At the age of 40, Malone, who averaged 13 points, 9 boards, 4 assists and 1.2 steals per game, was still very strong defensively, and only had 2.5 turnovers and fouls.

Not playing blocking and dismantling, not the first offensive option, or even just the third or fourth option to hold the ball, can still have such a performance, Ma Long's strength proves that he is a real superstar, but he is a little older.

In addition to the conflict with Kobe Bryant this year, Malone can be said to be the most praised player among the Lakers' Big Four.

O'Neal is lazy, Payton has declined so badly that even Fisher can steal his playing time, Kobe Bryant is the target of criticism this year, Malone is the most surprising to fans, at the age of 40, he can really have the style of a giant, and he is the first big forward in history of the new and old generations, maybe Jordan can't, although Jordan's data will definitely look better.

Malone has naturally been very happy about this, but, right now, Malone really wants to return to the "system star", looking at his old buddy, and Boozer, who does not lose to his current self on the offensive end and can even be compared to his thirty-five or sixteen years old, and Liu Mang, who can run and shoot more than Hornacek, Malone really hopes that he can replace Boozer of the Hawks and become a member of the double-scare style of play.

The Lakers were blinded by the Hawks' Sloan system of play!

The Lakers can't stop Stockton, Boozer's double-brake combination and Liu Mang's three-man block-and-roll offensive play!

This Eagles team is not as easy to deal with as the new version of the double-shoe's blocking and dismantling style of play a few years later, Liu Mang is the top three three-pointers in the league, and he has repeatedly received the ball in the tacit understanding with Boozer in the off-ball blocking and dismantling.

Rahim's defensive ability is definitely not as strong as the peak Kirilenko, the peak Kirilenko almost won the best defensive player, but Rahim's rebounding is better, Boozer helped Liu Mang block people and then went down to the basket, on the one hand, it was to attract away the defense, on the other hand, to help Kwame Brown deal with O'Neal and Malone card position, Rahim, Boozer, Kwame Brown grabbed the rebound, and the advantage in rebounding returned to the Hawks, Liu Mang could throw the ball unscrupulously.

Moreover, Liu Mang's fast shooting master level 3 brings a 30% chance of catching and shooting, immune to the rhythm of running, and the speed of receiving and shooting is increased by 15%, so that Kobe, who is chasing Liu Mang, is always a beat slower!

The original Liu Mang ran to shoot, Kobe Bryant also studied, the little blacksmith is the kind of basketball idiot, from the age of 6 to now 26 years old, 20 years have been focused on basketball, Liu Mang's research is very deep, he originally estimated that he tried his best to chase Liu Mang, can prevent Liu Mang from catching the ball and shooting, but the 15% increase in the speed of catching the ball makes Kobe Bryant slow every time!

Liu Mang can shoot unscrupulously, if Karim Rush, who is defending Rahim, comes to hit Liu Mang without the ball, Stockton will pass to Rahim to shoot, if O'Neal blocks Liu Mang when he drills the basket, Kwame Brown will rush in from the left bottom line on the right side to catch the ball and eat cake, if Boozer helps Liu Mang block without the ball, Kobe and Fisher go to chase Liu Mang, and Stockton will pass to Boozer to shoot......

Stockton is a super passer with a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in his career, and is almost 42 years old with 4.6 assists to 1.3 turnovers, and can always get the ball to his teammates accurately and in a timely manner.

Liu Mang is naturally the receiver who benefited the most, after halftime, Liu Mang has scored 29 points, and in the last 5 minutes of the second quarter, he shot 3 of 5 and scored 8 points on 2 of 4 three-point shots!

When the Lakers had to pinch Liu Mang's off-ball blocking and pick-and-catch play, the Hawks' offense came alive.

The Lakers didn't do a good job on the defensive end, and Kobe Bryant began to be impatient on the offensive end, every time he came back from the game to play, he played according to the other side, how could he ever be pressed by the other side like this? Kobe Bryant wanted to play back on the offensive end, but when the defender became Liu Mang, Liu Mang was willing to fight again, and there were many small actions, which made Kobe bryant, Kobe was anxious to chase the score, and the further improvement of the desire to shoot made him lose more efficient shooting performance in the previous quarter, and he hit iron again and again at the end of the second quarter.

