429. Still holding grudges
"Crying Superman. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biqugeγ infoβ
"It's dangerous on Earth, it's all Mr. Z, it's all ruthless people, you better go back to your planet and cry."
"We have the Whiteside ......"
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The Staples Center was full of fans holding signs, all aimed at Howard.
If the Lakers' record last season did not surpass the Rockets much, it is not good to say that their own team will play better without Howard, after all, after the All-Star in the 12-13 season, Kobe and Howard still played a very good two months together, and Kobe, who was in good form in the second half of the 12-13 season, replaced Whiteside, and the Lakers' record last season may not make any difference.
But this season is different, the Lakers' record is crushing the Rockets, the Lakers have the league's No. 1 frontcourt group, and they can be very proud to taunt Howard.
In fact, it was ridiculed enough last season, but now it can be more unscrupulous.
For Howard, most of the Lakers' players don't like it, they don't feel anything.
Except for Kobe Bryant, who holds a grudge, Gasol, who was squeezed to the bench by Howard, and Nash, who can't play well with Howard, everyone else on the Lakers' current roster feels average about Howard, and they don't like or hate it.
Most of the Lakers' players came after Howard left, except for Kobe, Gasol, Nash, Thackeray, and Liu Ren.
Thackeray couldn't play at the time, the last rookie in 12 years, the team's internal contradictions had nothing to do with him, and Liu Ren was the same, and at the end of the 12-13 season, he used Howard to attract defense and brush up a lot of statistics, and then mixed up with the fame, so it's not annoying.
Counting Liu Ren's memories of his previous life, he can't say that he is very disgusted with Howard, he just doesn't like his attitude towards the game.
However, Liu Ren also agrees with Howard...... Happy, people just want to be happy.
The Rockets beat the Lakers, one is the home team of domestic fans, and the other is the most popular team in China, how can such a game not be broadcast on the imperial court.
It's the big bald head again: "Welcome to watch today's Los Angeles Lakers home game against the Houston Rockets, I am the guest commentator Yu Jia, today I am partnered with the famous basketball commentator Su Qunsu teacher, the Lakers are temporarily ranked first in the West, the Rockets are ranked fourth in the West, the difference in strength between the two teams I personally think it is not as big as the record seems, I think today will be a fierce game, the first few times Howard returned to the Staples Center played well, I would like to ask Mr. Su what he thinks about today's competition. β
"I think the Lakers have a clear advantage, first of all, playing at home, Howard's performance is very emotional, and he loves face, which I believe everyone knows, you can see that he is smiling all the time today, you can see that his mentality has been affected."
"Mr. Su is right," Yu Jia made a decisive slap, "Today, the Lakers' home court is full of fans against Howard, and the audience was booed when he entered the stadium just now, but he was still laughing, obviously to prove to the Lakers how happy he is." So in terms of strength, Mr. Su analyzes what is the gap between the two teams, and the record will be so different. β
"The main thing I think is the coach, both teams are led by superstars, the Lakers are Kobe, Liu Ren, Gasol, the Rockets are Harden and Howard, of course, the Lakers are stronger than the Rockets in terms of other stars, the Lakers have too many young stars, but I personally think this is not the main reason, if the Rockets are coached by Popovich, the record is definitely not what it is now. The Lakers and the Rockets are both very deep teams, but the two teams employ completely different personnel, the Lakers are almost all 10-man rotation, except for LaVine and Henry, who have very little playing time, everyone else has a lot of playing time, even Clarkson, a rookie, has recently played as a starter, and Nash can almost have a quarter of playing time when he plays, while the Rockets often rotate 8 people, many players played well in the last game, and they can't play in the next game. β
"Yes, that's right, so in terms of player strength, what do you think, Mr. Su?"
