Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Hey, they changed people so soon."

"It was Leonard's turn to defend Zhuang Yu after just one round. Hey, if I had known, I would have let Leonard defend from the beginning."

"Haha, Coach Nash probably planned to let Leonard defend Zhuang Yu from the beginning. After all, with Zhuang Yu's scoring ability, Danny Green definitely can't defend him. With a super defensive player like Leonard in the team, it's natural to let Leonard defend."

Seeing Leonard approaching Zhuang Yu, the home fans couldn't help but laugh.

Danny Green can't defend Zhuang Yu, but Leonard is different. Leonard's height, wingspan, and physical confrontation ability can give him an advantage over Zhuang Yu, and his defensive skills are excellent.

If there is anyone in the league who can cause trouble for Zhuang Yu in one-on-one defense, it is probably only Leonard.

Even last season's best defensive player Tony Allen is not good enough. There is no need to say much about Tony Allen's defensive ability, but he has no advantage over Zhuang Yu in height, wingspan, and physical confrontation ability, so it is also difficult for him to defend Zhuang Yu.

Seeing Leonard standing in front of him, Zhuang Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise, and he became a little excited.

Leonard still had a dull face, like a robot, without any expression, and just stared at Zhuang Yu without blinking.

"Pull away."

Zhuang Yu gestured to his teammates to move away.

All the Lakers players moved away, and Zhuang Yu and Leonard faced each other. He first made a fake shot, but Leonard was not fooled.

Zhuang Yu didn't care, he stepped forward with his right foot, broke through in an instant, and accelerated to the right. Leonard retreated and moved sideways, his steps were very solid, and his judgment was very accurate, so he didn't let Zhuang Yu pass him easily. However, Zhuang Yu didn't expect to pass Leonard in a simple step, he pulled the ball back, dribbled behind his back to his left hand, and at the same time lowered his left shoulder, pretending to break through to the left.

Leonard adjusted his steps again, his eyes still fixed on Zhuang Yu, but at this moment Zhuang Yu did not really break through to the left, but raised his center of gravity.

At this moment, Leonard's eyes changed a little. His eyebrows twitched slightly. He subconsciously raised his hand and stood on tiptoe, ready to jump and block the shot at any time.

However, Zhuang Yu did not actually take action.

This was still just a feint, followed by another crossover, and this time the amplitude was very large, instantly widening the distance.

"not good."

Leonard's heart skipped a beat and he rushed forward, but he was still a little slow.

Zhuang Yu accelerated again after creating some distance between himself and this time he successfully passed Leonard and took three steps towards the basket holding the ball. Marc Gasol in the interior quickly stepped forward to block Zhuang Yu, but Zhuang Yu did not choose to shoot himself. Instead, he passed the hand holding the ball from under Marc Gasol's armpit and directly put it into the hands of Nance under the basket.

Bang!

Nance Jr. raised his hands and dunked.

"Zhuang Yu's fake moves were so beautiful that even Leonard was fooled."

"Yes, Zhuang Yu's shooting is too threatening and he is very fast. Players who can both drive and shoot are the most difficult to defend."

Amid the fans' discussions, the Lakers retreated.

The Raptors attacked, and after coming to the front court, Jeremy Lin passed the ball to Leonard. Since Zhuang Yu had just singled out Leonard, he wondered if Leonard wanted to return the favor, so he passed the ball to Leonard.

Leonard didn't hold back and started playing one-on-one after getting the ball.

He first broke through but failed to get past Zhuang Yu. He didn't care and took another step forward. Then he half turned around, from facing the basket to facing away from the basket. He used his broad shoulders to push Zhuang Yu, forcing Zhuang Yu to be unable to jump. Then he took a step back and made a fadeaway jump shot.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

In the next few rounds, Zhuang Yu and Leonard kept scoring, but what disappointed the Raptors fans was that Leonard was unable to limit Zhuang Yu's scoring. Fortunately, Leonard was able to fight back with sharp attacks on the offensive end, and Zhuang Yu also found it difficult to defend against Leonard.

Leonard has an advantage in height and wingspan, but his speed is not as good as Zhuang Yu, so he cannot defend Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu has an advantage in speed, but his height and wingspan are not as good as Leonard's, so he can't defend against Leonard.

The two of them could only blast each other back and forth.

But this is obviously not a good thing for the Raptors, because Zhuang Yu is more comprehensive than Leonard, and the Lakers also have many scoring points.

After a few minutes,

The Lakers are still in the upper hand, but the lead is not large, only 5 points.

At this time, Coach Nurse called a timeout, and Coach Scott also made substitutions, replacing Korver and Nance Jr. with Cunningham and Lopez Sr.

When they returned to the court, the Raptors' lineup did not change, while the Lakers' lineup became Holiday, Zhuang Yu, Cunningham, Anderson, and Lopez.

As soon as he came on the court, Zhuang Yu fed the ball to Lopez, played a pick-and-roll with Lopez, and then passed the ball back to Lopez.

Lopez grabbed the ball and ran straight to the basket, but still failed to score. Zhuang Yu comforted him and fed the ball to Lopez again after a few seconds.

This time the ball was passed directly to the low post, allowing Lopez to get the ball near the basket and play against Gasol with his back.

He first took two steps back, then did a somersault and hooked the ball. This time it finally worked.

Lopez was also very excited and ran to the backcourt waving his fists.

