One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Two. The Purest Goal
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first game of the Western Conference Finals, broadcast live on tnt sports channel, against the Memphis Grizzlies and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers at home..."
"Chaoting TV, Chaoting TV, welcome to the Western Conference Finals between the Grizzlies and Lakers brought to you by Chaoting TV. This is the second time in three years that the two teams have met in the Western Conference Finals..."
The Western Conference Finals battle between the Lakers and Grizzlies attracted the most attention, naturally, from China and the United States, followed by Canada and Asian countries. Sun Ce helped the Chinese team defeat the American team and was married to the daughter of the legendary British singer Collins. , also has a relatively large influence in Europe, and many fans in Europe choose to watch the intercontinental live broadcast of ESPN London No. 8 TV station.
During the announcer's announcement, players from both teams had already entered the stadium.
"LeBron James s (s, a+), Kobe Bryant a+ (s, b+), Kawhi Leonard a+ (a, s), Jr. Smith a- (a, b+), Nene -Hilario a- (b, a+), Carlos Boozer b+ (a, c-), Mike Miller b (b+, c+), Nick Young b (a-, c), Weiss Leigh Johnson b (c+, a-), Wayne Ellington b (a-, c+), Shawn Marion b (b-, b+), Dotanas Motiejunas b+ (a -, c), Ed Davis b- (c+, a-), Kendrick Perkins c-, Tarik Blake b- (c, a-)..."
Upon entering, Sun Ce took a look at the latest ability evaluations of the opposing players. Except for Tarik Blake, who missed the playoffs due to injury, and Perkins, who did not enter the active list, everyone else on the Lakers will be on the roster tonight.
Look at the inside combination that the opponent wants, and the outside line with diversified functions...
The focus is on Kobe and Leonard. In the playoffs, they have improved compared to the regular season!
Kobe's improvement mainly lies in increasing his physical investment. In the playoffs, there is no need to slow down the game. His offensive role has soared, but his defensive improvement has not been much. With his age, he can rely on the regular season to be like an ancestor. It would be good to improve the offense in preparation for the playoffs, but the overall improvement is not as good as Leonard's.
Leonard has reached the quasi-top level! Already have the ability to average 20 points per game in a long regular season and be able to attack the best defense at the same time!
After four years of careful training with the Warriors and Lakers, Leonard finally has the strength to be regarded as a giant.
Although this progress is a bit slow, the victory is steady!
Sun Ce looked at Leonard's detailed ability evaluation. In terms of basic skills, Leonard is now better than James after playing for so many years. He is completely unable to compete with the rough guy who just entered the NBA and had to start practicing his shooting movements all over again.
"The foundation has been laid, now it's time to accumulate experience and improve comprehensively through time training... I'm going to soar into the sky!"
Sun Ce looked at Leonard's ability evaluation and thought of the news he saw in the morning. Lakers legend Magic Johnson said that Leonard was ready to succeed Kobe and form the strongest outside partner with James... Indeed, Leonard is already there This season, I have successfully turned my talent into strength!
After observing the opponent and confirming that the opponent's technical characteristics and strengths were no different from what he knew, Sun Ce withdrew his attention from this aspect. Coach Hollins called the players together to emphasize the key points at the beginning of the game. Sun Ce listened to the details for a while, then took the ball and went to the court to warm up his hands.
On the other side, James and Kobe looked at Sun Ce opposite them. Ever since they joined forces in the summer of 2013, they were extremely eager to play against the Grizzlies.
The two of them have never defeated Sun Ce in the playoffs. Kobe lost all three games. In the 2012-2013 season, Kobe also lost to Sun Ce in the Western Conference Finals, which he had never lost before.
The only time James played against Sun Ce in the playoffs was when he lost to Sun Ce in the finals.
These are unacceptable things,
They both want revenge.
But at this time last year, Sun Ce fell in the second round. Although the two of them finally defeated the Spurs and Heat and won the championship, they always felt that something was missing.
When they saw Sun Ce continue to improve in the new season and the Grizzlies reorganized an almost perfect lineup around Sun Ce, James and Kobe finally understood that after they got together, in addition to their eagerness to win the championship, perhaps Deep down in their hearts, what they desire most personally is to defeat Sun Ce!
Although they gather together passively, they have a common goal!
A veteran in his 19th year of career and a veteran in his 12th year of career. From the purest starting point of basketball itself, what the two of them desire most is to defeat Sun Ce on the real stage of the showdown, that is, in the playoffs!
After a tough tiebreaker with the Spurs, they finally succeeded in meeting the Grizzlies in the Western Conference Finals!
This series will determine many things, such as the championship this season... The Lakers have such confidence, and it is confidence based on strength.
