Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

The second half begins.

After entering the second half, the Lakers sent out Zhuang Yu, Clarkson, Kuzma, Nance Jr., and Lopez Sr., but not Anderson.

Seeing this lineup, the fans were confused again.

What is going on? They sent out a twin tower combination before, and now they sent out this combination again, but Anderson was not the starter. Was he abandoned because of his poor performance in the first half?

of course not.

Although Anderson's performance in the first half was not very good, it was actually not bad. After all, he was at a disadvantage in the matchup against the Raptors.

The reason for sending out such a lineup is actually to give full play to the Lakers' advantage in three-point shooting.

Zhuang Yu, Clarkson and Kuzma all have good three-point shooting ability, and in order to ensure the three's three-point shooting confidence, there must be inside players who can grab rebounds. So Anderson was replaced by Nance Jr., who was paired with Lopez Sr.

So why not play Zubac and use a double tower?

The reason is that Zubac is too slow.

Slower than Lopez the Great's speed.

The Lakers' three-point shooting in the second quarter was very good, which helped the team gain the upper hand and led the Raptors by two points at the end of the first half.

Then after entering the second half, the Raptors will definitely make some adjustments to strengthen their defense against the Lakers' three-pointers.

Faced with this situation, the Lakers naturally need to make some adjustments. They can't play a positional battle with the Raptors, and they can't wait for the opponent to fully settle their defensive formation. The Lakers need to play more quick counterattacks and look for three-point opportunities in quick counterattacks.

Therefore, speed is critical.

If Zubac is sent into the game and he and Lopez form a double tower, they will indeed have enough height in the interior.

But if this is the case, I'm afraid that Zhuang Yu, Clarkson and Kuzma have already rushed to the frontcourt and completed the three-point shot, and the two centers have not yet been able to arrive.

Then who can we count on to grab the rebound?

If it is just to secure backcourt rebounds, then how can it help the Lakers' three-point shooting, and how can we enhance the shooting confidence of the outside players?

The Raptors' starting lineup in the second half did not change, still Lowry, George, Leonard, Ibaka, and Gasol Jr.

There is nothing wrong with this starting lineup. Lowry, George and Leonard will definitely be the starters, but the inside line-up is questionable.

In many games this season, Ibaka and Gasol Jr. have played as substitutes.

However, what Coach Nurse wanted in this game was height in the interior, that is, to have enough interior advantage. Otherwise, if Gasol Jr. relied on himself alone, he would obviously not be able to compete with Lopez Sr.

Another point is very important.

That is, this season they lack Siakam, which means they lack a No. 4 player with sufficient height and mobility to rush forward in time to delay Zhuang Yu when he uses the pick-and-roll to get rid of him - so they can only let Ibaka replace this position.

When Zhuang Yu uses the pick-and-roll to get away, he needs someone with sufficient height and mobility to delay him in time and not give Zhuang Yu the opportunity to shoot a three-pointer.

Gasol Jr. is not good enough because he is too slow. Others are not good enough because they are not tall enough.

Ibaka can.

Of course, as the game progressed, Zhuang Yu had gradually adapted to Ibaka's delay speed and the time he took to come on, so the effect of Ibaka's delay was also discounted.

......

On the field.

Lakers offense.

Zhuang Yu dribbled the ball in the backcourt and when he came to the frontcourt he found that the person defending him was no longer George, but Leonard.

Zhuang Yu was not surprised at all.

Last season, Leonard often played against him. In the first half, although George played against him, he scored 23 points. So the Raptors will definitely make some defensive adjustments in the second half, and it is expected that Leonard will defend him.

"Pick and roll."

Zhuang Yu made a gesture, and Lopez mentioned the pick-and-roll.

Zhuang Yu moved to the left to get rid of Leonard, and Ibaka rushed over to delay him, but Zhuang Yu had already adapted to his delay. Although Ibaka had already rushed in front of him, Zhuang Yu did not hesitate at all, jumped up towards Ibaka, and directly shot a three-pointer.

"not good.".

Ibaka thought to himself, "Oh no!" and quickly stretched out his arms and stood on tiptoe, but it was too late.

He could only watch as Zhuang Yu shook his wrist and the basketball flew out from his fingertips. Then there was a swish sound behind him. Ibaka knew without looking back that the ball must have gone in.

Zhuang Yu smiled slightly, put down his hand and turned to retreat.

Ibaka frowned. In the first half, when he rushed over to delay, Zhuang Yu would choose to break through or pass the ball. However, this time, he did not take his delay seriously at all and shot a three-pointer.

Why is this happening?

In fact, it was because Zhuang Yu was already familiar with Ibaka's speed and rhythm when he came up to delay him. He knew that even if Ibaka could pounce on him, he would not be able to raise his hands or jump in time. At most, he could only cause some interference, but it was impossible for him to block him.

