Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 599

The first quarter of the finals between the Bobcats and the Lakers started off very excitingly, so exciting that it seemed like an exhibition game.

The success rate of the attack was astonishingly high.

However, all the audience who watched the game knew that this was not an exhibition match, but a real battle with real swords and guns.

There was no problem with the defense of both teams and they tried very hard, however, the opponent's offense was stronger and more targeted.

Especially after O'Neal asked Jordan to attract Yao Ming away, he was simply killing the other players on the Lakers in defense.

On the other side, the Lakers players cleared the inside for McGrady and then let him go to the basket to attack O'Neal, which also made O'Neal's scalp tingle.

Can't prevent it, can't prevent it at all.

At the same time, both teams almost never used double-team tactics.

No one used the double-team tactic first, which is why the success rate was so high in the first half of the first quarter.

Since it is a duel between Goats, whoever double-teams first would be admitting that he is inferior to the other.

Even though O'Neal knocked the Lakers players all over the place, these Lakers players did not double-team him, go around him, or try to stop O'Neal from receiving the ball.

The game has not yet reached the decisive stage, and now is actually a testing stage for both sides.

After the trial, both sides must be very satisfied with the results.

The strength of the two teams is very close, and at the same time, I got what I wanted.

Halfway through the first quarter, the game entered an official timeout.

In the past six minutes, O'Neal almost burned up all of himself, defending against the Lakers' targeted attack.

The offense was to attack the Lakers like a bulldozer. It can be said that in the first half of the first quarter, O'Neal was the protagonist of the game.

First was the showdown between O'Neal and Yao Ming.

Then there was the showdown between O'Neal and Kobe.

Then came the showdown between O'Neal and McGrady.

It can be said that in the past six minutes, O'Neal really did as he said to Yao Ming, letting Yao Ming see his strongest self, and letting the whole world see his strongest self.

A flexible fat guy with excellent ball handling and athletic ability, this is truly the strongest flexible fat guy.

The so-called peak O'Neal in the past needed his teammates to feed the ball to him, but the current Goat O'Neal can get the ball and attack on his own.

He is simply invincible in one-on-one situations on the court.

So, during the official timeout, when O'Neal left the court, the entire stadium was filled with cheers and applause for O'Neal.

Even many Lakers fans at the scene were cheering and applauding crazily for O'Neal.

Well, after all, O'Neal is also a former Lakers star.

O'Neal was very happy when he returned to the bench.

In this game, O'Neal will not play for 20 minutes. In this game, as long as he is on the court, he will be the main attacker of the Bobcats. This is what Du Kang promised and it is also the team's tactic.

In previous games of the season, O'Neal played one game and rested one game. Du Kang hopes that O'Neal can play in every game in the finals. If he really has to play in every game, then it would be best for O'Neal to play for less than ten minutes in each game.

"Shaq, you take a good rest now. Derek, you go ahead."

When O'Neal leaves the court, according to the Bobcats' previous rotation, Grant Hill will definitely take over immediately.

But this time, Du Kang let Rose play instead of Hill.

After Rose came on the court, after the timeout, the Bobcats' lineup on the court became Duncan, Thabeet, Beasley, Jordan and Rose.

On the Lakers side, it became Yao Ming, Jokic, Ebanks, McGrady, and Kobe.

"It's obvious that Popovich guessed that Coach D would replace O'Neal. The Lakers want an inside advantage!"

"At the same time, Coach D obviously guessed that Popovich would replace O'Neal to allow the Lakers to gain an inside advantage, so Coach D replaced him with Derrick Rose instead of Grant Hill!"

"This is the first head coach confrontation between the two teams in this finals!"

After the timeout, almost all the cameras on the sidelines were pointed at Dukan and Popovich.

In this game, the duel between Du Kang and Popovich is also a highlight of the game.

Popovich had always been at a disadvantage in previous matches against Du Kang.

It can't even be said that they were at a disadvantage, they were simply beaten every time.

Judging from the official suspension adjustments made by both sides this time, it is naturally difficult to say who is the winner or the loser.

Two people is just a choice.

"I think if Popovich wanted to, he could have predicted Coach D's prediction, predicting that Coach D would use a small player to beat his big player, but he ultimately chose Jokic instead of McCaw. This choice means that he believes his big player can beat Coach D's small player!"

