Chapter 292 [Outside the Arena, Inside the Arena]
With the Warriors taking their second win, photos of Nelson Sr. and his players in the locker room were snapped in the headlines as if they had won the championship.
The news of the Lakers is still a clichΓ©, divided into two groups, one group says that someone has too many shots, and the other group says that teammates are not strong, and there are too few shots to help the boss.
In short, the Lakers are demoralized right now, and the coaching staff and players can't figure out how to boost the team's morale. Bynum is gone, and there are only three people available on the inside, which has nothing to do with morale. Fisher is the leader of the locker room, but he is a defensive hole on the court, and he comes to boost the team's morale, and he seems to be lacking in confidence.
Even more demoralizing, is former Lakers player Marsh? The video of Parker firing at Kobe leaked out, and he risked the world's condemnation and directly called Kobe a "cancer".
During his time with the Lakers, Parker didn't get much support and love from Los Angeles fans because his skills were really inferior. Now, City of Angels fans have one more reason to hate him.
In this leaked interview video, Parker said that he had a bad time playing with the Lakers, and specifically mentioned that he and Kobe Bryant had a bad time working together. It is reported that the interview was recorded last summer, when Parker was looking for a new job.
"My experience playing for the Lakers is overrated by a lot of people, Phil? Jackson is a great coach and I don't care what the media says about my relationship with him, people say I don't have a good relationship with Jackson, but I don't have any problems with the coach. If there's a problem, it's with your 'baby boy', the 24th. Everyone knows, I'm talking about Kobe? Bryant. Parker paused for a moment and continued: "He's been the team's biggest problem throughout. β
It is not difficult to see from Parker's words that he does not have a good relationship with the Lakers' players and coaches, and in interviews, he always says the full names of players and coaches, and this usage is very unusual. So, why did Parker say that his experience playing with the Lakers was overrated by many people?
"The reason I say that experience is overrated is because almost everybody thinks it's the coolest thing to ever do to be able to play with Kobe, but it's not like that at all." Parker broke the news. "On the pitch, this guy would just say to me, 'I'm going to be in a defensive position there, you have to give me the ball.'" In the locker room, we didn't communicate at all, and he was a very selfish guy who didn't want to develop friendships with other teammates, at least during my time with the Lakers. When he plays away games, he always has bodyguards by his side, and I suspect those bodyguards may be his good friends because he never talks to his teammates. On the plane, he always sat alone in the back row. β
Parker also told a little story: during the Lakers' away game against Phoenix in 2006, "Zen Master" Jackson gave Odom a credit card, meaning that he asked him to invite the players to go out for a meal together.
"It was the playoffs and the players should have been together more and kept together." "We were sitting at a table, I mean the whole team," Parker said. But Bryant was the only one sitting at the other table, and he only came over and stayed with us for about 15 minutes, and when the food was served, he went back to the table in the corner. β
If these stories are true, then Kobe Bryant is really unsociable, but no other Lakers player has come forward to testify and wade into this troubled water. The veracity of what Parker said is doubtful.
Parker played for the Lakers for two years and averaged 11 per game. 3 points and 3. 2 assists. Originally, he had the opportunity to get a contract extension, but at that time he publicly criticized the "Zen Master" substitution idea, and finally had to be forced to leave the team. He then moved to Miami, but unfortunately left again after only nine games with the Heat. He then joined the Los Angeles Clippers and played only 19 games. Later, Parker became a complete outcast and joined the Hongyuan team of the Chinese CBA.
However, Parker's confidence is very high, and he does not feel that he is weak. In the video he said: "Listen, the reason why I didn't stay with the Lakers was because I didn't buy Kobe's account, and I wouldn't shoot him at all. To be honest, in the second half of that season I barely gave him a pass and I chose to ignore him on the pitch. It is important to know that the triangle attack is an offensive tactic that focuses on the team, not the individual. β
"Bryant said I was the worst point guard, said I shouldn't play in the NBA at all, and was very reluctant to play with me in the backcourt." Parker's emotions were a little agitated, and he said, "I'm from Brooklyn. As Jay-Z said, 'People lie, but numbers don't.'" Just look at the data. If I'm really that bad, if I really don't have the strength to play in the NBA, then why did I rank at the top of the Lakers in the data list from 2005 to 2007? β
In the 2006-2007 season, Parker ranked fourth on the Lakers in points, assists and playing time, first in steals and tenth in rebounds; In the 2005-2006 season, he ranked third on the team in points, assists and playing time, and second and eighth in steals and rebounds, respectively.
And what people really care about is that Kobe Bryant fought back after the fact. He unceremoniously expressed his contempt for Parker, and in an interview, openly sarcastically mocked Parker. It's a pity that he didn't win the support of others in doing so, but instead appeared narrow-minded.
