The Whip of the God of Basketball

Kobe moved his neck to relieve the discomfort in his throat, then stood on the free throw line, looked at the basket with the ball, and took the shot. The ball hit the edge of the basket and missed.

Bell had just been called for a flagrant foul, so the Lakers had to throw two free throws. This was a good opportunity for the Lakers. But Kobe stood in front of the empty baskets on both sides, but lost his free throw aim. After a slight adjustment, Kobe hit a free throw to get one point back for the Lakers. However, after Kobe made the free throw, he did not receive encouragement from his teammates. The players on both sides who were standing outside the three-point line returned to the three-point line as if nothing happened. The only thing that changed was the scoreboard on the court. The Lakers had one more point.

They had another opportunity to attack. Fox stood on the outside. This time he no longer passed the ball to Kobe. Malone began to ask for the ball at a 45-degree position inside the three-point line. Fox lobbed the ball to Malone. This is a very effective tactical routine for the Lakers in the regular season. They no longer insist on the triangle offense, but let Malone go to the high position to support the Lakers' attack.

Malone himself has a strong offensive power. When he is still strong, he can still hit mid-range jumpers as accurately as he did in 1997 and 1998. Therefore, once the opponent neglects to defend him in the high post, he will use Jump shots teach the opponent a lesson.

At the same time, his 18-year career with the Jazz has given him good observation and response skills. He is the player in the Lakers who can find tactical breakthrough points. His passing may not directly lead to scoring, but it can change the situation. One ball, this is a trait that all great passers possess.

"Malone got the ball at 45 degrees...he observed it, passed it to Payton, and then in the pick-and-roll, Payton lobbed the ball to O'Neal...the ball was intercepted by Garnett!"

The Lakers completed a pretty good cooperation. Malone passed the ball to Payton who was cutting from the baseline, and then set a screen for Payton. He cut outside himself, Payton walked in from the middle, and P.J. Brown came up. In front of the defense, O'Neal turned over, and Payton was about to lob the ball inside to give O'Neal a dunk. As a result, the ball was in mid-air, but Kevin Garnett intercepted it.

"This kid is so fast..." Malone couldn't help but think to himself. He had clearly cut the ball outside just now, just to distract Garnett's defense and create space for the inside to cooperate. Unexpectedly, Garnett did follow out, but when he saw there was a loophole in the inside, he immediately repaired it.

While Garnett was making up for it, Pierce let go of Fox to help defend Malone. Fox had a chance in the corner. However, if Payton transfers the ball to Fox, Garnett will still try his best to run to the corner to interfere with Fox. Unless the Lakers' passing can reach the point of smoothness, the Celtics with Garnett will pass Fox-Leon High-intensity training can almost make up for most of the defensive loopholes.

Malone still remembers that when Garnett was still in the Timberwolves, he was a guy with unlimited energy. However, every time he played against the Wolves, Malone could use his rich experience and powerful instigation ability to make Garnett semi-crazy. There was no way Calm down and perform well.

Returning to the defensive end, Garnett stood firm at the waist. Malone realized that the Celtics might want Garnett to take it alone. The Celtics' offensive rhythm was well controlled, combining internal and external, with a moderate speed. After experiencing indiscriminate bombardment at the beginning of the third quarter, a flagrant foul interrupted this high-speed offense and defense. The Celtics also needed a low-post offense to put pressure on the Lakers.

Malone got behind Garnett, put his elbow on Garnett's back, slightly bent his knees, and inserted himself between Garnett's feet. This was a very annoying defensive posture, which would make Garnett uncomfortable regardless of whether he was up or down. Nate was very uncomfortable. Malone knows that Garnett is not a good enough back-up attacker due to his shoulder width. As long as enough interference is exerted, the efficiency of his back-up attack will be greatly reduced.

Sure enough, Arenas slowly dribbled the ball past half court and passed the ball to Garnett. As soon as Garnett took the ball and pushed it back, he found that Malone had blocked him up and down.