At this time, the stubborn nature became the key to restraining Kobe, and the Hawks relied on the Sloan system at the end of the second quarter to play a 16-7 scoring shockwave!

At halftime, the Hawks were 55-51 and went into halftime with a 4-point lead!

……

Obviously, the Hawks' style of play was beyond the Lakers' pre-game tactical analysis.

The atmosphere in the Lakers' locker room was awkward, clearly divided into two factions, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers.

The Zen master was thinking with his eyes closed, he didn't expect the Hawks' coaching staff to be so powerful, first using the conventional style of play to confuse his side, and then using the style of play of the Sloan system that he used to have the most headache to deal with his side, stimulating Kobe's competitiveness......

From playing tactics to psychological tactics, the Eagles have planned it, which makes the Zen master even more jealous of Coach Kruger......

Of course, this is all the Zen master's own blind guess, because the situation on the field has changed, and this is indeed the case, and the Eagles are playing crookedly, and they just happened to do all the things that the Zen master guessed blindly.

The Zen master didn't think of any good solution, and now the situation is that the Hawks can shoot goals, and they can shoot easily, and the Lakers can't shoot goals.

And Kobe Bryant couldn't shoot, and he insisted on shooting, and he didn't want to organize an offense, so he had to shoot, which was the main reason why the Lakers played poorly on the offensive end of the transition section.

The Eagles seized this opportunity, defended and made the offensive end more aggressive and motivated, and then the offensive shot went in and made the defensive end more aggressive and more motivated, creating a virtuous circle.

On the Lakers' side, they fell into Kobe Bryant's single-handedness and couldn't prevent it, and Kobe Bryant was in a hurry to continue to play iron, and he couldn't defend it...... of the vicious circle.

Thinking of this, the Zen master has an idea, there is nothing to do on the defensive end, so come from the offensive end.

The Zen master clapped his hands and called the players together, mainly to communicate with Kobe, he rarely communicated with Kobe this year, firstly, Kobe Bryant made him feel guilty, and secondly, Kobe Bryant played very reasonably most of the time this year, the number of shots and touches has been a new low in the past five years, and he can rank fourth in the MVP list for a long time, second only to Liu Mang, Garnett, Duncan, and beat Artest, O'Neal Jr., Peja, and become a double favorite for a burst of defense, not everyone can do it.

But every time Kobe Bryant met Liu Mang, he wanted to kill Liu Mang with all his might, but the Hawks seized the opportunity to use it in turn.

It is rare that the Zen master did not favor O'Neal, but communicated well with Kobe......

……

In the Hawks locker room, Stockton had 4 assists in the first half of the quarter, and his face was full of smiles, if Liu Mang hadn't lost two shots, and there were a few balls that he passed out and his teammates scored again, he would have more assists in the half quarter!

Today, Stockton seems to be back to the years at the end of the last century, with the best teammates, the team plays around him, and he has taken his chances, age is not the key to limiting his passing, and in the years after the new century, what limits his assists is the decline in the ability of his teammates.

The overall atmosphere of the Hawks is very good, and Liu Mang is also very excited, scoring 29 points in the half, surpassing Kobe's 27 points in the half, and the 5 assists in the half are also more than Kobe's 4 assists in the half, which is very beautiful.

Coach Krueger didn't expect that the tactics of just trying it out would work well...... It's not that it's not bad, but it works well! began to draw on the tactical manual, write down today's tactical play, he was very melancholy, why did he get a Stockton who is almost 42 years old, if he is four or five years younger, even if it is Stockton who is thirty-seven or eight, in the next few years, there will be Liu Mang and Stockton, two players who have almost never suffered injuries that can affect attendance, and the point guard line of his own team is the strongest in the league!

Compared with the Lakers' side that still needs to communicate and exchange good planning tactics, the Hawks are quite fast, the players were excited and happy for a while, and Coach Kruger called the players together and arranged the tactics in the third quarter, trying to open up the difference in the third quarter in one fell swoop!

