Kobe moved his neck, soothed the throat that was a little uncomfortable by the jam, and then stood at the free throw line, looked at the basket with the ball, and shot. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info ball smashed on the edge of the basket and missed.

Bale had just been whistled for a foul, so the Lakers had to make two free throws, which was a good opportunity for the Lakers. However, Bryant stood in front of the empty baskets on either side and lost his free throw crosshairs. After a slight adjustment, Bryant hit a free throw to pull back a point for the Lakers. However, after hitting the free throw, Bryant was not encouraged by his teammates, and the players on both sides standing outside the three-point line returned to the three-point line as if nothing had happened. The only thing that changed was the scoreboard on the court, with the Lakers having one more point.

They had one more offensive chance, Fox was on the perimeter, and this time he stopped passing the ball to Kobe, Malone started to ask for the ball at a 45-degree position one step inside the three-point line, and Fox hoisted the ball to Malone. This is a tactical routine that has been quite effective for the Lakers in the regular season, no longer obsessing with the triangle offense, but letting Malone go to the high post to respond to the Lakers' attack.

Malone has a strong attacking power, and when he is still physically strong, he can still hit mid-range jumpers as accurately as he did in 1997 and 1998, so if the opponent neglects to defend him in the high post, he will use the jumper to teach the opponent a lesson.

At the same time, his 18-year career with the Jazz has given him good observation and adaptability, and he is the player on the Lakers team who can find a tactical breakthrough, and his pass may not directly lead to scoring, but it is a game-changing shot, which is a trait that all good passers have.

"Malone got the ball at 45 degrees...... He observed, passed to Payton, and then blocked, and Payton lobbed the ball to O'Neal...... The ball is cut off by Garnett! “

The Lakers completed a good match, Malone passed the ball to Payton who cut around the baseline, and then made a cover for Payton, he cut out himself, Payton went inside from the middle, PJ Brown stepped forward to make up for the defense, O'Neal turned in, Payton was about to drop the ball to the inside line to give O'Neal a violent dunk, but the ball was in the air, but it was intercepted by Kevin Garnett.

"This kid is really ......fast," Malone couldn't help but think in his heart, he had obviously cut the ball out just now, just to lure away Garnett's defense and create space for the interior to cooperate. How do you know that Garnett did follow, but as soon as he saw that there was a loophole in the inner line, he immediately made up for it.

And just as Garnett made up for it, Pierce let go of Fox to help defend Malone, and Fox had a chance in the bottom corner. However, if Payton transfers the ball to Fox, Garnett will try his best to run to the bottom corner to interfere with Fox, unless the Lakers' passing can reach the point of flowing water, otherwise the Celtics with Garnett, after Fox Leon's intense training, can almost make up for most of the defensive holes.

Malone still remembers that when Garnett was still in the Timberwolves, he was an energetic guy, but every time he played against the Wolves, Malone was able to use his rich experience and strong provocation ability to make Garnett in a half-crazy state, and there was no way to calm down and play well.

Back on the defensive end, Garnett stood in the waist position, Malone realized that the Celtics might want Garnett to eat alone, and the Celtics' offensive rhythm was very good, combining inside and outside, fast and slow. After a foul at the start of the third quarter, a foul interrupted the high-speed offensive and defensive play, and the Celtics also needed a low-post offense to put pressure on the Lakers.

Malone pushed behind Garnett, elbowed Garnett's back, and slightly bent his knees between Garnett's feet, which was a very annoying defensive posture, both up and down would make Garnett very uncomfortable. Malone knows that Garnett is not a good enough back-to-back attacker because of the problem of shoulder width, and as long as he applies enough interference, his back-to-back offensive efficiency will be greatly reduced.

Sure enough, Arenas slowly dribbled past half court and passed the ball to Garnett, who took the ball and pushed it back, only to find that Malone had stuck himself up and down.

