The matchup is the best thing for both the fans and the players.

Although the players played happily in the general game, and the fans on the winning side were also happy, it was never memorable, even if it was a refreshed historical score difference, at most someone could remember how big the score difference was.

And that kind of classic game of strong confrontation can make fans remember.

Not only the fans are excited to see today's game, but the players are also very excited.

Popovich looked at Leonard and Aldridge, who were about to move, and had a little headache, and both became a little agitated after D'Antoni maliciously forced the two to pamper them.

Popovich knew that Leonard was excited when he saw Liu Ren, and the two entered the NBA in the same year, and they were both the best players of the league's top teams, so they would naturally use it as a comparison, and Irving, Thompson, Jimmy Butler and others, all regarded Liu Ren, who was the first to win the regular season MVP, as an imaginary enemy.

Popovich is very entangled, if Leonard has not improved so much this year, it is still the level of the previous two years, there is no need to worry that he wants to fight hard with Liu Ren, Leonard's self-knowledge is still there, or Liu Ren played last season's data performance, Popovich does not have to worry, because Leonard will definitely not be able to play that kind of data, and he will not have the idea of performing with Liu Ren.

However, this year, Leonard has grown into a first-line star in the league with an average of 24 points, 5 boards and 4 assists per game, and Liu Ren has reduced his performance opportunities because of the great growth of the Lakers' young players, and his data has declined, averaging only 21 points, 6 boards and 4 assists per game, which is not as good as Leonard's performance, which gives Leonard the mentality of competing with Liu Ren.

The game between the Lakers and the Spurs starts at 7 p.m. on Jan. 23.

Sure enough, as Popovich expected, Leonard had a strong desire to attack after the start of the game, and faced Liu Ren in singles in a row.

This brought the Spurs' offense to a halt at the start of the game.

To be honest, Popovich himself doesn't think Leonard is a good singles player right now.

Of course, Leonard's hard work and talent are visible to all, and the gradual expansion of offensive means makes him likely to become a top scorer in the next year or two at most.

But by no means now, Popovich's training method for Leonard is gradual, and now the troika still has the strength to fight, and there is no need for Leonard to do too much about offense, so Popovich's main training in the past few years is Leonard's passing strategy and defense, blocking, etc., Leonard's offensive talent has not been fully developed.

This is different from Liu Ren, the Lakers and D'Antoni's coaching staff all regard Liu Ren's offense as the first training point, as for Liu Ren's defense, it is completely self-conscious, if it weren't for Bickerstaff last season, Liu Ren probably wouldn't even be able to learn team defense.

Leonard wants to be one-on-one with Liu Ren, and the Lakers are naturally happy to do so.

Liu Ren was the NBA scoring champion last season, scoring is as simple as eating for him, after D'Antoni gave the information that he can fire freely, as long as Leonard's fighting spirit does not drop, he can fire casually, Liu Ren decisively released all his offensive firepower, outside frame singles, mid-range three-threat shooting, low-post straight-arm O'Neal overlord step small hook, low-post turn to play board throwing, chasing emergency stop jump shot......

Fighting for offense alone, in Liu Ren's opinion, Leonard's offensive skills, awareness, and even experience are not so worth seeing.

Leonard's scoring method is more suitable for cooperating with his teammates, rather than doing it alone, if Leonard doesn't want to show his offensive ability so much, but honestly cooperates with Duncan and Aldridge to block and dismantle offense, Liu Ren will still be a little jealous.

But singles ......

Liu Ren opened the game with a 14-6 score comparison against Leonard.

On the Spurs' side, it was obviously as expected by Popovich's bad premonition, Leonard didn't pass the ball today because he wanted to perform too much, and he simply became Kobe Bryant's No. 2, which was a huge blow to the Spurs.

The Spurs have had the best start to the year in franchise history, losing just nine games when they have won more than 35 games for the first time in franchise history.

can play this kind of record that is almost the best in team history, not by relying on the bright-looking star to play superstar basketball, but by relying on the team to play *** Nader destroyed the Spurs' team play, and their strength plummeted.

