Chapter 45: The Eagle of Wilkens
After a three-day break, the Lakers host the Atlanta Hawks on Nov. 10.
This Eagles team is being led by the legendary coach of the Dream Three, Lenny Wilkens. Lenny Wilkens, who just led the United States to gold at the Atlanta Olympics on home soil, was in the limelight this year.
The Hawks are also a playoff-caliber team, having made the playoffs four seasons in a row under head coach Wilkens and won multiple divisional titles.
They are a team-tactical team that doesn't have a very bright attacking superstar. But there are a lot of team players who are willing to obey the command, and that's Wilkens' style of team, where the team is king.
At the end of last season, the Nuggets' defensive stalwart Dekembe Mutombo became a free agent. He reportedly sought a 10-year contract, which the Nuggets don't think was possible.
And the Hawks jumped at the chance this summer and signed him to a five-year, $55 million free agent contract.
The media discredited the 30-year-old veteran center, arguing that the league's interior rivalry was too intense and that the defensive star's rapid aging would cost the Hawks dearly.
Kobe Bryant knew that Uncle Mu finally played until 2009, and announced his retirement at the age of 43 (official data, the real age is unknown).
The legendary center of Congo has been an All-Star eight times, a three-time All-Star player, a five-time All-Defensive Team and a four-time Defensive Team of the Year. More than half of these achievements came after the age of 30, and if he hadn't been born in an era when the top four centers were in harmony with each other, the basketball evergreen is sure to achieve more.
The interior team that paired Uncle Mu with NCAA legend Christian Leitner, who attended Duke University and played for Coach K from '88-'92. As the star player of the team, he led the Blue Devils to two consecutive NCAA championships!
Leitner is a spacious, very good shot, and he's a killer when it matters most. He has played 10-of-10 and 10-of-10 free throws in the NCAA Finals.
As the National Player of the Year, Leitner is the only college player to be named to the Dream Team 1. He was drafted by the Timberwolves with the third pick that year. The Atlanta Hawks traded for the star player in the '95-96 season.
The Eagles' backcourt consists of Steve Smith and Murch Blaylock. Steve Smith is a 2.01-meter tall scoring guard who can average 20+4+4 per game and is the number one attacker for the Atlanta Hawks, while Murkey Blaylock is a 1.83-meter point guard, a standard American small point guard with excellent mid-range shots and excellent breakouts, and can play 17+5+7 data last season.
Combined with Leitner's 18.1 points per game, the Hawks have three players who score more than 17 points and the offensive firepower is ferocious. This year, Uncle Mu's defense has made the team have excellent performance at both offensive and defensive ends.
The strengths and weaknesses of this kind of team are obvious, and the average score means that the offensive end is not easy to break the line and is not easy to target. However, the offense at critical moments is prone to confusion and weak key ball ability.
The defence relied too heavily on Mutombo, and if Mutomb's defence collapsed, it would have disastrous consequences for the team. So the current Eagles are a strong team, but they are not title contenders.
Bryant drove into the arena and after entering the arena he was in the physiotherapy room, where he needed to routinely bandage his ankle.
Professional basketball players will almost always bandage their feet before the game, and a strong and large number of disguised collisions will quickly damage the player's fragile ankle, which is very difficult to exercise and very easy to injure. The way the players coped was by putting a bandage on their ankles to protect them a little.
When Bryant feels that his ankle is in good condition and there is no tension, he will ask Gariverti to loosen the bandage so that he can move more freely. And when the ankle is tense and tired, and there is no way to better support the body, Garivetti will tightly put a dense bandage on Kobe's ankle, but this is a matter of the later part of his career, and the current Kobe Bryant is as healthy as a black panther.
Kobe Bryant likes his injury-free body very much, and the fatal injuries of fingers, shoulders, knees, Achilles tendons, and ankles are finally gone, and Kobe Bryant finally doesn't feel dull pain when shooting.
"Kobe, you're in great physical shape." Gariverti finished stretching Kobe Bryant.
Bryant likes to joke with each other during therapy time and O'Neal so that his teammates can feel the confidence of the team leader in the game. And the closer to the game time, Kobe and O'Neal will be silent and serious, and their teammates will also know the importance of the game and concentrate on playing a good game.
These small experiences are accumulated by Kobe Bryant over the years, and leading the team is not a word, a game. Small gestures all the time will bring your team closer together and they will perform better on the field.
"Let's play, boys!" It was still Rambis who called for the Lakers in the locker room, and Bowen finally started this game. Ceballos didn't report to the team at all, everyone knew that a trade was about to happen, and some players couldn't help but worry about whether they were in the trade range.
Kobe Bryant wanted the trade to happen as soon as possible, but the season has just begun, and a lot of things aren't so easy to achieve. All team owners will observe their team for a while, and the performance of the players will be adjusted.
Bryant was still the first to step on the floor of the Great Western Forum Arena, and this time the DJ was much louder than before.
"The first to appear is Raulmayne High School, Wonder Boy, Kobe, Bryant!"
Kobe Bryant didn't like the title of Wonder Boy given to him by the media, it was very naïve. But what can be done? After all, Kobe Bryant hasn't spoken to the media yet.
At the start of the game, O'Neal's jump ball was lost to the lightweight, fast-moving barrel.
The diminutive Murge-Blaylock controlled the ball, and Bryant still put a step to defend. Kristen Leitner stepped up to block and Kobe Bryant squeezed through the pick-and-roll. Only to find that Murge-Blaylock threw the ball to Leitner, who hit a jumper to get the first point of the game.
Switching offense, Bryant hoisted the ball to O'Neal, who was sitting low. O'Neal had a good touch and hit a hook shot under Mutombo's defense.
The first quarter ended with tentative offense from both sides, with the Lakers 22-22 Hawks.
The Eagles played in a very disciplined manner, with aggressive tactical running, and the outside projection repeatedly won open spots. Especially Leitner's blocking and dismantling tactics, Campbell couldn't pull it out at all, and he hit it continuously.
The Lakers, on the other hand, were a two-man rotation of Kobe Bryant and O'Neal, and Bryant scored 7 points with a small number of shots. The situation is relatively calm, the confrontation between the two servers is not fierce, and Bryant knows that such games tend to be played until the final quarter, and the two teams will fight for victory.