Currently, the Chicago Bulls' record is 24 wins and 25 losses. Although the winning rate is less than half, among the Eastern Conference teams, it is a record that can enter the playoffs.
But the current situation of the Chicago Bulls is similar to that of the Lakers. Rose has been confirmed to be out for the season, and another leading player Luol Deng is also recuperating from an injury. Boozer, one of the two interior towers, was also injured in the last game. This is equivalent to three out of the five starters. That leaves Noah and Jimmy Butler.
Coach Thibodeau had no choice but to mention Dunleavy, Hinrich and Gibson to the starting position. Although the ability of these three people to be a starter is a bit weak, each one has richer game experience than the other, and they are already much better than the Lakers' starters.
For the Lakers, Nash recently returned and formed a backcourt with Zhang Guan; Wesley Johnson started as the forward; first-year rookie Ryan Kelly and second-year Sacre have become the backbone of the Lakers' interior. If Zhang Guan is not considered, the Lakers' starters among all teams are also at the "old, weak, sick and disabled" level.
On the bench, Augustin is the only player the Bulls can count on, while for the Lakers, Kaman and Jordan Hill, who have just returned from injury, are barely available.
For the Bulls, this is the last of six consecutive away games, and all six away games are in the Western Conference, so the Bulls have already entered a period of exhaustion. It can be seen from the opening performance that the Bulls are in poor condition, and their first four attacks have all failed.
As for the Lakers, this was their first game after returning to their home court, and it was also Zhang Guan's first stop after joining, so the first three offenses were handed over to Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan lived up to expectations, breaking through twice and making a pull-up jumper, scoring 6 points in a row.
The game lasted two and a half minutes before the Bulls scored two points with Gibson's jumper. Then Nash's pass assisted Zhang Guan to hit a three-pointer, turning the score into 9-2. ,. Zhang Guan scored nine points in the opening game.
But anyone who understands can see that the Lakers' nine points were all due to Zhang Guan's personal ability. Only Nash's pass was barely cooperation.
Even the commentator on the court said: "Although the Lakers' first four offenses all scored, there was no trace of any tactical arrangements. They were all Zhang Guan's singles. This kind of singles may work temporarily. But if the Bulls strengthen their personal defense against Zhang Guan, the effect of singles play will be greatly reduced."
Another commentator next to him said: "I think this is very consistent with the Lakers' style of play. In the past, nearly one-third of the Lakers' offense relied on Kobe's singles. Now they just replace Kobe. It’s just Zhang Guan. And currently, it seems that Zhang Guan’s shooting percentage is very good.”
On the court, Dunleavy assisted Noah and scored two points. For the Lakers, Nash once again passed the ball to Zhang Guan. This time Zhang Guan did not score, but he made two free throws.
Bulls head coach Thibodeau finally couldn't sit still. He called a timeout, then called Jimmy Butler to his side and gave detailed instructions.
After the game restarted, Butler's defense against Zhang Guan improved to a higher level. As soon as Zhang Guan got the ball, Butler immediately followed up and did not give Zhang Guan a chance to play the ball.
The Bulls' defensive efficiency has not decreased after Luol Deng was injured, mainly because Jimmy Butler has developed first-class defensive skills. Coach Thibodeau is originally a coach who is obsessed with defense, and Jimmy Butler, a player with all-round abilities, has gradually become the top wing defensive player in the NBA under Thibodeau's training. Being able to enter the NBA's second defensive team for two consecutive years is enough to prove Jimmy Butler's excellent defensive ability.
In order to deal with Butler's defense, Zhang Guan began to increase his movement without the ball.
…
"Whoosh!" The basketball flew directly in front of Zhang Guan's hand. Zhang Guan grabbed the ball and made a jump shot. Butler came up to block the shot, but it was already a step too late. The ball had already been released, turned into an arc, and fell into the basket.
"Two points! Wonderful pass!" The commentator did not praise Zhang Guan, but first praised Nash's pass.
Zhang Guan is indeed running without the ball, but Zhang Guan's running is not a tactical running. Since Zhang Guan joined the Lakers, he has not practiced with the team, let alone adapted to the tactics. Therefore, Zhang Guan can only move based on his own feelings rather than according to the arrangements of the tactical system.
At this time, Nash's value was reflected.
Nash is undoubtedly one of the strongest assisters in NBA history. Unlike other point guards, Nash's passing is to find the ball instead of the person. Half of the point guards need their teammates to follow the tactical arrangement and run out of position before passing the ball, but Nash can find the ball no matter where his teammates are.
