I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 92

On November 11, the Lakers ushered in a challenge from the Indiana Pacers at the Staples Center.

The Pacers are a professional basketball team located in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, belonging to the Central Division of the NBA Eastern Conference.

其于1967年成立并加入美国篮球协会（ABA），1970、1972、1973年三次获得ABA总冠军。1976年美国篮球协会与美国男篮职业联赛（NBA）合并后，步行者队成为加入NBA的原ABA联赛的四支球队之一。

The Pacers failed to enter the NBA playoffs in the 70s. In the 80s, they made a series of adjustments to the lineup and improved. In the 90s, under the leadership of the famous coaches Larry Brown and Larry Bird. Reached the Eastern Conference finals four times, and gradually established the status of a strong team.

Last season, the team appointed the former acting coach Frank Vogel as the official coach. Under his adjustment, the starting lineup George Hill, Paul George, Danny Granger, David West He started with defense with Roy Hibbert, achieved 42 wins and 24 losses last season, ranked third in the Eastern Conference, and caused a lot of trouble for the Heat led by James, Wade and Bosh in the second round.

Therefore, this season's lineup has not been greatly revised.

However, in people's eyes, the Indiana Pacers are "alive" like an alternative.

They never play poorly and always pursue victory, which makes it difficult for them to get high picks, so that they can't find good seedlings in the draft. In the past 20 years, the highest and best pick is 2010 With the 10th overall pick in the first round, they used it to select Paul George.

Can't get a good pick, because the ball market is not big, and it can't attract big-name stars.Therefore, the team has held the concept of team first for more than 20 years.Not having super giants does not mean they are not strong. An interesting statistic shows that from the start of the 1989-1990 season to the present for more than 20 years, the Pacers have only missed the playoffs 5 times, 4 of which ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference, 1 Ranked tenth in the Eastern Conference.

In contrast, they have reached the number one spot in the Eastern Conference many times. Whether it is Reggie Miller, who led the team to the tiebreaker against Jordan's Bulls, or Paul George, who has smooth and beautiful movements, they are the number one player in the Eastern Conference almost every year. A spoiler, but so far has not won even a championship.

Even so, they are still able to remain tough for a long time, which is mainly due to the benign operations of the team management and the efforts of the players, and the most important thing is to have a heart to disrupt the situation.

Facing such an "alternative" team, Zen Master was very careless when arranging pre-match tactics. He said, "The talent of those players is not high. Compared with the speed of lightning-like transition, they prefer to play steadily. Grinding ground with opponents and then using mid-range shots to resolve the battle is no different from the old Spurs. You just need to guard their mid-range and then use speed to shoot them to death. Especially Chu Xiao, you run for me Get up, the sooner the better, you better be able to fly!"

"Got it!" Chu Xiao nodded behind the crowd.

Zen master seems to say very simple, in fact, he really did not talk nonsense, there is a factual basis.

This season, 7 Pacers scored in double figures, but none of them averaged 20+ per game. Because the team lacks superstars, they pay more attention to egalitarianism and team spirit.This season, they averaged only 4.9 singles per game, accounting for 4.5% of the total shot ratio, ranking fourth from the bottom in the league. Compared with individual singles, they prefer to conduct the ball and play holistically. They averaged 25.9 assists per game, ranking sixth in the league. position, with an assist rate of 61.5%, also among the top ten.

In addition, they are also pretty bad at creating kills, averaging 15 free throws per game, the worst in the league.

With Zen Master's words before the game, Chu Xiao really took off in this game.Facing George Hill, who is only 1.88 meters tall and weighs less than 82 kilograms, he is like a bulldozer with superior strength. After the opening game, he completed two breakthrough layups against his opponent and two assists for Kobe Bryant. become.

When defending, in view of the opponent’s preference for mid-range shots, the Lakers’ outsiders Chu Xiao, Kobe and Artest all stick to the defense first, don’t be too tight, as long as they can affect him to catch the ball, so that the opponent can’t catch the ball. Just throw the ball.

When they receive the ball, when defending, put one hand on the opponent's chest so that he cannot easily lift the ball, and the other hand blocks his side to prevent breakthroughs.

It can be said that this targeted defense and offense helped the Lakers get off to a perfect 10-2 start.

The Pacers had no choice but to stop, and coach Vogel gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Okay, you Lakers bully us without the ability to create lethality, then I will show you! George, go give me a single!"

After returning from the timeout, third-year Pacers Paul George stepped up. George was born in Palmdale, California in 1990. He is a striker and nicknamed "Pickled Pepper".

Most importantly, Paul George once answered a reporter's question, saying that his favorite stars when he was a child were Kobe, McGrady and Penny Anfernee Hardaway, and he liked playing at Madison Square and Staples Center the most. It was also a childhood dream.

