Stephen Jackson came with a mission in this game.

This Lake-horse battle was highly valued by Popovich.

In fact, before the start of the season, Popovich was not particularly optimistic about the Lakers.

When the Lakers robbed Gasol, Popovich was furious and complained loudly to the media, thinking that the Lakers were violating the rules, this was a robbery, and the league should investigate.

Sure enough, the Lakers, who got Gasol, rose quickly and rubbed the Spurs to the ground in '08.

And this summer, after the Lakers traded for Nash and Howard, Popovich was quite calm and did not comment on this "robbery" trade.

It stands to reason that the Spurs have been dormant for four or five years since '08, and they have slowed down step by step and started to attack the championship again.

And their old rival, the Lakers, after aging at the core, relied on robbing other people's interior lines to rebuild the super lineup, and Popovich should be like a thunderbolt.

As a result, it was quiet and nothing was said.

The reason is very simple, as the best of the best, Popovich doesn't think that the Lakers will have any fighting power.

But Popovich, who has rarely been eye-catching all his life, was wrong this time, the Lakers started the season with seven consecutive wins, and there was a faint feeling of being in front of the Spurs again and being a roadblock.

In the last few days before the start of the season, it was easy to see the Thunder self-destruct the Great Wall, and Popovich was still secretly happy.

Who knew that the Lakers really played well, and his unsuccessful apprentice Mike Brown stumbled undefeated.

After carefully studying the footage of several Lakers games, Popovich immediately discovered the key point.

The Lakers' somewhat messy roster has one eye that plays an important role, and that is the No. 28 rookie, Bruce Lee.

It was he who filled the Lakers' broken perimeter defensive holes, it was he who expanded the Lakers' offensive space with three-pointers, and it was he who provided young, enthusiastic firepower to inject fresh blood into this gorgeous old zombie.

The Spurs actually did the same thing last year, when they targeted San Diego State University's Cordyan Leonard and drafted the small forward with George Hill, who had worked so hard to develop, in exchange for the No. 15 pick from the Pacers.

This is a well-planned move by Popovich and the Spurs, and it is a step that will affect the Spurs' rise and fall for many years to come.

How did the Lakers do the same? And the low cost is terrible, and the effect is surprisingly fast.

Was it the Lakers' luck, or did Kupchak do it on purpose? Popovich didn't even know where this kid came from.

Duncan has been watching TWC's "Behind the Scenes of the Lakers" program these days, watching it with relish, and he is about to become a fan of Bruce Lee.

What's this called?

So in today's game, at the pre-game preparation meeting, Popovich specifically instructed Stephen Jackson to take care of this young man on the defensive end.

Jackson has been in the league for more than ten years, won a championship with the Spurs, played a fan with the Pacers, and played a fan with the Warriors.

Late in his career, a regular season game was directed specifically against an opposing rookie player, and Jackson felt a little lost.

On the other side, there is also his old accomplice Ron Artest - no, now it's called Charity World Peace, it is said that he likes this kid a lot, if you give him two blows, I don't know if he will get into trouble with Ci Shiping.

Regardless of that, Jackson still followed Popovich's instructions and began to play against Li Liang after the timeout.

At first, Li Liang didn't feel anything, the Spurs' offense, Parker's strong basket was taken down by Howard with a pegboard hat.

Then the Lakers pushed back and Dujon advanced with the ball and went all the way inside from the left side, attracting most of the Spurs' defensive attention.

The outside Kobe Bryant is completely empty, 45 degrees on the right side, and no one is staring at him.

Duhong made a big diagonal pass, and Kobe Bryant took a shot outside the three-point line after receiving the ball!

Ball in! Steady batch!

At 21:14, the difference was stretched to 7 points.

In this ball, Li Liang stood at the top of the arc, and Jackson had the opportunity to make up for Kobe.

But he would rather stare at Li Liang than make up for Kobe, which made Li Liang vigilant.

"Could it be that my defensive attraction is already stronger than Kobe's?" Li Liang is still beautiful.

Don't be complacent, you're all in the spot!

Then, the Spurs missed the attack again, the Lakers counterattacked and missed, the Spurs counterattacked, and Parker scored a layup.

Li Liang followed up and ran back and forth twice, obviously the offensive rhythm was slowly driven by the Spurs.

Gasol missed a turnaround jumper at a zero degree angle, and because Howard was inside, he had to finish the offense with a jumper all the time.

It was Parker's counterattack with the ball again, and after making a fake block with Duncan, he easily hit a mid-corner shot.

At 18:21, the Spurs pulled the margin in.

Li Liang was very dissatisfied with the team's offensive rhythm of running with the Spurs, and yelled at Kobe: "Slow down, what are you running blindly?" ”

Jackson, who was sticking to Li Liang, was a little confused, what's the matter, this kid dares to yell at Kobe?

And Kobe Bryant didn't reply yet, he really dribbled slowly through the half, and then handed the ball to Li Liang at the top of the arc, and the Lakers played a positional attack.

Jackson studied Li Liang's video before the game and knew that he didn't have the ability to attack with the ball, so he went directly to defend himself.

The horse walked, half of the body was straight up, his hands were stretched back, and he used his torso to push against Li Liang's torso.

It's the most annoying form of one-on-one defense, compressing the space of the ball carrier, which is very uncomfortable.

Li Liang didn't expect that he would be treated like this, so he had to pass the ball back to Kobe.

