although the Celtics still couldn't defend against the Lakers' offense, their own offense improved and they were able to narrow the gap a little, back to a dozen points.

However, it is extremely difficult to further narrow the score.

Whenever the Celtics wanted to gain momentum, there was always someone on the Lakers side who could step up and cut off their counterattack momentum.

After a few rounds of fighting, by the end of the third quarter, the Celtics were still trailing by more than ten points.

In the final quarter, with a lead of more than ten points, it was impossible for the Lakers to allow the Celtics to turn the tables.

The two sides exchanged blows, and the score difference always remained above 10 points.

Until the end of the game, the Lakers still led by 13 points.

"The Celtics are still too young."

"After all, their lineup has just been formed and is far from mature."

"I don't understand why Irving wants to go to the Celtics. Although the Celtics have great potential, other than Horford, the others obviously need time to grow. For a team like this, even if they have a good regular season record, they don't have much hope of winning the championship."

"Don't worry about whether they can win the championship or not. At least in this team, Irving is the absolute leader. Isn't this what he wants?"

"Well, Irving is indeed the boss of the Celtics, but he lost the chance to compete for the championship because of this. Is it a gain or a loss? Moreover, I think Brown and Tatum are both arrogant people. They are very talented and ambitious. When they grow up in two years, I am afraid they may not be convinced by Irving..."

Amid the fans' discussions, the Celtics players walked into the player tunnel, leaving the stage to the Lakers.

A group of Lakers players surrounded Zhuang Yu, like stars surrounding the moon.

Today, Zhuang Yu scored 1 points in the first quarter and 19 points in the whole game, plus 44 rebounds and 6 assists, which is a gorgeous statistic.

You know, since the All-Star voting began, Zhuang Yu has rarely played like he did today.

Today's 44 points seemed like a silent declaration - the scoring champion is back!

......

On the second day, January 2, the NBA officially announced the selection results of the 1 NBA All-Star reserve lineup.

The starting lineup has already been announced, and the substitute lineup has naturally become the focus of people's attention.

As soon as this list came out, it immediately aroused heated discussion among fans.

"Drummond didn't make the bench?"

"Is this weird? Curry and Durant both made the starting lineup, and Klay Thompson also made the bench. The Warriors are great, but isn't it a bit too much for one team to take up four spots? The Rockets are still No. 4 in the Western Conference, but only Harden made the All-Star team, and he was on the bench."

"Exactly. Chris Paul didn't even make the bench. Logically, as the team with the best record in the Western Conference, they should have at least two players selected for the All-Star Game. Now there is only one, Harden. It would be too much if the Warriors took up four spots."

"The Lakers only have two, and Jrue Holiday couldn't make it..."

"What does it matter if Holiday didn't make the bench? Paul George and Carmelo Anthony didn't make the bench either. They were all selected to the All-Star team in the past few seasons."

"It's not that they are not strong enough, they just shouldn't go to the Thunder. With the Thunder's record, it's already good enough to have one player selected for the All-Star Game."

"Performance? The Jazz have a pretty good record, ranking sixth in the Western Conference, but none of them made the All-Star team..."

The All-Star reserves selected for the Western Conference are Klay Thompson of the Warriors, Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves, Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers, James Harden of the Rockets, Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, and DeMarcus Cousins ​​of the Pelicans.

Players like Chris Paul of the Rockets, Draymond Green of the Warriors, LaMarcus Aldridge of the Spurs, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony of the Thunder... none of them were selected as All-Star reserves, which caused dissatisfaction among some fans.

Lakers fans were also unhappy because Holiday was not selected as an All-Star reserve.

Previously, Holiday was ranked fifth among Western Conference backcourt players in the All-Star voting. He has performed very well over the past period of time. In terms of personal performance and team record, he is fully qualified to be selected as an All-Star reserve.

In the end, I was not selected.

