Anxi was really stunned at this time. Tang Shuai had three consecutive balls, like heavy punches one after another, and it hit the same position, directly shattering his defensive confidence. √

After all, he was just a rookie, and the changes in his heart had emerged uncontrollably on his face.

D'Anthony noticed Ancy's emotional change and immediately replaced him with McDaniels, then pulled him to preach on the sidelines.

After Anxi left the game, the game between the two sides immediately became a battle against the offensive. Harden, Guy and Anderson were both masters of scoring points. They fought against the Lakers' double guns, and the scores and scored back and forth, which made the audience excited.

However, the Rockets' lack of defensive end made them at a disadvantage in this offensive battle soon.

Anxi's confidence in being beaten by Tang Shuai was greatly reduced. He hesitated in his defensive movements. He was replaced again and did not have the sharpest defense before, and even Westbrook could not be restrained.

The Lakers slowly widened the gap little by little.

122 to 112, the Lakers maintained their lead until the end of the game. After winning the showdown between the two sides, their winning streak also expanded to 15 times.

With the continuous expansion of winning streaks, the Lakers have reached the extreme in running-in and swinging. No team can stop their winning streaks. Even like the Warriors, they have become the "public enemy" of the league. When facing the Lakers, anyone wants to win through double their efforts and win a morale bonus for themselves.

However, this is obviously not an easy task. The Lakers continued to work hard and won the Bulls and Thunder in the next game, expanding their winning streak to 17 games, a winning streak record that is enough to be recorded in historical tests.

The longest quick record for NBA is 33 consecutive victories, and the second longest winning streak recently was the 27 consecutive victories created by the Heat in 2013. After that, the Rockets, which are well-known as Chinese fans, have won 22 consecutive victories, and the 17 consecutive victories are already tied for seventh in history. After that, as long as they win another consecutive victories, they can push the name further.

Rockets players and fans are united and they have enough confidence.

However, just before the 18th game of the regular season began, a bad news came unexpectedly on the Lakers.

The team's head coach, Billups, was in a serious car accident while driving back to the villa after the game. Five ribs on his chest were broken and his leg bones were severely broken. He had to lie in the hospital for at least more than a month.

This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue, and no one could react. Perhaps no one could figure out that this sudden disaster would come to Billups.

However, when the investigation results of the car accident came out, everyone understood but seemed very sad.

The Lakers are constantly winning streak, in addition to Tang Shuai's magical move and the efforts of Lakers players, they are also inseparable from Billups' coaching.

In fact, Billups, who seems to be as stable as Mount Tai, has no effort in work that most coaches in the league cannot compare with.

Talent can determine a person's lower limit, but cannot determine a person's upper limit. Billups, who seems to be at the peak of his career as soon as he debuted, spent almost most of his time every day in this job, according to what he accidentally said in a chat, when he was not ready to be a coach, he devoted all his energy to his family, and once he decided to be a coach, his position would naturally follow him.

It is precisely because of this working attitude that he was thinking about playing against the Hawks in the next game while driving. This distraction led to the car accident.

Tang Shuai and other Lakers players visited Billups in the hospital. Looking at the coach who was still alive the day before, he was like half a mummy in a blink of an eye. Many players couldn't control their emotions. Like Stephenson, they ran out of the ward and cried.

Tang Shuai's eyes were also red. He knew Billups' working condition best. Now that he has become like this, he feels very sad.

Billups needed to rest, and the team members did not stay in the hospital for too long. After a while of greeting with Billups' wife, they left the hospital.

In fact, they didn't have much rest time, and after a sad night, they boarded a plane to Atlanta the next day to challenge the Hawks.

Billups was injured, and the team's assistant coach Brian Shaw naturally became the acting coach for this period.

In fact, after following Billups to the Lakers for a season, Xiao's growth in coaching ability is obvious to all. At least from the coach who stood on the sidelines at the beginning, he became a part-time tactical coach of the team now.

The team members were convinced from the bottom of their hearts.

But sometimes, being an assistant and being a boss are two completely different concepts, which was fully demonstrated on the first day Xiao became an agent coach.

The Hawks' lineup changes this season are not much compared to before. The biggest change is that Millsep exchanged for Favors.

However, this does not affect Budenholzer's combat system. This direct disciple of Popovich himself plays tactical basketball.

When Xiao faces such an opponent, he also plays tactical cards, hoping to boost the state of the players in the team.

