Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Snapped."

Capela hit the ball to the backcourt, and after Paul controlled the basketball, he began to advance slowly, and the Rockets took the lead in launching the attack.

The game officially begins.

After coming to the frontcourt, Paul did not pass the ball to Harden immediately.

The Rockets' strategy today is to play good offense, but this obviously cannot be put on Harden alone. He scored 30+ in the last game, but you can't expect him to score 40+ or ​​even 50+ in this game, right?

So how to improve the Rockets' offense?

Since Harden was playing well, we had to start with other players, so Paul didn't rush to give the ball to Harden, but organized the offense first, created opportunities for other players, and let other players find their form first.

After several passes, the ball finally landed in the hands of Ryan Anderson.

There were some changes in the Rockets' starting lineup in this game. PG Tucker did not start, but was replaced by Ryan Anderson. This was to deal with the situation when Capela went up to defend the inside after Zhuang Yu broke through, leaving a man missing.

After all, Ryan Anderson has good height.

After getting the ball, Ryan Anderson was very decisive. He shot a three-pointer as soon as he received the ball. He has good three-point shooting ability. He knew he had it after he shot the ball.

Sure enough, with a swish sound, the basketball went through the net.

The score was 3:0, with the Rockets taking the lead.

Lakers offense.

After arriving at the frontcourt, Holiday directly gave the ball to Zhuang Yu. Zhuang Yu played against Ariza alone and chose to break through in a change of direction, attracting Capela to come up for defense. Then Zhuang Yu passed the ball to Lopez, and Ryan Anderson quickly went up to switch defense.

Lopez was not in a hurry either. He first held the basketball and waited for the others to move away, then he played against Ryan Anderson, took two steps back, and then turned around and hooked the ball.

Swish!

Also enter.

In the next few rounds, both sides went back and forth and played very well on the offensive end. For every goal the Rockets scored, the Lakers could also return one, so the game was evenly matched.

"Sure enough, even if we replaced Tucker with Ryan Anderson, we still couldn't gain any advantage on the defensive end. It was difficult to defend the Lakers' offense because they had too many scoring points."

Coach D'Antoni frowned slightly and whispered to himself: "We still have to compete with the opponent in offense."

At this time the score was 9:8, with the Rockets leading by 1 point.

On the Lakers side, Coach Scott stood up and walked to the sidelines, made a gesture to the court, and Zhuang Yu nodded to show that he understood.

In the last few rounds, the Rockets' offensive efficiency was very high. This is something the Lakers need to pay attention to and they need to do a good job of defense.

Coach Scott emphasized three points today.

One is defense, especially defense against Harden.

The second is to limit the Rockets' three-point shots. Switching defense and making up for the deficit must be quick, so as not to give the opponent an easy chance to shoot three-pointers.

The third is to seize the opportunity during rotation time. The Lakers have an advantage in the rotation lineup and must make good use of it to gain the advantage during rotation time as much as possible.

What we need to focus on now is the first one, we must do a good job of defense.

After arriving at the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu made a gesture to his teammates, made a circle along the inside line, and with the help of his teammates' screens and pick-and-rolls, returned to the three-point line to receive the ball.

Holiday immediately passed the ball, Zhuang Yu grabbed the basketball and made a fake shot, then broke through again, attracted the defense and passed the ball to Kyle Anderson who was cutting to the right, and Kyle Anderson made a layup.

The score became 10:9.

On the defensive end, Zhuang Yu gestured to his teammates and shouted, "Switch quickly and increase the defensive intensity."

Finally, he shouted again: "No need to help defend or double-team for now."

Coach Scott's original plan was to defend Harden, but the court is like a battlefield, with ever-changing situations. Today, the Rockets did not start with Harden, so there was no need to focus on defending Harden or even use double-teaming.

Zhuang Yu made a prompt decision and asked his teammates to strengthen the defense on other Rockets players and leave Harden to himself.

"Yes."

"receive."

Holiday and others responded and pounced on their opponents.

In an instant, the Rockets players felt the increased defensive pressure.

Paul frowned slightly, but he was not panicked. He was very experienced and had been through everything. He was still organizing the attack and looking for opportunities. When he saw Ryan Anderson cutting along the baseline, he immediately made a ground pass to him.

boom!

However, Ryan Anderson failed to score this goal. Kyle Anderson quickly assisted in defense and disrupted Ryan Anderson's attack.

Strictly speaking, Ryan Anderson is not a real inside player. He is 208 cm tall, but his playing style is more like a forward.

The same goes for Kyle Anderson, who is 206 cm tall, but plays like a small forward. Ryan Anderson's advantage is his excellent outside shooting, while Kyle Anderson's advantage is his excellent organizational skills and defense.

The two are evenly matched.

"Damn it." Ryan Anderson was a little annoyed.

