Pulling away on all sides, Bryant dribbled with his back and faced Ragabel, like a poisonous snake waiting for an opportunity. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This is not the first time Bale and Kobe Bryant have met in the Finals, back in 2001, when Bale was still playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, in his first NBA season, he was lucky enough to reach the Finals with the team, and their opponent was the Lakers.

Of course, luck doesn't always accompany Bale, he participated in the NBA draft as early as 1999, but on that not-so-starry draft night, he still went unnoticed and unfortunately failed. After that, he played in the lower leagues, and was finally picked up by the Spurs in 2000 to sign a short contract, and then failed to play a game, and moved to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Although he didn't perform much during the 76ers' regular season, he made it to Larry Brown's 76ers playoff roster, and Brown took a fancy to Bale's hard work and talent on the defensive end.

And in the finals, in the limited playing time, Bale only knew what talent was. He was facing Kobe Bryant.

Bryant was 22 years old that year and played five seasons in the NBA, being a three-time All-Star, one-time All-Defensive First Team and one-time All-Defensive Second Team. In 2000-2001, he averaged 28.5 points per game, making him one of the best backcourt scorers in the league.

And that year, Ragabel was 24 years old, two years older than Kobe, undrafted, did not play a full NBA season, played negligible number of appearances and playing time, averaged 1 point per game, did not have any honors, did not have any fame. Going to the Finals with the 76ers won't make any difference, and his thoughts aren't about how to win a championship for the 76ers, but where he's going next.

In the extremely limited playing time, Bale and Kobe Bryant have been on the team a few times, and it is insignificant, Kobe can easily score, pass, and pass on Bale's head, and the relationship between them is like that between the Lakers and the 76ers that year, one is powerful and suffocating, and the other is only the indomitable spirit.

Bale then left the 76ers to be spotted by the Mavericks, where he found his place and reached the Western Conference Finals with the Mavericks that season. By the summer of '03, he had become a free agent and received an offer from the Celtics, and he hesitated to agree because their head coach was Fox Leon.

When he struggled in the lower leagues after his loss, it was Leon's scouting team recommendation that led him to a short-term contract with the Spurs, as Leon had a good relationship with Spurs' player director, Presti. This small fate led him to settle in Boston, and once again reached the Finals with the Celtics this season, and it can be said that Bale has been playing for championship-level teams since entering the NBA, which has given him a strong will.

Now, he is facing Kobe Bryant again, 3 years have passed, Kobe has experienced ups and downs and tribulations, and is still a superstar, and Bale is still an ordinary role player, but he knows that he is no longer the garbage player who played in the insignificant garbage time 3 years ago, but an important chess piece in the hands of Coach Leon.

This time, he will never back down, and no matter what skills Kobe Bryant uses to torture him, his heart will not be shaken in the slightest.

"Kobe, try to go on the right side, Bale is very close to the ground, Kobe Bryant shakes off Bale, but Bale takes the ball out from behind...... The two of them grabbed a ball...... Scrums, scrums. Brin had a hard time believing that Bryant had already broken through Bale, but Bale was able to knock the ball out of Bryant's hand from behind and create a scrum.

Both of them fell to the ground, Garnett immediately stepped forward and pulled Bell up with Pierce, but only Fox came up and pulled Kobe Bryant on the Lakers' side, and the two fought for the ball.

Obviously, Kobe didn't expect that Bale would be able to sabotage the offense from behind, but he was still a little careless, thinking that passing Bale would be foolproof.

The two stood in the free throw circle and scramble, Bell was no match for Kobe Bryant in terms of bounce, speed or strength, but when the ball was thrown to the highest point, he still grabbed Kobe Bryant before he clicked the ball with the fingertips of his right hand and dialed it in the direction of Garnett, Garnett stretched out his arms and took the ball into his arms.

"Garnett makes a long pass, Arenas gets the ball, Paul Pierce catches the ball in the middle and makes a layup! I feel like Phil Jackson is going to call a timeout. ”

The Celtics once again completed a beautiful fast break, Arenas received a pass on the wing, and then passed to the middle of the field to Pierce, who easily scored a left-handed layup, and the difference between the two sides has been stretched to seven points, which is the largest point difference of the game so far.

