Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

On December 12, the Lakers faced the challenge of the Bucks at home.

This game is also attracting much attention. The contest between Zhuang Yu and Antetokounmpo, as well as the contest between the Lakers and the Bucks are all very interesting.

Zhuang Yu arrived at the gym early in the afternoon and practiced shooting for half an hour before returning to the locker room where his teammates also arrived one after another.

"Zhuang Yu, you're here so early."

"I knew you would come early."

Everyone greeted Zhuang Yu with a smile.

After a while, Coach Scott and others arrived.

There was also a gradual noise outside, indicating that the fans had entered the stadium one after another. All kinds of sounds mixed together and entered the locker room.

......

On the other side, the Bucks players also arrived early and were sorting their equipment in the locker room.

While sorting out the equipment, they were also chatting.

"As long as we defend Zhuang Yu well, the Lakers have been able to win these games because of Zhuang Yu's personal ability. As long as we can limit his personal score to less than 30 points, we can win today's game."

“This is a bit difficult.”

"It's okay. You guys are responsible for defending his three-pointer. If he breaks through, I will help you defend. I have been wanting to block him for a long time."

As everyone was laughing and talking, Antetokounmpo also joined in, saying that he had long wanted to block Zhuang Yu. As long as Zhuang Yu dared to break through and attack the basket, he would definitely block him, letting people know that the so-called "No. 1 player in the league" is nothing more than this.

Suddenly, everyone laughed.

After winning the regular season MVP last season, Antetokounmpo has completely grown up and entered a mature stage.

Now he is at his peak both physically and mentally, and he is confident that he will not lose to any player, including Zhuang Yu.

He had been looking forward to this game for a long time. He wanted to challenge Zhuang Yu, the number one player in the league. If he defeated Zhuang Yu, he would become the number one player in the league.

......

At seven o'clock in the evening, players from both teams had already appeared on the field.

Antetokounmpo patted the ball twice, then accelerated into the free throw line, jumped up and made an explosive slam dunk, causing screams from the audience.

Then he used different methods to deduct a few more.

After a series of dunks, Antetokounmpo turned his head to look at the Lakers, his eyes fell on Zhuang Yu, but he saw that Zhuang Yu's expression was extremely calm, and he was chatting and laughing with his teammates, as if he didn't notice his wonderful dunk at all.

This made Antetokounmpo a little depressed. Was his dunk in vain?

In fact, Zhuang Yu saw it.

But even if you saw it, I would pretend not to see it, so that you can show off. It’s just a dunk, right?

Why don’t you participate in the dunk contest? I’ve already won the dunk contest championship. You don’t think you can scare me by just dunking a few times, do you?

childish!

After a warm-up, the players returned to the sidelines.

Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer had a serious expression on his face. He did not think that the Lakers would be easy to deal with without Lopez and Rose.

This is a super strong team that can win the championship for two consecutive seasons. As long as Zhuang Yu is not absent, they will still be a super strong team.

"The most important thing now is to protect Zhuang Yu..."

Now, the head coaches of all NBA teams no longer say "guard Zhuang Yu" when arranging tactics.

Because that's nonsense, can a superstar be defended?

So now they all changed it to “Be careful of Zhuang Yu”.

As long as we don't let Zhuang Yu make so many three-pointers and limit his score to 30 points, it will be considered a success.

"Di Vincenzo, you have only one task, and that is to stick to Zhuang Yu for me. I need you to stick to Zhuang Yu like 3M tape. Even if he goes to the bathroom, you have to follow him." Coach Budenholzer said solemnly to Dante Di Vincenzo.

The sophomore player nodded heavily, his face serious.

DiVincenzo had a very successful college career. Although his average stats in college were not as good as those of his teammates Brunson and Bridges, and were even slightly inferior to those of another teammate Hart, he scored 2018 points in the 31 NCAA Finals, helping the team win the NBA championship and being named NCAA Basketball Championship MOP.

It was precisely because of his amazing performance in the NBA Finals that he was selected with the 17th pick in the first round of the NBA Draft that year, despite his not-so-outstanding talent.

This is much higher than people's previous predictions for his draft pick.

However, he only played more than twenty games for the Bucks last season, averaging 15.3 minutes per game, contributing 4.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

In terms of talent alone, he is obviously not top-notch, or even that good, but the young man is down-to-earth, hardworking, and has a positive attitude.

So this season, coach Budenholzer gave him more opportunities and even let him start sometimes.

Today, Coach Budenholzer plans to let DiVincenzo start and be responsible for defending Zhuang Yu. He does not need to score, he only needs to do one thing well - that is to stick to Zhuang Yu.

Of course, it's impossible to rely on Di Vincenzo alone.

