Super Legendary Superstar

Artest is a player who will not give in or admit defeat. He has never played on the stage of the finals before, and this is the first time he has performed well in the finals. He feels that now he has experienced the feeling of a superstar. , in the future he will also be recorded in history and mentioned by future generations like Scottie Pippen or Rodman.

"There's nothing you can do to me, Kobe." Artest said to Kobe proudly and arrogantly.

But this is obviously not the case.

Kobe defends one against the other. Even though he is about the same height, no matter whether the opponent is fast, skillful or powerful like Artest, he can defend him very well, because Kobe himself is a very comprehensive player. Players have speed, skills, strength, and most importantly, a strong attitude.

Under Kobe's attack, Artest couldn't even catch the ball on his next offense.

"Kobe and Ron Artest were so entangled! I never thought Kobe would guard Artest so seriously!"

Kobe Bryant defended Artest so fiercely, which further stimulated Artest's desire to compete and wanted to catch the ball and attack more than before. Artest, on the other hand, is often a person who has no sense of proportion. When trying to push Kobe away, he accidentally used too much force. The referee saw it and called Artest for a foul.

"What?" Artest looked aggrieved. He didn't think that this level of confrontation was nothing.

"The referee helped you once." Artest said to Kobe.

Soon, Kobe let Artest know that if he wanted to guard someone, he didn't need the referee's help.

When Kobe really wants to defend someone, he will not defend passively. He will actively attack. As a natural attacker, he will also think about attacking when he is defending.

Artest's dribbling and speed were average. Therefore, after Artest got the ball, Kobe, while defending, suddenly stretched out his hand to steal the ball, forcing Artest to quickly and nervously resist, waiting for Artest. Artest wanted to make another move, and Kobe launched the attack again, causing time to be consumed by Artest.

In this case, unless Artest has strong determination or fast speed, he can break through Kobe's defense at once. Otherwise, if this continues slowly, Artest may not be able to break through Kobe's defense. Time has been exhausted.

Facts have proved that under Kobe's strict defense, Artest failed to hit another shot and did not even have a chance to make a shot. The commentator even called Kobe's defense a biting defense.

In the audience on the sidelines, some fans couldn't help but ask: "Why didn't Kobe Bryant defend Sun Yat-sen himself and then use such a defense? Is it because he was afraid of losing physical fitness?"

Many people have set their sights on Phil Jackson. Kobe's physical fitness is unexpected. He should not be treated as an ordinary player. Kobe is obviously the best one in the Lakers who can guard Sun Zhuo. He should both let Kobe took over all the offense and asked Kobe to defend Sun Zhuo, even if all his physical energy was exhausted.

The Zen master, on the other hand, felt that he had some feelings that he could not share with others.

"Is it just because of physical fitness? Obviously not." Phil Jackson knew Kobe and Sun Zhuo better than anyone else, and he also knew clearly that if Kobe Bryant defended Sun Zhuo, Sun Zhuo would never be able to score 70 points in a game.

"Physical fitness is one thing, and the number of fouls is another. The most important thing is that when Kobe plays crazy defense like he just did to Ron Artest, if Sun can still score goals, it will be a blow to Kobe. It was too big and Kobe couldn't bear the loss."

Just imagine, when a person uses all his strength to do something, the result is in vain. How helpless would that be? This will even affect Kobe's performance on the offensive end. That's why Zen Master is unwilling to let Kobe guard Sun Zhuo because Sun Zhuo's personal offense is too strong.

However, judging from this game alone, even without Kobe as the main defender, Sun Zhuo's personal offense was not satisfactory, and his offensive efficiency has dropped compared to the previous two games.

The same goes for Kobe Bryant of the Lakers.

Kenny Smith said: "When Sun and Kobe attack, the opponent's entire team forms a conditioned reflex. They know more and more how these two people should attack, how they will choose to take shots, and even predict the approximate position of the rebound. , In addition, the two of them are focused on guarding, and it will become more and more difficult for them to score. Next, it will be the moment when the role players dominate the game. Which role player scores more points can also be explained. Sun and Kobe’s personal threat level.”

Except for Sun Zhuo and Kobe, the scoring ability of other players on the two teams is actually similar between the Lakers and Magic. However, in this game, it is obvious that the role players on the Magic side scored more.

