The way of the center

Chapter 440 The Real Difficulty

The last 18 seconds of the first quarter will end, and at this moment, it is the Portland Trail Blazers who are at home that are in control of the last shot in the first quarter.

Derek Fisher's proficiency made Kobe, who was sitting off the court, miss him very much. Although there were only more than ten seconds left in the game, Fisher's ball control was still calm.This guy, but he has a big heart who completed the 0.4-second lore feat back then! 18 seconds is more than enough for him.He organized his teammates to move unhurriedly. Under Fisher's command, the rest of the Trail Blazers did not mess themselves up.

Lakers backup point guard Steve Blake stepped forward to defend, but Fischer skillfully used one hand to support Blake, while preventing the ball from being taken away, he slowly controlled the ball and continued to advance.

JJ Hickson and Meyers Leonard began to build walls for their teammates, and the running positions of Courtney Lee and Batum made the Lakers players nervous.

The Lakers' nervousness is not without reason. "Thanks to" the poor defense of the Lakers' second team, Courtney Lee and Batum have already made several shots from outside the three-point line.

This time, Batum used Hickson's pick-and-roll to go straight to the bottom corner, but Devin Ebanks, who was defending Batum, was hung up by Hickson.

Afraid that Batum would shoot immediately after receiving the ball, Jordan Hill had to switch defenses with Ebanks, and let him stare at Batum running towards the corner.

At this moment, Fischer suddenly dropped the ball into the penalty area.Ebanks, who was lying in front of Hickson, couldn't reach the ball at all, and Hickson took control of the well-proportioned lob with a light leap.After receiving the ball, because Ibax was going around the front to defend, Jordan Hill was pulled out by Batum again, so Hickson will face an empty basket!
As an insider with excellent athletic ability but slightly rough technique, Hickson won't get too many offensive opportunities in a game.Facing an empty basket this time, how could Hickson let it go!

He made use of his legs, jumped up high, put the ball behind his head with both hands, and after gliding for a certain distance in the air, Hixon swung his arms and attacked the frame vigorously.

"Click!" The basket made a loud sound, and at the same time as the crisp sound, there was also the whistle at the end of the first quarter.

"Fischer's pass is very deadly. This guy's assists are not as fancy as Nash, but they are very practical. He can always see the opportunities on the court. This guy is definitely a rare advanced metronome!"

Weak defense and equally pallid offense, that's what the Lakers' second unit does on the court. 22 to 30, if there is one more back and forth, the Trail Blazers might be able to widen the point difference to double digits!
"Well done, well done! Come on, let's continue this performance." Ricard applauded the players who were off the pitch, and An Jie led the team to high-five the players who had just left the pitch one by one.

"You guys are playing too loosely! Paul, I need you to pull bigger, don't linger near the basket! Nash, get on the ball faster, and don't grind with the Trail Blazers, that's just falling into the In the rhythm of the Trail Blazers!" On the Lakers side, the substitute players did not receive any encouragement or attention from anyone after they left the court. They sat back on the bench like air, and D'Antoni picked up the tactical board and began to fight The starters speak.

"Do you want to make it bigger?" Paul Gasol couldn't believe what D'Antoni said. As an insider and Kobe's most powerful assistant, Paul Gasol, the super tower in Europe, couldn't get close to the penalty area!What a joke!

"That's right! You have to use your shooting range to threaten the Blazers' defense and open up space for Kobe and Dwight's offense." D'Antoni may not have realized the meaning of Gasol's rhetorical question, but he actually gave it to him. Gasol talked about the role of this tactic.

Gasol nodded in disappointment. With a gentle personality, he is not the kind of player who would contradict the head coach.But not contradicting, does not mean that Gasol is satisfied with these arrangements.

Unlike the Lakers who have their own ghosts, Ricard's tactics for his men have been unanimously approved by everyone.

"Damien, increase the number of shots on the outside, Andre, your open space will be a huge deterrent to the Lakers defense! Wesley, I want you to find space outside the three-point line at all costs. As for Ann and LaMarcus, I don’t need to say, you know what to do, right?” Rickard simply drew a few tactics, Lillard was obedient, Iguodala was a panacea, and There were three people who had worked together last season, and the Trail Blazers had no problem running in at all.Therefore, Ricard can also make enough arrangements within a limited time.

"Okay, that's almost all I need to say! This season we have been stared at by countless eyes, and everyone is waiting to see our jokes! But we have to use actions to tell those people that we are fucking real It’s very strong! Lakers F4, this combination is perfect for us!” Ricard’s irritability usually allows him to mobilize the emotions of the players.

"The boss is right! The championship, starting from the victory of the first game!" An Jie also yelled in line with Ricard, and he opened his palms in front of his abdomen after speaking.Afterwards, more and more Trail Blazers players also put their hands on Anjie's palm.

"One, two, three." An Jie called out the numbers.

"Blazers!" others shouted out the team name.

This formation naturally attracted the attention of the Lakers bench not far away.Some of them really envy a team like the Blazers
Therefore, as soon as the second quarter came up, the Lakers' first offense ended in failure.

Nash's passing is exquisite, and it must be matched with the lineup of the Suns back then.Today's Lakers are not suitable for D'Antoni at all, nor are they suitable for Nash.

The possession of the ball stayed on the perimeter for a while, but the Lakers players still didn't understand the tactics clearly.There is no way, Nash has to hand the ball to Kobe.