Personally speaking, Kobe, who has the most championships in active service, will the scepter be taken away by Sun Ce or will it be smoothly handed over to James?
Just look at this series!
Kobe and James were in a state of excitement, but Leonard, another rising star of the Lakers, was unusually calm, extremely calm.
When the Lakers were 1-3 behind in the second round, Kobe played the fifth game with gritted teeth, James was passionate, and Leonard was also very calm. In the end, they turned the game 4-3. Kobe rarely celebrated with his teammates by bumping his chest, James roared to the sky, and Leonard was still calm...
But this gave Leonard a unique personal charm that was different from Kobe and James, and he was loved by Lakers fans.
Lakers fans are a very special group among basketball fans. They have a team that has always shone at the top of the league in every era. Their team history has had too many superstars with honors but their own distinctive characteristics. They just like powerful but special stars. If Leonard's personality is similar to Kobe and James, they would at most regard Leonard as a substitute for one of the two, or a spare tire.
But Leonard's unique personality makes them put Leonard together with Kobe and James...This is a very strange phenomenon, but it makes others feel that this is in line with the characteristics of Lakers fans.
…
At 8:58 in the evening, after the two teams made preparations for the game, at the signal of the referee, the starting lineups of the two teams were ready to go on the court.
Sun Ce went to the technical desk, put on his arm guard and hand bandage, put on some magnesium powder, and walked onto the court amid the cheers of the fans.
Sun Ce felt a little strange to start the game so late at home. After the game, it was almost 11 o'clock at night at the earliest.
The starting partners with Sun Ce were the same as in the second round. In the playoffs, Randolph had begun to accept the position of the sixth man. Klay Thompson, Paul George, Aldridge, Gobert and Sun Ce started together.
On the Lakers side, James, Kobe, Leonard, Marion, and Nene's starting lineup appeared.
After giving the two teams' starting shots, the TV live screen took advantage of the twenty seconds before the game started at 8 o'clock to give the camera to the two teams' benches.
I saw Randolph, Carter, Pierce, Tony Allen, Yi Jianlian, Stoudemire sitting on the benches of the two teams... Boozer, Jr. Smith, Mike Miller, Perkins, Nick Young... There were a lot of famous veterans on the benches of both teams!
And there are also Larry Sanders, Wesley Johnson, Motiejunas, etc., high-quality young role players.
The lineups of these two teams are simply luxurious to the extreme! They can fully represent the peak combat power of the NBA!
At 9 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air. Nene beat Gobert to win the jump ball, and the Lakers attacked first.
This scene made the Grizzlies fans a little upset. Why do their team lose nine out of ten jump balls when they have a center of 215 or 216 cm? But they have an inexplicable acceptance mentality.
When Gobert lost the jump ball and immediately turned to run to the basket, he saw his teammates' "trust" in him, and he also felt sympathetic. His teammates had already taken a good defensive position. Klay Thompson and Sun Ce chased Kobe and Leonard to prevent the two from starting fast breaks and attacking the basket. The Grizzlies started with positional defense tonight.
James could only slow down the pace at the start and fall into the positional battle steadily, which made James feel annoyed. Nene is already 32 years old and Marion is already 37 years old. If he went back to two years ago, when Nene was 30 years old and just joined the Heat, and Marion was 35 years old and still in the Mavericks, he could defend the athleticism of small forwards, so he would not have to be afraid of the opponent's Gobert.
James could only fall into the positional battle. He did not choose to find Nene for a pick-and-roll, which would not work. The opponent's shrinking defense and cutting off the passing route were very good. He did not have a mid-range shot, and his three-pointer was not a three-pointer after the pick-and-roll.
James looked for Marion.
Marion ran up from the wing to pick and roll for James, and James broke through with the pick-and-roll. Aldridge could withstand his impact, but he could not keep up with the speed! After Marion broke through, he immediately ran to the weak side of the road, and Paul George had to keep up.
James broke through with the pick-and-roll and passed Aldridge. Aldridge could not keep up with the speed, but at least James pulled one more step sideways, giving Sun Ce the opportunity to make up for the defense.
James did not pass the ball to Leonard who cut in from the strong side baseline. Sun Ce's biggest improvement in steals this season is the pass to the strong side by the breakthrough player. As the steal king, this is a big threat to James. James chose to crush Sun Ce all the way to the right side of the three-second zone, and was covered by Gobert. Sun Ce and Gobert formed a double team! Aldridge also blocked the space for Nene to receive the ball and shoot. At this time, James passed to the right at a 45-degree angle.
Leonard pulled out! Received the ball and shot a three-pointer...hit a three-pointer at the beginning!