Chapter 189: The Zen Master's Attitude (2/3)
It was only in the last four minutes of the first quarter that the offensive efficiency of both sides had come down a bit. The players on Phoenix's side felt that they were still happy too soon. The Lakers now have several ways to break down the Suns' defense!
"Let's use Plan B for now. If we continue to play like this, in the second half, we will see the Lakers easily win against us," D'Antoni glanced at the assistant coaches on the coaching staff, and their current proposal was not completely unreasonable.
Although he was still unwilling, he had to do this. The opposing team is playing a lot more chaotic right now...... It's a real headache for them to play like this and still be able to guarantee a score!
27:26! After the end of the first quarter, the Lakers temporarily took a narrow lead by 1 point! And they themselves know that even if they are about 5 points behind in the first half, they still have the advantage!
What's more, he's still ahead of his opponents. I don't know how the sun will deal with it. But this quarter, the Lakers can be considered to be on the wrong side.
"Although Marion and I have changed, the score is still to be bitten in the first half! The task in the second quarter was to lead the Lakers by about 10 points into the second half......"
Coach, are you serious? The Suns players watched in disbelief as D'Antoni was laying out his assignment in a serious way. Even Nash is a little surprised now. The coach believes too much in Nash's ability......
For D'Antoni, this match just wants to end quickly. Their team that finished first in the regular season this year met the third-place Lakers in the playoffs, and they played so passively. It's not as good as the Spurs. At least initially, the Spurs took the initiative.
In the second quarter, the Suns still have to finish this game with a quick mentality! Then, if possible, the next two are their key battles!
"Mime and Odom, you two have to pay special attention to the impact of the other party on our interior line. Mime don't go too far and defend under the basket with Odom. Vujacic also has to pass some balls at some key moments......"
At this time, the young general Vujacic was already very excited! It's already early for him to be on the court in the second quarter! And there is Zhou Yang on the field! However, the current game is not about fighting hard, but about winning steadily.
What Zen Master has been emphasizing today on the team is that the Lakers can contain the opponent in the first half. That's half the way to it for them, if they do it!
The lineup on the Suns' side in the second quarter was Burris, Nick Rhodes, Thomas, Bell and Nash. The Lakers, on their side, replaced Vujacic for Fisher. In order not to make Vujasic, a young player who is 1 year older than Zhou Yang, nervous, Kobe Bryant also went over to say a few words to him.
It's probably to tell you to be more serious, and sometimes you don't have to think too much about your teammates, and you can shoot when the opportunity comes. The Black Mamba didn't feel anything, but Vujacic almost cried, okay.
This is the care of the team leaders and players! In fact, Kobe Bryant just didn't want him to look foreign...... Vujasic, who had a somewhat thin body, was suddenly full of strength at this time!
The second quarter of the game was very simple for the Lakers. It's just a matter of getting some points on top of the defense. In the game, Zhou Yang passed the ball to his teammates, and the shooting of the two guards was still okay. Then Jackson doesn't feel like there's anything wrong with that.
I have to say that winning the Spurs seems to have added a lot of attribute bonuses to the Lakers...... Because the players are more confident and play more decisively and calmly on the field.
After Nash received Bale's pass, he saw that Vujacic and Kobe Bryant's defense was too tight in the front court, so he immediately passed the ball to Nickroz who had just run out! If it had been Marion, the goal would have been scored.
Maybe that's the difference between an ordinary blue-collar player and a current main player. After Mime got the rebound, he didn't even think about passing the ball directly to Zhou Yang, who ran away with the ball!
Kobe Bryant is still relatively close, so Kobe Bryant in the front court hits a three-point shot after taking over the basketball! Nash really wanted to cry at this time. If you attack by yourself, the opponent's defense is tight, and your teammates don't score when you pass the ball!
After the Black Mamba hit a three-pointer in the second quarter, there were Suns fans leaving the court. And it's going in twos and threes.
Thomas got the basketball, and after Zhou Yang used his physical advantage to quickly pass the opponent, he used his speed to pass the opponent when he knew that Mime was slow!
