Seven Hundred Thirty-One. The Little Overlord in His Best Condition

Kobe was amazed by Sun Ce's running and gunning. Even after watching it several times, he still felt amazed.

The Grizzlies' rotation lineup is suitable for running and gunning, but Sun Ce's counterattack after grabbing rebounds is more and more like Kidd... That's all, Sun Ce can also rush to the front as the attacking arrow!

Moreover, the Lakers retreated but did not fall into a good defensive formation. Sun Ce can seize a good passing opportunity in the offense and defense transition. He does not have to get assists, but he can organize the offense well.

Because Sun Ce's counterattack and first pass were defended very tightly, the opponent's fast runners chased him first, cutting off his passing route with his teammates on both sides of the fast break, so Sun Ce only had two assists in the 6 minutes of bombardment.

But this set of tacit combination has another passing point, that is Yi Jianlian.

Sun Ce first used the containment power of himself and his teammates to create an opportunity for Yi Jianlian to pass the ball after receiving it. Yi Jianlian also took the initiative to learn this aspect. Because the Lakers' defense today was very targeted, the Lakers hoped to contain the Grizzlies' counterattack and run, but instead gave Yi Jianlian the opportunity to get two assists and Paul George one assist.

Sun Ce ran like crazy with the two emperors, Morrow and Paul George in this half!

Taking advantage of Kobe's absence, the Grizzlies ran out of feeling. After the Lakers replaced Kobe in the 10th minute of the second quarter, the Grizzlies also played 3 fast breaks in the last two minutes, and scored 3 points twice. Sun Ce counterattacked and dunked once, and Paul George used his teammates to contain and made a big gap to chase the three-pointer.

The Grizzlies played a wave of 21 to 12 in half a quarter! At the end of the half, the Grizzlies overtook by 1 point 61 to 60!

This made Kobe amazed by Sun Ce's performance again. Sun Ce did a great job.

In 13 minutes, he made 5 of 6 shots, scored 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block!

And Sun Ce's aura in the run-and-gun game was fully demonstrated! In Kobe's opinion, Sun Ce should play this kind of brisk offense. Even if he needs to strengthen defense, he should play brisk offense.

In Kobe's eyes, Sun Ce is like a not very mature magician. Kobe has never seen what an immature magician looks like. Magic only played for two years in college and became the No. 1 pick in 1979. Even if he only played for one year in college in 1978, he would still be the top pick. But Sun Ce's performance this season can be compared with Magic's rookie year.

As for Sun Ce's good teammate, Magic has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as his teammate since his rookie year. This is not a reason. Sun Ce can make use of his teammates' abilities. This is talent! As Sun Ce's personal ability becomes stronger and stronger, his talent in this area will become more and more obvious.

Zen Master also stared at Sun Ce with wide eyes in the second half of the second quarter. He was surprised to think that the Grizzlies' running and gunning led his team to a rhythm in the last two minutes. They were overtaken in one fell swoop. They had to adjust well in the second half...

...

The visiting team's locker room was in high spirits!

Watching Jordan trimming Yi Jianlian's hair and shaving his sideburns symmetrically; watching Conley go to the bathroom to clear his mind and plan how to play in the second half; seeing Sun Ce leaning on the upright massage bed, the masseur he brought with him was giving him a massage. The massage studio that James opened for Sun Ce in Memphis was about to open, just after the All-Star Weekend...; seeing Randolph writing lyrics...

The players were all in a relatively relaxed state of mind during the halftime break, adjusting their emotions in their own way, and Coach Hollins was very satisfied.

His overall tactical strategy today was very successful, at least in the first half.

Although the process was not quite the same as imagined, almost all of them were different. For example, they were expected to be stronger, but they didn't play that well. But they persisted and persisted until the run-and-gun stage, which he thought was the time to close the score, but the run-and-gun stage became the time to chase points and even overtook the score...

Anyway, no matter how the process was, the goal was achieved! Moreover, during the official timeout in the second quarter, Coach Hollins gritted his teeth and changed to the run-and-gun lineup.

I just wanted to stick to his strategy. I didn't expect that he really achieved the goal and exceeded it. I thought it would be touching to narrow the score difference, but who knew that he could overtake.

This feeling is very special for Coach Hollins. This time, he really felt the joy of Zen Master's coaching.

The planned goal, don't change it, stick to it, and finally succeed. This feeling is much better than racking your brains to make adjustments! He finally knows the joy of Zen Master's pretense.

But, the third quarter is the key!