This was a good opportunity, but he failed to score. He quickly turned around and retreated to his own half.

At the same time, the Lakers have launched a quick counterattack.

Several players were very fast and reached the front court in the blink of an eye.

Holiday passed the ball to Zhuang Yu, who did not hesitate to shoot a three-pointer from the three-point line.

Come in too!

"Be careful."

"Don't let him shoot the three-pointer..."

In the audience, home fans shouted and reminded the Rockets players to be careful of Zhuang Yu's three-pointer.

The Rockets naturally did not dare to be negligent. They strengthened their defense against Zhuang Yu, especially the three-pointer defense.

In the next few rounds, Zhuang Yu did not get a good three-point opportunity, but the Rockets were also targeted by the Lakers' defense on the offensive end and were unable to find a good three-point opportunity. The offensive efficiency of role players began to decline.

In this situation, the ball can only be given to Harden, allowing Harden to solve the problem with his own personal ability.

Harden took on the challenge and played very decisively. He pretended to break through Zhuang Yu's defense, took a series of crossover steps, and then suddenly retreated and shot a three-pointer.

This series of actions was very smooth, and it was a difficult fadeaway three-pointer, which avoided Zhuang Yu's block and hit the target steadily.

Just turning around, Zhuang Yu retaliated.

He first ran back and then made a fake shot outside the three-point line. Then he broke through, rushed into the paint and jumped up against Capela's defense, changed hands in the air, and finally grabbed the basketball with his left hand and threw it lightly. The basketball spun and fell into the net...

......

In a blink of an eye, the first quarter was halfway through.

During these few minutes, both teams played very well on the offensive end, but what made Coach D'Antoni frown was that although the Rockets scored a lot of goals, except for the first two minutes, they did not make any three-pointers afterwards.

This obviously doesn't work.

If they want to win today, they have to rely on offense, and if they want to overwhelm the Lakers on offense, they must have enough three-pointers.

Otherwise, they will not be able to beat the Lakers if they only rely on scoring two points at a time, after all, the Lakers have Lopez in the interior.

It's a very simple truth that a team with an inside advantage prefers to play positional warfare, trying to push the ball inside and score close to the basket because it is more efficient that way.

It is not uncommon for an outstanding inside player to hit more than 60% of his shots in a game.

But even for an equally outstanding outside player, being able to hit 50% in a game is already very good.

Therefore, when the inside line has the advantage, you have to play inside, give full play to the advantage and improve the offensive efficiency.

And when the outside line has the advantage, you have to shoot more from the outside.

The Rockets obviously do not have an advantage in the interior, so if they want to play a positional battle with the Lakers and play two points at a time, they will definitely suffer. They must have three-pointers, and as a three-point team, only by shooting three-pointers can they play their own offense.

......

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach D'Antoni called a timeout.

Even though the score was tied at this time, he still called a timeout. He couldn't just focus on the present. As the team's head coach, he had to be foresighted about the game and plan ahead.

When several players came off the court, Coach D'Antoni spread out the tactical board and arranged several tactics, all of which were three-point tactics.

Finally, he tapped hard on the tactical board: "We must run actively and execute our tactics as well as possible. We must also shoot resolutely. Don't worry about missing one or two shots. We must shoot with the right touch and play our offense. This is the key."

"Yes."

"clear."

Several players agreed in unison.

In addition to rearranging the tactics, Coach D'Antoni also adjusted the lineup, replacing Ariza with Eric Gordon.

The intention of this substitution is obvious, which is to further strengthen the offense.

As for the defense against Zhuang Yu, Coach D'Antoni has also figured it out.

Anyway, whether it is Ariza or anyone else, it is difficult to defend Zhuang Yu, so it will be the same no matter who defends him, and it is almost inevitable that Zhuang Yu will get a high score.

It doesn’t matter, even if Zhuang Yu scores 30+, as long as the players on his side can also get high points, it can offset it.

.....

After this timeout, the Rockets used a three-point tactic. Paul and Harden broke through and passed the ball to Eric Gordon. Eric Gordon came up with a hot hand and took a three-pointer as soon as he received the ball and made it steadily.

Zhuang Yu exchanged glances with his teammates, and they nodded to each other. They all understood that the opponent must be strengthening three-point shooting, so they had to pay attention to this.

But it has to be said that the Rockets' three-point shooting is indeed very powerful, otherwise it would be impossible for them to shoot so many three-pointers in a game and still get the best record in the league.

In the following period of time, the Rockets' three-point shots began to explode.

After Eric Gordon made one, Ryan Anderson also made a three-pointer. Then Capela grabbed the frontcourt rebound and passed the ball to Harden. After Harden received the ball, he made an ultra-long three-pointer from one meter outside the three-point line and also hit it.

Three consecutive three-pointers helped the Rockets gain the upper hand and take the lead...