Leon knew it was going to be bad when he saw Garnett trying to hit Malone on the back, and he couldn't help but shout: "Use what you're good at, use what you're good at!" ”

But Garnett had already shot the ball after completing his standard routine—dribbling, shaking his shoulders, and leaning back. Obviously, the routine is still the same routine, but the rhythm is not right, and the ball is obviously a little fluttering at the moment of shooting, deviating from the established track and smashing on the neck of the basket.

Kevin Garnett missed a step-back jumper, but Brown grabbed the rebound and passed the ball back to Garnett...... Garnett ......"

Brown really fought hard tonight, grabbing the rebound in front of O'Neal, and instead of being greedy, he immediately passed the ball back to Garnett. This time Garnett didn't try to turn his back, but instead received the ball with a shoulder shake, and then suddenly a crotch dribble, and the lightning crossover passed Karl Malone. Then he dribbled through the baseline, crossed the basket, went to the other side, jumped high, turned and dunked with one hand!

After the goal, Kevin Garnett looked up to the sky and roared, and then glared at Karl Malone, this guy who once played an important villain in his growth path, now he is no longer afraid, no matter what kind of uncrowned king he is in people's hearts, for Garnett, either let him remain uncrowned or become the next him. Garnett is clearly going to choose the former.

The North Shore Garden's decibel count was almost unbearable because of the goal, and the usually calm Zen master had to shout at the players from the sidelines, and he couldn't help but call a timeout. And Fox Leon stood on the sidelines with satisfaction, watching Kobe Bryant get more and more impatient and annoyed under Bale's entanglement in the offense. The connection between Kobe and his teammates is getting thinner and thinner, especially with O'Neal, when O'Neal receives the ball, Kobe will hardly participate in the offense, and when Kobe has a chance to get the ball, O'Neal can only do a switchback run.

The seemingly relaxed relationship between the two in the Western Conference playoffs was seen through by Leon at a glance, and he clearly felt in the first half that the two were alienated on the tactical end; However, Phil Jackson had to rely on Kobe's ability to score independently, and in addition to Kobe, the Lakers' other backcourt players were old and weak, and they couldn't compete with the Celtics' powerful backcourt. Therefore, Jackson had to let go of power, so that the two sides were evenly matched in the first half. And Jackson needs to satisfy Kobe's ambitions, so that Kobe's fighting spirit and ability can be fully stimulated.

But just as Leon thought, Jackson was drinking to quench his thirst, he pinned his hopes on Kobe Bryant's burst of powerful energy like Jordan, and Kobe Bryant did it in the Western Conference Finals, but in the Finals, facing the unfathomable Celtics, both the Lakers and Jackson felt a trace of despair.

From the second half of the third quarter, the point difference began to gradually widen, Leon deployed troops, replaced Arenas with Reed, played no point guard tactics, and at the same time sacrificed a death defensive lineup, completely strangled the Lakers' offense in three minutes, allowing them to score only 4 points, and the Celtics took advantage of this to stretch the difference to 17 points in one fell swoop.

The 17-point difference, in 2004, when the three-point shot had not yet been fully exploited, and the outside offense was still hampered by handcheck, which had been weak in O'Neal's fourth quarter, was an insurmountable gap in North Shore Garden, the home of the Celtics, and in the Celtics' 17-year championship aspirations.

As Leon said in the midcourt, they are going to win in the third quarter and they want to completely knock out the Lakers in the third quarter. And they did.

When the fourth quarter began, Fisher and Kobe Bryant each hit two three-pointers, giving the Lakers a glimmer of hope and Jackson thinking of the miraculous comeback in Game 6 of the 1992 Finals. However, two three-pointers from Arenas and James Posey dashed the Lakers' hopes, and then Pierce hit a series of mid-range shots to stretch the gap to 20 points.

At this time, the TV camera was given to Leon, watching the game go on like this, he just shrugged his shoulders slightly, showing a little helpless expression, and then sat back on the bench and quietly waited for the game to end. And in his heart, he was already thinking about how to deal with the Lakers in the second game. (To be continued.) )