Chapter 753: 752. First Victory in the Finals! (Please Subscribe and Ask for a Monthly Ticket~)
After the timeout, the Eagles attacked, and Liu Mang didn't know what the effect of the alienation card would be. The finals can suppress many conflicts, but let's try.
After advancing to the frontcourt, Liu Mang saw that the Lakers were still defending the zone defense, and beckoned Ostertag to come out for a pick-and-roll.
Ostertag didn't expect that he would actually increase his role on the offensive end, which made him happy. He rushed out to help Liu Mang block Kobe, and other Eagles players saw Liu Mang and Ostertag Pick and roll, immediately open the space.
O'Neal can't defend the pick-and-roll, so usually the power forward switches with him. Wang Zhizhi immediately switches from Rasheed Wallace in the right corner. Wallace's catch-and-shoot.
The Lakers' defense was still so fast, and O'Neal was so active. During the pick-and-roll breakthrough, Liu Mang had been observing the Lakers' running positions and found that the Lakers didn't seem to have any difference due to the role of the alienation card.
Liu Mang accelerated to break through from the right side of Wang Zhizhi, Kobe ran to the right corner, O'Neal received the right edge of the three-second zone, and the Lakers switched defenses very quickly.
At this moment, Jason Terry ran towards the top arc actively, Liu Mang immediately threw the ball to the top arc, Ostertag helped Jason Terry block the chasing Payton, Jason - Terry catches the ball and shoots a three-pointer...
Missed!
Fortunately, Liu Mang slipped into the basket from Wang Zhizhi and O'Neal in a serpentine position, and actively made a tip-up to point the popped ball into the basket.
There is a shortcoming of the matchup defense, that is, in terms of defensive rebounds, the rushing defense against rebounds is average. Liu Wei took advantage of this very well this time. He did not pin all his hopes on the separation card, and has been observing the Lakers. Potential vulnerability.
72 to 65, the point difference came to 7 points again.
Offensive and defensive transition, the Lakers attack, and Payton advances the ball to the frontcourt.
He didn't pass it to Kobe, and Kobe didn't ask for the ball, but took Prince to run without the ball.
Payton's advantages and disadvantages are obvious, and it becomes more obvious when he is old. He basically has no open three-point ability, which is very similar to Michael Jordan, who he regards as his old enemy.
Just like now, Payton is so angry, watching Liu Mang take a step back from the free throw line, his eyes are always looking at Kobe, and the more he looks, the more angry he becomes.
But Kobe went to play off the ball, and Payton also suppressed his anger, preparing to use a breakthrough to attract Liu Mang's defense, and to contain the defense for Kobe and Wang Zhizhi's off-ball pick-and-roll.
Just when Payton was about to break through, he saw O'Neal suddenly relying on Ostertag to ask for the ball!
On Kobe's side, they were all ready to pick and roll with Wang Zhizhi, and Fisher was also ready to take advantage of the core players to attract the opponent's attention and secretly run. The Lakers started in the second half of the second quarter of this game. The whole team is alive, relying on the appearance of the rational department.
However, seeing O'Neal asking for the ball, others were not surprised. O'Neal is still the first offensive choice. When he is physically fit, he should be singled out. The defense was so active just now.
The Lakers pulled out all the players to make room for O'Neal to play inside.
Ostertag struggled to resist O'Neill, who seemed to be running away. Although he didn't suffer, O'Neal was not in a good position, but Ostertag didn't dare to relax in the slightest. The opponent was O'Neill!
Liu Mang saw Payton pass the ball in, saw O'Neill receive the ball with a murderous face, and was about to vomit blood. Why did this fat man become more active!
Seeing O'Neill struggling to squeeze Ostertag out of space, his huge body was extremely flexible, turned around and slipped through the little space on the bottom line on his toes, and passed the ball from bottom to top on the other side of the basket Dunk into the basket!
Ostertag has tried his best to hinder O'Neal, but he is not as flexible as O'Neal. When he turned around, O'Neal had already smashed the ball into the basket.
The point difference has narrowed to 5 points again!
Seeing O'Neill striding forward amidst the boos of the audience, Liu Wei did not expect that O'Neill could be so fierce at this stage. Liu Wei expressed despair at the role of the alienation card, but he did not expect to make O'Neill even more irritable!
Now, the thing to do is to hold back O'Neill's violent time! Before the end of the three quarters, the Lakers can't close the point difference! The advantage of 5 points must be maintained.
