basketball talent system

Chapter 544 Best record in history

Time came to April NO.12 in a blink of an eye. The Lakers set off to New Orleans again to challenge the Pelicans, who have been very scary recently. After trading Cousins ​​to the team, the Pelicans have lost so far Two games, one was lost in a direct contest with the Warriors, which made them a step further on the road to the second place in the Western Conference, and the other was an upset loss to combat power The Jazz are not particularly strong, but they won another matchup with the Warriors in March, and they won the opponent, and they also defeated the top three Pacers and Cavaliers in the East. , so the current combat effectiveness of the Pelicans should not be underestimated.

Especially when they also defeated the Lakers in early March, so in this game, the Lakers need 100% of their energy to prove that they are not really afraid of the Pelicans after forming the Big Four. of the Orcs.The game started quickly. Brother Nongmei easily defeated Gasol in the jump ball. Holiday slowly controlled the basketball to the frontcourt, and then immediately handed the ball to Cousins, ready to let the Kao Shen's singles, although Gasol's defense will cause a certain amount of interference to Kao Shen, but Kao Shen is the league's number one center in the eyes of the media after all, using his own strength advantage to back up and get into the penalty area, then turn around and hook the ball hit.

Looking back, the Lakers immediately launched a counterattack. After Ye Xuan quickly advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, he didn't wait for his teammates to settle down, and directly pulled up while Holiday hadn't stepped forward to defend closely. It's just a three-pointer shot, and it hits the ball.This is how the Lakers deal with a team with a strong inside, using quick offensive and defensive transitions to make the opponent's inside players lose their positions. After all, if everyone falls into a positional battle, the Lakers will be at a very disadvantage. , but if the opponent does not complete the positioning, then the Lakers will have some advantages in terms of mobility and other aspects.

Looking back, the Pelicans immediately prepared to continue to use the inside attack to cause trouble for the Lakers, but this time they underestimated the Lakers' rotation and double-team speed. It attracted the double-teaming of the two, and Kaoshen also passed the ball immediately, but the Lakers' rotation was very good, and did not give the Pelicans point guard a chance to make a shot. After three consecutive passes, the ball came again. Returned to the hands of Holiday, and then stopped the ball again, because there was no chance to make a shot, so Holiday had no choice but to hand the ball to Anthony who pulled out from the outside to ask for the ball. Limit, so Anthony's shot finally ended in iron.

At this time, the advantage of the Pelicans inside was reflected. Brother Nongmei jumped up and took the ball out. After getting the basketball from the outside, Holiday immediately hoisted the ball into the inside again. Brother Nongmei turned around directly after receiving the ball Hit the ball for a layup.The Lakers' defense has actually done a good job, but the height of the inside line is still too far behind, but fortunately, the Lakers' performance outside the three-point line today is very good. After Ye Xuan quickly advanced to the frontcourt, he directly put The ball was sent to the hands of Solomon Hill who was near the bottom line. After Hill feinted the player who defended him, he dribbled a step inward, and then made a mid-range shot. The Lakers still One point ahead.

In the next few rounds, the Pelicans' shooting percentage was severely tested. Although Kaoshen and Anthony Davis were able to grab offensive rebounds many times to complete the second offense, their offensive shooting percentage But some people feel that they can’t look directly. In fact, this is mainly because the Lakers’ rotation and double-teaming are good. Of course, there is another reason. The Lakers really make the Pelicans a little bit exhausted on the offensive end. Just like the last time they played against each other, the Lakers had a high shooting percentage in the first quarter, so they were always in the lead and did not give the Pelicans a chance to recover the point difference.

In this way, the two teams played slowly until the second half. Shortly after the start of the third quarter, the Pelicans organized another wave of strong offensive, just like the last time the two teams played against each other. Once they were also preparing to deal a heavy blow to the Lakers in the third quarter, trying to recover the point difference in the third quarter.

But the difference from the last game is that in this game the Lakers have Ye Xuan, who is full of health, sitting in charge. He doesn't give the opponent the slightest chance at all. You play a single from the inside, and I immediately shoot from the outside. Three-pointer, you use the pick-and-roll to make a mid-range shot, I still use the firepower from the outside to suppress you, you use your height advantage to grab the offensive rebound, and then score the second offense?Sorry, then I can only score one more three-pointer to express my apology.

Under the unreasonable three-point shooting rate of the Lakers, the Pelicans gradually began to be unable to play. The main reason is that their rhythm between offense and defense is still not very good. The Lakers are so flexible, and at the same time, they are more casual in controlling their shots. Basically, Anthony, Big Eyebrow, and Kaoshen are the three who hold the ball and attack. Too many singles also make their The success rate has dropped a bit. If the state is good, they can still win the game, but once two of them feel bad at the same time, then the Pelicans will not be as good as everyone imagined.

The results are self-evident. The Lakers successfully defeated the Pelicans by making 32 of 17 three-pointers in the away game.At the same time, after this game is over, the Pelicans can only be ranked third in the West and have no chance to overtake the Warriors, because even if the Warriors lose the game against the Lakers in the next game, their final record is still the same. One win over the Pelicans.

As for the Lakers, after their game is over, the regular season of this season is basically over for them. In the last game, the Lakers are basically not going to send the main lineup. After all, not only his record can easily guarantee that he has always had home court advantage in the playoffs, but even the record of 73 wins created by the Warriors last year is now under the Lakers' 11-game winning streak. , was successfully broken, even if they lost to the Warriors in the next game, they can still enjoy the first regular season record in league history with a record of 74 wins.