Without psychological preparation, this is enough to interfere with the offensive player's shot.

However, with psychological preparation, such a delay will not cause much interference to the offensive players, let alone a three-point shooter like Zhuang Yu.

Coach Nas soon discovered that their ability to restrict Zhuang Yu seemed to be getting less and less effective.

In the first half, they used George to defend Zhuang Yu alone. Once Zhuang Yu got rid of the screen and roll, Ibaka went up to delay him. Then George bypassed the screen and roll man and double-teamed Zhuang Yu with Ibaka.

The effect is actually quite good.

Although Zhuang Yu still scored 23 points, each score was not easy, and many of them were difficult goals, which actually met the requirements of Coach Nash.

He didn't expect the players to be able to completely defend Zhuang Yu and prevent him from scoring, he just hoped to consume Zhuang Yu as much as possible.

However, after entering the second half, Zhuang Yu figured out the Raptors' defense and played with ease on the offensive end.

Coach Nash gestured towards the court, indicating that the delay must be quicker, and he winked at Leonard, meaning that Leonard should strengthen the defense against Zhuang Yu, to give Zhuang Yu enough defensive pressure, and not let Zhuang Yu make moves calmly.

Leonard nodded, and indeed strengthened his defense, using the Death Coil.

When Zhuang Yu came to the frontcourt, Leonard would immediately pounce on him and start a death coil.

A pair of long arms and big hands bring great defensive pressure to Zhuang Yu. Even if Lopez comes up to screen and roll, the effect is not good because Leonard will squeeze through the screener.

Lopez couldn't block too tightly, because if he did, he would be called for a screen foul. But as long as he didn't block too tightly, Leonard would be able to bypass him and stay close to Zhuang Yu.

This made Zhuang Yu feel very uncomfortable, and he could only pass the ball and try to play without the ball.

However, the Raptors had players keeping an eye on him all the time. When Zhuang Yu used the cover of his teammates to get rid of the ball and got the basketball back, a Raptors player immediately pounced on him.

Zhuang Yu frowned, but did not panic. Instead, he gestured to his teammates.

When he got rid of the screen and received the ball on the outside, the Raptors players immediately rushed over to defend, but Zhuang Yu took advantage of this and accelerated past the opponent and attacked the basket.

When the Raptors tightened their defense, Zhuang Yu passed the ball to Clarkson.

After receiving the ball, Clarkson decisively took a three-point shot, and with a slight sound, the ball hit the target.

Seeing this ball, Coach Scott smiled and nodded, then calmed down.

In the next few minutes, the two sides exchanged points. Zhuang Yu of the Lakers did not score much, but Clarkson, Kuzma, Lopez and others did score.

The Raptors also played well on offense, with Lowry, George, Leonard and Gasol Jr. also scoring.

In this quarter, Leonard defended Zhuang Yu, and when the Lakers came to the defensive end, Zhuang Yu also chose to match up with Leonard and took the initiative to defend Leonard.

This gave George a lot of opportunities to play singles.

Another point is that Leonard is not only excellent in defense, but also very strong in offense. Even Zhuang Yu's defense cannot completely limit Leonard's scoring.

The reason why Zhuang Yu is so good at defense is that in addition to his extremely high basketball IQ, excellent defensive awareness, and physical condition, he also has special abilities. His eyes are different from those of ordinary people. He can see details that ordinary people cannot see, and thus better judge the true intentions of the offensive players.

So fake moves don't work well for Zhuang Yu.

However, Leonard did not rely on fake moves. His offensive methods were simple and unpretentious. He would either use his physical confrontation ability to push Zhuang Yu away before shooting, or use his height and arm span advantage to directly fade away and shoot. Even if Zhuang Yu determined his true intention, he would not be able to stop him.

And Leonard's shooting stability is very high, especially his mid-range jump shot, which is extremely stable and is not inferior to the mid-range shooting prince DeRozan.

So after a few rounds, neither side was able to gain an advantage, and after a few minutes the score remained tense.

The situation did not change until both sides replaced their main players with rotation lineups.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers were still leading, but only by three points.

“This game is really exciting.”

"Yes, the people watching dared not blink, for fear of missing the wonderful goal. Just one goal was enough to turn a team from lagging behind into the leading team."

"Both teams are very strong. The Raptors have George and Leonard, and they also have an advantage in the interior. The Lakers have Zhuang Yu, Lopez, Clarkson and others. Until the last few minutes, it will be difficult to tell the winner..."

"I think the winner will be decided at the last minute..."

In the auditorium, fans were discussing.

Today's game was extremely tense and exciting, making the fans hold their breath and their hearts tense.

Some fans even held their urine, fearing they would miss a great goal if they walked away.

Tickets for the finals are not cheap, and it would be a big loss if you missed one of the top ten shots because of a pee.