The Whip of the God of Basketball

Phil Jackson has focused most of his energy this season on coordinating player relations and balancing the ball rights of big-name players.

If there is anyone else in this league who can lead four Hall of Fame players on the court, then this person must be Phil Jackson, the most legendary coach in the NBA who wears nine rings on his hand and won three consecutive championships. The founder has the most unique coaching method and system in the league.

For him, tactics are not the first priority. How to make players willingly work for the championship is the most important thing. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have worried about this matter. The disastrous defeat in the Western Conference semifinals last season gave O'Neal and Kobe Bryant a strong desire to make progress this season. At least so far, O'Neal has maintained full attendance in the previous 24 games.

You must know that O'Neal missed almost all the games in November last season due to a big toe injury. It was also from that time that voices within the Lakers began to criticize O'Neal for not being diligent enough.

Jackson still remembers when the Lakers went to Boston for an away game, O'Neal was absent, and Kobe shot 47 irons and finally lost the game.

As for Malone and Payton, both of them are here for the championship, especially Karl Malone. He conducted all-round recovery and strengthening training on his body in the summer. Just last season, Malone was still able to average 21 points per game. Even if he was close to 40 years old, he was still an efficient scorer. Moreover, the self-discipline, diligence, and restraint he displayed brought a breath of fresh air to the previously impetuous Lakers.

The only thing that dissatisfied Jackson was Payton. Obviously, Payton, who was used to playing under George Karl of the SuperSonics, had a hard time adapting to Jackson's system. Jackson's system requires the point guard to be like a blue-collar player, to defend well and to be open. Three points, do the basic transfer of the ball.

As for Payton, defense is his specialty, but his extremely aggressive defensive method will often become full of loopholes if he does not receive support from the front line. It just so happens that the Lakers' striker is not the type who is good at making up for leaks. On the offensive end, Payton is accustomed to counterattacks, loves chaotic battles, and is good at back-up attacks in the second fast break. Mid- and long-range shooting in open conditions is not his characteristic.

Moreover, as the tactical brain of the team for a long time, Payton now has to become the least important part of the tactics like a blue collar. It is difficult for Payton to adapt for a while.

Of course, the bigger trouble still comes from Kobe. The Eagle County incident not only caused Kobe to lose face and image, but the more direct impact was that he was unable to seriously hone his skills and body in the summer. Affected by the lawsuit, he had to travel between two places, between lawyers and coaches, and between courts and arenas.

The young man with an afro, a stubborn but bright smile, began to look gloomy and solemn. He was exhausted by the strong pressure from the media and the cumbersome and complicated legal procedures in the United States. Even so, he was still able to attend training on time, even rush to the game and give wonderful performances.

But Jackson knows that this is not a long-term solution. For this season in which failure to win the championship is a failure, such a waste is really fatal. If a core player does not have a stable and relaxed mentality, and does not have regular training and game arrangements, it will not only affect his own state, but may also affect the entire team.

Since last season, Jackson has known that Kobe Bryant, a competitive boy who seemed like another Jordan, would never be willing to just be the Lakers' No. 2 and spend his whole life peacefully playing tricks on O'Neal like Pippen did. Last year he successfully surpassed O'Neal to become the team's scoring leader, and Jackson knew this gave him confidence.

Now the Lakers' record is soaring, and they are in the limelight. Jackson is trying hard to coordinate the relationship between all parties, take care of the veterans, and train the newcomers. The Lakers are relatively harmonious, and everyone is striving for the ultimate goal.

In the game against the Celtics on the night of the 21st, Jackson was slightly worried. He didn't know what the Celtics' situation was like, but he knew that first, the current Celtics were quite strong; secondly, , he doesn’t want tonight’s game to affect the Lakers’ morale.

It's the same loss. The impact of losing to a strong opponent in a highly anticipated battle is completely different from losing to a weak team, especially at home. Before the game, Jackson tried his best to keep a low profile and not have any verbal disputes with Celtics coach Leon, in order to avoid causing turmoil within the team.

At the beginning of the first quarter, the Celtics successfully stole the ball and scored the first point with Arenas' layup, which made Jackson shake his head. There is an obvious problem with Payton's position on this ball. The triangle offense requires the distance between the players to ensure that the pass between the players is not easy to miss, and at the same time, the player receiving the ball is not easy to be double-teamed.

But Payton didn't realize this. This kind of thinking was not integrated into his bones, so O'Neal's catch was interrupted by a double team.

Being counterattacked by the opponent is the last thing Jackson wants to see. This team that is older and has a heavy center as its core does not want to get into a fast battle.

Looking back, the Lakers still insist on playing O'Neal. Letting O'Neal find the offensive feeling at the beginning is an important secret for the Lakers to win. It would be a waste of superhuman energy if such a killer weapon is not used at the beginning of the game but is reserved for the last moments when there are foul tactics and pressing.

This time, O'Neal changed the side to receive the ball. Fox handed the ball to O'Neal at 45 degrees. He and O'Neal formed a deployment line. The appropriate distance and the vacated bottom line allowed the Celtics players to Don't dare to double-team easily.

After catching the ball, O'Neal turned around and raised his elbow to push away P.J. Brown, and then sent the ball into the basket with a one-handed dunk!

"What a monster..." Leon watched from the sidelines as O'Neal easily pushed away Brown and completed the attack with a dunk. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that even in the NBA where monsters are everywhere, O'Neal is an out-and-out monster among monsters.

But Leon knows in his heart that this monster is already 31 years old this year and is on the tail end of a center's peak period. A super center who is at the end of his prime can often maintain his offensive status for two to three years, longer or even four to five years, slowly declining in a smooth curve.

But with his defensive status, he will most likely end his career in a certain year. O'Neal can still easily get more than 10 rebounds in games and block more than 2.5 shots per game, which is not much different from his peak five years ago. But Leon, who is good at observation and data analysis, knows that this Shark, who is overweight and misses part of the game every year, can no longer block opponents like a bison on the defensive end like he did when he was 27 years old. He is more like an elephant. Unless someone rushes to the basket, he will try his best. Otherwise, he will only flick his trunk and flash his tusks as a warning.

So before the game started, like Phil Jackson, Leon also asked the Celtics to start from the inside, but instead of playing hard in the low post, it was a pick-and-roll.

Arenas and PJ Brown rarely completed a pick-and-roll. PJ Brown cut outside and shot a jumper at a position of 45 degrees and 12 feet away from the basket. It wasn't a very long distance, but O'Neal didn't want to pull it out. He just watched the ball hit the net in a straight curve.

This is a problem that the Lakers have faced for a long time - how O'Neal defends pick-and-rolls. However, it turns out that even if O'Neal is unable to save against the pick-and-roll, no team other than the Utah Jazz can beat the Lakers to death with the pick-and-roll.

So Phil Jackson is not in a hurry. He feels that the Celtics are not the first to deal with O'Neal like this, and they will not be the last. If their tricks only went so far, Jackson wasn't worried.

Next, O'Neal scored again. He turned away from P.J. Brown, then Payton made a long lob, and O'Neal succeeded in the alley-oop! This is what O'Neal is good at and what Payton is good at, 4:4.

The reason why Jackson is not worried about O'Neal guarding the pick-and-roll is because compared to O'Neal's inability to guard the pick-and-roll, opponents are even less able to guard O'Neal.

In the opening game, O'Neal scored four points with two dunks. But Jackson didn't expect that except for O'Neal, no other Lakers player scored more than four points in the first quarter.