Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

boom!

Unfortunately, the ball did not hit the target.

Jokic grabbed the frontcourt rebound and didn't give it to Murray. Instead, he launched a counterattack himself, running forward while looking towards the frontcourt.

The Lakers retreated very quickly and did not give the Nuggets a chance to fast break directly.

Jokic shook his head, knowing there was no chance for a fast break. After reaching the frontcourt, he gestured to his teammates, signaling them to slow down.

Jokic was very calm. Seeing that there was no chance for a fast break, he decisively slowed down and signaled his teammates to fight a positional battle...

Murray came up to receive the ball, Jokic passed the ball to Murray, then turned sideways and made a screen for Murray, allowing Murray to break away from Holiday's defense.

At this time, Lopez stepped forward to delay and stood in front of Murray, while Jokic immediately cut to the middle and raised one hand to ask for the ball.

Murray understood and passed the ball.

However, Jokic grabbed the ball but did not attack the basket directly because Anderson from the Lakers had already rushed over to defend.

Seeing Anderson rushing over, Jokic didn't even put down the ball. He looked at the basket, shook his wrist, and passed the ball to Millsap who was left open.

Swish!

Millsap hit the rebound and the score was 2:0.

Transition of possession.

The Lakers attacked, and after reaching the frontcourt, Holiday passed the ball to Zhuang Yu, then pulled the players away.

Zhuang Yu played against Barton one-on-one. He first took a tentative step, then suddenly accelerated and broke through. Barton immediately turned sideways and stuck to Zhuang Yu, while Jokic stepped forward to quickly make up for the defense.

Zhuang Yu held the ball and pretended to pass the ball to the left, but it was actually a fake move. He quickly took the ball back and took a step to the right, increasing the distance between him and Jokic, then grabbed the basketball in his right hand and threw it towards the basket.

With a bang, the ball goes in.

The score became 2:2.

In the next round, Murray of the Nuggets made a three-pointer but missed. Lopez blocked Jokic, grabbed the rebound and passed it to Holiday.

Zhuang Yu rushed to the front court immediately.

After taking a few steps forward, Holiday pushed the ball with both hands and passed it to Zhuang Yu. Zhuang Yu was standing outside the three-point line on the right side and shot directly from outside the three-point line after receiving the ball.

At this moment, he was still one meter away from the three-point line, and his teammates had not yet reached the frontcourt. No one expected that he would shoot directly, and it was an ultra-long three-pointer.

For a moment, none of the Nuggets players reacted.

Barton, who was standing in front of Zhuang Yu, didn't even have time to raise his hand before he saw the basketball fly out from Zhuang Yu's fingertips, spinning in the air, drawing a beautiful arc, and finally going through the net with a swish.

The score is 5:2.

“This three-pointer is really hard.”

"That's right, the vote was too resolute, totally unreasonable."

"It's irrational and unreasonable. Haha, but this is Zhuang Yu. It's unreasonable for others, but it's very reasonable for him."

In the audience, the home fans cheered loudly.

Several Nuggets players looked at each other, feeling helpless. Such a shot was totally beyond their expectations. There was no way to defend against it, and there was no time to defend against it.

But who can blame him for being the opponent? Zhuang Yu.

"attack."

Jokic called out, served the ball at the baseline, and then ran to the front court.

After coming to the frontcourt, Jokic first made a pick-and-roll with Murray, but did not get a chance. Murray passed the ball to Harris.

Jokic came to the low post on the left side, blocked the position with one hand, raised the other hand, and asked Harris for the ball.

When Harris passed the ball, Jokic lifted the ball, glanced at the defensive situation, and then played a back-to-back single, pressing into the inside with his back against Lopez.

After two steps, Jokic turned around and pretended to make a turnaround jump shot.

But in fact his feet did not move, only his shoulders were swaying, confusing Lopez.

Lopez subconsciously moved sideways, while Jokic turned his body back, facing the basket, and raised a small hook shot with his right hand.

Swish!

The ball goes in.

"I have to say, Jokic's footwork is really beautiful."

"His shots are also very soft, he doesn't look like a big player at all, his hands are really good."

People can't help but sigh.

Zhuang Yu frowned slightly, and immediately realized that Jokic was going to focus on scoring, so he reminded his teammates: "Go up and help defend, don't let Jokic play alone."

This is the embodiment of top basketball IQ.

In the next round, when Jokic got the ball in the low post again, he wanted to play one-on-one again, just as Zhuang Yu reminded him. The Lakers got Zhuang Yu's reminder, and Anderson immediately rushed to help Lopez defend.

However, Jokic not only has excellent personal scoring ability, but his passing is also unique.

Seeing Anderson coming to help defend, Jokic immediately raised the ball and pretended to shoot. When Lopez and Anderson rushed over together, he flicked his wrist. The basketball passed between Lopez and Anderson and accurately landed in Millsap's hands.

Bang!

With a bang, Millsap dunked with both hands.

"hehe......"

Coach Malone on the sidelines couldn't help but laugh.