The Lakers have been the strongest team in the third quarter in the past two seasons, especially last season, when the Lakers' third-quarter net score was frighteningly high. They often fell behind by a large score in the first half last season, and frantically chased points in the third quarter. Last season, the Lakers' average loss in the third quarter was a terrible 22.3 points, the lowest in the league. There were 9 brutal defensive performances in which the opponent was defended to less than 15 points in the third quarter. Then they killed the opponent in the fourth quarter if they could, and if they couldn't, they would forget it. They often killed the opponent. Kobe alone had 6 buzzer beaters last season.

This season, the Lakers' rotation lineup has become stronger, with up to 9 people rotating, unlike last season when they often played and became a stable 6 people. There were fewer cases of falling behind by a large score in the first half, but the third quarter performance is still one of the best teams.

Whether they can hold up in the third quarter is the key!

As for the fourth quarter, if the Grizzlies can hold on in the third quarter, the Grizzlies will have an advantage in the fourth quarter. If they can take the lead after three quarters, the Grizzlies will become very stable in the fourth quarter.

The biggest problem is Kobe...

Although Kobe only played for two minutes in the second quarter and did not score a point, and only had one connection with Gasol to get an assist, Kobe already had 20 points and 3 assists in the first half!

Coach Hollins did not show these concerns, he did not want to affect the players' good mentality now.

While feeling the joy of the Zen Master's coaching style, Coach Hollins also understood that the Zen Master was not as relaxed as he looked, but put the pressure on himself, so that the players could maintain confidence in the face of crisis.

Of course, if they win, the final happiness will be doubled! And the Lakers have been winning, so the Zen Master has been happy and enjoys this pressure.

This is a coaching philosophy, a way, not a tactical system and ability.

The Zen Master's pretense does not affect his coaching. Coach Hollins learned to pretend and changed his coaching ideas, but he did not change the team's playing style and system...

With seven or eight minutes left in the halftime break, Coach Hollins called the players together and arranged the tactical plan that had been discussed before the game and adjusted according to the performance of the Lakers and his own team in the first half, and arranged it according to the performance of the players and the performance of the opponent's players...

...

The halftime break was almost over, and the players of both teams returned to the court.

Sun Ce looked at the Lakers players who entered the court later and felt that the momentum of the opponent had changed!

In the first half, the Lakers were not completely focused. Kobe and Bynum went all out. Kobe wanted to have fun with Sun Ce, and Bynum was specially arranged by the Zen Master to give him the opportunity to lead the team alone for half a quarter or a quarter in each game.

But in the third quarter, which was the "Lakers time" advocated by fans and the media last season, the fighting spirit revealed by the Lakers players was very different from that in the first half!

When Sun Ce played against the Lakers last time this season, he had not felt this way about the Lakers, because the Grizzlies had not yet experienced the mid-season when they played against each other last time. Even though the Grizzlies had the most consecutive wins in the league at the beginning of this season, they were still not a real strong team in the eyes of those top teams. They could only say that they did not want to meet the Grizzlies with four towers in the playoffs.

But the Grizzlies only lost two games in January! The Lakers began to take the Grizzlies seriously and treat them as strong enemies.

As for last season... no top team took the Grizzlies seriously at all.

Now the Lakers no longer just think that the Grizzlies are troublesome in the playoffs and do not want to meet the Grizzlies, but they really feel the threat!

The second half of the game is about to start, and the starting lineups of the two teams in the second half appear.

On the Lakers side, the combination of Fisher, Shannon Brown, Kobe, Odom, and Bynum came on the court.

On the Grizzlies side, Sun Ce did not play for the time being, and the lineup of Conley, Tony Allen, Paul George, Battier, and Gasol Jr. came on the court.

On the Lakers side, except for the starting phase this season, Gasol and Bynum played most of their time on the court. The Zen Master obviously discovered that Bynum was very jealous of Gasol's tactical core position.

On the Grizzlies side, the third quarter was mainly defensive!

Four outside players, all prepared for Kobe!

After the start of the third quarter, Sun Ce watched Kobe still play very coquettishly, and knew why Tony Allen had to defend desperately even though he couldn't defend tonight.

The Lakers' style of play changed in the third quarter. Bynum was the point of containment under the basket, Odom was the core of the organization, Kobe was the wing scorer, and Fisher was the second passer. The Lakers began to play a triangle offense!

Some people always underestimate Kobe's ability to run without the ball, because Kobe rarely catches the ball and shoots, but he can always find one-on-one opportunities in the opponent's zone defense, and the Lakers don't need Kobe to catch the ball and shoot at all. It's enough to create one-on-one singles opportunities for him.