……

……

As the second half of the game was about to begin, the Hawks continued to field a core of Stockton, Liu Mang and Boozer, with Prince and Rasheed Wallace being replaced.

Any team will be blushing when they see this year's Eagles lineup, and one core lineup after another will be changed as if they don't need money.

The Hawks can only say that there is no way, Stockton plus Liu Mang and Boozer's core lineup, the salary is only more than 3 million US dollars, Liu Mang and Boozer's rookie bonus and Stockton's base salary joined, as well as Prince's rookie bonus, the Hawks, a five-man group that can be the core lineup of the championship team, except for Rasheed Wallace's salary this year is 17 million US dollars, and the other four add up to less than 5 million US dollars......

The Lakers sent a lineup of Fisher, Kobe, Fox, Malone, and O'Neal, apparently feeling the pressure and having to replace the strongest lineup.

Malone is 40 years old and also plays more than 30 minutes per game, with a break in the first half of the second quarter and a break at halftime.

After the halftime event, the second half of the game is about to start, the Eagles have the ball, Liu Mang receives the serve in the backcourt, and steadily advances towards the frontcourt, his idea is the same as that of his teammates and coaching staff, to open up the difference in the third quarter!

Take advantage of the Lakers' inability to defend against their own side of the offense and kill them!

After Liu Mang advanced to the front court, he handed the ball to Stockton, or started from the blocking attack!

Tactical adjustments are the task of losers, and the Lakers obviously can't prevent the Hawks' offense in the second half of the second quarter, and Liu Mang didn't add anything to change.

After giving the ball to Stockton, Liu Mang immediately cut inside, Kobe Bryant followed closely behind Liu Mang, Liu Mang rushed to the inside and had no chance to receive the ball, although Rasheed Wallace pulled O'Neal to the bottom right corner, but Kobe's mad dog-style defense seemed to be more and more active, cutting off Liu Mang's receiving route, and Stockton did not dare to pass.

But it doesn't matter, after Liu Mang rushed into the basket from the right side, he stepped on the bottom line and ran back violently, rushing out of the left side of the basket, Kobe's physical fitness was not covered, the first time he reacted and immediately turned back and ran out with Liu Mang, when Liu Mang ran to the left middle distance, Boozer stepped over to help Liu Mang block Kobe, Liu Mang rushed to the left 45-degree angle, the ball flew from the top arc for the first time, Liu Mang received the ball, saw Fisher pounce, didn't care, the ball passed by Stockton, Liu Mang was right on his waist when he received the ball, and immediately threw it out after receiving the ball, Fisher had already run fast and immediately pounced, but there was still no interference.

"Ding...... Marksman triggers at level 5 and comes from the host. ”

"Ding...... Quick Shot Master level 3 trigger, from the host. ”

"Ding...... Demolition Master triggers at level 5 and comes from the host. ”

After playing for a while, Liu Mang, who is already quite familiar with this style of play, is getting more and more proficient, with a perfect sense of rhythm, and the skills that should be triggered are triggered, and the three-point sniper shot is a hollow hit!

58 to 51, a 7-point lead!

The Hawks' biggest lead in this game also tied the Lakers' biggest seven-point lead before!

Seeing that the score difference was stretched to more than 5 points, Liu Mang's confidence was even stronger!

Today, it's going to be here to win this game!

The offense and defense switched, the Lakers attacked, and Fisher advanced through the half, and the task was completed.

Liu Mang followed Fisher, who passed to Kobe Bryant after half time.

Kobe Bryant seemed to have only the basket in his eyes, a vicious look, Prince defended Kobe Bryant immediately after receiving the ball, excellent defensive small steps and height and arm span that can suppress almost all outside players in the league, so that Prince has enough confidence to prevent Kobe.

After Kobe Bryant received the ball in the top arc, he kept making tentative steps, Liu Mang looked at Kobe Bryant and felt that something was a little different!

Kobe Bryant's previous beatings of Liu Mang, Prince, and Barnes were all tentative moves, but Liu Mang always felt that something was different!

