Chapter 67: Streak and Lore
Liu's performance in the Lakers' big win over the Suns won praise from the media and fans, while Kobe Bryant, who also played well, was also praised, although not as much as Liu.
Lakers general manager Jerry West's draft pick this year has also been unanimously praised by his peers, who believe that the Lakers have acquired two good rookies this year, and Liu Han's composure and Kobe's talent will be the future of the Lakers.
After the Lakers' game against the Suns, the Lakers ushered in another game against the Golden State Warriors after a day off.
Ever since the Golden State Warriors dismantled the "TMC" combination, the Warriors have been teetering on the brink of the playoffs. In 1989, the Golden State Warriors selected rookie Tim Hardaway with the 14th pick in the first round, and the team's 5th pick in the first round last season Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, who was selected with the 7th pick in the first round in '85, formed a shocking "TMC" combination that shocked the league. In the NBA regular season of the 90-91 season, the three of them combined to average 72.5 points, 15.3 rebounds and 16.8 assists per game, and all three of them ranked in the top 11 in the league in total points that season, and they started the season with a brilliant 162-158 victory.
Last season, the Golden State Warriors selected Joe Smith from the University of Maryland with the No. 1 pick, and after a season of training, Joe Smith quickly grew into the Golden State Warriors' immediate strength.
Liu Han did not get another chance to start in this game, but he still got 20 minutes of playing time, in the face of the Warriors' weak interior, O'Neal played 36 minutes in this game, scored 37 points and 18 rebounds, Liu Han got 16 points and 8 assists, Kobe Bryant also got nearly 20 minutes of playing opportunities, performed well, scored 14 points and 4 rebounds.
Van Exel's form began to recover in this game, and he played 28 minutes, scoring 20 points and 11 assists.
Relying on the excellent performance of the whole team, the Lakers won the game 116-106.
Liu Han learned a lot in this game, Chris Mullin, who was praised by the league as "God's left hand", impressed Liu Han with his perfect shooting posture, although Liu Han's shooting rate was very high, but he felt that he could do better, and Liu Han learned a lot from the main player of this 92-year dream team.
As soon as the game ended, the Lakers rushed to Salt Lake City, where they will take on the Utah Jazz at the Energy Center Arena.
The Jazz, who have Karl Malone and Stockton, have been playing well in recent seasons with classic pick-and-roll under the leadership of coach Jerry Sloan. Last season, Karl Malone finished third in the scoring charts, just behind Olajuwon's Jordan, while John Stockton has been at the top of the league's assists list for eight consecutive seasons, and the 1.85-meter-tall white man weighing only 77 kilograms is making his own legend in the muscular jungle NBA.
Liu Han didn't get a start in this game, and head coach Del Harris still insisted on his "stability" against the Utah Jazz, one of the biggest players in the West.
At the beginning of the first quarter, O'Neal began to exert his power on the inside, and the two-meter-18 Jazz center Ostertag moved slowly and couldn't keep up with O'Neal's rhythm at all. Now O'Neal is not as overweight as he was in the future, and his feet move very quickly, not weaker than the average striker.
And the Lakers face the Jazz's classic blocking and dismantling coordination is relatively not too good, Karl Malone not only has a strong body, but he also has a very good mid-range shooting ability, big forward Elden Campbell moves slowly, can't keep up with Malone, O'Neal If he defends it, Campbell has no better way to face Ostertag, plus the Jazz team has John Stockton's organized offense, although the Lakers have scored a lot of points in the offense, but they have no way to defend against the opponent's offense.
Liu Han didn't get a chance to play in the first quarter, and Van Exel's performance in this game was very good, and his hand was also very hot, scoring 10 points and 4 assists with sudden shots, and two three-point shots. The Lakers ended the first quarter with a 25-22 lead.
In the second quarter, Liu Han began to play, facing Stockton, who was shorter than himself, Liu Han did not relent, and scored two consecutive three-pointers separated by Stockton's defense to show his ability to his predecessors. Stockton went off the bench after playing two minutes in the second quarter and replaced him with Jazz backup point guard Howard Easley. Kobe Bryant also got a chance to play in the second quarter.
Liu Han gave him two assists after Kobe Bryant came on the court, and Kobe Bryant also scored very well, and Liu Han led the substitutes to gradually widen the gap in the score.
Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan saw that the team's bench was being spent by the Lakers and had to replace the main players early, and John Stockton and Karl Malone only rested for less than five minutes before returning to the court.
Stockton and Malone quickly stabilized the game after coming on, and their classic pick-and-roll combination was so skillful that the Lakers' bench players looked a little weak in front of these two top players in the league.
Liu Han performed very well in the face of Stockton, after all, his physical condition is much better than Stockton, but as a veteran player who has been in the NBA for 11 years, Stockton taught Liu Han a good lesson what is called small actions.
When Liu Han holds the ball and is ready to break through, Stockton's leg will always be pinned to Liu Han next to Liu Han's center of gravity leg, and Stockton's hand will leave some marks on Liu Han's waist. Liu Han looked a little angry in front of the opponent's all-encompassing small means, although he already had a lot of game experience, but he had never met such a "shameless" opponent.
The Jazz, who were on the court, quickly equalized the score and overtook it, and Coach Del Harris also replaced the Lakers' main team.
Liu Han sat next to veteran Byron Scott after the game.
"Hey, Liu, isn't it uncomfortable, haha, it's good to get used to it, but you have to learn to protect yourself on the field." Byron Scott saw Liu Han's anger.