Leon knew it was going to be bad when he saw Garnett trying to hit Malone on the back. He couldn't help shouting: "Use what you are good at, use what you are good at!"

However, after Garnett completed his standard routine - dribbling, shaking his shoulders, and leaning back, the ball was already released. Obviously the routine was still the same, but the rhythm was wrong. The ball was obviously a little floaty at the moment of release, deviating from the established track and hitting the neck of the basket.

"Kevin Garnett missed a fadeaway jumper, but Brown grabbed the offensive rebound and passed the ball back to Garnett...Garnett..."

Brown really worked hard tonight. He grabbed the offensive rebound before O'Neal. He didn't greed for points, but immediately passed the ball back to Garnett. This time, Garnett no longer tried to post up, but instead caught the ball, shook his shoulder, and then suddenly dribbled the ball under his hips, passing Karl Malone in a lightning-fast crossover. Then he dribbled the ball from the baseline, crossed the basket, reached the other side, jumped high, turned around, turned around and dunked with one hand!

After scoring the goal, Kevin Garnett looked up to the sky and screamed, and then glared at Karl Malone. This guy who once played an important villain in his growth path is no longer afraid, no matter how he is in people's hearts. The uncrowned king, for Garnett, either let him continue to be uncrowned, or become the next him. Garnett obviously wants to choose the former.

The decibel level in North Shore Garden was almost unbearable because of this goal. The usually calm Zen Master had to shout at the players from the sidelines. He could not help but call a timeout. And Fox-Leon stood on the sidelines with satisfaction, watching Kobe become more and more impatient and annoyed under Bell's entanglement during the offense. The connection between Kobe and his teammates is getting thinner and thinner, especially with O'Neal. When O'Neal receives the ball, Kobe will hardly participate in the offense, and when Kobe has a chance to get the ball, O'Neal can only turn back. run.

In the Western Conference playoffs, the seemingly easing relationship between the two was seen through by Leon at a glance. In the first half, he clearly felt the tactical alienation between the two; however, Phil Jackson had to rely on Kobe's independent scoring. In terms of ability, except for Kobe, the other Lakers backcourt players are old and weak, and there is no way they can compete with the Celtics' powerful backcourt. Therefore, Jackson had to delegate the power, so that the two sides were evenly matched in the first half. And Jackson needs to satisfy Kobe's ambition, so as to completely stimulate Kobe's fighting spirit and ability.

But just as Leon thought, Jackson was drinking poison to quench his thirst. He pinned his hopes on Kobe to burst out with the same powerful energy as Jordan. In the Western Conference finals, Kobe did it, but in the finals, facing the unfathomable Kyle The players, the Lakers and Jackson all felt a little bit of despair.

Starting from the second half of the third quarter, the point difference began to gradually widen. Leon mobilized his troops and replaced Arenas with Reed, playing a point guard-less tactic and at the same time resorting to a death defensive lineup. In three minutes The Lakers' offense was completely strangled within a short period of time, allowing them to score only 4 points. The Celtics used this to widen the point difference to 17 points.

The 17-point difference was in 2004, when the three-point shot had not been fully developed, and the perimeter offense was still limited by handcheck. O'Neal was always weak in the fourth quarter. At North Shore Garden, the home of the Celtics, in the Celtics With 17 years of championship aspirations, this is an insurmountable gap.

As Leon said in midfield, they want to win in the third quarter and completely defeat the Lakers in the third quarter. They did it.

When the fourth quarter began, Fisher and Kobe each hit two three-pointers, giving the Lakers a glimmer of hope and reminding Jackson of the magical reversal in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals. However, Arenas and James Posey's two three-pointers dashed the Lakers' hopes, and then Pierce hit consecutive mid-range shots, widening the point difference to 20 points.

At this time, the TV camera was on Leon. Watching the game go by like this, he just shrugged slightly, showing a helpless expression, then sat back on the bench and quietly waited for the end of the game. And in his mind, he was already thinking about how to deal with the Lakers in the second game.