The Lakers fought seven games to reach the semifinals after beating the Nuggets, where they met the Clippers.

This is the third time in four seasons that the Clippers have met the Lakers in the playoffs since the two sides met in the first round in 2010.

The previous record of the two sides was a draw of one win and one loss, and the winning side won the final championship.

It is not impossible to say that the duel between the two sides is an early championship battle.

Especially in 12 years, the Lakers and the Clippers fought in the West finals, and if the Lakers could win the Clippers in the West finals last year, they could beat the Cavaliers and win the championship in the finals.

However, there is no what ifs in history, 13 years, the strength of the Lakers still exists, and the state before the start of the playoffs is obviously not as good as last season.

And the Clippers swept the Jazz in the first round, and they were very well prepared from physical fitness to mental state.

In this round of the series, Min Congda has paid unprecedented attention, and according to his available information, there are many contradictions within the Lakers.

The hidden contradiction between Kobe and Paul, once completely detonated, is likely to lead to the disintegration of the team's lineup.

Even, it could lead to management turmoil, and in the years when Buss Sr. just died, it was the most unstable time for the Lakers.

Just like those dynasties, after the death of the founder, the second generation to take over the country is the most dangerous, and the second generation dies accidentally.

Even if they hold the country, the succession process is often full of intrigue, blood, and killing.

From a national dynasty to a corporate team, they all follow this law.

Starting a business is easy to keep a business, and heirs have to face many crises, especially in the first year.

The Bass family could sense the danger, so they chose to side with Chris Paul at the crucial moment after the sixth game.

After all, Paul is younger and can maintain his fighting power for the next five to six years, and Kobe's career has entered the countdown.

Of course, the Lakers are not all in favor of Paul, like Jeanie Buss is a staunch supporter of Kobe.

She is different from Jim Buss, Jenny Buss joined the team's operations when Buss Sr. bought the Lakers in '79, and she has experienced the Lakers' decades of glory firsthand and has a deep affection for the team.

If she had been a boy, Old Bass would have given Jeanne full control of the team.

On the contrary, although Jim Bass is a boy, he has preferred baseball since he was a child, and he still wears his baseball cap everywhere he goes.

In terms of affection for the Lakers, and how much he loves basketball, Jim Buss is not as good as Jenny.

But Jim has the support of a cadre of management personnel led by Kupchak in the team.

And Jeanie Buss is mainly supported by her best friend, as well as veterans like Rambis, who currently have little influence within the Lakers.

In this case, Jenny is very sober on Kobe's side, because she knows that Kobe is still the Lakers' biggest sign.

But Kobe's performance is really unsatisfactory, do you expect Kobe to play against the sky in the second round and help the Lakers advance?

To be honest, Jenny Buss is not sure at all, and the whole league knows how strong the Clippers are right now.

If Aunt Jenny is 30 years younger, she must dedicate herself to finding Min Congda and letting his Clippers be merciful and not make the Lakers too ugly.

However, Min Congda now wants to beat the Lakers ugly in order to create civil strife among the Lakers.

During the period when the Clippers were resting and preparing for the game, Min Congda rarely participated in the Clippers' training throughout the whole process.

It's been a long time since he's been on the sidelines watching the team train, and since he's been a six-game coach and he's been cutting himself off, he's not paying much attention to the players' training and tactics.

But the Clippers players all know that Min Congda has a keen eye, a clear mind, and a high sensitivity to basketball tactics, and he gives people a very strong sense of oppression when he watches everyone training on the sidelines.

Because everyone is worried that they will be seen by Min Congda when they make mistakes.

Like Anthony Davis, who has no previous experience, the basketball talent of Min Congda has always existed only in the legends around him.

But in the past two days, Anthony Davis has really experienced what it means to be afraid of being dominated by talent.

Min Congda sat on the sidelines, almost knowing every move of the players, everyone who ran wrong, who did not move actively, who missed people, who did not run out of offensive tactics, he could almost point out the first time.

As a result, the pressure on everyone during training is quite high, and they are all highly focused and dare not make mistakes, and mistakes are pointed out immediately.

