Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

The game enters the fourth quarter.

At the beginning, both sides sent out rotation lineups. Coach Scott of the Lakers sent Anderson up, along with Rose, Clarkson, Kuzma, and Zubac.

The Raptors sent George.

After three minutes, the Raptors were unable to gain the upper hand, so Coach Nurse sent Lowry up again.

This time the Raptors successfully gained the upper hand.

But the Lakers also made a substitution soon. Coach Scott sent Lopez on and replaced Rose.

With Clarkson on the outside, Lopez on the inside and Anderson on the front line, the Lakers did not fall into a disadvantage and the score between the two sides remained tense.

Everyone knows that this game will not be easily decided, it will definitely go down to the last few minutes, after all, Zhuang Yu and Leonard are still off the court.

Sure enough, after more than four minutes into the fourth quarter, both sides began to replace their main lineups.

The Raptors called a timeout.

After the timeout, they changed the starting lineup. It was not that Coach Nash lost his patience, but that the Raptors were under more pressure than the Lakers. They lost to the Lakers in the finals last season and were eager to win the game this time.

Especially today's game.

If the Raptors still lose, their morale will be greatly hit.

So they have to win this game.

As long as they can win this game, they will be able to forget about losing to the Lakers last season and get rid of the shadow of failure.

So Coach Nurse was more nervous than Coach Scott, so he couldn't hold it in and replaced the main lineup in the hope of gaining a leading advantage.

At the same time, the Lakers also replaced their main lineup.

At this time, the Lakers had Rose, Zhuang Yu, Kuzma, Anderson, and Lopez on the court, and Coach Scott did not play Cunningham.

First of all, Cunningham can't restrict Leonard or George very well.

Secondly, after more than three quarters of the game, Coach Scott also realized that it was not easy to defeat the Raptors by relying on defense.

Defense played a big role in the Lakers' victory over the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals.

That's because the Rockets' defense is too poor. The Rockets rely on offense, but they cannot gain enough advantage on the offensive end, and they are completely at a disadvantage on the defensive end. The result is naturally self-evident. In the end, they lost to the Lakers and were eliminated.

In a game, the two sides compete with each other in countering each other's moves, and it is a constant tug-of-war between the offense and defense, playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses, accumulating advantages, and finally defeating the opponent.

Against the Raptors, the Lakers did not have much advantage on the defensive end. After all, their disadvantage on the front line was very obvious, and the Raptors' defense was also very good.

In this case, we have to work hard on the offensive end.

......

On the court, the game continues.

Raptors offense.

Several players came to the frontcourt and Lowry looked at Leonard.

Although George is here, everyone knows that this is Leonard's team and Leonard is the boss of this team.

So even though Zhuang Yu was standing in front of Leonard at this moment, Lowry still sought Leonard's opinion first when he arrived at the frontcourt. If Leonard wanted the ball, he would give it to him without hesitation, and if Leonard didn't want the ball, he would give it to George.

This made George a little unhappy.

Fortunately, Leonard is not a selfish player, nor does he particularly seek the ball, and he has no intention of asking for the ball.

Lowry gestured and passed the ball to George.

Kuzma was facing George at the moment. Kuzma opened his arms and stared at George nervously.

After all, he was facing a well-known star in the league, so Kuzma couldn't help but feel a little nervous. When he saw George holding the ball up and pretending to shoot directly, he subconsciously stood on tiptoe.

"It's bad." Zhuang Yu sighed and shouted, "Reinforce the defense."

Sure enough, seeing Kuzma standing on tiptoe, George immediately pushed the ball forward and accelerated past Kuzma.

Lopez received Zhuang Yu's reminder and went up to defend immediately, not giving George a chance to make a quick stop jump shot.

But George didn't care. He changed direction again towards Lopez, then suddenly stopped and raised the ball.

At this time, Lopez turned around and wanted to block the shot, but George changed his rhythm and did not shoot immediately, and paused for a moment.

For a moment, Lopez failed to block George's shot, while George threw the ball with one hand and hit the rebound.

With this goal, the Raptors narrowed the gap to just one point.

Lakers offense.

Rose was responsible for advancing the ball, and after reaching the frontcourt he passed the ball to Zhuang Yu.

Lopez came up for screen and Zhuang Yu took the opportunity to get rid of him.

The Raptors immediately came up to delay the ball. This time Ibaka's delay was very fast and very determined, and he pounced very fiercely.

Obviously, shooting a three-pointer directly towards Ibaka is not a good choice. It’s not that he can’t shoot, but the interference in this situation is too great.

So Zhuang Yu chose to break through and passed Ibaka.

Gasol Jr. came up to help defend, and other Raptors players also moved inside to help Gasol Jr. surround Zhuang Yu.

However, Zhuang Yu did not rush to the basket. After passing Ibaka, he only dribbled forward one step, stepped on the edge of the three-second zone, grabbed the basketball with his right hand, and threw it with one hand.

Gasol Jr. cried out "Oh no" inwardly and jumped up quickly.

However, it was impossible to touch it. Zhuang Yu's shot was a lob with a very high arc. The basketball passed over Gasol's head and finally fell into the net.

This kind of ball makes people helpless.

Several Raptors players exchanged glances, and in the next round, when Zhuang Yu came to the frontcourt to get the ball again, the Raptors directly started to double-team him.

After more than three quarters of the game, Coach Nurse had to admit that even using Leonard to defend Zhuang Yu was still not effective.

Zhuang Yu has so many ways to score.

