Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"It's a pity. If Lopez hadn't been injured, the Lakers might have won the game."

"Yes, if Lopez hadn't been injured, the Lakers would have won this game and returned to first place in the Western Conference. Now the Lakers' winning streak has ended, but the Clippers have won nine games in a row and have secured first place in the Western Conference. Judging from this situation, the Clippers are really going to explode this season."

"I have to say that the combination of James and Davis is really too strong. Both of them are top-notch in the league in terms of individual strength, and the chemistry between them is very good. As long as no player suffers injuries like the Lakers, they really have a chance to win the championship this season."

"I understand now. The only thing that can stop the Lakers from winning the championship is probably injuries."

This game sparked discussion among many fans.

Especially the fans who watched this game know clearly that the strength of the Lakers is undisputed.

If we say that before Durant left, the Warriors seemed stronger than the Lakers in terms of lineup alone, but after Durant left, looking at the entire league, no team's overall strength can match the Lakers.

Even with Davis joining the Clippers, it won't work.

In the history of the NBA, there are many teams with very gorgeous lineups, but ultimately failed to win the championship.

The reason is often due to injuries.

For example, when the Cavaliers lost to the Warriors in the finals, many people thought it was because of injuries. If Irving and Love had not been injured one after another, they might have won the championship.

Another example...

In short, the biggest trouble for a team like the Lakers is injuries.

Once they encounter injuries, everything will become unpredictable. There will be more bumps and difficulties on their road to defending the title, and they may even fail.

......

at the same time.

Zhuang Yu received a call from assistant coach Madsen, telling him the bad news that Lopez's injury was quite serious and the doctor estimated that he would have to rest for at least three months.

This news is so bad.

This means that if Lopez wants to return, he will have to wait until the late regular season.

Even if the recovery is not ideal, he may miss the entire regular season, and the absence of Lopez will have a huge impact on the Lakers.

Fortunately, with the strength of the Lakers' lineup, they will have no problem dealing with the regular season even without Lopez.

But no one expected that just a few days later, an accident happened again.

......

A few days later, the Lakers faced the Celtics.

In this game, Rose sprained his knee again. His knee had been seriously injured before, and this time he sprained it again. Although the situation is not particularly serious, because of his original injury, the recovery time will be very long.

The injury was very frustrating for Rose and caused him great concern.

He was worried that his knees would no longer be able to bear the weight and that he would never be able to return to the court after this injury.

The Lakers are also worried.

But things had already happened, and Zhuang Yu could only comfort Ross.

In order to prevent Ross from worrying too much, he specifically told Ross that he would ask Yang Jinsong to get some more medicinal wine from China.

This can only be regarded as a kind of psychological comfort, but it seems to be very effective for Ross, and his mental state has improved visibly.

Of course, improvement in mental state does not mean improvement in physical condition, and it will still take a long time for Rose to return to the court.

The coaching staff was really troubled by the fact that two players were injured at once.

......

Inside the conference room.

The conference room was rarely filled with smoke today. Even Coach Scott, who was always serious and old-fashioned, started smoking in the conference room because he was really anxious.

The absence of Lopez has had a huge impact on the team, and now without Rose, there are also problems with the bench lineup.

Now it’s not just the main lineup that needs to be adjusted.

Assistant coach Madsen didn't smoke. He frowned and thought, and then said, "I think we should not let Korver start. Let him play as a substitute. The substitute lineup needs a scoring point. Let Cunningham play as the starting small forward."

Another assistant coach shook his head and retorted: "I disagree. I think it's better to let Korver continue to be the starting small forward. Now we can't guarantee that there will be an All-Star player on the court at any time, and Zubac needs to replace Lopez. The bench lineup is also short of people. Cunningham needs to stay in the bench lineup and play an important role."

"Yes, I agree with assistant coach Paul's idea. Let Korver continue to start, and Zubac will replace Lopez. In the rotation time, we can use Clarkson, Hamilton, Cunningham, Kuzma, and Nance. Although this lineup is not as good as before, it can still hold up. Clarkson's scoring ability is still very strong. As long as he can fully exert his scoring ability, this bench lineup is not weak."

Both assistant coaches believe that Korver should continue to be the starting small forward to avoid making too many adjustments that would affect the overall tactical system.