"The overall strength of the players is undoubtedly stronger on the Lakers' side, which is recognized by everyone in the NBA, the Lakers have too many talents, even the veteran Gasol seems to have a new life this year, don't look at him only averaging 13 points, 7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, but he has nearly 5 assists! And he only averaged 23 minutes per game, and he did a better job than Howard in terms of winning. Howard's performance in the face of tall centers is relatively sluggish, depending on the performance of Harden today, Harden is the key to determining the Rockets' ceiling. β
"Mr. Su's analysis is very reasonable, hey, the game is about to start, let's focus on the ...... of the game first"
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The atmosphere on the Rockets' side is very solemn, they are fiercely competing with the Clippers for the fourth record, and they are at a disadvantage, only because the Rockets are the first in the Southwest Division, they stay in the fourth place, and the Clippers are very dissatisfied with this, because the Trail Blazers' record is only the same as the Clippers, and the Rockets are still one less win than the Clippers.
In the eyes of the Rockets, it is difficult to surpass the Trail Blazers and Warriors, and it is basically impossible to surpass the Lakers, whose goal with 40 regular season games remaining is to retain the fourth place.
But this to keep the fourth place is to really have a fourth record, otherwise even if they end up in the fourth place in the West, but the record is worse than the Clippers, even if the Clippers are fifth, the Clippers still have a home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
And the atmosphere on the Lakers' side is very relaxed, the Lakers have not lost to the Rockets in the past two years, and the Rockets were played at the beginning of the season.
As the game was about to start, Bryant stepped up and said to his teammates who took this game seriously: "Today's game is very important, and the Rockets are likely to be the opponent we will meet in the second round of the playoffs." β
Kobe Bryant stopped as he spoke, looking at his teammates in front of him, and the atmosphere of this group of young players was very relaxed.
Apparently the Lakers players are proud again.
Kobe continued: "I know, what you think is that the Rockets' record is only fifth in the West, and being in fourth place is just luck to take advantage of the first place in the division, maybe the Spurs and Pelicans catch up and they will fall to sixth or seventh." β
The Lakers players are listening to Kobe Bryant, Kobe does speak to their hearts, in their opinion, the Rockets have only two endings, because the Trail Blazers and Warriors are better than them, and they either meet the Clippers in fourth place or fall down.
Hit the Clippers, and the rockets ...... Lakers players think it's funny to think about it, and the Rockets have been abused twice by the Clippers this year.
At this moment, Kobe Bryant changed his expression, not so gentle, but with a hideous face: "Now you little bunnies listen to me!" Whoever doesn't try to get the other side down in this game will fuck me off! I'll let him be traded tomorrow! Hassan, you give me Howard to death! β
This group of young people originally thought that Kobe Bryant was just going to preach and preach to them not to be careless, but they were frightened by Kobe's sudden roar.
Depend on! Kobe still remembers his grudge against Howard!
"Yes!"
The Lakers players hurried to warm up and find the feel of the shot.
While asking the team trainer to stretch himself, Liu Ren looked at Kobe Bryant, who was discussing the game with Nash, Green, Gasol, Antetokounmpo, and Clarkson, as well as head coach D'Antoni and assistant coach Bickerstaff, and felt that he had to be careful to be watched!
Kobe Bryant's grudge Liu Ren has seen it many times, but I didn't expect Kobe Bryant to remember the feud that has been connected for nearly two years this time so clearly, it seems that he can't continue to offend for the time being!
Kobe's roar was a success, Liu Ren saw the changes in his teammates, if the teammates before this were like a group of ruffians who hadn't stolen anything for a long time, then now they are a group of brutal and vicious bandits......
The non-organizational players are also discussing something.
"Robert, Hassan, kill that jolly crybaby on the other side in a moment!" Nick Young said.
If there is any player who joined the Lakers after Howard left in 13 years, it must be Nick Young, Clarkson, McCollum, Henry, LaVine, who grew up watching Kobe.
Unlike Liu Ren, they have not received any favors and stains from Howard, and they returned to the Lakers because Howard left and the team was about to collapse.
