I just play ball

Chapter 390 Ruthless Trample
The timeout ended, the Rockets did not make personnel adjustments, the referee blew his whistle, and Beverly received the ball in the backcourt and advanced.The audience shouted for defense, Beverly dribbled the ball to the right wing, patted on the spot and waited for a moment, then raised his hands to the waist to hang a pass.

Anthony took off to catch the ball, Li Yue stepped sideways, blocked the upper line in advance, and completely emptied the bottom line.

Such behavior was a little weird, Anthony paused for a moment, turned around and dribbled forward forcibly, and went straight to the hoop.

Li Yue followed up closely, Gobert and Jokic shrunk at the same time, Kobe also moved laterally from the left half, and the four Lakers formed a double-team trend, but Anthony stopped and jumped, pretending to throw the ball, but actually threw the ball to Left bottom corner.

Papanicolaou received the ball, turned around and passed to the left wing. Harden had just received the ball, and Kobe had already returned to the defense.

Anthony took advantage of the opportunity to lift the wall to cover, and Li Yue stepped forward subconsciously, and teamed up with Kobe to attack.

Harden hurriedly pulled the ball back, but the space on the left wing near the sideline was small, so he had to hold the ball with both hands and wait with his back turned.

There was not much time left in the attack, and Mike, who was standing not far outside the bounds, hurriedly shouted: "Throw back, throw back..."

Before the words were finished, Harden threw the ball back with both hands. Anthony jumped up and stretched out his hands to catch it, but the basketball flew at a high altitude and fast, and he didn't even touch it. When he turned his head to look for it, the basketball It had already flown out of bounds on the right, and just landed at the feet of Kim Kardashian, who was wearing a deep V dress. She bent down to pick it up, and the scene instantly sounded howling wolves.

The referee whistled, whistled for the Rockets' out-of-bounds violation, and gave the Lakers the right to the ball in the backcourt.

After returning from a timeout, the first attack failed, and McHale put his hands on his hips depressed, as if he couldn't figure out something.

"The Lakers' defense is too strong. At first, Li Yue thought about forcing Anthony to go to the bottom line with his waist, and then formed a circle with two center teammates. Considering that his weight and strength are at a disadvantage, this choice is the most reasonable."

"Once Anthony goes to the bottom line, the Lakers and other players can interfere with the pass in the middle. Anthony will probably choose to force a layup. In that case, his shooting percentage will be very low, and he may even be blocked. Li Yue is too smart."

"Anthony is also aware of this, so he chooses to go up the line, but there are still four people waiting for him. Unfortunately, he does not have the excellent passing ability of LeBron and Li Yue. He only has to throw it to the bottom corner. to a less capable substitute."

"The key is that the overall defensive intensity of the Lakers team is too high, and they can always shrink and return to defense in time without giving the slightest space."

After the referee was set up, Clarkson caught the ball and advanced in the backcourt, and the audience chanted LETSGOLA.

Kobe caught the ball at the top of the arc and patted it on the spot.

Jokic and the Clarksons ran away immediately, but Kobe waved to Jokic and pointed to the floor.

Such an action is obviously to cover.

Jokic ran to the top of the arc in a daze, and Nick Young yelled from the bench: "You got it wrong, he didn't want to play singles."

Kobe also laughed, and then used Jokic's cover to break through to the left, throwing Harden away with just one step.

To be precise, it was Harden who didn't catch up, which made Papanikolaou quickly switch defenses and intercept.

Jokic took advantage of the opportunity to split the inside cut, hit Harden head-on, and the whole person bounced back slightly.

The little fat man's eyes widened suddenly, as if to say, 'I can't handle a defender?'

Without waiting for him to think about it, Kobe threw the ball high, and Li Yue saw it and shouted: "Hold high and hit..."

The reason for reminding is that Harden is physically strong, able to fix people, and is good at stealing big players. Although he often passes by one step in outside defense and often misses in off-ball defense, he does have such a skill in low post defense.

Jokic stopped his movements abruptly, swayed the ball left and right with both hands, and adjusted his body posture frequently. Harden had no choice but to watch him turn sideways to the frame and shoot with a small hook.

