Chapter 358 Three Defenses and Two Defenses

The SuperSonics took the lead. Although they were only leading by 1 point, Phil Jackson immediately called the first timeout.

Frankly speaking, Phil Jackson doesn't think it's a big problem overall. The Sonics can't always be accurate on the outside, and the Lakers now control the absolute advantage and initiative inside, whether it's shooting percentage, secondary offense, or In the battle for rebounds, as long as the time is a little longer, the Lakers will definitely be in the lead.

But the combination of Lin Dong and Payton is really... so fucking bullying!

Phil Jackson felt that even he couldn't find a suitable adjective to describe those two people.

Treacherous, cunning, and hiding eight hundred thoughts even when he blinks. One such person is difficult enough to deal with, but there are actually two Supersonics.

What's even worse is that the two people are in perfect sync with each other. It feels like they don't even need to make eye contact. They just look at the situation on the court and think about how they want to play. The other person already knows how to cooperate with the other person, which makes them all The cooperation seemed to be natural, with no flaws at all. Not only did the Lakers not even have room to predict some details, they even combined their cunning into one, turning them into a combination of liars that everyone saw as annoying. …

Being selected to the All-Defensive First Team twice, Kobe's defensive ability, according to Phil Jackson, is less skillful and sophisticated than Payton, but more energetic and explosive. He is about the same level as Lin Dong. The two are very similar. , but in the previous matchup, they were completely treated like rookies by those two people, because the cooperation between Lin Dong and Payton has completely reached the point where one plus one is greater than two.

On the other hand, Fisher couldn't keep up with Kobe's thinking rhythm at all. The combined cooperation between him and Kobe only reached 1.5 at most. It was obviously a fantasy to stop those two people.

We can't let the two of them continue to fight like this, otherwise with the opponent's hot start, I'm afraid they will be shot to death by the SuperSonics from the outside.

"Fox!" Phil Jackson yelled.

…………

The short timeout ended, and when they returned to the court, the Lakers still firmly focused on the outside and then the inside on the offensive end.

For the first time, Kobe has a higher priority than O'Neal, but everyone knows that this is not a change in status, but a tactical need.

The purpose of attacking first is to kill and defeat Payton, using the ultimate explosive consumption in exchange for Payton's physical strength and his newly injured knee. Although facing Payton's defense, Kobe's shooting percentage will definitely not be much higher. But with O'Neal inside to protect the rebounds and an absolutely guaranteed second offensive opportunity, Kobe basically just shot whatever he wanted.

The whole team opened up space for Kobe to hold the ball at the top of the three-point arc, starting with Payton's one-on-one challenge. All kinds of sharp breakthrough moves did not appear to be 'sharp' at all in Payton's quagmire-like defense. There were stumbles, but it was almost impossible for Payton to completely intercept Kobe.

After an extreme change, the ball was scored from the mid-range and the Lakers took the lead at 15:14.

When returning to the defensive end, the Lakers' defensive strategy has indeed changed.

Payton had just passed the midline with the ball. At the same time that Fisher was on top, Fox put Desmond a little farther away and took the initiative to stand at the top of the three-point arc on the right side, making it clear that he planned to cooperate with Fisher. A pincer attack.

When Lin Dong stepped forward to pick and roll, Kobe kept up with Payton who rushed out of the mismatch. Fox directly let go of Desmond and chose to attack from a flank. Together with Fisher, they locked Lin Dong firmly.

Three defenses against two!

After all, they are members of the championship team and veterans of the Lakers' three consecutive championships. Although neither of them has the ability to challenge Lin Dong alone, it is not easy for Lin Dong to take advantage of him when he is ready to attack from a flank.

This time the ball was in Lin Dong's hands. He passed the ball to the ground and quickly passed it to the vacated Desmond. Desmond took a step forward with the ball and made an almost open mid-range shot.

Bang!

The basketball hit the rim and a smile appeared on Phil Jackson's face.