At NO.13, the home court of the Lakers, the Staples Center, the Lakers ushered in the Warriors. The Warriors actually played here, and they knew that the situation was basically clear, so the victory or loss of the last game was for them. It is also not too important, so while the Lakers sent all the substitutes, the Warriors also played the final game with a full substitute lineup. Originally, if the Lakers lost the game in the last game, Maybe the Warriors will send the main players to fight with the Lakers in order to prevent the Lakers from breaking the record of the best regular season record in league history. However, since breaking the record is a foregone conclusion, the Warriors simply rotate directly. Some main force.

The bench lineups of the two teams are actually relatively strong in the league, but unlike the Warriors, the Lakers' bench lineup also includes Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Zubac Such stunned youths and Nick Young are such convulsive people, so even though they knew that this game was garbage time, their attitude of playing was still as if they regarded this game as a life-and-death battle, and they played with great joy , So after playing for a while, the Lakers unknowingly led by more than 15 points.

The final result is naturally self-evident. The Lakers finally relied on Clarkson, who scored 32 points alone, and under the excellent performance of Nick Young, who also had an outstanding performance, they easily defeated the team who also played with all substitutes. The Warriors ended the regular season perfectly. The record of 75 wins and 7 losses also improved the Warriors' 73 wins last year by two games. The tragic Warriors are very embarrassing. Last year they worked hard for this record. It's going to die, and in the end, because they were too focused in the regular season, they were still exhausted in the finals, which caused the team to lose the championship. The result is that the probability of winning 73 that they have worked so hard to get is actually It only lasted for one season and was surpassed by the Lakers.

And in fact, this is not the most embarrassing thing for the Warriors. The most embarrassing thing is that they are now ranked second in the West, so the first opponent they will face in the playoffs will be Their opponents in the Western Conference Finals last season were also Durant's original club, the Thunder.This is not good news for the Warriors. Although in terms of strength, the two teams are indeed far behind, but when facing the Thunder, they will have a lot to consider. In the first match, the Thunder team was at a disadvantage with 1 win and 3 losses, but as long as the two teams played against each other, the Thunder team would be as active as if they were fighting chicken blood.

Among the four matches, the two teams almost broke out on the court 11 times, and there was one time when Westbrook was directly brought down by the slag Pachulia when he was holding the ball at the top of the three-point arc. The scene was almost out of control. If the coaches on both sides hadn't experienced enough to adjust their personnel immediately, it is estimated that the two teams might really fight.And if they play against the Thunder, they will also consume a lot of energy, not only because the opponent will become more focused when facing the Warriors, but also because the opponent's game moves will change during the Warriors game. The defense is bigger, and the defense has become more stalking, so this is not a good thing for the Warriors.

Of course, this is just one of the bad news. The other bad news is that in this way, their opponent in the second round of the playoffs is likely to be the Pelicans, who are finally ranked third in the Western Conference. The new Big Four they formed The Warriors had to put more effort into it. In the first round, the Thunder would have consumed a lot of energy. In the second round, they encountered such a difficult team. The journey looked really difficult.

Here I have to say that this year's playoffs matchup situation, the Western Conference's No. [-] Lakers will face the eighth-ranked Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. The post-game duel is also a duel between the two Gasol brothers. In fact, there are news that after the contract of Paul Gasol expires next season, he is likely to choose to retire directly. At the same time, his brother Mark- Gasol is likely to leave the Grizzlies, to the Lakers to fill his brother's vacancy.But in general, almost everyone in this matchup feels that the Grizzlies have no chance, especially when Tony Allen is still absent due to injury.

The Warriors, the second in the West, will face the Thunder. It has already been said that the opponent of the third Pelicans in the West is the team that has improved the most after the trade this season-the Jazz. He entered the playoffs and ranked sixth in the West. He is far behind him, as well as the Clippers, the traditional strong team in the West this year, and the Trail Blazers, who are regulars in the playoffs. Due to various reasons, each team failed to make it to the playoffs.As for the contest between the fourth and fifth in the West, it was between the Rockets and the Spurs. In the end, the Spurs ranked fifth in the West because they failed to keep their position at the end of the season and were defeated by the Rockets. The team achieved a go-ahead.

As for the Eastern side, it seems much simpler. First of all, the Celtics ranked first in the Eastern Conference faced the Bulls ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls have Rondo and Jimmy Butler this season. At the same time, they also have a player like Mirotic, so the eighth position in the Eastern Conference is barely justified.The second-ranked Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference faced the seventh-ranked Bucks in the Eastern Conference in the first round of the playoffs. Antetokounmpo is recognized in the league as the most likely star to become Lao Zhan's successor , This time in the playoffs, he directly faced Lao Zhan, so it is not bad to watch.

As for the third Pacers in the Eastern Conference, it was no surprise that they faced the sixth Eagles in the Eastern Conference. Well, it is still the Eagles. China has always been eliminated by the Pacers. This was the case when Ye Xuan was there. Now Ye Xuan has been traded to the East, but the Eagles still haven't shaken off the shadow of the Pacers.In the last set of matchups, the Raptors played against the Wizards, and the trash brothers played against the Wizards. They were all duels in the backcourt, and they also had certain points of interest.

(End of this chapter)