Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

This made Coach Carlisle a little depressed. He knew that the Lakers were very strong and that his team's lineup was not as good as the Lakers, but he didn't expect the gap to be so obvious.

During rotation time, they were still able to gain the upper hand thanks to Doncic's outstanding performance, but once Zhuang Yu and others returned to the court, the situation immediately changed.

However, Coach Carlisle had no choice.

In the last few minutes, Doncic's performance was still good. He played very smartly and avoided direct confrontation with Zhuang Yu as much as possible. Unless the two were completely separated, he would use his height and strength to single out Zhuang Yu.

However, even if he could score over Zhuang Yu's head, it would not be as easy as scoring over other players' heads, and the hit rate would be greatly reduced.

After a while, this section came to an end.

At this time, the Lakers again widened their lead to 12 points.

There were only a dozen seconds left in the second quarter. After the Lakers players came to the frontcourt, Holiday passed the ball to Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu first stopped outside the three-point line to waste some time, and then started to act when there were only 7 seconds left in the offensive time. He first lowered his left shoulder and pretended to break through to the left, and then suddenly changed direction and accelerated, passing the defender and heading straight for the basket.

Porzingis quickly stepped forward to provide defensive support, and other players also tightened their defense to surround Zhuang Yu.

However, even in such a blockade, Zhuang Yu jumped up, first lifted the ball in the air, then pulled it back, bent his knees and tightened his abdomen, using his amazing ability to stay in the air to evade defense.

"what?"

"this......"

Several Mavericks players were stunned. This was the last attack of the quarter and there were only one or two seconds left. They knew that Zhuang Yu could not pass the ball and they had to shoot themselves, so they rushed over without hesitation.

But they didn't expect that Zhuang Yu could stay in the air for such a long time in such a lonely situation.

They all began to fall, but Zhuang Yu was still in the air.

It was clear that Zhuang Yu jumped earlier than them, but at this moment he was still in the air. He stretched his body, raised the ball again, and threw it towards the basket...

Swish!

The ball went in and the Lakers led by 14 points.

"nice shot."

“This is a great shot.”

The home fans jumped up excitedly and cheered loudly for Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu landed on the ground with a smile on his face.

Today's game is the first game of this series. For Zhuang Yu, this game is a must-win. He will not give the Mavericks any chance. He will keep suppressing the Mavericks and eventually win the game.

The Mavericks were originally at a psychological disadvantage against the Lakers.

If the Mavericks are suppressed throughout this game and lose the game in the end, their morale will be even lower.

In this way, the Lakers will have an easy time in the next games.

There is another reason.

This was only the first round of the playoffs, and Zhuang Yu had no intention of wasting too much time in this round. Just as Coach Scott had requested, it would be best to just sweep the entire team.

......

In the locker room.

A group of Mavericks players were in low spirits and the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.

Although they knew there was a gap in strength between them and the Lakers, they did not expect to fall behind by as many as 14 points at halftime.

Moreover, they had been lagging behind since the beginning of the game and had never been able to catch up. They had no confidence facing the Lakers.

"How to fight?"

"Whether it's the main lineup or the substitute lineup, they are not as good as others..."

A group of Mavericks players were depressed and discouraged.

The same goes for Doncic.

After all, he is still a sophomore player, making it to the NBA playoffs for the first time, but his first playoff game in his life ended up like this. How can he not be depressed?

That’s not the point.

But in the matchup with Zhuang Yu today, Doncic was completely at a disadvantage. It was difficult for him to play one-on-one against Zhuang Yu, and he could only avoid Zhuang Yu.

On the other hand, Zhuang Yu would play one-on-one without distinction against any Mavericks player with a high success rate.

This is a very obvious gap in strength, which destroys Doncic's confidence.

At this time, Coach Carlisle walked in, clapped his hands, motioned the players to look at him, and then loudly encouraged the players to cheer up. It was only the first half, and there was still the second half, so there was plenty of time.

The 14-point gap is not hopeless to be reversed.

......

Soon, the second half begins.

After entering the second half, the Mavericks tried to catch up under the leadership of Doncic, but the Lakers did not give them any chance.

Although the Mavericks' outside three-point shooting improved and they made several three-pointers.

But the Lakers were able to fight back quickly. Zhuang Yu, Holiday and Kuzma hit three-pointers in succession, extinguishing the Mavericks' momentum to catch up.

After a few minutes, the Lakers were still leading by more than ten points.

Afterwards, both sides began to replace their main players with rotation lineups.

After changing to the rotation lineup, the Lakers still had the upper hand and widened the gap a little bit.

