NBA: This Center Is So Stable

The two sides have been in a state of chaos, and the two sides have been in a state of chaos.

Chapter 267: The contradictions begin to emerge

Shaquille O’Neal!

As the leader of the four major centers in the 1990s, when the centers of the same period were close to retirement, the Big Shark reached his peak and led the team to three consecutive championships, creating the glory of the Lakers in the new century in the Staples Center.

During the three consecutive championships, whether against the Pacers, 76ers or Nets, these three Eastern Conference champions did everything they could to compete with the Lakers.

The game of the coaching staff is even more unique!

The three coaches during this period were Byron Scott, Larry Bird and Larry Brown.

All of them are famous coaches in history.

But even so, in front of three coaches with completely different coaching styles, the Lakers under the leadership of the Zen Master still stood firm.

From the 4:2 elimination of the Pacers in 2000 to the 4:1 elimination of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001, and then to the last championship period, the sweep of the Nets.

The resistance encountered by this Lakers can be said to be decreasing year by year.

Rather than saying that the opponents in the three consecutive championships are getting worse year by year, it is better to say that the terrifying book strength of this Lakers is getting better year by year.

In addition to Kobe’s growth, the Lakers rely most on O’Neal’s backup.

During the three consecutive championships, except for the third year when the Nets were swept, the playing time was reduced, and the average was only 28.5 points and 12.6 rebounds.

In the other two years, the average was 42 minutes per game, and the average contribution was 30 points, 15 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

For most fans, their focus may be O’Neal’s average double-double.

But for the Knicks’ professional coaching team, their focus is on O’Neal’s playoff playing time.

After three consecutive years of high-intensity combat, how much fuel did this peak Shark use? This is a question that every opponent of the Lakers is curious about.

It’s just that before the finals, except for the Timberwolves, no team provided relatively effective data.

On the one hand, non-top centers can’t force the big shark to go all out.

On the other hand, this season’s Lakers do have many people who can share O’Neal’s pressure after reinforcement.

Of course, in addition to sharing the pressure, occasionally put some pressure on O’Neal who is in the decline stage.

Halftime break.

Lakers locker room!

For the current situation where the lead is not clear, the Zen Master is ready to continue to emphasize the next game as soon as he enters the locker room to ensure that the Lakers’ advantage in the second half can be expanded.

But before he said a few words, he never thought that his arrangement would cause conflicts among the players.

This made him hold back the words that were on the tip of his tongue!

“Please believe me, just give me the ball and I will take over the game!”

O’Neal was not very interested in the Zen Master’s arrangement. His offensive efficiency in the first half was the highest in the game, but his low shooting frequency made him a little dissatisfied.

With the blessing of efficient performance, O’Neal directly took over the Zen Master’s words.

But he didn’t expect that it was not the Zen Master who first expressed his displeasure, but Kobe next to him.

“Come on Shaq, don’t you see how many free throws you wasted?”

As the new leader, Kobe raised his eyebrows and sat between Payton and Karl Malone, and continued: “If you organize those opportunities for me, it will definitely not be an efficiency of one point per round.”

I thought the simple mutual criticism would end here. The Zen Master wanted to speak up and get back to the topic, but unexpectedly, O’Neal showed a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

The Zen Master understood.

This is a bad sign!

Whenever the Big Shark showed that disdainful smile, he was not ignoring you, but intending to fight you to the end.

It was even possible to fight, and the Zen Master could already imagine the next day’s New York Times!

[Infighting in the Lakers locker room appeared in Madison Square Garden, and OK lost the game due to a fight due to disagreements on the division of labor! ]

Fortunately, O’Neal was much calmer than the Zen Master imagined. He just stood up with an aggressive look and responded unceremoniously: “Kobe, do you really think you are an onion?”

“Why didn’t you rush like this when I led you to win the championship?”

“Besides, even if I can only score one point in a round, it’s better than someone with ferric oxide!”

In terms of offensive efficiency, the Big Shark thought that the only one in the locker room who was not qualified to argue with him was Kobe.

As the Lakers’ most occupied outside core in this playoffs, averaging only 25 points per game, although the scoring data was better than O’Neal,

The second main attacker in the team is stronger, but as soon as they see the advanced data, those data experts will stand up and tell Kobe.

He is pure fraud!

The premise of 25 points is 21 shots per game, and the hit rate is only 41.3%. Not only can he not match the guards of the league’s first-tier echelon, but even Kobe himself in previous seasons can’t compare.

Not to mention the comparison with O’Neal, whose hit rate is close to 60% in the playoffs this season.

Kobe, who was poked in the pain point, couldn’t find words to respond for a while. Although the Lakers have been winning this season, his performance is indeed unsatisfactory.

In this season, with the reinforcement, there are Payton, Fisher and others to help him share the pressure on the outside line. Kobe not only did not improve the quality of his shots, but also declined significantly.

Even with an average of 26 shots per game in the last playoffs, he was able to maintain a hit rate of 43%, and his three-point hit rate was still maintained at 40%.

This season, after getting the approval of the Zen Master and the authorization of the team’s top management, Kobe, who wanted to become the team’s boss, made many unreasonable shots in order to exclude O’Neal.

As a result, his three-point shooting rate once plummeted to less than 25%!

This is also an important reason why the space battleship was defeated by the Pistons in the original timeline.

So when O’Neal raised this point, Kobe was unable to refute it.

But the unyielding Peter Pan would not lose his temper because of a few words. He decisively avoided the main point and changed the subject and continued to retort: ​​”Come on, Shaq!”

“Don’t others know you, but I do? You can only compare your shooting percentage with outside players like me.”

“Do you dare to be tough in front of that Knicks rookie?”

“Look at your matchup loss. You did get more than ten points in the first half, but what about the Asian kid on the opposite side? The same 17 points, and he took one less shot than you.”

“The leader of the four centers can’t defend against a first-year rookie in the finals. If this kind of thing gets out, I’m afraid it’s not our Lakers who will lose face!”

It has to be said that the two people are worthy of being “old friends” who have known each other for many years.

Kobe also accurately hit O’Neal’s pain point.

The fact that he has never won a first defense in his entire career is indeed a major pain point for a historical center.

O’Neal himself knows it!

But his overwhelming body and skills made it easy for him to match up with most centers, which gave rise to his casual defensive attitude.

Not only was O’Neal silent, but even the Zen Master, who had a lot to say, was speechless.

The halftime break was supposed to be a time for everyone to adjust their status, but now the situation is so fragmented.

The Zen Master sighed.

(End of this chapter)