So even if Zhang Guan is not integrated into D'Antoni's tactical system, Nash's pass can still find Zhang Guan at the right offensive time.
Nash needs a teammate with outstanding offensive ability, such as Stoudemire, whose offensive ability is much better than his defensive ability. Only players who are good at offense will not waste Nash's assists.
This season's Lakers team only has a bunch of old, weak, sick and disabled players left. No matter how beautiful Nash passes, it's useless if he can't make a shot. Therefore, Nash's assists per game have dropped by half compared to when he was in the Suns.
Of course, Zhang Guan would not waste Nash's assists. Nash passed the ball four times, Zhang Guan scored three, and provided three assists for Nash. At this time, Nash also felt that Zhang Guan's offensive efficiency was much better than that of the "old, weak, sick and disabled" Lakers team, and he was more and more willing to pass the ball to Zhang Guan.
The Lakers' offense has completely become a matter of Zhang Guan and Nash. The other three players can hardly even touch the ball and have all become coolies. However, they have no complaints. They are originally substitutes, and when the team boss is on the court, they should also be honest laborers.
Coach Thibodeau of the Bulls is also a well-known coach in the NBA. He has already seen that Zhang Guan's running position is more like running wherever he sees the open space. There is no tactical coordination at all, but Nash's passing is always good. Zhang Guan can be found. Jimmy Butler's defense has worked hard enough, but when faced with Zhang Guan's blind running, he was always half a beat too slow.
With four minutes left in the first quarter, the score between the two sides was 29 to 16, and the Bulls were already 13 points behind. If Noah hadn't played well, perhaps the Bulls would have fallen further behind.
The rotation lineups of both sides began to appear one after another. The Bulls were short of manpower and only replaced Hinrich with DJ Augustin, while the Lakers successively replaced the new twin towers of Kaman and Jordan Hill, and then replaced Blake and Marshall replaced Nash and Zhang Guan.
"D'Antoni, that old fox!" Coach Thibodeau cursed in his mind when he saw the Lakers' substitution.
Everyone knows that the Bulls are short of people inside. After Boozer was injured, only Noah was left struggling to support him. D'Antoni also identified this weakness of the Bulls and first asked Thackeray, a coolie, to fight with Noah, and then replaced him with the experienced Kaman and the strong Jordan Hill.
Thibodeau did not make any more substitutions. Except for Hinrich, the other four starters all played the entire first quarter.
What is unexpected is that Kaman, who came off the bench, was in very good condition. In the last four minutes of the first quarter, he scored 8 points on 4 of 5 shots and also sent out an assist, becoming the Lakers' second scoring point. .
After the second quarter started, Kaman continued to stay on the court. He still maintained his excellent condition, making three of five shots in six minutes and grabbing four rebounds.
Kaman's sudden outburst caught the Bulls off guard. Soon after the start of the second quarter, the score widened to more than 25 points.
"Kaman is in very good condition today. Today is Zhang Guan's first game. Kaman has succeeded in stealing the show!" the commentator said jokingly.
The camera focused on the Lakers bench. Zhang Guan and Nash were talking and laughing, looking very relaxed.
In the second quarter of the game, the Lakers' starting lineup came on again, and the score was once stretched to 30 points. Thibodeau replaced Gibson and Butler on the court again, which stopped the Bulls' bleeding.
Falling behind so much, the Bulls have lost all fighting spirit. After all, they have played five consecutive away games and are full of injured players. You cannot ask them to maintain such high fighting spirit in the sixth away game.
The second half became the time for the Lakers' substitutes to fully perform. Kaman, Jordan Hill and Marshall all played good personal data. Among them, Kaman not only got a double-double, but also set a season high in scoring. Jordan - Hill also had a double-double. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the fact that the Bulls have no one inside.
Substitute point guard Marshall performed exceptionally well today, posting a double-double and even surpassing Nash with 11 assists.
Marshall's assist ability is very strong, but all he has is assists, and his assists are the kind of assists that lack organizational skills. They are assists purely for the sake of assists. At the same time, Marshall's offense and defense have also been criticized by people.
Today's Marshall is still worrying in terms of defense, but his shooting percentage is surprisingly high, especially three-pointers, which is far beyond his usual level. The scoring made up for the deficiencies in defense, and Marshall also got plenty of time in the second half.
