NBA: I am a master dealer

After playing the Wizards, the Lakers head to Boston non-stop. They need to play the Celtics back-to-back.

With the addition of Horford this season, the Celtics have completed their transformation. As of the game, their record is 31 wins and 18 losses. They have turned around and pulled the Cavaliers from the fourth position. It is very fierce.

of course.

In terms of momentum, the Lakers are not bad either.

After defeating the Wizards, they have won 6 consecutive games, and their record has reached 23 wins and 29 losses, and they are getting closer to the % winning rate.

Therefore, in this game, the pressure on both sides is actually quite high.

Especially the Lakers.

It has been many days since Xue Liancheng released his bold words about hitting the top four, but the media are still catching on to it and publicizing it from time to time.

There are many, many fans who are staring at the Lakers. Just waiting for the Lakers to lose, they will jump out and ridicule.

Even the Clippers players, they can't wait to see the Lakers' jokes.

You can imagine how much pressure the Lakers generals are under. In addition, they are playing back-to-back away games. This is no different from putting a weight on them under heavy pressure.

But the Lakers' advantage is still obvious.

That's right.

Xue Liancheng's matchup against Thomas is one of the Lakers' biggest advantages at the moment.

In any case, Xue Liancheng has a certain crushing force on Thomas, both on the offensive and defensive ends.

During the game, it turned out to be different than expected.

The pick-and-roll between Thomas and Horford is very powerful.

As long as there is a cover, Thomas can rush in at full speed. You can't even catch up. The speed is so fast that it is simply staggering.

of course.

Thomas' defensive loopholes are still very obvious. No matter how the Celtics cover it up, they can't cover up Thomas' lack of height.

Therefore, whether it is Xue Liancheng or George, when they play singles, they will specifically name Thomas.

This led to scenes of funny scenes during the game.

The Lakers couldn't stop Thomas's deep thrust as he stepped on the accelerator.

The Celtics also can't stop Thomas from becoming the Lakers' focus.

The two sides were going back and forth on this point, and no one was convinced.

Halftime ended.

The Lakers temporarily lead the Celtics by 66 points at 62:4.

The two sides were evenly matched.

And Thomas Jr. was extremely ferocious. He had already scored 14 points in the half, and he felt completely unstoppable.

But the same thing.

Xue Liancheng held down Thomas and beat him hard. In the confrontation with Thomas alone, he scored 10 points and 6 assists. He really made the Celtics lose their temper at all.

honestly……

With this intensity of attack, Marshal Stevens did not take down Thomas. That was true love.

Or to be more precise, as the Celtics' engine, they can only face Thomas's serious lack of defense.

Once Thomas is replaced, their entire offensive system will collapse and they will not be able to score points. If you still want to win, it is most likely an idiotic dream.

So, there is absolutely no way around this.

And Mike Brown noticed this accurately. During the break, he kept emphasizing: "Their strongest point is also their weakest point. What we need to do is to seize their weakest point and beat them as hard as we can. As long as we beat this point to death repeatedly, I believe victory will definitely belong to us."

In other words, the Lakers resolutely implement the strategy of naming Thomas.

The Celtics are desperately trying to avoid Thomas being named.

But there are only five people on the basketball court. If you want to prevent all of them from switching defenses, it is impossible. Courtney Lee can sometimes swing the ball and crush Thomas in. It is definitely not a help defense. Defense, or the problem can be solved without changing defense.

Because this is the problem, the only way the Kettles can solve the problem is to replace Thomas.

But can they change?
Dare to change?
Neither dare nor can...

At the beginning of the second half, the Lakers resolutely implemented this strategy.

The Celtics have no choice but to use more screens and pick-and-rolls to allow Thomas to attack more.

This strategy of using offense instead of defense is still somewhat effective.

The most important thing is that Thomas is really brave. Whether it is a breakthrough by himself or a combination of breakthrough points, he can tear the Lakers' defense apart.

The two sides continued to stalemate like this, and the game ended in a tie in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the situation suddenly reversed.

Thomas exploded.

It started with a three-pointer that went straight to Courtney Lee's head.

Then in the next round, he circled again and shot again, and scored another 2 points.

