Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

In a blink of an eye, the first quarter ended.

At this time, the score became 31:28, with the Lakers leading by 3 points.

"I didn't expect the Cavaliers' role players played so poorly to only fall behind by 3 points."

"The others played badly, but James and Rose played well. James played the entire quarter and scored double digits."

In the audience stands, fans were discussing the first quarter of the game that had just ended.

The Lakers played normally in the first quarter. Zhuang Yu, Lopez, Holiday, Korver, Clarkson...all these scoring points played well.

The Cavaliers relied on James and Rose. James scored 12 points in the quarter and Rose scored 9 points. The two of them combined for 21 points.

In other words, the other players on the Cavaliers only scored 7 points in total.

Obviously, the rest of the Cavaliers didn’t play well, including Love.

However, for coach Tyronn Lue, this score is acceptable. He believes that the other players' condition will not remain so bad in the next three quarters.

Here.

Coach Scott gathered the players together, made some new arrangements, and then worked with assistant coach Madsen to discuss the situation.

A game lasts for 48 minutes and may even have overtime. Although both teams have fixed lineups and even their respective playing styles are no secret, this kind of team sports competition is always changeable, so coaches need to be flexible and adjust and respond in time.

Just like today.

James' outstanding performance was expected, but Coach Scott did not expect Rose to play so well.

......

Soon, the second quarter begins.

At this time, both sides sent out their rotation lineups, but the Lakers were led by Lopez. Although the Cavaliers also sent out Kevin Love, their rotation lineup as a whole was still a little worse than that of the Lakers.

Another reason why the Cavaliers did not play well this season, besides the lack of Irving, is that the team's roster is somewhat aging.

Two or three years ago, the Cavaliers were still a championship team.

But two or three years later, many players are already over 30 years old, James is 34 years old, Love is 30 years old, Jeff Green is 32 years old, Rose is 30 years old, Hill is 32 years old, JR Smith is 33 years old, Frye is 35 years old, Thomas is 30 years old and has been reimbursed for the season. Previously, Wade, who was 37 years old, was signed...

With so many players over 30 years old, the Cavaliers have almost turned into an old people's club, resulting in an unbalanced age lineup and a poor combination of old and new players.

When they needed young players with momentum, they couldn't find such people in their lineup.

Only TT, Hood, and Jae Crowder are in their twenties, but they obviously cannot provide enough help for the team.

The Cavaliers lack young players who can step up, and the physical condition of the veterans may be able to maintain good performances in some games, but it is difficult to maintain it for a whole season.

Sometimes the game requires the experience and steadiness of veterans, and sometimes the team needs the physical strength and drive of young players...

Therefore, the best thing for a team is a combination of new and old players, with a reasonable proportion and lineup configuration, especially in a stage like the playoffs.

There are too many young players, and they may suffer in the playoffs due to lack of experience.

Take the Celtics, for example.

After Irving was injured, they were defeated by the Cavaliers after leading 2:0, which was inseparable from the fact that the main players in the lineup were too young.

Another example is the Cavaliers at this moment.

The team's lineup is aging, so only James and Rose stood out in the first quarter. The others were all silent and in poor form, and there was no one available on the bench.

In comparison, the Lakers' lineup is much more balanced.

Among the starting players, Lopez is just 30 years old and Korver is 37 years old. Only these two are over 30 years old, while Zhuang Yu, Holiday and Anderson are only in their twenties. Especially Zhuang Yu and Anderson, they have only been in the league for a few years and their rookie contracts have not expired. Strictly speaking, they are still rookies.

This will provide a good balance in the age of the starting lineup.

In addition, although the Lakers' bench lineup includes veterans over 30 years old such as Deron, Gerald Green, and Nick Young, there is no shortage of young players like Nance Jr., Kuzma, Clarkson, Zubac, and McCaw.

Whether it is the main lineup or the substitute lineup, the combination of new and old players is very reasonable.

The most important thing is that the real core of the team is not too old.

Zhuang Yu, Holiday, and Clarkson are all in their twenties, and Lopez has just turned 30. They are at a good time point in their careers, having passed their youthful growth period and entered into maturity, or have reached the peak of their careers, so their physical condition and on-court performance are stable enough.

Whether it was the time the main lineup was on the court in the first quarter, the few minutes after the first quarter, or the few minutes of rotation time before the second quarter, the Lakers' lineup and player performance on the court were stable enough.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers relied on James and Rose in the first quarter.

During the few minutes of rotation in the second quarter, coach Tyronn Lue hoped that Love could stand out. However, perhaps because he had just returned from injury, Love was not in good shape. He had no touch beyond the three-point line and seemed a little weak in low-post singles.

Love failed to stand out, and the team's other substitute players failed to perform well, so the Cavaliers quickly fell into a disadvantage.

Coach Tyronn Lue frowned, looked at the game time again, and then replaced Rose.

James is good, but he is not a robot. He also needs rest, especially since it was thanks to him that the team got through the previous three rounds of games.

So we can't rush to replace James at this time. We still have to let him rest more, but someone has to step up according to the situation on the court.

Coach Tyronn Lue can only count on Rose.

In fact, in many previous games, he would replace Rose at the beginning of the second quarter and let Rose play for a few minutes of rotation time.

The reason why Rose was not substituted at the beginning of the second quarter today was because Rose performed very well in the first quarter, but JR Smith performed poorly. Therefore, coach Tyronn Lue planned to not let Rose play first, give him a few minutes of rest, and then let him replace JR Smith in the last few minutes of the second quarter and continue to partner with James.

But in this situation, we obviously can't wait any longer.

When Rose came on the court, he immediately broke through with a pick-and-roll, and then made the ball with his specialty, a small layup, helping the Cavaliers stabilize the situation.

"As expected of someone who has won the regular season MVP, he was effective right from the start."

"Rose's ability to read the game and control the situation is unmatched by other role players. He knows that he comes up to score, so he doesn't plan to pass the ball. He also knows how he should score and help the team."

"Tyronn Lue's substitution was very smart this time..."