the rest, only noise

Chapter 1310 Breaking the defense easily
PS: Duncan was mentioned without warning in the previous chapter because a chapter was missed. The large content that was missed has been added to the previous chapter, with an increase of about 2000 words. If you are interested, you can read it back
The Blazers walked into the Great Western Forum with the determination to win.

Before Game 2, Pat Riley, as usual, refused to be interviewed by the media.

Their information is closed as if hiding in an isolated island.

The Michael Jordan who is always surrounded by the media is their only external face.

When Jordan faced reporters, the most frequently said sentence was: "This is an internal secret, and there is no comment."

He had an indifferent poker face on his face, as if the media were the old Lai who owed him money for the cards last night.

"Is it really useful to completely cut yourself off from the outside world for the game?"

The leading media in the Portland area, The Oregonian, also had no idea.

Only the results of the game can give the answer.

Tonight, Louie continued to bet that Jordan couldn't kill them all alone.

For Olajuwon's defense, after the Game1 game, there is also a successful experience.

Portland's solution is to downgrade Olajuwon's tactical status.

Does this mean Olajuwon's value is starting to drop?No, it's not so much a decline in Olajuwon's value, it's better to say that the Blazers are turning Olajuwon into a more threatening point.

What is a downgrade to Olajuwon's tactical status?
In short, Riley directly took away Olajuwon's low-post core position, and turned Dameng from an unsolvable inside core into a super blue-collar who mainly does auxiliary work.

Dameng needs to come to the outside more and play pick-and-roll cooperation with Jordan.

In this way, the series of double-teams, help defenses and traps that the Lakers painstakingly designed around Dameng's low-post offense lost their meaning.

Because Dameng will no longer be the ball-holding offensive machine that goes down low and raises his hand for the ball after halftime.

Why do you say that this will make the big dream a more threatening point?
In fact, based on normal basketball logic, this is very easy to understand.

It doesn't even require advanced basketball knowledge.

Even an ordinary fan who has only played halftime 3V3 knows how monotonous the team's offense will be if the big men in the team keep getting stuck in the low post for the ball.

Because you have to give him the ball over and over again, and then just stand there and watch him perform.

The space is blocked, the rhythm is slow, and the style of play is the same.

Conversely, if the big man doesn't need the ball that much, and likes to run out, and make pick-and-rolls and screens for his teammates, even if he doesn't split and roll after the pick-and-roll, the offensive pull he plays will also bring huge intangible benefits to teammates on the outside.

For a player of Olajuwon's level, there is nothing wrong with launching an offense around him under normal circumstances.

However, when this set doesn't work, it must be changed based on the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak.

This change is to respect Jordan.

At the beginning of the game, it was through Olajuwon's pick-and-roll that Jordan scored two three-pointers in a row, establishing the lead for the Blazers, and starting from this, set the tone for the entire game.

Olajuwon's role change, and Jordan's godlike performance, activated Rex Chapman.

This powerful flank who was not valued by the Lakers before can finally bring defensive pressure to the Lakers by attacking with the ball and catching and shooting.

The Blazers also found a newer way to play tonight, such as letting Jordan attract defensive pressure at the top of the arc, Chapman holding the ball and Olajuwon pick-and-roll, and feeding the latter to let Big Dream create a threat closer to the basket.

Fisher and Clifford Robinson, the two bastards who were ignoring the situation, were also driven by the star boss and hit a difficult buzzer shot.

The performance of the Lakers is at a normal level, and none of the lines have performed below the average level, but they are just being suppressed.

Because in their opinion, the performance of the Blazers is simply a super-level performance.

What Louis is worried about is that this level of Blazers will become a new normal in the next game.

In Louie's view, the Blazers just got back to being what they should have been.

Their starting strength is not inferior to any super team, what really affects them is the depth of the lineup.

Wilson can feel the pressure brought by the Blazers far beyond the first game, so his personal offense in the game is also more than before.

The Blazers not only performed well on the offensive end, but also borrowed from the Lakers' previous game that frequently made Garnett shrink on the two wings to swipe cards to help defend against the Dream.

The person responsible for doing this for the Blazers was Clifford Robinson.

