Chapter Twenty-Three: Give It a Go

The Lakers in the new season tried to complete Kobe Bryant's dream of six championships before he retired, so this season made a multi-weight trade, Dobby caused a seismic response in the league, and the Lakers gave Kobe Bryant a go, in a vain attempt to win another championship trophy in this way of star huddles!

On July 5, 2012, the Lakers and the Suns completed a deal, the Lakers traded Odom last year to get the $8.9 million trade exception and 3 million cash plus four future draft picks from the Suns in exchange for two-time MVP super guard Steve Nash, on July 14, the Lakers signed Antoine Jamison, a veteran who had exchanged 50+ with Kobe Bryant and is now 36 years old, August 11, 2012, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, The Orlando Magic and the Denver Nuggets completed a big trade involving a total of 12 players on four teams, and the details of the deal will not be detailed, mainly talking about the Lakers, they sent the injured Andrew Bynum, Josh McRoberts also has a 2015 second-round pick and a 2017 first-round pick, thus getting Dwight Howard, Chris Dujon and Earl Clarke, who are in the final year of their contracts.

Dwight Howard, a player needless to mention, fans who watch a little bit of the NBA know that Howard was nicknamed "Warcraft" at that time, and he was a well-deserved No. 1 center in the league, with a dominant performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. Howard and Gasol are theoretically the strongest interior combination in the league, and there is no one!

Here is a piggyback on Andrew Bynum, who was traded to the 76ers, this brother has been injured immediately since he left Kobe, and not only physically injured, but also injured, mentally not normal, without Kobe's restraints, Bynum is like a wild boar who has lost his stiffness, how to tinker with love, first of all, during his recuperation, his interest shifted from basketball to hairstyles, and all kinds of hairstyles of thunderous people are unclear, Secondly, Bynum, who started playing in the professional league at the age of 18, usually doesn't have much time to visit the kiln, this time he has to spend money in nightclubs for three days, just play, see that the knee injury is almost healed, Bynum went to bowling again, but he was inexplicably injured again, and the season was reimbursed...... Tony DeLeo, who was the general manager of the 76ers at the time and had been with the 76ers for 55 years, was laid off because of this transaction......

The other two players who came to Los Angeles with Howard were basically additives, Dujon was on the verge of retirement at the time, and the only benefit he did for Los Angeles was to be cut by the Lakers next season, thus saving the Lakers $6 million in luxury tax, in contrast, Earl Clarke's performance was much better, Clark is 208 cm tall, is a swingman in the third or fourth position, and his style of play is inward, but he also has three-point shooting ability, In the new season, when the Lakers had a wave of injuries on the inside, Clark seized the opportunity and played a good performance, it is worth mentioning that Clark has a sincere heart that wants to be a CBA abandoner, and he sincerely feared to play for the Shandong high-speed men's basketball team in my heavenly dynasty in 2014, and performed well.

On August 14, the third day after the Howard trade, the Lakers signed shooter Jordi Meeks to a two-year, $3.06 million contract, and the brother played a huge role in the Lakers in the new season as the most reliable firepower on the bench. On September 8, 2012, the Lakers signed their harvest in this year's draft, the 30th pick in the second round, that is, the last one in the draft, Robert Thackeray, Thackeray is also known as Sakith, the ability on the court is almost negligible, but off the court he is the "cornerstone", every goal of his teammates, Sakistone must be waving a towel and jumping up from the bench, cheering for his teammates, he is a standard water cooler manager, but he knows his position very well, As long as the team is in need, they will give all their energy without hesitation, and such players are treasured in any team.

Kobe Bryant's performance of 27.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game this season is still impeccable, but he and Howard are incompatible, although from the outside, Howard's average of 17.1 points and 12.4 rebounds per game is not too bad, but in fact, there is no call between him and Kobe Bryant, Kobe called Howard at four o'clock in the morning,

"Huo Huo, what time is it, still sleeping, get up and practice!"

Huo Huo's phone didn't have a worried tone at all, but it was a very comfortable tone,

"I'm practicing, I'm practicing two balls!"