Boom!The basketball crashed into the net, and the Lakers led 48 to 34. The audience cheered and applauded.

"Did you hear Li Yue shouting just now?"

"Listen, he seems to understand Harden's defensive characteristics very well."

"Jokic didn't hesitate at all, Harden hit two with one, it's too difficult!"

The Rockets attacked, Beverly took the ball to the right wing, turned and threw it to the top of the arc, and used Harden to cover and slip to the bottom line.

Anthony received the ball with his hands raised high, staring straight at the right elbow area, where Harden was entangled with Kobe.

I saw Kobe going around to intercept, Harden took advantage of the situation and retreated, raised his left hand and shouted, Anthony immediately made a pass.

Harden took off with one foot to catch the ball, landed sideways against Kobe, and made strong tops one after another.

Kobe didn't take it hard, but chose to retreat with his footsteps. Li Yue pretended to shrink to help defend.

Harden immediately passed back, Anthony caught the ball and raised his hands again, Li Yue subconsciously rushed forward.

I regretted it as soon as I threw it out, because Anthony stopped his movement, crossed and stepped down the ball, and easily completed the breakthrough.

Just as he was about to turn around and catch up, the referee blew his whistle and called Anthony for a walking violation, giving the Lakers the right to the ball in the backcourt.

The audience applauded and cheered, Anthony hit the ball hard, and seemed very dissatisfied with his mistakes.

Li Yue looked up at the large central screen. It turned out that after Anthony crossed the ball, he retracted inertially and retreated. He thought it was a single play with the ball from the waist, which caused the whole person's center of gravity to be out of balance, and his footsteps were completely chaotic in a panic.

After a brief arrangement, the referee whistled, and Clarkson caught the ball and pushed forward.

Kobe Bryant received the ball at the LOGO position, and also patted on the spot and waited.

Jokic tilted his head and squinted, and when he saw Kobe nodding slightly, he ran over with a smile.

Harden is not stupid, he stepped forward to grab ahead of time, preparing for a big delay and giving his teammates enough time to react.

Li Yue shouted and waved when he saw this, Gobert understood and ran up.

The Lakers' two centers, one on the LOGO and the other on the top of the arc, set up walls one after another, with high double blocks.

Kobe bowed his shoulders, kicked the ground vigorously to break through to the left, and rushed to the 45-degree three-point line in the blink of an eye.

Harden didn't chase, but blocked Jokic's way ahead of time, and interfered with the pass sideways.

Strictly speaking, there is no problem with such a defense, but Papanicolaou, who switched defenses, let Gobert block him again.

Motel hurried forward to intercept, Gobert turned around and set up a wall to block Harden again.

Jokic got rid of the defense, rushed to the hoop with his legs, received a pass from Kobe, and scored with a one-handed dunk.

"YES, MY BOY!" Kanye West stood up and cheered, and the big central screen shot at her wife.

"I have a hunch that the Lakers can easily beat the Rockets with only high-post double-blocks and derivative tactics."

"Totally agree, the key is that Harden is heavy and slow to move laterally, unable to squeeze through the screen and chase Kobe."

"Coach McHale should have arranged for Trevor Ariza to appear on the field before, but now he can only actively foul. If a timeout is called, then in the fourth quarter, the number of timeouts available will be very tight."

"Maybe after halftime, it will completely enter garbage time. After all, it is now 50 to 34..."

On the court, Harden held the ball at the 45-degree three-point line on the right and waved his hand to refuse Papanikolaou's cover.

The entire high position was vacated, Harden lowered his center of gravity, switched his right hand to his left, and kicked the ground suddenly.

Kobe chased sideways with his left hand raised high, seeing Harden set up his right hand to clear the way, and immediately retreated to relieve his force.

Harden lost his center of gravity, staggered a few steps, fell to the ground, and the basketball hit Gobert's feet and rolled out of bounds.

The referee blew his whistle and gave the Rockets the right to the ball on the sideline of the front court, and the arena was booed one after another.

Li Yue curled his lips. The ball should be called Harden's foul by raising his elbow, but the whistle sounded too slowly, which made it cheaper for the Rockets.

