Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

At this time, the score on the field became 16:13, with the Nuggets taking the lead.

In these few minutes, Jokic scored 7 points, two two-point shots and one three-point shot, accounting for more than half of the Nuggets' points.

It was because of Jokic's outstanding performance that the Nuggets were able to lead the Lakers in the score.

"Requesting a timeout."

The Lakers called a timeout.

When several players came off the court, Coach Scott first made a substitution, replacing Korver with Cunningham, and then spread out the tactical board: "We have to strengthen our defense against Jokic later. Brook, you have to confront him and consume his energy. You can let him score, but you can't let him score easily."

"Others should also help Brook with defense. When they see Jokic get the ball in the low post, they should go up to help defend immediately."

After some arrangements, the pause ended.

Both sides returned to the court, and the Nuggets did not make any substitutions and still used the starting lineup.

Lakers offense.

After reaching the frontcourt, Holiday passed the ball to Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu did not choose to shoot himself, but broke through to attract the defense, then passed the ball to Anderson, Anderson passed it to Holiday, and Holiday hit a three-pointer from the outside.

The score was tied.

Turning around, the Nuggets attacked, and Murray called for a pick-and-roll after reaching the frontcourt, trying to get rid of the defense, but the Lakers' delay was very fast, and Murray did not have a chance to shoot. He hesitated for a moment and chose to break through to the basket.

Although Murray passed Lopez, Anderson's timely defense prevented Murray from having a chance to make a layup directly. He was depressed and had to pass the ball outside again.

After two more passes, the Nuggets still didn't find a chance to score.

They also have to admit that the Lakers' defense is excellent, not only the individual players' defense is excellent, but the overall defense is also very strong.

Jokic took the ball in the left low post, glanced at his teammates, and then lowered his center of gravity to play a single shot. However, as soon as he hit the ball, the Lakers' help defense rushed over. Jokic frowned and immediately passed the ball to Barton.

boom!

There was not much time left for the offense and Barton's three-point shot missed.

This made Jokic frown. In the next round, he got the ball in the low post again, but this time he did not choose to pass it to his teammates.

Even though the Lakers had help defense, he decisively played one-on-one. He took two steps back and raised the ball, used his flexible footwork to shake off Lopez, and then made a left-handed layup.

Jokic's skills are excellent. In the past few minutes, he has clearly gained the upper hand in the matchup with Lopez.

At this moment, Jokic has scored 9 points, while Lopez has only 4 points.

This goal helped the Nuggets regain a two-point lead, but the Lakers immediately responded.

Zhuang Yu was seen running back to get the ball, then breaking through and passing the ball to Anderson, while he himself moved along the inside line and returned to the three-point line with the help of a double screen.

The teammate immediately passed the ball to him.

"not good."

"Be careful, don't let him throw..."

Someone exclaimed, reminding the Nuggets players not to let Zhuang Yu shoot three-pointers.

Barton had been blocked by the Lakers, and Harris quickly left Cunningham behind, rushed towards Zhuang Yu, and flew to try to block the shot.

However, when he jumped up, he found that Zhuang Yu did not make a move. He secretly said in his heart that something was wrong, but the person had already flown past Zhuang Yu.

After Harris flew past him, Zhuang Yu tapped the ball, moved slightly sideways, adjusted his rhythm, and then took a three-point shot.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

"Damn, he let him score again."

"Be better at defense and don't let Zhuang Yu shoot three-pointers. How come you're giving him a chance even though you know he's good at three-pointers?"

The home fans were shouting in dissatisfaction at the court. Jokic finally scored the ball and took the lead again, but he turned around and was overtaken.

This really shouldn't happen. We have to be on guard.

Jokic was also a little depressed. It was not easy for him to score the ball against the Lakers' defense. However, on the defensive end, he allowed Zhuang Yu to score easily. Comparing the two, anyone would feel tired.

At the same time, Coach Malone on the sidelines also frowned.

Jokic played very well today and has scored 9 points so far, but he can also see that it is not easy for Jokic to score. The Lakers' defense is very good. When Jokic gets the ball in the low post, he needs to face the defense of at least two people.

It is certainly not easy to fight two people at the same time.

On the other hand, on the Lakers side, Zhuang Yu played very easily, mostly one-on-one singles, or shooting after catching the ball with the help of screens and pick-rolls.