In fact, everyone knows that Parker's level is really poor, otherwise he would not have been at the bottom of the league in 2007-2008 when he was at his peak, and no team in the league wanted him. And Parker disappeared as soon as he made the playoffs, shooting 33 from the playoffs in the 2005-2006 season. 3%, 3 points 15. 4 percent, 15 percent shooting from the field and 16 three-pointers in the 2006-2007 season. 7%γ He was blown out of Xiang by Nash, and even Kobe Bryant was abused twice by the Suns, no wonder Kobe Bryant was so angry.
Kobe Bryant shouldn't have spoken out to fight back, no matter how rubbish Parker is, even if he was the first to criticize Kobe, Kobe, as a superstar, really can't afford to mess with himself for such a small role. And, from another point of view, Kobe Bryant really doesn't know how to respect people.
Seeing the news, old Nelson can't do it at home. Not only did the Lakers have problems with their lineup, but they also had problems with their mentality, and public opinion was also on the side of the Warriors.
Nelson Sr. is aware of some of the league's unspoken rules, and since these unfavorable news can flow out at this time, the news about the Warriors is positive. It proves that the league really wants the Warriors to enter the Finals, and there is no need to worry about the situation of Game 6 of the Lakers vs Kings that year.
If the alliance wants to make anyone advance, the power is huge. The Lakers made a whopping 27 free throws in the fourth quarter, more than the Kings' 25 in the game.
Stern did make a decision, and although the Lakers have been one of the most profitable teams in the league, their image has been tarnished because of the Bynum incident. In comparison, the Warriors are much cleaner. In terms of gimmicks, the Warriors also have a lot more than the Lakers. The Lakers' original gimmick was that without O'Neal, would Kobe Bryant be able to win the championship? The hype has now gone off track and has become Gasol or Kobe Bryant, who is the true core of the triangle offense?
Under these conditions, the Lakers' advance would just excite fans who like super scorers.
The fourth battle between the two sides continued at the Oracle Arena.
This time, the Lakers focused on Gasol at the beginning, and the Warriors defended Gasol alone in the first quarter and strictly defended Kobe, and the old Nelson was also worried that Kobe's feeling on the court would continue and score 40 points.
As a result, Gasol scored 14 points in a single quarter and successfully beat Randolph several times. Randolph's blocking ability was so poor that he could only keep Gasol away from the restricted area, and as soon as Gasol found his jumper touch, he couldn't do anything about it, and Odom also made a threat, hitting a three-pointer to score nine points in the first quarter. The Lakers lead the Warriors by eight points.
The Lakers seemed to see hope, but in the second quarter, the bench bandits led by Ellis immediately dealt a heavy blow to the Lakers, and the fast-break position could score.
Ellis's shooting was not particularly good, but he found his touch in this game, and in the words of Chinese netizens, "Who doesn't eat dumplings during the New Year." β
In this game, Ellis was the New Year, hitting two three-pointers from the outside, and then breaking through to make a foul to make it 2+1, and it only took three minutes for the Warriors to overtake the score.
After that, a stalemate began. The Lakers compressed the defense, the Warriors hit the iron many times on the outside, and Randolph was not good at receiving the ball in the low post. The Lakers' offense is not smooth, the Warriors' players have a very strong single defensive ability, and once the role players are restricted, the Lakers can only rely on Kobe Bryant, Gasol, and Odom, and the style of play is very monotonous.
In the fourth quarter, Zhou Xuan and Ellis took advantage of Fisher's presence to hold the ball and single, scoring 6 points in a row, completely grasping the weakness of the Lakers' No. 1 position. At the same time, Bryant stepped up to control the ball at a critical moment and scored alone.
The score still did not open, and at 1 minute and 14 seconds, Ariza made a fatal mistake and was stealed by Jackson, assisting Zhou Xuan to make a layup, expanding the difference to 6 points.
The Lakers, who were eager to chase points, began to gamble on three points, and Kobe, who scored 36 points in the game, failed to dominate the game, and hit the iron twice from the outside, and the Warriors extended the difference to 8 points with free throws, and then Fisher missed three points, and the Warriors won the match point 106-98!
Unfortunately, Gasol, who played well in the first half, was invisible in the fourth quarter, scoring 28 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in the game, and only two points in the final quarter.
Zhou Xuan made a lot of shots this time, scoring 17 points, 2 rebounds and 8 assists. The Warriors' top scorer was Ellis with 28 points and five assists and no rebounds.
There have been eight instances in NBA history of seven best-of-four series in which they fell behind 3-1 and then managed to come back from behind. Only twice in the 21st century.
In 2003, the Pistons eliminated the Magic 4-3, when the Magic almost became another "Black Eight Legend" under the leadership of Maddy, but unfortunately Maddy and his teammates celebrated wildly in the locker room to completely anger the Pistons' old ball, and the Detroit won three games in a row, which brought Maddy's playoff journey to an abrupt end, and it was also the beginning of Maddy's nightmare of being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in seven consecutive games.
The most impressive thing for fans was the Suns overturning the Lakers in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, and the scoring champion lost to team basketball.
This time it's the Lakers' turn to fall behind 1-3, can they turn the tables around?