Liu Ren went to D'Antoni and was sent away after only getting a notice to start the night. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Even if Liu Ren knew that he would get a chance to perform in the next few games due to too many injuries in the team, he was still stunned by the big pie of starters.

"My seventh uncle and grandfather, I'm an NBA starter!" Liu Ren couldn't help but be overjoyed.

After chatting with Thackeray, who was also excited, Liu Ren suppressed the excitement in his heart and tried to adjust his emotions so as not to get too excited.

Almost all of the people who have pursued the path of professional basketball in China have the same characteristic, that is, they can recognize themselves very clearly.

That's right, after experiencing countless blows, countless blank eyes, countless disappointments, and countless times feeling powerless about his own strength, Liu Ren knows that it is not easy to go on the road of professional basketball.

This hard-won opportunity cannot be carried away because you are too excited, resulting in such an opportunity being wasted.

The evening game was against the Spurs, and the Troika team has enjoyed a thriving few years under the leadership of a rejuvenated Duncan, who won the Western Conference regular season in the previous two seasons and even reached the Western Conference Finals last year.

Fast break, defensive counterattack, these two tactics that would never have appeared on the Spurs again 10 years ago have now become the regular tactics of the Spurs, and the whole team has become the biggest feature of the Spurs, and Popovich used a new system to make Duncan's only super talent in history exude the last afterglow.

With 58 wins and 22 losses, the Spurs have two games left and are just one win away from the West's No. 1 Thunder, who are now 59-21.

Fortunately for Liu Ren, it was also a little regrettable that Popovich did not seem to plan to compete with the Thunder for home-court advantage in the playoffs, and announced that the last two troikas were suspended for the playoffs.

The old man's arrangement is understandable, Parker, the youngest in the troika, will soon be 31 years old, and Duncan will even turn 37 in a few days.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Spurs seem to be deliberately releasing water to the Lakers, and now the top six in the West have basically been determined, the Thunder lock the division championship under the premise of the Spurs, the Spurs have no suspense in second place, the unexpectedly rising Nuggets lock in third, the Clippers and Grizzlies are ranked fourth and fifth, and the two teams are competing for the final record, although the Clippers occupy the first place in the division and sit fourth, but the home court advantage in the playoffs is calculated according to the number of wins, and the rankings of the two teams do not have much significance. Sixth, the Lakers just beat the Warriors, who have already won 46 to lock up sixth in the West.

The remaining two playoff spots are contested between the Lakers, Rockets, and Jazz, all of whom are 43-37, and it is impossible to say which team will be left behind.

Popovich is deliberately releasing water in this game against the Lakers, and it is much easier to play the Lakers without Kobe Bryant in the playoffs than the annoying team of the Jazz and the Rockets with Asik, Jeremy Lin, and Harden.

Although Liu Ren knew that the Lakers would enter the playoffs, he didn't dare to be sloppy, in case of an accident and didn't make the playoffs, then he couldn't cry, this was a rare opportunity to show himself.

From his memory, Liu Ren knew that the atmosphere in the Lakers' locker room was very bad, and although the conflict between Howard and Kobe Bryant did not break out, the communication between the players was obviously very abnormal, and there were fewer people to talk to.

Liu Ren will not be as cautious as he was before, and most of the current team will not stay next season.

Soon in the evening, the Lakers were challenged by San Antonio at home.

Howard said in a pre-game interview that even if Kobe Bryant is injured, the team's goal is still to win the championship, and his goal is only one, that is, the championship.

The Lakers can be said to be full of injured soldiers, in addition to Liu Ren who can play on the outside, there are Blake, Goldlock, Ci Shiping, and Ibanks, and Jamison, Howard, Clark, and Thackeray on the inside.

The Spurs, on the other hand, are strong, and even without the troika, the lineup is still scary.

Gary Neal, Danny Green, Stephen Jackson, and Kawhi Leonard are all players who average double-doubles per game, and they are in double figures for this all-for-all Spurs team, and they are as strong as any star in the Spurs' current system.

There are a group of weirdos such as Split, Dior, and Bonner on the inside, which should not be underestimated.

Looking at the comparison of the lineups of the two sides, Liu Ren knows that if the Lakers want to win this game, the key is on the inside, Duncan is not on the Spurs' inside line, which is weaker than one notch, and Howard's play is the key to the team's win!

He's self-aware, and while he wants to perform well, he knows it's more important to do what he can.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the Lakers' home game against the Spurs kicks off at the Staples Center.

The Lakers' starting lineup is: Blake, Liu Ren, Ci Shiping, Jamison, Howard.

The Spurs starting lineup is: Patty Mills, Neil, Leonard, Dior, Split.

Stepping on the court, Liu Ren was in a state of excitement.

Unlike the last time he was stunned, this time he was ready and more excited.

Fear?

Liu Ren doesn't understand this thing, he used to dare to be a professional player as a college student, and now he is a professional player, who is afraid of whom, from his understanding of his body, he knows that there are not many guards who have such a good physical quality as him, and the Spurs' group of outside players are not afraid of anyone except Leonard.

In addition to his Chinese identity, the Lakers chose him because of his top physical fitness and soft touch as a yellow race. However, no matter how high the talent is, it depends on the personality, and it is obvious that Liu Ren did not have the heart to become an NBA player before.

Staples did not have the calm atmosphere before, Lakers fans were spoiled, and at the same time, Kobe Bryant was used to not caring at any time, they always thought that everything was solved by Kobe, but now that Kobe Bryant is down, they can't calm down all of a sudden.

A feeling of sadness permeated the arena and made the Lakers players very unaccustomed.

There is a good saying, it is called the mourning soldier will win.

There is some truth to this statement.

For Howard, for example, don't want to be fierce after the opening.

The jump ball won an absolute victory over Split, and then the rare tough squeeze to the basket this season to resist the bag of Dior and Split, and received a pass from Blake.

Next, Howard dominated both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, playing a dominance that he had not had in dozens of previous games, and got 1 point, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in the first 4 minutes, helping the Lakers play a strong start of 18-4.

As expected, the Spurs had no one to keep up with him except Leonard, who was also a beat slower than him in order to gain weight against James.

Both counterattacks were dunks, and the feeling of jumping to the basket with all your strength was amazing!

Relying on Howard's strong performance, the Lakers beat the Spurs to a timeout!