Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

The second quarter begins.

Entering the second quarter, both teams were still using their rotation lineups. The Rockets sent out Harden and asked him to play with several substitutes.

The Lakers sent out Holiday to serve as the organizer of the rotation lineup.

Zhuang Yu did not play, but sat on the bench chatting with Luo Si.

Rose was still wearing a protective boot and didn't have to travel with the team to the away game, but he chose to come anyway.

But he can only sit on the bench.

Rose said: "It seems that Coach D'Antoni really intends to separate Harden and Westbrook. The quarter just started and he actually sent Harden up."

Zhuang Yu nodded and smiled, "From the first quarter, it would be better to separate Harden and Westbrook and let them lead the team for a while. I guess we should let Harden play for a few minutes first, then replace him for two or three minutes and replace him with Westbrook. We will wait until the last three minutes before sending Harden up to play with Westbrook."

This is to be expected.

Even if we want to separate Harden and Westbrook, it is impossible to separate the two of them all the time. What would that look like?

When the critical moment comes, both of them have to fight together.

Some people think this is the best solution, but to Zhuang Yu and Ross, this is purely a helpless move, and it gives them a sense of disconnection.

However, at this time, Harden did have the upper hand leading the bench lineup on the court.

At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets were only leading by three points, but just a few minutes into the second quarter they had widened the gap to 1 points.

"Get ready..."

Coach Scott said something to Zhuang Yu, then called a timeout and started making substitutions, replacing Zhuang Yu, Anderson and Cunningham.

Also made some tactical arrangements.

When the timeout ended, the Rockets also made substitutions.

As expected, they replaced Harden with Westbrook, and also replaced Capela and Tucker, three main players and two substitutes.

With this lineup, can they beat the Lakers?

Lakers possession of the ball.

After arriving at the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu ran back to ask for the ball.

The person who came up to defend Zhuang Yu at this time was Daniel House. House is 201 cm tall and is a player who excels in defense.

But he couldn't actually defend against Zhuang Yu.

It’s just that the Rockets don’t have a better candidate. They have tried different people to defend Zhuang Yu before, but the results were not good.

With the current Rockets lineup, the players on the court are Eric Gordon, Westbrook, Daniel House, Pj Tucker and Capela.

Who do you want to defend?

Westbrook definitely won't work, Gordon is too short and won't work either, and Tucker has size but no speed, which also won't work.

It seems that only House can look forward to it, what if?

It’s a pity that there is no such thing as a one-time event.

......

Zhuang Yu took the ball and played a singles game. He first made a crossover step, then changed direction and accelerated to the right. After a series of moves, House was a little confused. He thought he was passed, and subconsciously turned around to chase, but he saw Zhuang Yu suddenly pulled the ball back with a reverse crotch, tapped his toes on the floor, and retreated to the three-point line.

"not good."

House reacted, but it was too late to pounce on him.

Zhuang Yu retreated to the three-point line and jumped up, flicking his wrist...

Swish!

The ball went in and the three-pointer was made.

"Oh..." Coach D'Antoni slapped his forehead, feeling helpless.

But what can we do about it? Do we really have to double-team him?

It's not that he doesn't want to use double-teaming, but he doesn't dare. At least with the lineup on the court at this moment, Coach D'Antoni doesn't dare to let the players double-team.

The Rockets are not good at defense, and if they double-team Zhuang Yu, other points will be too vulnerable.

In that case, even if Zhuang Yu was defended, he would still be beaten by other Lakers players.

What's more, the facts have proven countless times that even double-teaming may not be able to limit Zhuang Yu's scoring, unless Zhuang Yu himself is not in good form.

Once you double-team him, Zhuang Yu will use himself to attract defense and create opportunities for his teammates.

Even if his teammates can't make a shot, Zhuang Yu can play without the ball.

Double-teaming only makes sense if teammates can't make shots and Zhuang Yu has no shooting touch when playing without the ball.

But the probability of this happening is too low.

"It's okay." Westbrook comforted House, and then shouted to his teammates: "Let's play well on offense."

Although we can't defend against Zhuang Yu on the defensive end, as long as we can fight back on the offensive end, it will be fine.

The Rockets do not have Harden on the court at the moment, and are completely centered around Westbrook, who has enough confidence to fight back on the offensive end.

When Westbrook came to the frontcourt, he first called for a pick-and-roll to get rid of the opponent. However, the person who came up to defend was not Nance Jr. or Anderson, but Zhuang Yu.

what's the situation?

Westbrook was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously turned his head to look at Gordon, but found that Cunningham was standing in front of Gordon, and House was left open.

In other words, the Lakers chose to use Holiday against Westbrook, Cunningham against Gordon, and Zhuang Yu against House.

Zhuang Yu left House behind and came to defend him.

After hesitating for a moment, Westbrook chose to pass the ball to House.

He was very clear about Zhuang Yu's defensive ability. It was not easy for him to single out Zhuang Yu in a 1-on-1 situation, so he should let his teammates in the open space take the lead.

boom!

It’s a pity that House’s three-pointer missed.