When the third quarter ended, the Lakers were leading by 17 points.

Looking at the 17-point difference, Coach Carlisle sighed helplessly.

Of course, they did not give up.

After entering the fourth quarter, the Mavericks were still trying to catch up. They played more resolutely on the offensive end and more aggressively on the defensive end. The intensity of the game suddenly increased by more than one level.

This did cause some trouble for the Lakers.

The sudden increase in the intensity of the confrontation made the Lakers players feel a little uncomfortable. Clarkson, Rose and others felt the impact and missed shots one after another.

Upon seeing this situation, Coach Scott immediately sent Zhuang Yu up.

When Zhuang Yu returned to the court and scored consecutively, the Lakers quickly stabilized the situation.

"Shh!"

With a slight sound, Zhuang Yu turned around and made a jump shot.

Several Mavericks players looked helpless. Their fierce defense affected other Lakers players, but had no effect on Zhuang Yu.

Even under their fierce defense, Zhuang Yu was still able to score steadily.

This is too strong.

Coach Carlisle also frowned and immediately replaced Doncic, but the result did not change. Replacing Doncic only made the Mavericks' offense better, but the problem now was that they could not defend Zhuang Yu.

The Mavericks were scoring, and Zhuang Yu was also scoring.

Under such circumstances, it was difficult for the Mavericks to catch up with the score, and as time passed, the situation became increasingly unfavorable for them.

Soon, the Lakers replaced Holiday, Lopez and others with the main lineup.

At this time, the Lakers were still leading by 11 points.

When the main lineup returned, the Lakers once again widened the gap to 15 points, and the Mavericks' morale had collapsed.

The so-called one blast, then decay, and exhaustion.

The Mavericks tried to catch up again and again, but each time ended in failure.

By this time, their mentality had collapsed.

......

"boom!"

With a dull thud, Doncic missed the three-pointer.

The failure of the three-pointer meant that the game had basically lost its suspense. There were only more than two minutes left in the game, and the Mavericks were still 15 points behind.

Time is running out.

In the last two minutes, the Mavericks' offense did not improve and the difference between the two sides remained at more than ten points.

When the game ended, the score was 117:103. The Lakers defeated the Mavericks by 14 points and won their first game in the series.

The score between the two sides became 1:0.

In this game, Doncic of the Mavericks scored 27 points, plus 7 rebounds and 8 assists. The statistics can be said to be quite good, but the shooting percentage was a bit low, only 40%.

Apart from Doncic, no other Mavericks player scored more than 20 points, with only Porzingis scoring a little more, with 18 points.

For the Lakers, Zhuang Yu scored 33 points, plus 9 rebounds and 8 assists, Lopez scored 20 points and 8 rebounds, Holiday scored 13 points and 7 assists, Anderson scored 8 points, and Kuzma hit three three-pointers for 14 points.

In addition, Rose and Clarkson also scored in double digits... Six players on the team scored in double digits, suppressing the Mavericks throughout the game and easily winning the game.

"The gap is too big."

"Yes, whether it's the main lineup or the rotation lineup, the Lakers are much stronger than the Mavericks."

"The Mavericks are a young team after all. Many of their players are playing in the playoffs for the first time. It doesn't matter if they lose..."

In the audience, fans were getting up and leaving, while gathering in groups of three or four to discuss the game.

People are not at all surprised by this result.

After all, the strength gap between the two sides is there, but the Lakers' easy victory still disappointed many fans - because they did not get to see an exciting confrontation between two evenly matched teams.

There are also fans who still have expectations for the Mavericks, believing that they have many young players, such as Doncic, Finney-Smith, Hardaway II, and Porzingis. These are their first time playing in the playoffs, so it is normal for them to perform poorly. As long as they are given some time, they will definitely play better and better.

So this game doesn’t represent anything.

These people are not wrong...

......

A day later, the two sides faced off in the second game of the series.

The Mavericks played obviously better in this game than in the first one, whether it was Doncic, Porzingis, Hardaway II... these players were obviously more confident on the court than in the first game, and they were more daring to take action.

But even so, the Mavericks are still no match for the Lakers.

After the first quarter, the Lakers led by three points.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers led by 7 points.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers led by 6 points.

It seemed that the score difference was not big, just a few points, but the Mavericks just couldn't catch up.

Until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, the score difference was still only a few points. However, every time the Mavericks closed the score, someone from the Lakers would step up and widen the gap again.

At the end of the game, the score was 116:111. The Lakers defeated the Mavericks with a 5-point lead and won another victory.