Vol 6 Chapter 12: Lakers ten-game winning streak

Pen Fun Club EbookFREE.me, the fastest update of the latest chapter of the all-round athlete!
On February 20, one day before the trade deadline, the Lakers finally completed a finale deal. They used veteran Steve Blake to get Kent Bezmore and Marsh Brooks from the Warriors.
The Warriors sent Jack last year, so they need a point guard with some organizational skills; and because the Lakers have a crown, Blake has little value, so it is better to try luck for two young people, and these two Everyone is still on a base salary, which can lower the Lakers' total salary.
This trade is one for two, so the Lakers have more than fifteen people, so before the trade deadline, the Lakers announced the removal of striker Sean Williams. Sean Williams has been this season. He was short-working for the Lakers, but he also made his debut and was cut by the Lakers. Not long ago he signed a 10-day short contract with the Lakers. According to NBA rules, if Sean Williams is not cut by the Lakers before the trade deadline, he will be able to stay until the end of the season. However, this one-for-two deal allowed Sean Williams to return to the Development League again.
After the deal ended, the Lakers ushered in another piece of good news. The injuries to Meeks and Farmar have recovered and are ready to play. The return of these two people has basically allowed the Lakers to survive this wave of injuries. At present, the Lakers are only left with Kobe, Nash and Nick Young.
The return of Meeks and Farmar has made the Lakers' outside line a little bloated. The most affected must be Marshall. His playing time is bound to be greatly compressed. He needs to compete with Farmar.
Meeks returned to the starting lineup and formed the Lakers backcourt with Zhang Guan.
Compared with last season, Meeks has made great progress this season, and various data have set a new career high. Since Kobe was injured, Meeks has replaced Kobe and became the Lakers. Starting shooting guard. His 15 points per game and more than 40% of his three-pointers made him the Lakers starting point lineup after Gasol.
Now the Lakers, the starting lineup has become Kaman, Gasol, Wesley Johnson, Meeks and Zhang Guan. Although on the surface, although they are not as good as the so-called Big Three, in the entire league, Can also be regarded as a high level in the middle reaches.
On the bench, Jordan Hill, Farmar, Marshall, Bezmore, and Ryan Kelly are all available. If after the return of Nick Young, the Lakers can also be considered a group of "bench bandits" ".
...
On February 21, the Rockets beat the Boston Celtics in a bloodless battle.
At the end of last season, the Celtics traded Garnett, Pierce and Terry to the Nets in exchange for Gerald Wallace, Humphries, three first-round draft picks and two others Role players.
Ken wants the first round of draft picks, and there are still three, which shows that the Celtics officially ended the era of the Big Three and entered the stage of reconstruction. This season, the Celtics' top scorer became Jeff Green. As for Rondo, he has shown the attitude of a glass man. He has not played full for four consecutive seasons. It is less than one season. He played only 38 games last season. This season was also an injury. Stopped, it will be even worse next season.
At the same time, the Celtics are also plagued by injuries, the team's second scorer Bradley and third scorer Jordan Crawford, are now injured.
The current Celtics record is 19 wins and 36 losses, the penultimate Eastern Conference, only a little better than the 76ers and Bucks. Such a team is already accustomed to losing, so the away scene gave the Lakers a symbolic resistance and surrendered.
Then on February 23, the Lakers defeated the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Before the start of the season, many teams had high hopes for the Nets, because the Nets lineup looks very strong.
Center Brook Lopez, power forward Garnett, small forward Pierce, shooting guard Joe Johnson, point guard Deron Williams, this is simply an All-Star lineup, and there are several more All-Stars. Starter.
On the bench, the Nets also have Terry, Kirilenko, Thornton, Brach, Livingston and others, all of whom are well-known players in the NBA.
But the Nets' current record is very disappointing, only 25 wins and 28 losses, less than half the winning rate, and still in the east. A team with only such a record in the east, if placed in the more competitive west, is definitely at the bottom.
The Nets visited Los Angeles today, and the staff were not in order. Three people, Lopez, Garnett and Terry, were left in Boston because of injuries. Li Lianke, partner starter.
As a result, the combination of Gasol and Kaman easily destroyed the Nets' interior. Although Deron Williams scored 30 points and Paul Pierce also scored 25 points, he eventually lost the game.
Zhang Guan led the Lakers to a six-game winning streak at home, and then the Lakers flew to Indianapolis to challenge the flourishing Indiana Pacers.
The current Pacers, with 42 wins and 13 losses, beat the Miami Heat with the Big Three, ranking first in the East. In the league, this record is second only to the Thunder.
The Pacers showed the strength of the championship team last season. In the playoffs, the Pacers lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, the Pacers' lineup has been slightly strengthened compared to last season. Paul George and second-hander Stephenson also have the best numbers. At least in the regular season, the Pacers are stronger than last season.
On February 25, local time in the United States, the Pacers played against the Rockets.
Pacers coach Frank Korver stood on the sidelines, his face was helpless.
