Chapter 281 [Eastern Upset]
American fans say that the Lakers are the first in the league in terms of internal strength, but only some Chinese netizens don't admit it, how can they refute it?
Some people's approach is to go crazy online and black the Lakers inside. Gasol Soft, Bynum Scrapwood, Odom has a brain problem, who is Powell?
Who has the strongest inside league? The final answer given by these fans is actually the Jazz, Oku, Boozer, and Millsap are the strongest, but it's a pity that Oku is injured, otherwise the Warriors would have gone home to fish.
The Jazz interior trio, who were out of the game 4-2 last season and were blown up by the Lakers, burst into tears when they saw the news.
Oku instantly sublimated. "It turns out that when I don't play, I'm the strongest, and playing is a burden."
Boozer directly felt the power of the leader, as if he had a fire source in his body, and he could be Optimus Prime. "Should I get out of my contract this season? It turns out that my defense is better than Gasol and Odom. ”
Millsap happily waited for the summer to arrive, and was sure to get a big contract. "We're also one of the strongest inside lines in the league."
Another Lakers fan said: "It's just an insult, just for this, Kobe Bryant should score 82 points in the next game to show people." ”
All aspects point to one thing, Kobe Bryant should be powerful in the next game and prove that he is the only core of the Lakers! And that's exactly what the Warriors' coaching staff expected.
If the Lakers use Gasol as the core offense, the Warriors will be forced to let Turiaf play more, strengthen the defense, and reduce the playing time of Marion and Margetty.
During the break, Zhou Xuan and Sister Olsen had dinner together, Mary? Kate asked: "You brought it up at the press conference this time, right?" Such an insidious provocation should have been your idea, right? ”
"Why can't it be the coaching staff's idea?" Zhou Xuan looked innocent.
Mary laughed: "Because you look the most like someone who can do this kind of thing, old Nelson is not like that, and mental warfare is your style." ”
Ashley asked: "But in this way, isn't it equivalent to telling the Lakers what the Warriors are afraid of?" ”
Zhou Xuan didn't deny it anymore, and said with a smile: "Even if we don't say that we are afraid of Gasol and the Lakers' inside line, can't the Zen master see it?" He's a man who has won a lot of championship rings, a man who represents KFC...... It doesn't matter if you say it, our goal is just to provoke Kobe, and of course, if there is a bit of conflict in the locker room, I don't think it's likely. Gasol isn't O'Neill after all. ”
Mary snorted, "I thought you would be in a bad mood if you lost, it seems that you still have the confidence to enter the finals." ”
"Even if I lose again, I have to stay calm, even if I am 3-0 down, I have to believe that my team can win, so that I can have a chance. If you feel that you can't win and lose confidence, then everything is over. Zhou Xuan took a deep breath and said with a smile: "The human heart is very easy to be scared and fragile, we have to learn to coax it." You have to coax it, no matter how big the problem, tell your heart alliswell. Then you get the courage to face the problem. ”
Ashley was surprised: "This is the truth you realized? ”
"No, I learned it from watching the Indian movie "Three Fools", it was a really good movie." Zhou Xuan said with a smile.
At the beginning of the season, Zhou Xuan felt that making the playoffs would definitely be different. But now it's a critical moment, and he loses, but he still maintains his normal heart. Play at the highest level, don't lose to yourself, and even if you are eliminated, you will not have any regrets. What's more, now that they're causing some trouble for their teammates, he believes the Warriors will win!
The Lakers coaching staff also met to think about countermeasures, and Bryant participated.
Jackson said: "Kobe, the Warriors are afraid of your ability, so they deliberately said this, if you attack at this time, you will hit their hands, and I want you to continue to pass the ball to Gasol in this game and let him attack more." Aren't the warriors afraid? All the more reason for us to play this more. Now the first issue is to get to the Finals, and we have long been clear who the Lakers are the leaders. ”
Kobe Bryant hummed, but still had some thoughts. Even if everyone admits that he's the leader, if he can't put up more beautiful stats than Gasol, he won't be able to prove that he's the absolute core. It's like he couldn't prove that he wasn't O'Neill's little brother.
Divac said: "I didn't expect the Warriors to come with such a hand, and they have done whatever it takes to win. ”
"But it also shows how much they are afraid of our squad, and if we all play at our best, we have a better chance of winning, as long as we don't make mistakes," said Brianshaw. ”
Can the Lakers not make mistakes? That's a problem. They lost one game against the Suns and three against the Nuggets. It's not that they underestimate the enemy, but they also have times when their attacks are not smooth.
To deal with the Warriors, the best way to deal with the Warriors is, of course, to rely on the height advantage to attack the inside, but then Kobe Bryant will inevitably reduce his shots and share the ball with his teammates. In that way, Kobe Bryant's data will decline, and the internal data will improve to a certain extent. One or two Kobe Bryant didn't care, but what about after that?
This is a conspiracy, and the Lakers simply can't deal with it. Kobe Bryant's self-esteem and the team's tactics can't be balanced. Jackson thought that if Kobe Bryant was the main attacker, the Warriors would definitely limit it with all their might, which would be tantamount to falling into a trap.
