The Lakers fought hard for seven games, defeated the Nuggets and then reached the semifinals, where they met the Clippers.
Since the two sides met in the first round in 2010, this is the third time in four seasons that the Clippers have faced the Lakers in the playoffs.
The previous record of both sides was 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 2012, the Lakers and Clippers fought in the Western Conference Finals. If the Lakers could win the Clippers in the Western Conference Finals last year, it would be entirely possible for them to defeat the Cavaliers and win the championship in the Finals.
However, there are no ifs in history. In 2013, the Lakers' strength still existed, and their state before the start of the playoffs was obviously not as good as last season.
The Clippers swept the Jazz in the first round. They were very well prepared from physical fitness to mental state.
In this series, Min Congda paid unprecedented attention to it. According to his existing intelligence, there were many contradictions in the Lakers team.
The hidden conflict between Kobe and Paul, once completely detonated, is likely to lead to the disintegration of the team's lineup.
It may even lead to management turmoil. The year just after Buss passed away was the most unstable time for the Lakers.
Just like those dynasties, after the founder dies, it is the most dangerous for the second generation to take over and guard the country. If the second generation is not careful, the second generation will die.
Even if the country is saved, the succession process is often full of conspiracy, bloodshed and killing.
As large as a national dynasty or as small as a company team, they all follow this pattern.
It is easier to start a business than to keep it, and successors will face many crises, especially in the first year.
The Bass family could sense the danger, so at the critical moment after Game 6, they chose to side with Chris Paul.
After all, Paul is younger and can maintain his fighting capacity for the next five to six years, while Kobe's career has entered a countdown.
Of course, not everyone on the Lakers supports Paul. Jeannie Buss firmly supports Kobe.
She is different from Jim Buss. When Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, Jenny Buss joined the team's operations. She has personally experienced the Lakers' decades of glory and has a deep understanding of the team. Very deep feelings.
If she had been a boy, Bass would have given full control of the team to Jenny.
On the contrary, although Jim Buss is a boy, he has been more interested in baseball since he was a child, and now he wears his baseball cap everywhere.
In terms of his feelings for the Lakers and his love for basketball, Jim Buss is not as good as Jenny.
But Jim has the support of a group of management staff led by Kupchak within the team.
The main supporters of Jenny Buss are her best friends and veterans like Rambis. Currently, they have no influence in the Lakers.
Under this situation, Jenny stood very clearly on Kobe's side, because she knew that Kobe was still the Lakers' biggest brand.
But Kobe's performance is really unsatisfactory. Do you expect Kobe to perform amazingly in the second round and help the Lakers advance?
To be honest, Jenny Buss is not sure at all. The entire league knows how strong the Clippers are now.
If Aunt Jenny were 30 years younger, she would definitely dedicate herself to find Min Congda so that his Clippers could be merciful and not make the Lakers look too ugly.
However, Min Congda now just wants to make the Lakers look ugly and create civil strife in the Lakers.
During the period when the Clippers were resting and preparing for the game, Min Congda rarely participated in the Clippers' training.
It's been a long time since he watched the team train from the sidelines. Since he retired as a coach for 6 games, he has not paid much attention to the players' training and tactics.
But the Clippers players all know that Min Congda has a sharp vision, a clear mind, and a high sensitivity to basketball tactics. When he is watching everyone training from the sidelines, he gives people a very strong sense of oppression.
Because everyone is worried that Min Congda will notice their mistakes.
Like Anthony Davis, who has no previous experience, Min Congda's basketball talent has only existed in legends around him.
But in the past two days, Anthony Davis has really experienced the fear of being dominated by talent.
Sitting on the sidelines, Min Congda knew almost every move of the players. He could almost point out everyone immediately if they moved in the wrong position, who moved inactively, who missed someone, or who failed to execute their offensive tactics. .
This resulted in everyone being under a lot of pressure during training. They were all highly focused and did not dare to make mistakes. If they made mistakes, they would be pointed out immediately.