"Byron, it's not right for him to do that, we're playing basketball, and if it's anything else, I won't be polite to him." Liu Han was still a little angry about the other party's behavior just now.
"Haha, boy, this is the NBA, every player who can play will give it their all for the game, even if it's with some dirty means. You may encounter even more extreme behavior in the future, but you have to protect yourself, without a healthy body there is no future. The veteran taught Liu Han the experience of his half-life experience.
The Lakers did not pose much threat to the Jazz after the main debut, O'Neal seemed to lose his touch after resting for a while, although most of his points were obtained close to the basket, but he still needed to use hooks or mid-range shots to score, not every ball can end with a dunk, although the center of the Jazz team is a little slow, but the body is really good, O'Neal's several strong attacks were blocked by the opponent. Bryant played the entire second quarter, after all, Byron Scott still can't keep up with the current level of confrontation.
At halftime, the Lakers trailed by one point at 45-46.
After the start of the second half, O'Neal stopped attacking the inside, and Lakers small forward Eddie Jones began to exert his power, and he continued to break through the Jazz's Hornacek defense to score points. As a pitcher, Hornacek didn't have a good way to deal with a muscular player like Eddie Jones who lives on speed.
Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, who has a lot of experience in the game, replaced Hornacek and replaced Shanton Anderson to defend Eddie Jones, and the Lakers' offense suddenly stagnated.
Liu Han was given the opportunity to play only two minutes in the third quarter, and head coach Harris still did not trust a newcomer like Liu Han enough. However, Liu Han still used these two minutes to grab 3 points.
The game entered the fourth quarter, and the Lakers still trailed the rival Jazz by 9 points.
O'Neal once again forced the inside to get free throws, but he was born without a pair of soft wrists, and the two missed free throws made Jazz fans happy.
The Jazz relied on pick-and-roll to score two more points and widen the gap to double digits.
Van Exel's brain pumped again, he didn't wait for his teammates to settle down after dribbling past half court and shot a three-point shot, which was originally a very poor shooting choice, but unexpectedly hit the board, and the Lakers were lucky to narrow the gap to eight points.
The game entered a stalemate, and the Jazz did not have a good way to attack the Lakers, and the Lakers could not prevent the Jazz's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation.
The Lakers trailed by seven points in the final five minutes of the game. Harris replaced the exhausted Byron Scott with Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant did not relentless at all after he came on the court, and scored five points in a row with sudden throws to narrow the gap in the score to two points.
The Jazz finally showed a bit of fatigue at this point, and their two main players had only rested for less than five minutes. But at this time, the Lakers' hand suddenly felt like being blown by the cold wind of Utah, which was instantly cold, and O'Neal forced the foul and missed two free throws.
In the final minute of the game, the Lakers still trailed the opponent by two points, and O'Neal attacked the basket again to win a free throw, this time finally hitting one of two free throws with one point remaining.
With 40 seconds left in the game, the Jazz's offense, Stockton relied on Malone's cover to break through Van Exel, Eldon Campbell made up for the defense, and Stockton hit the ground and passed to Malone, who was pulled down by O'Neal when he made a layup.
Malone misses the first free throw, and his spell fails this time (Karl Malone will first shoot the ball three times when he makes a free throw, then circle his waist three times, and then shoot the ball with 38387 in his mouth, 38387 is Abdul-Jabbar's total score, the NBA's total score so far).
With 21 seconds left in the game, the Lakers had one last chance to attack.
Coach Harris called a timeout to make arrangements for the last attack, and he decided to let Kobe, who was full of hands today, carry out the last attack, shoot three points when he has a chance, and play two points if he doesn't have a chance, and go into overtime. Kobe's final attack will be more unexpected by the opponent, but in order to be safe, Harris still sent Liu Han on the court. Liu Han walked up to Kobe Bryant when he was on the court.
"Do you believe me?"
"What did you say?" Liu Han's words made Kobe Bryant feel a little surprised.
"I said, do you believe me? I think you'll believe me. After Liu Han finished speaking, he ran to prepare to serve the sideline ball. Kobe Bryant was stunned for a moment and then followed.
Liu Han served on the sideline, the other Lakers players stood in a straight line at the top of the arc, the whistle blew, the Lakers players exploded instantly, Liu Han passed the ball to Van Exel, and he ran to the left baseline.
Van Exel waited for time on the dribble from outside the three-point line, and with eight seconds left, he suddenly accelerated to the opposition's interior and the Jazz defense contracted. Bryant followed up to a 45-degree angle on the right side to wait for Van Exel's pass.
Liu Han suddenly ran from the bottom line to the bottom right corner.
With 4 seconds left, Van Exel passed the ball very hard to Kobe Bryant at the 45-degree three-point line on the right side, Kobe Bryant was stunned for a moment after receiving the ball, he suddenly remembered Liu Han's words, and also remembered the 10-0 left to him by Liu Han in that training camp a year ago.
Bryant's stunned look made the Jazz react, and Hornacek ran to the defensive position as soon as possible. Bryant made a move that surprised everyone except Liu Han after he was stunned, and he passed the ball to Liu Han in the bottom right corner. There are two seconds left.
Liu Han catches the ball, jumps, and shoots, in front of him is Stockton who is running towards him, with a basketball with strong spinning in the air, and above the basketball is a red light that has indicated that the game time has come.
Liu Han turned and raised his hands directly to the team's bench after the shot landed, with the substitute player pounced on him in front of him, and the basketball that fell into the basket and the disappointed Jazz player behind him. 104 to 105, home team in front, away team in the back.