Chapter 680 679. Defeat the Big Four!
33 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists. This is the data that Kobe has not finished in three quarters. The game rule continues to shine in the Staples Center.
Kobe held his proud head high, his face was full of disdain, only two points left, this attack, he wants to tie the score or even overtake it!
In terms of personal scoring, Kobe's 33 points and Liu Mang's 37 points are obviously slightly inferior, but from the perspective of the impact on the game, Kobe beat Liu Mang today, which made Kobe feel very happy.
The official timeout is coming to an end. The Eagles have arranged tactics, mainly defensive tactics, and sent out the strongest lineup of Liu Mang, Prince, Raheem, Rasheed Wallace, and Ratliff.
On the Lakers side, Malone, Fisher, and Fox finally played, and they played long enough. The lineup of Payton, Kobe, Devin George, Wang Zhizhi, and O'Neal.
Back from timeout, the Lakers attack.
The Lakers' offensive tactics were adjusted. After Payton advanced to the frontcourt, he didn't give the ball to Kobe immediately. Kobe didn't ask for the ball to the left middle distance, but attracted the defense there.
O'Neal is active in the interior. Since the first quarter, although O'Neal has been on the court, he has been resting and playing, for now! At the end of the third quarter, after relying on Kobe to close the score to only two points, O'Neal has almost rested, and he is about to start showing off!
Payton moved to the right, O'Neal aggressively stuck Ratliff behind him in the interior, Payton dribbled the ball sideways with his right hand, and pointed to O'Neal with his left, as if he was going to hang the inside.
Payton was about to pass, but was a bit surprised to see the Eagles defending!
It is completely different from the possible problems predicted when the team's tactics are arranged! Even the various situations that the Eagles expected to hinder the inside pass did not appear!
The Eagles defended a zone defense!
It's not the kind of zone defense that defends the inside, but the Eagles, except for Ratliff who is fighting desperately with O'Neal, the other four guard the four outsiders of the Lakers to death!
It’s not sticking defense, but Liu Mang, Raheem, and Rasheed Wallace are all ready to rotate and defend the outside line. Prince sticks to Kobe alone, and the other three are ready to block the air and cut. When attacking outside singles, Liu Mang's point made Payton feel the most hateful, and he took a big step back to double-team Kobe.
Payton couldn't help it. He averaged 0.5 three-pointers per game, and his shooting percentage was only 30.7%, and the opponent didn't care at all.
The outside line is completely blocked, and Payton himself has no three-point ability to break through Liu Mang... Last year he was very confident, but this year's state is so bad that he doesn't even have confidence. It seems that the only option is to play inside, and it is the last A good choice, but Payton always felt that something was wrong. It seemed that the pass was a bit too easy.
But Payton still passed in, and what they wanted was O'Neal's singles.
Payton lobbed the ball to O'Neal. After receiving the ball, O'Neal turned around to the left. Ratliff couldn't hold it at all, and was knocked half of his body. hand!
O'Neal's strongest is actually not hitting the dunk, there are actually only a few in that game, his strongest is the small hook after turning around!
Just when O'Neal turned around and picked up the ball from the bottom up to hook the ball up, Ratliff was stuck at this height and couldn't jump up to block the shot, but Ratliff's prediction of the shot was really good , Hammered directly on O'Neill's right arm with his left fist!
"Beep..."
Even if it is O'Neal, it is impossible to throw the ball in this situation. The offense was destroyed by Ratliff, but the whistle came in time. Ratliff fouled and O'Neal made two free throws.
He was punched, although it was only on the arm, but O'Neill immediately became angry, and when he walked to the free throw line, he pushed Ratliff's chest: "Blue collar, you are blocking the way of the superstar."
Ratliff immediately slapped O'Neal's hand away: "All-star substitute, this is not the way you should go!"
Ratliff does not hesitate to face O'Neill!
The two glared at each other, and didn't continue their quarrel. Both of them were stabbed in the sore spot, and it was all true, so they simply shut up.
