Seeing this scene, Lu Yao could hardly hold the mineral water bottle in his hand and tilted his head in shock.
He scored 39 points at halftime. He originally wanted to get off work at halftime, but he didn't expect that he would still be needed in the second half.
From the opening to the present, the Thunder's largest lead is a 21-point lead.
So far in the game, more than 80% of the leading time has been more than ten points. However, in the third quarter, the Lakers chased by 11 points and gained the first lead of the game.
At this moment, the Lakers are united. They took the lead for the first time in the third quarter and are very motivated. They are bound to overturn this invincible team in the league.
The Thunder never imagined that they, who were already in control of the victory, would suddenly be overturned by the Lakers, who were only ranked eighth in the Western Conference.
Lu Yao bit his finger and hit his thigh with the other hand. It seemed that he was rash. He thought that 39 points in the half was enough. From the looks of it, he wanted to force Lu Yao to score 50+ points.
At this moment, Donovan, who was not far away, turned to Lu Yao's side and asked him.
"Lu, look like this, we need you to save the situation. Do we need to call a timeout now?"
Lu Yao waved his hand, continued to observe the progress of the game, and said.
"No need for now, if the Lakers want to continue to expand the score and the team needs me, I will naturally play."
Donovan nodded. Lu Yao, who played almost the whole first half, really needed more rest.
All they can do now is believe in Westbrook on the court. Sure enough, in the next two minutes, Westbrook scored 6 points in a row to regain the score advantage, but it was only a 3-point lead.
Westbrook was already showing signs of fatigue. He could no longer hold on under the defensive pressure of the entire team, and his shooting percentage began to decline. The Lakers also took the opportunity to seize the opportunity of Westbrook's declining condition and began to launch a fierce counterattack.
Kobe beat Robertson in isolation on the outside, and Robertson was like a toy in his hands, allowing Kobe to ravage him.
Even with a devastating injury like a ruptured Achilles tendon, Kobe's shooting was still accurate, and his agile footsteps and fake moves caught Robertson off guard.
The moment Robertson was shaken away, Kobe decisively turned over and shot a jumper. Robertson was not given any chance to make up for it. He could only watch as Kobe made a turnover jumper.
Kobe Bryant scored two consecutive turnaround jumpers to help the Lakers take the lead again, while Westbrook scored two consecutive layups, which was undoubtedly a fatal score for the Thunder.
The Lakers pursued the victory and once again played a 9-0 wave, stretching the score to 10 points in the blink of an eye.
Lu Yao took off his coat, and Donovan also called a timeout and made substitutions.
Robertson was replaced. Lu Yao, who was standing on the sidelines, high-fived Robertson before stepping onto the court again.
The roles of the two sides changed, and the ball was handed over to the Thunder. Ibaka served from the baseline and handed the ball to Westbrook to organize.
With Lu Yao's support, Westbrook's burden is much less. He dribbled the ball through half the court while organizing his teammates to attack.
At this moment, Lu Yao used Adams' high pick-and-roll to come to the wing. After Westbrook pushed away the defending Kobe, he passed the ball to Lu Yao.
Lu Yao received the pass from Lu Yao, turned his back to Randall, and constantly used his body to fight Randall, looking for opportunities to turn around and break through or turn over for a jump shot.
After making a fake move to fly Randall, Lu Yao directly pulled up on the spot and took a mid-range shot.
The ball came out of his hands, drew a beautiful arc in the air, and then fell steadily into the basket.
69:76, the Thunder chased the score to 7 points with a mid-range shot from Lu Yao.
At the same time, Lu Yao's personal score has reached 41 points, and so far, his playing time has only been 25 minutes, which is enough to prove how high Lu Yao's scoring efficiency is.
Seeing Lu Yao fly and Randall score, all members of the Lakers were on guard. They understood that the invincible Lu Yao was coming.
Immediately, the Lakers launched another attack, and Clarkson led the team to launch a rapid attack with the ball, trying to catch the Thunder off guard.
Just when Clarkson was halfway through, a tall body suddenly stopped in front of him.
That figure was naturally Lu Yao.
Clarkson originally wanted to make a direct change of direction without slowing down and shake Lu Yao away, but he never thought that Lu Yao was sticking to Clarkson like brown sugar, making Clarkson completely unable to block his defense line.
Lu Yao stopped Clarkson and disrupted the Lakers' fast break rhythm. Randall also reacted and stepped forward to cover Clarkson and get rid of the restraints.
Did you ever think that before Randall was in place, Lu Yao had already beaten Clarkson and ran towards the frontcourt with the ball. Randall could only catch up behind him.
But no matter how hard he chased, Lu Yao kept keeping distance from him, which made him feel a little desperate.
Lu Yao is even taller than Randall. He can't help but jump higher than Randall and run faster than Randall, which makes Randall start to doubt his life.
Lu Yao ran all the way to the bottom of the basket and took off, dunking the ball into the basket with both hands!
Scoring four points in a minute, Lu Yao's wonderful performance couldn't help but ignite the entire Thunder bench and the entire energy center.
The fans stood up from their seats the moment Lu Yao dunked in. In the energy center filled with tens of thousands of spectators, no one was sitting, which was incredible.
At this moment, the Lakers players were already breaking into cold sweats and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts.
Monster, definitely a monster!
Despite this, the Lakers did not dare to neglect at all. In the next offensive round, they used pick-and-rolls and off-ball movements to score three points, barely bringing the score back to eight points.
But Lu Yao used his own attraction to continuously help Westbrook open up space for shooting, prompting Westbrook to hit two three-pointers in a row, helping the Thunder directly chase the score to one point.
As long as Lu Yao plays, the Lakers will directly switch from active to passive. They are simply led by Lu Yao's nose and have no power to fight back.
Soon, the third quarter came to an end, and the score between the two sides reached 76:78, with the Lakers leading by two points.
At the top of the arc, Lu Yao faced Randall's defense and kept probing Randall with his crotch dribble.
Randall did not dare to act rashly, for fear that Lu Yao would seize the opportunity to penetrate into the paint or shoot.
But Lu Yao had no intention of swaying him away. It was his usual method to force someone to throw him.
Suddenly, Lu Yao took a step back and opened a distance between himself and Randall. Randall rushed forward quickly, but Lu Yao had already shot a three-pointer.
The ball fell steadily into the basket.