The Grizzlies' lineup of one big and four small players is to always have defenders in front of Kobe, so Sun Ce also saw the defensive effect of the team's four outside players on Kobe.

Some fans joked that Kobe only shoots difficult shots, and he would create difficulty even if there is no difficulty, but he would not shoot easy shots.

At first glance, it seems to make sense, but if you look closely, you will find that it makes sense! Facing the defense of Battier and Tony Allen, Kobe at least has to jump with all his strength and make every effort to get rid of the defense. In general, Kobe has more iron hands against these two people. Don't you see Conley and Paul George occasionally being beaten by Kobe when they switch to Kobe...

If there is no defense of Tony Allen and Battier, Kobe, who has been in good shape recently, would be in great shape!

Tony Allen's defense is very important. At least it limits Kobe's performance to not be too amazing. In addition, Kobe has to spend a lot of effort to deal with Tony Allen and Battier, which is definitely more consuming than playing against other Grizzlies players.

But Sun Ce felt it was a pity, the Zen Master did a good job of allocating Kobe's physical strength, Kobe only played for 14 minutes in the first half! This made Tony Allen's consumption of Kobe in the second half of the first quarter not have much effect. The Zen Master controlled this aspect too well, breaking Tony Allen's plan to consume Kobe with a round-robin game.

Halfway through the third quarter, Kobe scored 10 points in another half! At 6 minutes and 55 seconds in the third quarter, the Grizzlies called a timeout, and Kobe had already scored 30 points!

Led by Kobe, the Lakers scored 15 points in less than seven minutes in the third quarter! The Grizzlies have tried their best to defend other players and Kobe, but they just can't defend.

Fortunately, Artest and Barnes did not play. These two people are relatively weaker in helping Kobe to contain the defense. The Lakers' defense is not particularly good. If Zen Master wants to score, he must give up some things. The Grizzlies scored 13 points in nearly 7 minutes.

74 to 75, the Grizzlies are only 1 point behind!

Since the game against the Nuggets, the Grizzlies are in good shape. The lineup of one big and four small played for more than half a quarter without substitutions. They were ravaged by Kobe like that. Battier and Conley still scored a goal each. Battier made a three-pointer in the bottom corner and Conley made a long-range mid-range shot to help Randolph contain the defense, allowing Randolph to score 6 points in the interior half a quarter. In addition to Gasol's second attack causing Bynum to foul and make two free throws, the sports war scores were concentrated on these three people.

…

After the official timeout, Sun Ce was called by coach Hollins. He stood up and did two radio gymnastics and stretched his body. His teammates had done well enough. It was time for him to work hard again.

Kobe had played for less than 21 minutes so far, and Sun Ce had played even less, just 13 minutes.

There were a little more than 17 minutes left in the game. Sun Ce knew that he had to play all the remaining time as long as he didn't beat the opponent or was beaten by the opponent.

Playing for 17 minutes in a row was a lot of pressure for Sun Ce. He had to allocate his physical strength well. He had used up the physical potion in the last game and it was still cooling down. There were only two star experience cards left, one for Kobe and one for the old generation of Little Overlord. It was a pity to use these two in the regular season. If there were events with better rewards, he would certainly use them, but there were none.

Since the halftime break, Sun Ce has been adjusting his mentality, constantly telling himself that it was just a regular season game, and he should play well and go all out without regrets.

After some activities and returning to the bench, Coach Hollins made tactical arrangements.

It was impossible to defend Kobe. The four defensive perimeter players sent by the Grizzlies were tortured by Kobe in turn, making it seem like the four defensive players on the Grizzlies took turns to go up and abuse him.

But we still have to defend!

Tony Allen was not replaced for the time being. He had to play the entire third quarter. Fortunately, he rested for the entire second quarter, so it was not a big problem to defend Kobe in this quarter.

After Coach Hollins arranged the tactics, Sun Ce, Tony Allen, Morrow, Yi Jianlian, and Jordan Jr. came on the court.

Play fast!

It is not enough to consume Kobe on the defensive end, but also to consume him in terms of speed.

The Lakers sent out a lineup of Blake, Kobe, Artest, Odom, and Gasol.

After the timeout, the Grizzlies attacked first.

Sun Ce received the ball from the frontcourt and came to the three-point line. Unlike the starting stage, there is no second point guard now. Sun Ce did not play high-post back-to-back, but played pick-and-roll, making adjustments in his playing style according to the differences of his teammates.

Yi Jianlian came up to block Kobe, and Sun Ce broke through from the right!