First there was Artest, then Monta Ellis also hit a three-pointer from time to time, Turkoglu also had three-pointers from the outside, and Marc Gasol also slowly scored inside.

On the contrary, the scoring stability of Odom, Fisher and others is not enough.

This is not entirely a problem with the performance of the role players themselves, but rather with the different defenses they encounter. In other words, Kobe and Sun Zhuo pose different threats to their opponents. The greater the pressure these two superstars put on their opponents, the more pressure they have on their opponents. The more teammates you have, the better you can score.

In the end, in this game, with the entire team performing well, the Magic won the first home game of the Finals and tied the Finals score at 2:1.

With a 2:1 lead when there is still a repeated challenge card in the game, Sun Zhuo is already confident of winning, and the Lakers should also start to feel a sense of crisis.

Although they didn't know that Sun Zhuo had a repeat challenge card, they did have a sense of crisis at this time, because the next game was still the Magic's home court, and once the next game was won by the Magic, they would get the game. point.

Everyone knows what it means to be given the match point by Sun Zhuo.

If not for Sun Zhuo's second season, the Lakers only had Sun Zhuo and Kobe, and Sun Zhuo might have become the first undefeated monster in the playoffs in history.

After the game, when he returned to the locker room, Kobe looked a little downcast. Although this was only the third game of the series, the Lakers still had a chance, but Kobe knew Sun Zhuo too well. Once Sun Zhuo got the lead, he would definitely win. He won't let the other party catch up again.

"Next game, let me keep an eye on Sun for the whole game." Kobe said to Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson also nodded: "I have always had this idea. On the one hand, you must pay attention to the number of fouls, and on the other hand, you must be mentally prepared."

Phil Jackson didn't say it clearly, but Kobe and everyone else knew what kind of mental preparation Zen Master asked Kobe to make. Sun Zhuo scored so hard that it was easy for his confidence to collapse. For others, they may have been used to it, but For Kobe, can he withstand such a blow?

For example, Sun Zhuo scored 60 points on his head in a game? Watching Sun Zhuo shoot and dunk in front of him again and again?

"I will admit from the bottom of my heart that he is a superstar who can score 60 points in a game. All I have to do is stop him as much as possible, let him increase his turnovers, and not give him a chance to pass the ball." Kobe paused, He said in a calm tone.

After Kobe finished saying this, the entire locker room fell completely silent. Odom, Fisher and others looked at Kobe in surprise. Kobe actually faced Sun Yat-sen University with such a low profile and such a humble attitude. Zhuo?

Phil Jackson was also surprised, but then smiled and nodded. If Kobe has this attitude, then Kobe will be invincible in the next game.

"He threw away all his pride. This guy Sun is the only one who can make Kobe change his attitude. Even Michael Jordan couldn't do it..."

Zen Master sighed with emotion, since Kobe faced Sun Zhuo with such an attitude, no matter how many points Sun Zhuo scored on him, it would not affect Kobe's mentality, and thus it would not affect Kobe's offensive performance.

Sun Zhuo didn't know that his historically top scoring ability had forced Kobe to admit defeat.

…

Soon, it was the fourth game of the finals.

"Winning this game will give me match point. When I got match point, I never lost." Sun Zhuo can't wait to end this finals and win another championship.

Because if he wins another championship, he will have completed three consecutive championships. Historically, no team has completed three consecutive championships, such as the Bulls dynasty and the Lakers dynasty. But when they completed three consecutive championships, the core lineup was still there, even There are reinforcements every year, but the Magic is different. The Magic's lineup this year is too shabby. If they can complete the dynasty with three consecutive championships, Sun Zhuo's historical status will rise to the top ten.

As soon as the game started, Sun Zhuo planned to go all out to take the lead, but at this time, he was surprised to find that the person standing next to him was Kobe Bryant.

It's not surprising that Kobe came to defend Sun Zhuo, but when Sun Zhuo saw Kobe's defensive posture, he felt that the person in front of him was very strange, as if he had changed from a superstar to an ordinary role player. Sun Zhuo didn't know why. This feeling may be from Kobe's eyes, or it may be something else.

