Chapter 301: Winning the Eagle, Two Big Events
On February 27, 1997, the Lakers defeated the Washington Bullets 113:8~9 away.
The game went very smoothly, although the Bullets did not completely abandon the game until the middle of the fourth quarter, and the situation of the game was firmly controlled by the Lakers. Although there were some hiccups in between, such as the outburst of 'Speeder' Rod Strickland, such as Webb's last-minute singles success in the big book. These events do not pose a threat to the situation.
In the first half, Ben Wallace can be said to have arranged Webber clearly, and his performance on the field was fundamentally negative, with a black hole in ball possession and extremely inefficient. There are also a lot of mistakes. In the second half, Webb woke up and began to use his teammates, using high post back-to-back hand-to-hand hand-offs, blocking and swapping defenders for offense – to great effect.
Of the Lakers' 5 starters, it can be said that only Big Ben can guard against Weber. No one else can match Webb~ position, don't count on Campbell, Campbell can be called the goalkeeper among the league's interior starters, and he can't stop Webber, who already has an All-Star level. Webber is still improving, and if he meets the right team, the right system, it's not impossible for him to grow into a superstar. A superstar with a new style of play, big front in possession.
But now the only superstar on the court, the decisive figure is Kobe Bryant. Bryant took the frame to the extreme, facing Calpott Channey, who was far taller and more powerful than him. Kobe Bryant's feints directly made him dance on the spot! One by one, the lame pounces are like marionettes being played by Kobe Bryant!
"Beautiful Face Frame Footsteps - Kobe"
This was the headline of the Washington Daily the following day. Bryant scored 27 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 turnovers on 11-of-17 shooting in 32 minutes, and the statistics appeared on the cover of the newspaper, along with Kobe Bryant's disdainful look and the appearance of Calpott Channey.
Bryant's three-threat trio in this game is a textbook for guards, and no one in the league can do better. Both the number of appearances and the efficiency are amazing.
And the play of Ben Wallace and Bowen has also been featured by the media, if Kobe Bryant is the final word. Then Bowen and Ben Wallace are the framework of the foundation! It is precisely because of the defense of the two of them that Kobe Bryant can control the rhythm of the whole court, so that the Bullets cannot control the situation at all.
Immediately after this game, the Lakers traveled to Atlanta, where they needed to face the Atlanta Hawks led by Lenny Wilkens the following day with Mutombo and Leitner.
The Hawks currently have a 37-18 record and are currently fifth in the East, and the situation in the East has changed a bit recently. The record of the live ~ Cypriot team has dropped suddenly, except for Grant Hill, the other Veterans ~ the Cypriot team has finally been weak ~ weak in the second half of the season.
Although Grant Hill has no solution, he can be called the current No. 1 small forward on the perimeter and the second-strongest perimeter player in the league. But when the Huo ~ Plug team was thoroughly studied, all the teams used a lot of containment against Hill, and now everyone knows that as long as they guard Hill, they can defeat the Huo ~ Plug. The offensive initiation point and the offensive end point are all one-man teams, and there have been almost no good results in history, even if the player's statistics are good and the ability is strong, the team's record will collapse after being targeted.
Not to mention the starters of the live ~ Cypriot team, except for Hill, the other four are almost all antique-level characters over 30 years old, if it is a group of hard-working young people, they may be able to help Hill. But these veteran players are really not fit enough in the second half of the season. Hill was isolated.
On the other hand, after the formation of the first generation of the Big Three, the Heat's record has been soaring, losing only 1 game in 20 games, and the record has caught up with the live ~ Plug, I believe it is only a matter of time before it overtakes. The trio of Tim Hardaway, Mashburn, and Mourning are both offensive and defensive, and with Riley being one of the best coaches at using stars, he has pinched the big three together to form a weakened version of SHOWTIME.
Tim Hardaway plays the magician, Mashburn is James Worthy, and Mourning is Abdul-Jabbar. ALTHOUGH ALL THREE OF THEM ARE POOR MEN'S VERSIONS, EVEN SO, THEY ARE THE SECOND STRONGEST TEAM IN THE EAST AFTER THE BULLS WITH THE SHOWTIME SYSTEM.
Stern has always had an idea of building a team in the East that can compete with the Bulls. And this one of the Heat succeeded!
This year's East and West playoffs are all good-looking. Too many story points, too many legendary teams and legendary superstars. The pinnacle of professional basketball, the era of the most stars, is by no means a lie.
The Eagles are also very strong and have a very high win rate lately. Wilkens is a player-coach double Hall of Fame-level existence. With Mutombo as the pillar of the interior, the team's record is significantly stronger than their line-up on paper. With the exception of Leitner and Steve Smith, the rest of the players have little reputation. Such a civilian team, Wilkens actually led the team to fifth place in the strong East, beating the Orlando Magic with Penny Hardaway, the Cleveland Cavaliers with all the soldiers, the star-studded Washington Bullets, and the Indiana Pacers led by Larry Brown.
This has to be said to be a miracle.
But what such a civilian team is most afraid of is a superstar who can break everything.
Regardless of tactics, ignoring the arrangement, it will kill you one ball at a time. That's true for the Hawks led by Wilkens now, and the same is true for the Spurs led by Popovich in the future.
Kobe Bryant is the nemesis of the civilian team.
The Lakers continued to win this game, beating the Atlanta Hawks 91-77.
"Kobe Bryant is the best rookie I've ever seen." Hawks head coach Lenny Wilkens, who entered the American professional basketball team in 60 years, said after the game that Kobe Bryant shot 16 of 24 in this game, and then cut 39 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 4 turnovers. Wilkens has seen almost all of the top 50 stars grow up, and a player like Kobe Bryant, he feels like no one can match him, except for Chamberlain. Maybe Chamberlain's stats are better, but Kobe's ability to lead the team is obviously stronger, and on the whole, he feels that Kobe Bryant is stronger.
At the end of the crucial third quarter of the game, Kobe Bryant's wave of power directly broke the deadlock, making the winning scale completely fall to the Lakers.
"I wanted to take revenge on Kobe Bryant for the last time he shook his finger at me, but I didn't do it." Mutombo smiled helplessly after the game, Kobe Bryant still used a face frame projection to finish the Eagles in this game. Bryant found that combining a tentative step with a three-point shot worked wonders. Scoring efficiency is higher and there is more room to break through.
After back-to-back wins, the Lakers are set to face the Indiana Pacers on March 2.
Two things happened at this time.
The first was the basketball incident, where Reggie Miller said that he would abuse Kobe Bryant in the next game.
The second is the horror incident, which occurred on February 28 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA.