After the start of the fourth quarter, our Lakers and Golden State Warriors' game entered a white-hot state, but it was we who got into the rhythm of the game faster.

At least in the first half of the fourth quarter, with the excellent play of Shaq and me, the score of the two sides was quickly stretched to more than double digits, and the home fans became much quieter at this time, especially when Shaq smashed the ball into the basket again and again, the audience was so quiet that it was not at all obvious that it was an almost full arena.

In the process, the head coach of the Warriors called two timeouts in a row, and after the first timeout, they played two rounds in a row to keep the score from pulling the score apart, but then I completely opened the key to both offensive and defensive ends, and used a series of forced breakthroughs to tear a big hole in the Warriors' defense.

The Warriors' coach had to call a second timeout, and to my surprise, the Warriors didn't seem to make any big changes on the defensive end, but as a result, they stopped our offense for several rounds that followed.

There were a couple of balls that were actually good offensive opportunities, but we didn't take them, and then I understood the change in the Warriors' defensive strategy, and they decided to give it a go and put aside the other players except me and Shaq, and the defense was staring at me and Shaq, and the others deliberately gave them empty space so that they didn't feel particularly good to complete the shot.

Not to mention that this defensive strategy actually worked very well, Shaq and I had almost two people on the mark, and they started to use the front wrap and early jamming delays to disrupt the passes that our teammates gave us, while the rest of the teammates had almost an open door in front of them.

But if the rest of the Lakers take advantage of the gaps, they will be distracted by their rapid shrinking defense, and in fact, although the Warriors are not very tall and athletic inside, their defensive tactics are flexible, taking advantage of the speed of the small lineup, and they can quickly shrink on the defensive end.

It might not be too much of a problem if a ball like this was handed over to me and Shaq to play, but several other teammates of the Lakers faced the Warriors' rapid wrapping and contraction when they broke through, and it was as if they were entering a very powerful pocket formation, and it was very easy to enter a panic state in a short period of time, so that the Warriors' players with extremely fast hands and feet cut off the ball.

Originally, this tactic was also very simple, that is, if the released outside players could have a certain three-point shooting percentage, then they could easily solve the problem.

In fact, the Lakers' outside players have good three-point ability, such as Eddie Jones, Byron Scott and even Robert Horry at the power forward position, who should have given the opponent a huge blow on the three-point line.

However, I don't know why they didn't feel good shooting after the start of this season, it's not that they can't shoot well, but it's more like a similar psychological problem, they are very hesitant to shoot after getting a good shooting opportunity, probably because they haven't played well in some of the previous games, so they will hesitate to shoot.

As a result, this creates a vicious circle, the more they dare not shoot, the more they can't find the rhythm of shooting, the more they can't find the rhythm of shooting, the more inaccurate they are, and the more inaccurate they are, the more they dare not shoot.

As a result, these players on our Lakers team, who were supposed to be elite-level pitchers, have just become waste, and they have become more and more dependent on Shaq's performance throughout the game, and even began to rely on my performance.

In a sense, this is something I'd like to see, because it gives me a better chance to replace them as the Lakers' starters, so that I can establish myself in the NBA faster and grow into a basketball superstar faster.

But I obviously can't just think about it in such a selfish way, maybe it's a good thing for me personally, but it's a terrible situation for us as a whole Lakers.

I don't even know if I'm ready to take on all the tasks that they weren't able to do when these guys who are supposed to be All-Star powers are gone.

As is the case right now, the Warriors were keenly aware of the condition of our perimeter shooters, so their coach was very bold enough to abandon their perimeter defense.

Sometimes people are like this, if the opponent seriously defends you, you may feel very good when shooting, because you usually train to take into account the shot in the case of someone defending, and when the opponent completely ignores your existence and lets you shoot the empty blue, you may have more time to prepare for the shot, but often when you spend a longer time aiming at the basket, you lose the usual best shooting rhythm, resulting in the strange result of the empty blue is more inaccurate.

What is the most important thing for a pitcher?

Of course, it's self-confidence, if a pitcher loses even the confidence to hit the shot, then he will become more and more wasteful, and the more he doesn't dare to shoot, the more he can't shoot.

The Warriors saw that this tactic had an unexpected effect, disrupting the offensive rhythm of our entire team, and many open shots were missed, but allowing the Warriors to take advantage of the mistakes created by the bag to play a successful counterattack against us, which led to another change in the game situation on the court.

When you can't hit two or three balls in a row, you may be able to calm down, but when you find yourself on the offensive end of the pitch for three minutes or more, you will start to get nervous and impatient, and you may even have a state of self-doubt.

Even players like me and Shaq who have enough strength will have emotional fluctuations under the contagion of this frustration of the whole team, especially Shaq is a very emotional person, when the Warriors start to use some small actions to interfere with him, he will be angry because the referee turns a blind eye, and then his emotions will further affect the other players around him.

I tried to calm myself down and decided to stabilize the ball first, but the Warriors were also ruthless enough, when they saw me on the outside and was about to control the tempo, they actually started to press me directly in the half, not only would the interior players come out to the high post to delay my dribbling, but once they saw that I had a tendency to stop the ball, they would immediately come up and wrap me up and force me to pass the ball.