Now these people are playing much better than when Howard was there, and they can vent their displeasure with Howard wantonly.
However, Nick Young has been unlucky lately, injuring his elbow while resting two days ago, and actually cracked his bone, and he will have to rest for nearly a month.
Fortunately, the Lakers now have Korver, which can rest Nick Young in the regular season.
Everyone knows that Nick Young is a big player in the playoffs, and he is very important to the Lakers' road to winning the championship, so he went straight to the plaster bandage.
"Kill Howard! Come on, our All-Star Starter Robert! The others also shouted and cheered on Whiteside and Thackeray.
Gasol must not be able to guard against Howard, and Green is too short, so it must be Thackeray and Whiteside, who are taller and taller, to deal with Howard.
Thackeray looked at the group of teammates with a sad look on his face and nodded.
When it comes to the All-Star starters, Thackeray is heartbroken!
Last season, he was selected as an All-Star starter, squeezing Howard off the bench and not making it, and Howard hated him to the core, and he had to go crazy every time he met Howard......
"I'm not Hassan, who can I kill, which star in the west doesn't get mad when he sees me......" Thackeray was tired in his heart......
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Happy Howard was chatting with McHale in a happy appearance, and he didn't want to show a hint of unhappiness in front of Lakers fans and the team he hated the most, wanting to prove how happy he was with the Rockets.
In this game with the Lakers, Howard attaches great importance to it, who can't lose to the Lakers, and wants to get all the previous revenge back! That's the only thing Happy Howard cares about, and as for the rest, it's good to be happy.
Blowing up Gasol, blowing up Whiteside, blowing up Thackeray, that's Howard's goal today.
Since he didn't make it to the All-Star last season, his hatred for the Lakers has deepened, and he hated Thackeray for this, and then he was repeatedly grabbed more rebounds by Whiteside, the NBA's "outcast", and he hated Whiteside, and then this season Gasol was extremely efficient, ranked first on the inside, higher than Anthony Davis, and often people say that Howard is not as good as Gasol, and he hates Gasol again......
Suddenly Howard sneezed, and McHale asked with concern, "You have a cold?" β
"It's okay, it's just that my nose is a little itchy." Howard thought to himself, who is saying bad things about me behind my back?
Howard still thinks of himself as a super center who is a cut above the rest of the league......
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Soon, the game began.
Jump Ball!
The jump ball is a very miserable season for the Lakers, and Gasol is efficient and efficient, after all, he will play at the level of the league's No. 1 center in the Bulls this season, and he will also get honors such as being selected as an All-Star starter, the best team, etc.
But his jumping ball is really average, except for facing opponents who are also not good at bouncing, he can win by his arm span, and he has no way to meet the jumping man.
The Lakers didn't struggle, Howard won the jump ball, and the Rockets attacked first.
Lakers starters: Jeremy Lin, Kobe, Liu Ren, Green, Gasol.
Playing Beverley, a point guard at the All-Defensive Team level, D'Antoni feels that it is safer to use Jeremy Lin.
In fact, although D'Antoni promoted Clarkson as a starter, he still took good care of Jeremy Lin, and at the same time regretted that Jeremy Lin seemed to be unable to reach his original peak.
This time against the Rockets, against the team that sent Jeremy Lin away with an almost humiliating trade, D'Antoni still has to give Jeremy Lin a chance to take revenge on the Rockets.
Rockets starters: Beverley, Harden, Ariza, Jones, Howard.
After the Rockets won the jump shot, Beverley advanced with the ball, Howard came to the three-point line to cover, and then went down, and Beverley used the cover to kill the inside.
Green had to come out to delay, Jones took advantage of the situation to cut into a reasonable collision zone, Beverley passed the ball to Jones, Jeremy Lin pounced on the ball, and flew the ball, but he didn't expect it to be in front of Howard, who ran inside after blocking and dismantling, and Howard quickly picked up the ball.
