bigabreads Chapter 149 Christmas Fight!
Chapter 149 Christmas Fight!
Chapter 149 Christmas Fight!
On December 12, the Clippers returned to Los Angeles, and the Timberwolves arrived at the Staples Center tonight.
The Clippers responded normally and won the game without too much pressure.
In this way, the most noteworthy game for the Clippers is the next Christmas game.
The Clippers are gaining momentum, and the battle between Lu Yi and Kobe for the king of Los Angeles is also in the same situation, and the fight is inextricable.
The alliance did not give up the opportunity to create an atmosphere and earn a wave of traffic.
In the three Christmas battles this year, the Clippers and the Lakers will also have a role in the game, and the same game will be played again.
As for the other two games, the Heat vs. the Suns, and the Bucks vs. the Kings.
In the game between the Bucks and the Kings, it can be regarded as a mistake for the league.
Arranging the game at the beginning of the season, I thought that the two teams would rise in the new season, but I never expected that the mud would not be able to support the wall.
The Heat and the Suns are not mistaken, they are both strong teams in the east and west, and they are full of highlights.
Of course, the biggest highlight of this year's Christmas game is still the Clippers and the Lakers.
On the evening of December 12, the Staples Center was crowded with people, and even the chairman of the league, Stern, came to Los Angeles to watch the game.
This is enough to show how much the league pays attention to this game.
Closer to home, the battle will soon begin.
At the beginning, Bynum helped the Lakers jump to get the ball. Fisher quickly advanced, and with the help of Artest's pick-and-roll, he went to the basket and gave the ball to Gasol.
However, under the defense of Boozer, Gasol failed to score the ball.
Jordan protected the rebound, and the Clippers wanted to play a fast break, but the pass made a mistake and passed directly to the sideline.
The Clippers lost the ball at this point. Fortunately, Kobe singled out Lu Yi and was interfered by Lu Yi.
Ariza rushed to the basket to grab the rebound, and the Clippers continued to try to play fast break.
This time the ball was passed steadily to Iverson's hands. Although it was not a fast break in the end, it fully mobilized the Lakers' defense in every position.
In the end, relying on Boozer's cooperation with Jordan under the basket, the latter ate the pie in the air to help the Clippers take the lead and scored two points first.
Immediately afterwards, the Lakers launched an offense, and Fisher continued to pick and roll with Artest.
Artest got the ball down the line and was about to take off for a small throw, but he didn't want the ball to be cut off by Boozer who was helping to defend.
It's a pity that Ariza's pursuit was a bit tight, and the ball slipped away from him. Instead, Kobe reacted first and caught the ball.
Lu Yi predicted that Kobe was about to make a shot, so the league took off to block the shot.
This time Kobe was the same as the last time he played against Lu Yi.
It is relying on the strong waist and abdomen strength, wait for Lu Yi to fly past, and then shoot when he is about to land, so that it will not be able to interfere with him.
Powerful hang in the air, graceful recline, graceful arc.
Go in!
2 to 2, the game time lasted 1 minute and 24 seconds, and the two teams each scored a goal.
The Clippers failed to open the score quickly when they came up, which was slightly different from previous games.
However, Lu Yi and other leading players are not in a hurry.
Iverson continued to launch with the ball in the top arc. After observing for a while, he made a breakthrough and killed from the right.
At this time, Ariza cut to the basket from the left corner, and Lu Yi ran to the left corner without the ball.
Boozer pulled from the inside to the right corner and helped Iverson clear the basket.
Gasol didn't follow, but chose to block Iverson.
Iverson didn't mean to attack, but turned his vision to the left.
At this time Ariza had already reached the three-second zone, but what Iverson noticed was that Lu Yi was in a big open opportunity.
Trevor Ariza's cut to the basket will naturally attract Bynum's attention.
Artest followed to the basket, glanced at Jordan, who was unguarded, and had to reach out to protect Jordan behind him, and turned to look at Lu Yi in the bottom corner, what was the situation.
Lu Yi ran without the ball, and Kobe chased after him.But after all, he was a bit slower.
When Iverson passed the ball quickly and urgently, after receiving the ball, Lu Yi also dribbled forward, and then faced Artest's block, stopped suddenly and leaned back in the middle distance.
"Beautiful, this ball is really beautiful!"
"The ball went in, from Louie's mid-range! Louie finished in Kobe's way."
"Perfect cooperation, this is a victory for the team."
This season, Lu Yi's mid-range shots are not, but mainly one-on-one singles formed by post-ups.
Nowadays, this kind of old-school play of catching the ball open and taking a step forward is still relatively rare.
Even the Lakers on the scene, seeing this scene, had to sigh with emotion, this is Kobe's style of play.
This is what they look forward to and like to see the most after watching the game for several years, ten years, or decades.
As the head of the Clippers, Lu Yi completed an excellent offense. However, it didn't take long for Artest to reach the basket with the ball, but Gasol made a tip-up.