Small conflicts, no expansion, this kind of small conflict is too common for the Lakers and Eagles, the most star-studded teams in the East and West, this kind of small conflict is normal.
O'Neal walked to the free throw line. This unique man is so different. Others' shooting arms are hurt, which may be affected and lead to abnormal free throws. However, this year's free throw percentage is only 45%, and he makes two free throws from time to time. Iron O'Neill, actually scored the first free throw!
It may be that the pain caused O'Neal to shoot the ball instead of throwing it out according to the feeling he thought he could score, but instead scored...
However, O'Neal returned to normal on the second free throw. The thrown ball will rub against the front of the basket, and after hitting the basket, it will bounce vertically to the basket.
Ratliff easily put Wang Zhizhi behind, and Rasheed Wallace easily took off the defensive rebound.
The Eagles strike back!
Rasheed Wallace immediately threw the ball to Liu Mang, Liu Mang rushed forward, Kobe and Payton had already returned to defense, Liu Mang rushed across the center line after receiving the ball, Kobe was already waiting on the three-point line , Liu Mang did not stop, but continued to sprint. When Liu Mang rushed beyond the three-point line, Kobe posted it immediately.
This mad dog! The defense is too hard! Will you get a raise? Didn't you see that other superstar perimeter defenses are better offensively and worse defensively?
After Liu Mang was pressed by Kobe, he forced his way forward under the pressure of Kobe, and was forced by Kobe to enter the inside line from the right. However, because Liu Mang was rushing over, although Kobe forcibly changed Liu Mang's breakthrough route, he did not Can limit Liu Mang's speed, Liu Mang rushed to the right side of the three-second zone, forced to take off, Payton and Kobe both rushed towards Liu Mang, Payton guarded against Liu Mang's weird European step landing point, Kobe Bryant Jumped up to block Liu Mang's strong shot. Although the relationship between the two is not good, they cooperate quite tacitly. They are indeed super defensive players who were selected for the defensive first team at the same time a few years ago. Payton is old and his body cannot keep up with defensive awareness, but he plays Really good.
However, Liu Mang didn't shoot after jumping up, but passed the ball back to the middle!
Raheem followed up and caught the ball and smashed into the basket with one hand.
"RiderCharge!" Raheem yelled at Kobe after the dunk landed, the adjective that the Eagles home fans used the most to cheer for the cavalry tactics!
Compared with the original version of cavalry charge, although cavalry tactics are no longer the main offensive option, there are more variables! Because Liu Mang's threats in all aspects are already great!
Obviously, opponents are very angry when they encounter a team like the Eagles, but they are really used to it. In the past two years, the Lakers only won once against the Eagles in the regular season, and it was won by Kobe Bryant. It's not once or twice that Tom or Jason Terry yelled like this.
After Kobe sent the ball to Payton, he picked up his jersey and ran to the frontcourt, obviously ready to be tough. Seeing that Ratliff of the Eagles sent O'Neal to the free throw line with a rough foul, Kobe believed that the Eagles should shrink their defense. Yes, this is his chance to score!
Seeing Kobe grabbing his jersey, if it was the past, Liu Mang would definitely be a little apprehensive or even frightened, but now... Liu Mang really wants to give the little blacksmith a good suggestion: Eating too much sweat kills the Y chromosome!
As soon as Kobe arrived in the frontcourt, he was stuck by Prince. He leaned against Prince in the middle distance, and waited for Payton to come over and catch the ball for singles. He couldn't wait!
70 to 73, and the opponent opened the gap by 1 point, Kobe was so angry! I really want to come back!
However, as soon as Kobe stuck to Prince, he saw the bastard who made him angry move a little closer to him, as if he was about to double-team him!
Raheem didn't care too much about Devin George, except that Rasheed Wallace blocked Wang Zhizhi's catch-and-shoot route, and Liu Mang, Prince, and Raheem played a three-person defense, focusing on Kobe Bryant. The secondary defense is German George's air cut and Payton's mid-range shot!
Kobe felt incredible!