The game has entered the last five minutes, the current score of the two sides is 114 to 109, the trailing one is the Pacers.
The gap of 5 points is nothing in the NBA. Not to mention that there are five minutes left in the game, that is, the last minute of the game, there is a chance to catch up. But what worries Coach Korver is the Lakers' current scoring ability.
Zhang Guan has scored 30 points, which is not a very high number for Zhang Guan. Gasol scored 15 points and Meeks scored 13 points, which is considered a relatively standard play for the two.
But a guy named Bezmore on the Lakers bench got 25 points. What's going on? The key is that Bezmore also grabbed five rebounds, sent three steals, and added four assists.
The Lakers already had Zhang Guan and Gasol, and this came up with a guy who scored 20+ and had defense and assists. This became the "Big Three" model! And the balance of victory began to lean towards the Lakers.
As a coach, the most undesirable thing for Korver is this situation. I don’t know where to suddenly emerge a player who looks at the water dispenser, but it has played a star-like level. The entire team’s offense and defense deployment, also Will change as a result.
Batesmore once participated in the 2012 NBA draft, but was not selected, and then signed a two-year base salary with the Warriors, and then watched the water dispenser for two years, not long ago was traded to the Lakers.
The Warriors are still very good at picking rookies. Curry, Thompson, Green, and later became superstars. It's just that in the Warriors, newcomers, especially outside players, are very difficult to get up to position. The Warriors have always been short of outsiders. The team will not have too many opportunities for newcomers, just like Jeremy Lin, but The strength of playing, but did not get the time to play.
Bezmore is also such a player, his strength can be played in the game, but in the Warriors, he has too many competitors, so he can only get limited playing time, naturally talk about Not good data. In the Warriors, he was even known as the cheerleader. After coming to the Lakers, he was also thought to compete with Thackeray for the title of "Towel Man".
Coming to the Lakers, Bezmore seized the opportunity. When Nick Young hadn't come back, Bezmore was the second choice for the defender's online backup, second only to Farmar. He averaged at least ten per game. Minutes of playing time. For a capable player, ten minutes is enough for them to prove themselves.
In this game against the Pacers, Bezmore proved himself with strength. He came off the bench, consecutive flanks broke fouls, and achieved very good results. The Pacers backup center Masinmi, As a result, he sat on the bench for a long time, alleviating a lot of pressure for the Lakers' bench inside.
The Batesmore in history also played a valuable role in the Lakers, at least from a marginal man who may be cut at any time, became a guaranteed rotation player, and even later became a starter for the Hawks. With a four-year, $70 million contract, it has become a model for the counterattack in the NBA.
In this game, Bezmore became the Wizards of the Lakers. His sudden outbreak hit the Pacers by surprise. The Lakers beat the Pacers 127 to 118. Bezmore also became famous in one battle.
...
The Lakers moved to Memphis in the next game, challenging the Grizzlies away.
Since the Grizzlies staged the Black Eight Miracle, they have been a strong Western team and reached the Western Conference finals last year. The current Grizzlies have a record of 31 wins and 24 losses, which is relatively good, but in the fiercely competitive West, it can only be ranked seventh.
The Grizzlies are one of the league's best defense teams and one of the least good at shooting three-pointers. This season, the Grizzlies have only made a pitiful 14 attempts on three-pointers, which is the bottom of the league. In comparison, the Warriors, who are good at three-pointers, averaged 24.8 three-pointers per game, and the Rockets averaged 26.6 three-pointers per game. The Lakers tuned by D'Antoni also averaged 24.8 three-pointers per game, equal to the Warriors.
So the Grizzlies are the kind of teams that are very afraid of playing against each other. Because the three-pointers are too bad, they will definitely lose. And as long as the opponent feels good and the three-pointer shoots up, the Grizzlies must lose. For the Grizzlies, it is very important to limit the opponent's score to 100 points.
The games that the Grizzlies lost this season are basically the Grizzlies scored less than 100, while the opponents scored more than 100 points. It is normal for a game to score less than 100 points. They averaged only 96.1 points per game. But if you let your opponent score more than 100, it is not far from losing.
The Lakers obviously started offense. D'Antoni is a master of running and bombing. The requirements for defense are not very demanding. The arrival of Zhang Guan has greatly strengthened the Lakers' offense. Now the Lakers are like a sharp spear.
The Grizzlies are obviously a solid shield, and the contest between the Lakers and Grizzlies has also become a competition between spears and shields.
...
In the face of the Grizzlies, the Lakers are the first three-pointer. Except for Gasol, the starting players are basically able to shoot three points and never shoot two points.
Under Zhang Guan's leadership, Meeks, Wesley Johnson and Bezmore, who had just been mentioned as a starter, all have three-pointers. On the bench, Farmar and Marshall Brooks also made several three-pointers.