When the Eagles were attacking, Liu Mang saw that O'Neal became more active than before and stuck with Ostertag, let Ostertag come out to pick and roll, and O'Neal actively moved on the baseline.
What a big head, Liu Mang used Ostertag to pick and roll, Payton watched Jason Terry very closely this time, and Kobe switched to defend Rasheed Wallace's corner three-pointer to O'Neal Liberate back to the basket.
Liu Mang could only choose to shoot a jumper from the free throw line against Wang Zhizhi's defense. He shot the ball with his body biased, bounced twice on the neck of the basket, and narrowly fell into the basket.
Still 7 points difference!
Subsequently, O'Neal succeeded in singles against Ostertag again, and made a small hook shot towards the front basket that turned around on the line.
Looking back at the Eagles' offense, Liu Mang did not continue to pick and roll with Ostertag, but passed the ball to Jason Terry. Jason Terry faced Payton's defense and made a strong three-pointer, but missed!
Liu Mang is hurting. Don’t pass it to Jason Terry. Today, this guy’s strong shooting efficiency is really bad. However, something unexpected happened. Ostertag actually grabbed an offensive rebound on O’Neal’s head. ! A direct tip-up scored two points!
It's not that O'Neal didn't grab it, but that he didn't completely squeeze Ostertag away, and Ostertag got a second chance to attack!
It was the Lakers offense again, and O'Neal still wanted the ball in the paint for singles. O'Neal's two singles just now were too beautiful, a reverse dunk that slipped the baseline, and a small hook that turned around. A big shark who plays with his body, his hands and feet are sneaky.
Payton continued to hand the ball to O'Neal, and the others also opened up the space. Now is the time for O'Neal to play singles.
Liu Mang guarded against Peyton's air cut, because the space was wide open, and if Peyton made an air cut, O'Neill scored a goal, and Ostertag couldn't care about his back.
But while sticking to Payton, Liu Mang was also paying attention to O'Neal. He always felt that something was wrong with O'Neal in these few rounds.
Positive is very positive, even more positive than usual, even the offensive skills seem to have improved...
This made Liu Mang feel even more wrong...
At this moment, O'Neill's third consecutive singles after coming back from a timeout, still couldn't squeeze or bump Ostertag's flesh that was specially designed to deal with him, and chose to rely on footsteps and skills again, but , This time Ostertag has already had two experiences, O'Neill's footsteps failed to shake Ostertag, so he had to force a throw and missed! The ball hit the rim, and O'Neal wanted to make another tip, but the ball was poked out of bounds by himself!
Liu Mang's eyes lit up when he saw this!
This is where something is wrong!
O'Neal obviously hasn't recovered his physical fitness, and now he should have rested, because before the official timeout, O'Neal just hit two! Only 1 of 2!
Now O'Neill is playing hard for performance! He even managed to turn around and slide the back button on the bottom line. That movement was done in a hurry due to lack of physical strength.
O'Neal is grabbing the offensive end!
...
As Liu Mang expected, O'Neal is now indeed grabbing the offensive hand.
The Lakers were going to try to tie the score at the end of the third quarter.
Zen Master has such confidence because he has an OK combination; Kobe and O'Neal also have such confidence because they are an OK combination; the rest of the Lakers are also very confident because they play with a well-cooperative OK combination.
In the past five years, since Jordan retired, the NBA's winning pronoun has been the OK combination.
For the current O'Neal, if his physical strength is good, he will play two games. If his physical strength is not good, he will stand up and compress the opponent's inside defense under the basket to help his teammates create a little opportunity. When his teammates can attract the inside defense away, he can receive the ball directly. Score, this style of play is too comfortable.
Malone and O'Neal both played comfortably when Bryant began to develop his great ability to pass the ball inside.
Therefore, O'Neal is now very satisfied with Kobican's passing style.
As soon as O'Neal stepped onto the court, that is, when Liu Mang used the alienation card, O'Neal suddenly had another thought in his head: that wily Phil, is he going to give up my support for Kobe?
For the Zen master, the alienation effect was completely suppressed by the Zen master's own psychological adjustment ability. Dennis Rodman could be used submissively, but neither Popovich nor Chuck Daly could do it. Yes, only Zen Master can do it. The Lakers have so many conflicts this season that they have to switch to a team that also has three All-Star players. Maybe the playoffs will be difficult, but Zen Master is taking advantage of all external factors and team factors. As a check and balance, factors such as the Eagles' 70 wins, the Spurs' defeat last season, and the Timberwolves taking the No. The essential.
