Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 63 21 years old

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.

Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Hansen, James, Cunningham, O'Neal
Lakers: Fisher, Kobe, Artest, Pau Gasol, Bynum
Bynum passed the ball back to the Lakers' half, and the Christmas game officially began.

The Lakers advanced to the frontcourt, and Kobe immediately positioned himself in the high post with his back against Hansen.

His intention to teach Han Sen a lesson was visible to the whole world.

Han Sen was also mentally prepared and took a defensive stance in advance.

After Fisher slipped through the back door and cleared the strong side, Kobe launched his attack.

He started off with a post-up attack.

Hansen has played against top scorers like Durant and Pierce, so he has some experience with this tactic.

But he soon felt the difference in Kobe.

The biggest difference comes from Kobe's footsteps. Kobe makes a small jump before catching the ball.

According to the rules, he now has no pivot foot.

To translate, this means that Kobe can now choose any foot as the pivot foot to launch an offense.

This summer, Kobe followed Olajuwon in doing fantasy footwork training, and this is the result of his training.

Kobe then made a fake move to turn around to the three-point line, followed by a fake breakthrough move after turning around, and then turned around to the baseline and made a turnaround jump shot.

These fake moves were not entirely fake, because Hansen could feel that if he didn't keep up, Kobe could choose to shoot at any time.

But once he followed these moves continuously, Kobe was able to successfully shift his defensive focus.

He finally tried his best to block Kobe's shot, but Kobe's physical fitness was much better than Pierce's, and he directly offset the interference by staying in the air.

"Shh!"

Kobe hit the first shot of the game.

"Welcome to the NBA, rookie." Kobe looked at Hansen with a joking look on his face after landing.

Pierce is the king of trash talk, and Kobe is no less.

"Number 77 is going to be unlucky tonight."

Tonight's commentary comes from ESPN, and Mark Jackson, a frequent guest, couldn't help but sigh.

Jackson played for the Pacers as a player and played against the Lakers in the 2000 Finals. He knows Kobe's character very well.

O'Neal was double-teamed in the low post, and his hook shot in the penalty area missed the basket, and the rebound was secured by Gasol.

After the Lakers quickly advanced to the frontcourt, Gasol supported the offense with a back-to-the-basket shot in the low post, turned around and attacked the basket to attract a double-team, and assisted Fisher who cut in to score a layup.

"Your welcome ceremony is a bit short?" Han Sen said to Kobe at this time.

Kobe looked at Hansen in surprise.

Although Han Sen was just a rookie, he had heard a little about Han Sen's extremely arrogant remarks made by No. 77.

But he had never taken Han Sen seriously before. After all, there are rookies with big mouths almost every year.

But judging from Hansen's series of actions after he came to Los Angeles, this kid is really special.

In the Cavaliers' offense, O'Neal had no chance in the low post, and James and Cunningham played a pick-and-roll, but after being double-teamed, he failed to pass the ball and the ball was broken out of bounds.

At this time, the Cavaliers only had 2 seconds left to attack, and James automatically walked to the sideline to prepare for the serve.

Han Sen didn't move at first, just glanced at Cunningham. After both sides started running, he suddenly moved quickly to the sideline.

Cunningham on the other side had already understood what he meant and set a pick-and-roll in advance.

Hansen ran into position and James' pass also arrived.

If one person passes the buck skillfully, the other one will take it naturally.

"Shh!"

Han Sen had a good touch today and hit a three-pointer right at the start.

"This is the level of defense of the best player?"

Looking at Kobe who just bypassed the pick-and-roll, Han Sen's face was full of disdain.

Unfortunately, the jerseys at that time did not have such things as built-in microphones, so Mark Jackson could not hear the conversation on the court, otherwise he would definitely take back what he had just said.

Han Sen is not someone who gets into trouble so easily.

Kobe's face darkened. Han Sen was not being particularly arrogant.

The Lakers' offense had Kobe once again manning the high post.

This was exactly what Han Sen wanted.

In fact, another reason why Hansen provoked Kobe before the game was because of the Lakers' inside advantage.

You can say that the Lakers are strong because of Kobe, but you can also say that the Lakers are strong because of their three tall players in the interior. As shown in the previous round, Cunningham's small body is not enough to be played by Gasol.