"Ah, except for Nikola, the others are still a little bit lacking." Coach Malone sighed in his heart. Jokic doesn't usually play like this. He prefers to organize the offense, create opportunities for his teammates, and help the team play a more reasonable offense.

This will make Jokic himself feel more relaxed.

But that’s not the case today.

One reason is that the Lakers' defense is much stronger than their previous opponents, and it is not easy to dismantle the Lakers' defense.

Second, the individual abilities of the Nuggets players and their lineup configuration are not as good as those of the Lakers.

In addition to Jokic, the team's strongest individual player is Murray, but facing the Lakers' back line today, Murray played very hard. In addition, there is a lack of good enough shooters. Barton and Harris can shoot, and their roles in the Nuggets are also three-point shooters.

This season, Harris averaged 4.2 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 33.9%, while Barton averaged 4.6 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 34.2%.

The positioning of the two players can be seen from the number of shots, which is also determined by the team's tactical system. Murray is the type who breaks through with the ball, he needs space, and Jokic also needs space in the low post.

When Jokic gets the ball in the low post and encounters help defense, when he passes the ball, he needs a shooter who can shoot three-pointers outside the three-point line to make the ball he passes.

But data doesn't lie.

It is not difficult to see from the data that although Harris and Barton took a lot of three-pointers, their hit rates were a bit low, both less than 35%.

In other words, the two were not able to convert Jokic's passes into three-pointers very well.

In this situation, Jokic had to strengthen his personal offense, but his teammates could not give him good assistance or contain the defense, which made him very tired on the offensive end.

In previous games, Jokic would organize the offense and create opportunities for his teammates, which would allow them to perform well, so he would not have to dig into them one by one on the offensive end. So he would play more easily, and he would have scored more than 20 points and 10 rebounds without much effort.

"Requesting a timeout."

Soon, Coach Malone called a timeout.

After several players came off the court, Coach Malone replaced Jokic and Millsap with Mason Plumlee and Juan Hernangomez.

Then he spread out the tactical board and made some arrangements.

When the timeout is over, the players return to the court.

Coach Malone sat down next to Jokic and said, "Our offense was a little too simple in the last few minutes."

Jokic smiled bitterly and said: "I don't want to be like that, but the Lakers' defense is really strong, and my teammates..."

Having said that, he paused and did not continue, just shook his head.

Coach Malone also felt tired for Jokic. He could understand Jokic. In Jokic's view, his teammates did not play well, were not reasonable, and failed to seize opportunities. How could he not feel tired when his teammates could not do things that seemed simple to him?

Of course, Coach Malone also knows that people are different, and what seems simple to Jokic may not be the case to others.

He patted Jokic on the shoulder and said, "You are too tired to play like this. You still have to mobilize your teammates and let them find their form and touch."

“I know,” Jokic agreed.

At this time, most of the first quarter had passed and the Lakers also replaced their substitute lineup.

In fact, the Nuggets' bench lineup is still good, but there is an obvious gap compared with the Lakers. What's more, the Lakers still have an All-Star player Holiday on the court, while the Nuggets have already replaced Murray, Harris and Barton.

By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were leading by 6 points.

The Nuggets were leading at one point, but at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were leading.

This made the home fans very unhappy and depressed.

After entering the second quarter, the Nuggets still sent out a rotation lineup, but they soon fell into a disadvantage again, which made coach Malone a little helpless and he could only request a substitution and replace Jokic.

After returning to the court, Jokic got the ball in the low post and pretended to play one-on-one, but it just attracted the defense. He passed the ball from behind to his teammate who was cutting to the basket without even looking at anyone, and assisted his teammate to make a layup and easily scored two points.

"Hey, that's a great pass."

"It has to be Jokic. The whole team is different when he comes on."

The home fans cheered.

This is indeed the case. As soon as Jokic returned to the court, the Nuggets immediately became like a different team, and both their offense and defense became significantly stronger.

Especially on the offensive end, with Jokic's organization, the Nuggets' offense was obviously more reasonable and smoother.

However, the Lakers also have Rose, Clarkson, Holiday and others on the court.

Although Zubac was completely at a disadvantage against Jokic at the 5th position, the outstanding performances of Rose, Clarkson and Holiday on the offensive end helped the Lakers not fall into a disadvantage.

Soon, the Nuggets made another substitution.

Coach Malone began to replace main players such as Murray and Harris.

Seeing the other team make substitutions, Coach Scott smiled and also requested a substitution, replacing Holiday and Rose with Zhuang Yu and Anderson.