I just play ball

Chapter 80 Before the Storm

Knowing that the two were injured, Li Yue was not in the mood to exercise, and immediately returned to the room to call the team doctor for details.

It turned out that both of them discovered abnormalities during extra shooting practice in the afternoon. The specific injury has not been announced to the public just now. He also didn't pay attention to the team's notice because he was negotiating the sneaker endorsement contract, so he didn't know it at all.

At about 05:30, under the convening of the coaching staff, the entire Lakers team held a meeting.

D'Antoni officially announced that Kobe and Nash were injured and missed the next two games. Whether G3 can come back depends on the situation before making a decision. G2 must adjust its style of play and hurry up to practice.

Li Yue listened and observed his teammates' reactions.

Losing two core players at once is a heavy blow no matter what, but the confidence of the Lakers team has not been affected. The expressions on everyone's faces are very calm, and there is even a sign that the mourners are bound to win.

Immediately afterwards, D'Antoni announced that Artest replaced Li Yue as the starting small forward in G2, while Li Yue was changed to the starting point guard, Blake was the starting equal shooting guard, and Gasol and Howard remained unchanged.

At the end of the meeting, Kupchak hinted that Li Yue, as the future core of the team, would say a few words to boost morale.

He didn't say too many impassioned words, he only said that he would do a good job in defense and offense to help the team win the game.

Back in the room, Li Yue was completely calm and went to the gym for training as planned.

In the battle against the Spurs, his biggest feeling was that it was difficult to resist Leonard, and the gap in core strength was a bit big.He originally planned to start gaining muscle during the offseason, but now he must advance to avoid making it to the finals and suffering from LeBron.

Determined to pay attention, he asked the physical trainer to develop a detailed plan including diet.

By the evening, the news of Nash and Kobe's injuries had become the number one topic of discussion on Twitter.

Li Yue glanced casually, and found that most of the relevant tweets were regrets and blessings, and a small number of tweets were yin and yang, implying that the Lakers would lose two games in a row, mocking the loss of Nash and Kobe, and his personal score would definitely be limited to Below 20.

Some people also refuted the statement that 'the Lakers will lose two games in a row', pointing out that Li Yue once led the Lakers to easily defeat the Cavaliers when the four main players were resting. With Howard and Gasol, there is still a certain chance of winning.

But the refutation did not lead to a reversal of public opinion, but attracted more ridicule. Several well-known rappers represented by Lil Wayne deliberately emphasized that if Li Yue wanted to compare himself to Jordan, the first thing he should do was to lead the team to win spurs.

Many fans of Li Yue left messages on his Twitter, hoping that he would stand up and say a few words.

Instead of responding, he spent time scrolling through the Spurs' offensive and defensive analysis tapes over and over again.

In the early hours of the morning, he turned off the recording, and checked the results of the two groups' matches that night as usual.

As he expected, Durant was unable to recover with 36 points, and the Clippers relied on Paul and Griffin to play efficiently and draw with the Thunder.

More unexpectedly, 'Melon' Anthony swept the tide, scoring 26 points on 13 of 32 shots and leading the team to tie the Pacers.

Also lost the game, Twitter netizens encouraged Durant in different ways, but unreasonably ridiculed only Paul George because George only scored 20 points, and many of them said that Li Yue would soon enjoy the same treatment .

...

On the afternoon of the [-]th, the entire Lakers team arrived at the ATT Center four hours in advance for training.

According to the agreement, Li Yue first challenged Kobe to a three-pointer in the midfield, and he made a three-pointer with only three shots, winning the applause of the audience.

In order to save energy, the team's running tactics are not confrontational, and the V-shaped pick-and-roll tactics are mainly used.

After training, Li Yue was interviewed on the sidelines.

Faced with many questions from reporters that induced rhetoric, he dealt with them all indifferently.

Back in the locker room, Li Yue took the initiative to apply to play shooting guard. The reason was that Blake was at a disadvantage against Green, and if he dribbled forward, he would inevitably be double-teamed by the Spurs, and the efficiency of the first pass would be greatly reduced.

D'Antoni pondered for a while, and finally agreed to the request.