Now not only came to Staples, but also faced Kobe, McGrady also sat below and watched, he was like a god, and even scored points with penalty shots, the fans shouted, "George, please remember you are Californians!" interfering.

George was unaffected and frequently made shots under the cover of West and Hibbert.

To be honest, his ball-holding shot is not particularly stable, but the catch-and-shoot is really reliable, and the frequency ranks second among small forwards, and no one in the top 2 is more accurate than him, even Durant can't do it .

Halfway through the first quarter, George led the Pacers to chase the score to 16-20, only 4 points behind.

"His grandma, this guy George is endless, doesn't he regard me as an idol, then I will teach him a little defense." Kobe was aroused to be competitive, rubbed his hands and said to Chu Xiao, "Old rules , I will defend George alone, and the offense will be handed over to you.”

"That's it!" Chu Xiao replied bluntly.

With Chu Xiao as a stable scoring point for the team, Kobe is indeed very relieved to use his energy on defense. He uses his extremely fast moving speed and his strong awareness of accurately predicting the opponent's next move, like a piece of brown sugar They defended George closely. After all, the latter is only a third-year freshman, and his skills have not yet been upgraded. Faced with this terrifying defensive ability, he can't even shake him off, and he can't even hold the ball steadily. Unsteady and steady, continue to grind with the Lakers.

After the opponent's stabbed George was held down by Kobe, the Lakers exerted their strength again, and Chu Xiao really ran at full speed, playing "speed basketball" with his opponent.

Whenever he grabs a rebound or receives a pass from a teammate, Chu Xiao sprints and cuts to the basket.

When no one is defending, layup or dunk directly.

When there is only one defender under the basket, a back dribble passes the opponent, a reverse layup, or a false shot and a true pass to an open teammate.

If a teammate makes a fast break early, a long pass will do the trick.

If the opponent has already defended in place, he will push back and run to the front field while twisting his body to adjust, his eyes are still looking forward, and then he will catch the ball with one hand like a baseball player, and then he will be as accurate as throwing a baseball Assist teammates who have already run to the basket, or shooters such as Kobe and Artest who are ambushing outside the three-point line, and the latter score with a knife.

During the whole process, the Pacers team was at a loss, and even lost their minds: for a while, they forgot Artest who was ambushing in the bottom corner, and for a while, they gave up putting pressure on Kobe, causing the latter to slip out of the bottom to catch the ball and make a layup. He couldn't keep up with Chu Xiao's speed either.

After practicing day after day, Chu Xiao has indeed become stronger and faster. Throughout the first quarter, his fast breaks and breakthroughs like a rugby sprint have been staged many times. The most intense one was breaking through George. After Hill, the latter didn't hesitate to foul him to pull him, but he didn't pull him, and even let go, so he could only watch him complete the flying dunk.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led 36-24 by 12 points.

In the second quarter, both sides sent out the second team as usual to let the starters take a break.

Interestingly, the second team of the Lakers is relatively old. Arenas, Tracy McGrady and Jamison are all veterans beyond 30. Only Meeks and Thackeray can run and jump, so they choose to play with their opponents. play positions.

On the Pacers side, it was reversed. The five substitutes were all young men in their 5s, and they ran as soon as they came up.

Just as the two sides clashed, Zen Master sat on the sidelines and showed a secretive smile. Assistant coach Xiao couldn't help being curious, and he couldn't help asking, "Zen Master, what's wrong?"

"It's a bit wrong." Zen Master said with a smile, "We use the second team to play the position to suppress the rhythm. As long as it doesn't collapse, the starters can rest at ease. They know that our second team is too old, so they imitate us. The tactics in the first quarter, let the young players come out to play fast breaks and run, it seems that they are retaliation against others in their own way, but they seem to have forgotten a truth, that is, if they want to run and play, they must first With high-quality defense, reliable backcourt rebounding, and conscious fast down and passing, do you think this group of bench players can do it?"

"They are too young, they shouldn't be able to do it, and they may make frequent mistakes." As soon as Xiao finished his words, the situation on the field confirmed his statement.

The Pacers' backup point guard is DJ Augustin. This is a thin and fast point guard with accurate three-pointers and fast speed, but his passing ability is average.

When his teammate came down quickly, he immediately sent a half-court long pass. As a result, the teammate just ran forward without looking back, and was directly hit on the ass by a ball and went out of bounds.

The most typical shot appeared when there were 8 minutes left in this quarter. Augustin held the ball and broke through the middle. Just when he was near the free throw line, McGrady and Arenas immediately stepped forward. He then planned to split the ball. Knowing that he couldn't see his teammates at all at this time, he was directly intercepted by Arenas-this was his third personal mistake.

The Lakers scored 4 points by taking advantage of only their turnovers.

(End of this chapter)