Tang Shuai was taken aback by Gomez's sudden move, and his first reaction was not to meet Gomez's flaming red lips or push her away, but to look up at the top of his head.

It's just outside the arena, and maybe there's a camera overhead.

Fortunately, he was relieved that he didn't find anything with a camera after looking at it for a while.

He lowered his head, saw Gomez's amorous expression, and said with reluctance: "We're friends, aren't we?" ”

Gomez was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed, straightened up and left Tang Shuai, and said, "You know that you have a little Chinese girlfriend, so I won't tease you, send me back to the hotel." ”

After listening to what Gomez said, Tang Shuai breathed a sigh of relief, saying that he was accidentally knocked by a woman just now.

After seeing off Gomez, Tang Shuai then returned to the team's hotel.

Both Stephenson and Brewer were taken aback to see him come back so early.

"Don, you're really a fast gunner!" Stephenson couldn't help but tease.

Several people suddenly made a fuss.

The Lakers' next schedule is not easy, the NBA regular season starts in November 16 and ends around April 20 in 17, only less than 7 months, but 82 games are played, which means that at least 12 games are played every month, they start with 4 games in 10 days, and in the next 10 days, they have a dense schedule, with 2 back-to-back games in 5 days.

They will face the 76ers and Hawks back-to-back at home on November 20, followed by the Suns and Jazz on October 23.

In the pre-game training session, Tang Shuai's mood was not too good.

In the end, Wharton didn't listen to him and Gasol and will continue to use a small lineup for the upcoming games.

He wanted to go to Wharton again and say that he was stopped by Gasol, who had been playing in the league for a long time and knew what the coach had decided to do, and it was useless for the player to say more.

The 76ers have been the absolute belly of the fish for 3 seasons, and this year finally ushered in the opportunity to rise, Embiid, Russell, Okafor, Simmons, and the Timberwolves in the West are potential rookies who are piled up.

Wharton's choice to continue with a small lineup may have something to do with the 76ers, because after all, there are many potential rookies, but this kind of team generally needs time to grow.

Wharton's idea was good, but the result of the game was much more than he expected, and although Barnes improved on the offensive end compared to the previous game, he was blown up by Okafor on the defensive end. There were no pants left, and although Tang Shuai tried his best to score 36 points, the Lakers still lost the final game when Okafor and Embiid combined for 45 points and 25 boards.

Losing to the 76ers is not a big upset, I thought that such a result would definitely make Wharton realize the weakness of the small lineup, but the result is as Gasol said, the things that the coach has determined will not be easily changed.

At the summary meeting after the loss, Wharton did not reflect on the shortcomings of the small lineup, but praised the progress of Barnes and Knoll, which made Tang Shuai and Gasol feel a little speechless.

The game with the 76ers is over, and before they have time to breathe, the Lakers are about to usher in back-to-back games against the Hawks.

The Hawks have successfully established themselves as a powerhouse in the East since they hired Mike Budenholzer from the Spurs as head coach in 2013, and this offseason has caused Howard to upgrade the team.

Barnes improved on the offensive end of the floor, scoring a season-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, plus six rebounds, but the Lakers were blown up by the Hawks on the defensive end.

Budenholzer is the strongest coach in the Spurs department, his team-based play makes the opponent unguardable, originally Wharton's small lineup relied on fast defensive rotation on the defensive end, but the Hawks had too many small combinations, Barnes played on the offensive end, but he was still like a headless fly on the defensive end.

90-110, the Lakers suffered their first consecutive loss of the season, and it was a heavy defeat.

After two consecutive defeats, Tang Shuai and Gasol couldn't sit still, and found Wharton and chatted privately, but just like last time, Wharton still insisted on his idea and decided that this was the process that must be experienced by playing small ball tactics.

The home back-to-back was followed by two back-to-back games on the road, and the Suns and Jazz were significantly weaker than the Hawks.

In the game against the Suns, Tang Shuai played against his former teammate Redick, who was strong in offense and weak in defense, and he ushered in a big explosion on the offensive end, scoring 47 points on 20-of-32 shooting, almost breaking his regular season scoring record.

Relying on his excellent performance, the Lakers finally won the game 103-102, and if it weren't for Bledsoe's layup before the end of the game was blown out by Noll, the team would probably suffer a wave of three straight losses.