And I couldn't pass the ball directly to Shaq, there were people in front of him who were going around the front guard, and there were people behind him who were going to defend him, making it difficult for him to jump up and catch the ball, in which case I could only pass the ball to a few other Lakers players.

However, these guys were extremely impatient at this time, and when they got the ball, they didn't care whether they had a feel or not, whether they were in a good position, and they were more like a novice than me and hurried to finish the shot, and as a result, their random shots also made it difficult for Shaq to grab the rebound in the front court.

The momentum on the basketball court has always been one thing or the other, and when our offensive momentum was suppressed, the offensive momentum on the Warriors' side suddenly rose, and their offensive tactics were very advanced, at least compared to this era, which was definitely very groundbreaking.

Of course, in my previous life, when I was researching and thinking about the history of basketball, I found some rules, that is, in fact, any so-called popular basketball tactics and game styles at that time are actually nothing new.

In fact, in the decades since the establishment of the NBA, the pace of the league's game has not been static, and in the so-called ancient era, because there was no 24-second offensive time limit, the overall rhythm and score were very low.

But after the appearance of the next 24 seconds, and with the gradual growth of dribbling and shooting skills, and the improvement of the degree of professionalism of players, the offensive rhythm of basketball games reached a very fast period in the 60s and 70s, at this time, the number of shots on both sides in a game is often greater than 100 times, although their shooting percentage is not very high, but it can be seen from the number of rebounds that the NBA teams in this era are actually playing very fast.

Later, after the NBA entered the late 80s and 90s, the overall rhythm of the game began to gradually become slower, and the offensive rhythm and score of all teams began to decrease.

This situation reached its peak in the early years of the 21st century, and the most telling of them was the Pistons and Spurs from 03 to 05, both of which were teams that played defense to the extreme, and then with the change of defensive rules, the entire NBA once again entered an era of speed, which is the so-called small ball era.

But in fact, the tactics of playing fast were not invented in the era of small ball, but in different eras, due to the comprehensive influence of culture, rules, personal personality and other factors, the league will have different mainstream game styles in different periods.

Whether it is offense, defense, star or tactical diversity, there is no eternal king and undefeated team and tactics in the basketball game, no matter how powerful the team or tactic is, there is a certain tactic or style of play that can restrain it, and this replacement process has also brought about the replacement of the NBA era and dynasty.

As the saying goes, there is no eternity in royal power, and if you want not to be swallowed up by the times, you must keep pace with the times.

At least for this period of time, the Warriors' tactics have been very successful, mainly due to the inherent pitfalls within our Lakers, although there are many All-Star level players on paper, but we often fight on our own, and it is difficult to form a power that is greater than or equal to one plus one, so that we are beaten back to our original form in front of the more united Warriors.

It's just that the difference with the Warriors was close to 15 points at one point, so at this time, although the Warriors continued to chase points, they only narrowed the gap to 6 points, after all, the Lakers still have a lead, and there are less than three minutes before the end of the fourth quarter.

Head coach Silver Fox Harris finally couldn't hold back and called a timeout, so that the Lakers only had one timeout left to use after this timeout.

The faces of all the Lakers players looked gloomy, as if it was our Lakers who were 6 points behind at this time, and even Shaq had a trace of black lines and folds on his forehead, which seemed to be a little apprehensive about the Warriors' crazy performance in the first three minutes, if they let their state continue for another three minutes, not to mention that the six-point advantage is not safe, even the doubled 12-point advantage will be pulled back in an instant.

Silver Fox Harris did not blame the players, but tried his best to comfort everyone, especially the repeated emphasis on the outside players must be decisive after getting an open opportunity, even if they can't shoot, it doesn't matter, and Shaq also tried not to compete for the rebound in the front court, but retreated as soon as possible.

The reason why Silver Fox Harris said this is probably because he saw that the Warriors always used two people to take care of Shaq, and Shaq usually had more or less physical problems at this time in the fourth quarter, and then let him compete with two Warriors players for offensive rebounds would bring greater consumption to his physical fitness, and the success rate of doing so was not high. Therefore, he should be allowed to retreat early to prevent the opponent from attacking quickly and hitting the basket.

In fact, our Lakers' current tactics are also one inside and four outside, except for Shaq, it is difficult for anyone else to form enough defensive deterrence on the inside, once the Warriors' fast-break counterattack directly kills the Lakers' interior, then it is basically equivalent to giving the Warriors points.

After the timeout, the Lakers served, I held the ball to keep the pace of the game down, and the Warriors continued to follow the previous tactics and saw that when I stopped with the ball, they would quickly wrap me up, and that's what I wanted to see.

Silver Fox Harris has designed a set of countertactics against the Warriors' defensive strategy, that is, to let Shaq directly outside the line, directly let Shaq take his defenders outside, plus himself to contain my players, most of the Warriors' defensive players have been drawn to me.

At this time, Eddie Jones cut directly from the baseline to the basket, and then I hoisted the ball directly inside, and when the Warriors players reacted, the ball had been smashed into the basket by him, after all, the speed of people is still not as fast as the flight speed of the ball.