Old Nelson is really not simple, when he is about to retire, he can still come up with such a strategy, although the Lakers win one game first, they don't have much advantage, they must win both home courts. In the event of a loss, the Warriors' "devil's home court" is no joke.
At this time, the Eastern Conference Finals also started on the 21st. The Cavaliers play Magic at home. Zhou Xuan watched this game in the hotel, wanting to find some inspiration from other games.
"Warcraft" Dwight? Howard showed his toughness, grabbed the rebound in the opening 1 minute, scored with both hands, and actually knocked down the 24-second timer on the basket, and the game was forced to pause for nearly 10 minutes.
The Cavaliers weren't intimidated by Howard's dismissal, and as the game continued, West and Vallejo hit back-to-back shots to hit a 10-2 blaster to open the game with a double-digit advantage of 14-4. The Cavaliers then extended their advantage to 14 points and ended the quarter 33-19.
LeBron? James was aiming to win the championship, hitting two three-pointers in the first quarter, one of whom scored 10 points, and in the second quarter he was more aggressive, and the Cavaliers once had a 16-point advantage. Mo Williams hit a three-pointer from beyond the buzzer before the end of the quarter and the Cavaliers went into the second half 63-48. James scored 26 points and dished out four assists on 11-of-16 shooting in the first half.
"Magic" Johnson praised James and believed that under his leadership, the Cavaliers could easily advance to the Finals. With the exception of the Celtics, no other team seems to be able to pose a threat to him, and he is optimistic that Kobe Bryant and James will meet in the Finals this year.
But it was too early to tell, and Johnson became the king of the basketball court, Pele.
In the second half, Howard led the team to counterattack strongly, whether it was "Big Z" Ilgoskas or Ben Wallace, who came on the bench, the interior defense was very difficult.
Halfway through the third quarter, Howard received the ball and scored a dunk in the air with his back, and the Magic only trailed 65-71. The Magic's perimeter line also gradually found its senses, and with 2:32 left in the quarter, Lewis and Petrus hit three-pointers in quick succession, and the Magic chased the score to 73-75. Although James scored 39 points in the first three quarters, he only had a slight advantage at 82-78 at the end of the third quarter.
The reason the Magic caught up with the gap was the bench power.
Petrus scored 13 points in the third quarter, and Gortat also played well. And the Cavaliers bench didn't do anything at all, only Joe Smith got a pitiful 2 points, JJ Hickson, who did well in the regular season, was suspended, and the bench had no offensive power at all, and the problem was already obvious in the first two rounds.
At the start of the last quarter, Mo Williams hit the first jumper, and Lewis scored four straight points. Veteran Anthony? Johnson stepped up and hit a 3-pointer from the bottom left corner, and a 7-0 surge put the Magic up by one point at 85-84.
After that, James continued to lead the team with his individual ability. He scored a layup and then assisted Ilgoskas and Vallejo to score as the two teams tied the game at 90 with 5:50 left in the game.
After a long silence, Turkglou, who had a low shooting percentage, suddenly began to exert his power, and he hit a 3-pointer from the right wing. James broke through a dunk to close the gap to one point, and Turkgru followed up with a layup, then James scored on a mid-range shot, Lewis hit a 3-pointer, and Williams quickly responded with a 3-pointer, and the two teams still had a one-point gap.
At the critical moment, James caused Howard to commit five fouls, and the Cavaliers had a good opportunity to extend the score, but the outside line was dumb. Gortat off the bench defended the basket in place of Howard.
Turkoglu drew back-to-back fouls and hit all four free throws to give the Magic a 102-98 lead with 1:17 left in the game. Vallejo scored on a layup and West hit a 3-pointer from the bottom left corner to finish 40 in the game. The Cavaliers took a 103-102 lead by eight seconds.
After a timeout for the Magic, Lewis hit a jumper from the bottom corner on the right side to give the Magic a one-point lead, and James hit a breakaway jumper while causing Howard to be fouled for six fouls and hit free throws to finish the game with 25 finishes. The Cavaliers led by two points at 106-104 with six seconds left.
It was a tight race. The Magic aren't going to give up, Stan? Van Gundy called a timeout and arranged a tactic, relying on cover, Lewis got rid of Vallejo, misplaced Mo Williams, and hit a 3-pointer from the right wing after receiving a Tecoglou ball, and finished 14 in the game. At 7 seconds, the Magic led by one point, 107-106.
The Cavaliers attacked the last one, James broke through the bag and chose to divide the ball, Mo Williams passed to West in the bottom left corner, West missed a 3-point shot, James tried his best to grab the rebound with the opponent's three players and grabbed it together, the referee blew the ball, James flicked the ball, Williams threw the ball directly in the air, the ball bounced off the basket and missed, and the Magic team won in an upset.
Luck was not on the Cavaliers' side, James fought until his right leg was bleeding, and contributed 49 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, Mo Williams 17 points, Ilgoskas 10 points and 10 rebounds, and West 11 points.
Howard had 30 points and 13 rebounds, Lewis had 22 points and seven rebounds, Turkegrew had 15 points, six rebounds and 14 assists, and Alston had 11 points and eight assists.
Like the Warriors, the Cavaliers suffered their first loss in the playoffs, trailing 1-0.