This is why he let Millsap start. Lopez can't defend Jokic alone, and the Lakers must have help defense and backup defense.

And once this happens, it means missing someone.

In addition, the Lakers lack height in the interior. At this time, the lineup on the court is one big and four small. It is still a bit difficult for Anderson to play the No. 4 position.

Even if it is not an absolutely open opportunity like the one just now when Jokic passed the ball, as long as Jokic can pass the ball to Millsap, it will be a good one-on-one opportunity, allowing Millsap to play against Anderson, or the Lakers can switch defense and have other players defend Millsap, which is almost equivalent to a mismatch.

In fact, coach Malone had no expectations for the outside line against the Lakers. Although the combination of Murray + Barton + Harris was not bad, it was obviously not on the same level compared to the Lakers' Holiday + Zhuang Yu + Kuzma.

They will definitely not be able to gain any advantage from the outside and will only be at a disadvantage, so if they want to defeat the Lakers they can only rely on their advantage from the inside.

Therefore, the Nuggets played very targeted in these few attacks, almost all of them were to play the ball inside, as close to the basket as possible...

So far, the effect is pretty good.

Coach Scott also saw the other side's intention. He gestured to the court. Zhuang Yu understood and called to his teammates: "Pay attention to shrinking the defense line later."

"Yes."

"clear."

Several people responded.

When the Nuggets attacked next time, as soon as Jokic got the ball in the low post, the Lakers immediately came up to help defend, not giving Jokic a chance to dribble to the basket, forcing Jokic to pass the ball immediately.

When Jokic wanted to pass the ball to Millsap, he found that the Lakers had already shrunk their defense and a player was blocking the passing route between him and Millsap.

This is not the point.

Even if someone is standing across the passing line, unless it is someone as tall as Lopez, Jokic and Millsap can pass the ball high up with their heights. Jokic also has enough passing skills to handle this kind of inside pass and still be able to pass the ball to Millsap.

The key point is that the Lakers have contracted their defense. Even if they can get the ball to Millsap, he will still face siege from the Lakers.

One-on-one, as long as Lopez is not defending Millsap, it is an opportunity for Millsap.

But if it's 1 vs 2, or even 1 vs 3, it won't work given Millsap's current strength.

After all, Millsap is old.

I have to say, Jokic is very good.

At this moment he had already judged the situation on the court, and took back the ball that was originally intended to pass to Millsap. Instead of looking for his teammates, he passed the ball to the left side outside the 45-degree three-point line without looking at anyone.

This pass was very abrupt and difficult to judge.

After the ball was passed, people followed the trajectory of the basketball and saw where Harris was standing.

"not good."

"I missed someone."

people exclaimed.

At this time Kuzma also reacted. He was responsible for defending Harris. However, in order to shrink the defense and encircle Millsap, he missed Harris.

It was too late for Kuzma to rush over.

After receiving the ball, Harris jumped up and took a three-point shot. With a slight sound, the basketball hit the target.

"Damn it."

"Someone's missing."

"That was a really good pass..."

The home fans couldn't help but lament, but they also had to admit that Jokic's pass was really good. They didn't know how he saw his teammates.

Courtside.

Coach Scott frowned: "Kuzma's defense is still lacking. Although they went to block Millsap, Zhuang Yu and Holiday immediately returned to the person they were defending after realizing that Jokic might not pass to Millsap. But Kuzma's reaction was half a beat slower..."

This is a gap in defensive awareness.

Although Kuzma defends very seriously and actively, his defensive awareness and skills are obviously not as good as Zhuang Yu, Holiday, or Cunningham.

However, Kuzma's performance on the offensive end is far better than Cunningham, so he can become the team's starting small forward.

......

On the field.

Lakers offense.

Coming to the frontcourt, Zhuang Yu ran back to Holiday to ask for the ball, then signaled others to move away.

Then, he faced Patton one-on-one and still broke through. The continuous changes of direction made Patton stagger. Then Zhuang Yu accelerated and passed Patton by half a body length.

Jokic quickly stepped forward to make up for the defense.

This time, Zhuang Yu did not pass the ball, but jumped towards Jokic, made a pull-up jump shot, and hit it steadily.

Jokic shook his head. His defense mainly relied on prediction, his height and confrontation ability. But for a sudden pull-up shot like Zhuang Yu, the defensive player had to rely on excellent jumping and explosive power to have a chance of blocking the shot, or to give Zhuang Yu enough interference.

In fact, Jokic had his hands raised.

However, he was very clear that Zhuang Yu's jumping speed was much faster than his own, and he had no time to jump up and block Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu was also very clear about this, so he didn't care about Jokic's interference. He just took advantage of Jokic's slow rebound speed and shot towards Jokic.

This is the duel between Zhuang Yu and Jokic, but it is not as exciting as the duel between Zhuang Yu and some other stars.

The duel between Zhuang Yu and Jokic was more like a silent contest. There was no collision of top physical qualities and athletic abilities, but more of a game of top basketball IQ and skills.

It looks calm, but in fact it is a cautious move.