Bishop of the Devil

No player can play at his peak for 48 minutes in every game of a series...

Pushing forward a few decades, Chamberlain could do it, but the intensity of confrontation at that time was obviously not as good as that of contemporary basketball. The intensity of confrontation was not high, so naturally less physical energy was consumed and more playing time was available.

And right now, I'm afraid even Chamberlain is unlikely to do it.

In this case, the importance of the substitute group is highlighted.

Fans can often encounter a situation, that is, the starting lineups of the two teams are about the same strength, and there is no problem of lineup restraint, but one of the teams cannot beat the other no matter what...

The root of the problem lies in the substitute group.

The Trail Blazers' current substitute group is undoubtedly the best in the league. There are five positions on the field. After the main starting player in a certain position comes off the field, there will not be too many gaps in strength.

For example, when Kobe is off the court, Richard can use Wu Sheng Jackson to replace him. Wu Sheng's strength is naturally not as good as Kobe's, but he is worse than the backup point guards of most teams in the league.

Most, almost everything here...

Even the main players of about half of the teams in the league are at an absolute disadvantage when facing Wu Sheng.

In this way, even if Kobe takes a break, his opponent will still be unable to gain an advantage against the No. 1 position.

And this position is almost the weakest link of the Trail Blazers...

The second, third and fourth positions are definitely the Blazers' strongest points. It is no exaggeration to say that any of the players on the active roster for these three positions on the Trail Blazers' bench are randomly selected. For those weak teams, they are all the main starters.

There are even one-third of the players who can become the boss in the weak team.

What's even more powerful is that each of these players has their own characteristics. Richard can send different players to the field according to the situation on the field without affecting the overall strength of the team!

For example, if Harris's lineup changes in this game were not so deep, Richard would not have been able to resolve them so easily.

It can be said that no matter what kind of lineup the opponent is, Richard can come up with a lineup that cannot be restrained, and the strength of this lineup is not weak.

…

If this game is not the opener, then Harris will probably replace all the starting players in the second quarter and give up the game.

Because it is really difficult to fight. If the fight continues, the Lakers will lose confidence!

The Lakers did not make any mistakes in the first quarter. Although they scored less, it was because the Trail Blazers' defense was too tight, which prevented their outsiders from finding a comfortable shooting point.

As for O'Neal on the inside, although his performance was still outstanding, he obviously lost the momentum of blocking and killing. In the first quarter of the game, he hit 4 goals in 7 shots, made 2 of 4 free throws, and scored a total of 10 points!

7 shots and 4 free throws, that's 9 offensive rounds. If you put it on others, scoring 10 points in these 9 offensive rounds should be considered an acceptable result.

But when it comes to O'Neal, it's a bit unqualified.

The key is that O'Neal played for 11 and a half minutes in the first quarter!

…

In the second quarter of the game, Richard replaced Ben and let him have a good rest. Ben played for twelve minutes in the first quarter, especially the muscle confrontation with O'Neal, which consumed a lot of his physical energy.

Fortunately, Ben's physical condition is better than that of O'Neal. If the tonnage is small, he has some advantages in this regard.

Anyway, Richard is convinced that O'Neal will definitely not start in the second quarter of the game, unless Harris wants O'Neal's life...

O'Neal didn't play, so Campbell was used as center and put on the court.

Richard put up a lineup of O'Brien, Robinson, Nowitzki, Harrington and Wu Sheng Jackson.

The height of this lineup has reached an extremely shocking level. The shortest Jackson is 203 centimeters tall.

With such a lineup, it is naturally difficult to play fast break, but with the advantage of height, shooting is more convenient...

As for the Lakers, although they let O'Neal rest, the rest of their starters still stayed on the court. Harris naturally wanted to take this opportunity to continue chasing points.

Judging from the current situation, it is quite difficult to win, but Harris still has a glimmer of hope. Even if he loses, he doesn't want to lose too much...

If this game is defeated by the Trail Blazers, they will naturally be at a psychological disadvantage when facing the Trail Blazers in the future.

…

The lineups of both sides were able to fight back and forth. The original ten-point difference was maintained and was not widened or recovered.

The main reason was that the lineup that Richard came up with was not very defensive, and was hit by Eddie Jones and Kidders one after another.

Of course, the Blazers' lineup is not without its advantages, that is, its strong offensive firepower.

So even if they can't guard the opponent, they won't let the Lakers, who are missing O'Neal, recover the point difference!

…

The fans at Staples Arena felt an indescribable uncomfortable feeling in their hearts at this moment.

Why can't they beat the Trail Blazers? !

No matter what the lineup is, there is no way to gain an advantage...

You must know that Richard has put two newcomers on the court, but the Lakers still failed to chase the point difference. What should they do!

In the third minute of the second quarter, Harris had no choice but to replace O'Neal.

On Richard's side, he immediately replaced Ben, Rashid and Kobe...

As a result, the scene began to become one-sided again, and the ten-point difference that was originally tightly clenched continued to expand. By the time the referee sounded the end of the half-time game, the Trail Blazers already held a 17-point difference!

…

Harris was about to cry. He had a premonition that his coaching career was about to end!

The Lakers worked hard to bring in O'Neal, not just to make the playoffs, their goal is to win the championship!

And now Harris is obviously unable to lead the team to win the championship. It is strange that the Lakers management can keep him...

The contract O'Neal originally signed with the Lakers was for seven years, and it is now in its third year. After this year, almost half of the contract has been executed!

After spending so much money to bring in O'Neal, not to mention the championship, they didn't even touch the floor of the Western Conference Finals. How could the management continue to tolerate Harris.

…

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to end the game.

The Trail Blazers beat the home team Lakers by 27 points with a score of 119:92 on the road!

This can be said to be a defeat. The score difference of nearly 30 points made the entire Staples Arena wail...

It was such a miserable loss. If they lost by three to five points, even if they lost by ten or eight points, then they would still be able to accept it.

After all, if you have a little better luck, you can still win.

But now we have lost by nearly 30 points. This is definitely not a matter of luck. Even if we are lucky, it may be difficult to beat the Trail Blazers!

Such a tragic situation of being beaten made Lakers fans realize a reality...

It's not enough for them to just have O'Neal. They must continue to strengthen the team. Otherwise, they may not even make it to the Western Conference Finals this year.

Regarding the strength of the Trail Blazers, Lakers fans have only one word of admiration.

There is no way to be dissatisfied. In this game, the Trail Blazers did not show off their skills and easily defeated the Lakers, who are also the hegemons of the Western Conference. How strong must this be?

Even the original Bulls dynasty seemed unable to reach this point!