"Ding...... The Stubborn Level 5 effect is contained, from Kobe Bryant, and Phil Jackson the Containment. ”

When Kobe Bryant suddenly started to dribble and pressed towards Prince, when he heard the system's prompt, Liu Mang understood what was wrong, Kobe Bryant was a tentative step outside the three-point line! Instead of the tentative step in the three-point line when he kept shooting before, Kobe Bryant is going to break through!

Liu Mang immediately rushed towards Kobe's possible change of direction route, Prince immediately wanted to push back after Kobe pressed up, but he was empty, Kobe Bryant took a big step to the right with a large change of direction, and when Liu Mang made up for it, he squeezed Liu Mang away and rushed into the basket!

Kobe Bryant's first step is not as fast as Wade, the first three steps are not as fast as Maddie, and the big change of direction is not as strong as Iverson, but he is almost always in the top five in the league in these techniques! All in all, he's the strongest outside player!

Liu Mang was squeezed out of the way! The main thing is that although he reacted at the first time and wanted to attack, reacting and predicting are two different things, and when he reacted, he actually lost the opportunity!

Liu Mang hurriedly caught up with Kobe, Prince's defensive awareness was really good, and he immediately went to change Fisher, Kobe Bryant judged that there was no chance on the outside for a moment, and continued to rush to the inside, and forced to jump against the supplementary defense of Rasheed Wallace, who came out of O'Neal!

Liu Mang and Rashid Wallace both jumped towards Kobe, Rashid Wallace jumped vertically to block Kobe's forward space, and Liu Mang chased Kobe's lever behind.

The tacit understanding of the defense is good, but Kobe Bryant's crossing is even more capable! The tacit understanding of the OK combination is better! Kobe Bryant's vision was completely blocked by Rashid Wallace, but the tacit understanding was there, he took the ball back in the air and smashed it to the ground, and drilled under Rashid Wallace's crotch, O'Neal received the ball and smashed it into the basket, and knocked Rashid Wallace away, Rashid Wallace, Liu Mang, and Kobe, all three of them were knocked to the ground and almost fell to the ground!

O'Neal made an exaggerated expression after scoring the goal, his mouth was wide and round, his eyes were wide, and he pointed at Kobe Bryant and screamed strangely while retreating towards the backcourt!

The fans hadn't seen it for two or three years, and the Staples Center was a rare hilarious.

At this moment, Kobe Bryant and O'Neal both had an indescribable feeling, as if they dreamed back four years ago!

It's a pity that only at this time, the two will still have the feeling they had back then......

But just for a moment!

The OK combination is combined again and bursts out with amazing power!

O'Neal is not physically fit enough, so he can only be used as a defensive containment point, and he is unwilling to get stuck in the card position, mainly because the 32-year-old O'Neal's physical fitness is worse than in previous years.

In that case, then Kobe Bryant will help O'Neal create an easy dunk opportunity!

Chicken Soup for the Soul Master Phil Jackson once again mobilizes the OK combo!

2 to 4, the Lakers still score easily!

Offense and defense switched, and the Eagles attacked.

The Eagles continued to block and dismantle, and after Liu Mang advanced to the front court, he continued to cut in from both sides and then ran out from the other side of the cut direction, and then ran to a 45-degree angle on both sides after Boozer blocked and dismantled without the ball.

However, this time, after Liu Mang cut out from the inside, he found that Kobe and Fisher pounced on him together and let Boozer empty!

Boozer's first reaction was to cut into the basket, but this time O'Neal didn't defend it, but returned to the basket after Liu Mang ran out, Fox shrank in faster and blocked Boozer's catch, blocking Boozer's catch-and-shoot shot, O'Neal stayed under the basket to prevent Fox from hitting the basket after being squeezed away by Boozer, and Stockton's best passers became Rasheed Wallace and Prince!

The Lakers' defensive strategy has become very targeted, Liu Mang and Boozer are the two most accurate shots, and the Lakers decisively stranglehold them, preferring to let Prince and Rasheed Wallace catch the ball, rather than let the Hawks have an impact on the basket and not let Liu Mang have a chance to catch the ball and shoot quickly!