For a Zen master with these methods, the high-level alienation card has little effect on him.
But for O'Neill, he was a conceited and proud fat man who was easily irritated, but as he won one championship after another, few people dared to irritate him when he was still at his peak him.
Similarly, he was very emotional. Kobe wanted to grab his boss position, and he ignored Kobe if he didn't pass the ball to him.
The conflict between O'Neal and Kobe is nothing more than a fight for the boss, and Kobe is dissatisfied that O'Neal did not help him speak when he had an accident, so O'Neal is also dissatisfied with Kobe, but both of them are very competitive. Before the start of the series, when they paid much attention to their opponents, the strength they displayed can definitely be called the strongest duo in history.
For the Eagles, OK attaches great importance to it, so he suppressed the conflicts between them and worked hard for this game. This is also the basis for Zen Master to adjust the relationship between the two when they are impulsive.
But... Although O'Neill has a good relationship with Zen Master, but the fat man has a lot of eyes. He has always felt that Zen Master is a smiling tiger, and the star under his hands is not so much a "master-student" relationship between coaches and players. The use of players, or mutual use.
O'Neal's understanding of the relationship between himself and Zen master is just like this. In the past two years, O'Neal obviously felt that when Kobe began to become the team's first offensive option, Zen master obviously began to pay more attention to Kobe. This season is also because of Kobe's style It was only because of this matter that the relationship with the Zen master reached a freezing point.
Thinking of this, O'Neill's proud heart felt humiliated.
It's not that he can't accept fewer scenes, nor can he accept Kobe becoming stronger, but he can't accept being treated as a stepping stone for another person.
However, O'Neal didn't give up the game or sing against the team's tactics because of this. Although he loves to be lazy, his competitive spirit is not much worse than Kobe's. His lazyness is just an absolute conceit of his own strength.
Therefore, what O'Neill chose was to prove himself by strength!
He didn't relax on the defensive end. He should block the bottom line and defend the basket. He also worked hard on the offensive end, but he didn't work hard for others.
...
After Liu Mang learned about O'Neill's situation, his body shook, and his offensive motivation became stronger. He beckoned to let Ostertag come out, but it was not a pick-and-roll, but when he bypassed Ostertag, he would The ball was handed over to Ostertag and cut inside.
Kobe and Wang Zhizhi immediately chased after Liu Mang who made an air cut. At this time, Ostertag cooperated with Jason Terry who was running to the top arc with Payton, and after passing the ball to Jason Terry, he immediately Standing behind Jason Terry, blocking Payton, Jason Terry catches the ball and rushes to the right of the free throw line, and makes a mid-range jumper!
Finally in! 78 to 69, the point difference came to 9 points!
Sure enough, when it was time for the Lakers to attack again, O'Neal was still asking for the ball under the basket for singles. However, O'Neal was no longer the 28-year-old who was at his peak four years ago and could average 26 shots per game and 38 points per game in the finals. Big shark!
The current O'Neill is like the twenty-four or five-year-old him when he met the big pyrenes specially used to deal with him, and he still doesn't have the physical fitness of his youth!
Finally, in this game, Ostertag gave O'Neill his first cap!
Liu Mang was ready a long time ago, rushed to grab the ball, did not fight back, but waited for O'Neill to run back to the half court, landed, and continued to let Ostertag move up to the high position, and continue to let O'Neill, who has become active now, Go cover Rasheed Wallace on the baseline.
Although the Eagles missed two consecutive shots, O'Neal's offensive end also withered. After scoring two consecutive shots, he missed three shots in a row!
Moreover, not only Kobe's singles will stagnate the enthusiasm of the Lakers, but anyone who plays too many singles will weaken the enthusiasm of the team. The reason why O'Neal is so good is that he actually does not play many singles. He played singles two or three times in the first quarter, received passes from his teammates and shot two or three times, averaging 20 shots per game is the standard number of shots in his peak period, even in the finals where he averaged 38 points per game, one-third of the goals were still the same. It was his teammates who passed the ball to him and scored directly, so the Lakers were able to play relatively smoothly during the consecutive championship period, that is, the period when Kobe was suppressed by Zen Master and had not fully released his strength.
Now, O'Neal has become Kobe-like, and 2 of 5 shots is not particularly ugly. At least he scored two goals in a row. However, the enthusiasm of the Lakers for more than one quarter of the previous game has become stagnant because of these three minutes!
Seeing that the third quarter was coming to an end, the point difference was not narrowed, but expanded to 9 points. Kobe saw that O'Neal wanted the ball, so he quit and asked Payton for the ball!
