Chapter 765 764. I Think I Won This Time

The fifth game of the finals arrived as scheduled.

Liu Mang walked into the stadium. This time, the boos of the Lakers fans became manic again.

Lakers fans are scared! This time it was really on the verge of elimination.

However, the Lakers all looked unwilling and unable to accept the defeat, which still made many Lakers fans very excited. Lakers fans have a "fanatic sense of security", which is very good as a fan A kind of mentality, always very optimistic looking forward to the future of the team.

When Liu Mang saw the expressions of the Lakers players, he secretly rejoiced that his side was also high-spirited now, and there was no possibility of slack. Whether it was the temptation of the championship or the temptation of the boss's bonus, they were the motivation of the players.

Moreover, the most important thing is that the Eagles have acquired Liu Mang's personality. If they can avoid trouble, they will avoid trouble. If they can solve the game in five games, they don't want to drag it to the sixth game.

The best thing Zen Master did in the last game was that he decisively chose to give up, so the physical fitness of the Lakers today is much better than the last game. Except for Kobe, who was originally physically explosive, the other Lakers players feel the situation. not bad.

Therefore, the Lakers players all have a posture of fighting back.

However, it looked like it was going to be a struggle. After Liu Mang and Boozer hugged and walked onto the court, it was time to jump the ball, but they still didn't hear the prompt.

The OK trend is still not triggered!

It seems that the Lakers players are trying to fight. Of course, they really want to fight. Neither Kobe nor O'Neal have the heart to cooperate!

Even if Zen Master tried his best to use psychological tactics to drive the two of them, the relationship between Kobe and O'Neal has been completely broken and cannot be recovered!

On the Lakers side, it is still the starting combination of Payton, Kobe, Devin Brown, Malone, and O'Neal.

For the Eagles, the starting lineup of Liu Mang, Prince, Raheem, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown has not changed.

Although Kobe and O'Neal's hearts are completely unable to work in the same direction, the enthusiasm of every player on the Lakers has really come up.

O'Neal beat Kwame Brown for the first time in a jump ball, the basket fell to Payton, and the Lakers attacked first.

Payton is in charge of the ball, Liu Mang is defending him, and the little blacksmith is still handed over to Prince to defend.

Kobe didn't take the initiative to ask for the ball this time, and resisted the urge to solve the game by himself. He knew that now he had to use O'Neal's unsolvable attack at the beginning to play two first, otherwise the fat man's energy would be wasted.

On his off-ball end, Prince, who defended him, did a good job. His excellent positioning cut off the space for Kobe to counter-run. Payton commanded his teammates to move. position, and then Payton went over and hung the ball firmly into O'Neal's hands.

O'Neal may be the weakest player in the current Lakers team. After arguing with Kobe the day before yesterday, he couldn't eat well or sleep well. He felt like he lost weight.

But as long as O'Neal is physically fit, he is the most unsolvable killer in the NBA.

If you can't stop it, you can't stop it. O'Neal took the ball and turned around to push Kwame Brown away, and smashed the ball directly into the basket.

The Lakers don't play fast and want to press the tempo, but the Eagles don't do that. Liu Mang tries to speed up the tempo, trying to use the fast tempo to drag down the heavy and fat Lakers.

Almost at the first moment when O'Neal's offense was completed, Rasheed Wallace immediately picked up the ball, exited the baseline and served directly. The Eagles, including Kwame Brown, all five counterattacked fast break!

Defensively and fast-paced, the strategy of the Eagles is very straightforward. When the Lakers ran back to defend, the Eagles were almost down.

Rasheed Wallace was really daring. He threw the ball to the center line while a group of people were rushing forward together, and Liu Mang really caught it! That is to say, with two courageous people, they would think of such a fast break.

Liu Mang received the ball from the center line and rushed to the top arc of the opponent's three-point line. It seemed that he was going to chase a three-pointer. Malone and Kobe double-teamed. Throw the ball in the hoop...

Kwame Brown's violent lob! Returned one!

O'Neal just hit the three-point line! This time the Eagles' counterattack was so fierce that the Lakers, who had adapted to the slow-paced play of the first two games, couldn't adapt to it all at once!

In particular, Rasheed Wallace dared to pass the ball into the crowd, and no one on the Lakers thought of it.

In the first round of the confrontation, the two teams played two completely different rhythms at the beginning.

Faced with such a ferocious counterattack from the Eagles, the Lakers were overwhelmed. They firmly followed Kobe's order to lower the tempo. On the defensive end, Kobe was still very strong. After all, he was the youngest defensive team. The Eagles' fast break just now It's amazing.

The Lakers are still on the offensive this time, and the two giants inside continue to dig. The last time it was O'Neal, this time it was Malone's turn. For such an opponent, Rasheed Wallace stepped up without hesitation. After the first four games, he already had sufficient experience in defending Malone.