"What the hell are you doing!"

"I'm saving the souls of prostitutes......"

"Don't talk nonsense, come here and I'll teach you to win the championship!"

"Bibi! Please pay attention to the tone of your speech now, the person you are talking to now is the No. 1 center in the NBA, please speak politely......"

"Your mother is better than ...... Get in front of me in three minutes! Otherwise, you want to look good! Toot Toot Toot ......"

The above picture basically belongs to YY, but the actual situation is not much different, Kobe Bryant belongs to the training maniac, the must-order track every day is "Los Angeles at four o'clock in the morning", he is not only strict with himself, but also with his teammates, even O'Neal is no exception, and Howard belongs to the natural optimist, the championship, if you have the ability, you can fight for it, if you don't have the ability, just think about it, if you have time to train, it's better to look at the girl, drink flower wine, Kobe is eager for the sixth championship in his career, and the Lakers are also trying their best to cooperate, Howard, on the other hand, basically depends on the sky for food, and the two men have a conflict.

Gasol has been hit by injuries this season and has played just 49 games. Averaged only 13.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, both of which are career lows, Gasol has such a performance injury is not the main factor, the main factor is the heart, following the last time the Lakers wanted to get Chris Paul to put Gasol on the shelf, this time the Lakers also put Gasol on the shelf when it came to the Howard trade, but then because of the salary is not equal, it was stopped, although it was not successful, but this move is very hurtful, I am not pork hanging on the board, you can sell it if you want, sell it as much as you want, love is not what you want to sell, you can sell it if you want to…… I'm a thick thigh, are you treating thick thighs well, unhappy, this is actually only part of the reason, and part of the reason is what? Gasol was relegated to the bench...... Playing the bench for future CBA veteran Earl Clarke, of course, this bad note was also proposed by D'Antoni, a move that shocked not only Gasol, but also the league...... Obviously, the gentle and virtuous sister-in-law has been heartbroken by the Lakers' ruthless behavior.

Nash has only played 50 games this season and has already been reimbursed for the season before the playoffs begin. Averaging 12.7 points and 6.7 assists per game is barely passing, but don't forget, Nash has his own defensive colander attributes, and when he meets a very physically perverted character like Da Wei Shao, he only has the life of disarming, and Ci Shiping has played well this year, averaging 12.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, playing next to the four kings has allowed Ci Shiping to get more offensive space, and Jamison and Jordy Meeks have become important bench forces for the Lakers.

The Lakers did not play well at the beginning of the season because of the run-in problem between Howard and Kobe, after a 1-4 start, head coach Mike Brown resigned, and Bernie Bigstaff took over (this is the father of current Rockets head coach Bigstaff Jr.), this is just a transition, after five games, the legendary NBA coach, Nash's former good teacher, Mike D'Antoni came!

I thought that the team would be able to play a brilliant performance under the leadership of this NBA historical coach, but I didn't think that the mustache (D'Antoni's nickname) would only play bombardment for the rest of his life, and it would not change at all, holding two kings and four twos, and only playing four twos with point guards, and putting Howard and Gasol two kings bombs would only be released one by one - these days, whoever dares to compete with you, who doesn't have a bomb in his hand? So after the season, looking back, 45-37, seventh in the West......

Although the results of the regular season are not very glorious, but they have also entered the playoffs, and the team's hard power is also there, and it is not impossible to get on the following grams, isn't it just a home advantage, and the hard power is directly crushed! That being said, but it's another thing to do, the Lakers' opponent in the first round of the playoffs is San Antonio - also a bunch of old guys, the reason is that the Lakers can't play at least a few times, who would have thought that the playoffs were swept out of the playoffs 0:4 cleanly......

