NBA: I just want to play soy sauce, you let me win the championship

Chapter 187 Tell a joke, Lu Yuanzhi can’t guard against Van Horn
"Kenny, do you know what you just said?"

"You actually said that Max could become the Nets' breakthrough point?"

"Did you really watch so many Kings games with me?"

Barkley almost laughed his teeth out when he heard Kenny Smith say that Lu Yuanzhi might be broken through.

Who doesn't know that Lu Yuanzhi is now the Kings' second defensive leader, and even in the game against the Lakers, Lu Yuanzhi's performance was more eye-catching than Christie.

With a height of 206, a wingspan of 228, and a strong body, he can keep up with Kobe. If you ask him to guard a softie Van Horn, can he be beaten?

What a joke!
Smith answered seriously, "Van Horn was the second overall pick in 97. This is his fifth NBA year. He has more experience than Max."

"Van Horn has a soft touch, high technical maturity, not slow pace, and Kidd delivers cannonballs to him. In the second meeting between the two teams in the regular season, it was Van Horn who exploded and the Nets won. The next Kings.”

Barkley shook his head as he listened, "Hey, man, Van Horn doesn't have much more playoff experience than Max."

"He had only made the playoffs in the 97-98 season, and then was eliminated 0-3 in the first round."

"This year, they didn't have a real challenge in the playoffs."

"But if you look at Max, his playoff experience in the Western Conference was a bloody battle."

"Believe me, he's going to make things difficult for Van Horn on both ends of the court."

"OK, the players from both teams have already appeared. Let's watch the 2001-2002 season finals."

Perhaps the seven games against the Kings consumed too much energy.

Perhaps no one has ever stood on the finals stage, so everyone is a little reserved.

The Kings didn't get off to a particularly smooth start.

5-of-0 from the field.

At Arco Arena, the Kings were beaten 6-0 in the opening game.

This is an opening situation that no one expected.

Adelman could only call a timeout at the beginning to let the players adjust their mentality.

After Bibby and Christie missed two outside shots in the opening game, the Kings handed the ball to Webber and asked Webber to go to Martin alone.

Martin's defense was indeed not very good. Weber sent him flying with a few fake moves. But today, for some unknown reason, Weber missed all his shots near the penalty area line twice in a row.

After the Nets discovered this, their lineup continued to shrink, almost filling the inside.

In the fifth offense, Weber broke into the basket, but the Nets stretched out two or three arms to block it. Finally, the ball slipped out of the basket again.

The Nets saw that the Kings were not feeling good from the outside, so they made it clear that they would let the Kings shoot from the outside, and all members tightened their defense.

At this time, an outside shooter needs to step up.

It turns out that the person who stood up was Stojakovic. The Yugoslav's precise three-pointers would always make the opponent expand their defense again.

But now, Stojakovic is still sitting in the back row of the bench wearing a suit, and his replacement is Lu Yuanzhi.

Can we trust Lu Yuanzhi’s three-pointer?
Seeing Adelman turn his attention to himself, Lu Yuanzhi nodded confidently.

Hey, what a coincidence, I just added some fixed-point three-pointers, and I have already increased the fixed-point three-pointers to 80 points.

What is the difference between 80 points and 70 points?
At 70 o'clock, Lu Yuanzhi's open three-pointers were about 38%. By 80 o'clock, Lu Yuanzhi clearly felt more confident in his three-pointers. During the team training, he had been able to increase his open three-pointers to 45%. That’s all.

This is a very good three-point shooting percentage.

Of course, the final three-point shooting percentage will still be a little lower, because not every shot opportunity will be wide open, and the defensive players will interfere to a certain extent, reducing the shooting percentage.

Especially today's defender Van Horn, although everyone has always said that he is weak, that his offense is not as good as expected, and that he is not as good as his draft template, Larry Bird.

But Van Horn's height of 208 centimeters and wingspan of 216 centimeters are not fake.

It's not that easy to force a three-pointer in front of such a big man.However, Lu Yuanzhi is confident.

It’s not like you haven’t fought against Van Horn before. Don’t you know what his weaknesses are?
As the No. 4 position, Van Horn is too soft and cannot withstand the impact of powerful power forwards during this period.

As the No. 3 position, Van Horn is not flexible enough. His offensive skills are not up to standard, and he is prone to missing people on the defensive end.

What Lu Yuanzhi wants to do is to get rid of Van Horn first, and then take an open shot.

Adelman applied a set of Stojakovic's tactics to Lu Yuanzhi.

After coming on the court, Lu Yuanzhi first pulled to the left corner. After the ball was released, Lu Yuanzhi quickly ran inside.

At this time, the inside line was filled with Kings and Nets players.

Van Horn had long known that Lu Yuanzhi had a very strong ability to catch the ball and attack the basket, so he stood firm and prevented Lu Yuanzhi from breaking into the basket.

Lu Yuanzhi's goal was not the basket at all. He first changed direction toward the free throw line, used Divac's screen to distance himself from Van Horn, and then suddenly accelerated and rushed to the right corner.

After Van Horn got rid of Divac's entanglement, he also started to accelerate, but was blocked by Christie and Kidders.

The moment he blocked Van Horn, Christie also exerted his strength and ran back towards the basket.

Kidders didn't dare to switch defenses to target Lu Yuanzhi.

If Christie is missed at this time, he will go straight to the basket.

Lu Yuanzhi received the pass very comfortably in the right corner.

The ball was passed in the right position, and Lu Yuanzhi could take the shot directly without any adjustments.

The feel of the shot is very good, the direction is very positive, and the force is well controlled.

In less than half a second, the ball had left his hand, and Van Horn arrived belatedly.

Lu Yuanzhi suddenly wanted to show off. After taking the shot, he didn't look at the basketball at all. He opened his hands, turned around and ran towards his own half.

"brush!"

The ball crashes into the net!
Lu Yuanzhi's three-pointer broke the Kings' opening scoring drought.

The big screen constantly replayed Lu Yuanzhi's shots and the scene of him turning around after shooting.

A real man who never looks back at a goal!
"Damn it, did he really fake it?"

"Max's three-point shot, are you so confident now?"

"During the regular season, he didn't shoot many three-pointers. He only showed his three-point shooting ability in the playoffs. When did he develop it?"

"No one can develop new technologies while playing basketball! Isn't this something that can only be practiced in the offseason?"

Fans who have followed the Kings' playoff games all the way will certainly know that Lu Yuanzhi has developed a three-pointer long ago.

But those fans in the Eastern Conference found it a bit incredible. When their team played against the Kings, the rookie wearing jersey No. 77 seemed to only be able to defend and dunk at the basket!

After the Kings scored the first point, everyone was no longer cautious and quickly regained their touch.

The competition has officially begun and it’s one-sided!

　I see all your complaints.

　　It did take too many chapters to beat the Lakers.

　　To quibble, I just moved the chapter that should be used in the finals to the Western Conference finals. After all, who likes to watch the Nets play, right, hahahaha!

　　The finals will be over soon!
　　I'm preparing to do all the work in the offseason and the new season

　　
　
(End of this chapter)