Chapter 151: Greet Ninety-Eight with Total Victory
The Lakers ended their November '97 game on a nine-game winning streak. As we enter December, the schedules of teams across the league are gradually becoming more and more dense, and the changes of the Lakers are becoming familiar to each team in November, and each of the next games will be a test for Lakers players and coach George Krent.
On December 3, the Lakers challenged the Denver Nuggets away. Facing the Denver Nuggets formed by pure blue-collar workers, the Lakers played unusually relaxed.
Liu Han and O'Neal only played 28 minutes in this game before resting, Liu Han got 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and he didn't play very hard in this game. O'Neal had a double-double of 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Today's brighter players are Ray Allen and Nash, who shot 8 of 14 and 3 of 4 three-pointers today, scoring 22 points. Nash still didn't score much but once again brushed up 16 assists and is currently at the top of the assist list with 11.1 assists per game.
The Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 109-87.
On a day off, the Lakers welcomed the Spurs challenge at home, and in the last matchup, Spurs rookie Tim Duncan and core David Robinson teamed up to beat the Lakers inside, giving the Lakers their first loss of the season, but in this game, the Lakers completely tore the Spurs apart from the outside, and they used sharp offense and unguardable three-point shots to beat the Spurs into horseshoes.
In this game, the Lakers teamed up to send 25 three-pointers, once again breaking the Lakers' record of 24 three-pointers in a single game set last season, Liu Han alone shot 10 three-pointers, Ray Allen also shot 4, the Lakers team of 3 scored 20, Liu Han scored 49 points, O'Neal scored 25 points, Ray Allen scored 20 points, and the Lakers scored 138 points again in 48 minutes of regular game time.
The Spurs actually performed well today, and their rookie Tim Duncan still performed well, and it seems that there is no suspense about today's best rookie. However, in the past few days, the Lakers' outside line has really been stuck, and no matter how you shoot.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Spurs by 34 points 138-104 and avenged the loss to the other side in the last game.
Spurs head coach Popovich said in a post-game interview that the Lakers who shoot feel are something that no team can beat right now, and the most important thing now is how to make the Lakers' pitchers lose their feelings. Other players, Popovich, said that he had a way to defend, but for Liu Han, Popovich said that he could not do anything but pray to God before the game to let this non-religious guy suddenly get injured.
On December 7, the Lakers won another away game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Lakers did not play so smoothly in the course of this game.
Sean Kemp, the core of last season's superSonics, joined the Cavaliers this season, plus Lithuanian center Ilgoskas who participated in the draft with Liu Han in 96, the Cavaliers are not inferior to the Lakers in terms of interior strength, and today's Lakers pitchers seem to have used up their hands the day before yesterday, and the Lakers fell behind from the beginning of the game.
At halftime, the Lakers trailed the Cavaliers by 12 points.
At the critical moment of the third session, Liu Han stepped up again, he controlled the ball to organize the offense, and each time he covered with O'Neal alone, and then took advantage of Ilgoskas to move slowly and quickly shoot, and at the end of the third quarter, the Lakers equalized the score.
Entering the fourth quarter, the game between the two teams entered a white-hot stage, and Liu Han once again caused two fouls on Ilgoskas on the inside line and took a stance for six fouls.
The downfall of Ilgoskas caused the collapse of the Cavaliers, and Sean Karp, who was already on drugs, was no match for O'Neal at all.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Cavaliers 94-87. Liu Han scored a game-high 34 points.
The next day, the Lakers played back-to-back games against the Portland Trail Blazers, O'Neal beat Sabonis, and Liu Han killed Isaiah Leddle. The Lakers settled the battle in the third quarter and ultimately beat the Trail Blazers by 24 points.
After a day off, the Lakers continued their road trip, where they beat the Golden State Warriors by 40 points in San Francisco, and without Nelson Sr., the Golden State Warriors lost their old style.
Liu Han played normally in this game, scoring 24 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
After two away games, the Lakers returned to Los Angeles to face the Houston Rockets again. The two teams had a lot of conflicts in the early games of the season, O'Neal and Barkley were both suspended for this, but the Lakers without O'Neal were led by Liu Han to beat the Rockets in two consecutive games, which made the Rockets quite disgraced.
However, the Lakers won again in today's game, the Rockets core Olajuwon was absent due to injury, Barkley's interior line was much shorter than the Lakers in height, and Liu Han was powerful again today, and the Rockets lost to the Lakers by 20 points again on the road.
Liu Han scored 53 points again in this game, consolidating his position in second place in the scoring list. With Liu Han's score in the first few games dropping slightly, Liu Han was overtaken by Jordan in the scoring list, and the 34-year-old Jordan can still score high points in the game.
On December 14, the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks by 30 points at home. Michael Finley was unrelenting against his old boss and scored 27 points. Liu Han had an average performance, scoring 22 points and eight assists.
On the 16th, the Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-96 away. Liu's score dropped again, with just 17 points, but he also grabbed 11 rebounds and 10 assists, his third triple-double of the season.
On the 18th, the Lakers visited Chicago, which was the first matchup of the two teams in last season's Finals this season.
Liu Han successfully limited Jordan's play in this game, after the training camp before the start of the season, Liu Han's physical fitness has been comparable to Jordan at his peak, and Jordan has inevitably weakened with age, so Liu Han used his physical advantage to limit Jordan's play in this game.
Heading into the new season, the Bulls are not as strong as they were in the previous two seasons, and their 14-9 record in the first 23 games is not at all tender compared to the Lakers' 21-2 record. And in this game, Scott Pippen is out due to injury, and the Bulls are not as fast and offensive as the young Lakers.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Bulls 104-96. Liu Han scored a game-high 31 points, while Jordan scored just 21 points.
On the 19th, the Lakers defeated the Hawks by 30 points, Liu Han shot 16 of 21 and 8 of 10 three-pointers, scoring 47 points, and he also surpassed Jordan to return to the first place in the scoring list.
On the second day of back-to-back away games, the Lakers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 109-100, and the Hornets Glen Les scored 32 points on 11-of-20 shooting, but the Lakers played a wonderful team offense today, and all seven players scored in double figures.
On a day off, the Lakers won 94-83 away against the Rockets, who were missing Olajuwon. In this game, the Lakers did a very good job of defense, so that the Rockets shot less than 4 percent, and the Lakers played wonderful team basketball again, with 6 players in the team scoring double-doubles, and O'Neal and Liu Han scoring 20.
This game is the Lakers' last game before Christmas, and their next game will be on December 26, and the entire Lakers are ready to finish December with a winning record and welcome the new 1998. (To be continued.) )