Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 302 Maliciousness from Texas

Entering the new year, the Lakers ranked third in the West, behind the sudden rise of the Suns and the Supersonics.

Speaking of which, the Lakers have had their fair share of twists and turns this season. In addition to the traditional strong teams in the West, the Sonics and the Suns have risen rapidly and become new forces in the West. The Northwest has become a complete mess. Cheng's winning percentage has just ranked ninth in the West. As for the Hornets, who just moved from the East to the West, they have thoroughly experienced what it means to be hell. In the terrifying Southwest Division, surrounded by strong enemies, the Hornets have 2 wins and 26 losses. It was completely reduced to a cash machine for the other 29 teams, and it was the best in the battle for the No. [-] pick.

The main small forward and the inside line were suspended for a long time, and the head coach was absent due to illness. Although he defeated the Nuggets in the last game, Kobe's light covered up many problems. For example, Battier, in the few games he served as the starter , averaging 38 minutes per game, scoring only 7.6 points, and his shooting percentage just reached 40%.

Fortunately, Artest, who has been suspended for the longest time, is about to be lifted, and the depth of the Lakers' small forward position can return to the forefront of the league.

As for Nene, he was supposed to return in the game against the Heat, but he strained his thigh in training and will be sidelined for about 2 weeks.

David West served as the starting power forward for the Lakers, averaging 7.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, shooting about [-]% from the field, and stable mid-range shots. Considering the team's many scoring points, this result is not bad.Of course, limited by his experience, his ability to do pivot support and defense is still incomparable to that of old Malone.

Stevens looked at the upcoming schedule and felt like crying.

The Texas three-link, first the Spurs, then the Mavericks, and finally the Rockets, then went to the extreme north to challenge the Minnesota Timberwolves, and finally went to Colorado to have a head-to-head confrontation with the revenge-seeking Nuggets at Denver's plateau home.

Jim, who is still hospitalized for treatment, will definitely not be able to travel with the team for this wave of road trips.

"Brad, I looked at the schedule. Your record winning percentage in the history of the Lakers may soon be lost, but as long as it's not a five-game losing streak, we can still accept it. Don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Jim's half-joking parting words made Stevens feel more responsible and stressed.

The Suns and Supersonics are advancing all the way, followed by the Mavericks and Spurs, the Kings and Timberwolves are also fighting, and the Rockets and Nuggets must fight for playoff tickets. If there are too many, it will definitely affect the ranking in the playoffs.

In the first game against San Antonio, the Spurs had just lost their five-game winning streak to the Kings. They urgently needed a victory to restore their momentum. Popovich was clearly well prepared for this game, taking advantage of Artest's long absence and unknown state. One point, in the beginning, he mainly played Prince. Sure enough, Artest had some distractions when he was defending off the ball. Prince scored 3 three-pointers in the first quarter and scored 11 points. The Spurs hit 32. Started with an advantage of 18.

In the second quarter, the situation still failed to improve. Under the Spurs' defensive system, Wade's breakthrough was severely restricted. In addition, he didn't feel good in mid-range shooting today. After coming up, he made 5 of 1 shots. The Lakers are proud of it. Not only failed to narrow the point difference, but was further widened by the Spurs.

Although the current Popovich is not yet the godfather and tactical master of the court, it is still more than enough to deal with these people on the coaching bench of the Lakers. David West has nothing to do with Duncan and Rasheed Wallace. A good way, although Haslem is active but too short, lost the old Malone, Nene was sidelined due to injury, Garnett lacked skills, the Spurs beat the Lakers for this weakness.

The rhythm of the game has been controlled by the Spurs. Although Wade's hand felt warmer after playing at the end of the third quarter, and he once scored 10 points in a row, the point difference has been stretched too far, and the Lakers have no way to recover.

88 to 103, the Lakers started the trip to the Texas Devils with a big defeat.Stevens' coaching winning percentage plummeted 50 percent overnight.

Not only was Stevens scratching his head, Jim was watching the live broadcast in the hospital, and he felt a little tricky about the more mature system of the Spurs. Parker, Ginobili and Prince further matured, Duncan maintained his peak state, and Rashid Hua Lace is still stable. If the Lakers want to continue to hit the championship, the Spurs are an unavoidable mountain.

Of course, the Lakers and Spurs are not the only teams aiming to win the championship. Mark Cuban is tired of running with him for years and has given a death order to head coach Don Nelson. If the Mavericks cannot win the championship this season, the legendary coach Will probably leave the team.

The lineup has undergone major changes for two consecutive years. It is not easy for the Mavericks to still rank fifth in the Western Conference. This season, in addition to Jason Terry and the newly traded Stackhouse, they also use a With a 7-year $7300 million contract, Eric Dampier, who claims to be the second center in the league, was dug from the Warriors, plus youngsters Josh Howard, Marquis Daniels and Devin Harris, the lineup The depth is still excellent, and the offense and defense are more balanced than last season.

Nash's explosive performance in the Suns was unexpected by the Mavericks management. The Canadian was at the level of an ordinary All-Star in Dallas for a few seasons, and Terry, who served as a supplement, also performed very well. With a big heart at all times, being Nowitzki's wingman is also satisfying, and as a member of the league's top three players, it is uncertain when Terry will play an explosive performance.

The Lakers challenged the Mavericks game just in time for Terry to fill up his spiritual points and burst out with a big move.

In the first half, Terry made all 8 shots, including 4 three-pointers, and scored 20 points. After the last game, the Lakers were once again stunned by their opponents in the first quarter, starting with a 17-30 difficult mode , opened the mode of chasing points hard, Kobe, Battier and Wade took turns to defend Terry, but after the jet took off, it was a bit difficult to press back to the ground.

Although the Lakers changed their defensive strategy in the second half, Terry was no longer so easy to receive the ball, but his existence contained a lot of energy for the Lakers. The Mavericks bloomed more, and 6 scored in double figures. Rebounds, Eric Dampier's double-double of 25 points and 8 rebounds, his performance is also worthy of his worth.

For the Lakers, Kobe had 32 points, Garnett had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Wade had 19 points. Relying on the efforts of the team, they tied the score in the fourth quarter, but Terry stood up again. It also created Kobe's dribbling, turned back and assisted Nowitzki to hit a jumper. The performance of 7 points inside and outside helped the Mavericks to seal the victory. Terry scored a team-high 29 points, 12 of 11 shots, three The performance of all 5 shots from the ball is appalling.

110 to 119, the Lakers suffered their first losing streak of the season.

　Remarks, three J guests: Jamal Crowford, Jason Terry, J·R·Smith.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)