Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"ball."

Leonard took the initiative to run back to ask for the ball. He glanced at the defensive situation and saw that the Lakers were preparing to provide assist defense, but he didn't care and continued to play one-on-one against Korver.

He first took a tentative step, then retreated and broke through to the left, not very fast, and took the initiative to lean towards Korver, looking for a physical confrontation.

At this time, Anderson was ready to go over to assist in defense.

But before his help defense arrived, Leonard jumped up and took a long two-point shot. With a slight sound, the ball hit the target.

"nice shot."

"Hehe, Leonard is totally unstoppable at this point."

"Not only can the Lakers not stop him at this point, they can't stop him inside either..."

The home fans were discussing excitedly.

At this time, the first quarter had been played for a few minutes, and the score became 13:6, with the Raptors leading by 7 points.

The reason why the Raptors widened the gap in such a short time was mainly because they played very well on both offense and defense. On the defensive end, they used active switching and assisting defense and overall defense to limit the Lakers' offense.

On the offensive end, the main focus is Leonard and Gasol in the interior, which is very targeted and efficient.

"Requesting a timeout."

The Lakers called a timeout.

After several players came off the court, Coach Scott, with a serious expression, first replaced Korver with Cunningham.

Korver got a lot of opportunities in these few minutes. The Raptors focused on defending Zhuang Yu, and Leonard was helping Danny Green with assisting defense, which would miss Korver.

But when Zhuang Yu passed the ball to Korver, Korver was unable to make the shot.

In a few minutes, Korver made 4 of 0 shots.

Not a single goal was scored.

This is also one of the reasons why the Lakers fell behind.

It has to be said that Korver's condition is not very good. His condition in the previous games was relatively average. His task is actually very simple, which is to shoot three-pointers. However, compared with the previous two seasons, his three-point shooting percentage this season has dropped a lot.

Afterwards, Coach Scott replaced Zubac with Kuzma and directly used a "five-small lineup".

He spread out the tactical board: "We have to strengthen our defense against Leonard later, and switch defense and assist defense quickly. We also have to speed up our offensive rhythm and not fight a positional battle with the opponent."

"Also, you must be resolute enough when shooting from the outside. As long as you think you can shoot, you can shoot even if the opportunity is not that good."

"Remember, hit faster."

After that, he looked at Zhuang Yu and said, "You need to strengthen your personal offense."

Coach Scott sighed when he said this.

Their original tactical strategy was to limit Leonard and Gasol Jr. as much as possible on the defensive end, and to use Zhuang Yu's positional advantage on the offensive end to tear apart the Raptors' defense. It was foreseeable that the opponent would focus on limiting Zhuang Yu, but this would also miss out on other players on the Lakers side.

When Zhuang Yu attracted the defense and passed the ball, what his teammates needed to do was simple: shoot the ball.

As long as teammates can make the shot, the opponent's defensive strategy will fail.

It just backfired.

The previous arrangements and ideas are only ideal states after all. The game changes rapidly, and many times it will not develop as you expected.

For example, in the last few minutes, there was no problem with the Lakers' overall tactics, but when Zhuang Yu attracted the defense and passed the ball, his teammates did not seize the opportunity.

Korver made 4 of 0 three-pointers, and Zubac was completely at a disadvantage in the interior against Gasol.

Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that the Lakers fell behind.

Since this is the case, the tactics have to be adjusted, so Coach Scott simply changed to a five-small lineup. If you can't defend, then play against the opponent. After the five-small lineup, the space can be opened better and the speed can be improved.

Of course, defense cannot be ignored.

So Coach Scott replaced him with Cunningham. He did not intend to let Zhuang Yu face off against Leonard. Zhuang Yu needed to focus as much as possible on the offensive end.

As for defending Leonard, it will be left to Cunningham.

......

After some arrangements, the pause ended.

Both sides returned to the court. The Raptors played very well in the last few minutes, so Coach Nurse did not make any substitutions and still used the starting five.

Lakers offense.

Holiday dribbled the ball forward, and when he reached the frontcourt, he immediately passed the ball to Zhuang Yu, then gestured to his teammates.

Nance Jr. came up to screen for Zhuang Yu, while Holiday and others moved quickly. With the help of Nance Jr.'s screen, Zhuang Yu moved to the right and got rid of Danny Green.

Although it was Nance who came up for screen and roll, Gasol did not rush over to delay Zhuang Yu.

The Raptors were also mentally prepared for the Lakers' adjustment. Seeing the Lakers change to a five-small lineup, they knew the Lakers' tactical intention. So Gasol did not mention going online to delay the game, but still stood under the basket to guard the inside.

However, someone has to come up and delay Zhuang Yu, otherwise Zhuang Yu can shoot directly from outside the three-point line after a pick-and-roll.

This is something the Raptors will never allow.