Watching O'Neill angrily fight with Ratliff and get stuck in a hand-to-hand position, no one is going to pinch and no one cares, what kind of defense is this!
After Payton pushed forward, he saw that O'Neal had an easy shot. Four of his outsiders were marked to death by the Eagles' four big meat grinders on the outside. Payton's thinking was the same as Kobe's.
What is this for!
Although the Eagles did not press and defend, the four outsiders of the Lakers felt airtight!
The only gap is to hang the inner line in the air!
Payton didn't understand, but he continued to follow the tactics and hung it to O'Neill. O'Neill was ruthless this time. He originally wanted to use a small hook to solve the fight, but he was violently fouled by Ratliff in the last attack, and was also called With a word about the All-Star substitute, O'Neal received the ball and was about to hit Ratliff for a dunk!
Ratliff was indeed unstoppable. No one in the league could block O'Neal's forceful impact. After knocking Ratliff back, O'Neal slapped the ball hard, turned around to catch the ball and took off for a dunk!
It's really unstoppable! It's impossible to cover it, O'Neill's height of 2.16 meters, plus the jumping that is extremely inconsistent with his figure, Ratliff can't cover it!
However, just as O'Neal raised the ball, another sharp pain hit his right arm. Ratliff slapped O'Neal's right arm with two big hands at the same time, pulling O'Neal down, fouling again!
Another violent foul!
O'Neal almost lost his footing after landing. The referee's whistle came in a timely manner, suppressing O'Neal's anger. O'Neal didn't agree with Ratliff. This guy won the block king, not the kind of verbal threats or even physical threats. affect the guy.
Ratliff also immediately raised his hand in response to the referee's call.
In addition to one foul in the first half, Ratliff has committed three fouls. After the whistle, the Eagles immediately made a substitution and replaced Ratliff with Kwame Brown.
This time O'Neal was not so lucky, his arm was beaten sorely, and he was beaten twice in a row. This time he directly made two free throws.
Rasheed Wallace once again grabbed a defensive rebound, and the Eagles counterattacked again!
This time the Lakers retreated a lot faster. Wang Zhizhi and Devin George didn’t get stuck. O’Neal threw the shot and the two immediately retreated. After O’Neal threw the throw, he also retreated immediately. Made a free throw.
Seeing that there was no chance of a strong counterattack, Liu Mang ran back from the center line to catch the ball, pressed the rhythm, and played slowly.
Liu Mang advances to the frontcourt. Kobe is now more motivated to defend against Liu Mang and more confident than the Eagles when they played against the Sloan system. The Eagles have a better lineup and rank first in the league in defensive efficiency, but the offensive end is very single. It is Liu Mang's various singles points. Kobe is confident that he can defend Liu Mang alone.
Liu Mang advanced to the frontcourt, seeing the excitement in Kobe's eyes, he knew the evil thoughts in this guy's heart, and immediately beckoned for a pick-and-roll.
Kwame Brown ran out, and before reaching his position, Liu Mang accelerated from the right!
Kobe is already ready for the pick-and-roll. The pick-and-roll of the rest of the Eagles is far behind Boozer's pick-and-roll. Kobe can keep up with Liu Mang in the pick-and-roll, but Liu Mang is so strong!
Kobe immediately caught up.
Liu Mang made a big stride and took a step forward. Seeing that Kobe moved a little slower to defend, Liu Mang immediately chose to take a step back. Kobe's reaction and body balance were really strong, his waist was too good, his core strength was stable, and he turned back in time. He wanted to chase Liu Mang, but Kwame Brown had just rushed to the right of the top arc and blocked Kobe!
O'Neal couldn't follow up quickly, Liu Mang popped out from the left back, came outside the top arc three-point line, adjusted a bit, and made an open three-point shot!
Easy hit!
76 to 70!
The Eagles once again opened the point difference to 6 points!
It's the Lakers' offense again. Kobe and Payton have guessed what the purpose of the Eagles is now.
