Li Liang really didn't listen to what Mike Brown said during the break.

Anyway, he went straight to the start of the second quarter, and Mike Brown let Pau Gasol and Li Liang lead the second lineup.

After the playoffs shortened his rotation, Li Liang had less time to rest.

Jamison basically fell out of the rotation because of defensive problems.

The Lakers' bench is mainly Gasol, Meeks, O'Neal Gabreke Jr.

The Lakers are backcourt players, one short and one slow, and the other short and slow.

Li Liang's time must be increased to help fill the holes in the backcourt.

The main thing is that Kobe Bryant is old, otherwise Kobe Bryant when he was young can basically wrap up the team's backcourt offense and defense alone.

At that time, the Lakers' backcourt was full of small men with some accurate shooting and obvious flaws in all other aspects.

After all, they have Kobe.

Now it's up to Li Liang, who is more handy on the defensive end after he returns to small forward.

The Rockets' bench lineup is not bad, led by two veterans, Delfino and Garcia.

In the last game, the two were two players who played normally in the team.

McHale spoke to reporters on the sidelines and said that the Rockets made positive adjustments in this game, the young players played more energetic and confident, and they needed a process of adaptation in the first game, and I believe they will play better in the second game.

The best player in the first quarter was naturally Parsons, who continued to stay on the court at this time.

In the first attack at the beginning of the second quarter, Li Liang received the ball in a relatively deep position.

Then he made a lob pass directly to the inside, and Gasol received the ball and played it high, gently guarded, and put the ball in the basket.

Li Liang stood deep in order to pass a more secure ball to Gasol.

In the Rockets round, after a series of pass-throughs from the outside, Beverley missed a step-back jumper in the middle.

After Li Liang switched to the outside line, he put a lot of pressure on the outside line of the rocket.

The Rockets' tactical style of play is relatively flat, and they don't have a ball-carrying attack point on the inside.

Therefore, the transmission ball on the outside line has a lot of cover, especially the transfer ball between the middle and 45 degrees.

This kind of continuous, rapid transfer can tear up offensive space for Jeremy Lin, Parsons, and Harden.

However, Li Liang squatted in the middle, constantly assisting in defense, commanding and pressing, making it uncomfortable for the Rockets to pass the ball on the outside.

In the end, Beverley had to complete the offense.

The ball was touched off the baseline, and the Lakers had the ball.

Up to now, Li Liang finally feels a little like playing in the playoffs.

In the playoffs, it's about defense, it's about fighting.

You have to play fiercely and fiercely, and this is like Yazi in the playoffs.

What's the point if you're always running around and throwing around.

Then, on the outside of the Lakers, Meeks missed a jump shot after receiving a pass from Li Liang.

The Rockets countered, and the ball was passed around the perimeter for a few rounds, back and forth, and finally to Asik......

Asik was holding the ball outside the three-point line and didn't know what to do.

The Lakers' second team's defense during this period was very good, and everyone moved, filled, and rotated in place.

There are two high points on the inside, Gasol and O'Neal Jr., and there is a Li Liang in the middle to assist the defense.

The Rockets' offense, which had no blast point on the field, was in a bogged down.

In the end, Delfino took the pot and missed a three-point shot from the outside.

Li Liang grabbed the backcourt rebound and handed the ball to Meeks, allowing Meeks to stabilize and play his position.

Meeks slowed down, Pau Gasol was in position, and Asik defended.

After Gasol received the ball, he turned inside and hit a small hook and hit a two-point shot.

Gasol didn't play well in the last game and has been in poor form, but tonight he adjusted well.

In the next two rounds, the Rockets relied on Parsons' hand and hit a three-pointer from the outside.

Parsons was really hot tonight.

Then taking advantage of the Lakers' defense for three seconds at a time, McHale replaced Beverley and reintroduced Jeremy Lin.

And Li Liang's response was to rush inside, steal a frontcourt rebound, and then deceive Asik and turn around to make a pick-up.

After a few rounds, the Rockets fell behind even more, and McHale began to get anxious again.

The main players of both sides returned to the pitch one after another.

There was a period of chaos on the pitch and neither side could shoot.

It wasn't until Bryant came back and made Asik's foul on the free throw line that he broke the scoring drought of about two minutes.

This is the norm in the playoffs, because the consumption on the defensive end is too large, and the offensive end will unconsciously play simple, and then the feeling will decline.

