This race is different from the previous Balloon Nights, and it is different from other game missions.

Balloon Night is just a period of time to play the last quarter, and finding that key point can complete the mission and change history.

This game needs to turn the situation around from the beginning and adjust the Lakers' entire style of play and on-court condition.

And compared to other mission competitions, Li Liang only has one chance.

If he loses this time, all his previous efforts will be wasted, which is why he has made such sufficient preparations.

In 1977 there was no three-point line, and the tactics of both teams were entirely centered around the inside, center.

Needless to say, the Lakers have Abdul-Jabbar, the No. 1 offensive weapon in history.

The Trail Blazers' starting center is Abdul-Jabbar's younger brother and another UCLA masterpiece, Bill Wharton.

He's a far cry from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's style of play, an all-around playmaker who is one of the most passable centers in NBA history.

The difference in the style of play between the two people leads to the difference in the tactical style of the two teams.

The Lakers have a relatively one-dimensional style of play, revolving around Abdul-Jabbar, playing singles on the inside, and perimeter players relying on Abdul-Jabbar's appeal to attack.

The Lakers have two important outside scorers, one is Lucis Allen and the other is Kaz Russell.

Allen was Abdul-Jabbar's old teammate when he won the championship with the Bucks in 1971, and he has a good understanding with Abdul-Jabbar and is a solid and good point guard.

However, he missed the first two games due to injury and was unable to play, which is another reason why the Lakers lost two consecutive home games.

Kaz Russell was also a very strong player, the 1966 No. 1 pick, the University of Michigan's most influential figure, an All-Star, and a 1970 championship with the Knicks.

He's a tall and muscular man with broad shoulders and strong shoulders, and he's playing at the point guard position, with a very accurate mid-range jumper and decent rebounding ability.

However, in 1977 he was 32 years old, and he was at the end of his career, and his athletic ability was not as good as before.

Another big reason the Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers was that the Lakers' outside players couldn't keep up with the pace of the Trail Blazers' youngsters and were pierced by their open cuts and mid-range catch-and-shoot jumpers.

Several of the Lakers' main players are around 30 years old, and this Portland Trail Blazers, the oldest on the team is only 30 years old, and the others are mostly 22 or 23 young men.

The Trail Blazers played a different style of play than the Lakers, and they played fluid, fast-attacking basketball around Bill Wharton.

Trail Blazers head coach Ramsay's mantra is always "Run!" Run! Run! ”

He got his players running, playing fast breaks, interspersing and running in positional battles, and with the help of Wharton's clever passing, he completely brought the offense to life.

Therefore, the tasks to be completed by Li Liang are divided into two things.

First, to contain Lucas on the defensive end, regardless of whether he is an enforcer or a chengguan, he must not be allowed to score easily.

In the first game, Lucas shot 77 percent from the field, and the Lakers took the lead against the Trail Blazers.

Second, in addition to dealing with Lucas, he also has to assist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to contain Wharton and prevent the Trail Blazers from playing a fluid offense.

Wharton, the red-haired "white center's last glory", Li Liang has carefully studied his passing, and the high post inside pass is his unique skill, so he must be extremely careful.

The game got on, and the Trail Blazers took the ball first and started attacking.

The Lakers' defense was very fierce in the opening game, almost allowing the Trail Blazers to miss.

In the end, the ball passed to Wharton, and there was not much time, and Wharton turned over and made a jumper, only to be blocked by Abdul-Jabbar!

Both UCLA brothers have accomplished tremendous things under John Wooden's leadership.

But in terms of individual ability, Abdul-Jabbar is still one notch above Wharton.

Wharton also often said that he had always watched Abdul-Jabbar play and used him as a role model for himself.

In 1977, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was at his peak, winning the fourth regular season MVP of his career.

The MVP of those days was chosen by the NBA players themselves, and whoever you felt was the most valuable player when you played.

As for whether the influence is great, whether the game is cool or not, whether the data is high or not is not beautiful, whether the regular season experience is legendary or not, etc., it is not considered.

These are the things that were considered in the later media selection, and the era of player selection was only based on strength.

So Abdul-Jabbar's MVP is a real fight to subdue the opponent and get it.

Soon, the Lakers, who won the block, launched a counterattack, Abdul-Jabbar rushed to the basket, dodged the defense after receiving the ball, and hit the board with a throw!

Abdul-Jabbar's quick fall is also a must for him, but he really doesn't like confrontation.

He could have dunked the ball in just now, but he chose to dodge it and use his long arms to put the ball in the basket.

The Great Western Forum Arena was very enthusiastic from the start, and there were even more cheers after Abdul-Jabbar scored.

Li Liang followed and ran back and forth, but he didn't touch the ball.

But he doesn't want to touch the ball, his job is to defend.

The second offense of the Trail Blazers, this time Wharton moved to the high post, Hollins cut inside, and Wharton immediately made a Nesse pass to Hollins.

Hollins lays up, but Li Liang lays up from behind, and a big hat covers Hollins' ball!

