"Of course, I'm confident about tonight's game, we all are, we know our goal, this is a game we have to win."

This Christmas game was held in Los Angeles. During the press interview during the warm-up before the game, James was full of pride when facing reporters.

He has a reason for saying so, and he also has the confidence to say so.

Although Cousins ​​has always been exempt from the game, after a season of running-in, coupled with Davis's excellent attendance rate this season, the Lakers now have the league's first record.

That's right, they have won 2 more games than the Nets, currently ranked first in the Eastern Conference.

So even though what Paul Rich originally said failed to come true, he still regained his confidence.

Tonight was the night he strengthened his confidence, he was convinced of it.

In the stands, Nets president Walken Dean also came to the scene.

He had a sad look on his face.

One is because Prokhorov has communicated with him about his plan to sell the team in the future, which may be as soon as one or two years.

The average boss would not tell team employees about this kind of thing in advance. At most, they would just give a notice, but Prokhorov is obviously unusual in this regard.

The second is the Nets' game tonight.

Fans see the Nets' good record and feel that the Nets' strength is seriously underestimated.

But only he, the steward, knows about the changes in the Nets.

Lin Ying and Jokic are indeed very strong, even if their combination is compared with the previous "Texas Twins".

But then what?

Not to mention that the Nets do not have a third giant like Jokic before, and the performance of the team's other role players has not improved.

Rose's form has declined a lot this season, especially on the defensive end where he is always being caught and beaten by his opponents;

Crabbe seems useless. He is indeed very good at catching three-pointers, and he is indeed capable as a defensive swingman, but he can hardly contribute in other aspects. If he is just asked to do these things, he might as well bite the bullet at that time.

Re-signed Bradley;

Gay didn't know why. He thought he could play the sixth man role by putting him on the bench, but his condition never recovered;

Carter is old, Anunoby is too young, Nene is faltering, and the Nets have always had problems.

It's just that Lin Ying and Jokic performed so well that these problems were covered up.

But it can be seen from the degree of collision that the Nets won the game that if there is a strong dialogue, these problems can easily become the winner of the game.

Because of this, he sent people to the trading market early to explore some possibilities.

But at the beginning of the season, there were not many teams that wanted to make changes. Even if they did, they were just trying to take advantage of the situation, and none could really help the Nets.

In other words, the Nets' current lineup will have to be maintained until around February at least before any changes are possible.

The next one or two months will be very difficult.

Walken Dean reached out and rubbed his temples vigorously.

If you stay at a high place for a long time, the thing you are most worried about is falling.

At that time, the higher you stand, the harder you will fall.

This is what is called being cold at high places.

Prokhorov doesn't care about anything at all. From the time he selected Butler to today, this team can be said to have been basically built by him.

Now that we are facing such a situation, the pressure can be imagined.

At this moment, a burst of cheers broke out from the fans.

It turned out that Lin Ying performed a 360° turn dunk during warm-up.

Walken Dean temporarily put his worries and pressure behind him and looked at Lin Ying with a smile.

At least, Lin Ying is still there.

No matter who the new boss is, or whether the team can be successful this season, as long as the team is built around Lin Ying, all problems will eventually be solved.

Just like Jordan did when he came back from retirement, as long as he is matched with some suitable players, three consecutive games after three consecutive games.

Thinking of this, his whole mood instantly became much more relaxed.

The warm-up on the field was almost in progress, and the scene immediately entered the opening ceremony, and the starting lineups of the two teams were also announced one after another.

For the Nets, Lu followed the previous starting lineup: Rose, Crabbe, Lin Ying, Tucker, and Jokic;

For the Lakers, Cousins' comeback is still far away. McGee moved from Oakland to Los Angeles and is still the team's starting center: Paul, Jr., James, Davis, and McGee.

Amid the cheers of the fans, McGee's long arm moved the ball back to the Lakers half, and the Christmas Day game officially began.

This is the last game of this year's Christmas game. Before that, the Hornets defeated the Warriors and the Raptors lost to the Pelicans.