The Spurs' "Big Six" is a nice thing to say, but as D'Antoni said, except for Leonard and Aldridge, everyone else is an old man, except for the two youngest, David West, who is almost 36.

This group of old men can still play a considerable role by relying on the Spurs' system to continue their lives, and Popovich's system allows these old men to continue to shine.

And once the Spurs system can't play, Tony Parker and Duncan, the two old men, are about to become negative on the court.

And the Lakers are different, if Liu Ren is determined to go it alone, at most he will return to the style of play in the 13-14 season, anyway, the core players are all those people, Liu Ren is still much stronger than then, and there are more singles means.

The most important thing is that the Spurs don't dare to wrap up, because Kobe's off-ball shooting efficiency is extremely high, Antetokounmpo is crazy to cut once he is let go, Green is on the other side of the basket and Liu Ren is the same distance from the basket ready to receive the ball at any time, and Whiteside is a nightmare for the Spurs who only have elderly Duncan and little defensive interest on the inside.

Leonard and Liu Ren soared for most of the quarter, Leonard only scored 4 points, resulting in the Spurs only scoring 9 points, and the Lakers scored 22 points under the leadership of Liu Ren scoring 14 points in more than half a quarter, and the Lakers started with a surprising 13-point lead.

Originally, Popovich calculated how to deal with the Lakers, and he even calculated the entire process of the game with the Lakers from the beginning to the end, and then how to find the key point of leading for his team in the middle, how to maintain the advantage, or whether to stabilize the rhythm and drag it out to the end to overtake the opponent with morale or break the opponent with an offensive attack...... Wait, wait, Popovich has been planning for today's game for a long time, whether he will become the first imaginary enemy of other teams to put aside, the main thing is to win this game with the Lakers when both sides send their main forces.

However, I didn't expect the Lakers to start from the court, but to give the Spurs a stab from the sidelines......

……

"This ...... What did Greg think about letting Leonard go it alone like this? The opponent is Liu! I admit that Leonard is very good, but he and Liu Bi are not on the same level at all! Do you really think that Leonard's average points per game this year are higher than Liu's, so you think Leonard is better than Liu? Kenny Smith said confusedly.

Kenny Smith was a Spurs player at the beginning of his career, although Popovich was still working as an assistant coach for Larry Brown and Nelson Sr. at that time, but Kenny Smith later went to other teams and still had a good relationship with the Spurs, and he and Popovich have been friends for many years.

"I think Popovich will let Leonard change his style of play right away." Barkley said uncertainly.

"I think so, maybe Greg wants to test Leonard's offensive ability?" Kenny Smith wasn't so sure, then saw O'Neal with displeasure written on his face, and asked strangely, "Shaq, why are you talking so little today?" ”

O'Neill said with a depressed face: "Today, the boss used so many offensive methods, but as a result, the attack taught by the great tutor was only used once, and he has not yet entered. ”

"......" Kenny Smith asked the sky speechlessly, why has this product's commentary salary increased again this year? Isn't it as good as a funny professional knowledge these days?

……

The first official timeout, the Lakers began to make substitutions, Liu Ren continued, or replaced with a point guard with strong air cutting ability, today Clarkson rested, so it was LaVine, replaced with a pitcher outside, replaced by Korver, and the two inside lines were replaced by Gasol and Monroe, which D'Antoni used to air Popovich.

The Lakers' lineup looks sloppy, but both interior lines have strategies, and they both have excellent basket height, and it is not a loss to deal with the Spurs' old man lineup at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.

Before going on the court, Popovich told Liu Ren to be careful of the changes in the Spurs' playing style, Popovich would definitely not let Leonard continue to be willful, and the Spurs' iron discipline was the most difficult place for them to deal with.

Leonard also averaged 4 assists per game this year, a career high, and the organization has improved a lot compared to last season, mainly because the offensive threat in the Spurs system is very large, and he has a lot of opportunities to pass to his empty teammates to get assists.

However, after the timeout, the Spurs attacked first, and after Leonard got the ball in the front court, he saw that Liu Ren did not stick so tightly and shot directly outside the three-point line......