So instead of letting the Lakers take advantage of their inside advantage, it would be better to attract hatred like they did with Durant and let Kobe play one-on-one against him.

Kobe launched a back-to-the-basket attack again, but this time Hansen adjusted his defensive strategy. He did not stay close to Kobe, but kept a distance from him so that Kobe would not be able to sense his defensive center of gravity.

Seeing this, Kobe took the initiative to push in, but by doing so he was tantamount to choosing his pivot foot.

Han Sen also took the opportunity to push forward and actively confront Kobe, and then quickly retreated after the confrontation.

This main strategy is to be close yet distant, not giving Kobe the opportunity to sense his defensive center of gravity.

Kobe could no longer get rid of Hansen as easily as he had just done.

However, this version of Kobe was too experienced. After discovering that Hansen would retreat after a confrontation, he took advantage of this and kept attacking.

The two quickly came to the low position.

Hansen then began to protect one side of the basket and pushed Kobe to the baseline.

Although Kobe has the ability to shoot from a negative angle, it is more deadly for him to turn around and go to the free throw line than to shoot from that angle.

Han Sen made the most correct choice, and his defense was already half successful.

But Kobe's next choice was beyond his expectations, because Kobe dribbled the ball with a very low center of gravity, and his whole body went around his body as if he was crawling on the ground, and then... passed it.

Gasol cut in from the middle at some point and did a tomahawk slam dunk after receiving the ball.

"I'm not 21 years old." Kobe pouted and looked at Hansen after scoring the goal.

Damn, I was cheated!

Kobe's previous expression was fake.

Is this the 31-year-old Kobe?
Although Hansen said in the interview that Kobe is not, he has to admit at this moment that [Reasonable Kobe] with this mentality is the best in the league.

Brown called Ilgauskas off the bench.

When the ball was dead in the game, Ilgauskas came on to replace Cunningham, and the Cavaliers directly deployed the twin towers.

Cunningham's body size is completely different from Gasol's, and Varejao is not suitable to partner with O'Neal in the interior. This is a helpless choice for Brown.

"There are now four players on the court who are over 4 meters tall, which is extremely rare in NBA history."

This scene also made Mark Jackson sigh again.

After the Cavaliers put out the twin towers, the pace of the game slowed down significantly.

In this slower-paced game, the Lakers are clearly more experienced.

Six minutes into the first quarter, the Lakers led the Cavaliers 6-12.

In the Cavaliers' offense, James and O'Neal were double-teamed after the pick-and-roll, and the ball was thrown to Hansen at a 45-degree angle on the weak side.

At this time, there are only 5 seconds left before the end of the attack round, so I just take the blame.

But this time, unlike before, Kobe used his puppy steps① to bypass Ilgauskas' pick-and-roll.

When Hansen caught the ball, Kobe was already standing in front of him.

Without any hesitation, Han Sen activated the Phantom Step.

A small change of direction shortened the distance, and then a smooth breakthrough to the free throw line.

Kobe and Wade have been competing against each other in the NBA for many years, so he is naturally familiar with this kind of breakthrough. He moved directly to the left in advance, preparing for Carson Hansen's change of direction to the left.

But Han Sen changed his mysterious steps to a straight step, accelerating and bursting out in one step to pass over his defense.

The change was so sudden that not only Kobe, but also Bynum, who was guarding the inside of the Lakers, failed to react immediately.

By the time he reacted and wanted to make up for the defense, O'Neal had already blocked him with his strong body.

Han Sen rushed into the inside line, leaped into the air, and made a small loop in the air...

"Oh!"

Slam the ball into the basket.

There was a commotion in the place.

He caught the ball in 5 seconds, dribbled past Kobe, and finally showed off a pull-up dunk. Why does this feeling seem so familiar?
After landing, Hansen looked back at Kobe, exuding youthful vitality:

“I just turned 21.”

-Dividing line-

① Puppy Step: A defensive step that Kobe learned from Gary Payton. It refers to using small but fast sliding steps to compress the body into paper-thin to bypass pick-and-roll screens.

Tomorrow at noon, there will be 2 chapters + a thank you note for the release, and it will be released at 12: tomorrow night

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(End of this chapter)