The Suns had a previous record of 3 wins and 6 losses, and it didn't mean much to beat such a team, but Walton seemed to be relieved, and at the post-game press conference, he bluntly said that this victory was of great significance to the team, and it was the most critical game for the team to embark on a revival, and also praised Tang Shuai and Barnes by name (Barnes scored a season-high 20 points in this game), praising their outstanding performance on the offensive end.

There are no back-to-back games in the NBA, and back-to-back games on the road are the most demanding schedule, and after a night's rest in Phoenix, the Lakers boarded a special plane to Salt Lake City, Utah, in Game 2.

The NBA has two famous devils' home courts, one is the Denver Nuggets, and the other is Utah Salt Lake City, which is an inland plateau with an altitude of 1,320 meters, and the low air pressure makes the physical exertion of players during the game more obvious than ever.

The second back-to-back game was played in Salt Lake City, and the second back-to-back in five days, and the physical exertion of the players was unprecedented.

Tang Shuai played for five minutes in the opening game, and he felt like he was going to die.

Since Wharton started to use a small lineup, his playing time has increased rapidly, almost every game is close to physical exhaustion, because of the schedule and opponents, he still didn't feel anything, but now on the plateau, he quickly reacted.

Not only Tang Shuai, but the other team members all had more or less altitude sickness, and they were not in shape.

78-89, the Lakers' shooting rate in the whole game was frighteningly low, only 36.5%, and even Tang Shuai shot 8 of 20, and the team's loss was completely expected.

5 days and 4 games, 1 win and 3 losses, the winning game was still a narrow victory, and Wharton's small-ball tactics proved to be completely unsuitable for the Lakers team in front of him.

Originally, after the victory over the Bulls, the Lakers' record came to 5-2 and returned to the fourth place in the West, but after this wave of 1-3 games, their record came to 6-5 and fell directly to 9th in the West.

Back in Los Angeles, Tang Shuai and Gasol finally found Wharton, and after the game against the Jazz, the two of them were thinking about more than just the team's victory or defeat.

After 11 games, Tang Shuai averaged 32 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, with a shooting rate of 51%, an absolute superstar statistic, but his playing time was 39.2 minutes, more than half higher than last season's regular season.

Gasol's situation is just the opposite of Tang Shuai, in the offseason, because of Tang Shuai's reasons, coupled with Kupchak's persuasion, he chose to join the Lakers, you must know that the Spurs gave him a 2-year 30 million contract in the offseason is much higher than the contract he is now taking with the Lakers, but now after using a small lineup, his playing time has been compressed to only about 20 minutes, averaging 10, 2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game is a career low.

This time the conversation was unreserved and resolute.

"If you don't make any adjustments, I'll consider requesting a trade from Mitch, I don't have much time left in my career and I don't want to waste those last few years." Gasol said angrily after arguing with Wharton.

Wharton's mood at this time is not much better, the small lineup is what he has been insisting on, and it is also the trend he thinks will be in basketball in the future, but now the record is not good, and the management has put pressure on him, as a result, Tang Shuai and Gasol still used such a tough attitude to talk to him, he suddenly pointed to the stool he was sitting on, and then pointed to the stool they were sitting on, and said: "This is my position, that is your position, where we sit, we should do what should be done in that position, If you think I'm not doing a good job, you can try to get Mickey to be replaced. ”

With that, Wharton got up from his seat and walked out of the coach's office in a rage.

The third exchange broke up unhappily.

Compared with the previous two times, this time it can be said that the relationship has been completely stiffened.

They didn't say that it was like a change of coach as Wharton said, Wharton is still a potential coach in some ways, but his stubbornness may really need to be persuaded by some people who can listen to him.

Tang Shuai asked Duffy to make an appointment, and in a café in Los Angeles, Tang Shuai, Gasol, Duffy, and Kupchak sat around the table.

"Don, Jaime said you and Paul have something important to tell me?" After taking a sip of coffee, Kupchak looked at Tang Shuai with a smile.

and Dave Waugh. is different, Kupchak's attitude towards Tang Shuai is quite friendly, and it can even be said to be favored.

Tang Shuai and Gasol glanced at each other, then nodded and said, "Mitch, we asked you out to talk about Coach Luke." (To be continued.) )