Because Kobe was defending, Sun Zhuo also became cautious, not just because Kobe was a better defender, but also because Kobe was the top star of the Lakers. Every attack he made would bring a psychological impact to Kobe, and, Sun Zhuo can also increase the number of fouls committed by Kobe. Once Kobe is troubled by fouls early, the game will be much simpler.

On the court, every step Sun Zhuo made, Kobe would have a corresponding reaction, and Sun Zhuo did not attack hastily. He seemed to be thinking about the way to attack.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy looked at the situation on the court, but he was also worried: "Kobe's defense made Sun's offense more complicated. Sun was thinking more and no longer purely wanted to score points. If Sun can increase Kobe's foul count as he wishes, that will definitely be a good thing, but if not..."

Stan Van Gundy has watched Kobe play for many years, and has witnessed Kobe's growth every year. Kobe's experience is greater than that of Sun Zhuo, that's for sure.

In several consecutive attacks, Sun Zhuo tried his best to consume and lure Kobe, but failed. Sun Zhuo also failed to score under such circumstances. Kobe's defensive scale can be said to be extremely precise. .

"This is the most classic defensive model. Kobe is really an underrated defender." Charles Barkley praised.

"However, no matter what, defending Sun Yat-sen is an extremely physically demanding task. Will Kobe's offense be affected by this?" Kenny Smith was worried.

Judging from the first two quarters, Kobe has ample physical distribution and knows how much energy to spend on defense and how much energy to spend on offense. But that is before Sun Zhuo goes crazy. Once Sun Zhuo really enters the state, Kobe will be forced to focus on physical and mental strength. At that time, can Kobe still have the same value on the offensive end?

In the third quarter, Sun Zhuo stopped being polite and suddenly showed off his power, shooting two three-pointers from Kobe Bryant at the beginning!

Kobe's every shot was blocked in the face like Battier, completely blocking Sun Zhuo's sight, but Sun Zhuo was still able to hit, because for fear of fouling, Kobe's defense did not dare to have any physical contact with Sun Zhuo, which also resulted in Sun Zhuo made consecutive shots and couldn't stop him at all.

"It's strange, Kobe didn't say a word of trash to me today." Sun Zhuo had already scored 36 points, but he found that Kobe, who was facing him, was so silent the whole game.

Even though the two of them were friends in private, they shouldn't have been so silent during today's entire matchup and there were so many confrontations.

"Kobe's attitude today is really not easy." Phil Jackson felt sorry for Kobe for the first time in history. Kobe has always been strong. Ever since Kobe was very weak when he first entered the league, he would be extremely strong. Phil Jackson has never thought about it in his life. There will be a day when he feels sorry for Kobe, and it won't be at the end of Kobe's career.

"What's wrong with you today? You're a little different from your usual self." Sun Zhuo said to Kobe. Kobe had already made Sun Zhuo 4 turnovers in this game, blocked Sun Zhuo once and stole twice. Kobe himself also had 28 points were scored.

Kobe didn't reply at first. After a while, Kobe said to Sun Zhuo: "Sun, you are a superstar."

Sun Zhuo didn't quite understand what Kobe said.

Until Sun Zhuo scored his 40th point, Kobe's mentality did not change at all. He still treated him defensively as always, and endured the exhaustion on the defensive end to draw fouls and get to the free throw line.

Sun Zhuocai gradually understood.

"I'm a superstar. You've admitted that I can beat you, but I can't win the game, right?" Sun Zhuo asked in his heart. In terms of understanding Kobe, how could Sun Zhuo be worse than others?

Since the first season, the two have been on the same team. Who else is more domineering than Kobe? Sun Zhuo is the most powerful one I have ever seen. A genius with bugs and systems like Sun Zhuo, in a city like Los Angeles They were all squeezed away by Kobe.

Thinking about the previous one-on-one duel between the two, Kobe was fighting Sun Zhuo endlessly, and Sun Zhuo was not allowed to win at all. If Sun Zhuo won, then the competition would continue until Kobe won, or until both of them were defeated. Until I can't get up.

Thinking of this, Sun Zhuo felt that the outcome of this game was not important.

Because, in Kobe's heart, he finally admitted that Sun Zhuo was better than him.