Chapter Eighty-Three: 40+ in a row, shocking the whole alliance

Liu's 45-point run against the Cavaliers on Feb. 19 allowed him to continue to dominate the spotlight after the All-Star Three-Point Contest, and few rookies have had such a great performance when they first joined the NBA, and the last player who could conquer the audience and media in his rookie season was the legendary Lakers star "Magic" Johnson.

The Lakers continue to host the Vancouver Grizzlies after a day of rest, and the two-year-old team selected Sharif Abdulahim with the third pick in the first round of the '96 draft.

Liu Han's starting position is now unbreakable, unless he is injured, otherwise the Lakers team without O'Neal will definitely not put him off the court, which will be scolded to death by fans and sponsors, Liu Han is now the darling of fans and advertisers, but Liu Han did not rashly sign an advertising agreement at the suggestion of his agent Helga, Helga hopes that Liu Han can further consolidate his position, and then go to sign a big contract.

At the beginning of the game, Liu Han directly turned on the scoring mode, and the Grizzlies' point guard Greg Anthony was only 1.83 meters tall, and Liu Han could directly ignore the opponent's defense.

Liu Han played ten minutes in the first quarter, made 4 of 5 three-point shots, and scored 20 points with sudden shots, and the Grizzlies also gained some scores by relying on the inside advantage, but the Lakers had a big advantage on the outside, and the Lakers led 29-19 in the first quarter.

In the first half of the second quarter, Liu Han went off the court, the Lakers bench fell into a scoring drought, and Raheem, the core of the Grizzlies, did not go off the court to rest, leading the team to play an offensive climax, scoring 20 points in 8 minutes, and overtaking the score by 7 points in one fell swoop.

After Liu Han reappeared, he hit two consecutive three-pointers to stabilize the situation, and then went inside to foul Grizzlies center Bryant Reaves, and the Lakers took a one-point lead after hitting a free throw. Bryant, who came off the bench next, also made consecutive breakthroughs, scoring four points with a mid-range shot and free throws, and at halftime, the Lakers led by three points at 45-42 into the second half.

The second half of the game continued, Liu Han once again showed his dribbling skills, he used the dribble to shake off Grizzlies point guard Greg Anthony, and then when the opponent jumped up to try to block Liu Han's shooting feint, Liu Han deliberately leaned towards Anthony's body to cause a foul, and Liu Han's reluctant three-point shot accidentally hit the board into the frame, 3 plus 1, Liu Han's magical performance made the fans even shout the MVP slogan.

Next, Greg Anthony, who was a little annoyed, tried to return Liu Han in the offense, but he underestimated Liu Han's defensive attitude and speed, and in the end, Anthony, who wasted most of his offensive time, could only barely shoot, and the basketball flew directly out of the bottom line.

Liu Han received the baseline serve and quickly advanced to the frontcourt, and the team's current starting center Tyreth Knight took the initiative to cover Liu Han. Tyrith Knight knows very well that the core of the team is Liu Han, and he doesn't have the courage and strength to put up a fight for Liu Han.

Liu Han relied on the cover to get rid of Anthony's defense and then went directly to the inside, and the Grizzlies' Raheem closely defended Liu Han from the side. Liu Han dribbled and stopped suddenly, made a shooting action, Rahim was inexperienced and jumped up directly to try to block, Liu Han retracted the shooting hand and turned around cleverly to avoid Raheem's defense and hit the shot, this is a move that Liu Han learned when he watched Michael Jordan's video yesterday, I didn't expect it to work so well today.

Next, the Grizzlies were not to be outdone and continued to impact the Lakers' interior, although Raheem is also a rookie, his performance is extremely mature, as long as the Lakers' interior shows weaknesses, he can seize it as soon as possible, and the Grizzlies rely on Raheem's excellent play to not let the Lakers pull the score away.

Liu Han still controls the ball in the game, and Coach George gave him some words to further deepen his understanding of basketball, facing the Grizzlies to defend Liu Han alone, he will play strongly, but as long as the opponent clips Liu Han, he will immediately transfer the ball to the Lakers' vacant players.

At the end of the third quarter, Liu Han scored 16 points again, and he also handed out 5 assists in a single quarter, and the Lakers once again stretched the gap to more than 10 points.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Liu Han went off the court to rest, and the Lakers were forced to score by the opponent, and the current Lakers team is a third-rate team in the league as long as Liu Han does not play.

Liu Han reappeared with 7 minutes left in the game, and the unreasonable three-point and sharp and gorgeous breakthrough made the Grizzlies unguardable, and the Lakers once again widened the gap to 10 points with 3 minutes left in the game.

In the end, the Lakers won the game bloodlessly, Liu Han played 35 minutes, scored 49 points and 8 assists, and the Lakers also won the game 104-91.

Liu Han scored more than 40 points in two consecutive games, which made many media more optimistic about Liu Han's future, this young man who was almost ignored in the draft is now the hottest star in the league, and even the limelight of the Bulls was suppressed by Liu Han's shine for a while.

However, Liu Han's large number of shots in these two games made some media who still discriminated against Liu Han's skin color criticize Liu Han as a cancer, taking up most of the shooting rights, which is not conducive to the performance of other players in the team. The intentions of these media outlets are sinister, and they are trying to provoke infighting in the Lakers.

However, the media in Los Angeles refuted this point of view, and the Los Angeles Post commented that although Liu Han took up a large part of the shooting rights, his shooting rate has always exceeded 60%, if there is any player who can have such a shooting rate, I believe that all the head coaches will give this player unlimited shooting rights, and now Liu Han only scored more than 40 points, it should be that he is controlling the number of shots, otherwise Liu Han can get 60 or even 70 points.