Marshall Brooks was traded with Bezmore. He used to have the nickname "Little Kobe". However, this kid only learned how to play superstars, but not the strength of superstars. In terms of autonomous offense, Marshall Brooks does have a set, but the assist ability is almost zero, the shot selection is extremely bad, and the defense is completely absent. Compared to Nick Young, Marshall Brooks is less efficient and less athletic.
However, Marchan Brooks' three-pointer is still good, as long as you don't give him the ball, let him be a fixed-point shooter, shoot the ball immediately after receiving the ball, immediately-Brooks can also provide some outside firepower.
For the Grizzlies, Mike Conley was completely locked up by Zhang Guan today. One of six shots in the first half, in addition to only one assist, steals, blocks and rebounds are all zero.
Therefore, the Grizzlies are still the main "black and white bear", especially Randolph, won more mobile phone meetings.
Conley is not as good as Zhang Guan in terms of physical or athletic ability, so it is very difficult to defend Zhang Zhang, so the Grizzlies also promptly joined their defensive killer Tony Allen to deal with Zhang Guan.
Tony Allen's defensive ability is top in the league, with strong upper limbs, stable enough in the lower plate, able to face physical confrontation, outstanding defensive awareness, willing to work hard, and good at grabbing the floor ball, even as strong as Durant, in Tony -Allen's defense is also a headache.
Tony Allen is best at defending against the ballless player. He often creates opportunities for steals, such as giving the opposing ballless player some space to create a neutral, and when the opponent passes the ball, Tony Allen will break the ball like lightning. In contrast to his tall and strong player, Tony Allen's defense around the front can always make opponents tired.
But Tony Allen's ability to defend the ball holder is one level lower than that of defending the ballless person. Especially when the individual ability of the ball holder is more prominent, Tony Allen can't show much value. For example, LeBron James, Tony Allen can never be prevented, to the extent of James's physical strength, but willing to confront Tony Allen.
Today, Tony Allen also encountered a hard stubble, that is Zhang Guan.
...
"Zhang Guan! Facing Tony Allen, throwing high, scoring! This ball is beautiful! In the face of Tony Allen's defense, he can score the ball." The commentator exclaimed.
Tony Allen rubbed his chest, but it was not light.
"Is this guy Zhang Guan a monster? Just pushed me so hard into the three-second zone! The first time I encountered such a guard, I felt his power was greater than LeBron!"
Tony Allen is confident that his body can block any defender in the world, but today he found that there really are defenders he can't carry in this world.
Zhang Guan's breakthrough is nothing fancy, that is, he is head-to-head, and he simply eats Tony Allen with strength and body. Both bodies are similar, but Tony Allen is pushed back by Zhang Guan again and again.
The referee has never whistled. Among the defensive players, Tony Allen’s movements are relatively clean. His small movements are not many, and he will not
stick and fall
like many
Emperor
. Tony-A Lun is such a purely defensive player.
Tony Allen's offensive ability is more general. His role in playing is mainly to limit the main scorer of the other party, which is limited. Both sides are equal to one less score point on the offensive end, which is not a loss for the Grizzlies; and once restricted If you can't live, it means that the Grizzlies have one less point, but the opponent doesn't. So in many cases, Tony Allen is more like a seven-wound punch, killing an enemy by one thousand and injuring by 800.
Now, Tony Allen can't limit Zhang Guan's scoring, it is equivalent to using seven injured punches but not hitting the enemy, the Grizzlies are also a little bit eaten by the Lakers.
Randolph and Gasol Jr. have been continually scoring goals, Courtney Lee's performance has also hit two consecutive points, and Mike Miller, Coufers and James Johnson also scored goals on the bench, but The Grizzlies' score is slowly starting to fall behind, the more behind.
This is also something that cannot be done. The Grizzlies scored two goals while the Lakers have been fighting for three-pointers.
In the whole game, the Lakers made a total of 35 three-pointers, hitting 17, nearly 50% of the three-pointers hit, can be described as super-level play. The Grizzlies only made a total of 8 three-pointers, less than a quarter of the Lakers, hit 3, although the shooting rate is still said, but the difference of 14 three-pointers is equal to 14 Minute.
The final score of the two sides is the Lakers won 107 to 98, they did not score more than 100 and the opponent scored more than 100, a typical "grizzly" style of losing.
The Lakers returned to Los Angeles with two away wins.
Since Zhang Guan joined the Lakers, he has already played an 8-game winning streak. If Zhang Guan has not counted two consecutive victories before Zhang Guan has not come, the Lakers have already achieved a 10-game winning streak.
In the NBA, any team can achieve a 10-game winning streak, it is a record that can not be underestimated, not to mention the Lakers are still in the fiercely competitive west, the gold content of the 10-game winning streak is even more.
Although the Lakers' current record is 26 wins and 32 losses, the win rate is still not more than half, and the threshold for the playoffs is still far away, but this ten-game winning streak has made all the teams in the league begin to face the Lakers.
The entire NBA league knows that the Lakers are no longer the bottom of the previous team!