against the front

Chapter 258 The Most Important Match

"Serge, have you finished practicing 600 three-pointers?"

After finishing the two away games in Los Angeles, the Kings returned to Sacramento overnight to prepare for the next two home games. Although in the second game of the series, the Kings lost really ugly, but since Los Angeles successfully took away a home court and turned its home court disadvantage into a home court advantage. The atmosphere of the Kings on the return trip was still very good.

However, after the Kings team returned to Sacramento, there were still Kings generals who were talking and laughing on the plane, and none of them could laugh, because after the plane landed, head coach Reggie Toyce announced that because The performance in the last game was really bad, so Kevin Martin, John Salmons, Serge Ibaka, Tony Allen, Jrue Holiday, Dante Green, basically That is, except for Yan Hua, the other main players of the Kings, as well as several major rotation players, all have to practice 600 three-point shots every day.

Yan Hua had no sympathy for these guys who couldn't bear to look directly at them in the last game and couldn't move them no matter what. On the contrary, he was very much in favor of coach Reggie Troyce's punishment of them.

Therefore, in the training session the next afternoon, after Yan Hua finished the confrontation training with Spencer Hawes, he gloated and walked to the other side of the training ground, watching with great interest the Serge Ibaka, who was practicing three-pointers there, and John Salmons and others, with a smile on his face, asked Serge Ibaka, who was practicing hard.

"It's still 200 short." After receiving the basketball thrown by Danny Green and hitting the front of the basket with a bang, Serge Ibaka's brows shrank involuntarily. The performance in the last game, not to mention that the head coach Reggie Tois is not satisfied with him, even Serge Ibaka himself is very dissatisfied with himself.

"Serge, didn't you already cast 300 shots in the morning? You have already shot more than 200 shots in the afternoon. How could you be short of 200 shots?" Danny was picking up the ball for Serge Ibaka -Green, when Serge Ibaka told Yan Hua that there were 200 three-pointers left to shoot, he asked a little puzzled, how many times Serge Ibaka made blue shots, and was responsible for picking up the ball and Danny Green, who counts, knows it best.

"I want to make 600 shots, not 600 shots." After throwing the basketball in his hand with a very standard shooting posture, Serge Ibaka's face was also relaxed when he saw the hollow ball in the net. Not a lot.

Ibaka's progress this season is very fast. When he first entered the league, Serge Ibaka was able to become the king's starting fourth position, relying on his own defensive awareness and excellent physical fitness. And the king's unavailable time at the fourth position, and after one season, Serge Ibaka not only gradually improved on the defensive end, becoming a famous defensive champion, but on the offensive end, Relying on his own unremitting efforts, Serge Ibaka also practiced the mid-range and long-range shooting of picking up wallets with one hand, and he can take the opportunity to pick up wallets wildly when the opponent double-teams Yan Hua.

However, in the last game, when Yan Hua was caught in the quagmire of the opponent's three-man siege and his teammates on the outside were frantically hitting the iron, Serge Ibaka got a lot of shots. He took as many as 16 shots, setting a new record for the highest number of shots in a single game since he entered the NBA. However, in these 16 shots, Serge Ibaka only hit 6 goals, especially the three-pointers. 5 for 0 shots, and one of them is not sticky.

It is no exaggeration to say that the king was able to lose the last game, and Serge Ibaka also had a "credit", although from the coach to the team's leaders, they did not blame Serge - Ibaka, on the contrary, kept comforting Serge Ibaka, hoping that he would not have any burden and pressure, but Ibaka couldn't get over his own hurdle, and always felt that he had failed the trust of the coach and his teammates. expectations.

So before that game was over, Serge Ibaka had already made up his mind to practice his shooting. Just after the game, head coach Reggie Toyce also asked Serge Ibaka Serge Ibaka and the others practiced extra three-point shooting, so during the extra practice today, Serge Ibaka changed the 600 shots required by the coach to 600 shots.

"Danny, you have to learn from Serge." After listening to the conversation between Serge Ibaka and Danny Green, Yan Hua reached out to Serge Ibaka. Thumbs up, and at the same time, I told Danny Green that I hope he can also learn from Serge Ibaka's perseverance and perseverance, hone his skills, and strive to be like Zhu Holiday as soon as possible. Be part of the Kings rotation.

Seeing Serge Ibaka's concentrated state, Yan Hua was too embarrassed to bother them again, so he had to go back the same way and pull Spencer Hawes to another one-on-one The confrontation caused Spencer Hawes to complain again and again.

While the Kings were practicing hard, the Lakers also arrived in Sacramento by special plane and began to prepare for the next game. After losing a home game, the big score between the two sides was tied 1-1. , In order to ensure that they can eliminate the Kings and enter the finals smoothly, the Lakers must win one of the next two away games. Winning an away game is the bottom line of the Lakers in Sacramento, and it is the bottom line without any room for bargaining.

Of course, to win an away game, in the eyes of almost all Lakers players, it is a breeze, because the victory of the last game has made all the Lakers confident, and at the same time let them "find" Yan Hua They found the key to deal with the king, and naturally, they also saw the hope of eliminating the king.

The Kings need a victory to keep the home court advantage they have won so hard, and the Lakers also need a victory to regain their home court advantage. Therefore, the third game of the series is extremely important.

On May 2010, 5, two days after the Lakers arrived in Sacramento, the third game of the Western Conference Finals finally kicked off. The Lakers still won an away game against the Kings. For them, the importance of today's game is not weaker than the battle of Tianwangshan, because which team wins the third game, which team will win the third game. To be able to gain an advantage and the upper hand in the next game.

However, in such an important game, neither the Kings nor the Lakers made any adjustments. They all kept the starting lineup from the previous game. As the winner, the Lakers maintained their own lineup and tactics , It is understandable, but the king of the losing side did not make any adjustments, which undoubtedly seems a bit weird.

(End of this chapter)