The second half is about to begin.

Nash didn't return to the court.

Under Li Liang's persuasion, he left the Rose Garden Arena early, went back to the hotel to rest, and then went back to Los Angeles for further examination.

At the beginning of the second half of the game, Li Liang was still sitting on the bench.

Blake replaced Nash as the Lakers' starting point guard.

To tell the truth, Nash's role in the Lakers at this time is far from being comparable to that when he was in the Suns.

Nash had two points and three assists in the first half.

And he really can't keep up on the defensive end.

Li Liang put most of his energy on defense, resulting in himself not scoring a single point.

With Nash not on the court and Blake on his behalf, the Lakers' offense and defense were not too affected.

At halftime, Brown adjusted his tactics and asked for Kobe Bryant to be the axis of the offense.

Howard played very well in the first half, shooting extremely well from the basket and shooting free throws with surprisingly consistency.

But Howard's offensive play, the Lakers couldn't pull the difference apart.

This is a major flaw in Howard's offense.

As a so-called "super center", although he has the strength of averaging 20+ per game, his 20+ points cannot be compared with Duncan's 20+ in a single game.

Most of his points come from direct baskets after deep positions, or layups and dunks after teammates break through the ball.

There are also two autonomous low-post offenses, but they can't change the Trail Blazers' defensive formation and strategy.

Throughout the first half, no matter how good Howard's hand was and how many points he scored, the Trail Blazers never wrapped him up or played any other special defensive tactics.

Because Stotts, or the head coaches of the NBA as a whole, know that Howard's offense is hard to kill.

If it was Howard in the 09 or 10 period, there was still a certain deterrent.

After losing weight from a major injury, Howard's autonomous offensive threat has dropped a lot.

As a result, Howard simply scored, but could not give his teammates more offensive space, let alone open shooting opportunities.

As a head coach who was defeated by Howard, Brown is still well aware of Howard's characteristics.

But his arrangement obviously made Howard a little unhappy.

Until the start of the second half, there was no smile on Howard's face.

In the first half, he played very well, and he had already scored 20 points.

There were also 8 rebounds, and he made 8 of 10 free throws, and he was afraid of a good shooting percentage.

How did it work, and the tactical focus shifted to Kobe Bryant again?

Howard thinks about it, and sometimes he admires the Chinese kid at No. 28, Bruce Lee.

The mouth is really big, and he dares to say anything.

If he had gone out as open-mindedly as he had, he would have stared at Brown and scolded him first.

Of course, Howard still has quality and obeys the coach's arrangement.

After the start of the second half, according to Brown's arrangement, Kobe Bryant was the tactical core of the attack.

The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, continue their Flow offense.

It's like bursts of flowing water, constantly hitting the Lakers' unstable defense.

And Li Liang sat on the bench and kept chattering towards Brown from the beginning of the second half.

"The coach let me play, I can organize the attack, trust me, you just don't let me control the ball. Why don't you believe me? You believed me once, you made me practice organizing offense and rebounding in the summer, and I listened to you. Oops, look, Lillard scored again! He's got 12 points! Can't let him score any more! You let me go, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, an hour and 60 minutes, I will get him in minutes! ”

Li Liang watched Lillard get into the basket after blocking Aldridge in the offense, and made a layup with Howard with a change of hands, and he was in a hurry.

Lillard scored 10 points in the first half, and these two points were scored again, 12 points, and he was only 8 points away from the 20-point line!

With half a game to go, Lillard had a good hand tonight.

Nima, if it goes on like this, the mission will fail.

Damn the system, why didn't you release the task earlier?

Mike Brown took a deep breath as he wanted to race with earplugs on for the first time.

He even had the idea of sending Li Liang to the opposite bench to interfere with Stotts.

But the situation on the court did not work in favor of the Lakers.

While Nash's role for the Lakers isn't as obvious, the problem is that Blake, who replaces him, is really embarrassed.

Blake has some playmaking and good shooting, but his defense is terrible.

Blake is back tonight, having spent the longest time in Portland since entering the NBA in '03.

But facing Lillard tonight, if he defends like this, I'm afraid he won't be shot through.

Brown was a little shaken, but can this kid Li Liang really be organized?

Although in training, he did show a good ability to hit the ground and pass the ball.

Training can be practiced, including pre-season games.

Attacking is not so easy to organize, it requires a lot of talent and a lot of experience.

At times like these, Brown always thinks of LeBron James, the man who made him easily win the best coach with peace of mind.

The third quarter lasted another three minutes, and the scene was very anxious.

Bryant was carefully directing the offense on the court, and it could be seen that he was trying his best to do the job of a point guard.

Passing, running, and even covering Blake.

Over the summer, Bryant honed not only his body, but also his mind.

He's looking to change his style of play and usher in a spectacular turn in his career.

Therefore, even if the preseason occasionally breaks out and chooses to "not be a man", he still has to "be a man" in the regular season.

It's just that the fans of the Rose Garden Arena are used to seeing Kobe's ferocity, and they always feel that something is wrong when they see Kobe Bryant like this.

As Batum hit a three-pointer on the counter to put the score in the lead, Brown finally called a timeout.

I can't bear it, I have to go to Li Liang!

When he left the Cavaliers, Brown wondered if he could get rid of his dependence on a certain player.

Become a real, master tactician like Popovich.

But don't forget, Popovich was also crazy and ruthless Duncan back then!

Brown could never have imagined that he would rely on a second-round pick in the second game of the new season.

After a 2-minute long timeout, Li Liang came into play.

However, he was replaced not by Ci Shiping, but by Blake.

Brown was bold and adopted a point-guardless lineup.

Let Kobe be the point guard!

If you put it last season or before, it would be suicidal.

Brown is not a bold forward coach when it comes to tactics.