As a result, there will be a situation where the two sides are ping-pong against iron.

At this time, the individual performance of the star players is particularly important.

Harden also returned to the court, and in the first quarter, Harden didn't make much effort, only making two free throws.

After Harden came on the court, he held the ball at the top of the arc and changed direction continuously under his crotch, passed Kobe Bryant and hit the basket, drilled through the gap, and made a layup with his left hand.

It was the first time since the start of the second quarter that the Rockets broke through the basket and scored.

It was Meeks who defended Harden, and Kobe Bryant was still resting off the court.

This time, the Lakers did not wait for Gasol to settle down, but Meeks instigated a quick counterattack with the ball.

Then the ball was distributed to Li Liang, who followed on the wing.

Li Liang received the ball at 45 degrees, made a close-range pull-up jump shot, and hit the board.

His move was really unguardable, and a quick stop made Parsons, who was chasing defense, rush directly out of the bottom line.

This kid is now practicing with Sam Jones and thinks it's not going to work.

Unless there is a stewardess opportunity, he always ends this quick counterattack with a mid-to-long-range rebound.

With the Lakers' fast and slow offense, the Rockets really can't do anything.

Of course, this is not arranged by Mike Brown, but the Lakers players have formed a tacit understanding on the court.

Especially with Li Liang here, he feels very good in the arena and knows when to be faster and when to stabilize and play a dozen.

Rockets, on the other hand, are simpler, as fast as possible.

In this regard, Jeremy Lin has done a good job, and it is very suitable for pushing fast.

But his disadvantage is that he is not very good at playing slowly, and once he falls into the position, he is very flattering.

The combing of the offensive of the position by himself did not reach a high level.

They still have to give the ball to Harden, and this time Li Liang misplaced to defend Harden.

Harden opted for a step-back jumper, but was interfered with by Li Liang and missed.

At this time, Beverley burst out from under the basket, grabbed the rebound in the frontcourt, and hit the rebound.

Li Liang scolded angrily, "Even Beverly can't grab it!" All on their knees? The outside line doesn't stand in the way! Defenders don't have to block people! ”

Beverley is a vibrant garbage dog, the smallest man in the game, but he can always fight for rebounds in the frontcourt.

After that, Howard made an inside foul to the free throw line, and Bryant returned to the court.

Howard missed two free throws, and the Rockets countered.

Parsons made a good pass to Harden from the outside, and Harden cut to the basket for a layup.

As a result, Howard interfered and missed, but followed by Greg Smith to get the frontcourt rebound and dunk with one hand!

lost two backcourt rebounds in a row, and Li Liang was so angry that he hammered the basketball hard.

He's really a bit of a fire, and losing backcourt rebounds is the most discouraging.

Then Kobe Bryant took the ball on the wing and made a jumper.

After receiving the ball, Harden quickly changed to the inside and caused Howard's foul.

Kobe Bryant didn't defend the ball again, in fact, Kobe Bryant is better at dealing with the speed type, like Harden's rhythm type, he is not particularly good at it.

Sometimes Kobe Bryant will be shaken, and even shaken so much that people will turn over on their backs, and the scene is ugly.

After Harden made a free throw, Brown called a timeout.

The Rockets chased the margin to one point again, and they played very tenaciously.

Mike Brown decided to adjust his defense and deal with Harden in two ways, one-on-one or a flank.

Brown didn't want to pinch Harden, he knew Harden was very capable of playing the ball, like another James.

There is a huge price to be paid for flanking them.

Kobe Bryant's defense against Harden is not very effective, and it affects his play on the offensive end.

So......

"Bruce!" Mike Brown pointed at Li Liang and didn't finish yet.

Li Liang said: "OK, I understand!" I'm going to deal with Harden. ”

Damn, it's better to practice me alone.

Brown nodded with satisfaction, Li Liang is a little good, and he has a strong understanding.

It's like Nash, you don't have to worry about offense, Nash will judge the situation and adjust.

Defensively, Li Liang on the outside and Howard on the inside are players who know very well.

So, a short timeout of 20 seconds, adjust it and soon come on.

Nash started with a mid-range jumper to help the Lakers break the scoring dilemma.

This is the individual ability of the star, the tactics can't be opened, the stars themselves are the tactics.

Then, Li Liang began to play against Harden.