Odom is stuck by Burreth at this point! To bring some morale to the team, Thomas scored a violent dunk!! He actually went straight to the basket for the ball, and Mime saw Thomas accelerate behind him when he was unguarded.
"It's really hard to say who will win this game. Phoenix has Nash, so it's hard for us to predict the outcome of this game," the Zen master said to Vincent faintly at this time.
If it was an ordinary team, it would have been crushed under such an offensive by the Lakers. But the Suns have been fighting with the Lakers! Their team didn't have the Lakers as fast in the game because they had the Wind Kids.
Kobe dribbled to the frontcourt, Odom took the basketball and scored with a one-handed dunk between Burreth and Nickroze!! The camera went directly to the Lakers bench, and O'Neal was so excited that he almost jumped off the bench!
Nash immediately ran to the fast midfield position, and when Bale received the serve, he looked up and saw that their captain was there asking for the ball! Zhou Yang had already arrived in the front court, and the son of the wind ran over immediately after taking over the basketball!
After turning past the Asian player, Nash turned around on the other side and hit a jumper! Before the Lakers had time to return to defense, the Suns had already scored three points!
With Bryant's three-pointer missing, Thomas ran in to get the rebound and then dribbled to the frontcourt, they began to press the rhythm, and then Burres got his pass and threw it directly to score!! 33:32!
The Suns overtook the score! Such a stalemate and suppressed game really forced the opponent to be anxious! Nash is now going to fight the Lakers! Who let him know it's only the second quarter, but what makes Nash feel now is that they are getting farther and farther away from the Finals.
The Lakers are now waiting for O'Neal in the third quarter! As soon as Shaq returns, the Lakers' rebounding and interior defense are almost locked up! At that time, it will be difficult for the sun to think fast suddenly!
Vujasic's long-range 2 points are still missing! When the Suns caught the Lakers and couldn't score, they immediately started a fast break! Bale received a pass from Thomas in front of the court and scored three points into the net! At this time, the Suns are already 4 points ahead!
The Zen master nodded when he saw it, and the other party was right to hit him like this. If the Lakers have more than three more rounds without scoring, then he's going to call a timeout.
......
55:50! If there were reporters covering both teams now, maybe it would have been surprising when talking about how they felt in the first half.
The Suns entered the third quarter with the Lakers with a five-point lead. They are quite satisfied with this. And on Jackson's side, they also think it's not bad. 5 points behind is not much.
While many of the Lakers players were asleep, the Suns coaching staff began to discuss the next way to play. There are still a lot of ideas for Barbosa to replace Nash on the defenders.
Now in such a fierce competition, Nash's physical exertion is relatively large!
"Nash is the key to our victory! He's down, I'm worried the Lakers will take advantage of the win to chase after him," D'Antoni said directly at this time.
"Don't we still have Marion?!"
"O'Neill is still in his prime! He is now recognized as one of the best centers in the current roster! Our Marion is also very good, but it still won't go well with his team. Well, I'll listen to Nash in a moment."
Nash certainly disagrees! If he is replaced in the third quarter, maybe every minute will be a torment for him!
In the end, the team confirmed the lineup of Marion, Pat, Thomas, Balbosa and Nash! If the Lakers are always eating hard under the basket, then the Suns also have an advantage!
Their speed could be a breakthrough in this game!
"O'Neill will come on in a moment. Zhou Yang and Wharton play in the forward position. It's also time for Odom and Mime to rest. Bryant continued to play, with Smush replacing Vujasic. In the next game, the defender hesitated to shoot three times! The players in the forward position organized the game for me."
Phil looked at Zhou Yang and Wharton very seriously, and said word by word. Kobe and Smush looked at each other's games and smiled lightly. Such a tactic is exactly what the two of them need!
"You've seen the changes Kobe Bryant has made this season. He'll share some of the attacking opportunities now. That's probably one of the reasons why we were able to beat the Spurs! Shaq is our strength and I know the defenders are the same. But when the opportunity comes I want us to be as a whole and we can work hard with our teammates to get it! ”
The Zen master knew about this, and it was a bit risky to say this. Kobe Bryant knows best what he means by Jackson. That's the defender who gives a lot of shots, though. But you also have to think about the team and get the ball out at the right time.
