Super Evolution of Basketball

Chapter 168 Everyone is working hard
After the end of the game against the Heat, the Lakers ushered in another extremely difficult opponent in the East-the walking horse army led by "Superman Returns" Paul George.

Pacers' number one superstar Paul George returned from injury, brought Monta Ellis, George Hill and CJ Myers, and others have messed up the Eastern Conference since the start of the game. The start of 4 wins and 5 losses does not look very ideal, but you must know that the Pacers are facing strong enemies, LeBron, Curry, Harden, etc., and a nearly [-]% winning rate in the devil's schedule is not bad.

After Paul George came back, he was still able to kill the Quartet, and the younger brothers who followed him seemed to be full of gangsters, and none of them were fuel-efficient.

Before the game, coach Scott wanted to rest the main players. The Lakers are also very tired recently, especially after the battle with the Heat, the players have entered a state of fatigue. If they are injured at this time, the loss outweighs the gain.

He asked for Kobe's opinion, but Kobe firmly disagreed. He suggested that playing time could be reduced, but he must not be deprived of the opportunity to play against Paul George.

So Coach Scott simply gave up the idea of ​​taking a rest, re-planned the rotation, and prepared to let the main players make false starts.

The decoration style of the Banker Life Arena is not like that of a banker. It always looks gloomy from the TV broadcast, and in reality, the lighting on the ceiling is very cold, which makes people feel a little depressed.

The Lakers lost to the Pacers in back-to-back away games. Yuan Qingshan played 29 minutes and scored 7 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds.

……

On November 11, the Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls led by Jimmy Butler Jr. at the United Center Arena.

Thibodeau led the Bulls to a 61% winning percentage last season, ranking third in the Eastern Conference. They beat the Bucks 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs. In the series, Jimmy Butler scored 24.8 points, 3.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds.

The potential new star Greek monster Antetokounmpo did not perform well, averaging only 12.7 points per game, which is not as good as Middleton and McAway.

The players did not perform well, but the smart and steady coach Kidd has gained a large number of fans in Milwaukee, and being able to bring the Bucks to the playoffs has exceeded their expectations.

Let's go back to the Bulls. In the second round, they faced the Cavaliers who had just swept the Celtics. After exhausting the last ammunition, they lost the series 2-4.

LeBron James is the well-deserved MVP of the series. What is unexpected for the Bulls is that the former MVP Derrick Rose ranked first with 21.7 points per game, and Jimmy Butler ranked second with 21 points per game. This makes Bulls fans seem to have some hope for the future amidst the failure.

The sixth game between the Cavaliers and the Bulls was on May 2015, 5. Sadly, the headline of ESPN on the 14th was the prediction that Thibodeau would leave the Bulls.

In fact, as early as the regular season, there were voices calling for Thibodeau to be fired. In the second round of the series, he did have some flaws in his personnel scheduling. The players did not execute the defensive tactics well, and the defense he was famous for was loose and tight.

Offensive tactics are also inflexible. In the series, except for Rose who can tear the opponent's defense, the others basically did not break through. Jimmy Butler and Gasol's tactical status is not outstanding, and there is no effective offensive strength when the game is in a stalemate.

Of course, there are not many people in the entire league who can compare with LeBron. The Bulls can only be said to have no superstar image. From this perspective, meeting LeBron can only be considered unlucky for Thibodeau.

Sure enough, the first thing the Bulls did during the offseason was to fire Thibodeau and hire Fred Hoiberg as the head coach. Let me emphasize that this is his rookie season as an NBA head coach. I don't know whether it is luck or misfortune to accept a team with such a strong style from the previous head coach.

The departure of the ruthless Thibodeau will not keep the Bulls away from injuries.

In the game against the Lakers on November 11, Derrick Rose and Gasol were absent from the starting lineup, and Noah and Hinrich were absent from the bench.

Poor Bulls, adding Jimmy Butler to the absent lineup is enough to put together a starting lineup.

Jimmy Butler couldn't support it alone, and the Lakers finally met a team whose starters and substitutes were weaker than themselves.

After the opening game, despite the absence of Gasol, the Lakers still adopted internal and external defensive tactics, focusing on the defense and the two insiders. The effect was very good. Mirotic and Gibson, who have never been known for their physicality and toughness, were unable to find their way. They took 33 shots in the game, only hit 6 goals, and scored 13 points.

The top card Jimmy Butler was directly defended by the Lakers as a role player, and his offensive and defensive performance was mediocre.

In the third quarter, coach Scott even arranged for Yuan Qingshan to try to defend Jimmy Butler for a while.

Jimmy's hand feeling was very bad this time. After being consumed by Kobe in the first half, he wanted to use COSCO shots to solve the battle as soon as the third quarter came up, but was blocked by Yuan Qingshan from outside the three-point line.

From then on, Jimmy didn't dare to push himself up, and he stood up honestly. The result was obvious. His stamina bar was empty in the first half of the fourth quarter, and his shooting percentage plummeted.

In this game, Yuan Qingshan put more energy on the defensive end. He barely took any shots in the offense and only scored 4 points. However, the plus/minus value was the third highest for the visiting team, only behind Kobe and Towns.

After easily winning another away game, Yuan Qingshan watched the game news of the day on the plane.

In the game on the same day, the little emperor James went down to earth, scoring 32 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory over the New York Knicks.

LeBron...just short of a triple-double with 1 rebound...James came back out of the arena, and I don't know how many innocent fans died in a hurry.

The Thunder met the Memphis Grizzlies, a well-known and difficult opponent in the West. Westbrook continued his triple-double process, winning and attracting fans.

Durant scored 36 points. It is worth mentioning that almost all of his scoring in the fourth quarter came from Westbrook's assists, and the Thunder team was harmonious.

The Grizzlies rely on the extraordinary performance of veteran Matt Barnes to avoid losing too ugly. McConley, who holds the highest salary, can only misfire against Westbrook.

The defending champion Golden State Warriors clocked out of get off work in another three quarters, and easily and happily dealt with the New Orleans Pelicans in the same district.

Anthony Davis, the owner of the empty cut group, continued to run wild, but unfortunately it didn't help. The Splash Brothers Curry and Thompson set off a wave in the third quarter and just killed the Pelicans.

With 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Coach Kerr replaced Curry, and the elementary school student ran off the court shaking his head with his braces in his mouth.

Golden State fans clapped happily as if watching their children leave school and the teacher didn't leave homework.

In this way, the Warriors continued to maintain the first position in the league record, and the Western Thunder came from behind and overtook the Rockets again to come to third place, only one win away from the second-ranked Lakers.

In the East, the Cavaliers are still far ahead, followed by the Hawks and Raptors.

Maybe last season's heartbreaking loss stimulated LeBron, so he gave enough horsepower at the beginning of this season, ready to start the playoffs as the number one in the Eastern Conference.

LeBron knew he didn't have much time left, because the people of Cleveland had waited too long.

(End of this chapter)