Chapter 16: Artest of the Gods

In the 2009-2010 season, the Lakers basically maintained the original team that won the championship, but Ariza who played well in the playoffs last year became a free agent, when everyone thought that the Lakers would not hesitate to keep Ariza, the Lakers suddenly signed former Rocket player Ron Artest for 3 years and 18 million, Atay's arrival means that the Lakers have given up Ariza, it turns out that Artai also became a free agent that year, and he wants a contract with an annual salary of about 800-1000, But who is Morey, how can you be lewd casually, with a big wave of your hand, an annual salary of 6 million, you set the number of years, love to sign or not, Atai was immediately angry, Lao Tzu 6 million is better to go to the Lakers to mix a championship ring, who the is playing with you here blind JB, Last year, Atai averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, and his performance was very good and he also had a tough defensive aura, so this big bargain was picked up by the Lakers, when the Rockets Maddie Yao Ming was injured and couldn't play the ball, and the only one who can be regarded as a star Atai was also taken away by the Lakers, Morey hurriedly operated, and flickered towards Ariza Lianmeng - you have the ball, you are the core, it doesn't matter if you throw casually, play worth! All-Star! MVP! Ariza was also fooled by Morey, 33 million for 5 years, signed.

This season, the Lakers have a 57-25 record, ranking first in the West for three consecutive seasons, and it is worth mentioning that in April this year, before the season ended, they finalized a three-year contract worth $83.5 million with Kobe, and the Lakers' opponent in the first round of the playoffs was the Oklahoma City Thunder with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Durant was crowned the scoring champion for the first time in this season with an average of 30.1 points per game, which was the first of three scoring titles he won in a row, but the playoffs are completely different from the regular season, at this time, the new Artest played his value, he only scored 11.0 points in the regular season, and his performance was not outstanding, but in the first round of the playoffs, his value was revealed, Atay completely locked Durant on the defensive end, and after six games, the Lakers advanced 4:2, Durant averaged only 25.0 points per game, shooting 35.0% from the field and 28.6% from three-point range, while the Lakers' interior play was extremely good, with the twin towers Gasol and Bynum combined to contribute 30 points, 21 rebounds and 5 blocks per game, completely dominating the interior!

The Lakers' second-round opponent is the Utah Jazz, the Jazz previously folded the Turkish heavy artillery Memet Oku, although the Jazz's Carlos Boozer played a good performance of 22.5 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, but the Lakers' Gasol is more ferocious, averaging 23.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.8 blocks per game, shooting 60.7%, the Lakers tower once again played the anti-bone boy, Kobe Bryant averaged 32.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in this round of the series, shooting 52.3% from the field.

In the Western Conference finals, the Lakers met the Phoenix Suns, and the Suns were very well configured at that time, led by the two-time MVP winner, Steve Nash, the assist king of the season, the scoring guard was the dunk king Jason Richardson, the forward was the old and strong Grant Hill, the interior partner was the small bully Stoudemire and the defensive big meat shield Robin Lopez, and the bench Goran Dragic, Leandro Barbossa, and Jarred Dudley, Channing Frye and Louis Armondson are also useful role players, the Suns defeated the Portland Trail Blazers with twin stars in the first round, and swept the powerful San Antonio Spurs out in the second round, this Suns are also the strongest Suns in the past decade!

It is worth mentioning that in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, in the competition between the Lakers and the Suns, Ragabel, who once locked Kobe's throat, was no longer in the Suns.

In the first game, the Lakers defeated the Suns 128:107, although the Suns scored double-doubles with six people, but they still couldn't beat the stronger Los Angeles Lakers, although Bell has gone, but Kobe Bryant's hatred is still in his heart, Kobe Bryant soared 40 points on 13-of-23 shooting, Gasol got 21 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists on 10-of-13 shooting, which was a tie with Stoudemire, who scored 23 points and 3 rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting, yes, Gasol and Xiaobawang only grabbed 7 rebounds in total, So where did the rebounds go? The reason is Odom, Odom swept 19 points and 19 rebounds in this game, which directly led to the Lakers' rebounding overpowering the Suns, so as to win easily!