Although Min Congda will not reprimand anyone, it is really embarrassing to be singled out like this. This is the training atmosphere within the Clippers team.
Anthony Davis was hit many times on defense, and there was a problem with some of his selection strategies.
Of course, Min Congda is not a rigid dogma and believes that under certain circumstances, this must be done.
He has a demonstration picture in his mind, and through calculations with his eyes and brain, he can always find a relatively optimal solution.
Once a player fails to reach the optimal solution calculated in his mind, he will remind Davis that Davis has been clicked many times and is a little anxious.
"Mr. Smart, is my defensive positioning really that problematic?"
"Yes, you do have some problems with your stance, but your wingspan and mobility make up for these problems. This shows that you still have a lot of room for improvement."
Anthony Davis said nothing, but he was a little unconvinced in his heart. After all, he graduated from the University of Kentucky and could be said to be the best defensive player among the players in that generation.
This season, he has produced very good statistics in a short period of playing time, averaging 11.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
He may even have a place in the selection of the defensive lineup.
Mr. Smart usually says nothing and does not participate in team training.
Why are you so diligently involved in training recently, and still so gesticulating?
As a defensive coach, Mike Malone could see that Anthony Davis was 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 feel like I am useless under his criticism."
Mike Malone said: "Who said you are useless? Didn't Mr. Smart say that you are very talented with your wingspan and athletic ability?"
"..."
Davis was puzzled: "Then are there really problems with my choices?"
Malone has always been a coach who is good at encouraging young players, but this time he had to say: "Anthony, I have accompanied Mr. Smart to watch your training these two days. I want to say that every problem Mr. Smart pointed out , are all correct. There are even some problems that I can't see. I need to watch the video afterwards to find out. When he pointed out those problems, it didn't mean that you didn't do well, but that Mr. Smart has very high requirements for you. He requires you according to perfect standards, do you understand?"
Anthony Davis nodded. If professional defensive coaches like Mike Malone say this, it must be his own problem.
And Mike Malone was also amazed that Smart Min's tactical acumen could be so high that his mind was like a simulation sandbox.
He thought to himself, it was indeed the playoffs, and Mr. Smart had stricter requirements on everyone.
In fact, Min Congda did this because he was worried that everyone would be too restless and the first game would be overturned like the Jazz in the first round.
In order to prevent everyone from overturning, he must keep the atmosphere tense within the team, and instructed Tyronn Lue that in the second round against the Lakers, he must fight the lion against the rabbit and go all out!
Tyronn Lue doesn't quite understand why the Lakers must be beaten in the second round. In fact, in a normal game, the Lakers will not be the Clippers' opponents this year.
Min Congda said to Tyronn Lue: "This year will be an important turning point. The Clippers will surpass the Lakers and become the most popular team in Los Angeles. So meeting the Lakers in the semifinals is an excellent opportunity for the Clippers. .There is nothing that can create a strong contrast and surpass the opponent than completely defeating the opponent in a series."
Although Min Congda only told half the truth, his real purpose was to break the current rule of the Bass family of the Lakers and create conditions for the rebirth of the Lakers. But from the current perspective, from the perspective of the Clippers, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this statement.
Assume that the Lakers do not enter the playoffs, but only enter a cyclical trough, such as Gasol leaving, Kobe getting old, the Lakers entering the lottery, and a new cycle begins.
Then there will still be many die-hard fans who are willing to follow the Lakers through this trough period, and are willing to watch the Lakers start from the draft, re-cultivate superstars bit by bit, and build a championship team.
This is the attractive part of the NBA game, falling from the top, starting from scratch, returning to the top, and then repeating the cycle.
But Paul's arrival allowed the Lakers to survive and even gave fans hope of winning the championship.
As a result, facing the rising upstarts and being defeated one after another, the feeling is completely different.
Nothing shakes the balance in a fan's mind more than a straight-up victory over an opponent in a series.