The Lakers are strong because of double guns in the backcourt, and the other points are a little bit offensive. Their independent offensive ability is even a bit weak. Gasol, who was originally stable, is also old and has little playing time. The result can be imagined. This is equivalent to using his own weaknesses to attack others' strengths.

This is like Walton left Cole before, having something he was obsessed with, but more often he just learned a little bit of a fur.

Against the Hawks, the Lakers played a thrilling match with the Hawks with 17 consecutive victories. At the end of the moment, they relied on Tang Shuai's magical swing of 10 points in a row to win the game 1o8 to 1o6.

Although he won, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Lakers felt like they were at the end of their strength.

Sure enough, in the next game against the Cavaliers, the team won a 98-11o 98-11 and finally frozen in 18 games.

In this game, the Lakers players' attacks were very average. Tang Shuai and Westbrook got the highest 2o times and second-highest 18 times. Although they are still the main attack points, this is a big drop compared with the shooting data in previous games.

And this is just the beginning. In the next month, Xiao was constantly trying his tactical system, and the Lakers' record also fluctuated.

The Lakers' record this month is 9 wins and 5 losses, which is not a bad record, but it is obviously much worse than the previous 18 consecutive wins. Moreover, they all lost in their battles with the Warriors and the Celtics, and they all scored a lot.

They also gave up their position in the league list, and even in the West, they had the same record as the Rockets, and they barely maintained their second place in the West by relying on their winning and losing relationship.

After experiencing the incident between Reeves and Walton in succession, Tang Shuai became much more low-key in coaching, and Billups returned to the team in more than half a month, so he almost turned a blind eye.

On December 2o, US time, Christmas is approaching, and citizens from all over the United States are already preparing for Christmas in the new year. The Christmas trees everywhere on the streets also make people feel the festive atmosphere.

Citizens had a rest, but the league did not stop. On that night, the Lakers were at home and faced the challenge of the Timberwolves.

After experiencing the amazing last season, the Timberwolves' performance this season has declined, but they are still ranked fifth in the West so far, and their strength cannot be underestimated.

If it were the Lakers team that had been in the previous winning streak, they would definitely be confident in winning against the Timberwolves. However, after Xiao took charge, not to mention fans, even Lakers players would have greatly reduced their confidence.

Thibodeau started out with defense and still played the defensive card at this time.

To be honest, Xiao has made progress in this area after playing tactics for a month, but this progress has not reached the level of qualitative change, and his tactical system is not enough to break Thibodeau's defensive formation.

The result is that the Lakers players work hard on the field to run, but often they don’t get a good offensive opportunity.

After playing for more than a half quarter, the Lakers were 12 points behind 24-36, and it seemed that they would be a big defeat again.

Moreover, the Timberwolves were eliminated by the Lakers last season. After the leading advantage gradually expanded, the Timberwolves players showed more and more fun on the court.

During an attack, Wiggins did not fall immediately after dunking, but swung back and forth on the basket twice. After landing, he kept smiling at Batum who was defending him.

The referee gave a warning, Wiggins was restrained, but the smile was always there.

Tang Shuai looked at this scene and felt indescribable.

This dunk stopped the Lakers. Xiao shook his head with the tactical board and then arranged it again.

"Russell, your restraint in that position should be deeper. Nicholas, your pick-and-roll should be faster. Don, you run back and forth, intersperse from here, and break through deeper. This will compress the Timberwolves' defensive formation..."

The players listened and nodded intermittently, but many people turned back from time to time to see the scores on the field, and they were already 14 points behind.

Tang Shuai was bored at this time and finally couldn't help it. He directly interrupted Xiao and said, "Coach, our tactics will not work for the Timberwolves. We must bring the pace faster."

Xiao Zheng was talking about tactics, but he was obviously not very happy when Tang Shuai was suddenly interrupted. However, Tang Shuai was the core of the team, so he couldn't say it too directly: "Tang, the game starts soon, we still have time, don't worry, we still have a chance to fight back."

"Coach, I think these complex tactics are really not suitable for the current team." Tang Shuai endured it for so long, and finally couldn't hold it in.

Xiao was stunned.

The other Lakers players were surprised by Tang Shuai's reaction, but they didn't say anything. In fact, what Tang Shuai said was indeed the truth.

"Tang, our tactics have made considerable progress. In a while, we will be able to really grow up." Xiao said after coming back to his senses.

"Maybe your statement is correct, but now we are 14 points behind, and the score is still being further widened, so..." Tang Shuai said, looking straight at Xiao, "We need a new tactic. Giving me the ball is the best tactic." (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!