In fact, this tactic almost didn't work, and the Warriors defenders quickly reacted and prepared to shrink the defense inside, but my reaction was faster and I passed the ball out early, and Eddie Jones also cut inside to successfully complete the aerial relay under the guidance of my pass.

At this time, the Warriors' home fans, who had been in a lot of noise before, once again fell into a long state of silence, and it was obvious that this air relay was a great blow to the arrogance of the fans and the Warriors.

HOWEVER, THE WARRIORS WERE RESILIENT AND WERE ABLE TO RESPOND WITH AN ANSWER BALL FROM BEYOND THE THREE-POINT LINE WHEN THEY TRAILED BY 8 POINTS LESS THAN THREE MINUTES FROM THE END OF THE GAME.

The most important thing is that this three-point shot was scored directly by our Lakers players when they celebrated their previous goal, and at this time, those home fans on the court once again let out earth-shattering shouts, as if they had been held back for a long time, and wanted to completely release the emotions that were held in one breath.

A couple of our Lakers players on the court looked at each other, but it wasn't the time to complain to each other, and I took the serve and dribbled the ball across the half court at breakneck speed, only to see the Warriors come back and be more quick and aggressive than the previous one, making me a three-pointer right past halfcourt.

I wasn't able to get the ball out in time and was picked up alive while my other teammates hadn't made it past halfway.

I reacted and sped back to the defense, but Chris Mullin, who had been defended by me for almost the whole game, was resolute at this time, and it was another three-point chase when we didn't have time to establish a defense, almost a shot from the previous three-point shot.

As the basketball hollowed into the basket, the Lakers' lead was suddenly reduced from eight points half a minute ago to only two points, and the shouts of the fans on the sidelines around the court at this moment were remembered one after another.

Head coach Silver Fox Harris was forced to call out the Lakers' last timeout, with just over two minutes left before the end of the game.

At this time, my head was in a mess, everything happened too fast, obviously we still had an 8-point advantage at the previous moment, but at this moment we were almost pulled back to the same starting line by the other party.

However, after the end of this timeout, our old problem of low tactical execution reappeared, originally the silver fox Harris was to arrange a Shaq to complete the finishing tactics, but when the ball was sent, Shaq did not run according to the tactical design, which made Scott, who was holding the ball on the outside, hesitated, I don't know whether to hang the ball to Shaq, or shoot directly, after all, the opposing defender in front of him at this time is quite a long distance away from him, as if to say that if you have the ability, you will shoot me!

As a result, Scott really shot by himself, and luck didn't seem to be on our side of the Lakers today, the basketball had already entered the center of the basket, but because of excessive rotation, it was impossible to get in if it kept spinning on the basket.

The spectators on the sidelines and the players on the court held their breath, waiting for the ball to enter the basket, and the people under the basket did not dare to touch the basket with their hands.

The staggering thing is that the ball spun dozens of times before spinning off the basket, and Shaq was not ready to grab the rebound in the frontcourt, and the rebound fell directly into the hands of the Warriors players.

After grabbing the rebound, the Warriors had no intention of stopping at all, once again quickly dribbling through the half, and then using the quick pass to find the position where we didn't have time to retreat and shoot directly into the three-point shot.

The arc of the basketball looks extremely beautiful in the air, but at the moment it looks particularly scary for us Lakers.

Because it didn't spin around the basket and fall out like the three-pointer Scott throws, the Warriors' three-pointer hit the basket in a hollow.

All the Lakers players, including me, stood dumbfounded, watching the Warriors players celebrate desperately.

My mind finally cleared up again at this moment and I motioned for Shaq to hurry up and once again dribbled the ball through the half court as fast as I could.

This time, though, I didn't stop the ball to take in the situation around me, and I didn't give the Warriors a chance to wrap me up in advance, and when they reacted, I was already driving straight into the Warriors' box with the ball alone.

With a snap, I felt my head go a little dizzy, and my body fell heavily to the ground, and I was still watching the basketball with my eyes when I fell to the ground, and I was disappointed that the ball didn't fall into the box, but my breakthrough still earned me two free throws.

I held my breath, everything around me seemed to slow down a lot, the basketball in my hand felt like it was getting bigger and smaller, I closed my eyes slightly, and when I opened it again, I only felt that the basket in front of me became as wide as the sea, and I threw the ball without hesitation.

With the basketball hollow into the net, our score was tied at 110-110 with the Warriors, and if I had hit my second free throw, I would have taken another lead in the final minute with less than thirty seconds to go.

I took a deep breath of fresh air and threw the last free throw.

It's in!

In the end, we still took this victory by one point on the Warriors' home court, and our Lakers overall record this season also came to 9-2, which is tied with the Bulls for the first place in the league.

But tomorrow we have to fly to the home of the Utah Jazz for a back-to-back game, it will be a tough game, remember the last time we had a back-to-back game was very difficult, not to mention that the Utah Devils have long been famous for their home court, the terrible Utah Twin Brakes themselves are very powerful, not to mention that we need to challenge them back-to-back away games.