Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

Los Angeles.

A group of players are training. The coach has not arrived yet. While the players are doing free training, they are also talking about what happened recently.

There are only two things that have attracted the most attention in the NBA recently.

One is that Zhuang Yu scored 4+ points in four consecutive games, and the other is the Nuggets' trade reinforcements.

There is no need to say more about Zhuang Yu scoring 4+ points in 40 consecutive games.

Especially within the Lakers, everyone is numb.

"After this trade, the Nuggets' lineup is indeed much stronger than before."

"The Nuggets' lineup was not bad originally, with Murray and Barton on the back line, Jokic in the interior, and Porter Jr. who could also play at the 3rd and 4th positions, a lineup similar to 'one big and four small'. It was just a little weak at the 3rd position, without a 3rd position player who was good at both offense and defense. Now with Aaron Gordon, they have made up for this problem well, and the lineup has become more balanced."

"Yes, the Nuggets are not short of players who can shoot. Murray, Barton, and Porter Jr. all have good shooting skills. What they need is a striker with sufficient size, athleticism, the ability to cut more, and a certain shooting and attacking ability. Aaron Gordon fits the bill. He can improve the Nuggets' offense and defense and enrich their tactical system. After this trade, the Nuggets' strength will probably not be much worse than the Rockets and Warriors."

"How about compared to the Clippers?"

"That's hard to say. The Clippers have Davis and James, and the advantages in these two positions are too obvious."

A group of players were talking about strengthening the Nuggets.

There is no doubt that the Nuggets' strength will be improved after the reinforcement, and they may even be as good as the Rockets, Warriors, and even the Clippers.

Although the Lakers players spoke in a relatively relaxed manner, they already felt a heavy pressure in their hearts.

Compared with last season, the situation they face this season is more complicated, and the opponents are stronger, not just one or two.

Now the entire West seems to have become a meat grinder, with powerful teams everywhere and fierce competition, making everyone feel the overwhelming pressure.

"Although the Nuggets' reinforcements this time are good, it is still unknown whether Gordon can perfectly integrate into the Nuggets' system. Even if he can integrate well into the Nuggets' tactical system, the Nuggets' core lineup is still a level lower than ours."

Sensing the inner turmoil of his teammates, Holiday spoke up.

Everyone nodded and looked at Zhuang Yu.

Zhuang Yu did not participate in their discussion, but just carried out his own training.

He received the ball outside the three-point line, took a crossover step, dribbled forward two steps, suddenly jumped up, made a quick stop jump shot, with a little backward movement, and the basketball went through the net with a slight sound.

A nice hollow hit.

Looking at Zhuang Yu, the players couldn't help but feel at ease.

As long as Zhuang Yu was there, they felt at ease. No matter who their opponent was or how powerful he was, they had nothing to fear.

Soon the coaching staff arrived and asked the players to conduct group confrontation training.

During the training process, Coach Scott also made some targeted arrangements, mainly to cope with the next game - in the next game, they will go away to challenge the Rockets.

This was a focus battle, and Coach Scott took it very seriously, so he made some targeted arrangements and instructions.

When the training was over, the players came to the sidelines.

A group of people surrounded Zhuang Yu and said, "Boss, can you score 40+ in the next game?"

"Yeah, yeah, we've already scored 40+ in four games, we need to keep it up."

"More than Kobe."

"Haha, if I can really surpass Kobe's record of scoring 9+ in nine consecutive games, I think Kobe will definitely not be angry. He will be very happy."

Everyone was talking in a hurry.

Zhuang Yu has scored 4+ in four consecutive games. Not only are the fans expecting this, but the Lakers players are also looking forward to Zhuang Yu continuing this performance and continuing to perform 40+, or even surpassing Kobe's record of 40 consecutive games with 9+.

Scoring 9+ points in 40 consecutive games is extremely crazy.

This is an exaggerated record!

If this record was broken by someone else, Kobe might be a little depressed, but if it was Zhuang Yu who broke the record, then Kobe would only feel relieved.

"Race first."

Zhuang Yu smiled calmly and said, "Winning the game is the most important thing. As for how many points I can get? I don't think this is particularly important."

"Of course, when I need to score, I will definitely not be soft-hearted."

Everyone laughed.

They all know Zhuang Yu very well and know that Zhuang Yu would not score points just for the sake of scoring points, but Zhuang Yu's scoring ability is also unquestionable.

As long as he wants, it is not difficult for him to score 40+ in a game.

......

at the same time.

houston.

A group of Rockets players gathered together and talked about recent events and the upcoming game against the Lakers.