Just when Rasheed Wallace was afraid of Malone's iron elbow, Malone suddenly turned over and made a throw. The basketball spun around the rim and made a hit!

In the last meeting, I was caught off guard by the Hawks counterattack. This time the Lakers retreated very quickly. The enthusiasm mobilized by Zen Master made the Lakers players do a good job in returning to defense at the beginning. It was just unexpected When Rasheed Wallace actually passed the ball into the crowd, they paid attention to this point of defense when they returned to defense this time. Rasheed Wallace didn't foolishly want to come for the second time, honestly Really sent the ball to Liu Mang, and the Eagles also fell into a positional battle.

If there is a chance, counterattack and speed up. If there is no opportunity to counterattack, then fight steadily to maintain a certain success rate.

Against the fully defensive Lakers, the Eagles have already had a wealth of experience in the past two games, that is, they can only use a more aggressive defense to fight against the Lakers. The offensive end cuts the head and the Lakers are more iron than anyone else. up.

On the Lakers side, although Kobe did not take the initiative to undertake the task of organizing the offense today, he did not grab the ball and shoot blindly. They are not vying to shoot, let them fight first, and when they are tired, Kobe will come again.

However, whether Kobe is willing to organize the offense well or is unwilling to organize the offense well, whether Kobe wants to grab the shot or return the shot to his teammates is not important.

Even if it was the only game the Lakers won, Kobe played well and organized the offense well, and the Lakers' offense was not much better. It is just that Kobe played well and allowed the OK combination to keep scoring. But the Lakers as a whole The offensive efficiency is still very poor, because the Eagles' defense is no worse than that of the Lakers.

Today the Lakers maintained the same defense as in the previous two games. Kwame Brown consumed O'Neal as much as possible, and Kobe attacked with the ball on the outside and then flanked him. He defended Kobe with the most viciousness. The offensive efficiency of the Lakers was in addition to O'Neal and Malone scoring consecutively at the start. After three goals, the back fell straight down.

And when it came time for the Eagles to attack, finally, in this finals, it was the Eagles' turn to explode!

After Malone hit a throw, Prince relied on Liu Mang to attract Payton and Kobe's double-team at the start. Prince made the first three-pointer in the finals!

Since the Eastern Conference Finals, Prince's three-pointers have been outrageously poor, and it was also one of the important reasons why the Eagles couldn't open up the offense when the Lakers were very active in the first two games, even the most important. one of the reasons.

Although Prince's offensive end is only a catch-and-shooter, when the catch-and-shooter fails to make a shot, the opponent is equal to 5 defenses and 4 defenses, and the Eagles ignore Payton's 4 defenses and 3 defenses to kill the Lakers except O'Neal Same for the other three players on the field.

Finally, after getting the match point, Prince's touch came!

After Malone made a throw, Prince scored a three-pointer. After O'Neal hit the second singles hook, Prince scored two consecutive three-pointers, forcing Payton to go back to defend Prince.

When it was impossible to double-team Liu Mang, the Lakers' defense was good, but they couldn't stop Liu Mang and Kwame Brown from playing pick-and-rolls!

Prince was able to make the shot, and the Eagles' offensive running position came alive. Liu Mang and Kwame Brown played a pick-and-roll. Naturally, Malone came to defend the pick-and-roll. O'Neal had to move back and forth between the baseline and the basket. consume physical energy.

In the third and fourth games, O'Neal lasted so long on the defensive end because he didn't have to run back and forth between the baseline and the basket like in the first and second games. Payton and Kobe pinched Liu Wei, Liu Wei couldn't play. The pick-and-roll made O'Neal relatively easy on the defensive end.

But this time, O'Neal can only run along. In this way, either Rasheed Wallace has a three-point chance, or Kwame Brown has an empty cut dunk opportunity. Shrinking, Raheem also has mid-range shots and empty cuts.

Although the Lakers still maintained their defensive enthusiasm in the first two games at the beginning, Liu Mang and Kwame Brown's pick-and-rolls increased the Eagles' offensive success rate by four or five percentage points. The team's hit rate reached 40%.

But that's enough!

In the third game, the Lakers had Kobe who played well. In the first half, when the Eagles also slammed the defense, they could only lead by 3 points at the end of the half. The offensive efficiency of the two teams in the first half was Almost, the strength of the two teams is about equal. Of course, this is when Kobe played a reasonable performance.

Now, facing the Lakers' defense similar to the first half of the previous two games, the Eagles have increased their shooting percentage to 40%. Afterwards, the offensive efficiency plummeted, even less than 35.6% in the first two games. After the first quarter, the Lakers' shooting rate was only 34%.

A shooting percentage of six percent doesn't seem like a lot, but as the game progressed, the Eagles gradually opened up the score bit by bit.

