On December 17, the Raptors hosted the Los Angeles Lakers. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Billups carried the offensive banner, scoring 31 points and 6 assists with Kobe Bryant from the outside.

Without Christie, Maddy, and Carter, the Raptors' swingman position was weakened, and Kobe Bryant faced the defense of Halplin and Reed, shooting 14 of 29 from the field, 1 of 5 three-pointers, and 11 of 11 free throws, and scored 40 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

O'Neal shot 12-of-17 and 4-of-11 from the free-throw line to finish with 28 points and eight rebounds.

However, the Raptors still stubbornly won the game 111-104, and all six players on the team scored double-doubles.

O'Neal Jr. had 14 points and 10 rebounds, rookie Mark Jackson had 12 points and 18 baskets, and the Raptors had blown up the Lakers in rebounding.

Except for the "OK combination", only one of the Lakers scored in double figures, and Rick Fox scored 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Isaiah Ryder, who had high hopes in the summer, played just 10 minutes, shooting 0-of-4 and scoring a pointless, with 2 rebounds and 1 assist.

Ryddle's depravity has been devastating, going from a 19.3-point star to a 7.6-point per game off the bench, with the only commendable being a 37 percent three-point shooting rate, though averaging only 0.5 three-pointers per game.

After this game, the Lakers have a 16-10 record, which is worse than the Raptors, and they are only fourth in the West behind the Spurs, Kings, and Mavericks.

After the game, some media broke the news that the "OK combination" broke out in the locker room, and O'Neal accused Kobe Bryant of being too alone.

The Lakers were swept in the finals last season, and O'Neal did not win the regular season MVP, except for a scoring title. As he got older, he began to value personal accolades, and when he received the ball in the new season, he attacked the basket wildly, and wanted to make the stats more beautiful, and this season he was competing for MVP.

And Kobe Bryant, eager to prove that he is a superstar on par with Carter, has also begun to compete for the ball. He started the game averaging a career-high 22 shots per game, 0.5 more than O'Neal.

The two accounted for more than half of the Lakers' shots, how could teammates still touch the ball? Ryder only averaged seven shots per game, and it was understandable that his stats would plummet.

Coach Phil Jackson wanted Bryant to play like he did last season, with 18 shots or less to ensure efficiency, but Bryant's desire to attack was clearly overwhelmed. He was O'Neill's younger brother for four years, and he was about to explode.

The two championship contenders predicted by the league before the game were out of order.

Yang Rui certainly will not despise the Lakers because of this, in his previous life when the Lakers won three consecutive championships, except for the 2000 season when O'Neal won the MVP, the other two years of the Lakers regular season played very badly, and the super team only achieved 56 wins and 58 wins.

As soon as they entered the playoffs, the Lakers exploded, and they naturally banded together to play in a more reasonable way for the sake of the championship. Lost only one game in the playoffs in '01, and '02 also swept the Nets in the Finals.

On the 19th, the Raptors defeated the Jazz 103-95 at home.

Halprin was the highlight of the team, starting with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists, beating veteran Brian Russell, who had only 2 points and 3 rebounds in the game.

Reed also had the upper hand against veteran John Starks, who joined the Jazz in the summer, scoring 17 points.

After beating the Pacers again on the 20th, Vince Carter returned at home, and the Raptors beat the Hawks 92-78 back-to-back.

In the Christmas game, the Raptors defeated the Bulls 103-93 at home.

Maddie returned to Toronto, and the fans didn't boo him, and he received his championship ring before the game. The game was very exciting, with a number of great dunks for both teams.

Less than a day after the fans were happy, the Raptors faced the Timberwolves back-to-back away games, and although they won the game 107-100, Billups went off the court with a right foot injury in the first quarter.

After the race, he was diagnosed with a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, scientifically known as the "Jones fracture". This injury is quite common in the sports world, and Yang Rui suffered this injury in April 2006 against the Jazz. In addition, brothers like Jordan, Pau Gasol, Durant, Bibby, Brand and Lopez have suffered similar injuries. There are also many factors that can cause this kind of injury, such as breaking your foot, being stepped on by someone else, or kicking something.

Billups had physical contact with Terrell Brandon at the time of the break, broke his foot, and as soon as the results came out, the doctor proposed surgery, and he will be out for 4-6 months.

Billups was insane at the time. "I just touched it lightly, you said I had to rest for 4 months, tease me?"

"It's not a joke, 4 months is the ideal situation, this injury has to be operated on, and it can't be treated conservatively." The team doctor sighed. This is very bad news.

Yang Rui felt that his head was big, he had heard about this injury, Durant had a half-season off for this, and even worse was the 76ers champion Ben Simmons, who was directly reimbursed in the 16-17 season and did not play a single game in the regular season.

Without Brad Miller, there are three big men on the inside who can come off the bench, and without Billups, there are only Boykins and John Crotty left on the team, both of whom have defensive problems. Curry is tall enough to play a cameo point guard, and he is poor with the ball, let alone let him organize, it is difficult to dribble the ball through the half.

Yang Rui was very careful when using Reed and Halprin, worried that they would be injured, but he forgot that Billups was also a glass man in the early part of his career, and he was reimbursed for both seasons with the Nuggets, and only began to get better when he went to the Timberwolves.

On the 28th, Brad Miller returned, and the Raptors relied on the interior organization to play Princeton, defeating the Nuggets to win seven in a row.

On the 30th, the Raptors lost to the Suns 103-109.

In the last meeting between the two teams, Billups did not lose to Kidd, played very reasonably, and his height and weight were not afraid of misalignment after blocking and dismantling. This time he started Boykins and was bullied by Kidd.

The Suns, who entered the NBA out of the draft, are 193cm tall and weigh 95 kilograms of backup guard Paul McFeinson, who also faced Curry and scored a career-high 20 points.

Entering January, the Raptors can still win by relying on the triangular offense of Carter, O'Neal Jr., Miller, and Reed, but there is an obvious weakness in the No. 1 position.

In order to ensure the offensive firepower of the bench lineup, Yang Rui began to start John Crotty, and he dribbled past half court and pulled away from beyond the three-point line to wait for a chance to catch the ball. Although Crotty has poor defense, his long-range shooting ability is not bad, and he also has enough game experience.

The Raptors have lost only three games this month, 34-12, second in the East behind the 34-11 76ers, and at the end of the month, they also beat the 76ers with a team of five players scoring double-doubles and multi-point offensive play.

In early February, Carter was voted Eastern Conference Player of the Month for his consistent performance in January.

The team's record began to improve, but Yang Rui was not happy at all, he actually didn't take the 76ers and Bucks to heart, and there was only one opponent in his mind, that is, the Lakers.

He is well aware that due to Billups' season reimbursement, the current roster depth will definitely be more than bad luck against the Super Lakers. Billups was right for the Lakers, and now the strength has become the weakness.

Yang Rui approached Glenn Gruward during the holidays to discuss a mid-term trade and try to replace a point guard who is good at defense without sending the core.

It's a pity that it's hard, the other teams are not stupid, the management is also competing with each other, everyone knows that the Raptors are short of guards, and unless they bleed heavily and send out potential young players, they will not let the Raptors get their wish.