Seeing Lopez score a goal, his teammates came over to high-five him, and Coach Scott on the sidelines couldn't help but smile.

From the perspective of the game itself, the Lakers naturally want to win this game and want to win every game. But from the perspective of long-term interests and the entire season, the most important thing now is not the outcome of one game or several games.

But it's the state of Lopez.

Fortunately, it seemed that Lopez was in better shape in this game than in the previous game.

This is a good sign.

In the last few minutes, the Lakers kept feeding the ball to Lopez, hoping to help him get back into the game.

Lopez's condition today was obviously much better than in the previous game. He quickly made 4 of 2 shots and made one of two free throws, scoring 5 points.

But the Raptors played well, especially Leonard.

But when Lopez came on the court, Zhuang Yu stopped exchanging blows with Leonard, which made the fans somewhat disappointed.

Two minutes later, Coach Scott made another substitution, replacing Holiday, the protagonist, and Anderson with substitute players.

The Raptors also began to make substitutions and the game entered rotation time.

Due to the absence of Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka, the Raptors' overall rotation lineup was reduced, and the bench depth was not as good as that of the Lakers. Therefore, the Raptors fell into a disadvantage during the rotation time. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 1:34, and the Lakers led by 26 points.

After entering the second quarter, both teams still sent out rotation lineups, and the Raptors were still at a disadvantage, so coach Nurse had to replace the main players in advance.

The Lakers still have their regular rotation.

After a few minutes, the gap was narrowed a little, but the Lakers still led by three points.

At this time, the Lakers began to replace their main players one after another, and Lopez also returned to the court.

When the Lakers returned their main players one after another, they once again gained the upper hand.

After Lopez came on, he shot two more times in the low post and made one. So far, his shooting percentage has remained at 50%, which is very good.

In addition, Holiday and Anderson also performed well, and the Lakers once again widened the gap.

Seeing this situation, Zhuang Yu couldn't help but smile.

He began to consciously increase his mid-range shots, especially fadeaway jump shots.

Although he did not deliberately practice his fadeaway jump shot in his usual training, he decided to relax and wait patiently. Perhaps one day, his fadeaway jump shot would naturally improve.

However, in the game, he still uses a large proportion of fadeaway jump shots, especially when the team has the upper hand and is leading in the score.

For him, this is a chance to practice his fadeaway jump shot.

"boom."

There was a muffled sound.

The Raptors missed the shot, Anderson grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack, after crossing the center line he pushed the ball to Zhuang Yu with both hands.

Zhuang Yu glanced at the basket and gestured to his teammates. Lopez came up for a screen and Zhuang Yu moved to the left. The Raptors' defense was very fast. After all, Zhuang Yu's three-pointer threat was too great. However, the closer the opponent's defense was to the front, the easier it was to be passed. Zhuang Yu made a change of direction and passed Gasol.

Siakam pounced.

Zhuang Yu stopped and jumped up, and Siakam also jumped up immediately, stretching his arms to block the shot. He had an obvious advantage in height and wingspan, but Zhuang Yu was shooting a fadeaway jumper, leaning back and flicking his wrist. With a clear sound, the shot went in.

In the next few minutes, Zhuang Yu scored consecutive points with mid-range shots, leading the team to further widen the gap.

By the end of the second quarter, the score difference had widened to more than 2 points.

"It seems that there is still a gap in strength between the two sides."

"Although the Raptors are second in the Eastern Conference, their overall strength is obviously inferior to that of the Lakers."

"That's not necessarily the case. Today, Lowry and Ibaka were sidelined due to injuries, so the Raptors didn't have a complete lineup. Otherwise, they wouldn't necessarily fall behind."

Some people are discussing.

Of course, no one can say that the Raptors can beat the Lakers if they have a complete lineup.

After all, the Lakers now have a complete lineup, and their strength is there. Last season's championship winner is no joke.

In a blink of an eye, the second half began. Lopez played well in the first half, so Coach Scott started him in the second half.

The lineup on the court is Holiday, Zhuang Yu, Korver, Anderson, and Lopez, the same as the Lakers' regular starting lineup last season.

When the third quarter began, the Raptors tried to fight back.

However, the Lakers are getting into the groove, both offensively and defensively, and they are consistently suppressing the Raptors.

The difference between the two sides remained at around 10 points until halfway through the third quarter, when both sides began to replace their rotation lineups and the Lakers still led by 3 points.

Coach Nas shook his head, somewhat helpless.

It seems we have to rely on the last section.

However, the Raptors still failed to gain the upper hand in the final quarter. Although Leonard's performance was still outstanding and even helped the team narrow the gap to single digits at one point, Zhuang Yu stood up immediately, first hitting a three-pointer from the outside, and then breaking through and making fadeaway jump shots to score points, helping the Lakers stabilize the situation and widen the gap to more than 10 points again.

Until the last two minutes, the Lakers still led by 11 points, but time was running out for the Raptors.

In the end, when the game ended, the Lakers defeated the Raptors 128:109 and won the game.

In this game, Zhuang Yu scored 32 points, plus 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Lopez performed well, scoring 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Holiday, Anderson, Clarkson, Rose and others also scored points.

Leonard of the Raptors scored 31 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, while Jeremy Lin only scored 12 points with a shooting percentage of less than 40%.

After the game, the Lakers boarded a plane overnight to their next away game, where they will play back-to-back against the Pistons tomorrow.