The confrontation between big and small is always the protagonist in the NBA. The big can beat the small, and the small can beat the big.

This is the charm of dislocation.

"Popovich could predict that Coach D would choose a small lineup, but he still didn't follow suit. It's obvious that he felt that the Bobcats' small lineup wasn't that powerful. Jordan's shooting is terrible now, Rose isn't that good at three-pointers, and Beasley isn't used to shooting three-pointers, but instead wants to attack in the mid-range. It can be said that the Bobcats don't have a player like the Curry brothers, Kobe, and Canaan. The threat of playing with a small lineup almost all comes from breakthroughs and cuts, as well as Beasley's positioning and Thabeet. Perhaps, the biggest threat from three-pointers on the court for the Bobcats' small lineup may be Thabeet."

"Without the threat of three-pointers, it's hard to play a small advantage, and the Lakers have Yao. As long as Yao guards the basket, any open cuts and any breakthroughs will be powerless."

Although the final result of this big vs. small duel has not yet been announced, it is obvious that from the perspective of experts and commentators, Du Kang's choice is not favored.

"This is also the only choice Coach D has. Even if Grant Hill is on the court, so what? Grant Hill still plays the style of attacking the basket and mid-range shots. The Bobcats have too many mid-range and attacking players."

"This Bobcats team is flawed now, but it is an incredible achievement for Coach D to build such a great team in his first season with the Bobcats!"

"And that's why the Lakers are invincible, they don't have any weaknesses, they can really target any situation."

The game started, the Lakers attacked, and Yao Ming served the ball from the baseline.

At this time, the camera was aimed at Duncan again.

When O'Neal leaves the court, Duncan will be under tremendous pressure.

Because Thabeet is not a strong one-on-one defensive player in the interior, Thabeet's interior defense is more of an assist defense, and Thabeet's physique is really too thin.

Since you have maximized your threat from the outside, you naturally have to make trade-offs inside.

If the Lakers want to attack at the basket, Duncan will be the only single defense point.

Kobe dribbled the ball easily across half court and reached the three-point line under the harassment of Rose.

Kobe was already reading the game when he dribbled away from Rose's defense.

At this moment, the only problem for the Bobcats' defense is the one-on-one defense in the interior.

Both Jokic and Yao Ming pressed down to the basket.

At this moment, ahead of Kobe is Rose, ahead of McGrady is Beasley, and ahead of Ebanks is Jordan.

Obviously, this is a defensive method that tempts Kobe to attack forcefully.

O'Neal was so impressive in the first half, Kobe must have been itching to see him and was envious. So, he probably had to attack on his own.

"I have to say, the coach still understands me."

Kobe smiled inwardly.

He knows that Rose is not that easy to beat. With his current speed and burst, he can't get rid of Rose head-on. He can only keep suppressing him with his back. This kind of play will definitely consume a lot of energy.

After all, no one dribbles or controls the ball for him, and he needs to control the ball by himself in this lineup.

I can only say that not using McCaw in a big lineup does pose a problem.

McGrady's physical strength is worse than his, so it is definitely not worth it to let McGrady consume his energy on dribbling and controlling the ball.

With McGrady's strength, every bit of his energy should be used to the best advantage.

So, this is where it gets really interesting.

Obviously, Popovich and the expert commentators on the sidelines could see the obvious tactic of the Bobcats to lure Kobe into the team.

"So this is Coach D's back-up plan!"

"But isn't this a back-up plan that reflects Kobe's character too much?"

Kobe looked at Du Kang who was still smiling on the sidelines, and without any hesitation, he leaned back and chose to sit on Rose.

Kobe did not choose to drop the ball high to Yao Ming under the basket, nor did he choose to lob the ball high to Jokic under the basket, but chose to go it alone.

It would appear so.

However, just when Kobe pushed Rose to the free throw line, Jokic under the basket suddenly pulled out, and Kobe took advantage of the situation to turn around, pushed Rose back a step, and then used Jokic's screen to get outside the three-point line.

Almost at the same time Kobe came outside the three-point line, the basketball in Jokic's hand came into Kobe's hands.

"Thabit's switch was very timely, Kobe didn't have a chance to take a three-point shot!!"