Time back to April 12, 2013, Lakers vs. Warriors, with 10 minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Kobe Bryant broke through with the ball, the Warriors' center Aizeli and forward Harrison Barnes flew to Kobe Bryant, Kobe fell to the ground after body contact in the air, couldn't get up for a long time, and his expression was painful, the team doctor Vidi immediately ran over for a check, but Kobe Bryant insisted on playing after a short break to recover, and also completed two free throws, but four minutes later, Kobe Bryant's turnaround and step-back jumper, his knee collided with Azeli's knee again, Kobe Bryant obviously couldn't move his right leg after falling, limping quickly to the backcourt, the Lakers immediately asked for a timeout, when head coach D'Antoni and team doctor Widdy both asked Kobe Bryant to get off the court, but Kobe Bryant refused, with 3 minutes 08 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Warriors only led by 2 points, and Kobe, who had played 45 minutes in this game, suddenly fell to the ground without any external force when he broke through Barnes with the ball! Kobe keenly sensed that something was wrong with his left heel, he asked Barnes if he had kicked him, Barnes said no, Kobe scolded at Barnes, and his teammates of the Lakers immediately surrounded him, but Kobe Bryant couldn't stand up.

Subsequently, Kobe Bryant did one of the most Kobe things, that is, he tried to pull the ruptured Achilles tendon down with his fingers, but it was clear that he would not succeed, Kobe struggled to stand up, but he did not go, but insisted on completing two free throws on the court, D'Antoni asked Thackeray to help Kobe Bryant, but Kobe pushed Thackeray away and limped into the locker room himself.

Soon the Lakers' small boss, the richest doctor in the world, and the richest man in China, Chen Songxiong, came to the Lakers' locker room, he glanced at Kobe's feet professionally, and then said to Kobe in a sad tone,

"It's hard to believe, but it's just the way it is, Kobe, your season is over."

The next day, Bryant underwent surgery, the season was reimbursed, and the Lakers won the last two games of the regular season, losing to the Jazz, and on the last day of the season, the Lakers struggled to get a ticket to the playoffs.

The first round of the Lakers vs. Spurs, this is the first time since Kobe Bryant put on the Lakers jersey in 1996, he has not played in the playoffs with the team, everyone is used to having Kobe Bryant around, and when Kobe Bryant is not there, the whole team is distracted.

In the first game, the Lakers lost to the Spurs 79:91, although Howard scored 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Gasol also had 16 points and 16 rebounds, but in fact, in fact, among the 31 rebounds of the two brothers, there was only one frontcourt rebound, and the Lakers' outside line was beaten into a sieve, Tony Parker and Ginobili both scored a team-high 18 points, Duncan also scored 17 points and 10 rebounds, and the Lakers lost to the Spurs by 12 points, the Lakers couldn't turn over in the whole series.

In the second game, the Lakers lost by 11 points at 91:102, Tony Parker scored 28 points and handed out 7 assists, Leonard scored 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, Ginobili scored 13 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting, Howard on the Lakers' side scored 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks, and Steve Blake scored 16 points and 6 rebounds on 6-of-15 shooting.

Back to the Staples Center in the third game, the Lakers were beaten by the Spurs in the third quarter, and finally lost to the Spurs 89:120, Duncan shot 12 of 16 and scored 26 points and 9 rebounds, Parker cut 20 points and 7 assists, on the other hand, the Lakers, Howard scored 25 points and 11 rebounds, Gasol scored 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists triple-double data, but to no avail, Darius Morris and Andrew Goodlock scored 20+ one after another, and other players played poorly.

The fourth game was the same ending, the Lakers lost again 82:103, Parker scored 23 points, the Lakers only Gasol scored 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and the rest of the game played poorly, the moment the game whistle blew, the Lakers players quickly walked into the locker room, this season is undoubtedly a very failed season, the Lakers with the four kings were swept out by the Spurs, frequent injuries are certainly a condition for the team to fall to this, the contradiction between Kobe and Howard, Gasol, who has been involved in trade rumors many times, is very unhappy about his performance, and of course, Steve Nash, who is already showing his old age, not to mention that this season is Kobe Bryant and Nash's season reimbursement, even if it is not injured, in terms of the team atmosphere of the Lakers at that time, it will not go far.

As soon as the doors of free agency opened in 2013, Howard couldn't wait to leave Los Angeles and set up camp in Houston on a four-year, $88 million contract.