They don't feel much about the Nuggets' reinforcements, because the two teams may not meet in the playoffs, and even if they do, they are not afraid of the Nuggets.

Compared to the Nuggets, they care more about the Lakers.

Even though the Nuggets have strengthened their team through trades and their lineup seems to be more balanced and powerful, in the eyes of the Rockets players, they are still no match for the Lakers.

Who is the biggest obstacle for the Rockets in their bid for the championship?

Lakers, only the Lakers!

"We have to win this game and show our morale."

"Even though it's just a regular season game, we have to win and we have to beat the Lakers..."

A group of players said that they must win the next game against the Lakers and defeat the Lakers.

Not only the players, but the coaching staff also thinks this game is very important and they must win it.

It's not just because the two sides are old rivals and this may be a preview of the playoffs, but also because of the Rockets' current situation.

This season, the Rockets retained the three-core lineup of Harden + Westbrook + Love, and made some additions to the bench depth. The overall lineup strength does seem to be stronger than last season, but their record is a bit poor.

Obviously, the Rockets' record did not meet people's expectations, nor did it meet the expectations of the coaching staff.

There are many reasons why this happens.

However, Coach D'Antoni believes that these are all solvable, including the compatibility issues between Harden and Westbrook, the team's tactical system issues... These are all solvable, and they have been working hard to solve these problems.

It's just obvious that this takes time and some opportunities.

In Coach D'Antoni's view, this game against the Lakers is an opportunity.

In order to cope with the playoffs, the Rockets have made great adjustments to their tactical system, and this game against the Lakers is an opportunity to test it.

If they can win this game and beat the Lakers, it will prove that their current tactical system is correct. It will also greatly boost the team's morale and allow the team to enter a good stage of development.

In that case, we just need to give them some more time to complete the transition of the tactical system.

And when the tactical system is completed, Coach D'Antoni believes that under the new tactical system, the incompatibility between Harden and Westbrook can also be resolved.

certainly......

If the Rockets fail to win this game, many of the problems that existed before may become more acute.

So this game is very important.

In order to prepare for this game, the Rockets coaching staff studied the Lakers' season, especially a large number of game videos in the past period of time, and conducted targeted analysis and developed a response strategy, just to be foolproof.

But the competition field changes rapidly, and no one can predict it. We have to play to know the outcome...

......

The next day, the Lakers boarded a plane to Houston.

At the same time, the NBA officially announced that the 2021 NBA All-Star voting campaign has officially started.

After entering December, there have been more discussions about the NBA All-Star voting. Many fans have been quietly paying attention and waiting for the voting to start so that they can vote for their favorite players, hoping that their favorite players can be selected as All-Stars.

For Zhuang Yu, being selected for the All-Star Game is a sure thing, and even winning the most votes again is not too difficult for him.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't care about the All-Star voting campaign.

It is a foregone conclusion that I will make the All-Stars, but what about my teammates?

Zhuang Yu hopes that his teammates can also be selected for the All-Stars. For them who have won three consecutive championships, there are not many things that can make them excited except the championship - and being selected for the All-Star team is obviously one of them.

Previously, Zhuang Yu stated that he would not accept load management and would not give up the team's record in the regular season in order to maintain the team's cohesion and to give his teammates hope of making the All-Star team.

The competition in the Western Conference is very fierce nowadays, and the large number of stars makes the competition for the All-Stars even more fierce, and it is extremely difficult to be selected as an All-Star.

Compared with those stars, the Lakers have no advantages except Zhuang Yu, players like Holiday and Lopez.

If they want to make the All-Star team, they must rely on the team's record and require the Lakers to perform well enough.

Just like the Warriors back then.

As long as the team's record is good enough, even if some players' personal data are not so dazzling, there is hope of being selected as All-Stars.

Zhuang Yu hopes that other teammates besides himself can be selected for the All-Star Game, and he will do his best to help his teammates achieve this.

"Zhu, I think you have a chance to be selected as an All-Star this season."

“It may be a little difficult to start, but there is definitely hope for the substitute lineup, so let’s try.”

"So can Brooke."

On the plane, everyone was discussing.

The focus is mainly on Holiday and Lopez, because there is no need to discuss whether Zhuang Yu will be selected as an All-Star, and apart from him, the most promising ones are undoubtedly Holiday and Lopez.

Holiday and Lopez looked at each other. Both of them were naturally eager to be selected as All-Stars.

But they also know how fierce the competition is in the Western Conference. It is basically impossible to be selected as an All-Star starter, and even being on the bench is difficult.

At this time, Zhuang Yu spoke up: "Everyone is right, you all have a chance. Not only you, Jordan also has a chance."