After scoring 5 points in a row, Thomas finally struck a chord.

but……

Before the Lakers generals could breathe a sigh of relief, in the next round, Thomas rushed to the top of the key and shot.

Another 3 points!
Already scored 8 points in a single quarter.

This kind of explosive scoring power can be said to be very violent. No wonder he averages 29 points per game. Thomas's personal offensive ability must not be underestimated.

This is also the reason why Stevens refused to hold down Thomas.

Without a scorer who averages 29+ per game, the concept of what it means is already clear, it is almost like cutting off his own hands.

If the Celtics want to win, they naturally cannot put down Thomas, even if Thomas is blown away.

After the pause.

The Lakers reorganized their offense, and Xue Liancheng completed the breakthrough point, and then quickly moved, and George got an air-cutting opportunity.

He caught the ball and dunked directly, finally stopping the decline.

And Thomas' performance is far from over.

Although the next three points were hit again, his two-pointer was still very stable.

When the game came to the last two minutes.

The score between the two sides was 106:105. The Lakers' lead was negligible, but Xue Liancheng had already seen the dawn of victory.

Next round.

After he pushed the ball over, he signaled to calm down.

When the attack time ran out to the last 10 seconds, he finally made a move.

Push horizontally.

Press hard.

He directly attacked Smart.

Everyone knows how powerful Xue Liancheng's passing is, but the Celtics ultimately chose to double-team and let go of Courtney Lee from outside the three-point line.

Under normal circumstances, Xue Liancheng would still pass the ball. After all, open opportunities are more reliable than forced shots.

But when he saw Thomas Jr. coming to double-team him, he temporarily changed his mind.

While pushing Smart forward, he suddenly leaned over. At this moment, Thomas reached out and took out the ball.

Xue Liancheng came over directly, clamped Thomas's arm, and forced the shot.

Beep!
The whistle blows.

The ball bumped into the frame.

2+1.

Scoring this goal basically means that the Lakers are safe in this game.

Because Xue Liancheng still had three 3% hit skills that he had not used.

But the offense and defense in the last few rounds really shocked Xue Liancheng.

Every time he hit a three-pointer, Thomas followed it up. Two 2-point hits, one foul and three free throws.

Fortunately, the Lakers already had a 4-point lead. Xue Liancheng made another three-pointer in a row, and the two points scored by Thomas continued to widen the gap.

In the end, the Lakers won the game without any danger.

Xue Liancheng finished the game and scored a super double-double of 34 points and 16 assists, helping the team finally win the game.

Especially the last moment against Thomas, it was really unsatisfactory.

George performed well, scoring 19 points and 9 rebounds on 24-of-7 shooting.

For the Celtics, Thomas scored 38 points, and almost became a legend with 17 points in the fourth quarter.

pity.

He met an even more outrageous opponent, and the three-pointers came raining down, extinguishing the Celtics' hopes again and again.

competition is over.

When Thomas Jr. was interviewed, he sincerely praised: "Xue is really too strong, terrifyingly strong. He is indeed the strongest player in the league right now, if not one."

In the fourth quarter, every ball was responded to, but in the end, Xue Liancheng held his head and beat him violently.

That kind of despair can't be described in words.

In this game, he was completely conquered.

After defeating the Celtics, the Lakers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

They have won seven games in a row and become the most ferocious team in the league at this stage.

At the same time, the Lakers' record of 24 wins and 29 losses is also the same as the Nuggets' record of 22 wins and 27 losses, but the Nuggets have a higher winning rate and can beat the Lakers.

Judging from the current momentum shown by both sides, it will only be a matter of time before the Lakers step over the Nuggets' corpse and enter the playoffs.

Maybe in the next one...

In this regard.

Fans are still looking forward to it, and many media have also published recognizable headlines.

"Seven consecutive wins, the Lakers are only one step away from the playoffs"

"Singing triumphantly, the Lakers are marching forward on the road ahead"

But some media reported this.

"The next game in New York, the Lakers' ultimate test is coming"

That's right.

Everyone feels that the Lakers are getting closer to the playoffs, but in the next game, the Lakers' opponent is the extremely powerful Knicks.

