Zhiba NBA

Chapter 32 (31) The Attacking Big Zhi

"You played almost the whole game, aren't you tired?" McGrady asked Kobe while dribbling the ball with a wry smile.And Kobe looked serious and didn't answer him.

The ball fell a few times and returned to Tracy McGrady. He singled Kobe with his back.McGrady retreated and turned over the bottom line, but Kobe's prediction was successful and he got stuck in front of him. O'Neal could also help defend at any time, and McGrady's breakthrough route was gone.

McGrady made a 360-degree turn, turned around and jumped up for a jumper.

"It's too difficult!" Many people thought so at this moment.

The ball hit the front of the basket and missed, O'Neal grabbed the rebound, and there were 50 seconds left.Fisher advanced to the frontcourt and gave Kobe a single to McGrady again. Kobe took a step from McGrady and turned over again to make a jumper.

I didn't score this time, how could I not score such a difficult goal every time.But O'Neal squeezed away Yao Ming with his last strength and grabbed the priceless offensive rebound.O'Neill then distributed to the outside.Fisher organized a point and gave it to Fox. Fox took advantage of the small gap to shoot a three-pointer and scored! 110:111, the Lakers overtook the score at the last moment!

In the last 15 seconds, the Rockets had the ball.Smith called a timeout to arrange the final attack.

Those who stayed on the court at the last moment were Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Reid, Billups and Wang Zhizhi.Except for Yao Ming who stayed inside to grab rebounds, Coach Smith ranked the most accurate three-pointers in the team.

McGrady was strictly prevented from receiving the ball, and Reid was forced to send it to Billups.Billups held the ball unhurriedly and observed the timetable, 10, 9, 8... almost, he broke through, and Fisher, who had average legs, also went out and followed closely this time.Billups made a fake pass to McGrady, which attracted the attention of the Lakers defenders and then distributed it to Reid who was guarding the perimeter, but Fox immediately posted it.Reid didn't have a chance to open, but he keenly observed that Wang Zhizhi ran a half circle and used Yao Ming and Ao Pang who were entangled in the interior as a cover to get rid of Holly behind him.

Wang Zhizhi ran beyond the three-point line, Reed's ball was already in the air, and Hawley was still three steps behind him.There are still 3 seconds left in the game.

Wang Zhizhi received the ball, bent his knees and prepared to shoot, and Holly had two steps left.

Big Zhi took a shot, and Holly had already caught up. The two were only one step away, and Holly's outstretched hand could almost touch Big Zhi's shooting point.There are still 2 seconds left.

But Wang Zhizhi, who jumped high, still couldn't let the shorter Holly block it, and the ball flew out in a high parabola.

Yao Ming squeezed O'Neal suddenly, and he secretly made up his mind that he would never repeat the same mistakes and must win this crucial rebound.

McGrady shook off Kobe behind him, and was already on the line to grab the rebound, ready to leap up to grab the ball.

Hawley stretched his arms and was still doing the blocking action. He tried to look back to see the arc of the ball in the air.

Reed is too far away, so he can only watch the ball from a distance.

Dameng and others on the bench all stood up.

The entire audience held their breath.

……

The goal was scored, 113:111, the Rockets overtook the score!
Wang Zhizhi's roar sounded again in Staples.Only the last 0.6 seconds left in the game.

"Come on, boys, I know you are very happy, but let's arrange the defense of this last ball." Olajuwon helped Smith appease the players.

"Hakeem, you go, your wingspan advantage will help us defend against the Lakers' final alley-oop tactics." Smith's arrangement is also pretty good. "Tracey stays with Bryant, Mehmet goes to guard Hawley, this guy is also very good at three-pointers, you have to be careful. Chauncey is against Fisher. Gerald you go, you go to guard Fox. The three guys except OK also have three-pointers. We can't be careless."

"If O'Neal comes out to help others pick and roll, will I follow him?" Olajuwon asked.

"Ah...it should be..." Smith hesitated a little.

