I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 104

In 2012, Artest was 33 years old. Although his defensive ability has declined a lot, his role in the Lakers' defensive system is still very important.

When he is sloppy on the defensive end, the Lakers' overall defense will have problems.But when he gets serious, Kobe and Chu Xiao's defensive pressure on the outside will be reduced, so they can focus more on scoring.

It is not difficult to see from this that Artest's statistics in the game are not good, but his role is no less than that of Kobe, Gasol and Chu Xiao.The difference is that Kobe, Gasol, and Chu Xiao are the core of the offense, while Artest represents the soul of the Lakers' defense. He is the core link of the Lakers' defense.

Facing the Magic in the first quarter tonight, Artest showed his true colors as the best defensive player and strangled the two offensive firepower points on the Magic's front line-Aaron Afflalo and Maurice Harkless.

Artest first met Harkless, who was Chu Xiao’s rookie in the same class. He was selected 6 places higher than him. , Nuggets, and 15ers were sent to the Magic in the trade of Warcraft Howard.

But it was also a blessing in disguise, and he got the starting small forward position in this team that lacked superstars.In the previous month, he averaged 8.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. If such statistics are average, then when he met Artest in this game, his performance can only be described as poor.

He is 2.06 meters tall, 0.5 centimeters taller than Artest, but weighs more than 20 kilograms lighter. He is not strong enough and has no three-point ability. After being targeted by the beast Artest in the opening game, he did not get a chance to catch the ball in the first 3 minutes .

At 8 minutes and 23 seconds into the game, Harkless finally got a pass from Nelson. He swayed on the weak side and found that Artest was not letting go, so he jumped up and shot without hesitation, but his eyes accidentally caught sight of him. Artest smiled strangely.

I thought, what's wrong?
At the moment of such careful thinking, Artest walked up to him with small steps, raised his hands, but rubbed his chest against him.

This strength was mastered very well. Harkless was not knocked into the air, but his body shook slightly. Generally, the referee would not call a foul for such a degree of physical contact.

But as soon as his body swayed, Harkless's aiming action was immediately deformed. No matter how good his talent and martial arts were, they turned into phantoms. The ball bounced off the edge of the basket and hit the iron. in the bag.

"Shooting in front of me, do you think you are Kobe?" Artest flashed his biceps and said, "You have such a small body, you can't fulfill your talent when you meet me."

Harkless turned pale and dared not speak a word.

After that, he found 3 more opportunities to make shots, but each time he was distorted by Artest's touch, and all of them ended in blackouts.It can be regarded as having learned how good Artest is, and he became more cautious when shooting backwards. He even specially told Nelson not to pass the ball to himself during an offensive round, because he was afraid that he would not be able to catch it.

After guarding the rookie Harkless out of the psychological shadow, the idle Artest also spared some energy to help Kobe defend Afflalo, who entered the NBA through the draft in 2007 and played for the Pistons and Nuggets successively , The veteran of Magic immediately complained.

He is just a precise shooter with good ball control but mediocre athletic ability. If he wants to shoot, he has to have the ball in his hand, but as long as he gets the ball, Artest pulls behind him, Kobe puts the cap in front of him, and from time to time his arms are entangled. Together.

In this case, there is a ghost if you can hit it.The result was 4 of 1 shots and 2 turnovers.

The Magic started with 5 players, and Harkless and Afflalo were locked up. What about the remaining 3 players?The Lakers are naturally going to beat the dog in the water, leading 30-23 by 7 points in the first quarter.

As soon as the second quarter came up, the young substitutes of the Magic team, taking advantage of the fact that the Lakers were not on the field, faced Arenas, Tracy McGrady, Jamison and other veterans, throwing random shots, which can be said to have punched the old master to death. With a 9-0 spurt, the score was overtaken by 32 points 30-2. This unexpected opening seemed to anger Zen Master. He reached out for a timeout very rarely, and then all the main players came on the stage.

The Magic saw their tricks and tried their best to send their main players to play.

For the Lakers' possession, Chu Xiao first dribbled the ball across the half court, facing Nelson's stanced defense, crossed left and right after dribbling, pretended to break through to the right, but suddenly pulled the ball back, turned around to the left, and changed hands After a crotch dribble into the inside line, Kobe really rushed in ahead of time.

Without any hesitation, he chose to hit the ground and pass the ball, but saw someone reach out and grab the ball in the middle and steal it away.

That man was Harkless.

This guy was hiding behind Nelson, and Chu Xiao's line of sight was blocked, so he easily succeeded. The Magic team immediately launched a fast break, and everyone rushed down quickly, and easily won 2 points.

It's over 4 points now.

Kobe came to Chu Xiao and said, "It seems that they made adjustments during the timeout and shrunk their personnel into the inner line for our connection. This can not only interfere with our direct pass, but also wait for opportunities to steal and play fast breaks. Stop us from scoring while increasing your own points, smart!"

"No wonder I broke through Nelson without much effort. He did it on purpose, creating the illusion of a successful breakthrough, and then moved closer to the inside to cover for Harkless, who was quick and quick to complete the steal." Chu Xiao suddenly realized. .

"That's right! So you don't need to deliberately pass the ball to me in this quarter. You start a mode that combines dribbling, passing, and control to mobilize all your teammates." Kobe ran away after finishing speaking.

Kobe is not only good at the game, but also has a top-notch golf quotient. With his many years of game experience and black mamba-like sense of smell, he knows the subtleties and immediately understands the opponent's strategy.

