Vol 6 Chapter 7: Two-game winning streak

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At present, the Chicago Bulls record is 24 wins and 25 losses, although the win rate is not half, but among the Eastern teams, it can enter the playoffs.
But now the Chicago Bulls are in a similar situation to the Lakers. Rose has confirmed that the season is reimbursed. Another head player, Ruhr Deng, is also recovering. Boozer, one of the two inside towers, was also injured in the last game. This is equivalent to five starting three. Noah and Jimmy Butler are left.
Coach Thibodeau had to mention Dunleavy, Hinrich and Gibson as starting positions. Although the ability of these three to start is a bit weak, but the game experience is richer than one, and compared to the Lakers starting, it has been much stronger.
In terms of the Lakers, Nash came back recently and formed a backcourt with Zhang Guan; Wesley Johnson debuted as a striker; first-year rookie Ryan Kelly and second-year Sackley became the backbone of the Lakers' inside. If Zhang Guan is not taken into consideration, the Lakers' starting among the teams is also at the "old, weak and sick" level.
On the bench, Augustine is the only player the Bulls can count on, and the Lakers, Kaman and Jordan Hill, who have just recovered from injury, are barely available.
For the Bulls, this is the last game in six consecutive away games, and all six away games are in the west, so the Bulls at this time have already entered a tired period. As can be seen from the opening performance, the Bulls are in poor condition, and the first four attacks have failed.
As for the Lakers, this is their first game after returning to home, and it is the first stop after Zhang Guan joined, so the first three offenses were handed over to Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan also lived up to expectations, broke through twice and made an emergency stop jumper, scoring 6 points in a row.
The game took two and a half minutes, and the Bulls scored two points with Gibson's jumper, and then Nash's passing assists made Zhang Guan throw a three-pointer and changed the score to 9-2. ,. Zhang Guan scored nine points in the opening game.
However, everyone can see that the Lakers' 9 points are all based on Zhang Guan's personal ability. Only Nash's pass was barely a match.
Even the on-site commentary also said: "Although the Lakers' first four offenses have all scored, but they can't see any shadow of tactical arrangements, they are all Zhang Guan in singles. This singles may work for a while, But if the Bulls strengthen their personal defense against Zhang Guan, the effect of singles will be greatly reduced."
The other commentator next to him said: "I think this is very consistent with the Lakers' play. Before the Lakers, nearly one-third of the offense was relying on Kobe singles. Now it is just changing Kobe. It became Zhang Guan. And it seems that Zhang Guan's shooting rate is very good."
On the field, Dunleavy assisted Noah and scored two points. For the Lakers, Nash passed the ball to Zhang Guan again. This time Zhang Guan did not score a goal, but he scored two free throws.
The Bulls coach Thibodeau finally couldn't sit still, he called a timeout, and then called Jimmy Butler to his side, carefully commanded.
After the game restarted, Butler's defense against Zhang Guan improved by a grade. As long as Zhang Guan got the ball, Butler immediately posted it up, without giving Zhang Guan the chance to play.
The Bulls' defensive efficiency did not decrease after Ruhr Deng was injured, mainly because Jimmy Butler has developed first-rate defensive skills. Coach Thibodeau was originally a defense-obsessed coach, and Jimi Butler, a player with comprehensive capabilities, has gradually become the top NBA defender under the guidance of Thibodeau. Being able to enter the NBA defensive second team for two consecutive years is also enough to prove that Jimmy Butler's defensive ability is excellent.
In response to Butler's defense, Zhang Guan began to add more off-ball running.
...
"Wow!" The basketball flew directly to Zhang Guan's hand. Zhang Guan grabbed the ball and jumped directly. Butler came up to block, but it was one step late, the ball had been shot, turned into an arc, and fell into the basket.
"Two scores! Wonderful pass!" The commentator did not praise Zhang Guan, but first praised Nash's pass.
Zhang Guan is indeed running without stopping the ball, but Zhang Guan's running is not running in tactics. Since Zhang Guan joined the Lakers, he has not practiced with the team, let alone adapting to tactics, so Zhang Guan can only run based on his own feeling, rather than running under the arrangement of the tactical system.