If you dare to let Desmond go, you are betting on his unstable mid-range.

In fact, Desmond is a good scorer and has a strong ability to attack the frame, but with O'Neal guarding the basket, he is not afraid of him cutting in, and his mid- and long-range shooting is extremely unstable. This is what the Lakers can take advantage of. loopholes.

O'Neal grabbed the rebound and the Lakers defended the fast break. Fisher and Fox faced Lin Dong's defense and scored a two-on-one victory, 17:14.

Looking back at the defensive end, it was almost the same script, except this time Desmond chose to force his way to the basket. Facing O'Neal's jump block, he changed his shot to a pass, hoping to pass it to Sakuragi Hanamichi under the basket. , but O'Neal's quick eyesight and quick hands blocked the passing route, allowing the 216-centimeter center to complete a steal.

The Lakers stabilized their position and turned around and played slowly. Kobe beat Payton with 2 points from mid-range, and O'Neal successfully made up the dunk at 19:14.

The continuous scoring finally gave the Lakers home fans, who had been a little depressed in the past few minutes, a feeling of elation. The noise and cheers at the home court increased their momentum and firmly suppressed the newly gaining momentum of the SuperSonics.

McMillan frowned and analyzed the situation. He knew that Lin Dong had the ability to break through Fisher and Fox's attack, but the loss of Lin Dong's physical strength would be too great.

Lin Dong's physical strength is the SuperSonics' trump card, and it is also the guarantee of key goals at the last moment. If he plays his trump card in the first quarter, then this game will be handed over.

SuperSonics substitution.

Desmond exits and Iguodala enters.

Desmond's ability is indeed more comprehensive, but the Sonics now need outside shooters to give Lin Dong and Payton offensive support.

The effect was immediate. After attracting double-teams from Fisher and Fox, Lin Dong passed the ball to Iguodala, who made an open 3-pointer. The score quickly got closer to 19:17.

Kobe Bryant responded with 2 points for the Lakers. Lin Dong, who looked back, saw the inertia of Fisher and Fox's defensive thinking. He made a fake move to shake the two of them, passed through them, and followed in the mid-range. A pull-up jump shot was scored.

21:19!

The offensive and defensive battle between the two teams also completely kicked off.

On the offensive end, both sides are in a state where the other side cannot defend themselves.

Kobe's shooting percentage against Payton in isolation remained at around 40%, but the victory was because O'Neal had a second attack under the basket, so he almost never missed a shot in the offensive round.

The SuperSonics, on the other hand, have to get a hit rate boost as a whole. Thanks to the Lakers' three-and-two defensive strategy, Iguodala often has good open 3-pointers.

For NBA-level players, three-pointers can almost achieve a shooting rate of over 90% on the training field. However, in actual combat, even if it is a big open space, the difficulty is completely different from training.

Psychological pressure, state adjustment when shooting, release speed, etc., make a shooter with a 90% hit rate in training only able to achieve a 60%-70% hit rate when shooting from open positions in actual combat.

After Iguodala came up, he made 3 of 5 shots, a 60% shooting rate. Without a second attack, the scoring efficiency can only be regarded as average. Lin Dong only took action when he had a good opportunity, and did not force a strong attack, but broke out alone. 1, and also made a 3-pointer. The overall scoring efficiency is comparable to the Lakers.

After the first quarter, the Lakers temporarily led 35-33.

The second quarter basically continued the rhythm of the first quarter, except for the physical exertion and the continued investment in heavy defense on the defensive end. The shooting percentages of both sides began to decline.

At the end of the first half, 69:67, the two sides played a complete tie in a single quarter and entered the halftime break.

This is actually an acceptable result for both parties.

For the Sonics, the absolute disadvantage of the inside line is that they can rely on the outside cooperation of Lin Dong and Payton to hold on to the Lakers in scoring without using up Lin Dong's physical strength. This is already a kind of success in itself. victory.

