February 12th, US time, is the third day of the Chinese New Year.
The zodiac sign changes from dragon to snake.
After a short day's rest, the Lakers finally returned to the Staples Center to welcome their 53rd game of the season. After losing to the Miami Heat in overtime in their last game, the Lakers' record became worse and worse.
The danger has turned into 24 wins and 28 losses, and the outside world has even begun to advocate that the Lakers are destined not to make the playoffs this season.
Some extreme people "declared" loudly that, let alone entering this year's playoffs, whether the Lakers can tie the 50% winning rate is a big problem. Kobe Bryant is destined to become the Lakers'
"Historical sinner" and the biggest "promise breaker".
The entire external public opinion has almost become one-sided for the Lakers.
This is uncomfortable and suffocating.
Howard seems to be more honest. After the last game, there was an episode. In order to avoid Tang Qian's "post-game private chat", "Warcraft" left the locker room early and flew back to Los Angeles in advance. So.
He didn't know about Tang Qian's injury at all. After getting off the plane, he saw the news and immediately shouted "misstep". He should have stayed in the locker room and not left.
If you don't leave, you can still prove your courage; if you leave, it will be an outright cowardly act, and your reputation will be completely lost among the Lakers. So when he heard the news that Tang Qian needed to rest, Howard's face was not worried.
Instead, he couldn't hide his joy. This scene made all the Lakers players feel dissatisfied and faintly sad.
Not even willing to do scene work? If such a person becomes the boss of Los Angeles in the future, one can imagine the fate of the Zijin Army.
Being a boss or a leader is not just about being capable.
Ordinary teams don't aim to win the championship, so that doesn't matter, but for the Lakers, doing this will sooner or later make the fans burn out their patience and turn against each other.
Los Angeles fans are the most impatient and careless representatives.
Unless you can do what we did on the 24th and stick to one city for the next 20 years, no matter who you are, including "Shark" O'Neal, who helped Los Angeles win three consecutive championships, you will still boo and run. Now it's out.
The question is, there is Kobe Bryant in front of him. When Kobe Bryant is gone, how long do you think the "happy" mentality of "Warcraft" can be sustained in the city of Los Angeles?
Escape would be a matter of time, once he found that he couldn't bear the spotlight of Los Angeles.
Therefore, after seeing Tang Qian's miraculous return to the team, "Warcraft" Howard was the only one who instantly turned into a bitter man.
This shows how obvious and deep the conflict between him and Tang Qian has become.
Coupled with the conflict with Kobe, Howard is indeed not "joyful" or "happy" enough in Los Angeles.
After the last game, Tang Qian's average blocks per game has risen to 2.9, which is only 0.1 blocks per game behind the first-place Ibaka. In fact, if Tang Qian's playing time in the first half of the season was not too scarce,
, he has already surpassed Ibaka, so there is no need to settle for second place? But this is not what Tang Qian cares about now. Tonight's battle with the Suns is what he focuses on.
Must win.
Because the time later is really tight and there is really not enough.
Before this game, "Different Space" released the "Today in History" challenge task. The challenge data was Theo Ratliff on February 12, 2004. The challenge data was 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Don’t think that Theo Ratliff is an inconspicuous little guy. In fact, he entered the All-Star lineup during his peak period and also won the league’s shot-blocking title three times. He is considered a member of the “Blue-collar All-Star Family”. Like Ai
Fans of Ferson should be familiar with this person. He was later taken over by Uncle Mu, and then gradually faded out of people's sight. And his last stop, coincidentally, was Los Angeles, the Lakers.
This set of data is actually not difficult for Tang Qian. As long as the offense cooperates better with Nash, he can completely surpass this set of data.
Under the will of the Lakers who "cannot afford to lose", the Suns, ranked bottom in the Western Conference, collapsed. They only resisted for less than half a game and entered "garbage time." And Tang Qian also benefited from "garbage time".
"Brushed" a bunch of data. In the end, the Lakers won the 53rd game 101-85. Among them, Nash became the game's top scorer with 19 points, 17 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
Kobe Bryant had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Howard had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks, Gasol had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Tang Qian had 15 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks and 2 blocks.
assists.