Payton was also very surprised why O'Neal suddenly became a different person. The defense was indeed active enough, but he was too active. The offensive end has been playing singles. This time, he chose to give the ball to Kobe.
Kobe directly faced Prince's defensive three-pointer and forced a shot!
Prince gave enough interference, and Kobe's three-pointer was solid!
Ostertag blocked O'Neal and Liu Mang grabbed a defensive rebound.
In the final attack of the third quarter, Liu Mang slowly advanced to the frontcourt, wasting time, watching O'Neill standing behind Ostertag gasping for breath, I have to sigh, Duncan can have that kind of performance at the age of 40 The performance, it was amazing.
The Lakers also waited for the Eagles to waste time. They did not choose to lose their defensive position to press the defense, and did not narrow the point difference. They were unwilling to do so, but they were still very calm. , is their present task.
Liu Mang dribbled the ball, touched his nose with the index finger of his left hand up, and after more than a second, with 12 seconds left in this quarter, he suddenly threw the ball to the basket.
It is completely unreasonable to start the offense so early and throw the basket directly! The Lakers thought that Liu Mang was going to run out of time for this quarter, but Liu Mang made a decision all of a sudden!
The Lakers players followed the ball with their eyes and saw the ball fall directly in front of the basket. Rasheed Wallace appeared in sight and put the ball into the basket!
Wang Zhizhi was thrown off by Rasheed Wallace's sudden counter-run. O'Neill wanted to make up for it, but he had more energy than he wanted, and he couldn't squeeze it anymore!
With the last attack of the Lakers handed over to Fisher, but Fisher's hand feeling is bad today, the open three-pointer did not score, after three quarters, the Lakers are 69 to 80, 11 points behind the Eagles!
...
Originally, his physical energy was consumed a lot. During the recovery period, he once again put in a lot of effort to play singles. He was one of the best players in the league to defend against him, and he was even more tired!
This disrupted O'Neal's physical rhythm of physical exertion and physical recovery, which he had been accustomed to playing for a few half quarters. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Eagles re-appointed Liu Mang, Prince, The starting lineup of Raheem, Rasheed Wallace, and Ratliff. When O'Neal beat Ratliff twice, O'Neal failed to make a move and was hit by the Eagles twice!
At this time, Zen Master realized that something was wrong with O'Neill. O'Neill failed to beat Ostertag at the end of the third quarter. It's a very safe choice, 2 of 5 shots is a bit close, but when you usually play against the Jazz, it's 3 of 5 shots, or even less than 50%. Up to 50% is also normal.
And O'Neal didn't say that his physical fitness is not enough. He is such a lazy person. The Zen master never thought that O'Neal would force himself to express himself, so seeing O'Neal's active play in the last few minutes of the third quarter, he thought that O'Neal played today. The situation is good, but it was unlucky to meet Ostertag, and unlucky to meet the situation where the Jazz directly sent someone to the Eagles. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, he saw Ratlift on the Eagles' side. When he took off his training clothes, he immediately blew the whistle to let O'Neal continue playing singles.
But when he hit Ratliff twice and failed to score, the Zen master realized that O'Neill really couldn't beat it!
really tired!
Only then did he realize that O'Neal was trying to be brave, and the Lakers did the same!
With Liu Mang hitting a counter-attack three-pointer and Rahim following up with an alley-oop dunk, the Eagles played for more than a minute in the last quarter and played a wave of 5-0, pulling the score to 85-69, leading by 16 points !
Zen Master had to call a timeout because he saw a terrible scene. O'Neal actually chased Raheem who grabbed a defensive rebound to the halfway line!
To prevent the opponent's fast attack and counterattack? Is this still O'Neill?
Be too aggressive!
Seeing that the Lakers called a timeout after playing for a minute, Liu Mang felt that it was time to chase after the victory!
Liu Mang returned to the bench and said to Coach Kruger, "Coach, if I guessed correctly, Fatty is tired and needs to rest!"
"Huh?" Coach Kruger was thinking about how to counterattack the Lakers after a timeout. Hearing Liu Mang's words, he immediately looked at the Lakers. All shaking because of panting!
good chance!
Like Liu Mang, coach Kruger's idea is to take advantage of the victory to pursue!
...
After the timeout, the Lakers really replaced O'Neal, Wang Zhizhi stepped up to the center position, and Malone, who was supposed to rest for a few minutes, played, and Fisher, Payton, and Kobe partnered outside.
