Chapter 621 Reaching the Western Conference Finals(1/2)
This evening, the second round series between the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers begins.
The three-headed monster headed by Garnett was really powerful. The two teams didn't decide the winner until the final quarter. In the end, the Blazers relied on their powerful inside attack to win.
Payton's performance was average, with only 8 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. His field goal percentage was only 36%, and his three-point shooting percentage was only 25%. His performance was far inferior to that of the regular season, and his age was clearly evident.
On the 4th, in the last game of the first round of the Eastern Conference, the Heat's tiebreaker against the Hornets began. In the end, the Heat won the tiebreaker and finally advanced to the second round.
The attention-grabbing No. 5 pick in the first round of 2003, Dwayne Wade, averaged 15.4 points per game in the seven-game series in the first round. His performance was somewhat unstable. The highest was 27 points in one game and the lowest was only two points.
.
But it's better than LeBron James. The No. 1 pick has no chance to play in the playoffs this year.
On this night, the Suns defeated the Lakers again at home, completing their second consecutive victory.
In this game, other teammates performed well. Lao Wang reduced his shots and focused on defense and rebounding. At the same time, he cooperated with Nash to organize fast breaks and scored 24 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 7 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls.
On the same day, the Pistons defeated the Pacers on the road and the two teams tied at one.
On the 5th, the Timberwolves defeated the Trail Blazers in the away game, and the two teams tied at one.
On the 6th, the Nets' belated second round finally started.
In the end, the Nets won at home. The Heat had just finished the tiebreaker, and their physical fitness was far inferior to that of the Nets, who were waiting for work. They lost the first game.
On the 7th, the G3 games between the Suns and the Lakers, and the Pistons and the Pacers began.
In the end, the Suns once again defeated the Lakers on the road, scoring a big score of 3-0. They had the match point in hand and were about to sweep their opponents.
Lao Wang had a quadruple-double of 27 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 11 blocks. Six of his ten assists were obtained by directly passing the ball after grabbing backcourt rebounds.
On the same day, the Pistons defeated the Pacers at home and led 2-1.
On the 8th, the Nets failed to perform, lost at home, and tied with the Heat.
At the same time, the Timberwolves were defeated by the Trail Blazers, falling behind one to two.
On the 9th, the Suns and Lakers started a G4 battle at Staples Center.
As the series became more and more unfavorable, the conflicts between the OK team became more and more serious. Although there was no public falling out, there was no communication at all on and off the court. The Lakers did not resolve their internal conflicts because of the huge pressure of being swept.
Before the game, Phil Jackson emphasized to Fisher in front of Kobe that he must pass the ball low, and told him that if you can't do this, prepare to come down.
Kobe also had no attitude and didn't say a word.
The atmosphere in the home team's locker room was like a dead person, cold and cold, completely unlike the lively atmosphere in the visiting team's locker room at this time.
Outside the locker room, listening to the commotion inside, Old Buss shook his head in great disappointment, turned around and motioned to general manager Kupchak to follow him farther away, and then said: "Mitch, how big a contract does O'Neal want?"
"Maximum salary, he won't accept a salary cut," Kupchak said.
Shaking his head, Old Bass said: "Then prepare to trade, if he still has some trading value."
"Okay, boss, I'll start processing it right away," Kupchak said.
Old Bass also wanted to say something, such as being careful not to let the news leak out, but think about it, this game may be swept by Old K, and it doesn't matter if the news leaks.
Thinking of old K, he felt regretful in his intestines.
In the new season of 2002, when Old K returned from injury, he thought that Old K was in trouble, so he just offered a pension contract without any sincerity. As a result...
"well!"
He sighed secretly, waved to Kupchak, turned and left.
At eight o'clock, the game starts.
When Lao Wang came on the court, the Lakers fans still gave him huge cheers. He also gave the Lakers fans some face by not openly shouting a sweeping slogan.
After all, in the sky above the Staples Center,
Flying are the three championship dynasty flags he won for the Lakers, and his No. 31 Lakers jersey is also hanging on them.
Sun attack.
Lao Wang did not enter the paint area, did not go into the low post, and settled on the left wing two steps away from the paint area, with the purpose of pulling O'Neal out and making full use of his mobile advantage.
O'Neal could only follow, but Lao Wang immediately turned around, dropped the former, and quickly cut to the basket.
Under Kobe's defense, Nash used Joe Johnson's pick-and-roll to quickly complete the pass.
"Bang!"
Lao Wang and Nash completed an alley-oop dunk.
Zhang Lili smiled and said: "The pass-cut cooperation, Tiejun pulled out first, and then cut in. The postman was too slow. After being pulled out by Stoudemire, he could not help defend the basket in time. As long as Nash's ball can be passed in, this ball is basically
It can be done.
