roccoschili Chapter 224 The Lakers suffered a bitter defeat!
Chapter 224 The Lakers suffered a bitter defeat!
Chapter 224 The Lakers suffered a bitter defeat!
As soon as the second half started, the Spurs changed their defensive strategy. Lin Tian's defense was no longer a single defense, but a double attack.
As for the one who came to double-team Lin Tian with Leonard, it was naturally Danny Green, nicknamed Tielin.
Although Danny Green is only 1.98 meters tall, in the Spurs, he sometimes plays the second position and sometimes the third position.
His defense at the third position is also at the top level in this position.
When the Spurs and the Heat played in the Finals a few years ago, the Spurs players took turns to play, and Danny Green was often forced to defend James.
The striker defense formed by him and Leonard is the strongest striker defense duo, which makes many stars in the league frightened.
And the ones who can double-team the two of them can only be super giant players.
It is even more terrifying than Lin Tian's double-teaming against Durant and Robertson in the first round.
At present, the only one in the league that can challenge this pair of striker defenses is probably the Warriors' Thompson and Iguodala.
The Spurs' pincer attack quickly took effect. Under the defense of Leonard and Danny Green, Lin Tian made two consecutive turnovers.
The ball in his hand was snatched abruptly by the two of them.
The Spurs who stole the ball also seized the opportunity and successfully fought back.
The sudden double-teaming made Lin Tian a little uncomfortable, but he adjusted immediately, no longer choosing singles, but passing the ball frequently.
Kobe, who only scored 5 points in the first half, began to exert his strength. Taking advantage of Danny Green's focus on Lin Tian and reducing the pressure, he quickly scored three points.
Howard on the inside of the Lakers also succeeded in beating Duncan.
The two teams began to play back and forth, and the scores were crossing the lead.
Even so, Popovich seemed dissatisfied with the performance of his group of disciples, and kept yelling off the court.
The anxious score continued until the second half of the third quarter.
After Lin Tian and Kobe took a break, the two substitute players, Clarkson and Nance Jr., got the chance to play.
At this time, Howard is still leading the team on the field.
Scott has always had a habit of employing people, that is, the Lakers' new Big Three will always have at least one person on the court.
When Lin Tian and Kobe were sitting on the bench at the same time, Howard was often still fighting on the court.
Except for garbage time, of course.
Howard can now be said to have unlimited firepower.
Even Nick Young, who was on the court with him, had itchy hands and had to pass the ball to Howard frequently.
Duncan is also rarely out yet.
So there was a scene on the court where Howard had been playing Duncan singles.
Howard was hated by Duncan before, and he was suffocating in his stomach. He wanted to take advantage of this time to vent, but Duncan disagreed.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Duncan capped Howard again, causing bursts of cheers.
Kobe looked at it and sighed: "Dwight this guy! Low singles skills and footwork are too bad!"
He has complained about Howard more than once.
When he and Howard cooperated for the first time a few years ago, he kindly persuaded Howard.
However, the team's performance was too bad later, and the relationship between the two also dropped to a freezing point.
Unexpectedly, after a few seasons, Howard's low-post singles still haven't been practiced, and he is relying entirely on his physical talent for food.
Lin Tian smiled awkwardly and couldn't say anything.
After all, Howard this season is the team's second offensive option, and his scoring average is second only to Lin Tian.
If you want to attack the championship, you need a center like Howard!
As strong as the Warriors, there is also a traditional center Bogut who plays the starting lineup.
In the last few minutes of the third quarter, the Lakers' offense basically turned into four other players watching Howard perform.
Howard had a total of 5 shots during this period, but only made [-] hits.
Such a hit rate is obviously unqualified for a center forward.
What's more, singles kings like Clarkson and Nick Young don't have much chance to make a shot.
The Spurs also took advantage of this opportunity to widen the point difference to 7 points.
During the break, Howard didn't feel that he had done anything wrong.
Scott, as a good old man coach, will not say anything.
The fourth quarter was about to start, and Lin Tian suggested to the coach: "Coach, why don't I play as soon as the meeting starts?"