Robinson is not as talented as Garnett, but he is more experienced. While assisting in the defense of swiping cards, he will test the passing vision of the ball holder.

This is why the Lakers couldn't control their mistakes tonight.

Even Wilson had 6 turnovers.

And, Riley is determined to see the short rotation through.

Before entering the garbage time in the last game, Louis could still see Riley using an eight-man rotation. Now, he resolutely reduced the rotation system to less than six.

Among these six people, the only one who has the right to rest is Olajuwon, and everyone else has to be prepared to play more than 40 minutes per game.

The Lakers trailed the Blazers by 18 points at most.

Louis then used Wilson as the breaker and replaced the Cavaliers to activate "Beautiful Basketball".

Wilson deserves to be the leader of the system. When the tragedies were oppressed by the Blazers' swipe defense and sent frequent turnovers, he took on the responsibility of running the entire system.

On the other hand, Liu Yuqing and Nash were stained with the bright light of Wilson, and hit the Blazers' defense hard with cold three-point rain.

This round of offense stopped the decline for the Lakers. Then, Ostertag came on the stage and Garnett formed a twin tower. With Wilson, Dumars and Liu Yuqing, the Lakers' defensive threat should not be underestimated.

Facing the Lakers' suffocating internal and external defense, the Blazers have no other person except Jordan who can do things with the ball.

Five minutes before the end of the fourth quarter, the Lakers tied the score. Riley called a timeout and yelled at Jordan: "Live or die, make a choice!"

Jordan played the roll call tactic that ruined the Blazers' championship dream, used a pick-and-roll to break through the emergency stop and fallback jumper, and called every player on the Lakers field.

He single-handedly withstood the Lakers' counterattack.

This scene made Kobe excited, and he looked forward to a super giant matchup between Wilson and Jordan that would be recorded in history.

However, every ball on Jordan's side showed personal heroism.

But Wilson didn't respond at all.

Wilson responded with a catch-and-shoot three-pointer created by a tactical run.

Then pass the ball with Garnett's pick-and-roll tactics and feed the latter, which is counted as a counterattack against Jordan.

Even Dumars scored in high-post singles with the ball, thanks to his widening of the bottom corner.

He just didn't go head-to-head with Jordan the way Kobe thought he would.

why?
This question remained unanswered until the end of the game.

In the last 5 minutes, the Trail Blazers were completely relying on Jordan to play alone, while the Lakers played the team basketball that the academy loved.

However, this kind of team basketball was buried by Garnett's two free throws at the last minute.

For the key ball, the Lakers' perfect positional battle created a scoring opportunity for Garnett. He also logically dribbled the ball to Portland's penalty area, and then was stopped by Olajuwon with his sixth personal foul.

At that time, the two sides were evenly divided, and Garnett made one of two free throws, allowing the Blazers to overtake the score with just a random goal.

At that time, NBC gave Jordan nearly 5 minutes of shooting.

He made 8 of 8 shots from the three-point line, and his shooting percentage was 100%.

This data predicted the outcome of the game in advance.

Jordan patiently pressed the time, and waited until the last four seconds, when the attack was about to be launched, Wilson double-teamed ahead of time according to Louie's instructions.

Jordan passes the ball to the side.

The player who was left short was Rex Chapman, who ended the night with an unpretentious mid-range shot.

"Shh!"

109 is better than 108
The Blazers beat the Lakers away and tied the game 1-1.

Jordan played 48 minutes and scored 48 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists.

At the moment of the end of the game, he still stared at Louie seriously and solemnly, as if to say - after all these years, do you think I haven't learned how to pass the ball, Coach Lu?

Louis was willing to admit defeat, exhaled lightly, and began to think about how to fight back in the next game.

He had known about this for a long time, and now he just confirmed it again.

Jordan's Trail Blazers are the biggest opponents of the Lakers on their way to the championship this year.

And Kobe, who didn't play for a second tonight, not only didn't say anything weird like that if he was replaced, he would win, but he also pestered Wilson and asked, "Why don't you play against Michael in a dignified manner?"

Wilson, who was already in a bad mood because of the loss, said angrily: "Which ball did I play sneakily?"

"Every ball."

"High school student, what do you know?!"

The Conqueror was thus defeated.

Kobe: Easy.

(End of this chapter)