Thanos

Chapter 83 The Confused Parker
On January 2005, 1, the Lakers' first game of the new year was against the Nuggets at home.

"Little Melon" Anthony made 21 of 7 shots under Ye Heping's defense. Although he still scored 27 points with free throws, his efficiency was extremely poor.

The Lakers also easily defeated the Camby-missing Nuggets, and a wave of 7 consecutive victories has been achieved.

After a relaxed schedule, the Lakers will usher in another wave of five consecutive visitors.

The good news is that this time the opponents are all Western teams, and the distance is very close.

The bad news is the strength of the opponent.

There are 5 strong teams among the 4 teams, including the top three in Texas.

That's right, the top three of the famous three illusions that the Spurs are very old, the Mavericks are very weak, and the Rockets are very strong.

On January 1, the Lakers vs. the Spurs.

On January 1, the Lakers vs Mavericks.

On January 1, the Lakers vs. Rockets.

On January 1, the Lakers vs Timberwolves.

On January 1, the Lakers vs. the Nuggets.

This season, the three teams are all very strong without exception, and they all have a chance to compete for the championship. The weakest Rockets also have the MM combination.

1 month 4 day.

San Antonio kicked off the first game.

The two teams played once at the beginning of the season, and the Lakers lost 96:105.

However, Ye Heping was suspended for that game, and the Lakers were not perfect.

And since Tang Shuai adjusted the positions of Ye Heping and Atkins, the Lakers' starting strength and bench depth have improved significantly.

The most important point is that Kobe Bryant has always exploded in the Spurs...

So there is still a lot of suspense about who will win.

On the same day, Gregg Popovich offered a regular lineup.

At this time, the GDP was still very young, and the Spurs did not take turns resting their main players like later generations.

Fans don't have to listen to those terrible reasons: Parker's butt hurts, Leonard has a bad stomach, Duncan's fingers are uncomfortable...

Spurs lineup:

Center: Rasu Nesterovic.

Forwards: Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen.

Backcourt: Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker.

Subs: Brent Barry, Robert Horry, Malik Rose, Beno Udrih...

When it comes to Ginobili, many people think of him as a super sixth man.

But here's the thing: Ginobili has played in 74 games this season, all of them starters.

Whether he starts or not doesn't actually have much to do with him, but with Duncan's state.

Everyone knows that Duncan's defensive ability was at its peak during his peak period (before he was injured to be precise), and one person's zone defense is not for nothing.

As for Parker and Ginobili, Parker can't defend against either of them. Ginobili has a high sense of defense and is very active, but the real tough battle is not easy.

In other words, Duncan has to plug the loopholes for these two people at the same time.

Duncan at his peak can do it, but he is also powerless when he gets older.

It was with this in mind that Popovich put Ginobili on the bench.

And interested fans should know that as Duncan gets older, the time for Parker and Ginobili to appear on the court at the same time is getting shorter and shorter.

The Lakers are still the new starting lineup, Mihm, Odom, Ye Heping, Butler, Kobe.

Beep beep!

At the start of the game, Mim returned the ball over Nesterovic's head.

Kobe pushed forward with the ball, and Ginobili tried hard to defend. His body is not good, but his attitude is absolutely correct.

The two are the same height, Kobe is capable of eating Ginobili, but he chose to pass the ball.

Butler, who is 201 centimeters, is facing Parker, who is 188 centimeters. This is definitely the best breakthrough for the Lakers tonight.

Butler easily squeezed Parker away, but was quickly blocked by Bowen who was supplementing the defense, and immediately passed the ball to Ye Heping.

Parker rushed forward to defend Ye Heping, but the difference in height between the two... Ye Heping made a jump shot as if no one was around.

Swish!
2: 0.

Popovich shook his head for a while, but he didn't scold Parker. Parker couldn't be blamed for the ball.

The height of the Lakers' starter is a bit scary. The shortest is Kobe, 198 cm.

