The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon has long realized that the Celtics' lineup has no offensive talent. In the first half, they were only four points behind, mostly due to the Lakers' laxity, especially on the defensive end. They led the Lakers by 7 offensive rebounds, and the referee was very considerate. They made 6 more free throws than the Lakers in the first half, and this was at Staples.

But Leon knows that the Lakers won't keep making the mistake of letting Chris Anderson go through the back door to grab offensive rebounds and send him to the free throw line. When O'Neal is on the court, the Celtics' offense will be very difficult. There is almost no way to do it. They can only rely on Williams' piecemeal singles and the opportunities they get after fighting.

In the second half, if the Celtics want to win, or at least lose not ugly, there is only one way, and that is to defend desperately. Since their own offense is not good, then they can bring the Lakers' offense to the same level, and then use rich His experience of hitting the iron and grabbing rebounds overturned his opponents.

But it's easier said than done. If nothing else, O'Neal has almost no solution for this. At the same time, there is Kobe who is holding his breath. Kobe shot 2 of 8 in the first half and was completely out of shape. However, if Kobe Bryant breaks out in the second half and O'Neal's stable performance, the Celtics have almost no chance of winning, so Leon must gamble and gamble with defense. He decided to start a complete zone defense mode in the second half.

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The game restarted, and after the halftime break, the Lakers players looked much calmer. Their golden uniforms blended in with the Staples Center, as if they were five Power Rangers guarding Los Angeles. The Celtics players were like ugly green elves. As soon as the second half of the game started, the Celtics committed a 24-second violation during the offense. The fans in the audience booed, as if they were mocking these guys with no talent. .

Only Leon applauded loudly from the sidelines. This was also one of his strategies. If there was no good offensive opportunity, he would rather delay the time until the last second than miss the shot and give the Lakers a chance to get backcourt rebounds to counterattack. In this way, after the violation, the Celtics players handed the ball to the referee's hands, and the Lakers served from the backcourt and also began to grind down the position.

Phil Jackson made adjustments in the midfield. He decided to let Kobe play at the beginning of the second half. If Kobe can regain his feeling, then the Lakers can easily crush the Celtics with the talent of the two stars.

But on the Lakers' first offense in the second half, Phil Jackson discovered that the Celtics had started a zone defense.

This is the first season that the NBA allows zone defense. Many teams have not yet become accustomed to this defensive strategy that has been isolated from the NBA for many years. Although under the restriction of the three-second defense rule, many zone defense tactics cannot be used well. , but a basic 3-2 zone defense or a pseudo 2-3 zone defense can still play a special role at special moments, leaving teammates at a loss.

Sure enough, when Kobe was holding the ball on the right side, he found that there were always two Celtics players waiting for opportunities on his expected path, but no one was specifically marking him. The same is true for O'Neal in the interior. He can feel the threat of double-teaming from Celtics players at any time, and his two basic inward passing routes are blocked.

The corner was not threatened by defense. There was a lot of space in the corners on both sides. Both Robert Holly and Fox could easily find themselves in the corners. At this time, Kobe hesitated for a moment, but he still chose. Pass the ball.

He adjusted his pace on the right side and accelerated to break through from 45 degrees. Holly made a fake screen in front of him, and then ran to the bottom corner. Kobe scored the ball decisively, and Holly made a three-pointer from the bottom corner!

"Bang!" Holly's three-pointer was completely inaccurate, leaving only a crisp sound of iron. But O'Neal got the offensive rebound, and his huge body can occupy two positions by himself.

Dalembert fouled without hesitation and did not give O'Neal a chance to hit a three-pointer. O'Neal looked quite annoyed. He shook his big elbow and glared at Dalembert viciously. Dalembert was not afraid at all and confronted O'Neal head-on. Players from both sides immediately stepped forward and pulled the two apart.

O'Neal discovered that in the first quarter, the fear of the young man who was knocked to the ground by him and who looked at him casually had disappeared by the third quarter. Maybe he still couldn't guard O'Neal, but he was not afraid of O'Neal. .

Standing on the free throw line, O'Neal lived up to expectations and missed two free throws. Chris Anderson once again grabbed a backcourt rebound. In this game, he was simply possessed by Dennis Rodman. He had already grabbed 12 rebounds in the half game. ball.

The Celtics continued to consume the half-court position, and their offense was unhurried, as if they were not trailing by four points but leading by four points. However, such a slow-paced offense was undoubtedly unable to find loopholes in the Lakers' defense. With 1 second left before 24 seconds, Anderson reluctantly took a shot from the mid-range, missed the ball, and was rebounded by O'Neal.

