Guoshu basketball

Chapter 61 The end of the first half

After Deron made two free throws steadily, the score became 57 to 48, the Jazz led by 9 points, and there were still 53 seconds left before the end of the first half!
Kobe looked at Zen Master who was holding his hands together on the sidelines. The plan was ruined and tactics needed to be changed.Zen Master also understood what Kobe was thinking, so he folded his little fingers and whistled!

This whistle was short and sharp, piercing through the noisy shouts of the fans!The Lakers players understood when they heard the whistle, changed the established tactics, and Kobe made all the decisions on the field!
Li Du ran forward and glanced at Kobe.Bryant nodded slightly, then dribbled the half court by himself.Brewer followed closely, but he couldn't stop Kobe.

Leaning sideways against Brewer, protecting the ball, Bryant beckoned to Odom.

Everyone thought that Kobe wanted Odom to cover with him, but Odom and Li Du suddenly ran towards each other at the same time!

Odom and Li Du passed by, and then Odom blocked Kirilenko who followed Li Du, and Li Du blocked Boozer who was closely following Odom.Then, Odom immediately pulled out, and Li Du turned sideways to block Kirilenko again while getting out of Odom's way!
This time, Li Du blocked two people at the same time!Like a big tree with roots, he stood firmly on the spot, no matter how hard Boozer and Kirilenko pushed, Li Du remained motionless!
Odom, who was empty, received a pass from Kobe and scored the ball smoothly!
57 to 50, the Lakers are still 7 points behind, and there are 33 seconds left in the first half of the game!
Li Du did not follow his teammates back to the defense this time, but directly stuck to Delong!

Delong had heard of Li Du's reputation a long time ago, and had never confronted Li Du head-on today. The next time he met, he immediately realized that Li Du's reputation was well-deserved!No matter how much Delong feinted and ran backwards, he couldn't get rid of Li Du.

Seeing that the free throw time was approaching, Kirilenko quickly threw the ball to Brewer who rushed back from the front to meet him.

By the time Brewer caught the ball, Fisher had posted it!
The whole court presses the defense!The Lakers suddenly changed their defensive state in the last 33 seconds of the first half, and actively fought for it!
Brewer faced Fisher, dribbled the ball across half court with difficulty, immediately picked up the ball, and passed it to the big center Okur who stood at the top of the three-point arc to respond.This is a sigh of relief!

Delong was badly entangled by Li Du, so he came to the frontcourt at this time, but he couldn't catch the ball. Li Du followed closely, and he had no chance.In desperation, Deron had no choice but to let Okur and the others decide how to attack, as long as they attacked in the last 24 seconds of 7 seconds.

Okur is a European insider. In addition to his tall body, he also has delicate dribbling and passing skills.Seeing that Deron couldn't get rid of it, he didn't care, he held the basketball high with both hands, and waited until there were only 7 seconds left in the attack time, when Okur moved.

He hit Kwame Brown twice in a row, just to open up a little space, turned around with his back, and shot with his hands open!
With a sound of "clang", the basketball hit the back edge of the basket and popped out. Kobe jumped high and hugged the basketball tightly.

Seeing that there were only 14 seconds left, Kobe didn't dare to stay, and ran across the frontcourt with the dribble. Under Brewer's obstruction, Kobe didn't wait for anyone else. He changed hands twice in a row, his body left and right Swing, and move forward at the same time!

Brewer was shaken by Kobe's movements, and was carried by Kobe's shoulders, almost sitting on the ground!Kobe took the opportunity to pull up from outside the three-point line and shoot!
"clang"!The basketball hit the back edge of the basket and bounced straight up!

"Rebound!" The inside players on both sides rushed to the basket desperately, ready to grab a rebound.

"Boom, boom, boom" the basketball bounced three times on the basket, and then reluctantly rolled into the basket!
57 to 53, with Kobe's stunning three-pointer, the point difference between the two teams finally returned to within 5 points!
There were only two seconds left before the end of the first half. After the Jazz sent the ball, they had no time to dribble and could only shoot directly. The ball was missed. The score of the two sides was fixed at 57 to 53 in the first half, and the Lakers trailed by 4 points.

During the intermission, Barkley and Smith were analyzing the pros and cons of the Lakers and Jazz today, and the two talked endlessly.Magic Johnson and Malone rarely spoke, and they seemed to be worried about something.

What the magician is worried about can be seen from the data on the field.For the Lakers, Kobe only played 20 minutes in the first half, and the other starters also played at least 17 minutes. On the plateau of Salt Lake City, the physical exertion is much greater than usual, and it is difficult to maintain the competitive state after playing for such a long time. Not to mention, the decline in physical strength will also bring about the hidden danger of injury!
Moreover, Kobe made 14 of 6 shots in the first half, and his shooting percentage was significantly lower than in the previous game. The other Lakers' shooting percentages were good, but they didn't have many shots.

But this is not a problem that can be solved in one game. The Lakers can either trade for a player with enough offensive power, even if the defense is not good; or they can only wait for the players in the team to mature and gradually improve and enrich their offensive skills. .

The Jazz blossomed a lot. Except for Kirilenko, who was entangled with Li Du throughout the first half, everyone else scored.Especially Deron and Boozer, their pick-and-roll cooperation is still unsolvable today, and Deron is defended by Fisher, who is weak in defense in the Lakers. Deron scored 16 points and 7 assists in the first half. Boozer also scored 18 points and 5 rebounds.

However, the Jazz is not without hidden dangers. From the second half of the second quarter, when Kobe and Li Du showed their strength one after another, the Jazz led from a maximum of 12 points to being chased to a lead of only 4 points.All of a sudden, 8 points were recovered. In addition to Kobe and Li Du's incomprehension on the offensive end, the Jazz also had some problems defending Kobe and Li Du, especially once Kobe was aggressive, Brewer could not restrain Kobe at all.

How to better limit Kobe in the second half, and how to prevent Li Du's almost every shot, are the problems that the Jazz need to solve.

In the Jazz's locker room, Sloan was yelling at the players: "Are you all sleepwalking? The 12-point advantage was chased to only 4 points in a few minutes! This is our territory, and you want the Lakers here. How long have you been arrogant? I still want to be kicked in your ass by them!"

Sloan has always been known for his strict discipline, and this time he met an old opponent. He could not tolerate the fact that the Jazz were overtaken by the Lakers in the second half of the second quarter.He pointed at everyone and yelled: "Do you want to lose face at home? Do you want to see the home fans perform poorly for you? If not, show me your attitude!"

Deron, Boozer, Okur and others looked at each other without making a sound.This is Sloan's usual tactic at home. Once the situation is unfavorable, he will encourage the players to strengthen physical confrontation, and even savage defense!
(End of this chapter)