"No!" Yuan Fei immediately cleared him up and said, "0.6 seconds should not be enough for them to do a pick-and-roll tactic after receiving the ball. The pick-and-roll before receiving the ball is also okay, I have another idea. For their server, give up harassing the server, help Tracy double-team Bryant, and at the same time keep an eye on Ao Pang to prevent him from coming out to help others block the defender, and prepare to defend."

"That's right, 0.6 seconds is not enough time to serve and return to the passer. We should let him go. That's 5 defenses and 4 defenses." Smith was overjoyed.

Yuan Fei's thoughts flew to the first round of the 2014 playoffs.If McHale could have thought of this at that time, the Rockets would not have been killed by the Blazers in 0.3 seconds.

At this time, Dayao, who was resting off the court, patted Da Zhi on the shoulder and said: "I think of you in the 2001 CBA Finals. In one game, you scored 40 points and 11 rebounds and took away my championship."

Da Zhi laughed out loud.At this moment, he seems to have returned to the youth chasing the wind, the king of basketball in China.

***
With Kobe's last ball under the double-team, the Rockets finally took away the victory!
113:111，来之不易的客场险胜。投中准绝杀球的王治郅全场贡献了13+6，三分球8投3中。另一位功臣麦迪得到了33+10+8。姚明砍下了12+8。湖人方面奥尼尔28+17，但26投仅10中。科比29投11中得到了31+7+6。

The big score was 2-2.The Rockets have two home games in the remaining three games, and with O'Neal already exhausted, the initiative of the series is already in the hands of the Rockets.

There is a saying that the fifth game in the case of a 2-2 tie is called the Battle of Tianwangshan.Whoever can win the battle of Tianwangshan will be able to achieve a 3-2 lead, get the match point, and occupy an absolute advantage (of course, there are many examples in history that won Tianwangshan but lost two games in a row and were eliminated. In recent years, the more famous ones are the Lakers in the 10-year finals.

On April 4, the fifth game came like this. The Rockets returned to the Compaq Center to fight the Lakers again.After four fierce battles, both sides have almost used their hole cards, and they can't change too many tricks—at least Mr. Smith thinks so.But Phil Jackson may not think so.

The Lakers played consecutively at the beginning of the game, which was completely beyond the expectations of the Rockets players. The main attackers were not OK, but Fisher and Fox used precise three-pointers to tear the Rockets' defense many times.The Lakers took an 18-10 lead with a strange move.

Billups' breakthrough caused a foul. He made 2 of 1 free throws, 18:11.

Kobe broke through and was blocked by Yao Ming, Billups played steadily and organized the offensive, found a chance to assist McGrady with a jumper, 18:13.Bryant made another mistake and was intercepted by Billups, who scored a fast break layup, 18:15.

The Lakers Holly missed a three-pointer, but the Rockets McGrady was intercepted and returned the ball.O'Neal received a pass from Fox and made a dunk, 20:15.

Yao Ming was blocked by O'Neal in singles, but O'Neal missed the shot in turn, McGrady hit a three-pointer, and the score gradually approached at 20:18.

Kobe singles McGrady hit 2 points, McGrady hit the iron, but Fox was intercepted by Wallace, McGrady received the pass and dunked successfully, 22:20.

In this way, after the first quarter of the alternate scoring between the two sides, the Lakers slightly ahead of the Rockets at 28:26.Yuan Fei was very satisfied with this. He knew that the Lakers didn't take advantage of it in the first quarter. Afterwards, the depth of the bench would be the Rockets' world.In the second quarter, Dazhi and Okur led the way, and the lineup of the high fort came on the stage.

The room leak happened to be raining all night, and the main small forward Fox of the Lakers was injured and left the game in a fight. Zen Master had to send a substitute, Devin George (Fox was reimbursed for the season with a torn Achilles tendon is a real event in history).Fisher still played well in this quarter, but O'Neal was exhausted on the defensive end and was dragged by Big Zhi and Okur to run around.At the end of the first half, the Rockets had overtaken the score, 53:58.Lakers O'Neal and Fisher each scored 16 points, Bryant also contributed 10 points.For the Rockets, Billups led the team with 14 points, but the wins came from more points.McGrady had 13 points, Yao Ming had 6 points, Wang Zhizhi had 6 points, and Wallace had 8 points.