...

With the lights shining all over the court, there were bursts of cheers in the ATT Center, and the Lakers and Spurs are about to start G2.

Li Yue got up and walked to the technical stage, and stood face to face with Goodlock, and the two raised their hands high-fived.

"You will lose tonight! G1 won because of good luck, and Nash and Kobe were injured because of the balance!" A spectator with a belly as big as two mineral water buckets waved his hat and shouted at the two.

Goodlock was furious when he heard the words, and immediately turned to face the audience, clenching his fists as if preparing to fight.

The audience was stupefied with fright, Li Yue hurriedly dragged Goodlock, patted on the shoulder to signal don't get excited.

The two continued to high-five and quickly completed the pre-match ceremony.

Li Yue turned around and stepped into the field, the whistle sounded, and other players from the two teams entered the field one after another.

He looked around and found that the Spurs' starting lineup had not changed.

The referee tossed the ball to the center circle, clasped it with both hands and slapped it three times in a row, raised it up, paused for a while, and then gently threw it upwards.

Duncan jumped back and touched first, the basketball was forced to fly towards the Spurs half court, and the audience cheered and shouted.

Parker took the ball and pushed forward, went to the left wing to back up against Blake, and the rest of the Spurs moved to the right, making various moves without the ball.

When the low post on the left was emptied, Duncan screened for Parker, then disassembled and slid down, and ran to catch the ball with his back to Howard.

Duncan patted the ball to take advantage of it, first went up and then right and continued to feint, tricking Howard into moving his feet, turning around and leaning back to make a mid-range shot.

The basketball hit the basket and hit the iron, Artest grabbed it strongly, and the Lakers launched a counterattack.

In accordance with the coach's request to "reduce the pace as much as possible", Blake slowly dribbled the ball to the right wing, handed it to Li Yue face to face, and ran to the right corner to stand still.

Li Yue took the ball to face Leonard's close defense, took a step-by-step test in a three-threat posture, and suddenly received the ball and made a three-pointer.

The moment the ball was released, he heard several spectators on the sidelines exclaiming, as if they were very surprised by his actions.

The basketball hit the front of the rim, Green rushed to grab the rebound, the Spurs launched a counterattack, and the team advanced rapidly.

Parker rushed to the right wing with the ball and used Duncan's cover to break through to the top of the arc. Blake flew around the front to intercept.

Parker immediately pulled the ball back, and then used Duncan's cover to go straight inside to the right. The speed was as fast as a small sports car.

Blake dodged and squeezed behind to catch up, Howard spread his hands and moved laterally to intercept, and the Lakers team shrank to the basket.

Even though the Spurs team expanded outwards and there were two vacancies in an instant, Parker still launched a three-step layup in the face of a double team.

Parker was very imposing, but he was completely blocked in the low post on the right. It was too late to score the ball, so he could only circle around in place.

Going around, the pivot foot appears to move, and the referee blows his whistle to punish him for walking.

Easy side Lakers attack, Li Yue took the ball from the right wing and used Howard to move to the top of the arc.

Leonard followed closely, and Li Yue stopped abruptly, changed hands behind his back, and then used Howard's cover to enter the inside line.

The Spurs team shrank and outflanked, and Li Yue ignored the threat and forced a three-step layup.

Before the basketball was shot, Leonard snatched it from behind him, and then quickly took it to the top of the frontcourt arc, European stepping away from Artest, taking off from the free throw line and gliding for a layup, the ATT center exploded directly.

Unfortunately, the basketball swished out of the basket, and Artest picked it up in his hand and slowly brought it forward.

TNT commentary seats.

Marvin Abbott said with a smile on his face, "Both teams failed in their opening offense and made the same misplacement. What do you think?"

Reggie Miller shrugged: "It's normal. The two teams have their own concerns, and the offensive processing is very hasty."

Isaiah Thomas: "I think this is the calm before the storm. There are signs that the two teams have a strong desire to win, especially Li Yue. Regardless of Twitter responses or pre-match interviews, he chooses to keep a low profile. The two teams are bound to fight one game."

(End of this chapter)