In the first three quarters of the second game, the two teams also played a 90-90 tie, and Kobe Bryant was so iron in the first three quarters that he only scored 7 points on 3-of-12 shooting, but in the fourth quarter, Kobe shouted "Change!" That is, all of a sudden, Kobe's efficiency increased inexplicably and infinitely, he scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter, leading the Lakers to play a wave of 34:22 attack, and a wave took away the victory of the game, and finally Kobe Bryant shot 8-of-19 and scored 21 points but handed out 13 assists, Gasol scored 29 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists on 11-of-19 shooting, becoming the thickest thigh in the game, Artai scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Odom scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, With 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, the Suns managed Chadson and Hill to score 50 points together, but the team's defeat was inevitable.

In the third game, he returned to the home court of the Suns, Kobe Bryant did not relent, he made 24 shots, scored 13 goals and got a quasi-triple-double of 36 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds, Gasol shot 11 of 14 and efficiently got 23 points and 9 rebounds, Fisher played, scored 18 points on 6 of 11 shots, but the Lakers still lost, 1096:118, the reason is that the Suns' little bully broke out, he shot 14 of 22 and scored a full 42 points and 11 rebounds, Robin Lopez, a good friend on the inside, scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Nash scored 17 points and handed out 15 assists to lead the team to its first victory!

In the fourth game, Kobe Bryant once again hit 38 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Lakers still lost the fourth game 106:115, the Suns played an exemplary team cooperation, among the 10 people who played in the game, all scored more than 6 points, six of them scored double-doubles, but the highest Stoudemire scored 21 points and 8 rebounds on 7-of-14 shooting, and the Suns relied on wonderful team cooperation to tie the big score with difficulty!

In the fifth game between the two sides, the Lakers presented a classic moment, a minute and a half before the end of the fourth quarter, the Lakers led by 5 points at 101:96, and then Nash singled out Gasol after blocking and dismantling, and after a breakthrough feint, he stepped back and shot in the middle of the shot, and the ball fell steadily into the net, the Lakers only led by 3 points at 101:98, Gasol rebounded the ball in the front court, passed to Artay, the latter missed the empty three-point again, the game time entered less than a minute, Nash faked a real pass, and Channing Frye shot three points on the outside, and did not hit, but there was a major mistake on the Lakers' side, Kobe Bryant attracted a double bag with the ball, Gasol quickly received Kobe's pass in the middle and raised his arms to the sky to dunk - no one defended him within a radius of 500 miles, but, but, but he actually dunked away, oops, embarrassed, this is completely no defensive pressure, And at such a critical moment, Gasol actually deducted the fly, not only did he deduct the fly, but he also deducted himself!

With only 16 seconds left in the game, the Suns are still trailing by 3 points, they need a three-pointer, Nash immediately holds the ball to organize the offense, this time he did not choose to pass, but took a step outside the three-point line, met Odom's long arm, and shot directly at three-pointers! Don't enter! Nash was quick-eyed, stepped in front of Odom in a few steps to take the rebound into his arms, and then quickly passed to Jason Richardson who was ambushing on the left, who immediately made a three-point shot! Still missed! With just five seconds left, Channing Frye grabbed the all-important rebound and passed it back to Jason Richardson, who ran a few steps beyond the three-point line at the top of the arc, who took the ball and took a big step forward enough to tear the balls apart, and then went straight to Odom's defense for a three-pointer! At this time, Richardson is still one step outside the three-point line! The basketball crossed a strange arc, according to common sense, this ball is too big, and it will definitely not go in!

Odom's heart rejoiced, and then it was,

"it!"

Hit the front board into the basket! After the goal, Richardson waved his fist excitedly and roared, but Kobe waved his arms in annoyance and said,

"Damn, what's going on!"

Phil Jackson on the bench also almost jumped out of his chair and muttered,

"Fuck, what's going on?"

There are 3.9 seconds left in the game, I remember that the game was broadcast live on CCTV at the time, when the picture kept cutting into Kobe's killer shot this season, it is obvious that the Lakers' killer can only be completed by Kobe, of course, Fisher, as Kobe's big brother, can also get a 1% possibility, but it is only 1%.