"Today's Lakers are different. We played very well so we are still ahead, but be careful with the Lakers' three-point tactics." Coach Smith reminded the players.

"Fisher played very tough today and already scored 16 points." Yuan Fei added: "He was very unstable in the previous four games. He scored 23 points in good times and 5 points in bad times. Chauncey, you have to be careful of his explosion."

"Fox's injury gave us a great advantage. The Lakers had a poor bench, and now the rotation is very troublesome. Their main force will also be more tired." Coach Smith said: "We must seize their physical shortcomings and open the score in one fell swoop. In the third quarter, I decided to go to the starting lineup first, play for a few minutes to consume them, and then go to the running lineup to win in one fell swoop."

"It's a great idea," echoed a cheerful Olajuwon.

It's not just Dameng who is so optimistic. The Rockets' entire locker room doesn't have any tense atmosphere.The young players were all excitedly thinking in their hearts-we are going to defeat the mighty Lakers!

Of course, defeating the Triple Crown is not as simple as thought.

In the second half, both sides basically maintained the starting lineup (except for Fox), and after a few minutes of fighting, it was almost a tie at 63:67.Coach Smith had 4 ups and 4 downs in a timeout, and Okur, Wallace, Johnson, Reid, and Parker formed the Rockets' running and bombing lineup.

Soon Yuanfei felt inappropriate.The Lakers seemed to wake up suddenly, and Kobe scored again and again.He saw Kobe constantly spouting trash talk to Reed and Johnson, and the Rockets didn't dare to talk back.

"Let's change, coach! How about changing Chauncey?" He suddenly came to his senses and said to Smith immediately.

"Why? Isn't this a routine we're familiar with? Parker is the commander of this tactic." Smith was puzzled.

"But in these few rounds, the fast break didn't start at all." Yuan Fei said anxiously.

梅米特.奥库23周岁、杰拉德.华莱斯20周岁、乔.约翰逊21周岁、迈克尔.里德23周岁、托尼.帕克下个月满21周岁。这套阵容太年轻了。以前通常有麦迪（虽然年轻但是经验丰富）带带，这次完全依靠这么年轻的帕克了。如果他在这么关键的比赛中因紧张而发挥失常，这场比赛甚至整个系列赛就可能完蛋了。

Kobe received an assist from Hawley and hit a three-pointer, and the Lakers took the lead at 73:71.Coach Smith makes a substitution, Okur goes off and Wang Zhizhi goes on.

Yuan Fei suddenly felt dizzy, this was not the substitution he wanted.Four young guys who are confused by tactics and one Chinese who is not good at English, can this work?

Da Zhi came on stage, he didn't speak much, he just clapped his hands hard a few times, and waved his arm at Parker again.Parker nodded as if he understood something, which Yuanfei didn't understand this time.

This attack failed again, and Dazhi made a strong shot and was blocked by Hawley.Bryant's breakthrough caused Wallace to foul, and he made two free throws, 75:71.

Parker dribbled through the half court and started to run. Dazhi was in the corner in time, and Parker arrived with the ball.

"3point!" O'Neal and others on the Lakers bench shouted.Wang Zhizhi's three-pointer in the last game left a deep impression on them.

Hawley jumped up to block the shot.

Da Zhi lowered his head and broke through the past, a feint!
Other Lakers players were also deceived, only Madsen reacted, and he rushed to defend.

Wang Zhizhi dunked successfully and caused Madsen to foul, 2+1.The fans who had been cold for a long time immediately cheered.

Dazhi made a free throw, 75:74.He shook his fist at the audience, beating his chest.

Rockets are not easy to deal with.Come on, Lakers!

　Is Dazhi handsome?Big Zhi contributed to the team's confrontation with the league's No. [-] giant O'Neal—this is the scene that I and other old fans have been looking forward to!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)