Jeremy Lin almost broke the ball, which was the time difference, and Gasol immediately pounced, resisted Howard, and raised his hands high, trying to use the advantage of his height and arm length to interfere with Howard.
But Howard didn't use any skill at all, and used the impact of rushing into the interior to hit Gasol's chest directly, pushing Gasol away, pulling onions on dry ground, and smashing the ball into the basket.
Gasol is still a little miserable against Howard's type of player, Howard is not cowardly at all when he stands and fights him, but Howard rushes and he can't prevent it.
Although Howard's explosiveness is not as strong as before, the rough technique is still rough, but as long as he rushes up and hits it inside, he can directly put the basket or small throw or even dunk, as long as he hits it enough, he will dunk it directly.
Gasol waved his hands to Bickerstaff and D'Antoni on the sidelines, saying there was no way.
Gasol is not a face-loving person at this age, and he now wants to help Kobe Bryant deal with Howard, since he can't prevent it, then tell the coach directly.
Even if it is replaced by Thackeray, Howard may not be able to play, he can only rely on cooperating with his teammates or secondary offense, and the last thing Howard can play alone is a big center with height and tonnage.
In terms of tonnage, Gasol is not as good as a year, and as he gets older, he needs to lose more weight to maintain flexibility, just like Duncan, the help defense is still excellent, and the individual defense is much worse.
Taking advantage of this wonderful dunk replay, Su Qun commented on the Rocket's goal: "This ball is also considered luck, the ball was just picked up by Howard, but today's Lakers' inside start is also a problem, if it is Whiteside, Howard will be afraid of the opponent's explosiveness, but Gasol, Howard does not have any worries, as long as he crashes away, he can dunk directly, and although the rest of the Rockets seem to be running blindly, they are actually putting defensive pressure on Howard...... Oh, the old and new first quarterbacks are on the right side, wow, Kobe Bryant two plus one......"
Kobe Bryant blew the "gun" in his hand, full of domineering, and the fans at the scene were originally silent because of Howard's dunk of the ball, but now they began to cheer loudly again.
Slow-motion replays footage of Kobe Bryant hitting Harden in the low post and causing a foul.
After Howard scored, the slow motion was replaying, but the replay was replayed, the game did not have a dead ball, it was still going on, just when Su Qun explained the offense, the Lakers quickly counterattacked, played the transition section, and the Rockets returned to defense in time, but the person who defended Kobe Bryant changed from Beverley to Harden.
Bryant holds the ball low on the left side of the basket with his back to Harden.
Harden deserves to be a player with the strength of competing for the first quarterback, and he is very good in terms of strength, and he was able to withstand Kobe's back impact, just retreated a little, and immediately pushed back.
Kobe Bryant has long known that Harden is strong, and Kobe Bryant's strength is not necessarily Harden's opponent after losing weight now, but Kobe Bryant is a technical player, and his back technology league is second to none.
Harden immediately wanted to move his feet when he saw this, but Harden immediately retracted it, he didn't believe that Kobe Bryant turned around so directly, it must be a feint!
But that's how Kobe Bryant turned around and cut over!
Harden hurriedly followed.
The young man's pace was much faster than Kobe's, blocking Kobe, but Kobe Bryant had already stepped into the three-second zone with half a foot.
Bryant turned his back to Harden again and turned to the baseline.
This time, Harden immediately moved his feet to follow, but Kobe Bryant really faked this time, immediately retracted his body, turned over and threw a jumper!
Seeing this, Harden screamed badly, jumped up and stretched out his hand to interfere, but only touched Kobe's elbow, the ball fell steadily into the basket, and the referee's whistle sounded immediately, 2+1!
Liu Ren saw Kobe Bryant's action of playing Harden in the low position, and he was so greedy, this thing looks simple, but there are really few people who can use it so easily.
Bryant made a good free throw, and the Lakers led 3-2.