Li Liang had expected this attack a long time ago.

After the block was successful, Li Liang pocketed the ball and passed it to his teammates.

Although Li Liang's cap level is not high, he has mental arithmetic and unintentional.

At that time, players were generally a little less physical than they are now, and players didn't like dunks, more layups.

The result is a hat.

The Lakers launched a counterattack, and they played fast in the opening period.

They lost at home in the last game and want to play this one as soon as possible.

As a result, Don Channey missed an outside jumper, and Kaz Russell grabbed a rebound from the front court and missed an outside jumper.

"Invest in it, vote for Nima! What's wrong with this Lakers player, you know how many blind shots! ”

Li Liang grabbed the frontcourt rebound again under the basket, and instead of making a layup, he passed the ball out and asked his teammates to organize the offense.

In the second game, the Lakers started with a blind rush, but instead of rushing down, it allowed the Trail Blazers to stabilize the counterattack.

It was the same in the third quarter, a rush, a lead, but the Trail Blazers, who were stabilized in the fourth quarter, fought back.

There's a super stable attacker, so you have to take advantage of it, right?

From the outside, Channy hoisted the ball to Abdul-Jabbar, who received the ball and singled out Wharton, rolled over and hit a hook shot.

It's so stable.

With a hook like Abdul-Jabbar, there is really no way to prevent it.

Whether you can get in or not basically depends on the feel, unless you desperately mess up his rhythm at the beginning.

This is similar to the defense of Durant, the innate advantage is too obvious.

After the goal, the Lakers opened the game 4-0.

Then, Hollins received the ball and turned around on the right side to force a strong inside, but Abdul-Jabbar interfered with a layup and missed.

Bill Wharton wanted to come up and grab the rebound in the front court, but Li Liang got stuck in front of Wharton and let Abdul-Jabbar pick up the rebound.

Historically, because there was no Washington, this series was dominated by Walton and Lucas.

Although the Lakers are desperately grabbing more frontcourt rebounds, the problem is that most of the Trail Blazers' frontcourt rebounds are directly converted into points.

And the Lakers' frontcourt rebounds grabbed and passed, and they may not be able to score.

After getting this backcourt rebound, Li Liang deliberately did not serve quickly, but paused for a moment and then passed it to his teammates.

So that the defenders will not rush, but will play positions.

At the beginning, the Lakers rushed and wasted a lot of opportunities.

Now playing position, the ball will definitely go through Abdul-Jabbar's hand.

Abdul-Jabbar receives the ball, passes it to his teammates, catches it again, then turns and hits with a hook right hand!

Abdul-Jabbar scored six points in a row in the opening game and beat the Trail Blazers 6-0.

Trail Blazers head coach Ramsey called a timeout.

The head coach of the Lakers is Jerry West, and Li Liang has met with the logo man again.

This time I met the middle-aged West, but his coaching career was not long-lasting, and it was nowhere near as brilliant as he was when he was a player and a manager.

West asked the whole team to get involved in the offense during the timeout, to open up, not just to hit Abdul-Jabbar.

West's idea is great, but the question is do you Lakers have that capital?

Li Liang immediately objected and said, "Why don't you let Jabaldo fight?" He's our biggest advantage and we should take advantage of him. ”

Throughout the series, Abdul-Jabbar's offense was unstoppable.

But Li Liang believes that the Lakers' use of Abdul-Jabbar is still less.

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar attacks with the ball, he can shoot 60 percent or more.

With such a high efficiency, he should be given more shots and can get higher output.

In the '70s, when there was no three-point line, it was the most efficient way to score.

At that time, all coaches were pursuing "team basketball" and "beautiful group offense", and they didn't care about the mathematical and economic vocabulary of "efficiency".

West heard Leo Washington's words and said, "We should play more tactically. ”

Li Liangdao: "Why is it not a tactic to let the best players of your team play more?" ”

Li Liang thought, don't you also get O'Neal later, let O'Neal play more, let Kobe play more, won't you win the championship?

If it's an ordinary team, it really should play more tactics.

But with a superstar like Abdul-Jabbar, his presence is a tactic in itself, a tactic that is particularly efficient and labor-saving.

Other tactics require the whole team to run together and consume physical strength.

Abdul-Jabbar's tactic, one to play four, the other four can use physical strength in other places, such as defense, grabbing rebounds, stealing chickens, to assist Abdul-Jabbar.

Why not use such a good tactic?

Jerry West couldn't argue with it for a moment.

At this point, the timeout has ended and the game has resumed.

Li Liang followed his teammates back to the court, and he stepped forward and said to Abdul-Jabbar: "Karim, if you have the chance, you can vote, don't save face for me." If you can't shoot, I'll help you grab the rebound and keep passing the ball to you. You don't have to worry about the defense, Lucas will take care of it. If Wharton wants to get you, it's okay, there's me too, call at any time, punch every minute... No, come up in minutes to make up for it and help you. ”

Abdul-Jabbar looked at Leon-Washington and nodded, he felt that Washington was a little different tonight.