With the help of a pick-and-roll or screen, he could score the ball even if he could just get rid of Leonard for a second.

In order to limit Zhuang Yu's scoring, he had to be double-teamed.

Moreover, Coach Nash had already decided on a strategy before the game. Even if he wanted Zhuang Yu to score 30 points, he would have to make him exert more physical energy than usual.

In fact, Zhuang Yu has already scored 32 points today, which has exceeded Coach Nash's expectations before the game.

Therefore, we can no longer let Zhuang Yu score easily. We must double-team him to force him to pass the ball, while also giving him enough defensive pressure to further deplete his physical energy.

When the opponent double-teamed him, Zhuang Yu passed the ball.

Coach Scott of the Lakers had taken this into consideration when it came to their lineup. When the opponent double-teamed Zhuang Yu, there needed to be other players on the court who could handle the ball and score.

Rose, Kuzma, Anderson and Lopez can all score.

When Zhuang Yu passed the ball, they were able to seize the opportunity to handle the ball and score.

However, the Raptors were able to fight back on the offensive end, and it was also difficult for the Lakers to defend against the Raptors' offense.

After a few more minutes, Zhuang Yu made two more shots, one long three-pointer and one floating shot, but neither went in.

Coach Nash is quite satisfied with this.

What disappointed him was that even at this time, Zhuang Yu's physical strength did not seem to have reached its lowest point.

Throughout the entire game, the Raptors were trying to wear down Zhuang Yu, hoping that Zhuang Yu's physical strength would have problems in the last few minutes.

"It seems that Zhuang Yu's physical fitness is better than we expected." The Raptors assistant coach said with a frown.

"Yeah." Coach Nurse just responded.

If you think about it, it’s not that strange.

In the previous Western Conference Finals, after Holiday was injured, Zhuang Yu played a lot of time in every game, and the shortest time was 38 minutes.

And his performance was not affected much.

It is not difficult to see from this that Zhuang Yu's physical fitness is better than many players, and is even enough to support him to play for 40 minutes in a game.

Although he was a little disappointed that Zhuang Yu had no physical problems, Coach Nash felt that he should take a longer-term view - facing their continuous consumption, Zhuang Yu's physical strength was enough to support him in this game, but what about the next game, and the next game after that?

This is a series, and we will play a maximum of 7 games.

......

In a blink of an eye, there was only a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter.

The Raptors have the ball.

After Lowry came to the frontcourt, he passed the ball to George.

George held the ball and played one-on-one, first dribbling between his legs continuously, then suddenly changing direction and accelerating to attack the basket.

The Lakers quickly contracted their defense, and George forced a shot against the defender, but the ball failed to go in.

However, Gasol Jr. touched the basketball, hit the ball directly to the outside, and it fell into Leonard's hands.

"not good."

"Hurry up and jump on it."

The home fans shouted loudly, but it was too late.

Zhuang Yu rushed towards Leonard immediately, but Leonard had already jumped up. He had the height advantage, and Zhuang Yu had no chance of blocking him in his hasty rush.

The basketball flew out from Leonard's fingertips, drew an arc, and finally accurately penetrated the net and hit a three-pointer.

"Requesting a timeout."

After this shot, the Raptors took the lead by one point.

Coach Scott immediately called a timeout with only 4 minute and 1 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

......

The players came off the field.

Coach Scott frowned and clapped his hands, calling the players together, then spread out the tactical board and said, "There are 1 minute and 24 seconds left. We have to play well in the last minute or so."

He looked at Zhuang Yu: "I'll need you to attack later."

Zhuang Yu nodded. As the leader of the team, it was his responsibility.

On the other side, Coach Nurse was also making arrangements. In addition to offense, he once again emphasized the defense against Zhuang Yu, because there was only more than a minute left in the game. There was no doubt that the Lakers would give the ball to Zhuang Yu and let Zhuang Yu handle it.

What the Raptors need to do at this time is to focus on defending Zhuang Yu and not let him shoot easily, even if it means missing other Lakers players.

After all, the Raptors are leading by one point now.

......

After some arrangements, players from both teams returned to the court.

The fans in the stands couldn't help but hold their breath and stared at the court without blinking.

At this point the score difference was only one point. The game was extremely tense. Everything was possible and no one dared to say which side would win.

On the field.

Lakers offense.

At this time, the Lakers' lineup on the field changed, replacing it with Zhuang Yu, Clarkson, Cunningham, Anderson, and Lopez.

Zhuang Yu plays the No. 1 position, responsible for advancing with the ball and initiating offense. Clarkson is the three-point shooting point. Cunningham is responsible for defending George on the defensive end. Anderson is responsible for cutting and handling the ball when Zhuang Yu is double-teamed...

Sure enough, when Zhuang Yu came to the frontcourt, the Raptors immediately double-teamed him.

Zhuang Yu passed the ball to Anderson and gestured to him.

Anderson understood. After getting the ball, he didn't rush to attack, but directed his teammates to run. Lopez stepped forward to screen for Anderson. Anderson took the opportunity to break through and attack the basket, but did not choose to shoot himself, but passed the ball to Clarkson.

When Clarkson lifted the ball, the Raptors players subconsciously rushed towards him.

But Clarkson still did not shoot, just a fake move, and then passed the ball to the low post on the right side, where Zhuang Yu was running back and cutting into the air.

In fact, there were only 24 seconds left in the 4-second offensive time, so the Raptors players thought this was a three-point tactic for Clarkson.

Unexpectedly, Clarkson chose to pass the ball in the end.