After LeBron James scored a goal, the Knicks quickly counterattacked.
Zhao Feiyang advanced with the ball and cooperated with Zach LaVine after halftime. With the help of LaVine's cover, Zhao Feiyang rushed to the basket. Seeing that Kyle Kuzma was about to come up to defend him, Zhao Feiyang made a false pass, but actually hid the ball behind him and took it to the basket.
boom.
Zhao Feiyang deceived Kuzma and successfully sent the ball into the basket.
The Lakers continued to serve.
LeBron seemed very restless today. This time he didn't play according to the tactics. He didn't even wait for Rajon Rondo to bring the ball across half court, and he took the initiative to get the ball into his hands.
After getting the ball, LeBron singled out Adrian. When he was one-on-one, he also gestured to Kuz on the side to immediately help him pick and roll.
Kuzma reacted quickly and rushed to Adrian to block him in the next second.
LeBron took this opportunity to dribble the ball toward the basket. DeAndre Jordan, who was guarding Kuzma, also reacted and stepped up in time to interfere with LeBron's offense.
The two met on the left side of the basket. LeBron pushed past Jordan and threw the ball high with his left hand.
Snapped.
The basketball hit the rim steadily.
After the Lakers scored, the Knicks also counterattacked with a fast break.
Before the opponent's player could fully return to defense, Zhao Feiyang, who received the serve from his teammate, made a long pass. He gave the ball to LaVine, who was rushing across half court. LaVine passed Lonzo Ball in a one-on-one attack and defense and entered the basket for a dunk.
boom.
The ball went in.
In the rest of the first quarter, the Knicks played steadily. Facing a group of young players from the Lakers, the Knicks' starting lineup was completely suppressed in other positions except LeBron.
Therefore, the team always maintains a lead in scoring, and the players' scoring is also relatively balanced, with stable output from both inside and outside.
On the other hand, for the Lakers, LeBron almost takes over most of the team's offense.
In the second half of the quarter, head coach Luke Walton simply replaced Rondo in order to make it easier for LeBron to hold the ball, allowing LeBron to control the Lakers' offensive ball.
Although this style of play relies too much on LeBron, it is quite effective.
With LeBron's outstanding performance, the Lakers were not left behind by the Knicks. At the end of the first quarter, the score between the two sides became 31 to 30, and the Lakers were only 1 point behind.
The second quarter comes quickly.
The Lakers put on the bench this time, and the depressed Rondo could finally bring others on the court.
For the Knicks, Zhao Feiyang took a break, and LaVine continued to stay on the court as the offensive core of the backcourt. Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins came on as substitutes at the fifth and fourth positions.
After the start of the second quarter, the Lakers did have several pretty good offenses relying solely on Rondo's organization. But soon, as the Knicks' substitutes gradually adapted to the rhythm, the situation on the court was completely reversed.
What makes the Lakers suffer the most is undoubtedly the Knicks' two big insiders. Both Howard and Cousins pose a serious threat to the Lakers.
At 8 minutes and 19 seconds of this quarter, the Lakers attacked.
The ball passed half court, Rondo held the ball and cooperated with his teammates to cover.
His teammates' pick-and-roll helped him take the opportunity to enter the two zones. Rondo dribbled the ball and observed the situation on the court. He found that Brandon Ingram on the wing was in a better position and passed the ball decisively.
Ingram entered the basket with the ball. He didn't pay attention to Cousins in front of him at all. He raised the basketball and planned to end the battle with a one-handed dunk.
However, after he flew into the air, Cousins jumped up and knocked down Ingram's dunk in front of the basket.
Snapped.
The whole place was in an uproar.
Ingram, who was blocked, obviously didn't give up. After the basketball bounced back into his hands, he took another shot under the basket. This time he deliberately feinted, and his clever move really deceived Cousins, but when he jumped up again and planned to smash the ball into the basket with both hands, Howard had already been waiting for a long time.
Snapped.
Another pair of strong hands knocked down Ingram's dunk.
This time Howard directly slapped Ingram's basketball away.
The whole audience was in exclamation.
The fans were dumbfounded!
The Lakers players on the sidelines were also stunned. Even LeBron couldn't help but stand up, shake his head and sigh. Ingram on the court was even more stunned. After being blocked twice in a row, he couldn't accept this reality!
"Damn it!"
"what happened?"
The basketball that was blocked fell out, and LaVine immediately seized the ball. He passed the ball to Dennis Smith Jr., who accelerated across the half court.
After Rondo caught up with Dennis, Dennis Jr. did not hit hard. He just glanced behind him and slammed the ball onto the backboard.
Before Rondo could recover, he noticed a gust of wind blowing behind him. When he turned his head, LaVine was already leaping high in the air.
Under the shocked eyes of the fans in the audience, LaVine took the basketball that bounced off the backboard and flew over Rondo's head with an extremely elegant posture for a one-handed dunk.
boom.
The ball went in.
The whole place exploded!
Zhao Feiyang, who was sitting on the team bench and was chatting with Adrian, jumped up excitedly when he saw this scene.
"Fuck!"
"nice shot!"
"Zach is awesome too!"
Zhao Feiyang took the lead in applauding, and other Knicks players also cheered wildly.
Rondo was unhappy with being detained, but there was nothing he could do about it! At this time, he was already 33 years old and had long passed his peak! What's more, his height is only 1.85 meters, which is obviously different from LaVine, who is 1.96 meters tall.
LaVine could dunk over his head, but he couldn't do the same dunk over his opponent's head!
The game goes on.
The Knicks are playing smoother and smoother, while the Lakers are in an offensive drought. Even if Rondo throws two three-pointers to make up for it, it cannot help the team stabilize the situation.
Beep.
At halftime, the score was 67-60, with the Knicks leading the Lakers by 7 points.
If the game continues, it looks like the Lakers have little chance of winning.
However, when the Knicks players were walking to the locker room at halftime, Howard, who has always had a good temper, actually had a conflict with Cousins.
The two didn't do anything at first, they just talked while walking.
But when he was approaching the locker room, Cousins actually pushed Howard directly. Howard's character was not to take action, but this time he didn't want to give in. Before his teammates could react, he suddenly pushed Cousins.
The force was so strong that Cousins hit the wall on one side of the aisle.
For a moment, the scene fell into chaos.
