Chapter 275: Kobe's Rules Reappear
On May 21, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers played their third Western Conference Finals game, still playing at the Staples Arena.
Of course there are differences. A piece of white in the Staples Center can tell you that today is the home court of the Clippers.
The Clippers and the Lakers were originally two teams that were incompatible with cultural roots. The 20% of the residents who supported the Clippers in Los Angeles were mostly working-class, ordinary workers with low incomes and even lower-class poor people; while Lakers fans were mostly middle-class and richer elite groups, with most of the rich.
The white playoff T-shirt on fans is a free gift provided by a large local supermarket chain to Clippers fans. Nearly 20,000 white shirt fans sat together and gathered into a white light shrouding the Lakers. In the Lakers' home game, the team will also give fans yellow or purple T-shirts, but Staples' lower stands are always mottled. After all, you can't expect Hollywood big names like Jack Nicholson or Juliet Roberts to watch the game in uniform cultural shirts.
In fact, the people in the front row today are similar to those in the first two games. There are not many more stars who support the Clippers, and there are also many big bowls that support the Lakers.
Emma Roberts was wearing a Clippers white jersey, and Julia Roberts was next to her wearing a Lakers purple jersey.
James Cameron was wearing a white Clippers jersey, while Nicholson was wearing a yellow Lakers jersey beside him.
Kim Carrey wore a limited edition jersey in the Clippers, and Daniel Washington wore a limited edition jersey in the Lakers
There are many phenomena like this in Staples Arena today. The front seats and the first two games have not changed much, but the back is no longer like the first two games. There are always fans who insult the Clippers players. Today, the one who was insulted became a Lakers player.
Although Lakers fans still poured in, with the efforts of senior Clippers, this number can no longer have much impact on the Clippers. Ten thousand Clippers fans can completely suppress Lakers fans. Moreover, compared with Lakers fans, Clippers fans are much more brutal in their style, which is not a derogatory term. The home atmosphere just needs such fans to create. The Jazz is difficult to play at home, and it is indelible to make a contribution to the fierce Salt Lake City fans.
If he wants to make a choice for national humiliation, he certainly hopes that his fans will be as brutal and uncivilized as Salt Lake City fans. I believe that all NBA players will make such a choice.
When Old Dunleavy won the second game, he said that he should not expect that a team as experienced as the Lakers would become panic if they lose a game. This is true. They are not surprised by their unsightly behavior and did not increase training after losing the game. Judging from the expressions of Kobe and coach Phil Jackson, they seemed very confident. They hinted that the Lakers need to be more efficient on both offense and defense.
Kobe said before the game: "The pick-and-roll we use when attacking needs to be more aggressive, especially for Billups' defense. Although he is an excellent player, he made him score too easily yesterday." Kobe continued: "Ji Guomeng also performed very well. I think we need to make it difficult for them to score. A tough defense has always been an indispensable part of winning."
Before the game, everyone was most concerned about Pan's injury. Kobe said there was no problem anymore. Today he brought a protective gear to warm his injured part and told reporters: "I want to be more aggressive in this game when attacking."
Although Espanyol did not perform well in the first game, Gasol did not intend to retreat. Today he volunteered, saying that the team should hit the inside line more during the offense and believed that he should get more ball rights.
"We need to prove that the team's inside line can give the opponent enough power and play more in the inside line. I think this will be beneficial to our offensive operation, and also give me more space to play more aggressively, and attract more defensive attention from the opponent."
A reporter asked Gasol: "It's obvious that Kobe Bryant tried to take over the game when he was behind the score, but his shooting felt bad. Does everyone accept his attempt to take over the game?"
Gasol cursed in his heart, how dare he say "no" in this broken question, and immediately replied: "I think this is the case. Sometimes you can shoot the ball in, but sometimes you can't. This is part of the game, but I think we need to do better in team offense, and we will assist Kobe."
The Clippers' starting lineup has not changed today, with five starting players: Billups, James Posey, Artest, Ji Guohuo, and Ji Guoqiong.
The Lakers made some changes again today. They moved Bynum out of the starting lineup, and the five starting players became: Fisher, Kobe, Walton Jr., Odom Odom, and Gasol.
Charles Barkley said bluntly before the start of the game: "The Lakers lost the second game, and the biggest culprit was Odom. He only made 2 shots in 9 shots in the game, and only made 3 free throws with 6 free throws. He only scored 8 points in the 26-minute appearance time in the four quarters, but he made 5 mistakes."