The Lakers wanted to launch a fast break, but the Celtics retreated very quickly because they didn't pay much attention on the offensive end. Basically, as soon as Anderson made a move, everyone retreated.

The Lakers are once again facing a zone defense. If they can't open up mid-to-long-range shots, they may not be able to defeat the Celtics' zone defense, or the Celtics' own defense will loosen as the game progresses.

Halfway through the third quarter, the Celtics and Lakers only scored a total of 7 points. The Celtics relied on Williams to hit a three-pointer from the outside, while on the Lakers side, Kobe relied on two breakthroughs to force a three-pointer. He tore apart the Celtics' zone defense and succeeded in a direct dunk, and once caused Anderson to foul and go to the free throw line and score two points.

The extremely low scoring efficiency made the audience drowsy on the sidelines, but the Celtics became more and more energetic as they played, although they were still five points behind, a little further behind than at the end of the half. However, the successful defense and constantly forcing the Lakers to strike gave these young men a great sense of accomplishment. The main players on the bench are also in the state, constantly cheering for the substitutes. In this place where tens of thousands of people are enemies, the encouragement and support of teammates is particularly important.

In this way, the Celtics survived the third quarter. The two sides tied at 12:14 in the third quarter. The Lakers only scored 14 points, leading the Celtics by six points into the fourth quarter. It did not happen as everyone expected. The Lakers came out strong in the third quarter and took away the Celtics in a wave.

But at the beginning of the fourth quarter, what worried Leon still happened. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Kobe hit a mid-range shot from the outside, then broke through the inside and made a layup, and passed the ball behind the head to O'Neal. With a dunk, the Lakers scored 6 points in a row. The Celtics only relied on Long's mid-range shot to score two points. The Lakers instantly opened the point difference between the two sides to 10 points.

This is a very dangerous signal, which means that the Celtics' zone defense is beginning to loosen. Zone defense requires players to have a very tacit cooperation and devote a lot of attention, otherwise a big gap will be left to the opponent accidentally.

What worries Leon even more is Kobe's recovery. Once this super shooting guard turns on the offensive mode in the fourth quarter, the Celtics without Paul Pierce will not be able to fight against the Lakers, because in the fourth quarter, the super scorer is The most efficient offensive tactic.

"Time-out! (Time-out)" Leon asked the referee on the sidelines for a 20-second pause. He decided to completely eliminate the hidden dangers that Kobe may bring in this game.

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Chris Anderson barely rested in this game. With the main players unable to play, Anderson's passion and cunningness learned from Rodman became the Celtics' greatest asset in this game.

After the timeout, the Celtics played a beautiful sideline ball tactic. Anderson took advantage of O'Neal's negligence, turned around and cut inside, received Alexander's pass and directly connected it in the air for a layup. The Lakers have made many such mistakes tonight, and Phil Jackson can do nothing but shake his head on the sidelines.

After scoring the goal, Anderson had no expression on his face, neither roaring nor flying. He seemed a little too calm, because next he was going to make a move that would ignite the audience.

When Kobe once again held the ball from the center and directly entered the Celtics' three-second zone, Anderson swooped over like a vulture that had been circling for a long time. He stretched out his arm in front of Kobe, and then directly Kobe flipped to the ground.

Kobe almost spun half a circle in the air and fell heavily to the ground. The audience sitting close to the venue could hear the heavy sound of Kobe falling to the floor. The Staples Arena exploded instantly, and the audience all stood up. The Lakers players all rushed towards Anderson, while the Celtics players calmly surrounded Anderson. O'Neal walked towards the Celtics players like an angry Tyrannosaurus Rex. Maybe he and Kobe had conflicts, but the premise is that they are both Lakers players and they will be consistent on the court.

The scene fell into chaos, and Stern, who was sitting in the VIP seat, also stood up. He couldn't remember how many times similar things had happened to the Celtics in recent games, and Anderson's foul just made him It feels like déjà vu.

Still Celtics, still Lakers, but that was far back in 1984, his first term. In the Finals between the Lakers and Celtics, Kevin McHale clotheslined Rambis. -style foul, also at the Lakers' home court. After that foul, the situation of the game completely reversed.

At this time, facing the chaotic scene, Leon just stood quietly on the sidelines with his arms folded, as if nothing happened.