However, Phil Jackson insisted on not calling a timeout, believing that the timeout would not solve the problem and that the players needed to solve the situation on the court themselves, otherwise they would not be able to beat the Celtics.

This time the Lakers offense didn't leave Bryant alone, they got to O'Neal, and when O'Neal had a good offensive position in the low post, the monster was terrifying, and he made a powerful back turn and completed a one-handed heavy dunk on Brown's head.

"The Lakers still relied on O'Neal to break the scoring drought, but if they can't defend the Celtics' offense, then ......" Brin didn't even have time to finish his words before the Celtics counterattacked past halftime.

Leon's tactics in the midfield are very clear, since Reid is not on the court and has one less outside point of possession, then play two quick counterattacks and use high-speed offense to drag down the bulky, aging Lakers.

Arenas had Hot Wheels on his legs and was running non-stop, with the Celtics forward running alongside, with Bale taking the place of Reed's feint attacker and starting to ambush in the bottom corner, while Pierce roamed around Arenas, relying on a cover to carry the ball and impact it once Arenas passed.

Garnett, on the other hand, does his job at the pivot point, distributing the ball quickly near the top of the arc, and he will also use jumpers to hit the Lakers' defense if he has the opportunity.

As he spoke, Arenas broke through to the basket, then turned around and made a pass to Garnett, who shared the ball to Pierce, who received the ball and dipped a shot, and then hit a pull-up jumper.

The Celtics' fast-paced offense made Kobe Bryant itch, he couldn't watch the team lose points like this, but he couldn't defend five people alone, in this case, he could always play five people by himself.

"Give me the ball!" Kobe shouted at Fox who was serving, and Fox gave the ball to Kobe Bryant on the baseline, and Kobe Bryant took the ball and ran all the way with luck.

Bell was like a dog skin plaster, clinging to Kobe Bryant tightly until Kobe slowed down outside the three-point line, and Bell also slowed down, in short, he was entangled with Kobe.

"A lump of sticky." Kobe Bryant couldn't help but curse in the interval between holding the ball, Kobe rarely talked trash during the game, but this time he couldn't help it, the scrum just now made him very embarrassed, and now he sticks to himself and feels bad.

Obviously, Kobe Bryant is a little anxious, he has not encountered this kind of high-intensity defense, when he is calm, he can easily deal with these difficult opponents, but once the mentality is unbalanced and wants to score as soon as possible, thinking about FMVP, everything is different.

Bryant chose to force a shot from beyond the three-point line, he tried to grab a three-pointer, but the ball smashed into the front of the basket, Arenas grabbed the long rebound, and he directly dribbled and launched a counterattack.

But when Arenas was about to make a layup, Kobe Bryant fell from the sky and knocked the ball out of Arenas's hand for a beautiful chase.

"This guy is really fighting, it's a pity that he is in the wrong place......" Leon watched Kobe Bryant chase at the cost of his physical strength, and his heart also suspended the tenacity of this poisonous snake, but excessive paranoia will only hurt himself and the team.

With the disappointment of the fans, Kobe Bryant wanted to rub salt in the wounds of the Celtics, he dribbled from the middle, and in the face of Bale he rhythmically advanced and retreated, turned and feintmed to shake away, and took a beautiful step-up, ready to finish the offense with a forward-leaning jumper.

"Kobe, beautiful footsteps shook off Bale...... But, oh, Bale fouled, and he grabbed Kobe Bryant by the throat from behind and pulled him down, foul, a malicious foul. “

Like a meerkat that is not in the same place as a snake, Ragabel took a ferocious bite at the back of the poisonous snake and knocked Kobe to the ground. After the foul, Bale took the initiative to raise his hand, and Bryant jumped up excitedly and rushed to Bale.

The players on both sides immediately stepped forward to pull the two apart, and in the face of the aggressive Kobe, Bale didn't say anything, and he didn't mean to fight back, he just muttered: "I won't let you score easily, I won't let you score easily." (To be continued.) )