NBA Old Age Star System

Chapter 446: The steady Suns, the discouraged Clippers!

The strength of the Suns and Jazz teams is relatively similar. This game was evenly matched from the beginning.

In the next few rounds, the two teams once again fell into a quagmire.

The points difference between the two teams continued to rise alternately, but no team was able to completely occupy the initiative.

At the end of the first quarter, the Suns temporarily led the Jazz by 27 point 26-1.

"Actually, this is the normal state of the playoffs. Two excellent teams perform in different styles and the scores alternately rise. This is a normal state. A one-sided situation like the Lakers and Clippers is A rare situation," Buckley said.

"Indeed, you must know that this is the semifinals. They are already the four best teams in the Western Conference. Under normal circumstances, they will not be crushed." Kenny Smith agreed.

With the explanations of the two commentators, the inter-section break ended quickly and the second quarter began.

Su Tian was also watching the game carefully at this time, but Su Tian was more observing the Suns.

This is not to say that Su Tian is not optimistic about the Jazz, but if things develop according to memory, the Suns did reach the finals this year, but they gave Alphabet a championship in the finals.

In the second quarter, the two sides played again after substitution adjustments. Paul on the Suns side took a rest, and Booker was on hand to lead the team.

On the Jazz side, Mitchell naturally led the team.

In fact, both Mitchell and Booker are very good players, and they are both players at the second position. Naturally, they will be played up as rivals by some media.

But in fact, Booker and Mitchell have different playing styles and styles.

In the second quarter, Booker still maintained an efficient shooting efficiency, while Mitchell continued to impact with the ball and was full of momentum.

Halfway through the second quarter, the point difference between the two teams still did not change much. The Suns made substitution adjustments and Paul came on the field.

The effect was obvious after Paul came on the court. He immediately established a big advantage with some small advantages, and the lead difference reached 5 points.

But 5 points is still not safe enough, so strictly speaking, the two teams are still in a stalemate.

Time soon came to the second half. In the third quarter, both sides once again took the starting lineup, hoping to take the opportunity to widen the point difference.

However, neither the Jazz nor the Suns could achieve their respective goals. However, Paul relied on his experience and passing organization skills to steadily control the situation on the court and barely maintained a 5-point lead.

Until halfway through the third quarter, after Paul took a break, the point difference began to move, and the Jazz wanted to catch up with the score.

But just when Mitchell wanted to make a move, Bridges on the Suns side suddenly broke out and hit consecutive three-pointers that directly widened the point difference again.

Su Tian looked at Bridges and felt that this kid did look like a superstar. If he was trained well, he could really achieve something.

So the Suns relied on Bridges's breakthrough three-pointers to lead the Jazz by 9 points at the end of the third quarter.

At this time, the balance of the game was slowly tilting towards the Suns. The Suns had the lead, and Paul also got enough rest. Not only that, the Jazz's pursuit of points in the third quarter caused Mitchell to consume a lot of energy. This It will have an impact in the fourth quarter.

Not only can everyone see this clearly, but even the audience on the sidelines can feel it.

Soon the fourth quarter begins.

The Jazz are lagging behind and will naturally not replace the main players. They can only let the tired Mitchell play again.

On the Suns side, Paul has finished resting and adjusting and is in full condition.

So the Jazz unsurprisingly fell to the lagging side again.

Although Paul had a lead, the steady Paul did not rush to open up the score, but played steadily and always ensured the lead.

About halfway through the fourth quarter, the Suns still had an 8-point lead. At this time, Booker came on the court after resting, and the Suns had an opportunity to widen the point difference.

After Booker came on the court, the Suns finally had a scoring outlet, and the shells sent by Paul became more threatening.

In fact, there is only half a quarter left at this time, and maintaining an 8-point point difference is already a sure win, but Paul wants to be more safe.

So in the next half of the quarter, Booker started a continuous offensive mode and indeed performed well.