Whether we can get through it will become a huge unknown.

Because the Knicks are not little Calami, their lineup is unparalleled. As the defending champion last season, the only change in their lineup was that Xue Liancheng left and James joined, which can be said to be a seamless connection.

There is no doubt about James' personal ability. After leading the Knicks team through struggles at the beginning of the season, they are now getting better and become the leader of the Eastern Conference.

If the Lakers want to win, it's not that easy.

This has almost become the consensus of fans and media.

But the result of the game was shocking.

The Lakers defeated the Knicks 128:107 and achieved their wish for an eighth consecutive victory.

No one expected that the result of the game would be like this.

What's even more unexpected is that the Knicks surrendered in the third quarter. The whole game looked like an adult beating a child on a rainy day - just for fun.

The Knicks showed no resistance at all.

James still performed well, scoring 17 points, 10 rebounds and 26 assists on 7 of 5 shots. Both efficiency and statistics were extremely impressive.

But the game was lost without any suspense.

This is very confusing.

奥拉迪波19中7，得到23分9篮板3助攻。

Lopez scored 15 points and 5 rebounds on 16 of 8 shots.

The performance of the two people was obviously far below expectations, but it was not that bad and was still passable.

Apart from the Big Three, the performance of others was even more disastrous.

冯莱7中1拿2分，杰夫-格林5中1拿到了3分，伊利亚索瓦4中1拿3分，PJ-塔克6中2拿5分，克劳德8中3拿7分。

A group of high-quality role players, but their performance in this game was not so high-quality.

Only David West was strong enough and scored 12 points. He was very strong and could barely save the bench.

The reason for this situation is that many fans believe that James lacks motivation and dominance. This leads to James himself playing second-to-second, but his teammates perform horribly, and the team loses miserably.

Just use a loudspeaker and shout: Data brush...

Especially the New York fans, that was really a kick in the ass.

"It's really useless! We lost again."

"Fortunately Xue Liancheng went to the West, otherwise the Knicks wouldn't have a chance to break out of the East."

"It's really a killer."

"Congratulations to the Knicks for picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons."

"Dolan is so screwed up that he let Xue Liancheng go and got a piece of trash."

"James, James, the defending champion team can't support you anymore, so what use do you have for you?"

"If we can't achieve results this year, James' career will be in jeopardy."

"Without thighs, you really can't walk!"

This was an overwhelming outcry.

On the other hand, Xue Liancheng made 17 of 12 shots and scored 31 points. He also sent out 18 assists, another double-double.

And led the team to brutally kill the Knicks.

Such an obvious contrast is the biggest reason why New York fans break the defense.

I once clearly had the best player, but I let it go and got a data brush. This is so stupid that I almost want to laugh out loud.

After this battle, the Lakers' record reached 25 wins and 29 losses, successfully surpassing the Nuggets' 23 wins and 28 losses, and officially entered the playoffs and became the goalkeeper of the playoffs.

Los Angeles fans were excited that night.

"I originally thought that entering the playoffs this season would be the limit for the Lakers. Unexpectedly, in just over 50 games, the team has rushed to the top eight. It seems that Xue Liancheng's promise of a top four is definitely not just talk."

"Xue Liancheng told the whole world what it means to be the number one in the league."

"This is the real ability to lead a team, to lead a superstar, not what Walton keeps saying."

"It's eight consecutive victories. It looks like there is hope to hit the top four."

"Bringing Xue Liancheng here is definitely the best decision in Kupchak's life."

"It's time for the team in front to tremble now."

"Other teams don't know, the Clippers should be trembling."

Los Angeles fans were excited.

Originally, according to the Lakers' situation, it was extremely slim to reach the playoffs.

Because you need to reach 41 wins to be safer.

But in just one month, Xue Liancheng overturned the fans' perceptions, led the Lakers to the strongest record, stepped on the accelerator all the way, and headed straight for the playoffs.

In the process, they only lost to three teams, namely the Spurs, Clippers, and Nuggets.

And win the rest of the games...

Such a strong performance suddenly rekindled the hope of winning the championship.

And it only takes one Xue Liancheng to bring about this sensory change.

(End of this chapter)