As for the Eastern Conference All-Star reserves, they include Kristaps Porzingis of the Knicks, Kevin Love of the Cavaliers, John Wall and Bradley Beal of the Wizards, Al Horford of the Celtics, Victor Oladipo of the Pacers, and Kyle Lowry of the Raptors.

Although some players from the Eastern Conference were not selected, such as Kemba Walker of the Hornets and Chris Middleton of the Bucks, both of them averaged more than 20 points per game, but were not selected into the star reserve lineup, which is a bit regrettable.

However, the Hornets' record is indeed poor, and the Bucks already have a player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, selected for the All-Star Game, so there is not much controversy.

......

Los Angeles.

A group of players gathered in the training hall.

Today's training has not started yet, but the players have arrived early.

Holiday arrived neither early nor late, about the same as usual, but he noticed something strange as soon as he walked into the training hall.

His teammates surrounded him, which scared Holiday. Before he could react, Zhuang Yu gave him a hug and comforted him, "It's okay, it's just bad luck this time. You will definitely be able to make the All-Star team next year."

Afterwards, teammates also spoke up to comfort Holiday.

This warmed Holiday's heart, and he smiled and said, "Thank you, brothers. But I'm not that fragile. I just didn't make the All-Star team. George, Anthony, Aldridge all had better stats than me, but they didn't make it either. I can accept that."

Seeing Holiday being so free and easy, Zhuang Yu and Lopez looked at each other and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that they were worrying too much.

Holiday was a little disappointed about not being selected for the All-Star team, but he was not completely confused. As he said, there were many players in the Western Conference whose personal statistics were actually better than his, but they still failed to be selected as All-Star reserve team, right?

.....

Although he was not selected as an All-Star reserve, Holiday had a good mentality and was not affected by it. He still performed well in the game.

After defeating the Celtics, the Lakers faced the Bulls, Raptors and Magic in succession.

The Lakers won all three games.

With the blessing of a wave of consecutive victories, the Lakers' record finally surpassed the Warriors and became the second in the Western Conference, second only to the Rockets.

"Great."

"The Lakers have been playing really well recently. I didn't expect they could actually surpass the Warriors."

"It's a pity that he came a little late. If it was earlier, Holiday might have been selected as an All-Star reserve based on the team's outstanding record."

"yes......"

The Lakers' record during this period is even better than before the All-Star voting. It is not surprising that they surpassed the Warriors, it just came a little late.

As we all know, in addition to the player's personal data and performance, the team's record is also crucial for being selected into the All-Star team.

If the Lakers surpass the Warriors and become second in the Western Conference before the All-Star reserve lineup is announced, Holiday might make the All-Star team.

However, at this time, in a game of the Pelicans, DeMarcus Cousins ​​suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon and announced that he would withdraw from the All-Star Game.

For a moment, the players who were not selected for the All-Star Game were excited.

This means that one spot is vacated and they all have the opportunity to be substitutes.

However, this quota is not decided by the fans, players, NBA coaches, or the media, but is designated by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

Soon, the NBA officially announced that Lakers' Jrue Holiday would replace Cousins ​​and be selected into the Western Conference All-Star team, designated by Commissioner Adam Silver.

Naturally, some people are happy and some are sad.

Lakers fans, Holiday's fans are so happy.

As for some other players, their fans were very depressed. They thought they had a chance, but they were still not selected.

Jrue Holiday, why does he have the right?

Of course, it is due to Holiday's outstanding performance this season and the Lakers' outstanding record.

......

"Haha, congratulations."

"Congratulations, Zhu."

Here, teammates congratulated Holiday one after another.

Holiday responded one by one, his face full of uncontrollable joy, his mouth almost grinning from ear to ear.

Zhuang Yu was also very happy for Holiday. Holiday was lucky. He thought the team was a little late to surpass the Warriors, but he didn't expect Cousins ​​to be injured at this time. This gave Holiday the opportunity to successfully fill in the position and enter the All-Star game.

When luck comes, nothing can stop it.

Now the Lakers have three players selected for the All-Star Game, including two starters, which is not inferior to the Warriors at all, which is quite an impressive performance.