615. Canadian Nightmare
The highest temperature in Toronto in March is only five degrees, and it will quickly fall below zero by night.
The cold temperature is the main reason why many players don’t want to play in the Raptors, and Leonard, who broke up with the Spurs, regards this place as a relay station. Now the Canadian team ranks second in the East, with a record second only to the Bucks with Antetokounmpo, which gives Canadians hope for the championship.
The Lakers' match against the Raptors will not be an easy game. The painful defeat in November last year is still vivid in my mind. Lin Feng participated in that game. After the game, no one spoke in the Lakers' locker room, and the atmosphere was extremely cold.
Now, they flew to Toronto as the number one in the West, and everyone has only one goal, that is revenge. Unfortunately, Lam is still unable to appear, which is a big blow to the Lakers.
With his opponent, Lowry was out of the team due to an ankle injury, Ibaka couldn't play due to a suspension, and VanVleet was also out of the team due to injury. This is good news for the Lakers, but as long as Leonard is present, no one will dare to underestimate their team.
It is worth mentioning that Raptors coach Nick Nas announced before the game that Jeremy Lin would be used as the team's starting position to fill Lowry's absence due to injury.
After Lin Feng passed through his soul, he did not intersect with Jeremy Lin, but just greeted him on the court. In Shu Hao's eyes, he was just a rookie with unlimited future. If you add a little more, it would be that he was very interested in Eastern culture.
Ten hours before the game, Leonard rarely revealed his confidence in defeating the Lakers in front of reporters. In the face of the interview with Canada National Sports, he assured all Canadian fans through the camera that he would definitely beat the Los Angeles Lakers at home.
Before this, they had already brought down the Clippers who came to challenge the door, and they were full of confidence in the Lakers and the entire Raptors.
Faced with the challenge, James immediately responded on the social platform, with the picture showing him in the air dunk with Robin Lopez in Chicago.
On the evening of March 14, nearly 20,000 people flocked to the Scotiabank Arena in Canada. This is the first time that Lin Feng encountered this cross-national competition. Although he was unable to play, his aura was still shocked.
Canadian maple leaf flags can be seen everywhere on the field. Leonard, who was warming up, still had a expressionless face and looked extremely cold.
It was this guy who won the 76ers in the last playoffs and led the team to defeat the Warriors 4-2 in the finals and won the championship trophy.
This powerful dialogue between the East and the West attracted nearly ten million people across the United States to watch it at the same time.
Coach Nas sent Jeremy Lin and Danny Green to the backcourt combination, while Leonard and Cameroonian star Siakam, whom they selected at the 27th pick in 2016.
The treasure that was found at the 27th pick was not outstanding at the time, and Cameroonian athletes have always had the tradition of getting involved in basketball when they were in their teens. This made Siakam lose his position in the original draft until the Raptors management took him off.
The basketball atmosphere in Toronto is very strong, and Lin Feng began to feel the feeling of the Warriors who came here in the World Finals.
Due to the excessive injuries of the Lakers, management signed Andre Ingram back from the Development League with a ten-day contract.
Of course, this is just to enrich the roster. Unless it is garbage time, it will be difficult for this veteran who has been obsessed with the dream of basketball for many years to have playing time.
He sat outside Lin Feng's two positions, wearing a No. 20 jersey, quietly sitting.
After the opening, Leonard welcomed the arrival of the Los Angeles people with two three-pointers, showing his cold-blooded killer nature.
6-11, Walton took the lead in calling out a pause.
The atmosphere of the game tonight is completely different from the Bulls the day before yesterday. This is the second in the East. If you fall into a passive start, you may not be able to turn over the whole night.
After the pause, Jeremy Lin performed eye-catchingly, and Lin Feng kept staring at him. But to be honest, except for the appearance of an Asian, Shuhao was completely an American in other aspects.
In the middle of the first quarter, Gasol scored five points in a row, widening the gap to double digits.
Although the Lakers scored a 6-0 counterattack under the leadership of LeBron, Norman Powell made another three-pointer at the end of the quarter, giving the Raptors an 8-point lead to the end of the first quarter.
Lin Feng sat on the sidelines and watched Leonard kill everyone. To be honest, Lin Feng was not afraid of Curry or Harden because the two guys were chattering.
But facing a guy like Leonard who is silent, he will feel his scalp numb, especially when his eyes are staring at him, it is simply a black hole.
As soon as the second quarter came, the Lakers, led by James, scored a 12-2 counterattack tide to tie the score.
Then McCaugh made a three-pointer, and Caruso, who appeared in the No. 1 position of the second team instead of the Lakers, stood up. The guy scored six points in a row, allowing the team to successfully overtake.
This is a situation Walton is willing to see. Caruso did not disappoint him and completed his mission with wonderful breakthroughs!
Lin Feng understood what kind of energy this guy contained in his body, and he deserved a contract worth tens of millions of dollars.
The Lakers took the lead and the Raptors woke up instantly. Soon, with three three-pointers from the outside, leading 12 points into the halftime break.
After the change of sides, James succeeded in the basket with his physical strength, which made Gasol feel the impact from the league's number one player.
Then Shuhao used two three-pointers to extinguish the Lakers' hope of counterattack. Leonard also opened on the outside, and the score difference was once nearly twenty.
But the Lakers launched a counterattack again under the leadership of James, and scored a 12-4 wave before the end of the third quarter, narrowing the gap to single digits.
Lin Feng noticed something was wrong, because the Lakers rely on the super performance of James and Kuzma to close the gap. James even made a long three-pointer, but the Raptors were not busy and the rhythm was always on their side.
In the last quarter, the Raptors started with a three-pointer rain, falling to the Lakers' position like a meteorite.
The Lakers made 16 three-pointers in the game, and the Lakers only scored 7 in this regard, which laid the groundwork for their away failure.
James scored a triple-double data but was unable to make up for the situation. In the end, the Lakers lost the second game of the "five consecutive visitors".
115-97, Leonard's team successfully suppressed the Lakers' scoring to less than 10%.
The Raptors double-killed season was a night that disappointed them.
Lin Feng, wearing a suit, quickly walked back to the locker room. He no longer wanted to stay in the Scotiabank Arena and listen to his opponents celebrating the game.
Leonard scored 37 points and made 5 of 8 three-pointers, almost defeating the Lakers by himself.
The defeat in this game narrowed the Warriors' victory margin to 0.5 games, and the third-place Nuggets defeated the Knicks tonight, followed closely behind.
"Don't think about it after it's over, prepare for the next game, my brothers."
The last sentence before Lao Zhan left the locker room, the overall atmosphere was pretty good.
Chapter completed!