The domestic media also began to report on Liu Han's deeds, at this time, the domestic media has not been as curious as a selling point like later generations, they pay more attention to Liu Han's identity and his experience as a child, an orphan who only graduated from primary school can now leave his footprints in the highest hall of basketball, which has made most of the Chinese people fall into love for Liu Han.

Liu Han's fire in the United States also made Safina gradually attract media attention, and two small-scale Hollywood films tried to invite Safina to join, but Safina refused because she had not finished her studies, and the young man and woman who had just lived together were reluctant to leave each other.

On a day off, the Lakers continue to host the New York Knicks.

The Knicks have improved dramatically since Patrick Eud's return from injury, and now sit second in the East with a 39-15 record, behind the Chicago Bulls.

Facing the Knicks team with Gorilla Ewing on the inside, Coach Harris tried to make a fuss on the outside in this game, he switched Liu Han's position to shooting guard, and Van Exel started again as point guard.

At the beginning of the game, Van Axel tried to prove that he was better than Liu Han in front of the crowd, but his hand was really bad today, and he missed a single shot in the first 5 shots.

Liu Han didn't get many shots in the first quarter, and he has now gradually become accustomed to playing with the ball in his hands, and now he feels very depressed waiting for the pass.

The Lakers only scored 18 points in the first quarter, and Liu Han scored 9 points, and there were not many opportunities to shoot casually, but Liu Han seized the opportunity, and the rest of the Lakers team only scored 9 points. However, the Knicks didn't feel good at the beginning of the game, and they only scored 20 points.

Entering the second quarter, Coach Harris finally came to his senses, and he replaced Van Exel, allowing Liu Han to continue to control the ball.

With the ball in hand, Liu Han finally began to show his power, and in the face of the Knicks' backup point guard John Starks, Liu Han seemed to be at ease. Liu Han played the entire quarter in the second quarter, shooting 4-of-4 from three-point range and scoring 17 points. The Lakers also improved under Liu Han's leadership, and at halftime, the Lakers led by four points at 48-44.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Liu Han went to rest, and the Knicks took the opportunity to play an offensive climax, Ewing dominated the interior, and Alan Houston shot accurately, and they threw the Lakers away by 10 points in 6 minutes.

Coach Harris, who couldn't sit still, was replaced by Liu Han again, and the only point that the team can guarantee efficiency now is Liu Han.

Liu Han quickly stabilized the situation after coming on the court, he first made a foul on the Knicks' starting point guard Chris Childs and won three free throws on offense, and then successfully cut off the opponent's pass in the defense, and the Lakers hit a three-point shot on a fast break, and in less than 2 minutes, the Lakers pulled the score to only four points.

The Knicks have since stepped up their defense against Liu, and they can't afford to let Liu Han wreak havoc on their perimeter.

Liu Han, who attracted the opponent's bag, made a lot of good passes at the right time, and Elden Campbell began to play, he first hit a two-point shot, and then beat Charles Oakley to make it 2 plus 1.

The Knicks team, which is ineffective in the bag and Liu Han, can only choose to give up the bag, and the recovery of other players in the Lakers is more terrible than Liu Han's one-man shot, and it is difficult for the Knicks to resist if they play a smooth offense as a whole.

At the end of the third quarter, the two teams were tied at 68. Liu Han only scored 17 points in the third quarter, which was not a small gap from his previous performances.

Entering the fourth quarter, Liu Han finally began to show his powerful firepower, he turned into a long-range battery, and his three-point shot was as accurate as a laser-guided missile, and the Knicks were not to be outdone, Ewing played two plus one in a row on the inside, and Lakers center Tyreth Knight had to rest with five fouls.

At the critical moment, Liu Han stood up again, and he shook off Chris Childs again on the outside to make three plus one, and the Lakers always led the score.

Heading into the final two minutes, the Lakers still had a five-point lead. The Knicks' Alan Houston stepped up, hitting a three-pointer and then taking advantage of his teammates' teammates to pass Liu Han to Elden Campbell's ball and cut off the fast-break score, and the Knicks equalized the score with one minute left in the game.

Harris called a timeout and laid out his team's final tactics. Liu Han grabbed a three-point shot after receiving a pass from a teammate on the sideline, and the time of the attack was less than 10 seconds, so that the Lakers could make at least two attacks in the final bit of time.

After the Knicks served the ball from the baseline, they quickly advanced to the front court, Ewing wanted to hold the position inside, and his teammates hung directly to Ewing to prepare to beat the Lakers inside, Kobe gave up his defense against Alan Houston and prepared to wrap Ewing, Ewing reacted quickly and tried to pass the ball to Alan Houston on the outside.

Liu Han quickly ran to the opponent after Kobe gave up his defense against Alan Houston, and he now knows very well that his defensive Childes has almost no three-point ability, and the Knicks' most accurate outside line is Alan Houston.

Liu Han judged very accurately, he cut off the opponent's pass and quickly advanced to the frontcourt, the Knicks players desperately returned to defense, and losing the game at the last minute would disappoint everyone.

Liu Han made a sharp stop to make a move after entering the three-point line, and Alan Houston behind him flew out in an instant, and then Liu Han hit a very easy jump shot, and with less than 40 seconds left in the game, the Lakers led by 5 points and almost held the victory in their hands.

The Knicks tried to foul in the final moments, but the Lakers' free throws were solid without O'Neal, and the Lakers won 117-110. Liu Han played 38 minutes and scored 44 points, including 27 points in the final quarter.