Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

After the timeout, the Raptors attacked.

After Lowry reached the frontcourt, he did not give the ball to Leonard again, but gave it to George first.

At the same time, the Lakers replaced Cunningham with Kuzma, and the players facing George and Leonard also changed.

Before, Zhuang Yu was responsible for defending George and Cunningham was responsible for defending Leonard, but now Holiday is responsible for defending George and Zhuang Yu is responsible for defending Leonard.

As for Lowry, it was given to Kuzma.

Seeing the Lakers' defensive matchup, Coach Nurse couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, a little surprised. He didn't expect the Lakers to arrange it like this.

Isn't this a complete misalignment?

The fans in the audience were also a little surprised.

"What's going on? They actually asked Kuzma to defend Lowry. Kuzma is a 3rd or 4th position player. Why is he asked to defend Lowry?"

"Isn't Holiday a No. 1 player? George is a No. 3 player. Isn't it a height disadvantage for him to defend George?"

"Ridiculous, is the Lakers head coach kidding me?"

Some fans looked confused, while some sneered and mocked Coach Scott for messing around.

As for the matchup between Zhuang Yu and Leonard, people didn't think there was anything strange about it. During the playoffs last season, Zhuang Yu was responsible for defending Leonard for quite a long time.

Although Zhuang Yu is a No. 1 or No. 2 player and is slightly shorter than Leonard, he is still close to two meters tall, and Zhuang Yu's defense is excellent.

It’s just that positions 1 and 2 are a little different.

"You're the one guarding me." George curled his lips, feeling despised, and immediately played one-on-one with the ball.

First he dribbled the ball between his legs continuously, then he did a crossover, and after changing direction he immediately accelerated to break through to the right.

Holiday reacted quickly, moving backward and sideways to get into position first, and always keeping one hand in front of him.

George was secretly unhappy that he failed to get past Holiday, but his movements were not slow at all. He half turned around and took a step forward, actively seeking physical confrontation.

After a confrontation, George turned around and made a jump shot.

"Shh!"

The ball goes in.

This ball is very beautiful, especially the turnaround jump shot, which is very smooth.

The home fans cheered and applauded the goal loudly.

George turned around with a smile on his face and retreated.

In the next few rounds, George was very active on the offensive end, and his teammates were willing to pass the ball to him and let him play because Holiday was facing him.

Moreover, during the timeout just now, Coach Nash reminded that George should be given enough tactical status and should be given the ball when he wants one-on-one play.

However, George's offensive efficiency has dropped significantly in the past few rounds.

One reason is that Holiday's defense is excellent, and he has been confronting George, using pressure-type defense throughout the whole process; the other reason is because George himself has consumed a lot of physical energy.

His poor condition in the few minutes before the fourth quarter was indeed related to his mentality, but physical energy consumption was also a factor.

He no longer had any mental problems at the moment, but his physical energy consumption was greater than before.

George played too long today.

So after several consecutive one-on-one games against Holiday, his physical strength declined extremely quickly and problems began to appear.

"boom!"

With a dull thud, George's step-back three-pointer missed.

"What's going on? It's only been a while since George finished his work, and now he's ironing the iron again."

"It may be that his physical strength has declined. You see, he is panting while running and looks very tired..."

Some fans also noticed that George looked very tired.

Even the fans could see it, and the Raptors coaching staff could naturally see it as well. Coach Nurse looked very unhappy and didn't know what to say.

The teaching assistant next to him opened his mouth but could only smile bitterly.

Before it was because of George’s mentality problem, now it is really because of physical problems, but strictly speaking, these are all caused by Coach Nash.

How to say?

at the same time.

When George had physical problems and his offensive efficiency dropped, Zhuang Yu on the Lakers side went all out and attacked hard.

At this time, it was Leonard, not George, who was responsible for defending Zhuang Yu.

In fact, after returning from the timeout just now, Leonard focused his main energy on the defensive end and left the offense to George.

There is nothing wrong with this division of labor.

As long as Leonard can defend Zhuang Yu well and George can carry the offense, the Raptors will naturally have the upper hand.

However, the result was that George had physical problems after a few moves, and Leonard was unable to effectively limit Zhuang Yu's offense.

It’s not that Leonard’s defense is bad, but that Zhuang Yu’s scoring ability is really too strong.

He first used a pick-and-roll to get rid of the opponent and then made a quick stop jump shot. Leonard was only blocked for a moment, and immediately bypassed the screener and pounced on Zhuang Yu again, but it was too late.

I could only watch Zhuang Yu throw the ball and hit it steadily.

Afterwards, Zhuang Yu played against Leonard again. He first changed direction continuously, then held the ball and accelerated. Leonard was always sticking to Zhuang Yu, but Zhuang Yu made a one-handed jump shot.

This left Leonard with no choice.

Swish!

The ball went in.

After a few rounds, the Lakers regained the upper hand and widened the gap to 9 points.

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach Nurse called a timeout.

After several players came to the sidelines, he patted George's arm to comfort him, and then looked at Leonard: "Let's use Leonard as the starting point of the tactics later..."

In other words, the tactics should revolve around Leonard.

George is going to stay back.

A group of players couldn't help but look at George.

George could only smile bitterly. He knew that he had consumed too much energy and couldn't take on the offense even if he wanted to.

......

The pause ended quickly.

There were only a few minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Looking at the 9-point difference, Leonard's expression was a little heavy. After reaching the frontcourt, he took the basketball from Lowry. Facing Zhuang Yu's defense, he did not play one-on-one directly, but called a pick-and-roll and then played after the defense switched.