A figure flashed, and Leonard rushed forward, blocking Zhuang Yu with one hand raised high to prevent Zhuang Yu from shooting a three-pointer.

Seeing this, Zhuang Yu did not hesitate. He lowered his center of gravity, dribbled the ball between his legs, pretended to break through to the left, and then changed direction in front of his body with a very large amplitude, creating space before accelerating.

It was at this time that Zhuang Yu's speed fully exploded.

This was so fast that even with Leonard's defensive ability he was unable to block it, and in an instant Zhuang Yu passed him by half a body length.

Fortunately, the Raptors still had Gasol Jr. staying in the interior. When he saw Zhuang Yu pass Leonard, he immediately stepped forward and blocked Zhuang Yu.

The next moment, Zhuang Yu jumped up to face Gasol Jr.

Gasol also jumped up quickly with his arms raised high.

However, he soon discovered that Zhuang Yu's shot was a lob, and the basketball drew an exaggerated arc, leaving him helpless and able to watch the basketball pass over his head.

There was a slight sound and cheers came from the audience. Gasol knew that the ball had gone in because those cheering were all Lakers fans.

"nice shot."

"Zhuang Yu has finally started to exert his strength."

"Come on Zhuang Yu, come on Lakers."

At the same time, several players of the Raptors exchanged glances and realized that Zhuang Yu was about to start exerting his strength on the offensive end.

It seems that we need to further strengthen the defense against Zhuang Yu.

......

Raptors offense.

After coming to the frontcourt, Lowry still gave the ball to Leonard, but facing Cunningham was obviously not as easy as playing against Korver.

Cunningham's defense was very aggressive and oppressive. Leonard tried but was unable to get past Cunningham.

After a moment's hesitation, he made a ground pass to Gasol Jr. in the low post.

Gasol Jr. got the ball and played a one-on-one game with his back to the basket. At the moment, he was facing Nance Jr., who was one quarter shorter and heavier than Zubac, and it was obvious that he could not defend Gasol Jr.

It is precisely because Gasol Jr. has an absolute advantage over Nance Jr. that Leonard gave up his own one-on-one play and instead gave the ball to Gasol Jr.

Just when Gasol was about to play one-on-one with his back to the basket, Zhuang Yu pounced on him.

This time the timing was very accurate. At the moment when Gasol Jr. passed the ball, Zhuang Yu rushed over and reached out to grab the ball, which scared Gasol Jr. He hurriedly grabbed the ball, but at this time he had already dribbled once and could not continue dribbling.

Since the ball was still some distance away from the basket, he had to pass it.

After two more passes, the ball finally returned to Gasol Jr.

This time Gasol was prepared. When he saw the Lakers' help defense, he did not pass the ball immediately, but waited until the help defense player came in front of him before passing the ball to Danny Green. Danny Green raised the ball, and Zhuang Yu was too late to pounce on it. Holiday subconsciously pounced on Danny Green, and Danny Green passed the ball horizontally to Lowry.

Swish!

Lowry made a three-pointer.

"Haha, what do you think? I guess the Lakers are still unstoppable."

"Their starting lineup was unstoppable before, and now they have switched to a five-man lineup, so naturally they are even more unstoppable. Coach Scott must have been sleepy today, and actually made such a stupid move. He doesn't expect this five-man lineup to catch up with the score, right?"

The home fans couldn't help but laugh and taunt Coach Scott.

......

After the Raptors scored, the Lakers immediately launched an attack. Holiday was very fast and pushed the ball to the frontcourt in a blink of an eye.

This time he did not pass the ball to Zhuang Yu immediately, but chose to break through himself, changed direction and accelerated when he reached the three-point line, and rushed to the inside against Lowry.

This happened so suddenly that Lowry was unable to react.

By the time he came to his senses, Holiday had already passed him by half a body length. Gasol had no time to think and could only step forward to help Lowry defend. But Holiday did not choose to shoot himself, but flicked the ball to Nance.

"not good."

"I missed someone."

In the audience, home fans shouted loudly to alert the Raptors players.

For a moment, the Raptors players subconsciously pounced on Nance Jr., but Nance Jr. did not shoot himself, but passed the ball to the three-point line in the left corner.

It was only then that people realized that Zhuang Yu actually appeared there.

In fact, when Holiday broke through, Zhuang Yu had already started to move, running crosswise with Kuzma along the three-point line, using Kuzma's screen to get rid of the defense, and came to the three-point line in the left corner, and the ball was passed to his hands.

Zhuang Yu jumped up and shook his wrist.

With a slight sound, the basketball hit the target, which was equivalent to returning an answer ball.

"Yeah." Coach Scott nodded slightly.

Although the other players were not in very good condition today, Zhuang Yu's performance was still outstanding. As long as Zhuang Yu performs stably, they are not afraid of the Raptors.