As for the Jazz, relying solely on Mitchell to ensure output is not stable enough, and the duel at the No. 1 position is equally exciting.

Mike Conley and Paul are both traditional point guards who are better at organizing offense than their own offense. However, the longer players of the same type stay together, the more obvious the gap becomes.

And this is especially true between Conley and Paul.

While Paul organizes the team's offense, he can also score some points from time to time.

But Conley doesn't have much possession of the ball, and he is really not good at attacking, so he can't score more points to relieve the pressure on the team.

So soon the two teams were divided into high and low.

At the end of the game, the Suns led the Jazz by 12 points.

The score difference at the end of the game was very big, but in fact fans who watched the game knew that the difference in this game was not big, or even very small.

But why there was such a big difference in points in the end? Su Tian could see clearly that the main reason was because of this guy Paul.

Paul accumulated some small advantages in the first three quarters, and slowly gathered them into a big advantage in the fourth quarter. Then he used the big advantage to widen the point difference, bit by bit, like a dull knife cutting flesh. , killing people invisible.

Of course, there are not many players in the league who can impact the team and the entire game like Paul.

If a team wants to replicate this kind of victory, it can only rely on the personal abilities of its own players or directly trade Paul.

At the end of the game, the Suns led the Jazz 2-1, temporarily occupying the leading position.

After watching the game between the two teams, Su Tian's thoughts on the Suns' promotion became even stronger. This was not only because of this game, but also because of the information revealed in this game.

The Suns' victory was more organized. Logically speaking, the Suns' victory was traceable and well-founded.

But for the Jazz, the winning game was more like a passionate young man beating his old master to death with random punches.

A young man full of passion can indeed beat the master to death with random punches, but it does not mean that he will succeed every time.

On the contrary, the "Master"'s winning rate will be greater.

After all, this is a series, not March Madness, not a decisive game.

After the game between the Jazz and the Suns ended, Su Tian recovered his mind and began to focus on the next game against the Clippers.

The Lakers are currently leading 3-0, and the Clippers are on the edge of a cliff. It is basically impossible to make a comeback against the wind.

But to be on the safe side, we must try to avoid a desperate counterattack by the Clippers, causing the Lakers to capsize in the gutter.

Therefore, this last game still needs to be taken seriously and won steadily.

Soon the next day came, and the fourth game between the Lakers and Clippers was about to begin.   Staples Arena is still the landmark of the Clippers, but the morale of the two teams is completely different from the last game.

The Clippers were just injured in the last game. The Clippers were full of joy and thought they had a chance. However, they did not expect that after the game started, the Clippers were still no match for the Lakers.

This also resulted in a big score of 3-0, and the Clippers were pushed to the edge of the cliff.

Therefore, the Clippers' overall morale has not been fully adjusted in this game.

Before the game was about to start, Tyronn Lue looked at the taciturn Leonard, and then at James.

"LeBron, why don't you go say a few words, otherwise the Lakers are no match for this state. At least we can't be swept!"

James also agreed with what Tyronn Lue said, so he had to stand up to boost morale.

"Guys, I know you don't believe that the Clippers can win the final victory. Even we are getting further and further away from the championship, but I want to say that no matter how proud we were, at least now we are lagging behind. As the laggards, all we have to do is catch up! This series is not over yet! We still have a chance! At the very least, we cannot be swept! Refuse to be swept!!"

James' words were very inspiring and caused many players to shout along with James.

"Refuse to sweep! Refuse to sweep!"

"Refuse to sweep! Refuse to sweep!"

On the Lakers side, neither Walton nor Su Tian said anything to arouse people's hearts. Only before going on the court, Su Tian hugged everyone in a circle.

"Guys, winning this series is today, for the Lakers and for Davis!"

After saying that, Su Tian turned around and led the starting players directly onto the field.

The Lakers' starting lineup is still the same as the last game.

Brunson, Su Tian, ​​George, Kuzma, McGee.

