Superstar Tyreke

Chapter 22 Dilemma
During the half-time break, Tyreke walked through the player tunnel and high-fived the fans on the sidelines, caught up with Cousins ​​in front, and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey, DeMarcus, you played really well! The first half The support given to you is not very strong, thank you for your hard work!"

Cousins ​​touched the sweat on his forehead, panted heavily and showed a naive smile, "After all, you have to deal with Kobe. This kind of historical superstar is not easy to deal with. I should stand up and share some of it. It's really tiring!"

Back in the home locker room, Cousins ​​sat down in his seat, picked up a drink bottle and drank for a while.Coach Westphal also came to the locker room, and his expression was a little nervous at this time. Bystanders could see that Cousins' physical strength was a little bit overwhelmed, "Listen everyone, the first half Everyone played well, the Lakers are only 3 points ahead of us, we have a chance in this game! But the Lakers have already begun to target our current style of play, DeMarcus, you should rest in the third quarter."

When Cousins ​​heard this, he quickly stood up and waved his hands and said, "Coach, I'm fine. I can continue to play in the third quarter!"

Coach Westphal thought about it. If Cousins ​​is removed, Dalembert, as a defensive center, will greatly affect the team's offense. Once the offense cannot be opened, the score may soon be judged. Pull away, after all, Cousins ​​is an important weight in the contest between the Kings and the Lakers in this game, "DeMarcus, are you sure your physical strength is fine?"

"No problem, let me play in the third quarter first, I'm in good shape now!"

Hearing what Cousins ​​said, Coach Westphal shook his head with a wry smile. He knew that Cousins ​​could not be fatigued now, but the team really needs his inside line to restrain him, "Okay, you can continue in the third quarter first." Let’s play, and we’ll see the situation when the time comes, other players must play oppressively on the defensive end, man-to-man, and contain the Lakers’ offense!”

At the end of the halftime break, the current players of the Kings are Tyreke, Garcia, Green, Landry, and Cousins. They removed Udry, who was weak in defense, and the defensive leader Garcia swung to the second position to defend Kobe. Tyreke defended Fisher in position [-], and the whole team began to strengthen their defense.The man-to-man in the half court did suppress the Lakers' offense to a certain extent, but it also exhausted the physical strength of everyone in the Kings in all directions.At the same time, Kobe still used his unsolvable personal ability to tear the Kings' defense. Although the offensive efficiency has declined, he can still score points and drive the whole team.

Tyreke holds the ball in the frontcourt, Kobe goes forward to mark, Landry goes up to make a screen, Tyreke circles behind the screen and faces Artest's supplementary defense and throws the ball to Cousins, Cousins ​​receives the ball at the elbow , looked at the positions of his teammates, all the teammates outside were still locked up, Tyreke tried hard to get out of the space, but Kobe's close pressing left Tyreke with no room to catch the ball at all, Cousins ​​failed to find his teammates, faced Gasol, who was facing him, continued to play singles with his back, but he found that he couldn't stand Gasol!After taking two steps, he turned his back and leaned back to make a mid-range shot, which missed!Odom of the Lakers grabbed the rebound, and the Lakers quickly counterattacked to the frontcourt. Kobe faced Garcia, who was back on defense, and made a mid-range jumper with an emergency stop and made a hit!
The Kings, who were beaten into a counterattack, organized an attack again. Tyreke distributed the ball to Garcia on the wing. Cousins ​​asked for the ball in a low post. After receiving the pass from Garcia, he stepped to the left and held the ball to the left Swayed out sideways, then half-turned to the right and stretched out a small hook with one arm!A long arm suddenly stretched out, Gasol's fingertips touched the thrown basketball, and the bullet hit the center, Gasol leaned on Cousins ​​who was outside and jumped again to confiscate the rebound!
"Look, Jerry, DeMarcus has obviously declined. With such a large weight, he took turns fighting with others in the interior for one and a half consecutive quarters. The physical exertion is too great. The Lakers are also skilled and bold. , In the case that the offensive end can be guaranteed to kill, the defensive end is to lock the other four players, and let DeMarcus single play, just keep consuming him, and now DeMarcus is a little powerless."

After Gasol got the rebound, the Lakers switched offense and defense again. Fisher controlled the rhythm in the frontcourt and passed the ball to the inside. Gasol held the ball on the left side of the frame. Saul made a fake shot, tricked Cousins ​​out of his center of gravity and grabbed a jumper from the middle!Hollow into the net, steady hit!At this time, the score gap between the Kings and the Lakers has been widened to 10 points, trailing 58 to 68, and the Kings called a timeout again.

"Grant, Coach Westphal should remove DeMarcus. He has lost his original restraint on the offensive end due to physical exertion. He also has problems in singles. He is getting worse on the defensive end The slower pace also makes it difficult for him to make contributions, and now the Kings are really facing a huge problem."

"That's right, now the third quarter has been played for 6 minutes, our team is extremely passive, and Tyreke has not had a rest time until now, although Kobe greatly restricted Tyreke today Tyreke's efficiency is indeed not high, but Tyreke is still the team's best player except for Cousins. Currently, Tyreke scored 14 points in 5 of 15. Let's see the Kings after the timeout What adjustments will be made."

On the Kings bench, Cousins ​​looked up and gasped for breath. Coach Westphal said solemnly: "Samuel, you replace DeMarcus. DeMarcus, you go off the court to rest first. We will take over." Do a good job of defense when you come down, and don’t let the Lakers widen the score!" Coach Westphal turned to look at Tyreke who was sitting on the other side of the bench, "Tyreke, you may have to play full front today. It's three quarters. I will let you rest for 2 minutes at the beginning of the fourth quarter. There are 6 minutes left in the third quarter. The team's offense is up to you. Don't hesitate when others have a chance. The most important thing is defense ! Be sure to defend well for the rest of the time!"

Timeout ends, Dalembert replaces Cousins, Casspi replaces Green, Lakers Blake replaces Fisher, Barnes replaces Artest, the game restarts, Landry bottom line Serve to Tyreke, Tyreke advances to the frontcourt, he decides to handle this attack by himself, suddenly speeds up and breaks into the inside line, and Tyreke who rushed up is indeed wide open and aggressive, facing Kobe who is sticking sideways , Tyreke was not afraid, he swayed his body for a European step layup, and Barnes, who was helping to defend, flew into the cap and slapped the ball hard!Tyreke staggered to the ground and hurriedly chased after him to grab the ball, but Gasol was already firmly in control of the inside line, and Tyreke hammered the basketball hoop with a look of annoyance.
After Tyreke was slapped, the fans lamented, and the sideline commentator Napier also said disappointedly: "Oh, Tyreke played irrationally, the Lakers began to shrink the inside line to prevent Tyreke from breaking through. No, without the restraint of Cousins ​​inside, Tyreke has to play more cautiously!"

(End of this chapter)