There is nothing wrong with their consideration.

But assistant coach Madsen still doesn't think so. He shook his head and said, "What I'm worried about is that the injuries of Lopez and Rose will not only make our morale low, but also affect the mentality of other players. Korver's condition was not very good to begin with, and now it may get worse. Although Zubac performed well on the offensive end, his defense is a huge disadvantage."

"Guys, Korver was the only defensive weakness, which wasn't a big problem. Now with Zubac, our defensive problem is huge."

Both teaching assistants were silent.

They also had to admit that what assistant coach Madsen said made sense.

If Korver is replaced by Cunningham, at least the defense of the main lineup will not be weakened too much.

After some discussion, no conclusion was reached, and finally they could only look at Coach Scott.

Coach Scott puffed out smoke and didn't speak in a hurry.

After a long while, just when several assistant coaches were getting anxious, he slowly spoke: "I agree with assistant coach Madsen's idea. Without Lopez, our starting lineup will be weakened both offensively and defensively."

"First of all, on the offensive end, we lacked an inside pillar."

"Although Zubac can score, his scoring ability is obviously not comparable to Lopez, at least not now."

"Korver's form has declined further this season, and it's hard for us to expect him to provide enough support from beyond the three-point line."

"At this time, our offense needs to rely on those who can really score, such as Zhuang Yu..."

After hearing this, several coaches understood.

There are actually quite a few people who can score in the starting lineup.

Previously, almost everyone in the Lakers' starting lineup had a certain scoring ability, but people are different.

Not to mention Korver.

Players like Holiday, Lopez, and Anderson, although they have played good individual performances, this basically represents their true strength.

It can also be said that this is their upper limit.

For example, for Lopez, 20+10 per game is his upper limit, and that requires him to be in good shape and under tactical circumstances.

That's pretty good, but obviously not on par with a player like Anthony Davis.

For example, Holiday's average of 18+7 per game is almost his ceiling. It is unrealistic to expect him to average 20+10 per game.

For example, Anderson, averaging 12+6 per game is basically his ceiling...

In other words, in the absence of Lopez and Korver may not be able to provide enough three-point support, it is unrealistic to expect Holiday and Anderson to shoulder the scoring burden. They do not have that kind of scoring ceiling.

So who can we rely on?

Only Zhuang Yu.

In this case, Zhuang Yu needs to devote more energy to the offensive end and reduce his consumption on the defensive end.

At the same time, they also need other people to do defensive work and provide more support on the defensive end, so they need Cunningham.

"What about the substitute lineup?" Assistant Coach Paul asked again.

The problem now is that not only the starting lineup needs to be adjusted, but also the substitute lineup. They need to find a way to coordinate the starting lineup and the substitute lineup.

Coach Scott put out his cigarette and said, "For the bench, we can only rely on Clarkson. Clarkson, Hamilton, Korver, Kuzma, and Nance Jr., mainly these few people. Sumner and Little... forget about them. When necessary, let Anderson and Holiday take turns to lead the bench. Clarkson can score for the bench, but they lack an organizer."

Coach Scott couldn't help but smile bitterly as he spoke.

Before, I felt that the team was full of talented players, and many players had the ability but didn’t have the chance to play, but now I feel that there is a serious shortage of people.

Korver's condition is worrying, Hamilton didn't play much, and as for Sumner and this year's rookie Little, forget about them.

It's really not that good, just the level of playing garbage time.

The three assistant coaches exchanged glances and then nodded in unison, as Coach Scott's arrangement made no sense to them.

This should be the best arrangement at the moment.

The sudden absence of two important players means that other players need to do more, and what their coaching staff has to do is to coordinate as much as possible to better bring out the players' abilities.

For example, the offense of the main lineup depends on Zhuang Yu, the offense of the substitute lineup depends on Clarkson, and Cunningham and others need to do a good job of defense. Holiday and Anderson need to take turns to lead the substitute lineup and do a good job of organization...

The lineup adjustments have been finalized, and the next step is the specific tactics.

After another round of discussion, it was finally finalized.

In fact, once the lineup is determined, the tactics are easy to determine.

After all, tactics depend on players and lineup configuration...