The game entered the fourth quarter, and Zhang Guan and Nash did not play at all. After persisting for a while, coach Thibodeau found that there was no hope of chasing points and replaced the main players. The game finally ended in garbage time.
In the end, the Lakers defeated the Bulls 103-88. Zhang Guan made his debut on the NBA stage. Although he only played 20 minutes, he contributed 26 points. But this score is not the highest among the Lakers. Kaman, who played well, scored 27 points, one point higher than Zhang Guan.
Coupled with the previous two consecutive away games, the Lakers actually achieved a rare three-game winning streak.
Lakers fans are quite satisfied with Zhang Guan's performance. 26 points is not an amazing score, but considering that Zhang Guan only played 20 minutes, this score is definitely an outstanding performance. What's more important is that the Lakers won. For the Lakers with a scummy record, winning is more important than anything else.
…
At the press conference after the game, Zhang Guan undoubtedly became the focus of media attention.
"Zhang Guan, you won the first game after entering the NBA. How do you feel?" the reporter asked.
"Of course I'm very happy. For me, this is a good start. We are one step closer to the playoffs!" Zhang Guan said with a smile.
"Zhang Guan, some experts have calculated that if they want to enter the playoffs, the Lakers must win all the games in the regular season!" a reporter immediately reminded.
"Yeah, I heard about it too. Winning 32 games. Look, I've won the first game now. Can't I just win 31 more games? We will definitely be able to do it. Please wait and see." Zhang Guan said with a smile.
…
On February 11, the Lakers ushered in their next opponent at home, the Jazz.
The Jazz's record is even worse than the Lakers, with only 17 wins and 33 losses. In the Western Conference, the Lakers are ranked second to last, and the first to last is the Utah Jazz.
Last season, Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Mo Williams all left the Jazz, and the Jazz officially entered a rebuilding period. The current leading player of the Jazz is Hayward. The reason why it is called "leading player" instead of "leading star" is because the current Hayward is really not even a star.
If a team loses too much, it will forget the feeling of winning, and slowly it will stop winning. This is the current state of the Jazz. From the beginning of the game, the Jazz have been lagging behind and have no desire to catch up with the score. This is true until the end of the game.
Zhang Guan only played until the third and a half of the third quarter before clocking out. Kaman returned to the starting lineup and continued his performance from the previous game, with 25 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. He produced the same data as Dayao.
However, Nash said after the game that he had back discomfort and needed treatment, and may not be able to play in the next game. This is also bad news for the Lakers.
…
After the game, Zhang Guan appeared at the press conference.
"We won another game and are one step closer to the playoffs!" Zhang Guan smiled and continued: "I know that when I joined the Lakers, many people were not optimistic about me and were not optimistic about me. The future record of the Lakers, but facts show that those who are not optimistic about us are wrong. Under my leadership, the Lakers have achieved two consecutive victories!"
The reporters were speechless for a while. Everyone said that Zhang Guan was too shameless.
The Lakers have won the last two games, but don't look at what their opponents are like? The Bulls' injury situation is similar to that of the Lakers, with only eight players available, and they have played five consecutive away games; the Jazz's record is even worse than the Lakers', ranking as the worst team in the Western Conference. I pinched two of the softest persimmons, what can I show off!
"Look at Zhang Guan's triumphant look, he really thinks of himself as the savior of the Lakers!" a reporter muttered.
"He defeated two bad teams, look at how arrogant he is! In the NBA, any team with all-stars can defeat the current Bulls and Jazz!" Another person murmured in a low voice.
Later, a reporter leaned his head over and said: "Let's not talk for now, let him be proud, let him yell, let him be arrogant first! Wait until the next game is over! Then we will see his bitter face!" "
"Next game? Who is the Lakers' opponent?" the reporter in front asked immediately.
"The Lakers' next opponent is the Oklahoma City Thunder, ranked first in the Western Conference! This time, the Lakers will definitely lose!"
I caught a cold after passing the test. I coded this chapter while holding the cold medicine. My head is dizzy. Let’s just finish this chapter today. Ask for a guaranteed monthly ticket. Thanks to jeffreyjoshu for the 10,000-point reward, thanks to Butt Big Priority, My Horse Feeds the Sheep, ____ Nightmare, dongbaihu, Red Civil and Military, Book Club tail number 8187, Duocai Ni, xsf98000, Ban Bie Dang, xsf9800, xinkang88, Bubble 2016 dozen reward!
(End of chapter)