Tyronn Lue quickly understood Min Congda's intention. The Clippers would use a hearty and unsuspicious victory to prove who is the real king of Los Angeles!
On May 6th, Los Angeles, Staples Center, the first game of the playoff semifinals, the Clippers were at home, the Clippers vs. the Lakers.
The Lakers, who only had two days of rest, dragged their exhausted bodies and began their journey to the semifinals.
Of course, the Lakers still put down their words before the game. They will try their best to win this round.
Chris Paul said, "Physical fitness is not a problem. It is common in the NBA to enter the next round after the tiebreaker. In the playoffs, we must adapt to the intensity of the playoffs and fight continuously, which will help us maintain our condition. "
What Paul said is true. It is often easy to rest too much in the playoffs. Resting for too long is sometimes not a good thing.
But Paul didn't know that during the preparations 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 some pressure on everyone, he was rarely seriously involved in the team's tactical arrangements.
The Clippers coaching staff also felt that Min Congda was more serious than ever. Even Min Congda didn't bother to care about it in the finals last year.
The coaching staff unanimously believed that Mr. Smart must have foreseen the strategic significance of this series. Everyone must win, and win beautifully.
After discussing the routine, the basic strategy given by the Clippers is to fully target Paul and conduct a comprehensive defensive encirclement and suppression of him.
At the same time, in the offense, in view of Paul's height disadvantage, targeted large and small blows were carried out to damage this important point of the Lakers from both physical and mental aspects.
As for Kobe, Min Congda believes that with Kobe's current state, normal defense is enough. Kobe can no longer kill a team by himself like he did in his prime.
The game started on time at 7 o'clock in the evening. The starting lineups of both sides were the same as those in the regular season. The third game of the Los Angeles Derby began.
With a jump ball at the beginning, the Clippers took the lead. Gasso passed the ball to Curry and launched the first offense of the series.
The Clippers' offensive routine at the beginning was quite cautious, with a high pick-and-roll, Gasol cut out to receive the ball, and passed and cut to coordinate.
Without Harden in the starting lineup, the Clippers' passing and cutting was far less imaginative and rich than before, and more emphasis was placed on Randolph's role in the low post.
Randolph got stuck in the low post and asked for the ball. The Lakers' defense moved in, and Gasol gave it to Leonard.
Leonard paused with the ball, walked in, and then passed it to George. George passed the ball to Curry.
Curry took advantage of the gap and got into the three-second zone, and finally made a throw, but missed due to Paul's interference.
It can be seen from this offense that without one organizational point, the Clippers' offense is much duller.
But after the missed shot, the Clippers retreated very quickly, giving Paul no chance to counterattack quickly.
Paul held the ball past half-court, and just past the midfield line, Curry began to lead the defense and made an aggressive move.
Of course, the ball in Paul's hands is not that easy to grab, but Curry's defense is not that bad either.
The problems with Curry's defense are that one is not enough lateral movement, and the other is that his prediction is average. As a point guard, his defensive versatility on the court is naturally limited.
After all, it is difficult for him to dunk, let alone cover up defense and block shots.
But if he was just motivated to defend against dogfights, Curry wouldn't be too bad.
Curry was already very interested in playing against Paul. Since Mr. Smart asked to bite Paul, Curry would certainly not let him go.
Moreover, Curry dared to actively attack, even giving up his defensive position and pressing desperately.
Because he has a strong defensive team behind him to protect him.
Paul was very uncomfortable being guarded by Curry and almost made a mistake in the offense.
In the end, the ball went out of bounds and the Lakers still had the ball.
"FxxK, if you can, you can guard me like this the whole game, kid."
While waiting for the ball to be served on the sidelines, Paul muttered, obviously dissatisfied with Curry's crazy defense at the beginning.
But Curry said: "Not for the whole game, but for the whole series, I will guard you like this, Paul."
(End of chapter)