Let's talk about it here, in fact, there are many fans who are saying that Kobe Bryant is different from James, Kobe Bryant often does it alone at the most critical moment of the game, and James often passes the ball to teammates in a better position, this is actually not a problem of two stars, but a problem of two generations of stars, James's handling of key balls is understandable, playing smarter and more team, but from the perspective of the old school of basketball, the team's last shot is actually a symbol of the player's status in the team, the 1994 playoffs, Bulls vs. Knicks, at this time Jordan has retired, Pippen has become the temporary boss of the team, In the last 1.85 seconds of this game, then head coach Phil Jackson gave this opportunity to Tony Kukoc, not Pippen, when arranging the tactics of the last shot, Pippen immediately decided to boycott the game after learning about it, 1997 Western Conference semifinals, Lakers vs. Jazz, the Lakers had a chance to kill at the last moment of the game, at this time O'Neal had been sent off, then the head coach Silver Fox Harris decided to give the last shot to Kobe, when the team's boss Van Exel directly punched Harris's tactical board, the game was broadcast live in the United States, Van Exel scolded directly in front of more than 100 million fans in the United States"Are you blistering in your head?" actually arranged a rookie to shoot the ball, O'Neal is not there, I am the boss of the team! The seismic effect of its last shot is evident from this.

Okay, let's get down to business, let's talk about the 2010 playoffs Western Conference finals, the fifth game of the Lakers vs. Suns, the last 3.9 seconds of the game, Richardson hit a three-pointer to tie the score, after the pause, there is no doubt that Kobe Bryant will receive the ball and shoot the ball, Odom serves, Kobe Bryant is motionless in the first two seconds of the serve, watching his teammates run, is it possible that the Lakers' killing tactics should be changed? Actually, it's just an illusion! In the third second, Kobe suddenly started, like a rabbit, he suddenly rushed to Odom from the weak side, Dudley, who defended Kobe, was directly blocked by Gasol, Odom did not hesitate, and passed the ball to Kobe, the Suns were experienced in preventing Odom's serve, and his eyes glanced at Kobe Bryant, and immediately gave up defending Odom's free throws in advance, and chose to defend Kobe, and at the same time, Nash at the bottom corner of the side with Kobe also gave up defending Fisher, thus choosing to sandwich Kobe with Hill, I have to say, The Suns' defense of Kobe's stunner ball this time was perfect, Kobe Bryant received the ball without hesitation and turned back to shoot, but found that there was no room to shoot, and his legs kicked in the air, lengthening the body's time in the air, and at the same time increasing the arc of the shot, the ball still revealed a three-point shot!

Overtime?

“NO!”

Richardson didn't jam Atay, causing Atay to rush in from outside the three-point line, and the ghost almost caught Kobe's three-point throw, and then threw it casually, the basketball rubbed against the high board, fell into the net bag, and excitedly Atay hugged Kobe Bryant directly, jumping and jumping, remember, just a year ago, in the playoffs, Atay was still fighting with Kobe, bickering, fighting and fighting, a year later, he became a good friend, it really makes people sigh the impermanence of fate, After watching the replay many times, the referee decided that Atai's lore was effective! The Lakers took a 3-2 lead! The Suns played badly in this game, Nash scored 29 points and 11 assists on 12-of-20 shooting, Stoudemire scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, substitute Channing Frye got 14 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Richardson, who almost saved the team, scored 12 points and 5 rebounds, on the other hand, the Lakers, Kobe Bryant was not efficient, 27 shots in exchange for 30 points but still had 11 rebounds and 9 assists in addition, Fisher exploded, scoring 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, Gasol scored 21 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, Odom scored 17 points and 13 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting, and Artest, who shot the killer shot, actually didn't perform well, excluding the 2 points he got from the killer shot, he had a total of 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers on 1-of-8 shooting, but none of this mattered, the most important thing was that the last ball went in, and it was enough!

The sixth game is the last game between the two sides, the Lakers did not give the Suns any chance in this game, Kobe Bryant took 11 points in the last five minutes of the game to dig the grave of the Suns, and finally he scored 37 points and 6 rebounds on 12-of-25 shooting, Artai played the best performance of the series, 25 points, 2 assists, 3 steals and 4 rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting, the Lakers advanced to the Finals 4:2, and their opponent in the Finals was the Boston Celtics, who made a comeback!