Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

After playing in Yao's Manor for two days, Zhuang Yu and others returned to Los Angeles, while An Changhe, Zhuang Zhihong, Jiang Qin and Tang Wan were about to return to China.

An Xin, Xiao Nuomi, Li Huilan and Xi Juan stayed and planned to stay here for a few more days.

On that day, Zhuang Yu sent An Changhe, Zhuang Zhihong, Jiang Qin, and Tang Wan to the airport. After seeing them off, he went home, packed up briefly, and rushed to the stadium, because they would have the first regular season game after the All-Star Weekend in the evening.

The All-Star Weekend is over and the regular season will continue.

night.

The Lakers played at home and faced the Rockets again.

The last time the two sides met, the Lakers won, but this time the Lakers were missing Lopez, so there were some changes in the lineups of both sides.

From the first quarter, the Rockets took the lead until the third quarter, when Zhuang Yu and Holiday of the Lakers exploded. First, Zhuang Yu hit three three-pointers in a row, and then Holiday scored 1 points in a row. Under the leadership of the two, the Lakers quickly overtook the score.

A few minutes later, both sides replaced their rotation lineups, and the Lakers were still in the lead and maintained their lead until the end of the third quarter.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Rockets began to fight back.

They replaced their main lineup early, and the Lakers also quickly replaced Zhuang Yu, Holiday and others.

The Rockets played very well today and they shot very well from outside three-point range, but at this crucial moment, they still relied on James Harden.

However, facing Zhuang Yu's defense, James Harden could only dodge and fight.

It's okay at normal times, but at such a critical moment, when his teammates don't dare to stand up and can only rely on him, he can't hide and be attacked.

On the other hand, when it came to the Lakers' offense, Zhuang Yu was almost unstoppable. No matter what kind of defensive methods the Rockets tried, even double-teaming, they still couldn't limit his scoring.

When it came to the last minute of the game, Zhuang Yu scored 5 points in a row with an outside three-pointer and a mid-range jump shot, completely killing the game.

At the end of the game, the Lakers defeated the Rockets 124:118.

In this game, Zhuang Yu scored 34 points, plus 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Holiday scored 25 points, and others also scored points.

James Harden of the Rockets scored 31 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists, Paul scored 18 points and 6 assists, and Anthony only scored 12 points and 3 rebounds...

After this game, the Lakers' record further improved, but the Nuggets also won a game, and their record is still ahead of the Lakers.

Moreover, in the next few days, the Lakers played two games, winning one and losing one, while the Nuggets played three games, winning all three.

After the All-Star Weekend, the Nuggets have won four consecutive games, which not only puts them ahead of the Lakers, but also allows them to surpass the Warriors and become the top team in the Western Conference.

The Warriors' record after the All-Star Weekend is not particularly good. They are currently one win behind the Nuggets, but one win ahead of the Lakers.

In other words, the Nuggets now have the best record in the Western Conference, the Warriors are second, the Lakers are third, the Trail Blazers are fourth, the Rockets are fiftieth, the Jazz are sixth, the Thunder are seventh, the Spurs are eighth, and the Clippers are still only ranked ninth in the Western Conference.

Now that only a quarter of the regular season is left, it is basically a foregone conclusion for the Nuggets, Warriors, and Lakers to enter the playoffs. The only difference is the ranking.

For teams hovering around eighth place, such as the Thunder, Spurs, and Clippers, the last quarter of the schedule is particularly crucial.

If you play well, you can naturally consolidate your results and ensure you get a ticket to the playoffs.

But if they don’t play well, they will probably be pulled down by the teams behind them and eventually miss the playoffs.

The most popular team among them is naturally the Clippers.

You know, in the past ten years or so, the teams with James have made it to the playoffs every year, and James has led the team to the finals for eight consecutive years.

Now that they have come to the Western Conference and three-quarters of the regular season have passed, the Clippers are still only ranked ninth in the Western Conference, which is really disappointing for the fans.

Is it possible that James can't make it to the playoffs this time?

Fans can't help but worry about the Clippers, and the Clippers also understand what entering the playoffs means to them and what it means to James.

So after the All-Star Weekend, James took the lead, played very seriously in the game, and started the "full force James" mode ahead of time.

There has always been a saying that James does not actually give his all in the regular season. He will save his energy for the playoffs, and only then will he go all out in the playoffs. Only James in the playoffs is "full-strength James."