Sure enough, before the opponent had time to be happy, he made an adjustment, which immediately made them feel so uncomfortable that they almost vomited blood.

Chu Xiao dribbled the ball across the half court again. Seeing Nelson's defensive posture, he didn't bother to be polite to him, so he waved directly. Gasol ran up to cover, then received the ball from him, and Seeing the two-person gesture that he stretched out when he took the initiative to run, it means that Gasol will be the axis to distribute the ball next.

The Spanish big man understood in seconds, pretended to face the frame and dribbled the ball. After seeing the opponent's inside line coming out to defend, he immediately passed the ball back to Chu Xiao who was running to his side, and he entered the inside line as a cover.

Chu Xiao looked at the field. Artest was standing in the right corner, Kobe was actively running, Gasol was covering inside, and Jordan Hill was running up to play pick-and-roll for him.

Chu Xiao immediately used his pick-and-roll as a cover, passed the ball to Kobe who came out to rotate the ball, and ran straight to Gasol on the inside. After making a screen for the latter, he quickly retreated back to the three-point line Pull out the defense.

But Kobe didn't shoot immediately after receiving the ball. He saw that when Chu Xiao finished covering for Gasol and evacuated, he attracted Gasol's defenders to the outside line by the way, so he immediately passed the ball in. The latter was at the free throw line. Nearby catch and hit mid-range shot.

Although the Lakers passed the ball 4 times in this wave of rotation, everyone was actively running, and Gasol finally completed the end, which was beyond the expectations of the Magic Waters.

Then it was the same tactic, Chu Xiao held the ball on the outside with the help of Gasol's cover, when the opponent thought he was going to break through the ball, he made an emergency stop at the free throw line and hit a jumper, which added 2 points.

Then in an offensive and defensive transition, Chu Xiao passed the ball to Jordan Hill, who was on the move and opened up the defense when he broke through from beyond the three-point line. The latter was unguarded and added 2 points with a jumper.

Later, in another transition between offense and defense, Chu Xiao pretended to break through and gave the ball to Kobe who ran out of the open space. The latter directly made a three-pointer. Yes, "Speaking of three-pointers, it's not just your stunt, I can also do it at my fingertips."

McGrady understood what he meant. The two had been friends for nearly 20 years, and they understood everything with just one look. Sitting in his seat, he was laughing and laughing, which made the other teammates who were concentrating on watching the game look confused.

In these few attacks, the Lakers returned to a 2-9 spurt within 0 minutes. Under the mode scheduling of Chu Xiaoyun, pass, and control, it seems that the offense is very orderly, very smooth, and completely unrestrained. I can't believe this commanding point guard turned out to be a rookie, he is like a veteran on the court, and then fights with a group of old teammates who have played for several seasons.

It has to be said that, as the leader of both Kobe and Nash, he possesses Nash's command, elegance and ease when controlling the ball and passing the ball, and he has the essence of Mamba when running and scoring. .

The current Lakers team has also formed its own unique tactics after playing for a period of time.Starting with 5 players, when the opponent is defending one-on-one, Chu Xiao and Kobe will adopt the "Double Dragon Playing Pearl" tactic. They rely on their super personal ability to connect and score with each other, and they can also find opportunities to pass the ball to open players. teammate.If the opponent adopts a zone defense or shrinks his heart, then Gasol will run to the high position to support, Jordan Hill is responsible for opening up the space, and the other three have the ability to shoot three-pointers. It is very easy to open up space, whether it is after the screen The jump shot, or the breakthrough after the pick-and-roll tactic, or the emergency stop jumper, or Artest, who Chu Xiao broke through and passed the ball to the corner guard, are all very natural tactics, and the scoring will come naturally.

With Warcraft Howard is about to come back, Zen Master has rehearsed an upgraded version of this tactic in advance to help Warcraft seamlessly connect the team.At that time, Warcraft will appear in the high position to support, so that there will be 4 people who can shoot three-pointers. It will be easier to open up space, and the scoring ability will naturally be stronger than now.

Don't underestimate Gasol's three-point shooting ability here. Since joining the Lakers, he has developed long-range shooting skills. The three-point shooting rate is already a deadly weapon for a 2008-meter big man. Because of his height and long arms and high shooting position, it is like an elevated turret, and it is difficult for others to defend his long-range shots.

When the Lakers played team basketball, the Magic, which lacked star players, really became a laggard.

After the first half, they still trailed by 48 points 59-11. After the third quarter, Kobe went inside to create opportunities. The team continued to focus on one thing and lose another, and the suspense ended early.

At 2 minutes and 04 seconds, Chu Xiao went into the middle distance again, and what was even more exaggerated was that in the last round, Kobe took the ball from the backcourt and threw it. As a result, he threw a three-pointer at the buzzer. The ball was 61 feet long. (18.6 meters) away, which amazed the audience. Needless to say, it must be booked as the top ten ball of the day.

The Magic Water team did not give up chasing points in the fourth quarter, but after Chu Xiao assisted Gasol to make a three-pointer at 10 minutes and 13 seconds, the Lakers had maintained an 18-point lead. Just replaced the main force, let everyone rest early, and prepare for the next away game.

In the end, the Lakers left Orlando without bloodshed, 113-103.

Chu Xiao hit 11 goals in 7 shots and scored 15 points and 14 assists. Under his support and containment, Kobe contributed another highly efficient scoring game. He made 18 of 11 shots and scored 61 points with a shooting rate of 30%. .

　Good night!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)