Although Min Congda will not reprimand anyone, it is really embarrassing to be pointed out like this, and the training atmosphere in the Clippers team is like this.

Anthony Davis has been called multiple times in a row defensively, and some of his options have been problematic in his strategy.

Of course, Min Congda is not a rigid regression dogma, believing that in some cases, it must be done.

He has a demo picture in his head, and after the calculation of his eyes and brain, he can always find a relatively optimal solution.

As soon as the player fails to achieve the optimal solution calculated in his mind, he has to remind Davis that Davis has been ordered many times and is a little anxious.

"Mr. Smart, do I really have that many problems with my defensive positioning?"

"Yes, you do have some problems with your position, but your reach and mobility make up for it. This shows that you still have a lot of room for improvement. ”

Anthony Davis didn't speak, but he was a little unconvinced, he graduated from the University of Kentucky, and he was arguably the best defensive player in that class.

This season, he has played very good statistics in a short playing time, averaging 11.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.

He can even have a place in the selection of the defensive lineup.

Usually Mr. Smart doesn't say anything and doesn't participate in team training.

Why have you suddenly been so diligent in training recently, and you're still pointing fingers.

Mike Malone, who is the defensive coach, can see that Anthony Davis is a little frustrated.

During the break, he came over to comfort Davis and said, "It's okay, training is a process of accepting criticism and constantly improving." ”

Anthony Davis said, "But... I felt as if I was worthless under his criticism. ”

Mike Malone said: "Who said you are useless? Mr. Smart didn't say that you are gifted with your reach and athleticism. ”

“……”

Davis was puzzled: "Then those choices of mine, are there really problems?" ”

Malone has always been a coach who is good at encouraging young players, but this time he had to say: "Anthony, I have been watching you train with Mr. Smart for the past two days, and I want to say that every problem that Mr. Smart pointed out is correct. There are even some problems that I can't see, and I need to watch the video afterwards to find out. He pointed out those problems, not that you didn't do well, but that Mr. Smart is very demanding of you, and he demands you according to the standard of perfection, you understand? ”

Anthony Davis nodded, if a professional defensive coach like Mike Malone says that, it must be his own problem.

And Mike Malone was also amazed in his heart, Smart Min's tactical acumen can be so high, his brain is simply a simulation of the sand table.

He thought to himself, sure enough, it was the playoffs, and Mr. Smart was strict with everyone.

In fact, Min Congda did this because he was worried that everyone would have a big break, and when the time comes, the first game will overturn like the Jazz in the first round.

In order not to let everyone roll over, he must keep the tension in the team and instruct Tyronn Lue to play the Lakers in the second round and go all out!

Tyronn Lue doesn't quite understand why he has to beat the Lakers in the second round, in fact, the Lakers will not be the opponent of the Clippers this year.

Min Congda said to Tyronn Lue: "This year will be a big turning point as the Clippers overtake the Lakers to become the most popular team in Los Angeles. So meeting the Lakers in the semifinals is a great opportunity for the Clippers. There's nothing like completely crushing your opponent in a series, creating the most striking contrast and surpassing them. ”

Although Min Congda only told half the truth, his real purpose is to break the current rule of the Lakers Buss family and create conditions for the Lakers' rebirth, but from the moment, from the perspective of the Clippers, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.

Let's say the Lakers don't make the playoffs, but just enter a cyclical trough, such as Gasol leaving, Kobe Bryant getting old, and the Lakers entering the lottery zone to start a new round of cycling.

Then there will still be many die-hard fans who are willing to follow the Lakers through this low period, and are willing to watch the Lakers start from the draft, re-develop superstars little by little, and form a championship team.

That's what's so appealing about the NBA game, slipping from the top, starting from scratch, back to the top, and then repeating itself.

But Paul's arrival made the Lakers survive and even gave fans hope of winning the championship.

As a result, in the face of rising upstarts and being defeated one after another, the feeling is completely different.

There's nothing like beating your opponent outright in a series to shake the scales in the hearts of fans.