"The ball!" As soon as Kobe caught the ball, Howard leaned on Anjie and shouted.When this guy was in the Magic, he had unlimited firepower whenever he got down low.However, everything changed after arriving at the Lakers. Howard had to shout to remind Kobe that this was not his game alone!
"Damn it." Kobe was reluctant to pass the ball, but for the sake of the team, Kobe still gave up the ball.

Howard leaned on An Jie simply and rudely, hoping to get himself close to the three-second zone by hitting back.

An Jie also clenched his teeth, his chest ached from Howard's strong shoulders.But no matter how much pain he suffers, An Jie knows that this step cannot be backed down!
After several fruitless attempts, Howard was about to hand the ball over.And Gasol, who was pulled to the middle distance, became Howard's first choice.

Howard's passing skills can be described as "terrible". The ball he passed to Gasol was short and fast. Just bending down to catch the ball made Gasol, a tall man, spend a lot of time. energy.After receiving the ball, he got up and prepared to shoot. At this time, Aldridge had already rushed over.

Gasol saw Howard was covered by Anjie, and Kobe and Nash were entangled by Matthews and Lillard respectively.So no way, Gasol had to shoot!

Aldridge's defense is better than Gasol thinks, and this ball Aldridge seriously interfered with Gasol's shooting rhythm.And the basketball, without a doubt, knocked out of the frame.

Anjie and Howard touched the basketball almost at the same time, but neither of them could control it.The basketball took off again straight up and down under the fingers of the two, and when it fell for the second time, Iguodala, who rushed in from the outside line, rushed to grab the rebound, stifling the risk caused by Anjie’s miss. possible.

After successfully defending, the Blazers took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Lillard easily entered the penalty area under the control of Anjie.However, Ci Shiping's timely return to defense made Lillard, who was not good at physical confrontation, miss a layup.But fortunately, the referee's whistle sounded very timely. Ci Shiping was an undisputed foul!

Ci Shiping glared at the referee fiercely at first, but this would not change anything.Lillard made two free throws steadily, and Anjie once again helped the team score without scoring.

With the successful start of the first quarter, the confidence of the Trail Blazers players is also more sufficient, and their offense is also smoother.

Under Ricard's arrangement, the five players on the Trail Blazers took relatively even shots.As a result, the difficulty of the Lakers' defense has also soared.Because everyone on the field has the ability to become the end point of the offense!
The Lakers' game is getting worse and worse, and the point difference is getting bigger and bigger.It wasn't until the point difference became 15 that D'Antoni was finally willing to call a timeout.

But now the Lakers players' thinking is completely inconsistent, even the best coaches, it is difficult to make a new look.

"Kobe, Dwight, increase your number of singles!" D'Antoni, who was forced to do nothing, only hoped that these two guys could use their personal abilities to temporarily tide the team over.And Kobe was greatly stimulated by this sentence.He decided that after returning from the timeout, he had to start scoring mode!
The timeout ended quickly, and Nash came to Shanshan Xu as usual, and handed the ball to Kobe as always.But this time even if Howard yelled heartbreakingly, Kobe decided to control the ball himself!

In order to defend Kobe, Rickard even asked Iguodala and Matthews to switch defenses, and Iguodala personally dealt with the black Mamba.Kobe also found that it is much more difficult to complete the breakthrough now than before, but Iguodala still cannot extinguish Kobe's offensive frenzy.

Bryant slid to the baseline with his shoulder against Iguodala's shoulder and chest, hoping to attack from the flank of the basket.But Iguodala's defensive pace was so fast that Kobe himself didn't expect it.

Forget it, the most important thing is that Anjie is already under the basket at this moment, waiting for Kobe to throw himself into the trap.Even though all these and other reasons indicate that Kobe's attack is not an opportunity, Kobe still resolutely decided to attack the frame!
Take off, lift the basketball in the limited air time, and avoid the stretched arms of Anjie and Iguodah.By the time Kobe dodged it all, he had flown to the other side of the rim.

Kobe didn't even look at the rebound, and just relied on his feeling for a backhand layup.In this way, he successfully scored in the pinch of the two defensive champions of the Trail Blazers!
With 13 points, the point difference is still in double digits, but Kobe did not feel tired or complained at all.

Breaking through and making fouls, unreasonable three-pointers, and skillful back-up fadeaways.Kobe seems to have returned to the past, to the era when he lacked helpers around him.Under his desperate attack, the number of points difference just became 5!

Subsequently, Ricard replaced all starters except Anjie, and D'Antoni replaced all starters except Kobe.Obviously, the stars of these two teams will withstand the pressure during the lineup handover period.

An Jie looked at Kobe subconsciously, but Kobe just bit his jersey, and his frown was never stretched after the game started.This guy just relied on himself to bite the score when the Lakers were in a mess and had no fighting power!
The Trail Blazers have played well enough, but the Lakers can't get rid of it.Seeing Kobe's various behaviors, An Jie finally understood.

It is not difficult to beat the Lakers, but only by knocking down Kobe can the Blazers have a chance to win!And defeating Kobe, this is exactly what caused the Trail Blazers the biggest headache in this game.Because the game has been played so far, Kobe has never fallen!God knows what method to use to make a guy like Kobe succumb.

"It's been a long time since I met such a ruthless character." An Jie exercised his muscles and bones. Kobe, who is crazy, is really a terrible opponent!

Knocking down Kobe, even for the now powerful Blazers, is not an easy task.

(End of this chapter)