Westbrook frowned.

Zhuang Yu smiled, this was the effect he wanted.

The Rockets wanted to separate Harden and Westbrook, but once the two were separated, they would be easily targeted by defense.

For example, at this time, Westbrook is the only star player on the court. Even if the Lakers do not double-team him, they can focus more defense on him, let Cunningham defend Eric Gordon and leave Daniel House open, and Zhuang Yu will come to help Holiday delay and make up for the defense, so that the inside line will not be left open because of the delay.

Of course, this defensive disadvantage is also obvious. As long as House can make two three-pointers, the Lakers will have to adjust their defense.

But House is not good at offense.

Nance Jr. and Capela wrestled under the basket. Nance Jr. hit the ball out and Anderson grabbed the rebound to launch a counterattack.

Several people rushed to the frontcourt in a blink of an eye, and took advantage of the fact that the Rockets had not yet been able to set up their defense. After two passes, they tore through the Rockets' defense. Zhuang Yu hit the ground ball to Anderson who was cutting to the ground, assisting Anderson to score a layup.

The gap is further narrowed!

The situation was similar in the next few rounds.

The Lakers focused on defending Westbrook. Instead of simply letting the inside players delay the game, Zhuang Yu was responsible for delaying and providing backup defense.

It is not easy for Westbrook to get past Zhuang Yu in this way, so he can only choose to shoot, but shooting is not his strong point.

What's more, even if he passed Zhuang Yu, Nance Jr. was still standing inside.

Of course, other players on the Rockets have more opportunities, but their scoring abilities are ultimately limited, and it is difficult for them to support the Rockets' basic offense.

On the other hand, on the Lakers side, Zhuang Yu was firing on all cylinders, and House was useless in front of him.

First, he made a step-back three-pointer facing House, then he broke through House and made a mid-range jump shot, then he ran back and cut, shook off House, received a pass from his teammate, broke into the inside, caused Capela to foul, and made both free throws.

However, in just a moment, the Rockets' original 8-point lead was wiped out.

......

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach D'Antoni had to call a timeout. His face looked a little ugly. He shook his head with a wry smile, replaced Harden, and returned to the starting lineup.

He also found that he had thought too simply.

The first quarter looked very good. Harden played well in the first half of the quarter, while Westbrook supported the second half.

After one quarter, they not only reversed the score but also led by three points.

But the reality is not like that.

When Harden and Westbrook were really separated, a bigger problem arose. With only one star, they couldn't compete with the Lakers.

In fact, Coach D'Antoni had already thought of this, but he was optimistic and thought that it might work to use the two players separately.

......

on the field.

When the Rockets replaced their starting lineup, although they did not get much improvement on the defensive end, they were indeed much better on the offensive end than before.

Before, the Lakers could focus on limiting Westbrook, but now they can no longer do so.

Because besides Westbrook there is also a Harden.

But overall, the Lakers' defense is still stronger than that of the Rockets.

And the Lakers can also compete with the Rockets on the offensive end.

Even though the Rockets have two superstars, Harden and Westbrook, they are not compatible and cannot achieve the effect of 1+1>2. As a result, Zhuang Yu alone has to take on both of them.

"Shh!"

Harden made a three-pointer with two step backs.

Turning around, Zhuang Yu fought back, using his back-running and his teammates' cover to get rid of the defense, returning to the three-point line to receive the ball and shoot directly.

This was an ultra-long three-pointer, a full two meters away from the three-point line. The Rockets' defensive players who were chasing after him didn't expect it at all, and didn't have time to pounce on it.

A moment later, Westbrook hit a rebound with a zombie jump shot, also scoring two points. But when he turned around, Zhuang Yu returned an answerball, asked for the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right side, and then took two steps back and suddenly turned over and leaned back.

It was also a hit.

For a while, the situation on the court became Harden scored a goal, Zhuang Yu returned a goal; Westbrook scored a goal, Zhuang Yu returned a goal; Harden scored another goal, Zhuang Yu returned another goal...

Under such circumstances, the Rockets had no advantage at all.

On the contrary, it was because Harden and Westbrook occupied too much ball possession. The two of them almost divided up all the ball, and the other Rockets players basically did not score in these few minutes.

On the other hand, on the Lakers side, Zhuang Yu did not consume the ball so much. A small half of his points in these few minutes came from without the ball. He gave his teammates more ball possession, trust, and opportunities.

So Holiday, Anderson, and Zubac also played.

When the combination of Zhuang Yu and Deng Wei cancels out each other, and the other Rockets players are not as good as the Lakers, then the situation will naturally favor the Lakers.

By the end of the second quarter, the Lakers had extended their lead to 9 points.

This made the home fans feel very depressed.

It was clear that Harden and Westbrook both performed well and scored a lot of points, but why were they so far behind in the score?

Of course, the home fans only saw that Harden and Westbrook played well and scored a lot of points, but did not see that Zhuang Yu scored more points.

In the first half alone, Zhuang Yu scored 30 points, plus 6 rebounds and 4 assists, reaching 30+.