Double stars shine in Los Angeles

Chapter 83
On the second day, the major media and basketball critics expressed their views on the first round of the playoffs played the day before.The main focus will be on the Boston Celtics-Atlanta Hawks and the Los Angeles Lakers-Utah Jazz.

The Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks have met in the playoffs again since 2008. The Boston Celtics had just formed the Big Three and were marching towards the championship and successfully won the championship.At that time, the Celtics were attacked by the young Eagles, and they only passed after seven games in the first round.Now, the two teams colliding again, although the form is similar, but the Celtics' journey to the playoffs has to start from the away game.Although All-Star power forward Kevin Garnett contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds and played a notification-level strength, he still lost to the Eagles.Most people don't watch the Boston Celtics, thinking they'll be eliminated if they meet the Bulls in the second round.

As for the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz, what attracted attention was the ease of the Lakers. Although everyone recognized the strength of the Los Angeles Lakers, they did not expect that the Lakers would spend a whole quarter of the game training new players. In the end, the big score won.The media agrees that the Los Angeles Lakers can maintain a record of [-] victories before the Western Conference Finals, and some radical experts even believe that the Los Angeles Lakers can win the championship with [-] victories.

When a reporter interviewed Kobe Bryant, the star of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant said, "All we have to do is to be prepared and try to win every game. It would be better if we could sweep the opponent, so that We can get more rest time, so that we have enough time to prepare for the next round of the game and recover our strength." Kobe Bryant did not speak harshly, in his view, sweeping the Jazz is inevitable Now, there is no need to talk about it anymore, it is better to speak with facts, and he has always done so.

When the other players of the Lakers were interviewed, they said the same thing. They just said that they should face every game with all their strength, use all their attention to complete this round of the series, and what opponents they might encounter in the next round. The most important thing is to solve all problems in one sentence-"There are no weak teams in the playoffs, and various situations may happen. After all, this is the place where miracles happen."

Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson's impressive performances in the Los Angeles Lakers' Game [-] vs. Utah Jazz led to head coach Tyrone Corbin's decision to keep them in Game [-] He started in the middle and planned to use Paul Millsap as an offensive arrow and let him serve as a small forward.

This arrangement is also the intention of coach Tyrone Corbin to keep Paul Millsap away from Andrew Bynum, Paul Gasol and Li Yifeng of the Lakers.After all, the three opponents are among the best inside players in the league, and the opponent has enough height advantage, which will affect Paul Millsap's normal performance.

After two days of rest, the second game of the series was played at the Staples Arena, home of the Lakers.

The starting lineup of the Lakers has been adjusted, and World Peace has returned to the team's starting lineup again.The Jazz's starting lineup is center Al Jefferson, power forward Josh Howard, small forward Paul Millsap, shooting guard Gordon Hayward, and point guard Devin Harris.

Coach Tyrone Corbin's pre-match arrangements were well executed during the game.On the Jazz's first possession, point guard Devin Harris dribbled the ball across half court and passed the basketball to Paul Millsap.The rest of the Jazz also spaced out, allowing Paul Millsap to play world peace one-on-one.

"No way, Tyrone Corbin actually put Josh Howard against Gasol?" Tracy McGrady, who was on the Lakers bench, saw the situation on the court and said, "It seems that the Jazz It's going to be Paul Millsap as an offensive arrow. But Josh Howard has limited impact on Pau Gasol."

"I guess it's because Paul Millsap had better statistics and realization in the last game." Josh McRoberts said.

"That's also because our defense was not active enough in the last game, but he still has a certain physical advantage when facing World Peace and Tracy." Lin Fengzhe said.

While everyone was discussing off the court, Paul Millsap had already started singles with his back to World Peace.Paul Millsap shows a right turn followed by a left turn trying to shake off world peace.But his idea was halfway through, but he still squeezed World Peace with his body and then strode to the right to make a mid-range shot.

Paul Millsap's shooting percentage of nearly 50.00% this season is still guaranteed, and he made an empty mid-range shot.