In this way, Howard was still "mumbling" after the game, complaining that Mike D'Antoni did not give him more playing time.
In fact, this "complaint" is somewhat unreasonable, because as an older team, the game has been spent, and the head coach has replaced the main player. This is understandable and is a completely normal thing. But Howard is "very unhappy" because
He only played 29 minutes and got this set of data, which shows that he was in hot form tonight and was very likely to break his personal record. But because of Mike D'Antoni, he ultimately failed to "take the next step."
That step".
So the "Happy Beast" is no longer happy.
Of course, Mike D'Antoni chose to ignore such stupid complaints. Are you kidding me? Now that the Lakers are at a critical moment, how can I have time to deal with your "bad things"? Find a way to continue winning.
The thing he cares about most right now.
Otherwise, it’s hard to say whether he can stay in Los Angeles next season.
February 14th is Valentine's Day in the West. On this day, the Lakers have a home game and will face the Los Angeles Clippers in the same city.
At this point in the season, the gap between the Lakers and Clippers has become obvious. The former is still 13th in the Western Conference, while the latter has already reached the fourth position in the Western Conference. And unless something unexpected happens, they have already locked up the Western Conference playoffs.
seats.
On this night, the Staples Center was star-studded and filled with celebrities.
Taylor, Sister Rose, Ajali Ranadive, and Karlie Kloss have all gathered at the scene, but no one will pay much attention to them tonight, because the Staples Center is indispensable for celebrities.
What’s more, tonight, besides them, there are many American singers, movie stars, and celebrities coming to the scene, so at most, it only takes up a few more intermission shots.
Regarding post-game invitations, Tang Qian rejected them all, not because he was unkind, but because he really didn’t want to be distracted tonight. The Los Angeles Clippers are very, very strong, and under Tang Qian’s
In my memory, in the next few years, they will be a strong team in the Western Conference and a reservation for the playoffs. So this game will not be easy to win.
Kobe also attached great importance to this game, because the "city derby" was still at home, and he did not want to end in failure.
The competitive mentality suddenly arose.
But the Clippers didn't care. Blake Griffin even directly said that the Clippers' current goal is only the playoffs.
This sentence doesn't sound special on the surface, but if you think about it carefully, you can find the problem.
The Clippers' goal is only the playoffs? What about a team that is not in the playoffs? Doesn't it need to be a target? Doesn't it need to be taken seriously? After hearing this, most of the Lakers secretly held their breath.
, because for Los Angeles, the Lakers are the king, and who do the Clippers have? They used to play the role of "study with the prince" all year round. If they want to "turn over and become the master" this year, the Lakers will certainly not agree easily.
The game hasn't even started yet, but there are sparks appearing overtly and covertly.
Both sides are somewhat competitive.
But in the first quarter, it turned into the Clippers' "alley-oop performance" time. Under the instigation of Chris Paul, the whole team played alley-oop, which suddenly made the "old arms and legs"
The Lakers were in a mess, and they were stunned. Especially Blake Griffin, who was not selected from the All-Star starting lineup.
"The culprit".
Damn it, the Lakers are ranked 13th in the Western Conference. Why do they have three All-Star starting spots?
And the most unforgivable thing is... you took my position!
Tonight, just accept my anger!
Tang Qian was sitting off the court. Even so, he also felt a vague sense of "cruelty." He made 9 of 10 shots in a single quarter. Blake Griffin scored 18 points and 5 points in the first quarter with a 90% shooting rate.
1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 block. As an inside player, to get this kind of data in a single quarter without free throws and three-pointers is not unreasonable.
Coupled with Chauncey Billups' two three-pointers, the Clippers scored 31 points in a single quarter, which caught the Lakers a bit off guard. On the Lakers' side, except for Kobe Bryant, who made 4 of 5 shots.