But he didn't know why, he inexplicably felt that Li Liang's words might make some sense.

Let him go, maybe he will really organize two hits?

After Li Liang came on the field, he didn't think about the organization.

He's got his eyes on Lillard, like a hunter with his prey on his toes.

Nash's injuries weren't all Lillard's fault, and the collision was unintentional to him.

But whether it's for Nash, for victory, or for completing the mission......

Well, in fact, in order to complete the task, Li Liang has to compete with Lillard.

Lillard didn't know anything about danger because the two men weren't in the right place at all, one point guard and one forward.

After the first attack after the timeout, Bryant controlled the ball for half the court, and then handed the ball to Li Liang at the top of the arc.

Li Liang held the ball at the top of the arc!

It's a new world for him, a world at the top of the arc.

In the summer, when he did his first John Johnson ball-and-ball mission, he was in the system with the ball at the top of the arc and felt confused.

Where am I? What should I do? What to do? Don't dare to move.

After some training, he knew that the first thing to observe was.

Observe every teammate's movements and each opponent's defensive intentions in a blazing fast time.

Reading defense, reading offense, is what every playmaker has to do.

The Trail Blazers' defense isn't complicated, it's man-to-man.

Ade shrunk inside against Howard, and Batum and Matthews' attention was on Kobe.

Ci Shiping is slipping the bottom line, and Gasol is giving him a cover.

This is an opportunity!

Li Liang did not hesitate at all.

What the organizers are most afraid of is hesitation, fear of mistakes.

Because in the NBA, opportunities are fleeting.

0.1 seconds slower in running and 0.1 second slower in passing means a chance is gone.

Li Liang didn't let that opportunity go away, and the Trail Blazers were clearly unprepared for Li Liang's ball at the top of the arc.

Li Liang made a precise ground-hitting pass, passed the defender, and stuffed it under the basket.

Ci Shiping happened to pass by, received the ball and turned around and hit the board directly to make a layup!

A very simple and straightforward tactic to slip the bottom line.

Kobe Bryant attracts the defense, Gasol covers, Ci Shiping runs, and Li Liang passes.

Take two points and regain the lead!

Li Liang, who gave an assist, did not return to the backcourt, and directly launched a one-on-one pressure on Lillard in the frontcourt.

Lillard, who played most of the comfortable ball, was really unaccustomed to being cold all of a sudden.

He accelerated past half-court, handed the ball to his team-mate, and then regained the ball to attack.

Li Liang bypassed the screener, and at the same time signaled his teammates not to come over to help the defense.

He's just going to defend Lillard one-on-one.

Lillard's ball handling was so good that Li Liang wanted to force him to the point where he couldn't dribble or steal, which was impossible.

His basic perimeter defense has been honed to 70 points, and his steals are still 40 points.

It's very effective to deal with the marginal people of the summer league, but it is not so easy to deal with such a powerful rookie.

But Li Liang has two advantages, one is height and size.

He's a cut above Lillard, and as long as he can keep up, it's definitely a big distraction for Lillard.

The second is momentum!

Li Liang has an unparalleled momentum on the defensive end!

This is the man who has defended Durant, James, Fraser, and Oscar Robertson!

Hey, how did it get by...

Lillard pulled away, and an accelerated change of direction passed Li Liang!

Li Liang immediately caught up and stretched out his hand to foul.

Damn, if you have an advantage in height, you will have a disadvantage in your steps!

But even if it is fouled, it can't make Lillard easily attack the basket.

After that, Li Liang did not make the same mistake again.

He was preoccupied with guarding Lillard.

In fact, many times, offense depends on talent, and defense depends on attitude.

Even if you have average defensive quality and skills, if you have a good attitude, you can make up for half of it.

In the second half of the third quarter, Lillard was entangled very, very uncomfortable.

After all, he is a rookie, playing the NBA regular season for the first time, and he still doesn't have enough experience.

In the face of this kind of targeted defense, as soon as the rhythm is disrupted, the offensive feeling is lost.

The Trail Blazers began to rely more on Aldridge's back-to-back singles on the offensive end.

This is not good news.

Stotts called two timeouts and rearranged the offense in hopes of letting Lillard go.

Who knows, Li Liang insisted that Qingshan would not relax, and even if he fouled, he would not give you a chance to score easily.

Lillard stepped to the free-throw line, hit just one of both free throws, and the rhythm was out of order.

Lillard scored 1 point in the entire third quarter.

And Li Liang hit two three-pointers and also handed out two assists.

It directly led to the expansion of the Trail Blazers' defense, giving Kobe, Jamison, and Ci Shiping better offensive opportunities.

Such an excellent performance caused Brown to watch and forget to replace Li Liang, and he played the third quarter full.

In the interval between the third and fourth quarters, Brown also asked Li Liang if he wanted to rest for a while, and Li Liang said: "No, let me fight, I can withstand it." ”

The task is in his body, and Li Liang has to play the fourth quarter.

At this point, the score between the two sides came to 91:87, and the Lakers maintained a four-point lead.

Before going on the court, Li Liang said to Kobe: "Boss, can you attack well?" Don't pass the ball, you can shoot it yourself! ”

Kobe glanced at Li Liang and did not speak.

In the first three quarters, Kobe Bryant was controlling his shots, constantly organizing and passing.

But to be honest, it didn't work out well.

Not only did he not have many assists, but he also had six turnovers.

Li Liang thought, instead of passing a few handfuls blindly, it is better to blindly cast a few handfuls!

If you make a few blind throws and feel better, you may have a lead of more than 4 points.

Facing Li Liang's questioning, Kobe Bryant cursed in his heart, pursed his lips, and looked up at the scoreboard.

Isn't it really my best fit to be an organizer?