If this is a b03 between the East and West, then the two sides have already tied 1-1, and the game between the Nets and the Lakers will be the final decider.

The Lakers advanced to the frontcourt, and Paul controlled the ball to the frontcourt. After seeing Lin Ying guarding Davis, he directly gave the ball to James and then signaled to pull away.

James hit Tucker with his back, hit him hard a few times, and then suddenly turned toward the baseline and shot backward.

James's combo was very beautiful, but Tucker's defense was also very good. He saw the right moment and reached out to interfere.

But James didn't panic at all. After turning around, he adjusted the arc of his shot in the air and made a high parabolic rebound shot.

"Bang!"

The ball bounced steadily after hitting the board and shot into the basket!

James helps the Lakers come out on top!

Although James has many dark spots, and even now he is afraid of Lin Ying, but one thing you cannot deny is his self-discipline.

This also allows him to improve technically every season.

From when he first entered the league, he mainly relied on his body to play, to now he combines body and technology. This is not only related to talent.

The Nets advanced to the frontcourt, and Lin Ying saw that Davis was guarding him, so he directly reached for the ball and hit it.

He is a pull-up turnaround jumper after a breakthrough.

His technical moves are very beautiful, but Davis showed his defensive ability with this ball and interfered with Lin Ying's shot.

It is worth mentioning that Davis has not yet developed an interest in gaming at this time and has not joined any gaming teams. In the past, he trained with James after returning from injury and maintained his condition very well.

It seems natural that the Lakers rank first in the Western Conference, but not everyone knows the reasons behind it.

"Dang!"

Lin Ying's shot hit the frame, McGee made an excellent block, James protected the defensive rebound, and quickly passed the ball to Paul.

The Lakers launched a defensive counterattack. Paul advanced very quickly and was in the frontcourt with Rose in the blink of an eye.

Rose did not lose his defensive position, but Paul used a concealed elbow move before a layup to knock Rose away, and he flew past the board and scored a layup.

The scene was filled with cheers. The Lakers had a pretty good start tonight!

In the Nets' offense, Jokic caught the ball in the low post and hit McGee with his back. After getting out of the way, he met Davis to defend him. He passed the ball without looking at the opponent and threw it to Tucker in the weak side corner.

The ball was passed beautifully, and the bottom corner was also Tucker's point. However, James assisted quickly and jumped in before Tucker's shot, causing interference. Tucker's shot failed to hit.

McGee jumped high and grabbed the defensive rebound. The Lakers advanced to the frontcourt. Paul and Davis played a pick-and-roll this time. Facing Rose who was coming around, he stepped back and took a mid-range shot.

"Whoa!"

The basketball falls steadily into the bag!

0 to 6!

The Lakers had a perfect start!

James was very excited after seeing Paul score and took the initiative to run over and give Paul a high-five.

Before the game, he only felt confident, but now he is extremely convinced that the Nets are no longer a match for the Lakers this season. This is his era!

"Bang!"

As soon as he thought this, Lin Ying surged past Davis in the frontcourt and smashed the ball into the basket before McGee could help defend!

You may be able to guard Lin Ying once, but you cannot guard Lin Ying all the time.

Davis was blocked in a wave of attacks in the frontcourt, and the rebound was picked off by the Nets.

Looking back, Jokic continued to hold the ball in the low post, deceived McGee with a fake pass to the middle, and then turned toward the baseline and hit the board with an outside hook.

After experiencing a short scoring drought at the beginning, the Nets also began to score more points.

The game also entered a stalemate stage.

The Lakers showed their current excellent game state, but the Nets also showed their dual-core power.

When the game reached 8 minutes, the two teams began to rotate.

Both players on the Nets team took a break, and Davis on the Lakers team led the team on the court.

At this time, the advantage of having one more core becomes apparent. You can always keep one core on the field.

It was during this period that the Lakers took advantage under the leadership of Davis.
To be continued...