In addition, the shooting percentages of the others were all terrible. Nash made 1 of 3 shots, Ci Shiping made 0 of 3 shots, Gasol made 1 of 2 shots, Howard made 1 of 5 shots, and Jamison made 1 of 4 shots... The rest of them made 1 of 3 shots.
, all the shots missed the Clippers' basket.
17-31 in a single quarter, losing almost half of the points in the first quarter.
Seeing this score difference, Kobe was almost angry, because if he lost again, he would not be able to hold his head high in Los Angeles.
As the king of Los Angeles, he was "defeated" by others in the first quarter. This made Kobe feel angry inside.
Lose, lose, lose... when will it end???
Kobe didn't wait to go back to the locker room this time, and said directly to Howard: "If you can't hit it, pass the ball, okay? Can you pass the ball? Do you understand?" Howard was depressed in this game and was beaten by DeAndre Jordan.
This "pure blue-collar" in his eyes almost lost his job and was "fidgeting alone". When Kobe's words came to him, he became angry and said instead: "Why are you so anxious? If you don't feel good in one quarter, that's not normal.
What's the matter? It's up to you, when you play the ball for me, can you be smarter and widen the range, otherwise I will be tied up and my shooting rate will certainly not be high!"
"What?" Kobe was furious and said to Howard: "Do you want to play? If you don't want to play, get out of here! Just get out of here!"
"Bryant, what are you talking about? Who do you think you are? Jordan? Why are you pulling?" Howard responded in a loud voice, but his expression was very tough at this time. "Silly X!!! You say it again.
Again??? See if I don’t tear your mouth apart!!!” The situation suddenly turned bad, because both sides were getting angry, and they even seemed to be ignoring it.
Mike D'Antoni was about to stand up to dissuade him, but was stopped by Nash, saying: "It's useless, we can't stop them."
Seeing that it was Nash, Mike D'Antoni was stunned for a moment, and then said anxiously: "Then we can't just let the situation develop, right? If a fight really breaks out, the consequences..." "Don't worry, we can't do it, there are people who can."
"Yes." Nash was not in a hurry. He turned to Tang Qian on the bench and said, "Tang, please, go suppress Howard's anger."
Tang Qian heard this, nodded, and then stood up from the bench.
Nash's words are actually a bit biased, because his original words were, "Suppress Howard's anger", rather than "Suppress the anger of both of them". The difference between several words, the extended meaning,
It's completely different.
So Tang Qian walked straight to Howard, then lowered his head and said, "Hey, can you be quiet? Didn't you remember clearly what I said last time?" Howard wanted to get angry, but when he turned his head, his anger was blocked.
, after mumbling a few words, he turned and walked to the end of the bench on the right.
In fact, the more public it is, the less he dares to conflict with Tang Qian, otherwise this "beating" clip will definitely be circulated for decades, even a hundred years. And the thought of living in this kind of "video" for the rest of his life
"Shadow", "Warcraft" Howard wisely chose to "temporarily retreat" and not engage in a temporary "dispute of will" with Dongfang 29.
From this point of view, he is indeed slightly more intelligent than Andrew Bynum.
Seeing that Howard was temporarily quiet, Mike D'Antoni immediately laid out the general tactics for the second quarter, with Jamison on the top, Ci Shiping on the bottom, Tang Qian on the top, and Howard on the bottom. For this result, Howard seemed not surprised at all.
His eyes only glanced at Tang Qian and didn't look any further.
But what he was thinking in his heart is unknown.
The second quarter is the regular rotation time. Compared with the Lakers' substitutions, the Clippers directly replaced 4 people, leaving only one veteran, Chauncey Billups, to control the scene. There is a saying from Blake.
Fin is right. The Clippers' main goal this season is to compete for the Western Conference championship or even the championship. It makes no sense to contend with the Lakers, a team that is 13th in the Western Conference. Under the leadership of Clippers coach Vinnie.
In De Nagro's eyes, it was pure waste.
In this quarter, the Lakers played extremely well. Tang Qian + Kobe + Nash + Gasol almost took over the first 30 points, and the shooting rate was astonishingly high, reaching more than 75%. What about the Clippers? Barnes and
After Crawford got a few blocks for a layup, he learned the lesson and tried not to go in, while the cat was making mid- and long-range jumpers from the outside. Barnes was actually okay, he seemed to have known how good Tang Qian was.