Tyronn Lue quickly understood Min Congda's intentions, and the Clippers wanted to use a hearty and unsuspenseful victory to prove who is the real king of Los Angeles!

On May 6, Los Angeles, Staples Center, the first game of the playoffs semifinals, the Clippers at home, the Clippers vs the Lakers.

The Lakers, who had only rested for two days, dragged their tired bodies and began their journey to the semifinals.

Of course, the Lakers still put down their words before the game, and they will go all out to win this round.

Chris Paul said, "Fitness is not an issue, and it's common in the NBA to grab seven and then go to the next round. In the playoffs, you have to adapt to the intensity of the playoffs, and playing continuously helps us to maintain our form. ”

Paul is right, the playoffs are often prone to big breaks, and taking too long a break is sometimes not a good thing.

But Paul didn't know that during the preparation for this series, the Clippers had already made a series of targeted arrangements for Paul.

Min Congda didn't just mobilize before the game and put a little pressure on everyone, he rarely participated seriously in the team's tactical arrangement.

The Clippers coaching staff also felt that Min Congda was unprecedentedly serious, and even Min Congda didn't bother to care about the finals last year.

The coaching staff agreed that it must have been Mr. Smart who foresaw the strategic significance of this series, and that everyone had to win, and they had to win beautifully.

After discussing the routine, the basic strategy given by the Clippers is that the defensive system will go all out against Paul and carry out a comprehensive defensive encirclement of him.

At the same time, in the offense, in response to Paul's disadvantage in height, targeted big and small blows, from both physical and mental aspects, to destroy the important point of the Lakers.

As for Kobe, Min Congda believes that with Kobe's current state, normal defense is fine, and Kobe Bryant can no longer kill a team by himself like he did in his prime.

The game started at 7 p.m. sharp, with the start of the two sides unchanged from the regular season, with the Los Angeles derby trilogy underway.

In the opening jump shot, the Clippers took the lead, and Gaso Jr. dialed the ball to Curry to launch the first offense of the series.

The Clippers' offensive routine at the beginning of the game was quite cautious, with high block and pick-and-roll, Gasol Jr. cutting and receiving the ball outside, and playing and cutting to cooperate.

Without Harden in the starter, the Clippers' passing is much less imaginative and richer than before, and more emphasis is placed on Randolph's role in the low post.

Randolph got stuck in the low post to ask for the ball, the Lakers defense closed in, and Gasol Jr. gave it to Leonard.

Leonard paused with the ball, went inside, and gave it to George, who passed the ball to Curry.

Curry used the gap to drill into the three-second zone and finally threw a shot, but missed it due to Paul's interference.

This offense can be seen that there is one less organizational point, and the Clippers' offense is much more dull.

But after the shot missed, the Clippers retreated quickly, and did not give Paul a chance to play a quick counterattack at all.

Paul had the ball across the halfway court, just past the halfway line, and Curry began to lead the defense and aggressively made a steal.

Paul's ball is certainly not so easy to grab, but Curry's defense is not so bad.

Curry's defensive problems are that the lateral movement is not enough, and the second is that the prediction is very average, and then as a point guard, the versatility of defense on the court is naturally limited.

After all, it is more difficult for him to dunk, let alone to make up for defense and block.

But if you're just motivated to defend dogfights, Curry won't be too bad.

For the confrontation with Paul, Curry was already very energetic, and since Mr. Smart asked to bite Paul to death, Curry certainly would not let it go.

Moreover, Curry dared to actively grab, even at the expense of giving up his defensive position and pressing desperately.

Because he has a strong defensive team behind him.

Paul was very uncomfortable defended by Curry and almost missed on offense.

In the end, the ball went out of bounds, and it was the Lakers who had the ball.

"FxxK, you have the ability to guard me like this all the time, boy."

While waiting for the courtside serve, Paul muttered, clearly unhappy with Curry's mad dog defense from the start.

But Curry said, "Not for a whole game, but for a whole series, I'm going to guard you like that, Paul." ”

(End of chapter)