Before they attacked twice in a row, the Lakers failed to make it. Ratliff fouled twice in a row and sent O'Neal to the free throw line twice. The key point is that O'Neal only made 1 of 4 free throws!
O'Neal continued to drop down, and O'Neal saw Kwame Brown, who was younger and more irritable behind him, who was making foul moves without even concealing it, and he didn't want to catch the ball anymore!
So obvious!
The Eagles' defensive strategy is to block the outside line and give the inside singles a chance, but they don't let O'Neal actually make a shot. Every time O'Neal wants to make a shot, he hits directly!
This is not a shark hack. When Ratliff fouled Shaquille O’Neal for the first time, the number of fouls had already reached 4 times, and there was no direct foul. Instead, they waited until Shaquille O’Neal made a shot and then fouled, without disrupting the field. The rhythm is just to destroy O'Neal's strong dunk and small hook.
But that's it, O'Neal didn't dare to catch the ball anymore! Today's free throw is too bad!
Moreover, even if O'Neal wants the ball, Payton dare not pass it now!
This time Payton chose to break through! It's just that the speed is really slow enough. As soon as he entered the three-point line, Liu Mang immediately defended in place, and Payton immediately passed the ball to Kobe who was leaning against Prince.
Kobe couldn't bear it anymore, he was going to play singles!
O'Neal actually scored only 1 point in two offenses, and they were both perfect singles opportunities. What made Kobe feel uncomfortable was that O'Neal scored only 4 free throws!
This made Kobe dissatisfied with O'Neal again. It's not that O'Neal's touch can't be practiced. The small hook is so smooth, but he just refuses to spend some time practicing free throws. Kobe's dissatisfaction with O'Neal's laziness once again occupies the main emotion. .
Just when Kobe received the ball and wanted to play a high post, Raheem let go of Devin George and double-teamed Kobe!
Quite decisive, without any sloppiness, Kobe was tightly clamped by the two, and the forced mid-range shot made a hollow shot outside the basket and flew directly out of the baseline!
O'Neal is fighting Kwame Brown, who would have thought that he didn't touch the basket!
Raheem, Prince, the two defensive giants flanked Kobe in the middle distance!
These three rounds became another turning point in the game!
The Eagles' defense, the Lakers have no way to crack it!
Kobe can't do anything about passing the ball now. Devin George's cut is really bad. Wang Zhizhi is a spot-up shooter and is marked to death. Payton only scored two points today, 1 of 7 shots, and almost has no sense of presence. Even if Kobe is now There is no other way if he wants to become a science subject, whether he wants to or not, he is stuck in a one-on-two situation!
The Eagles' defensive strategy may not be useful to other teams, but for the Lakers, a strong team with obvious weaknesses, the Eagles' defense is too incomprehensible!
At least in a short period of time, the Lakers can't think of a way to crack it at all, and may not even be able to think of a way to crack it for a month or two!
And this defense is basically irreproducible!
There are probably only a few players in other teams who have the same single-defense awareness as Ratliff. Duncan, Garnett, and Ben Wallace, except for these three, retired in the older generation of centers. After the retirement of the old and the old, it is estimated that there will be no fourth player in the league now. Pushing forward two years, Mutombo is also one, only Olajuwon and others.
However, these players are the inside core of their respective teams, especially Duncan and Garnett, in addition to being the core of defense, they are also the core of offense! They dare not pay so many fouls to play this style of play. They can only fight recklessly, and it is too difficult to fight against OK. It is better than Duncan. After Kobe grew up, he only won once in the past three years. , It was only after the Lakers won three consecutive championships that the team had aged seriously and won once.
But the Eagles are different, whether it is Ratliff or Kwame Brown, although they are also very important, but the Eagles will not be able to play without them, because they also have a Rasheed Wallace who is also a center ! So Ratliff and Kwame Brown can do this in this style of play.
This defensive method is the defensive strategy used by the Pistons to brutally slaughter the Lakers 4-1 in the Finals!
