Chapter 232: Sweeping the Spurs
Because of Brad Miller's injury, the rest of the Lakers' players are on the playoff roster, including Josh Powell, a 10,000-year bench. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 The starting lineup is still Bynum, Gasol, Wu Di, Kobe Bryant, Fisher, and substitutes Pekovic, Sun Yue, Vujasic, Ariza, Famar, Luke Wharton, Josh Powell.
The Lakers' opponent in the first round was the Spurs, and the Zen master quickly got the Spurs' playoff roster.
Starting Duncan, Richard Jefferson, George Hill, Ginobili, Parker. Subs McDyce, Matt Bonner, DeJuan Blair, Keith Bogans, Garnett Temple, Roger Mason, Ian Mashinmi.
All right! Except for the starting five, which is quite strong, there is no strong man on the bench at all. The strongest Matt Bonner and McDice are just players like Ariza and Vujasic. When you play well, you can be a starter, and when you play badly, you are a water cooler keeper.
GDP is already old, especially Duncan, who is ten years older than Wu Di. Although he is not very old in his early thirties, as soon as he turns 30, his form basically begins to decline. This is also why Garnett wants to go to the Celtics to form a Big Three relationship, which is why Gasol is willing to come to the Lakers.
Technical interior players like Duncan and Gasol are not bad, and they don't rely on their bodies to play, so they prolong their prime. However, Duncan is different from others, he does not fight very fiercely in order to prolong his career. This makes Duncan a little less dangerous than other super interior players, because he doesn't fight hard for a game.
On April 19, the first game between the Lakers and Spurs began.
The Zen master's rotation strategy worked, and Kobe Bryant and Gasol were both physically strong.
Spurs faced an energetic Big Three and had no power to fight back at all. Wu Di kept breaking through the Spurs' interior line, and the Spurs couldn't defend Wu Di alone. Although George Hill got rid of the injury, his body is still not strong, and the average defensive No. 3 position is not bad, but the defense of Wu Di is completely impossible.
And more critically, the Spurs did not have a three-point shot, Ginobili and Parker's three-point shots were not accurate, and George Hill was also closely defended by Wu Di, so he had no chance to shoot three points at all. But the Lakers made a lot of three-pointers, hitting six three-pointers in the first quarter, leading the Spurs by seven points.
The Lakers' rotation lineup in the second quarter is still strong, and as in the regular season, Wu Di and Kobe Bryant took turns to lead the team, ensuring that the Lakers' offensive power is not weakened. And the Spurs' rotation is also much weaker than the Lakers, and the Lakers' defenders are constantly rotating on the court, limiting several strong players of the Spurs at all times, so that they cannot play.
This is the gap in the lineup, and if the Spurs want to make up for the gap, they need to rely on a strong touch. However, no one in the Spurs has a rebellious touch today.
After losing the first game, the Spurs figured out a way to win the second game. Popovich thought of some tactics, but when the second game began, he found that they were useless at all. Tactics need people to execute, and the players who execute tactics can't play tactics, and even the best tactics are useless.
The state of GDP in recent years has not been very good, or their state has fluctuated greatly. A few years ago they might have been able to compete with the Lakers now, but not now.
Poor tactical execution made Popovich very angry. He threw a tantrum in the locker room at halftime, but that didn't stop the Spurs from losing. After being scolded, the state of GDP is much better. They are old friends with Popovich and know Popovich's temper very well, and if they don't do anything more, Popovich will continue to scold them.
GDP is more contribution, but their state is really not good. And the Lakers' Big Three are in great shape, they have home-court advantage, and with Kobe Bryant and Gasol having sufficient physical strength, even if they exert more strength, it will be in vain.
The two sides changed ground and fought again, heading to San Antonio.
When it came to the home stadium of the Spurs, the Spurs fans kept cheering for the Spurs, hoping that the team could win.
With home-court advantage, Spurs play with much more passion. GDP began to cooperate continuously, and in the first half, it led the Lakers by more than ten points. In the second half, Kobe Bryant showed his strong psychological quality, playing Ginobili in a row, and constantly chasing the score.
Wu Di also showed the potential of a superstar, constantly running out of the open position outside the three-point line, and made three three-pointers in a row to overtake the score. In the fourth quarter, the time for the decisive victory came, Wu Di and Kobe Bryant covered each other, and whoever had the opportunity would attack. Finally, with three minutes left in the game, the score was stretched to double digits.
GDP made a final effort, but still couldn't overtake the score, losing a home game.
After the game, Popovich surprisingly didn't lose his temper, and he understood that it was impossible to win against the Lakers. So he just warned the players to make a final effort and not to be swept by the Lakers.
There was a change at the start of the fourth game, and Gasol broke out at the beginning of the game. He had a very good hand today, constantly playing your singles Richard Jefferson. Richard Jefferson couldn't stop Gasol, and Duncan immediately went over to change guards to block Gasol's attack.
The two superstars are facing off, Duncan is still very threatening to Gasol, and Duncan's all-round ability allows him to defend Gasol one-on-one.
However, Richard Jefferson against Bynum will still be abused. Bynum beat Richard Jefferson and continued to wreak havoc on the Spurs' interior. Popovich immediately replaced Richard Jefferson with McDyce to strengthen the interior defense.
However, after replacing Richard Jefferson, the Spurs' interior offense is much worse, lacking the interior and can only rely on the outside to impact the basket. Wu Di and Kobe's defense limited George Hill and Ginobili, and they could only rely on Parker to attack.
Parker slammed into a basket and began to lose his strength. By the time it came time to rotate in the second quarter, the Spurs' offense seemed to have gone wrong, and the Spurs scored only 16 points in the entire second quarter. The Lakers, on the other hand, scored 34 points in the second quarter, 18 more than the Spurs.
It's a huge hole, and the Spurs spent the second half working on it. In the end, they didn't add to the pit.
The Spurs suffered a sweep, and the Spurs fans were very angry. They didn't expect the team they had always supported to become so weak, and the Spurs needed fresh blood.