At this time, the value of Nash was reflected.
Nash is undoubtedly one of the strongest assists in NBA history. Unlike other point guards, Nash's pass is to find the ball, not to find the ball. Half of the point guards, they need their teammates to follow the tactical arrangement, and then pass the ball after running out of position, but Nash can do it no matter where his teammates are, the ball can be found.
So even if Zhang Guan is not integrated into D'Antoni's tactical system, Nash's passing can still find Zhang Guan at the appropriate offensive time.
Nash needs a teammate with outstanding offensive ability, such as Stoudemire, whose offensive ability is more prominent than defensive ability. This is the only player who is good at attacking, and will not waste Nash's assists.
And this season, the Lakers have only a bunch of old and weak and sick. Nash’s pass is beautiful, and he can’t even make a shot. So Nash’s average number of assists per game has dropped by half compared to the sun.
Zhang Guan certainly won't waste Nash's assists. Nash passed four times, Zhang Guan scored three, and swept three assists for Nash. At this time, Nash also felt that Zhang Guan's offensive efficiency was much stronger than that of the Lakers' "old, weak and sick", and he was more willing to pass the ball to Zhang Guan.
The Lakers' offense has completely become Zhang Guan and Nash's two things, the other three players can hardly even touch the ball, and all have become coolies. However, they have no complaints. They were originally substitutes. When the team boss is on the court, they should be honest.
The Bulls’ coach Thibodeau is also a well-known coach in the NBA. He has already seen that Zhang Guan’s running position is more like seeing where he is empty and running towards it. There is no talk of tactical cooperation at all. Can find Zhang Guan. Jimmy Butler's defense has been hard enough, but in the face of Zhang Guan's blind running, he has always been slower by half a beat.
With four minutes left in the first quarter, the two sides scored 29 to 16, and the Bulls were 13 points behind. If it weren’t for Noah to play well, maybe the Bulls will be far behind.
The rotation of the two sides began to appear one after another. The Bulls were understaffed, only DJ Augustin replaced Hinrich, and the Lakers replaced the new twin towers of Kaman and Jordan Hill, and then used Blake and Marshall replaced Nash and Zhang Guan.
"An old fox like D'Antoni!" Coach Thibodeau scolded in the heart when he saw this substitution by the Lakers.
The lack of people inside the Bulls is something everyone knows. After Boozer was injured, there was only one Noah struggling to support. D'Antoni also recognized this weakness of the Bulls, let Sackley's brute force to fight Noah, and then replaced with experienced Kaman and strong Jordan Hill.
Thibodeau didn't make any substitutions. Except for Hinrich, the other four starters all filled the first quarter.
Unexpectedly, Kaman came off the bench in a very good state. In the last four minutes of the first quarter, he scored 8 points on 4 of 5 shots. He also sent an assist and became the second scoring point for the Lakers. .
After the opening of the second quarter, Kaman continued to stay on the court. He still maintained an excellent state. He made three of five shots in six minutes and grabbed four rebounds.
Kaman's sudden outburst made the Bulls a bit caught off guard. Shortly after the start of the second quarter, the score increased to more than 25 points.
"Kaman's condition is very good today. Today is Zhang Guan's first game. Kaman's play is a success!" The commentator teased.
The camera was aimed at the Lakers bench. Zhang Guan and Nash were talking and laughing, looking very relaxed.
In the second quarter, the Lakers started playing again, the score was once pulled to 30, Thibodeau replaced Gibson and Butler on the field, only to stop the blood for the Bulls.
After so much behind, the Bulls have no fighting spirit. After all, they have played five consecutive away teams, and they are still full of wounded soldiers. You can't ask them to keep their high fighting spirit in the sixth away road.
The second half became the time for the Lakers to fully play off the bench. Kaman, Jordan Hill and Marshall all played good personal data. Among them, Kaman not only got the double-double data, but also scored a new season high. Jordan- Hill also hit a double-double. Of course, this also has a lot to do with no one inside the Bulls.
Substitute point guard Marshall is also an extraordinary play today, playing double-double figures and 11 assists even surpassing Nash.