Both sides scored another goal, and the point difference was evened again.
"It takes a three-pointer to open the score." Lu Yi knew it clearly.
However, this time without the ball, Iverson failed to run out of opportunities. In the end, Iverson killed the basket, forced a kill, won two free throws, and opened the score again.
But soon, Artest made the first three-pointer of the game, and the Clippers were overtaken by the Lakers by one point.
Now the pressure comes to the Clippers. The Clippers need someone to hit a three-pointer, and this person is basically Lu Yi.
Lu Yi thought about it, but the Lakers would not give the opportunity so easily.
Until there were more than 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Lu Yi finally got a chance to make a three-pointer under the strict defense of Kobe and others.
Lu Yi didn't waste the opportunity to run out without the ball. He made a three-pointer and scored.
With the help of this three-pointer, the Clippers once again took a two-point lead.
But such a small advantage doesn't mean much.
I have to say that both teams did extremely well on the defensive end today.
There is no doubt that this is a playoff-level game.
In tonight's Christmas game, neither the Clippers nor the Lakers were perfunctory to the audience. They were able to show their best form and played an extremely exciting game.
The Lakers tried their best in the first quarter to prevent Lu Yi from holding the ball.
If Lu Yi can play Kobe one-on-one with the ball, he may be able to shoot a few more three-pointers.
But even if Kobe and Artest are double-teamed by two first-level perimeter players, no matter how strong Lu Yi is, he has to pass the ball out and hand it over to teammates with better opportunities.
After all, it's only the first quarter, and the team is not in a backward situation. Lu Yi doesn't need to be so impatient, he must rely on holding the ball to open the situation.
Lu Yi, who has experience in the playoffs, knows very well that the Lakers' defense at this level cannot last for an entire game.
Lakers players are human too, and they get tired.
In the third and fourth quarters, when Kobe and Artest couldn't run, and the lateral speed couldn't keep up, Lu Yi, who was younger and more powerful, could stand up and start killing.
22 to 21, after the first quarter, the two teams were evenly matched, and the Clippers felt a slight lead by 1 point.
The Clippers owned the ball at the beginning of the second quarter, which allowed the Clippers to take more initiative.
However, the Lakers have eaten the weight today and are determined!It is to compete with the Clippers to the end.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Lakers' main players were all on.
On the contrary, the Clippers are temporarily led by Iverson, joining the lineup of Korver, Thornton, Boozer, and Camby.
The Clippers have no shortage of offense in this lineup, but their defense is slightly worse.
Relying on Camby alone is obviously not enough to make up for the weaker perimeter defense.
Taking advantage of Lu Yi's absence, Kobe let go of his hands and feet. In just 4 minutes, he hit five or six irons, but also scored 12 points.
What is a superstar? (lean back)
Kobe's singles ability and scoring ability are beyond the reach of most NBA outside stars.
If it weren't for the Clippers' protection of rebounds, the point difference has been fluctuating back and forth around 3 points, and Lu Yi would have ended his rest early and returned to the court immediately.
It is not mentioned here that Kobe's offense with the ball is sometimes not a good thing for the Lakers.
On the surface, Kobe connected the team's offense and rested several other scoring points.
But in reality, several other points for the Lakers were cut off.
After a while, when they are asked to attack, they will find that the feel they were doing just now has completely cooled down, and then it is cool.
The Pistons allowed Kobe to shoot and kill the Lakers, not for nothing.
It's just that it is obviously impossible for the Clippers to let Kobe kill the Lakers today.
Kobe is in good form today, and the Clippers' defense is not as extreme as the Pistons.
Seeing that the point difference tended to be slightly widened, Lu Yi returned to the court early.
However, Lu Yi replaced Iverson, and Korver continued to be left on the court to make a space point.
Lu Yi, who had just joined, had physical strength, but Kobe played singles for a long time, and it was not so easy to balance offense and defense.
When Lu Yi comes up to play with the ball, he needs a teammate to make an open three-pointer, and quickly open the score with a three-pointer.
As long as Korver makes one or two three-pointers and the shooting percentage is not too low, Lu Yi has a chance to get a certain amount of shooting space.
To put it bluntly, breaking double teams depends not only on ability, but also on whether teammates can provide support.
Now the small ball era is coming, but it hasn't come yet.
It is not advisable to blindly learn Kobe's style of play.
Soon, Lu Yi helped the Clippers recover the point difference in his own way.
In less than 3 minutes of playing, Lu Yi has hit 3 goals in a row and scored 6 points.
And, Korver also hit a three-pointer.
The Clippers quickly chased points in a short time and overtook the score all at once.
Unfortunately, the Lakers played the main force at the beginning of the second quarter.
Now some main players have some problems with physical strength and defense, and the team lineup needs to make some adjustments.
This gives the Clippers more opportunities.
"Go in again, from Lu Yi's three-pointer! The point difference has been opened to 6 points!"