Gasol suddenly went to the perimeter, received a pass from Kobe, and shot from a 45-degree mid-range.

The Spurs put it straight away, and as a result, the goal went in, and Popovich called a timeout.

The Spurs lineup made slight adjustments, replacing Duncan and Parker, replacing Blair and Neil, and played the last two minutes of the first quarter.

After the pause, Li Liang found that he was really being targeted, and Jackson was simply inseparable from him.

This is the same strategy that the Spurs used Leonard to stare at Li Liang in the summer league, knowing that he doesn't have the ability to attack with the ball, just keep someone in front of you all the time.

And the Lakers are not the kind of team that is good at empty-handed running and continuous interior double cover, and can use tactics to give shooters space to run.

The Lakers have always used the defensive appeal of superstars to attract packs and create space for shooters.

In this game, the Spurs did not cover both Kobe Bryant and Howard, and only assisted in defense when necessary.

Li Liang not only did not have a chance to shoot three points in the open position, but when he wanted to hold the ball at the top of the arc, Jackson came up to defend closely, which made Li Liang very uncomfortable.

After more than three minutes on the court, Li Liang didn't do anything, just picked up a rebound on the defensive end.

Li Liang quickly realized that it was going to be a tough match for him.

Role players play a lot of the time relying on the pressure of the core of the team.

Core players can withstand the pressure and give space to role players.

So, it doesn't mean the same thing for a role player to score 20 points in a game as a core player to score 20 points.

Role players tend to take fewer shots, but if you swap positions, the results can make a big difference.

Li Liang's performance in the first few games was more or less based on Kobe's strong defensive attraction and the opponent's contempt for him.

In this scene, the old spurs and Popovich began to pay attention to Li Liang and gave Li Liang eye medicine.

Not only this one, but as the Lakers win more and more, the attention is getting higher and higher, Li Liang is becoming more and more famous, and more and more people are studying him, and he will be targeted more and more times.

But will Li Liang be afraid?

I'm afraid of a hammer!

It's not that you don't shoot three-pointers, it doesn't matter, so the defensive end is equivalent to abolishing a co-defense point.

Then, Li Liang can still play his value on the defensive end.

Many players, especially those who have improved their offensive play slightly, once the offense does not go well in a certain game, it will affect the emotions of the defensive end.

But Li Liang won't, he's very calm.

In the last minute of the first quarter, the two sides struck each other.

Kobe missed a jumper, Hill grabbed a rebound in the front court and missed the basket, and Dio won the rebound in the backcourt.

At this time, Dior is no longer the slender French magician of the Suns, but a fat No. 4.

Maybe the magicians will end up on this path.

But Dior's hand work was not lost, after winning the rebound, seeing Jackson in the front court, Dior made an accurate long pass!

The ball was about to pass to Jackson, but Li Liang jumped up and intercepted the ball in the air!

Finally touched the ball again!

In the first quarter, Brown was urged to get himself on the court, but he didn't touch the ball much, let alone shoot.

Kobe Bryant motioned to Li Liang to pass the ball to him on the side, there was not much time left in the first quarter, there were more than 30 seconds left, play one quickly, and then the Spurs finished playing, they could still play one.

As a result, Li Liang ignored him, there was no one in front of him, and he dribbled through half the court.

Li Liang's dribbling is a little trembling, in fact, if he is in a normal state, his dribbling will blow out most amateur golfers.

But on the NBA court, even if there is no one in front of you, the pressure is great.

With the ball in your hand, it means that the heart and focus of the pitch is you, with opponents, teammates and spectators all staring at you.

You have to think about what to do next, you have to watch for your opponent's every move, and you have to watch the next move of your teammates.

Therefore, a simple ball control is by no means as simple as a few dribbles.

Li Liang doesn't pass it on, of course he has his ideas.

At this time, the two sides were very scattered on the court, and after half the court, they noticed that the basket was empty.

George Hill was on the flank of the three-second zone and had a good chance, but Dio was in front of him.

It doesn't matter, Lao Tzu has confidence.

Activate the skill, [Johnson's one-shot soul]!

Li Liang felt as if a special force had been infused into his arms, and his palms and arms suddenly became more controllable over the ball.

He leaned forward and gave the ball a super push with one hand, and the ball flew straight towards Dior with a powerful spin!

Dior was terrified, feeling the ball flying towards his crotch.

That's right, the ball flew towards Dior's crotch and then hit the ground and went straight through Dior's crotch!

Hit the hands of Jordan Hill behind him.

There was no one under the basket, and Hill received the ball with both hands!

It was a wonderful pass that made the whole Stamp explode!

What is it?

This is the classic ultra-long-range land-and-drop pass of Magic Johnson during the show time in the 80s, and it is the signature classic shot of that gorgeous Laker.

The audience kept cheering, and the TV camera showed Johnson watching the game from the sidelines.

Johnson stood up from his stool and applauded Li Liang's ball.

Li Liang did not immerse himself in this wonderful pass, but shouted loudly: "Defense! Defend! Keep an eye on your people! ”

Sure enough, the Spurs immediately launched a quick counterattack to catch the Lakers off guard.

But Li Liang was prepared, he delayed Neil's advance on the line, and then the Lakers' defense returned to position, and the Spurs' intention to counterattack failed.

In the end, both offenses failed to hit, and the first quarter ended with the Lakers ending the first quarter with a 5-point lead over the Spurs, 25-20.

Popovich scratched his head, he had a not-so-good premonition.