After the first quarter, the Eagles led the Lakers by 6 points 24 to 18!

Finally, the Eagles scored in the first quarter and returned to normal performance anyway! In the first quarter, Liu Mang didn't perform very well in scoring. In the past two games, he didn't have any good scoring opportunities. In the third game, he scored more than 30 points, all by shooting and throwing himself into the air. Yes, in the past two games, the Lakers have defended him very successfully. The last game was only lost to Kobe.

Leading by six points in the first quarter, Liu Mang was replaced to rest. Coach Kruger wanted to change the rhythm in the second quarter. After the first quarter, the opponent gradually got used to the current rhythm. Coach Kruger now took the initiative. He I don't want the other party to get used to the rhythm.

Coach Kruger replaced Stockton and Boozer, and changed the rhythm of the pick-and-roll from Liu Mang and Kwame Brown's basket attack type to a shooting type.

...

After the intermission, the rotation of the two teams came on the field. The Lakers, who were only 6 points behind, were still very aggressive and wanted to make a comeback. Seeing Stockton and Boozer come up, the Lakers' thoughts and Like Coach Kruger, he thought the Eagles were going to start shooting.

However, Stockton played this game as the last game of his career. In the second quarter, Boozer, who played with Boozer, Prince, Barnes, and Ostertag, The first ball up, actually rushed to the basket and caused O'Neal to foul!

When Stockton and Boozer were playing pick-and-roll, Fisher and Wang Zhizhi both went to block Boozer, fearing that Boozer would cut inside and cause damage. Although Boozer was short, he was really amazing in size. Malone's second posture, but unexpectedly, it was Stockton who caused the damage!

20 years!

Seeing that it is possible to touch the O'Brien Cup after the last two and a half hours, Stockton can't wait.

The better he played on the offensive end, the more motivated he was on the defensive end. In the second quarter, Prince single-handedly defended against Kobe, and Kobe hit the iron again. In these few games, Kobe's touch has been worn out. The more he defended, the better he entered a virtuous circle.

As for the Hawks, at the beginning of the second quarter, the offensive efficiency exploded. Stockton unexpectedly did not focus on passing the ball. , Stockton scored 7 points in a row in the second quarter!

On the other hand, the Lakers only scored 2+1 by relying on Kobe's missed three-pointer by Prince. O'Neal grabbed an offensive rebound and scored 2+1. 1 of 4 shots scored 3 points, while the Eagles scored 7 points on all 3 shots!

These seven points were all scored by Stockton alone!

After O'Nealga made a free throw, the Lakers were still 21 to 31 behind the Eagles by 10 points. Taking advantage of O'Nealga's free throw, the Lakers took Wang Zhizhi down and replaced Malone. Wang Zhizhi defended the pick-and-roll pretty well. But it can only be said that it is not bad. He can't defend against the weakened version of Stockton and Boozer.

Next came the Eagles offense. After Stockton advanced to the frontcourt, facing Kobe's defense, Stockton couldn't play singles. He continued to pick and roll with Boozer. Boozer was similar to Malone's elbow and With the pulling action, Kobe couldn't squeeze through. Stockton immediately moved to the right to distance himself from Kobe. Boozer took advantage of the situation and cut to the basket. Kobe could only follow Boozer.

After Stockton broke through to the right and stepped into the three-point line, Malone stood in front of him!

The few Eagles fans and Jazz fans at the scene stood up and cheered when they saw this scene. When the Lakers fans were a little discouraged because they were behind by 10 points, no matter how you looked at it, there were not more than a thousand Eagles fans. The cheers of Jazz fans spread throughout the Staples Center.

When Stockton saw Malone defending him, he didn't make a pass or shoot choice so quickly. With Malone, the Lakers changed defenses quickly against pick-and-rolls. Stockton didn't get a good pass or shot at the first time. shot.

Stockton took a step back from the dribble and exited the three-point line, and Malone and Stockton maintained a very suitable distance.

This might be the last time I met him on the field! Whether as an opponent or as a teammate.

Stockton and Malone had this thought in their minds at the same time.

The relationship between the two is not only teammates who have worked together for 18 years, but the two have always been in a state of competition in the team. However, Stockton has never defeated Malone. The cooperation between the two has made the Jazz brilliant for more than ten years. Although he didn't win the championship, the core of the team has always been full of honors, and this person is not Stockton, but Malone. Stockton has never won anything, and he just smiled when he lost.

However, now, Stockton wants to win, wants to win very much, he raised his head and said to Malone: ​​"Carl, this time, I think, I won."

Ma Long was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He didn't expect Stockton to say such a sentence suddenly, which was a bit hurtful!

While Malone was in a daze, Stockton was not relentless, seized the opportunity, and shot a three-pointer!

Continuing the fiery touch, Stockton hit a three-pointer!