Scott shook his head resolutely: "No! You averaged more than 42 minutes per game in the last round of the series, so you can't act like this again!"
In fact, Scott also wants Lin Tian to let Lin Tian play more. After all, he is the core of the team, but the more playing time, the greater the risk of injury.
His request was ruthlessly rejected by Scott, Lin Tian smiled wryly and shook his head.
After a while, the fourth quarter began.
The Lakers are led by Kobe, and Lin Tian and Howard are temporarily resting.
There was an empty seat next to Lin Tian, Howard took the initiative to move to his side, and said with emotion: "That guy Tim is really hard to deal with!"
When Kobe was around just now, he wasn't very good at complaining.
Lin Tian smiled and said, "What do you think? He is the number one power forward in history."
Howard shook his head helplessly: "But he played the center position today."
"So what? There is no doubt that he is one of the best players in history, Dwight, and you have a lot to learn from him."
"I know, but I just want to blow him up today!"
"The problem is that you can't beat him. As long as he goes inside, there are not many active centers who can force him, even if he is 40 years old."
When the two talked, the Lakers had completed the offense in the first round of the fourth quarter.
This time the offense was completed by Kobe, who made a three-pointer against Danny Green.
Lin Tian quickly stood up and applauded.
But before he could sit down, Danny Green on the Spurs' side had passed Kobe for a layup.
As we all know, Danny Green is a 3D player, he has never been a ball handler.
Danny Green's three-point shots this season even surpassed his two-point shots.
When such a player who is not good at breakthroughs easily passes Kobe, it is hard not to feel the ruthlessness of time.
Howard also patted his thigh: "If Kobe was still at his peak, I dare say that Danny Green would not even talk about breaking through! He wouldn't even have a chance to shoot a three-pointer!"
Lin Tian didn't say anything, but continued to focus on the players on the field.
In Kobe's bones, after all, he is a player who is obsessed with singles.
When Lin Tian was on the court, he suppressed his desire to hold the ball in order to win.
And when Lin Tian was resting on the bench, it was hard for Kobe not to choose singles, especially when several of his teammates were players of the level of Nance Jr. and Clarkson.
Facing the defensive player Danny Green, Kobe missed consecutive shots.
The older he gets, the more he likes to use feints to deceive his opponents.
However, Danny Green's defensive habits are excellent, never take off easily, which caused Kobe to make difficult shots every time.
Such shooting is naturally not efficient, or even poor.
The final quarter only played for more than a minute, and the Lakers trailed by more than ten digits.
Scott also realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly called a timeout to replace Lin Tian.
After Lin Tian returned to the court, the ball was given to him without any suspense.
The Spurs' defensive style of double-teaming Lin Tian in the third quarter was very good, and they did not forget this.
Whenever Lin Tian got the ball, Leonard and Danny Green stared at Lin Tian.
Facing the pincer attack between the two, Lin Tian didn't know what to do. His desire to attack was so strong that he passed the ball less frequently.
He often goes inside against two people, but whenever there is a little space to make a move, he will make a move without hesitation.
This style of play seems unwise, but the team fell behind, and he just couldn't help it.
The more embarrassing point is that the referee's whistle seldom rang, or even seldom rang.
The Spurs are already hitting the success rate. They are usually organized by Tony Parker. In terms of ending, Aldridge is given more.
Aldridge's performance did not disappoint the Spurs fans, he made shots against Tucker again and again.
When the two sides fought fiercely until 4 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were already behind by 14 points.
During a breakthrough, Lin Tian was called in the face by Danny Green. The referee hadn't blown the whistle even if the ball was lost.
Lin Tian was furious when the referee ignored the foul action like this.
But he did not lose his temper for the time being, but quickly returned to defense.
The defense was unsuccessful, and the Spurs scored one, leading the score to 16 points.
Scott called a timeout urgently.
Lin Tian walked towards the referee with a puzzled look on his face: "Hey! Dude! I was hit in the face when I was attacking just now! Didn't you see it?"