Same, he doesn't go to the side he is guarding at all. Jamal Crawford is different. As the "super sixth man" in the league, he has his own self-esteem and confidence. After all, he also averaged 100,000 per game during his peak period.
Could a man who scored 20+ be afraid of a small backup center like you? So at the beginning of the second quarter, he chose to be provocative and attack the Lakers' basket head-on.
What is the Eastern shot-blocking king? What is Tangyrant? What is the emperor?
I don't believe Asians can play basketball well.
So he attacked Tang Qian 4 times in a row, scoring 1 goal, getting blocked 1 time, and twice without success.
At this moment, Crawford was a little annoyed, but when he was about to continue attacking, the head coach of the Clippers called out from the sidelines and said: "Jamal, if you keep playing blindly, get out of here."
Become a bench!" Suddenly, Crawford became honest and thought silently in his heart, Huh, Oriental guy, you are lucky!
However, Tang Qian is not particularly satisfied with his defensive performance, because in his opinion, the opponent provoked him head-on and forced a hard attack, but only missed one? This kind of performance is undoubtedly somewhat unsatisfactory, at least it has to be blocked.
If you lose two or three, then that's the right thing. Fortunately, these "inner words" were not heard by Crawford, otherwise the latter would definitely be furious and want to "fight" with Tang Qian.
In fact, it's not that Tang Qian's defense is not good, but that Crawford is not an ordinary person. Although this guy is only a substitute in name, in essence, he belongs to the level of "half fairy and half ghost". The offense is strong, even as a bench
, he will also be able to average 19+ points per game in the future. Even this season, converted into 36 minutes of efficiency, he will average 20+ points per game. Not to mention that he is a player with "twitching attributes" and has scored 50+ points three times in his career.
Scoring in a single game is the strongest proof.
Don’t understand the meaning of 3 times of 50+? Then you might as well look at some great names. Vince Carter has 50+ times so far in his career, and Kevin Durant has had 2 times (the third and fourth times were both in 2014).
), Dwyane Wade three times currently, Shaquille O'Neal three times in his career, Russell Westbrook currently none (both times after 2015), Nowitzki twice in his career, and McGrady four times in his career
, Duncan once in his career, Chris Paul zero times, David Robinson three times in his career... So this data sheet is the guarantee of Jamal Crawford's firepower. He is the kind of player who once "crazy" becomes "crazy", he will win in succession.
People who are afraid of themselves.
So just talking about offense, Jamal Crawford's ability is already comparable to that of an All-Star player. It is normal for Tang Qian to find it difficult to defend. As for the so-called "half-ghost", that is his defense.
Duan is almost useless, with poor confrontation, poor attitude, and poor ability. "Three differences in one" means "half-ghost". Therefore, if you want to make good use of his double-edged sword, you have no courage and no point.
Daoxing's head coach can't do that.
However, after Tang Qian came off the court after playing 8 minutes and 37 seconds, Howard came on the court. Suddenly, the Lakers entered stagnation mode again, and the overall basketball operation was difficult. In 3 and a half minutes, only 3 points were recorded. Howard made 1 of 3 shots and 6 free throws.
One free throw was the source of all the Lakers' scoring in the remaining three and a half minutes.
This scene almost made all the Lakers players go numb.
Howard has completely become a "black hole of ball rights". As long as the basketball is in his hands, he can never pass it out again.
In fact, in the last 2012-2013 season, although he didn't like to pick and roll, and he didn't like to go down and cut, but he always had a certain degree of control. Now this season, that has intensified and become very prominent.
what is the reason?
A large part of it is because the Lakers have a Chinese center named Tang Qian on the same team.
He caused "Warcraft" Howard to have a huge "negative change".
PS: The promised extra updates will not change, Xiao Zi will continue to code words~
Here’s a big chapter first~ Book friends who can’t wait, you can read it again when you get up tomorrow~