Block the outside line, let O'Neal play singles inside, and then use Campbell, Okur, and Ben Wallace to sabotage O'Neal's offense. In addition to trying to prevent the foul in the end, Campbell and Okur both fouled directly when O'Neal received the ball, forcing the Lakers not to dare to play inside, so they had to let Kobe single on the outside!
The same is true for the Eagles. Ratliff, Kwame Brown, and Boozer come up in turn. As long as O'Neal receives the ball, he is always ready to foul and force Kobe to play singles.
As for the Lakers' outside singles, or the one who can hit the Eagles' outside line, only Kobe is now.
Because the Eagles' perimeter defense is obviously stronger than the original Pistons!
The defense of Liu Mang, Prince, and Raheem is obviously stronger than that of Billups, Prince, and Hamilton!
Especially under the attack of Prince and Raheem, Kobe suddenly went from violent to locked, with only one official timeout!
Playing and playing, Kobe's stubbornness came back again. If he can't make a shot, he will keep shooting, and if he can't make a shot, he will keep shooting.
At the end of the third quarter, Kobe, who originally had a shooting percentage of 49%, dropped to 41%!
On Liu Mang's side, he constantly borrowed his teammates' pick-and-roll attacks. Kwame Brown's body is really good, and his pick-and-roll awareness needs to be strengthened, but his enthusiasm and physical fitness have made up for it. After the confrontation with the two teams strengthened, the whistle became a lot looser, and the shooting efficiency was not high, but it was much higher than Kobe!
In the last five minutes of the third quarter, the Lakers saw that they were going to overtake the score and wanted to fight a wave of anger, but they didn't expect that in these five minutes, the Lakers only scored 5 points!
Except for Kobe throwing more and more crazy throwing 1 of 7 plus two free throws to get 4 points, only O'Neal scored 1 point!
The Eagles relied on Liu Mang's 2-for-5 shooting to score 6 points, and others counterattacked to score 8 points. After more than 5 minutes, they played a 14-5 scoring performance at the end of the three quarters!
74 to 85, the Lakers not only failed to narrow the point difference, but were stretched to 11 points!
Liu Mang scored 43 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists in three quarters! Assists also caught up with Kobe's 8!
...
In the fourth quarter, it was clear that the Lakers had no good solution. Replace O'Neal? Obviously impossible, then it would really be Kobe's team alone.
Although Malone was able to help others pick and roll without the ball to get some open opportunities after he came up, Kobe's mentality exploded again, and he returned to the state of refusing to take the initiative to help his teammates with the ball in the first half.
The Eagles seized the opportunity, came up in the fourth quarter, scored a 13-3 score in more than 4 minutes, and the point difference came to 21 points, directly sending the game into garbage time.
The Lakers were bewildered by the Eagles' sudden rampage, which became extremely fierce and even completely abnormal defense. They didn't realize why this happened, so they were killed!
Even Zen Master has nothing to do. He really can’t find a way to deal with the Eagles’ iron bucket lineup. This kind of defense is completely suicidal. If O’Neal makes free throws on time, there will be more than 60% of the stability For example, Duncan last season had a free throw percentage of about 67% in the second half of the season, and the opponent would not dare to use shark-slashing tactics against the Spurs.
However, O'Neal really doesn't have that free throw ability!
Moreover, the most important thing is that apart from the Big Four plus Fisher, Fox, and Wang Zhizhi, the Lakers have no other useful people. Devin George is the second small forward. Too many better options!
Zen master adjusted several times in the second half of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth quarter, but the Eagles defended as determinedly, and Zen master really couldn't think of a way.
This is the Larry Brown iron barrel formation that he didn't think of a solution for the entire finals. How can he think of a solution in one game?
After the Lakers called a timeout, they announced their surrender, replaced all the main players, and replaced them with a drinking fountain lineup.
The Eagles did not continue to start, and sent Jason Terry, who was very tired today, to hold the lineup, with Korver, Barnes, Muhammad, and Kwame Brown.