Li Liang did not careless about defending Harden just because he had dealt with Maddie in the mission.

He knows that Harden is a completely different type and that he plays smart.

After several encounters in the regular season, Li Liang could feel that Harden had changed very quickly in more than a season.

His speed of progress is estimated to be second only to Li Liang himself.

Judging from the size alone, Harden at the beginning of the season was still a little thin and a lean pig.

By the end of the season, after a season of hard workout, it was already pork belly.

But no matter what kind of meat, Li Liang has an advantage over Harden in terms of height and weight.

When Harden is attacking, he is actually more afraid of Li Liang, a No. 3 defender with an advantage in size and a good defense.

In the second position, if the height and weight can't keep up, Harden is basically not too afraid.

It's a big deal, the arm is raised, and the bulldozer arches inward, and the arch is on the free throw line.

But against the heavy small forward in the No. 3 position, it can't be done, and the arch can't move.

And Li Liang carefully watched Harden's game video, combined with the game experience, first to prevent his left hand from breaking through.

Secondly, speed is not Harden's strength, but it can't make him rush.

rushed up a fat man of three hundred pounds, and it was not easy to stop you if you wanted to.

Finally, against Harden, you must go against it.

Harden relies on rhythm to play, and intense physical confrontations can take him out of rhythm.

This adjustment from Mike Brown was immediate.

Harden faced Li Liang's one-on-one defense for the first time on the outside, and Li Liang began to post from the middle line.

Don't look at his tall stature, it seems to be a beat slower, but his heel defense is electrified, and his steps are called in place.

With Harden, he was uncomfortable, so he could only play the ball and then re-catch it and use the screen.

But Li Liang has been following closely, and Harden wants to use his body to fight and squeeze Li Liang away, but it is useless.

Please, Li Liang can play center, do you want to push him away?

Harden missed three consecutive offenses and was caught by the Lakers to fight back.

Nash, the counter-attacking master, threw away the thermos cup in the playoffs and pushed the counterattack quickly in succession.

After Kobe Bryant didn't have to defend Harden, he was freed up and made consecutive quick layups.

A small climax of 8:0 stopped the rocket again.

McHale, who was still smiling and joking with reporters during the break, was already full of calm.

Harden can't open this point, how can this be done?

McHale really has no way, look at the Lakers opposite, how many cards can you play!

No rut, poor.

McHale still figured out a way to get Delfino back on and take the pressure off Harden on the ball.

But Li Liang has been pestering Harden, anyway, there are Kobe Bryant and Nash on offense, and he can completely throw away the offense.

That's the great thing about being in a super team, where you can share the functions of each other without having to shoulder the burden and die on one shoulder.

The Lakers built another eight-point advantage in the second quarter to take a 58-50 halftime lead over the Rockets.

The Rockets have played very well today, the impact of the opening game, and the response in the middle, are very good.

But I just can't beat it.

Especially when Li Liang began to defend Harden, the Rockets' lifeline was stuck.

Not only Li Liang was the main defense, but also Howard was in the back to make up the defense, and Ci Shiping was in the defense.

At least three people are looking after Harden.

Harden has endured weight and pressure that he shouldn't be able to bear at this age.

In the second half, after both sides started playing, the shots were iron.

Bryant missed two more shots from beyond the three-point line.

The Rockets weren't much better, Parsons still wanted to rush to the basket, but was capped by Howard.

Parsons got a lot of hats today, but he still had to keep the ball on his shoulders.

There is no way, he has to rush, otherwise the rocket's attack will be even more unwatchable.

In the third quarter, the two sides entered a fierce battle, and the Rockets were very tenacious, fighting fiercely for rebounds in the front court, and won back many opportunities.

Of course, the price was that he didn't return to defense in time and was chased by Nash and spanked twice.

Li Liang hit a jumper from close range again.

Harden was also very hardworking, and in a breakthrough, he and Li Liang's heads collided together, and both of them fell to the ground.

Li Liang quickly stood up, and neither of them fouled.

And Harden sat on the ground for a while, wondering why no one of the Rockets players came to help him.

On the Lakers' side, Nash and Kobe Bryant both took the initiative to pull Li Liang up.

In the end, it was the referee who reached out and dragged Harden up.

Sure enough, it's still the referee.

The ball still belongs to the Lakers, and they are in control of the game.