Thinking of this, Popovich had a bad feeling.

Spurs attack.

Parker used Duncan's mobile screen to get rid of Kobe and meet Odom, the perfect small-to-big opportunity.

Parker used the speed of the sports car to the extreme, and kept pushing in.

A signature gyro spin followed, freeing Odom and creating space for the shot.

Odom wanted to jump over to block again, but Parker had already jumped up and made a small throw.

Parker's offensive power is really strong, which is why his defense is so poor and he is still the Spurs' unshakable starting point guard.

However, pop!
A purple figure leaped out from behind, and slapped the ball flying out.

No. 24 for the Lakers, it's this guy again.

Parker looked at Ye Heping's figure, and felt a little restless. He was blown away by this guy on both offensive and defensive ends.

Popovich stood up straight away and yelled at Parker: "Tony (Parker), you have to look around when attacking, don't just focus on the basket."

During Parker's rookie years, he was scolded by Popovich.

Spurs ball rights.

Ginobili deftly passed the ball to Duncan in the low post. Duncan feinted, then turned around and hit the board lightly to score.

2: 2.

Duncan's technical movements are simple, practical and extremely proficient.

The Lakers attack.

Kobe continued to let Butler eat Parker alone.

The Spurs reacted quickly and let Bowen help Parker from the sidelines.

But in this way, Ye Heping got another chance to score easily.

4: 2.

Spurs attack.

Parker held the ball outside the three-point line, but Butler put it one meter away.

Who told Parker to shoot 27.6% of his three-pointers this season, even worse than Wade.

Parker hesitated and chose to shoot.

The basketball jumped out, but Duncan pushed it in again.

4: 4.

The Lakers continued to find Parker to play, whoever played against Parker.

On the Spurs side, Ginobili broke through to find opportunities, but he played very poorly under Kobe's one-on-one prevention.

Fortunately, Duncan was very brave tonight, and he dealt with the Lakers almost alone.

At the end of the first quarter, at 22:18, the Lakers led by 4 point.

Duncan scored 13 points and 4 rebounds alone.

In the rotation stage, the Slovenian national player Benno Udri replaced Parker, 191 cm, and his defense was much better than Parker.

The Spurs' No. 1 position is finally not a loophole.

Two veterans, Brent Barry and Robert Horry, scored consecutively, trying to recover the point difference for the Spurs.

However, Atkins and Cook on the Lakers' side shot from inside and outside, and their scoring ability was obviously stronger than that of the circus bench.

The point difference did not shrink, but got bigger and bigger.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Popovich immediately replaced the main force, Tang Shuai naturally came to block, and also replaced the starting lineup.

As soon as he came up, Parker took advantage of the Lakers' lack of a defensive position and launched a surprise attack, passing Butler in an instant.

But soon, Ye Heping stood in front of him, the lingering guy.

Parker's heart was ruthless, instead of slowing down, he accelerated towards Ye Heping.

The throw after the confrontation is also Parker's stunt. He is very good at using the confrontation to stabilize his body.

But what made him uncomfortable was that Ye Heping slid fast and kept a certain distance all the time, never giving Parker a chance to confront.

As a result, Parker fell into the siege of the Lakers instead. Surrounded by several 2-meter men, Parker couldn't find his teammates, so he had to make a move by himself.

Then, bang!

It was Ye Heping again, who could come up to seal the cover at any time even if it was one meter away.

After all, the advantages of height, wingspan, and jumping are too great.

Parker was blocked again, and he was a little confused. He didn't score too much within the middle distance tonight.

The only 2 points were scored by free throws, which is miserable!

Duncan's shooting percentage also began to decline, and the Spurs gradually fell behind by double digits.

At the critical moment, Ginobili scored 5 points in a row from inside and outside, narrowing the point difference before halftime.

53: 47.

The whistle blew for the end of the first half.

(End of this chapter)