"After Lu Yi took control, the Clippers firmly grasped the offensive rhythm."
"Obviously the Lakers are the defending champions, but now it seems that the Clippers seem to be better than the Lakers, whether in terms of lineup or performance."
With Lu Yi hitting a three-pointer again, the point difference was finally opened to more than 5 points.
However, without waiting for the Clippers to be thankful, after replacing Kobe with Shannon Brown at the end of the second quarter, the situation changed.
Shannon Brown hit a three-pointer as soon as he came up, bringing the point difference back to within 5 points.
Before the end of the second quarter, Shannon Brown surprised the audience again and hit a three-pointer again, which looked more accurate than Lu Yi.
In just over three minutes, Shannon Brown became the X factor of the Lakers, helping the Lakers recover 6 points with just two shots.
Although the first half was over, the Clippers still took the lead.
But without Shannon Brown's two crucial three-pointers, the Clippers may have led by more than 10 points.
After all, if the point difference is widened, the team's morale will be affected, and the players' enthusiasm for playing will inevitably be frustrated.
The Lakers suddenly broke out, which is not unacceptable to the Clippers.
47 to 44, the Clippers still took a 3-point lead, and worked harder in the third quarter to try to save more "money" for the fourth quarter to avoid too much difficulty in winning.
After halftime, the third quarter, which both teams are extremely concerned about, finally came.
With the help of the Clippers to attack the ball first, Gordon, who relied on the substitute as soon as he came up, hit a corner three-pointer, opening the point difference to more than 5 points.
However, Gordon did not show a good competitive state later and was replaced by Iverson.
The Clippers did not grasp the good offensive momentum at the beginning of the third quarter, so they could only kill the game time slowly, leaving the final suspense of the game until the fourth quarter to be revealed.
71:67.
Because of the high defensive intensity, the two teams are relatively strong, and the point difference has not been widened.
After the first three quarters, both teams have scored 20+ points, and Lu Yi's scoring efficiency is slightly better.
But Kobe's influence on the court is no worse than that of Lu Yi. Just looking at rebounds, steals, and blocked shots, Kobe is much more comprehensive than Lu Yi.
Fortunately, the game still depends on who scores more points in order to win the final victory.
At the crucial moment of the fourth quarter, Lu Yi, who was still younger, had the last laugh.
In the last 4 minutes, Lu Yi continued to break through with the ball, passed Kobe one-on-one, and completed a dunk under the basket, which greatly boosted the morale of the Clippers.
Westbrook often did this in his peak period, and he was very beastly in the fourth quarter, with the physical strength to rush to the basket and dunk.
Popovich appreciates Westbrook very much. He praised Westbrook for playing with passion and is the locker room leader that the Spurs need.
Of course, it's also possible that Popovich has a dirty heart, playing tactics, fooling Westbrook into playing more independently, and it's right that Durant can't touch the ball in the fourth quarter.
But it cannot be denied that this style of play had a certain impact on both the enemy and ourselves.
At the very least, today Lu Yi succeeded in singles against Kobe twice at the critical moment, and helped the team score 4 points in a row, stabilizing the situation all at once.
The Lakers were just expected to completely smooth the point difference, but the point difference returned to 4 points.
Regardless of the extreme situation of 3+1, the Lakers will need at least two rounds to recover the point difference.
The Lakers' outside touch today, except for Shannon Brown, is relatively bad.
In the fourth quarter, the unbelieving Artest has missed three consecutive outside shots, including two open shots.
After this happened, Ariza gave up on Artest's defense and instead focused on finding opportunities to team up with Lu Yi to double-team Kobe.
Kobe won't be guarded, but he will be limited.
At least at the critical moment of the fourth quarter today, Kobe was really restricted.
Why is Kobe's shooting percentage not as good as James at critical moments?
Isn't this because there must be super giant teammates around James, what kind of CBA teammates are around Kobe?
From another perspective, James himself is the core of holding the ball. If he wants to win the championship, he must be equipped with a super scorer.
James is not afraid of being double-teamed, and the double-team can pass the ball out.
On the contrary, the defensive strength is not strong, and if I think it can be strong, then I will naturally go up.
As for the final shot, with the help of a super scorer, it is right to pass the ball. If you win, you will be mad, and if you lose, you will not be blamed. Naturally, the hit rate is not bad at critical moments.
Kobe is a super confident scorer. Even if the whole world double-teams him at the moment of the lore, he still has to shoot the damn ball.
High difficulty shots, although there will be high returns, but the hit rate will definitely not be so good.
Therefore, Kobe has a lot of unforgettable lore shots. Looking at the data, damn it, Tie Ke.
Having said that, today's Kobe is Kobe with an extremely authentic taste, and his hands are full of rust.
Relying on Kobe's assists, 89 to 85, the Clippers also had a 4-point advantage and became the big winner of tonight's Christmas game.
(End of this chapter)