The Clippers haven't changed much, with Reggie, James, Leonard, Batum, and Morris.

At the beginning of the game, McGee still grabbed the right to attack. Brunson advanced to the frontcourt with the ball and passed the ball directly to Su Tian.

Su Tian got the ball and faced James' defense. He didn't say any more nonsense, but made a drastic change of direction and directly launched a breakthrough.

James reacted relatively quickly and quickly turned around to pursue, but Su Tian was faster, so Leonard had to come over to help defend against double teams.

Seeing the Clippers double-teaming so early, Su Tian passed the ball directly to George who was left open.

George also made a direct three-pointer after receiving the ball.

Swah——

The three-pointer was hit steadily.

3-0

"Beautiful, George scored the first goal of the game and hit a three-pointer."

"It seems that George and Su's cooperation is still very tacit and has not been affected at all."

"Of course, after all, Su and Paul are old teammates, and this is a combination that is about to complete three consecutive championships."

At this time, the ball was transferred, and Reggie advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, and also passed the ball directly to James.

James got the ball and faced Su Tian's defense. He first tried a triple threat, and then tried to fake a three-point shot to lure Su Tian forward.

But no matter what kind of fake moves James used, he couldn't deceive Su Tian.

So James finally called his teammates to step forward and cooperate with the pick-and-roll.

Relying on the pick-and-roll cooperation of his teammates, James found the starting space and quickly took the ball to initiate a breakthrough.

But Su Tian was equally quick around the pick-and-roll, immediately bypassing the defense and heading towards James again.

At the same time, McGee inside quickly took up his position and blocked James' path to the basket.

At this time, James was facing a traffic jam and was being chased. Although the situation was very urgent, James did not panic at all. After all, James was experienced and had faced such a scene countless times.

At this moment, James passed the ball to Morris who was temporarily left open on the other side.

Morris received the ball and made a mid-range jumper.

Morris' position is relatively safe, and he is not far from the basket, which is a good time to take action.

But Morris's shot was too slow this time, slow enough for McGee's help to catch up.

boom--

Morris' shot was still affected by McGee's defensive assistance, and the basketball was directly hit.

Kuzma saw the right opportunity to grab the rebound, turned around and started a fast break.

Kuzma's movements were clearly seen by Leonard, so he immediately stepped forward to block it. Kuzma knew that he was no match for Leonard, so he passed the ball to Brunson, who also turned around for a fast break.

Brunson got the ball and turned around to sprint directly. Reggie behind him just tried to pursue for two steps and then stopped.

Brunson took the lead and came to the basket in the frontcourt. He looked around and saw no one around, so he went straight for a layup.

5-0

"The Lakers are playing well, and the cooperation between the players is also online, but I think the Clippers' problem seems to be bigger." Barkley said.

"Oh? The Clippers' problem? What problem?" Kenny Smith asked.

"You see, during the Clippers' defensive round, only James and Leonard were actively responding, and the others couldn't even follow others."

"Not only that, but when Brunson held the ball and went for a fast break, Reggie just took two symbolic steps to chase him. In fact, he didn't really think about chasing the defense."

As Barkley pointed out, the audience in front of the TV could clearly see the Clippers' defensive slack, so it was very normal for the Lakers to lead the score.

"In that case, it is normal for the Clippers to lose. After all, how can they compete with the Lakers in this state?"

"Indeed, you must know that these are the Lakers, the Lakers who have won two consecutive championships! Although I respect James very much, the Lakers cannot be underestimated!"

"The Clippers were originally ranked fourth in the Western Conference. Now they are challenging the No. 1 ranking in the Western Conference. They are still so slack. If he doesn't lose, who will lose?"

"Actually, it's normal if you think about it carefully. After all, the game is already 3-0. Even if we win this game, we may not win this series, so we will naturally slack off."

"This is not a reason, this is not an excuse. They are all professional players, so they must do professional things. Otherwise, why do they get so much money a year?"

(End of this chapter)