Hence the terms “full force James” and “postseason James” came into being.

This is not just the fans' imagination.

In the regular season, James will not go all out, because his team is competitive enough, and even if he plays conservatively, the team will have no problem entering the playoffs. The playoffs are when he will go all out and lead the team to the championship.

In the past dozen seasons, except for a few one or two seasons, every time the playoffs came, James' performance would be far ahead of the regular season.

For example, last season, James averaged 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game in the regular season, which can be said to be very impressive.

But when it came to the playoffs, his average stats further improved to 34 points per game, plus 9.1 rebounds and 9.0 assists, which was a significant improvement over the regular season. He led the team to the finals again despite a poor lineup.

Led by James' outstanding performance, the Clippers' record is indeed improving, and the gap between them and the eighth-placed Spurs in the Western Conference is also narrowing rapidly.

As for the Eastern Conference, the Bucks are still ranked first, the Raptors are second, the 76ers are third, the Celtics are fourth, the Pacers are fifth, the Nets are sixth, the Magic are seventh, the Pistons are eighth, and the Hornets, Heat, Wizards are behind them...

......

Los Angeles.

Training gym.

A group of Lakers players are training, including Lopez.

"Go to the right..."

"Switch defense, quick."

"Be careful in the bottom corner, don't miss anyone."

At this time, group confrontation training was being carried out on the field.

Zhuang Yu was in one group with Holiday, Korver, Anderson, and Lopez. On the other side, Rose, Clarkson, Cunningham, Kuzma, and Nance were in one group.

With a dull thud, Clarkson's three-pointer missed.

Lopez grabbed the rebound and passed the ball to Zhuang Yu. Zhuang Yu quickly advanced and when he reached the frontcourt, he first called for a pick-and-roll and then made a ground pass to Lopez. Lopez grabbed the basketball, jumped up, and hit the rebound in the air.

However, it failed to hit.

"Shit." Lopez was a little annoyed.

This was not the first time he missed a shot today. In fact, he had missed a lot of shots today and his touch was very bad.

Even in this position close to the basket, his finishing efficiency is not good.

"Brook's condition still hasn't recovered." Assistant coach Madsen frowned slightly.

"We should give him more time." Coach Scott didn't care. "We don't have any pressure from our record."

In fact, Lopez has already started participating in 5-on-5 training after the All-Star Weekend, but his condition is not very good. Both his physical condition and other aspects are still in the process of recovery.

Fortunately, the Lakers do not have any pressure on performance. Their current record is very stable and their ranking is pretty good. They don't have to worry even without Lopez.

So they can give Lopez enough time to slowly get back to his form.

......

After a while, the confrontation training ended.

Coach Scott discussed with assistant coach Madsen for a while, then came to Lopez and said, "Brooke."

"Coach." Lopez stood up and wiped the sweat with a towel.

"Oh, sit down." Coach Scott said with a smile, "I plan to let you play in the game against the Warriors tomorrow. Are you ready?"

Hearing this, Lopez suddenly became excited.

After the All-Star Weekend, he took the initiative to say that he had recovered and wanted to return to the court, but Coach Scott did not allow it. Instead, he asked him to continue to participate in 5-on-5 confrontational training and slowly find his form, which made Lopez a little depressed.

He has been absent for three months and can't wait to get back on the court.

Lopez quickly responded: "Coach, I'm ready."

Coach Scott nodded: "Okay, I will let you play tomorrow, but you won't be the starter. Don't feel any pressure. Just find your form and slowly adapt to the game."

In fact, given Lopez's current condition, he has obviously not recovered to the state before his injury, but we can't wait for him to fully recover to the state before his injury before he can play.

There are only a dozen games left in the regular season, and Lopez has to return to the court to adapt to the intensity of the game and get back into form.

A dozen games should be enough.

By the time Lopez adapts to the rhythm of the game and regains his form, the regular season will be almost over, and the Lakers will be able to face the playoffs in the best condition.

......

The next day, the Lakers played against the Warriors at home.

The two sides have met once before, but that time was at the Warriors' home court.

In the absence of Lopez, no one was optimistic about the Lakers, but the Lakers defeated the Warriors thanks to Zhuang Yu's outstanding performance of 62 points.

That was also the game with the highest score in Zhuang Yu's NBA career.

Now that they are facing each other again, the fans are naturally looking forward to it, and before the game there was news that Lopez, who had been injured for three months, would return in this game.