Coach Budenholzer continued his instructions: "When Zhuang Yu breaks through, or uses a pick-and-roll to get rid of him, Giannis, you must immediately go up to defend and delay him. You have enough height and speed, so just raise your hands and cover him."

He is still very confident about Antetokounmpo.

There was no expectation of relying on DiVincenzo to defend Zhuang Yu, and more hope was placed on Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo has the height of an inside player, but his athletic ability is more like that of an outside player, with quick reactions, outstanding jumping ability, and fast speed.

With his outstanding physical talent and athletic ability, he is not only able to perform well on the offensive end, but is also equally strong on the defensive end.

He has been named to the All-Defensive Team in two of the past three seasons.

Coach Budenholzer believes that with Antetokounmpo, they will definitely be able to better limit Zhuang Yu. Even if they cannot completely defend Zhuang Yu, they can at least reduce his points.

He then made some arrangements for the attack.

......

Soon, the game officially started.

Players from both sides come to the field.

The Lakers still have Holiday, Zhuang Yu, Cunningham, Anderson, and Zubac.

The Bucks are Donte DiVincenzo, Wesley Matthews, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Lopez's younger brother Robin Lopez.

First there was a jump ball, the Lakers got the ball and started their offense.

After Holiday pushed the ball to the frontcourt, he glanced at the situation on the court and then looked at Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu ran back and stretched out his hand to ask for the ball.

Holiday passed the ball immediately. After getting the ball, Zhuang Yu took a tentative step. DiVincenzo was unmoved and did not step back. He still stood in front of Zhuang Yu with one hand raised all the time, across Zhuang Yu's face.

His defensive task is to stick to Zhuang Yu and try not to be shaken off by Zhuang Yu, while also defending against Zhuang Yu's three-point shots.

Seeing this situation, Zhuang Yu decisively chose to break through.

This left Di Vincenzo with no choice.

He also wanted to block Zhuang Yu's breakthrough, but the two had differences in height, body shape, and speed. Zhuang Yu changed direction and accelerated to pass Di Vincenzo.

DiVincenzo could only turn around and chase.

At the same time, Antetokounmpo quickly stepped forward and stood in front of Zhuang Yu.

"Ah......"

Zhuang Yu chuckled, held the ball and took a step forward, while raising the ball, pretending to shoot directly, but it was just a fake move. He then took the ball back, and when he took the second step, he did not move forward, but moved sideways.

This was somewhat beyond Antetokounmpo's expectations. When Zhuang Yu raised the ball just now, he stood on tiptoe and prepared to jump to block the shot.

It was precisely because of this action that when Zhuang Yu moved sideways for the second step, Antetokounmpo had no time to adjust his steps and could not jump up. He could only raise his hands as high as possible.

However, Zhuang Yu made a lob shot.

When Zhuang Yu saw Antetokounmpo rushing over to defend, he already had a plan.

Antetokounmpo has excellent physical fitness and athletic ability. If he really jumps, Zhuang Yu might really be blocked by him.

So Zhuang Yu faked a move, using the change in rhythm to force Antetokounmpo to be unable to jump, and then with the lob shot, Antetokounmpo was completely out of reach.

All of this was within Zhuang Yu's calculations.

It looked very light and the basketball fell into the net obediently.

Swish!

The score is 2:0.

"nice shot."

"It was Antetokounmpo who was asked to help defend instead of Lopez, but the result was the same..."

Amid the cheers and discussions of the home fans, the ball possession changed and the Bucks launched an attack.

DiVincenzo pushed the ball forward and immediately passed it to Middleton.

The absolute core of the Bucks is naturally Giannis Antetokounmpo, while Chris Middleton is the No. 2 player of the Bucks.

DiVincenzo does not have much ability to conduct offense independently when facing Holiday's defense, so when he reaches the frontcourt, he either gives the ball to Antetokounmpo or Middleton.

At this time, Cunningham was facing Middleton. He lowered his center of gravity, stared at Middleton, and kept a certain distance from Middleton.

Middleton glanced at the basket, took a tentative step, then quickly stepped back and lifted the ball.

Cunningham did not jump easily, but Middleton patted the ball, broke through to the left, accelerated, received the ball, and stepped back to jump shot.

boom!

The ball didn't make the target.

But suddenly a figure soared into the sky and grabbed the rebound for you before everyone else. It was Antetokounmpo.

"not good."

Zubac and Anderson's faces changed.

Antetokounmpo's rebound was so fast that they had no time to react.

After Antetokounmpo grabbed the rebound, he jumped again. His jumping speed was indeed amazing, and he didn't look like an inside player at all.

Zubac and Anderson also jumped at the same time to block the shot, but before they reached their highest point, Antetokounmpo had already dunked the ball directly into the basket with one hand.