I just play ball

Chapter 234 Public Enemy of the People
Back from the timeout, the Grizzlies did not become stronger offensively and defensively. The Lakers led more and more. By the end of the third quarter, they had reached 22 points. Randolph also made a late technical foul because of his rough offensive moves. Coach Joerger also Received a warning from the referee for defending himself.

After a short break, the fourth quarter officially started. Joerger arranged for Conley to lead the team and cooperated with the small lineup to try to speed up the pace to grab points. Unfortunately, Costa Koufos was suppressed by Gobert on both ends of the offense and defense, and Beasley was even more helpless in singles. People can defend.

In this way, when the game reached the first official timeout with only 7 minutes left, the Lakers still led by a large score. The Grizzlies chose to give up the game directly. Leave.

In the end, the Lakers beat the Grizzlies 116 to 93, and Li Yue scored 41 points and 11 assists.

The local reporter's post-match interview was very perfunctory. He only answered two questions before returning to the locker room. Even the excitement press conference was quite brief.

But just after the game, there were a lot of related discussions on major social networks, and the topics were almost all related to the Lakers winning the championship.

[Stephen A. Smith: Since the new season, the Lakers have consecutively defeated the Spurs, Bobcats, and Grizzlies, three teams with extremely high defensive efficiency and their own characteristics. Only the Bulls, Pacers, and Heat are left with three strong defensive teams. , considering that the Lakers have already won the Heat in the Finals, and the average age of Heat players has increased by another year, so the Bulls and Pacers are the last doubts on the way for the Lakers to defend their title. If the Lakers go well, they will be unstoppable . 】

[Mark Stein: Tonight’s game will make many aspiring teams in the league panic. They have all played against the Grizzlies and know how difficult it is to deal with the Grizzlies, but the Lakers easily won a big Winning, and with Tony Allen hitting a three-pointer and a mid-range shot, Coach Carlisle's strategy to beat the Lakers will really be taken seriously. Perhaps taking the lead through the second team is the best way to beat the Lakers. 】

[WOJ: The Lakers currently still have 1 spot that has not been used. According to internal sources, they have contacted Kendall Marshall, a free agent who was previously laid off by the Wizards, trying to use him as a substitute option for Steve Nash's long-term absence.There are also rumors that the Lakers will seek a starting-level point guard with defensive capabilities, but because the draft pick has been sent to Tian Duo, it can only be done through a transaction. 】

[TMZ: The Lakers returned to the top of the league and the Western Conference with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss. The Las Vegas bookmaker Caesars lowered their odds of winning the championship again to +120, which is tied for the NBA historical record like the Bulls in 92. 】

With the rapid spread of social networks, more and more media, commentators, and fans are discussing how to prevent the Lakers from defending the title. The hashtag #全民公共# is increasingly used to describe the Lakers, and various trade rumors are everywhere.

The names of Jordan Hill and Blake appeared frequently, and Meeks was also involved.

Those rumors are good, the salary can be balanced, and the team involved does have a tendency to trade. In addition, it is true that only the three of them are the most likely, because the others are either core, rookies, or new free agents. The Lakers fans ran to the Lakers official Twitter to leave a message, hoping to give an official response.

...

On the night of defeating the Grizzlies, the entire Lakers boarded a bus to the airport and headed to New Orleans overnight.

Arriving at [-]:[-] in the morning, it was already [-]:[-] in the hotel. Li Yue slept until noon. Since it was a back-to-back game, the entire Lakers team went directly to the Pelican Arena for training after lunch. Everyone's face showed depression.

Kobe discovered this situation and called the whole team to encourage their fighting spirit, emphasizing that winning back-to-back away games in a row is the basic sign of a defending team. As long as they win this game, they can rest very relaxedly for three days.

With Kobe Chicken Soup, most people finally lifted their spirits, only Jordan Hill and the other three were still depressed.

Li Yue saw it, and thought it was inappropriate to explain it, because WOJ's revelations were always accurate, and he did mention that he wanted a new point guard to join the team, but he didn't know how the management would handle it.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the match between the two teams started as scheduled.

Pelicans send 'American Son' power forward Anthony Davis, 'death crotch dribble master' shooting guard Eric Gordon, 'rookie superstar' point guard Tyreke Evans, and Bryan Roberts With Alexi Akinsa as the starting lineup, the inside line is quite high, the outside line is quite short, and the look is very awkward.

In the first quarter of the game, Davis, who was waiting for work, attacked wildly. On the offensive end, he crushed Landry in various ways. He made 7 of 6 baskets, 6 of 5 free throws, grabbed 7 additional rebounds, and scored 0 points with 0 turnovers and 17 fouls. Gordon also hit two three-pointers, and the Lakers only scored 15 points in total except for Li Yue who scored 8 points. The Lakers trailed 23-35.

In the second quarter, D'Antoni made adjustments and arranged for Gasol to guard Davis on the defensive end. In addition, Iguodala double-teamed and Landry assisted in the defense. Davis only got 2 shots, but Austin Rivers and Aminu took the opportunity to hit many shots while the Pelicans took the opportunity. Except for Li Yue, the Lakers still felt cold, trailing 51 to 67 at halftime.

Returning to the locker room in midfield, D'Antoni didn't say anything, just let the team rest and relax.

Perhaps it was finally slowing down, recovering both physical strength and spirit. In the third quarter, Gasol and Meeks felt overwhelmed. The two hit 10 shots in a row. With all efforts to limit Davis, the Pelicans' three-short combination in the backcourt was difficult to defend. The Lakers only chased the score to 8 to 85 in a single quarter.

Two minutes before the fourth quarter, the second team of the Lakers played a wave of 2 to 11 under the leadership of Blake, which scared Pelicans coach Monty Williams to request a timeout for personnel adjustment, and the two teams started the decisive battle ahead of schedule.

The Lakers couldn't defend against the Pelicans' three players in the backcourt. The Pelicans couldn't defend against Li Yue, Landry, and Iguodala's partial cooperation. ten seconds.

The Pelicans set up a low-post singles tactic for Davis, which was intercepted by Iguodala's ghostly hands. Li Yue received the ball without pausing to run and sprint. He stopped and shot two steps away from the three-point line, and made a defensive hit against Aminu. lore.

The Lakers won 133-132, and Li Yue scored 45 points.

That night, the whole team set off for Los Angeles overnight and arrived at noon the next day.

As soon as Li Yue got off the plane, he received a call from Kupchak, informing Kendall Marshall that he had completed the trial training and physical examination, and the signing news will be announced in the afternoon. I hope he will express it on Twitter at that time, probably in the form of welcome and attention. things.

Li Yue readily agreed to take a shower and change clothes after returning home, and then took the Nike special car to attend the huge poster hanging ceremony on the Avenue of Stars as planned.

(End of this chapter)