When they saw that the morale of the team was good at this time, everyone put their hands together and pressed it down!
Bryant didn't say a word the whole time. He knows what he is doing this season. In the years of their three consecutive championships, every year the NBA has changed!
It's just that the changes of other teams are not enough to shake the status of the Lakers at that time.
But every year, every team except for the bad ones is waiting, waiting to be able to play in the playoffs and then win the championship trophy! The Spurs and Pistons have performed well in recent years!
The Spurs have won two championships, and this year the Pistons are competing with the Nets for the Eastern Conference Shutdown Trophy! These two teams are either the Nets making it to the Finals or the Pistons winning the championship in the Finals.
Now the intensity of the game on their side is not inferior to the game between the Lakers and the Suns!
There was even a clash in the second game on their side! Both teams were full of gunpowder in the game! The Nets coach angrily said at the press conference that he thought the level of physical confrontation in Jordan's era had passed. I didn't expect it to be staged again this year!
After the conflict broke out, the referee was still relatively lenient with the players. The battle between the two teams on the court has gone to the intensity of basketball in the 90s!
There are already six players on the Nets' side with braces in the game! Even so, the Pistons didn't dare to mess with Carter......
......
Both teams now have younger players. Nash and Kobe Bryant are not going down. If the Lakers relax a bit, they won't be much sure about this game.
But the Zen master he couldn't wait. In the last round, the Spurs gave them a negative example. In the early stage, they were too relaxed with the Lakers, and in the end, they actually let them win.
He didn't want to do this, so the Lakers kept biting very tightly in this game!
After the game, Nash dribbled the ball across the half court, facing Kobe's defense, and passed directly to Barbosa! The latter passed Smush and rushed directly to the Lakers' basket to throw and score!!
At this time, the Suns fans who were at the scene began to shout wildly! Smush didn't expect to be so easily beaten by such a kid in his early 20s! This player is really fast!
D'Antoni watched the game with his team's attack on his shoulders just now. 57:50!
Bryant dribbled the ball to the front court and failed twice when Barbosa tried to steal the ball from his hand!
Barbosa then went over to defend Smush. Nash has already run over.
"You and that kid can't stop me!" Bryant quietly watched as Nash motioned for Barbosa to come over and immediately looked up and said something to Nash.
Seeing Nash suddenly pounce on Kobe, he immediately made a big move, turned around and looked at the other party, and suddenly turned back in the opposite direction and threw a three-point jump shot into the net!!
After making a motion of blowing the smoke coming out of the pistol, Kobe Bryant ran over slowly!
The Suns' interior defense in this round is not much to watch! Marion pulled out directly and asked for the ball, and then took the ball and shot three points!
Kobe Bryant looked at him for 2 seconds after seeing Zhou Yang. Then after receiving Wharton's serve, he looked at Zhou Yang again.
After signaling everyone to disperse, the black mamba saw Zhou Yang with his afterglow, and at this time, he had time to get rid of Kaipat once!
The Suns are already a little angry. Kobe Bryant completely ignores their defense! Seeing him rush over, both Thomas and Marion rushed out!
Seeing this scene, Kobe Bryant felt that they should not have much of a problem winning this game. At this time, when everyone's attention was focused on Kobe, Zhou Yang quickly got rid of Pat's defense, directly received Kobe's pass, and directly pulled out the jump shot when the Suns hadn't reacted yet! Two points of long-distance hitting the board into the basket!
Zhou Yang looked at the soles of his feet and realized that he had just stepped on the line.
There can be no too much hesitation in the offensive at this time! The opposing center is now coming out at every turn!
There is almost no way for the opponent to quickly open up the difference. D'Antoni's expression of excitement just now became a little darker.
"Good Zhou Yang, we're going to feed O'Neill more cakes next!" Looking at the current game, Kobe Bryant feels that this game is almost over.