Seeing Paul Millsap succeed on the first possession, the Jazz focused the basketball on Paul Millsap for the next five possessions.However, Paul Millsap was also very upbeat. He succeeded three times in five attacks, one of which caused a World Peace foul, but only made one of two free throws.

Paul Millsap scored 4 points on four of six shots and one of two free throws in less than four minutes, along with a defensive rebound that was efficient.However, the Lakers did not respond to this, and they still let World Peace defend Paul Millsap alone.

The Lakers' offense is still the same from the inside and then extended to the outside.Kobe Bryant hit a [-]-pointer on three shots in the first quarter, but dished up three assists, including one for Andrew Bynum's back-to-the-basket alley-oop.

The Lakers' main score in the first quarter came from Pau Gasol, who scored 12 points in a single quarter and grabbed three rebounds, one of which was an offensive rebound.World Peace made two of three three-pointers from the outside, and also scored eight points with a dunk that crushed the Jazz inside.

The first quarter ended 26-25, and the Jazz were only one point behind the Lakers.

In the second quarter, the Lakers let Tracy McGrady serve as the small forward and Lin Fengzhe served as the shooting guard to strengthen the offense.The Jazz kept Al Jefferson on the court at power forward against Josh McRoberts and Derrick Favors at center.

Early in the second quarter, Jamal Tinsley passed to Al Jefferson for a single to Josh McRoberts.After all, Josh McRoberts is just a blue-collar player, and there is still a big gap between his strength and the All-Star Al Jefferson. Al Jefferson scored six points in a row under his defense.

But Tracy McGrady and Lin Fengzhe hit three-pointers one after another. The two hit five three-pointers in the second quarter, and even Li Yifeng took a cold shot to sneak a three-pointer.However, the Lakers did not expand the score to double digits, only because the backup point guard of the Utah Jazz suddenly exploded in character. The body has already passed the sideline in the air, and it actually hits. This is undoubtedly a goal that boosts one's morale and destroys the opponent's interest.

At the end of the second quarter, when the main players appeared again, the Utah Jazz began to defend the inside of the Los Angeles Lakers.This kind of defense is obviously very effective. The inside of the Los Angeles Lakers did not score a point at the basket in the final time of the first half.

At the end of the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers temporarily led the Jazz by 54 points with 6 points at home, and the score was 54 to 48.
"The Utah Jazz performed very well today. Players broke out one after another. In the first half, they made six three-pointers, only two less than the Lakers' eight. And coach Tyrone Corbin put Paul Millsap at small forward frees up Paul Millsap on offense and helps the team well. But the Los Angeles Lakers don't do a good job defensively, even against individual players Consecutive scoring Lakers still adopt a single defense." A guest present said.

"As you said, the Utah Jazz played very well in the first half, but this 'very good' is based on the premise that the Los Angeles Lakers have always adopted a single defense. If the Lakers take the Jazz players If you focus on defense, the Jazz's offense will be greatly curbed. However, the Lakers have the capital not to focus on the opponent's main scoring points, because they have been overwhelming the Jazz on the offensive end." Another guest said, "It can be seen that the Lakers played very easily."

At the beginning of the second half, the Lakers sent Lin Fengzhe and Kobe Bryant at the same time, but Lin Fengzhe played small forward, and his main task was to defend the Jazz's offensive arrow Paul Millsap today.

In the second half of the game, Kobe Bryant stepped up his personal offense and asked for the ball continuously.Breakthrough layup, emergency stop jump shot, positional offense, full offensive firepower, scored 15 points in a single quarter, demonstrating extremely strong personal ability.

The Lakers did not give the Jazz a chance. In the third quarter, not only the offensive firepower was fierce, but also the defensive end changed from the previous state, which rose by more than one level, allowing the Jazz to score only 18 points in the third quarter. The team scored 35 points in the third quarter.

The Los Angeles Lakers led their opponents by 23 points at home and entered the final quarter, once again turning the last quarter into garbage time, and then let the young players play again for exercise.

In the end, the Los Angeles Lakers won another victory 102 to 89, two consecutive victories at home, leading 2 to 0 with a big score.

(End of this chapter)