Marshall's assist ability is very strong, but he only has assists, and his assists are the kind of assists that lack organizational ability, and they are assisted simply for assists. At the same time, Marshall's offense and defense were also criticized by people.
Today's Marshall is still anxious defensively, but his shooting percentage is surprisingly high, especially three-pointers made three-pointers, which greatly exceeds his usual level. Scoring made up for the lack of defense, Marshall also got more time in the second half.
The game entered the fourth quarter. Zhang Guan and Nash did not play at all. After insisting for a while, Coach Thibodeau found that the chasing point was hopeless and changed the main force. This game finally ended in garbage time.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Bulls 103 to 88, Zhang Guan first boarded the NBA stage, although only played 20 minutes, but contributed 26 points. But this score is not the highest in the Lakers, Carman played well and scored 27 points, one point higher than Zhang Guan.
Coupled with the previous two consecutive wins away, the Lakers actually achieved a rare three-game winning streak.
For Zhang Guan's performance, the Lakers fans are still quite satisfied, 26 points is not a very amazing score, but considering Zhang Guan played only 20 minutes, this score is definitely a very good performance. More importantly, the Lakers won the game. For the Lakers who have a scum record now, winning is more important than anything.
...
After the press conference, Zhang Guan undoubtedly became the focus of media attention.
"Zhang Guan, one game after entering the NBA and won, what do you think?" the reporter asked.
"Of course I am very happy. For me, this is a good start. We are one step closer to the playoffs!" Zhang Guan said with a smile.
"Zhang Guan, some experts have calculated that if you want to enter the playoffs, the Lakers must win all the regular season games!" A reporter reminded immediately.
"Yeah, I also heard that I won 32 games. You see, I won the first game now, won't it be another 31 games! We can do it, please wait and see." Zhang Guan said with a smile.
...
On February 11, the Lakers welcomed their next opponent at home, with him the Jazz.
The Jazz record is worse than the Lakers, only 17 wins and 33 losses. In the West, the Lakers ranked second to last, and the penultimate is the Utah Jazz.
Last season, Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Mo Williams all left the Jazz, and the Jazz officially entered the reconstruction period. At present, the Jazz team's head player is Hayward. The reason why it is called "head player" instead of "head player" is because now Hayward is really not even a star.
If a team loses too much, it will forget the feeling of winning and slowly won't win. The current jazz team is in this state. From the beginning of the game, the jazz team has been falling behind, and there is no desire to catch up with the score, and it is the same until the end of the game.
Zhang Guan only hit the third and a half quarters and punched out of work, and returned to the starting lineup. Kaman continued the previous game with 25 points and 14 rebounds, plus 4 assists and 3 blocks. It is the same data as Dayao.
However, Nash said that his back discomfort after the game, to be treated, may not be able to play in the next game, which is considered bad news for the Lakers.
...
After the game, Zhang Guan appeared at the press conference.
"We won another game, one step further from the playoffs!" Zhang Guan smiled, then said: "I know that when I joined the Lakers, there were many people who didn't like me and didn't like it. The Lakers’ future record, but the facts show that those who are not optimistic about us are wrong. Under my leadership, the Lakers have achieved two consecutive victories!"
The reporters were speechless for a while, and everyone said that Zhang Guan's face was too thick.
In the last two games, the Lakers won, but do not look at what the opponents are? The Bulls' injuries are similar to that of the Lakers. Only eight players can play, and they have played five away games in a row; the Jazz have worse records than the Lakers. I pinched the two softest persimmons, what can I show off!
"Looking at Zhang Guan's smug look, he really regarded himself as the savior of the Lakers!" a reporter murmured.
"Winning two rotten teams, look at his ridiculous look! In the NBA, any team with an All-Star team can kill the current Bulls and Jazz!" the other whispered.
Later, a reporter put his head over and said, "We don't speak first, let him be proud, let him chatter, let him be arrogant! After the next game is over! Let's look at his bitter gourd face! "
"The next game? Who are the opponents of the Lakers?" the reporter in front asked immediately.
"The Lakers' opponent in the next game is the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in the West! This time, the Lakers will definitely lose!"