But the point difference still hasn't widened, because Kobe Bryant wasted a lot of opportunities.

Beverley's defense against Kobe Bryant turned out to be quite successful, and his constant interference and confrontation made Kobe play very uncomfortable.

Of course, it would be naïve to think that Kobe Bryant would be guarded in this way.

The only one who can really prevent Kobe is himself.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers still led by 8 points, and the suspense of the game was retained until the fourth quarter, and the Rockets still had a chance.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Rockets took advantage of the Lakers' slackness in defense in the connecting section, and Delfino hit a three-pointer.

Then, on the counterattack, Jeremy Lin assisted Parsons, who fell to the corner, and Parsons hit another three-pointer!

The difference of 8 points became 2 points in an instant.

That's the terrible thing about three-point shots.

At this point, Bryant finally stepped up.

Mike Brown didn't call a timeout, and Bryant hit a difficult step-back jumper after a series of feints in a realistic bull position.

He knew that his shooting sensation was back.

Then, Li Liang contributed an important steal.

It was Harden's passing error, Li Liang passed the ball to Kobe, and Kobe Bryant made a layup when he was unguarded.

The margin was back to six points, but the Rockets were a little dangerous because Bryant found an offensive touch.

After two quarters of entanglement with Li Liang, Harden found a way to deal with Li Liang.

He found that making fouls was not very good for Li Liang, not only because the referee's whistle was more cautious in the playoffs, but also because the referee seemed to have a good relationship with him.

He always communicates with the referee when he has something to do, and the referee looks happy to listen.

And one of Li Liang's weaknesses on the defensive end is that he plays too cleanly.

Li Liang's defense is quite clean, there are almost no small movements, and his small movements are all on the lips.

Therefore, Harden made full use of Asik's tall and heavy cover point, made some small moves, and got rid of Li Liang's follow-up defense twice.

Once he got rid of the ball and caught the ball, Harden rushed up with the ball, and Li Liang couldn't stop it.

In this way, Harden made consecutive inside fouls and went to the free throw line.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, Harden had made 10 of his 12 free throws.

The Lakers still maintain a 6-8 point advantage.

The Rockets are completely relying on willpower to fight, grinding with the Lakers little by little.

But the Lakers are not afraid of grinding, and in 09, the Lakers also grinded with the Rockets like this.

At the critical moment, Bryant began to play singles in the low post.

The Black Mamba finally bares its deadly fangs.

Rocket fans must still remember how Kobe, who was at the peak of his peak in 09, used one by one low-post turnover jumpers to suppress the Rockets.

Kobe Bryant is not old, and he beat Parsons three times in a row in the low post, so that Parsons has no temper at all.

Then, Kobe Bryant gave the ball to Ci Shiping, and Ci Shiping hit a three-pointer.

The outside line of the rocket has been staring at Li Liang, and Ci Shiping can also score goals.

This three-point goal brought the difference to 11 points, and there were only 2 minutes left before the end of the game.

McHale called a timeout, the Rockets played very well tonight, and they couldn't just give up.

The Rockets have always been a very tenacious team.

McHale was also very calm and did not choose to gamble on three points.

Instead, continue to trust Harden and let Harden handle the ball.

Harden killed the inside again and caused Li Liang to foul, and after hitting the free throw, he scored 28 points.

He didn't seem to score many goals, but as soon as the game was over, he found that there were still a lot of points.

In response, Li Liang and Nash made a pick-and-roll coordination and hit a three-point shot at the top of the arc.

This goal completely extinguished the Rockets' hope of struggling.

In the end, to the cheers of Stamp Lakers fans, the Lakers defeated the Rockets by 104:92, a 12-point advantage.

In two consecutive games, the Lakers have limited the Rockets' scoring to less than 100 points, making the Rockets' offense a big loss.

Before the game, many Lakers fans were still worried that the young Rockets would use a quick counterattack to break the Lakers, which seemed to be too worried.

Although the Lakers are old and slow, they are experienced and have a good rhythm.

The individual ability of the players is strong, and after Mike Brown's adjustment, the defensive end is very systematic.

Although it is not as high as the Heat's super high pressing, or the Spurs' rigor and tenacity, the individual ability and experience are definitely strong.

What they should be more worried about is actually the offense, and in the game against the Rockets, the Lakers' offense has not been tested.

Age, form, and tactics will all be difficult problems for them to move forward.