The Lakers originally planned to deploy such a smaller lineup, to come a wave of ruthless, to catch the Eagles by surprise.
But Zen master didn't expect that his lineup was already very unreasonable. The Lakers shouldn't send such a lineup in the fourth quarter, but the lineup of the Eagles was even more unscientific!
The Eagles' lineup began to become more flamboyant again. Stockton, Liu Mang, Prince, Raheem, and Kwame Brown played.
It is enough to defend Payton and Stockton, and Liu Mang and Prince will defend Fisher and Kobe.
As for the Lakers, who seem to have an inside advantage because of the presence of Malone, they can't get into the basket to play, because although the two insiders seem to have an advantage, they have no inside lethality!
Raheem ran with Wang Zhizhi, Kwame Brown was squatting under the basket, when Malone received the ball in the middle distance, Kwame Brown did not go out at all, Malone adjusted, facing the air test step, Kwame Brown ignored it , Malone was depressed, simply shot, and also scored, scoring the first opener for the Lakers in the fourth quarter.
However, Kwame Brown picked up the ball immediately after Malone scored, and Stockton returned to the basket immediately. Kwame Brown immediately sent it to Stockton in addition to the baseline, and Stockton pushed forward. Fight back! Kwame Brown galloped past Stockton and rushed to the frontcourt, while the other three Hawks had already started to go down fast!
The Zen master on the sidelines saw Rahim rushing to the basket in the middle and received a pass from Stockton to attract Kobe and Fisher. Go back to the sidelines and recite the Heart Sutra.
There is no other way, until O'Neill's physical fitness recovers, he doesn't understand what happened to O'Neill suddenly, and he himself is very dissatisfied with O'Neill, but he can't show it. This is the professionalism of a chicken soup master, he is professional...
...
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles launched a frenzy of counterattacks, knowing that Kobe and Malone on the Lakers side were about to start a fierce attack, so the Eagles did not choose to defend. For Kobe, defense is sometimes his. Motivation, I have seen it during the last regular season match, and today Kobe’s 12-of-25 field goal percentage is really scary. After all the defenses are like that, the shooting percentage is still close to 50%, so the Eagles simply took advantage of O’Neal Without it, the Lakers couldn't hold back the rhythm and fought back desperately.
No matter whether Kobe or Malone can make a shot, Kwame Brown is waiting at the basket to grab the rebound and pick up the ball to serve. It is simple and rude, blocking other people from the outside, and giving Malone a chance to shoot.
This has a huge disadvantage for the Lakers' counterattack defense. Even if Malone made a mid-range shot, it would not interfere with Kwame Brown's pick-up and serve. O'Neal scored from a low post. The biggest feature is that he occupies a large area. From the very beginning, it interfered with the speed of the opponent's serve.
But Malone CIC can't do this.
And it’s even worse if Ma Long can’t make a shot. Wang Zhizhi’s low post singles against Kwame Brown... It’s pretty miserable. It’s better to open up space for Malone, but Ma Long’s low post singles against Kwame Brown is not much better. He is also very strong now .
Without O'Neal, for the Lakers, it is not only the loss of a defensive gate at the basket, not only the loss of the strongest offensive weapon, but the impact on the Lakers is all-round!
Zen Master asked the Lakers to defend the matchup zone so that O'Neal could only use his own defensive deterrence when he was exhausted and needed to rest, so that O'Neal could stay on the court as much as possible and suppress the opponent's counterattack.
However, O'Neill went down, and the previous efforts were in vain!
Halfway through the fourth quarter, the already 17-point difference quickly opened up to 20 points. Even if the Lakers scored a goal, the Eagles would immediately catch up.
After O'Neal went down in the fourth quarter, he didn't play again, because it was no longer necessary! Halfway through the fourth quarter, the score was 100-78!
Kobe refused to give up, while the Eagles changed to a conservative lineup during the official timeout of the fourth quarter. Liu Mang led Prince, Barnes, Muhammad, and Ratliff to go up. , to polish off the rest of the game.
In the end, Liu Mang scored 36 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals and 4 turnovers, helping the Eagles beat the Lakers 112-94 at home and win their first victory in the Finals!
This kind of writing is tiring. It's not that Xiaofeng doesn't want to write quickly, but... the way of writing in a few words without describing the game scene, giving a score, giving a result, giving some data, and Xiaofeng's way of writing, is so brain-intensive. It's completely different. It feels like tens of thousands of brain cells have died after writing a game...