Kenny Smith said: "Before this round of series, everyone has been discussing what happens when Gasol meets twins in the playoffs. The answer now is not good for Lakers fans. Even if the Lakers' inside line is not completely defeated by the Clippers, the inside line composed of Gasol, Odom and Bynum is really at a disadvantage. If the Lakers want to defeat the Clippers away, they must increase the offensiveness under the blue. The team needs them to attack the opponent's basket more fiercely. The Lakers' winning goal depends on Odom, Gasol and Bynum's joint efforts, so that they can support the inside line to compete with the Clippers."
In today's jumping ball, Zen master made a strange move, using Odom to jump with Ji Guochou. The third leader of the Lakers' jumping is good, but now he is not young. The jumping is still a certain difference compared to Ji Guochou, so the result is still no different. The Clippers defeated the Lakers in jumping ball in three consecutive games.
The Clippers' offensive tactics are no different from the previous game. Old Dunleavy can not change much when facing the Lakers. If you deal with the moves, as long as the Lakers cannot crack their tactics, they will continue to use them.
Billups and Panda brother played pick-and-roll, while the Fox brother ran without the ball on one side. This is the most basic tactic of the Clippers, and there are many changes. Although they cannot form a triangle, the chances of making a triple are no less than triangular attack.
Kobe couldn't see any injury on his back today. Ji Guomo had long guessed that this guy was making a big deal. He pretended to be half a life without any life. There was an excuse to lose, and winning the game made him even more great.
Not only Kobe can play this move, but Ji Guomeng and Ji Guochu's agent team also released news that they had injuries on their bodies, such as injuries on their legs, injuries on their shoulders, and injuries on their knees. In short, both of them played with injuries in the playoffs, but they still used their unimaginable perseverance to persevere and suppressed the Lakers' inside combination at the basket.
But in fact, Ji Guomomiya is not sore in his waist and legs are not hurting, and he can ejaculate seven times a night. Asked by Taylor Swift, he knew that the little singer had the most say.
Bilups used Ji Guoqiu to cover the cover and entered the inside. Old Fish struggled to defend Bilups alone. As soon as the Clippers picked and rolled, he could only sigh in his heart as he looked at Mr. Key's back.
Kobe quickly rushed to assist in defense and intercepted Billups. Lao Yu changed to defend Percy at this time. The Lakers' rotation was obviously a drill. The timing of the change of defense and assist in defense was just right, and it was also very fast.
A layman watches the fun, while an expert looks at the trick. This time, those who know the offense and defense know that Phil Jackson has been working hard on pick-and-roll defense these two days.
Billups was strong and still forced to break through the basket, then assigned the basketball to Artest, who was supporting him.
Little Walton was far less physically strong than Artest, and was forced to score a goal by the beast at a distance of 10 feet.
The Lakers still didn't defend this time, but this was not their defense mistake. The Clippers' goals were entirely based on the players' personal abilities, which shows that the Lakers' defense has been mostly successful.
Kobe received the serve and drove himself to the frontcourt. This may be a sign of Pan's strengthening his offense. Kobe rarely took the initiative to push the ball in the first quarter in the first two games.
The Lakers played pick-and-roll like an offensive end. Gasol came out to cover it. Kobe used Gasol's body to change direction and flashed through Percy to enter the inside. The target was Ji Guomo's position.
"Damn, is this to take revenge?"
When Ji Guomo saw Kobe coming directly to him for the first time, he immediately knew what this guy was going to do. Peter Pan was going to take revenge!
Kobe's eyes emitted red light, like an angry bull. No one expected that the "Kobe Rules" would appear in the important third game.
Once someone suffers grievances and suffers "unfair treatment", he will score high points in the next game and take revenge with his personal performance. This is the "Bryant Rule".
And is the "Bryant Rule" right or wrong? Or, can it bring victory to the Lakers? Feier Jackson's answer is no: "He makes other teammates not know how to play."
At the end of the regular season, the Lakers played against the Grizzlies, and the "Bryant Rules" appeared again. After being expelled from the last game, Kobe frantically scored a 54-point high on the Grizzlies' head. But what was the result? The Lakers lost to the weak team Grizzlies 111:118 in that game, and suffered two consecutive losses at this most critical moment before the playoffs, which made Gasol laughed at by Grizzlies fans for several days.
Today, Kobe obviously revenges for Ji Guohuo's crazy three-game killing in the last game. He wants to get high scores to avenge him. This may not be a good thing for the Lakers, nor may not be a bad thing for the Clippers.
"Swish!"
Chapter completed!