For the remaining 7 minutes, both teams had no defense, and kept shooting. Jason Terry was so sad and angry, because he was the one who was injured every time...
In the end, Liu Mang scored 46 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists on 17 of 37 shots, helping the Eagles beat the Lakers 112 to 95 and win their first victory after the All-Star Weekend!
Three consecutive victories, the record has improved to 44 wins and 8 losses, the Eagles continue to triumph!
...
Liu Mang wants to win this game, although because of the early exposure of the defensive strategy this time, the Lakers may come up with a solution. Any defensive strategy, there is always a way to break through, otherwise it will all be towards the Pistons. The team or the Spurs' grind-to-the-death style of play is enough to build a team.
This is something you have to pay to get something.
Moreover, the timeliness of this defensive system is only this season. After the defense fails to get started, nine out of ten defenses against Kobe by Raheem and Prince in the second half today will be directly called fouls.
Let’s expose the tactics in advance. Liu Mang didn’t feel too distressed, because besides wanting to establish a psychological advantage in the regular season and not be scared by the Lakers’ giant lineup like other teams, the more important point is the OK combination. It's scary when you play well together!
Kobe's nerves are different from ordinary people. He really hates O'Neal, which is no problem, but he is more proud of the invincible dominance of his combination with O'Neal. If he is made to rely on the tacit cooperation with O'Neal again, it may be difficult It's useless, this guy is out of his mind.
Therefore, even if there are several months left in this tactic and the Lakers have enough time to study this defensive strategy, Liu Mang must win this game in order to make Kobe no longer have any doubts about OK. Confidence makes Kobe even more willing to do it alone.
Liu Mang has a vague feeling that because of his own influence, the trend of OK's disintegration is not as violent as imagined. If they are really united, suppress the conflict, and do not disband, even if it is not good, wait until the Lakers were in the two teams. After consecutive championships, the middle-class contracts for Fox, Devin George and others expired, and after getting rid of the middle-class trap, they had salary space to rebuild the team. O'Neal, who still has a few years of fighting power, and Kobe, who is about to reach his peak at the age of 26 With new, younger and better helpers, it's not too difficult to reach the top of the NBA again.
The salary space of the Lakers is relatively poor now. It is completely restricted by the mid-level contract that was given out for three consecutive summers after winning the championship. The mid-level contract will inevitably turn into a garbage contract in the end. This has basically become a law of the NBA. , is known as the middle class trap, and the team that fell into it the deepest is very interesting. It is the Spurs. The status is like jumping off a cliff, but it's impossible not to stay. They can't recruit other role players. They are all veterans. They have no room, and they can still only give exceptions to the middle class.
However, the Spurs have Duncan, and they can carry it through, and they will win the championship in a year. The Lakers can theoretically rely on the strength of the OK combination, and they are in Los Angeles, which is very attractive to many players. The current Lakers failed to survive this period, and OK's contradictions have reached the point of collapse.
But now, because the Eagles are becoming more irritable every year, except for the most intuitively feeling the pressure in the Eastern Conference, the two strongest teams in the Western Conference, the Spurs and the Lakers, are also beginning to be afraid. Although OK’s contradiction is still there Continue to improve, but judging from today's game, at least when playing against the Eagles, OK is willing to continue to cooperate.
This is not a good thing for the Eagles.
Now Kobe is obviously dissatisfied with O'Neal again. After the game, he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with O'Neal's laziness and refusal to practice free throws. The contradiction between the OK combination has escalated again.
After the game, when the Eagles were undergoing physiotherapy in the visiting team's locker room, Liu Mang couldn't help but smirk when he heard about this incident. His teammates who were talking about the escalation of the Lakers' OK combination couldn't help shivering.
The teammates obviously felt a chill coming from their backs. The youngest boss of the team must have something bad in his mind!
Fortunately, they are teammates!
Liu Mang will never admit that it was the pressure from the OK game that made him want to crash the Lakers, absolutely not! Liu Mang absolutely does not admit this, he just wanted to see Kobe's carnival years alone, definitely not out of jealousy...