The Lakers brought in the Postman and assembled a giant lineup, but in fact it was not very reasonable, because if they wanted to help defend the Iron Army, the power forward must be fast, and the Postman couldn't be fast at all.
The formation of the lineup must be reasonable and based on the main opponents. The Lakers' main opponents in the Western Conference are the Suns and Trail Blazers. If they play against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers' lineup is barely enough, but it will not work at all against the Suns.
The power forward position is too slow."
At this time, the Lakers attacked, Fisher advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, Kobe and O'Neal asked him for the ball at the same time, and he passed the ball to Kobe on the right wing first.
The Suns were still in a two-one-two zone defense. The moment the ball was passed, Marion in the middle quickly pounced on Kobe.
When Kobe received the ball, Marion was already rushing to his side. He immediately turned around and relied on Joe Johnson to break through with the ball from the outside.
At this time, Stoudemire below immediately moved upward, creating a three-to-one momentum.
At the same time, Marion and Joe Johnson retreated downward at the same time.
But at this moment, Kobe suddenly stepped back and shot a jumper, retreating directly outside the three-point line, completely getting rid of the three-man double-team. By the time the nearest Joe Johnson stepped back to grab the ball, it was already too late.
"brush!"
The water splashed and he hit a three-pointer.
When the ball passed through the basket, it fell into Lao Wang's hands. He immediately retreated to the baseline while observing his teammates on the outside.
Sure enough, Joe Johnson and Marion next to Kobe are starting up, Nash outside the right wing three-point line is also starting up, and Stoudemire below is also starting up.
"Quick attack!" Su Qun shouted.
"Whoosh!"
In the next moment, Lao Wang took a step to the right, avoided O'Neal in front of him, threw a one-handed ball, and the ball flew towards Nash like a meteor.
After passing the ball, he immediately stepped down and personally participated in the fast break.
Rushing forward from the bottom line, after three steps, he caught up with the Fat Shark, and after two more steps, he overtook the postman.
Nash was the fastest player on both teams. He started quickly from the right wing, and Devin George was in a trailing position from the beginning.
The ball passed the center line and was already two steps ahead of Devin George, getting further and further away.
On the left wing, Marion was faster than Joe Johnson and moved closer to the center after crossing the center line.
Kobe chose to follow Joe Johnson because Fisher was in the middle.
"The Lakers are quick to defend, don't force the attack!" Su Qun said quickly.
The Lakers' three perimeter defenses were indeed quite fast, but Postman and O'Neal held them back. When Wang rushed through the center line, the Suns formed a five-on-three situation in the frontcourt.
Nash rushed to the right wing but did not enter the paint area. Instead, he suddenly passed the ball to the left wing.
Marion, who was moving closer to the center, caught the ball. Before that, he looked back and knew that Old K had rushed up. So after catching the ball, he pulled to the left and pulled Fisher away from the center. Then he turned around and casually
Throwing the ball into the air in the paint.
Lao Wang rushed in from the top of the arc, with no obstacles in front of him. After crossing the free throw line, he took off directly. He caught the ball with one hand in the air, stretched his body backwards, drew an arrow, and then made a powerful slam.
"Bang!"
As the fierce explosion of the basket sounded, the Staples Center also burst into warm cheers.
"This has become Lao K's home court." Su Qun said excitedly.
"The Suns are completely different if they have an iron team and if they don't have an iron team."
Zhang Lili said happily: "Without the Iron Army, the fast attack would be out of control, the quality of positional warfare would be poor, and there would be no defense.
With the Iron Army, everything is controllable. Even if the fast break fails, positional warfare is still at the top level in the league, and there is also defense."
Su Qun smiled and said: "Old K can also attack fast, which is even more terrible. O'Neal and the postman can't keep up at all."
"Kobe just made his first three-pointer. It seems that Kobe's touch may be good tonight." Zhang Lili added.
"It's still Joe Johnson's defensive skills that are a little worse. He is the main defender and has not kept up with Kobe's pace." Su Qun said.
When the Lakers attacked, Kobe passed the ball in the backcourt, then rushed to the frontcourt and made a sudden jump shot, but missed. Wang protected the backcourt rebound.
However, the fast break failed this time, so we immediately switched to a positional battle, waiting for the old K to get into position.
When Lao Wang reached the frontcourt, he still pulled out. This time Stoudemire cut in, but Nash had no chance to pass the ball in time and was caught by Kobe.
Zhang Lili said: "The opportunity to pass the ball is just that moment. When the ball cannot be passed in time, the opening disappears and Stoudemire's cut becomes useless."
Stoudemire could only pull out again, but at this time Nash seemed to be right but actually left, using a fake move to temporarily get rid of Kobe's entanglement.
Lao Wang keenly observed Nash's passing opportunity and reacted immediately. With a fierce step, he directly passed O'Neal face to face and quickly cut into the paint area.
To be continued...