Taking advantage of the timeout, McHale arranged for Ariza to replace Papanicola, and Anthony returned to the power forward position.

The referee finished the arrangement in a blink of an eye, raised his hand to remind him that the kick-off was about to take place, and Anthony stood straight out of bounds on the right wing.

Li Yue followed Ariza and stood in the right elbow area. Seeing that Harden was next to him, he gave Kobe a look.

Bryant nodded, the referee just blew his whistle, and Harden, as expected, used Ariza to cover the outside cut.

Li Yue dodges and retreats, and Kobe bypasses the cover in an instant, blocking Harden's way ahead of time.

Harden made an emergency stop and ran back, and Kobe stayed close, and the 5-second time went on for 2 seconds in a blink of an eye.

McHale yelled a reminder, and Anthony threw the ball to the right corner.

Ariza caught the ball and rushed forward, as if he was the boss of the Rockets back in 09. He forced his way to the basket, carried Li Yue and Gobert on his back, kicked off the ground, and put the basket backhanded.

boom!Gobert's pegboard cap.

The basketball fell, Li Yue caught it, and strode forward. The Lakers launched a three-line fast break. Li Yuezhong hit the ground with a long pass. Clarkson caught the ball at 45 degrees on the right side of the front court, took two consecutive strides, and scored a gliding layup.

52 to 34, the central big screen showed the Lakers played a wave of 16 to 2 offensive climax.

"I thought the first matchup of the new season would be a preview of the Western Conference Finals, but it turned out to be a one-sided abuse."

"Actually, it's obvious that the Rockets were very serious after returning from a timeout, but they couldn't score."

McHale got up and waved, and Howard went straight to the court to replace center Motel.

On the Lakers side, D'Antoni arranged for Iguodala to replace Jokic.

The Rockets attacked, Beverly took the ball to the right 45 degrees, patted and waited on the spot.

Anthony started from the left bottom corner, successively with the help of Ariza and Howard to cover, rushed to the top of the arc.

Beverly immediately combined his hands to pass the ball, but Clarkson took a step across to interfere with the route.

Unable to pass the ball for a while, Anthony had to continue to rush to the right, and finally caught the ball on the right wing.

Iguodala followed, and Anthony observed for a moment and passed the ball back, then turned and ran to the corner, blocking Kobe with a wall.Harden took the opportunity to use the screen to go around, but Beverly shifted to the left, passed the ball to Howard in the waist, and ran to the right again.

The space is completely opened, Howard hits hard with his back, and Gobert is like a flame in the wind.Clarkson gave up chasing and shrinking to help defend, Howard passed the ball out without hesitation, Beverly received it, jumped up on the spot and shot a wide open three-pointer.

Swish!The basketball went into the net hollow, 52 to 37.

"My god, the Rockets finally broke the scoring drought!"

"McHale breathed a sigh of relief"

"Harden seems a little unhappy."

The Lakers attacked, Kobe dribbled the ball across the center line, stopped in the LOGO area and waited, Ariza took the initiative to defend.

This is to protect Harden. Seeing this, Li Yue ran to the center line to catch the ball and led Harden to the top of the arc.

Iguodala went up to cover, Anthony stepped forward to intercept, and was covered by Gobert again.

Li Yue continued to dribble to the right, while Iguodala ran to Anthony's side and set a screen.

Gobert took the opportunity to turn and cut, and rushed into the paint in the blink of an eye, but Harden was still at the top of the arc.

Li Yue slowed down and braked, looked at the position, and gently threw the ball to the basket.

Gobert jumped high and scored with an alley dunk.

"Defend, run, pay attention to the rotation..." McHale clapped his hands and shouted, his face was so anxious that he looked embarrassed.

The Rockets attacked, Beverly took the ball to the left wing, and handed it to Anthony who was raised from the bottom corner.

Iguodala was a little slow to catch up, Anthony twisted his hips and cut in, but Harden raised his hand at the top of the arc to ask for it.

In the blink of an eye, whether he didn't see it or chose not to give it on purpose, Anthony continued to rush in.Gobert moved laterally to intercept, Anthony immediately divided the ball into the middle, Howard received it, faced Kobe's defense, turned around and threw it to the top of the arc.