Jokic pulled out and Thabeet followed immediately. It was obvious that Thabeet had noticed Kobe's intention.

Since the Bobcats chose a small lineup, the defensive switching of the small lineup is indeed very fast, especially for Thabeet, an inside player. He has the height of a center, but his athletic ability is definitely at the small forward level.

Tabeet chased out and blocked Kobe, and Kobe couldn't even see the basket.

Even after Kobe got the ball, he immediately fell into a passive position and could only keep retreating, trying to find an opportunity to break through.

"From the three-point line, Scobie chose to play one-on-one with Thabeet!"

This is actually an opportunity for Kobe.

Seeing Kobe's current posture, a smile appeared on Thabeet's face.

It's so familiar. Kobe is so familiar with this kind of one-on-one play.

Of course, Kobe is not that familiar with Thabeet.

Tabit has excellent athletic ability, but he is still too tall.

However, what shocked Kobe was that after he pulled out, he tried to use his skills to shake off Thabeet, but all of them failed.

It wasn't until 24 seconds that Kobe finally chose to throw this super long three-pointer against Thabeet from super long distance.

“Rebound!!”

Kobe's three-point shooting is very strong, but there is a high probability that such three-pointers will miss.

So Nash on the sidelines was shouting loudly for rebounds.

Kobe on the court did not choose to retreat. After shooting, he immediately broke through Thabeet and headed for the three-point line!

"Oh no! Kobe missed the shot on purpose. This is a rebounding tactic!!! This is a rebounding tactic invented by Coach D. Yao and Jokic are under the basket now. Thabeet has already been pulled out. The Lakers have a huge advantage under the basket!"

Who says that outside singles can't play to the advantage of the inside? !
Coach, this is what you taught us!
At this moment, most of the audience actually already knew what Kobe's intention was!

Clang sound of striking iron!
It’s really a case of forging iron!
At this time, Yao Ming and Jokic had almost pressed Rose under them and he could no longer see him.

It is unrealistic to ask Rose and Jokic to occupy positions now.

At the same time, Yao Ming is now blocking Duncan behind him tightly.

Yao Ming is unable to move and cannot grab the rebound, so Rose can only try his best to block Jokic. However, Jokic is so much taller that even if he can't jump, he can still grab the rebound by stretching out his hand.

You don't even have to grab the rebound, just follow the flow and pass the ball outside.

I have to say that the scene on the field at this time is indeed very interesting.

Kobe and Thabeet were outside the three-point line, one was facing inside and the other was facing outside. When Kobe was running towards the three-point line, Thabeet was running a fast break towards the other half of the court.

Kobe believes in his teammates Yao Ming and Jokic.

And Thabeet also chose to believe in his teammates.

Beasley, Jordan, McGrady and Ebanks were also rushing to the basket.

The basketball played by Kobe even became the focus of the whole world at this moment.

And just when Yao Ming, Rose and Jokic were unable to jump up, Duncan, who was blocking Yao Ming and was almost entangled with Yao Ming, actually jumped up!!!
Duncan almost tilted his body, jumped up forcefully, and then hit the basketball out with his right hand!

In front of the eyes of almost the whole world, the basketball flew quickly to Tabit!

Seeing that the basketball was not flying towards him, Kobe did not hesitate at all, and immediately turned his ankle and chased towards his own half!

It took almost 3 seconds from shooting to missing the shot to grabbing the rebound. In these 3 seconds, Kobe would definitely not be able to catch up with Thabeet.

However, as long as the ball does not arrive, it will be useless even if Tabit is already in the attacking area.

So, he doesn't need to chase Tabeet, he chases the ball!
Know the direction of the ball and chase it back immediately!

It also takes at least 3 seconds for the ball to reach Tabit's hands, so he still has time!

Kobe does still have time.

There is nothing wrong with Kobe's choice.

Kobe's defense is indeed on point.

Almost at the same time when Thabeet received this unconventional pass from Duncan, Kobe had already circled in front of Thabeet.

then!

With Kobe's eyes wide open, Thabeet didn't jump, but just threw the basketball in his hand over Kobe's head, outside the three-point line.

He can only defend in place, but he can't defend himself.

There was a brushing sound!
Three point hit!

Just 0.1 second left for him to defend!
Tabit’s attack was fast, accurate and ruthless!

(End of this chapter)