As long as it's delayed until the fourth quarter, Lin Dong can take over the game and use superstar balls and crazy scoring to fight the Lakers.

As for the Lakers, they are not afraid of fighting the SuperSonics in the final quarter. Lin Dong's scoring ability is certainly terrifying, but O'Neal's absolute dominance at the basket is enough to ensure their key ball hitting rate.

At the same time, what is more important is Kobe's consumption of Payton.

"His speed began to slow down, and his breathing began to become disordered." Kobe was also panting, but his mental state was full, and he said with great confidence: "Leave it to me, I will beat him in the second half!"

"Good!" Phil Jackson said with a smile: "As long as Payton's fang is pulled out, the Asian will be missing a shield and he will no longer be invulnerable!"

…………

"Continue to maintain the rhythm in the second half and drag the game into the fourth quarter!" McMillan was summarizing the midfield and making tactical arrangements while encouraging everyone: "In G3, as long as we win at the Lakers' home court With this victory, this series has been won! There has never been a precedent in NBA history of being able to come back from a 0:3 deficit in the playoffs, not to mention we have two more home games to go!"

"Win G3! SuperSonics will win!"

All the players were calling like crazy and extremely excited. The team that had won three consecutive championships at 3:0 might even sweep the opponent!

What an honor it would be to really achieve it? I'm afraid that the next game will be even more impressive. Everyone feels that this is no less than the SuperSonics winning this year's championship!

Lin Dong noticed Payton's slightly rapid breathing.

"Hi, boss?" Lin Dong crooked Payton with his arm: "Do you want Watson to play for a while in the third quarter?"

"Hahaha!" Payton gasped, but his eyes were shining with determination and excitement: "Bullshit! He's a useless guy. I'm still waiting to teach that guy how to be a man! Farke, always thinking about sudden changes. Do I really think I'm old? These young people are so unlovable!"

For Payton, Kobe, who has been in the league for 6 years, can naturally only be called a young man.

After entering the league for 12 years, except for the time when he reached the Finals in 1996, this is the closest Gary Payton has ever felt to a championship.

physical strength? That's not a problem at all, okay? Those guys don't know their own endurance...

McMillan said with a smile: "Don't worry about him. I know this guy, even if he is exhausted, he can run a full marathon just by relying on will and excitement!"

"Fake, don't take advantage, you are a dog." Peyton said with a smile, which made everyone laugh, but Sakuragi Hanamichi remained silent.

It was promised single defense, but in the entire first half, the comparison between him and O'Neal in rebounds was 3:15, and those three were all because the basketball bounced far enough, so he took advantage of it.

Faced with O'Neal's 16 shots, he actually only blocked one. And that time, Sakuragi felt that it was not entirely blocked by him, but that when O'Neal turned around, he shifted his center of gravity and was hit. It just pops up.

The promised inside gate, the promised position for the good brothers to be helped... What exactly is it that I am not doing well enough?

The difference in power? Half a beat late in anticipating the action? Coordination of body and mind?

There seems to be a little bit of it, and it seems to be just a little bit worse.

But just this little bit became an abyss like a chasm, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a chance to cross it.

Sakuragi Hanamichi clenched her fists tightly.

McMillan, Payton and Lin Dong all saw it, but did not comfort or blame him.

That's Shaq O'Neal. Since his debut, countless insiders in the league have been thinking about how to restrict him, but except for the former Rodman, who has really done it?

This is not an easy task.

Don't doubt people and don't doubt people. McMillan still has some confidence.

Since he has chosen to believe in Lin Dong and give Sakuragi a chance to grow, he will not make hurried adjustments in this matter unless the team is in despair.

At least you can see the desire to win and think in this guy's eyes.

Then give him more time. Anyway, the SuperSonics' rhythm and condition seem to be pretty good at the moment.

beep!

The referee blew the whistle for the third quarter.

"Come on!" Payton yelled and stood up from the bench: "Kill them all in one go!"

"The SuperSonics will win!"