Seeing this, Li Yue gave up on Ariza and strode to the top of the arc for a rotation. Kobe hurried over to defend, but the distance was a little far away.

The Rockets raised their hands to signal that Ariza was in a wide open position, but Harden didn't even look at the ball after receiving the ball, and pushed against Li Yue.

when!The basketball hit the hoop and fell.

Li Yue ran wildly, turned around at the LOGO position in the frontcourt, received a long pass from Iguodala, and amidst the cheers of the audience, he single-handedly went to the basket, stopped suddenly and raised his hand to fly Ariza, and easily shot with a hook.

Swish!Hollow into the net, 56 to 37.

"Pay attention to controlling the rhythm, we need the success rate..." McHale continued to shout, not daring to say the specific name.

With a pained look on his face, Ariza picked up the basketball, walked out of bounds, and threw it into the court.

Harden bent down to pick it up, and slowly pushed forward, taking 7.5 seconds to cross the center line.

The Rockets' formation had already been set up, and Harden still slowly brought the ball to the left wing, changing hands and shaking continuously.Seeing this, Howard turned his back to Gobert and prepared to grab a rebound, but he never expected that Harden suddenly threw the ball to the right.

Ariza caught the ball in a daze for half a second, subconsciously changed hands and swayed under his crotch, glanced at Li Yue twice, and chose to pass back.

Harden received the ball, suddenly lowered his center of gravity, stepped past Kobe, and went straight to the basket.

Kobe smiled and clapped his hands, as if to say "good boy, you actually fooled me"

In the blink of an eye, Harden rushed to the paint, bumped into Iguodala head-on, and at the same time raised his hand to shoot, shouting And One.

Beep!The referee blew his whistle, whistled for a charge with the ball, and gave the Lakers the right to the ball in the backcourt.

"WTF?" Harden roared with his hands outstretched, puzzled.

The referee tilted his head and stared, and raised his hand to make a 'T' motion. Harden hurriedly turned around.

Fortunately, the referee did not blow the whistle, Beverly pulled Harden away, and the audience booed wildly.

The Lakers attacked, Kobe dribbled the ball across the center line, stopped at the LOGO position and waited.

Considering that the Rockets wanted to protect Harden, Li Yue raised it directly from the left wing and set up a wall to block Ariza.

Kobe took the opportunity to break through to the right, Harden stopped in place, Ariza squeezed through the screen to catch up.

Ordinarily not switching defenses is also one of the options, but at this time the ball holder is Kobe, he stopped and jumped suddenly, and shot an open three-pointer.

Boom!The basketball crashed into the net and the Lakers led 59 to 37. McHay requested a timeout.

"The Lakers are too ruthless. They actually continuously launched high pick-and-rolls through Harden's defensive weaknesses, and they can make it every time. If it were me, I would use 100% of my energy to make up for it." O'Neal said, "It may have been completely Lost opportunity."

"Harden must make changes," Barkley said. "Now the Rockets have another All-Star player. He must learn to play off the ball. In addition, the offensive end is no longer as expensive as before, and the defense must be improved."

"I fully agree. If he wants to win the championship, he must first learn to sacrifice. Anthony is not just a mid-range and low-post shooter," Kenny said. "Harden needs to actively help the Rockets enrich their tactical options while avoiding becoming a breakthrough."

...

Back from the timeout, McHale put Harden on the bench and arranged for Terry to be the shooting guard.

Such a change is effective, but the general trend is difficult to reverse. After halftime, the Lakers lead 64 to 41.

Throughout the third quarter, Harden didn't play for any second, and the Rockets only lost to the Lakers by 5 points.

With only 4 minutes left, the Lakers led by as much as 27 points. The Rockets missed consecutive three-pointers and conceded in advance.

In the end, the Lakers won 121 to 93 and made a good start to the new season.

Li Yue accepted the post-match interview. After several official questions from the TNT reporter, the topic changed: "Tomorrow night, you will challenge the Warriors back to back in an away game, then take a day off, come back here to play against the Clippers, and then fly overnight to Yale. Sang challenges the sun, and there will be four games in five days, are you confident that you can win all of them?"

(End of this chapter)