The bald-headed referee said with a barrage on his face: "I have seen a lot of players like you who only want to call the referee! This trick doesn't work for me! Save it!"
Lin Tian was about to exhale, but was pulled back to the bench by Kobe.
He comforted Lin Tian. "Lin! Sometimes unfair calls are part of the game, you have to figure that out."
Lin Tian spread his hands: "I know, but today's penalty is too bad! We didn't get the whistle we deserved at all."
Kobe also smiled wryly: "We have no choice but to play well in today's game. I have also experienced this kind of encounter."
He has played for 20 seasons and knows too much about the referee's decisions.
The time-out is over and the game continues.
Lin Tian still hit the basket frequently, and the Spurs' defensive actions were not small, but the referee never gave Lin Tian a whistle.
You know, Lin Tian copied the abilities of the peak Iverson and Anthony.
These two players may not be the most powerful existence in terms of foul making, but they are definitely masters.
Even so, Lin Tian didn't have a chance to get to the free throw line.
His singles efficiency is also much lower than in the previous round of the series.
On the contrary, the Spurs frequently let Aldridge single Tucker.
Or let Leonard misplace Kobe.
Not only did the gap between the two sides not shrink, but it became bigger and bigger.
When there was less than 1 minute left in the game, seeing that there was no hope of chasing points, Scott waved his hand and put the main players of the team back on the bench.
When Lin Tian sat on the bench, he took a look at the data sheet he had just printed out.
Today, he scored a high score of 52 points, but the number of shots was as high as 42 times.
The number of shots he took alone was almost comparable to the number of shots taken by the rest of their team.
Lin Tian made only 3 of 3 free throws.
Such a number of shots coupled with such a free throw can be said to be extremely unreasonable.
Looking at the data of Kobe and Howard, they are not outstanding.
Kobe made 13 of 4 shots and scored 13 points.
Howard made 14 of 6 shots and scored 15 points.
The shooting percentage of the two of them, one is only 30%, and the other is only 42% as a center!
With such data, it is obviously difficult for the team to win.
The Spurs' defense made the Lakers suffer.
His eyes returned to the court again. Although the game could be declared to end early, the garbage time must be finished.
At this last point of time, Scott's idea is to train and let young players like Clarkson and Nance Jr. find their hands.
But even if it was such an opportunity, Clarkson couldn't seize it. He frequently shot three-pointers and hit the iron, which gave Scott a headache.
On the Spurs bench side, although they have secured the victory, they couldn't see much smiles on the faces of Leonard and Duncan.
After staying in the Spurs for so many years, they have long been accustomed to the winning atmosphere of the Spurs.
For them, today's game is bound to be won, so it seems that there is nothing to be too happy about.
Among them, this also has a certain relationship with the character of their head coach.
At this time, Popovich couldn't see any excitement on his face, but he kept yelling at the players on the field.
This scene was naturally also captured by the broadcast camera, which made Barkley in the official studio laugh out loud. "If you don't look at the score, I dare say that everyone will think that the Spurs lost in today's game! It is really difficult to make their head coach and two leading players laugh!"
Smith also nodded: "After watching the Spurs' games for so many years, don't you know their habits? Leonard always looks calm no matter whether he loses or wins, as if he has nothing to do with him."
"Charles, to be honest, where do you think the Lakers lost today?"
"Where did they lose? I think they lost everywhere! Today's game is exactly as I predicted before the game! Although the Spurs are a young man with a few old guys, why not the Lakers? The strength of the Spurs and the Lakers is not at the same level."
"What you said has some truth, but I think the referee whistled too loosely today! Lin scored 52 points! Only three free throws!"
"This game is played at home! It's normal to have a home whistle! Lin is a new star again, but there is no superstar whistle."
Charles Barkley said unhurriedly, "If I were Lin, I might have been expelled long ago."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I have already attacked the referee! Such obvious fouls are not blown! Is bullying Lin a rookie? I am not partial to this Chinese kid! What I said is the truth!"
(End of this chapter)