This time it was Zubac who came up to delay the game, and Leonard chose to break through Zubac and then attack the basket.

"beep!"

The referee blew the whistle and gave Anderson a foul when he rushed over to defend, indicating that Leonard had to stand on the free throw line to take two free throws.

Anderson was a little depressed, he didn't mean to foul.

Leonard made both free throws, helping the Raptors narrow the gap to 7 points.

When he reached the defensive end, Leonard pounced on Zhuang Yu.

The 7-point difference doesn't seem big, but it is not small either, especially when there is not much time left in the game.

If the Raptors want to catch up with the score and turn defeat into victory, they must have the upper hand on both offense and defense. They must not only score the ball, but also defend it.

......

"Pick and roll."

Zhuang Yu gestured to his teammates.

Zubac came up to screen, Zhuang Yu moved to the left, and the Raptors delayed quickly, and Gasol rushed in front of Zhuang Yu. He was only delayed for a moment, and Leonard had already bypassed the screener and returned to Zhuang Yu.

Gasol Jr. retreated to the inside.

In this situation, Zhuang Yu didn't use any tactics and just went straight for Leonard.

He first dribbled the ball between his legs, then switched the ball to his right hand. He lowered his right shoulder and paused his body for a moment. It looked like a fake move, but then Zhuang Yu turned the fake into real, slapped the ball forward, and really broke through to the right.

Leonard almost fell for it, but he reacted quickly and immediately turned sideways. He knew it was too late to get ahead of the defense, but he could turn sideways to get close to Zhuang Yu. However, Zhuang Yu only took one step forward and then turned with the ball, not forward, but backward, similar to a step back.

This turn allowed Zhuang Yu to distance himself from Leonard.

Zhuang Yu then jumped up. Leonard had not adjusted his steps yet and could not jump with all his strength, but he still stretched his arms as far as possible and pounced towards Zhuang Yu.

Even though he had the advantage in height, Zhuang Yu's ball not only turned backwards, but also leaned back.

With a swish, the ball hit the target again.

There was a groan from the audience, and Zhuang Yu's goal brought the score difference back to 9 points.

Leonard took a deep breath, tried to adjust his mentality, and then ran to the frontcourt silently. After reaching the frontcourt, he opened his hands to ask for the ball, and then got rid of it after the pick-and-roll.

However, the Lakers quickly contracted their defense and surrounded him.

Leonard did not choose to force a shot, but passed the ball to George. George pretended to shoot a three-pointer, but he was now very exhausted, his three-point shooting was not stable enough, and Holiday defended very well.

So his shot was just a fake, followed by an accelerated breakthrough, choosing to finish closer to the basket.

It’s just that there are too many people inside.

Just as he gritted his teeth and prepared to force a shot, he heard a voice coming from outside the three-point line in the left corner.

George had an idea and forced a change of direction in the air, throwing the ball towards Leonard's position.

The pass was not good, it was a bit low.

Leonard had to bend down to catch the ball, but he quickly adjusted himself, jumped up, and threw the ball.

Swish!

This three-pointer went in empty-handed.

The difference between the two sides reached 6 points.

"Good shot." Coach Nurse smiled and thought that he still had to look at Leonard at the critical moment. He turned his head to look at the Lakers. Should Coach Scott call a timeout?

However, it does not.

On the court, the Lakers launched an attack.

After arriving at the court, the ball was given to Zhuang Yu, who tried to get rid of it but failed. He gestured to his teammates and then played against Leonard. He still broke through, took two steps forward, then suddenly dribbled the ball from behind and pulled it back, and then retreated again, pretending to take a step-back jump shot.

However, when everyone's attention was focused on Zhuang Yu, no one noticed that Anderson was cutting along the right baseline.

Zhuang Yu jumped up, but did not shoot. Instead, he passed the ball to Anderson, assisting Anderson to make a layup, and the score difference became 8 points.

"no, sorry."

"Although Leonard was always able to score, it was useless if he couldn't defend against the Lakers' offense. There were only more than two minutes left in the game."

"We are still eight points behind. If we continue like this, we won't have enough time."

In the audience stands, the home fans were very anxious and worried about the Raptors.

At this moment, several Raptors players on the court were feeling a little anxious, but anxiety could not solve the problem.

Neither side was able to score in the next two rounds.

Leonard shot a three-pointer, but missed. Turning around, Zhuang Yu also shot towards Leonard, but also missed.

Of course, this situation where neither side was able to score was beneficial to the Lakers because time had already run out.

There's only a little over a minute left.

Coach Nash paced anxiously on the sidelines and called one final timeout. After several players came off the court, he made some new arrangements for defense.

The key point is to defend Zhuang Yu.

Finally, Coach Nash once again emphasized that we must defend Zhuang Yu well. If necessary, double-team him and never let him shoot.

Several players responded in unison, and when the timeout ended, the Raptors returned to the court and first scored a goal on the offensive end, narrowing the gap between the two sides to 6 points.

When they returned to the defensive end, they began to double-team Zhuang Yu.

Seeing that the opponent was double-teaming him, Zhuang Yu didn't force it and passed the ball to Holiday, who broke through and passed the ball to Kuzma. Kuzma took the ball and shot a three-pointer. With a bang, the basketball hit the backboard.

Just when everyone thought the ball was too powerful, the basketball bounced off the backboard and went straight through the net.

"Damn, this can actually be completed."

"The score difference is back to 9 points. Now there is really not enough time."