Odom followed closely, and Sun Ce took the initiative to half-turn and lean on Odom in the mid-range. When leaning on Odom, he slapped the ball under the crotch of Odom who lowered his center of gravity, then turned around and passed Odom, and jumped to the bottom line to catch the ball!

Beautiful back-to-the-crotch pass!

When Sun Ce entered and came to the bottom line to catch the ball, Kobe had already caught up, and formed a trend of encirclement with Odom. Relying on the height advantage over Kobe, Sun Ce made a sideways hook shot before Kobe fell on his face. Odom turned around and pressed up but was not in time. Sun Ce maintained his good touch tonight and hit a mid-range hook shot from the right bottom line.

This ball really depends on personal ability. Sun Ce played this ball beautifully, and it was a flash of inspiration! It was a flash of inspiration! I couldn't help but get excited.

76 to 75, the Grizzlies once again overtook by 1 point, this ball gave the Grizzlies a shot in the arm! Sun Ce continued his excellent performance in the first half!

The Lakers defended the pick-and-roll very well. If Sun Ce had just made a mid-range shot after the pick-and-roll, Odom could have defended it very well. Odom was not inferior in short-range burst speed, flexibility, height, and wingspan. If Sun Ce broke into the basket, Kobe would definitely be able to block him in place, and he could also form a double team with Odom to create a blocking opportunity for Odom. At the same time, Odom's tall body could also limit the angle of Sun Ce's pass.

But Sun Ce was good at hooking the baseline! And it was his strongest mid-range shooting technique!

Most people who shoot mid-range shots at the baseline are almost all top shooters who choose to do so. For players who attack with the ball, even Kobe, try not to take the zero-degree mid-range shot.

But Sun Ce picked that spot, that position, Odom couldn't catch up in the first place, it was too far from the top arc, Sun Ce had enough distance to get rid of the defense, and Kobe would be too late to catch up after bypassing the pick-and-roll!

Sun Ce used his own unique method and his own skills, at least in terms of scoring, to break the defensive combination of Kobe + Odom that could make the Jazz's pick-and-roll cry!

The key is that Sun Ce has to have a good touch!

Fortunately, Sun Ce, like his teammates tonight, continued his recent good form!

In the second half of the third quarter, Sun Ce was responsible for assisting defense. If Kobe wanted to use the pick-and-roll to attack Sun Ce, Coach Hollins would rather let Morrow and Sun Ce switch defense targets and let Morrow be abused than let Sun Ce switch defense on Kobe. Coach Hollins was also protecting Sun Ce's physical strength.

As the game went on, it turned into a confrontation between Kobe and Sun Ce!

Kobe played Tony Allen on the outside. Tonight, Kobe maintained a hit rate of more than 50% and was in excellent condition.

On Sun Ce's side, he used his own advantages to find his own shooting area and shot well.

The TV commentators did not dare to predict the development of the Grizzlies' game. At the beginning of the game, they thought that tonight should be the core combination of Kobe + Gasol, competing with the core combination of Sun Ce + Gasol; or the two teams' towers fighting each other.

Zhang Weiping guessed this way. He firmly denied that Kobe and Sun Ce would compete against each other. Then, at the beginning of the first quarter, the two competed against each other...

In the second half of the second quarter, Sun Ce came up. Zhang Weiping said that Sun Ce should continue his good touch and take advantage of Kobe's absence to shoot more. As a result, Sun Ce used the threat he had at the beginning of the game to pass the ball instead of shooting. Zhang Weiping failed to predict again.

This third time, Zhang Weiping actually analyzed that Sun Ce would look for scoring opportunities when facing Kobe. He guessed that Sun Ce liked to catch the opponent by surprise, but he didn't dare to say it, fearing that he would be slapped in the face again.

Then Sun Ce really scored 9 points in the second half of the third quarter!

Zhang Weiping felt that Sun Ce was against him! From the perspective of the national team, Zhang Weiping loved Sun Ce as much as he loved him. He usually praised Sun Ce.

But when it came to the game between Sun Ce and Kobe, Zhang Weiping's Kobe fan nature was exposed!

…

…

I didn’t expect to be so excited about writing. I’ve already written most of the next chapter. I originally planned to finish it in one chapter, but I’ll update 10,000 words directly. I think it’ll be good if I can get 500 subscribers. I’ll update a big chapter first.

There are still about 2,000 to 3,000 words left in the next chapter. I’ll write for a while, sleep when I feel sleepy, and leave it for tomorrow morning. There’s a big chapter of 4,000 to 5,000 words before I go out tomorrow~

3 updates of 17,000 words. Please vote for the monthly ticket and recommend the ticket!