Stockton didn't hesitate, and immediately distributed the ball to the Hawks' No. 3 three-point shooter, Rasheed Wallace, who averaged 1.3 three-pointers per game, and Rasheed Wallace received the ball and made a three-point shot, and did not waste this opportunity.

61 to 53, 8 points, the biggest difference in the game!

When it came to the Lakers' offense again, Liu Mang already knew that Kobe Bryant would no longer keep shooting in his crazy conceit, but began to break through the ball, so he began to prepare to pinch Kobe's breakthrough.

did not surprise Liu Mang's expectations, Kobe Bryant used his sharp breakthrough to pass Prince again, not that Prince was not good at defense, but that he really couldn't prevent it! Compared with the relatively single breakthrough of many other stars, Kobe Bryant has too many breakthrough options! This time Prince guarded against Kobe Bryant's change of direction, but Kobe Bryant chose to start directly in three steps, Liu Mang immediately rushed over, Kobe Bryant's passing timing was in place, and before Prince changed his defense, he immediately gave it to Fisher, and Fisher's three-point shot in the bottom corner of the right side was also hit!

56 to 61, the difference is back to 5 points again!

Then Kobe Bryant began to perform in a real rush moment, without thinking about any contradictions, without thinking about himself, he was just an alternative offensive core for O'Neal when he was resting on the court, and he was like the 99-00 season, as a second-in-command, conscientiously playing the most reasonable basketball.

One of the NBA's biggest monsters, Reason, is back again!

And there is an O'Neill on the inside, which is the key to Reasonable Branch being able to play so well, the inside line does not dare to block the defense, even if O'Neal is standing there and picking his feet, Rasheed Wallace does not dare to let go, Boozer can follow Malone to prevent Malone from catching the ball and shooting is already the limit, it is better to let him change the defense than to follow the old Malone honestly, only Liu Mang or Rahim can make up for the defense, which will inevitably cause a loophole in the defensive connection, although Prince's change of defense is fast, but there is always a time difference, Bryant seized the time gap and repeatedly sent the ball to Fisher and Fox, and after the two major role player pitchers made several shots in a row, the Hawks didn't dare to switch defenses.

So, Kobe Bryant made a mid-range pull-up jump shot or began to impact the basket, and started a lot of connections with O'Neal!

This is the biggest problem of the Eagles now, although Liu Mang is also very strong under the basket, and his mid-range shooting is not bad, but there is obviously a big gap with Kobe, Kobe Bryant or shooting or passing, and the efficiency is extremely high!

Mainly, he showed a passing threat that made the Eagles not dare to pack it easily.

On the other hand, on the Hawks' side, Liu Mang played without the ball, so there was no threat of pull-up jump shots and impact baskets, and the Hawks could only rely on the open shots of Prince and Rasheed Wallace.

While Rasheed Wallace's 35 percent three-point shooting and Prince's 37 percent three-point shooting are both good, it's not the Hawks' regular style of play! Neither of them is a normal first-shot option, and although the two have already shot well, they are still far from the connection between Rationale and O'Neal.

Playing and fighting, the Eagles seem to be playing very smoothly on the offensive end, and there are many open shooting opportunities, but the point difference is constantly being pressed!

When the official timeout reached the third quarter, the Hawks only led by two points at 71-69!

And the ball is still with the Lakers!

……

The Zen master is worthy of being a Zen master, he just gave the concept of triangle offense and handed over the problems on the field to the players to solve, but this kind of thing is not something that anyone can do, and he can combine Kobe, O'Neal, and Malone together and play relatively reasonably, especially Kobe, an old stubborn, can be controlled by him.

Among them, the most terrifying thing about the Lakers now is undoubtedly the reasonable department who returned from the game, his changes have made the Lakers active as a whole, and the Lakers slashed 18 points in 7 minutes, relying on Kobe Bryant, and the disadvantage of up to 8 points was reduced to two points.

This time it was the Eagles' turn to be stunned.

After Liu Mang returned to the bench, he couldn't think of too many ways, if he could think of a way to deal with Kobe Bryant, who played reasonably, the Spurs would not have been beaten so badly.

The best and only way is to use the tactical strategy that Liu Mang has discussed many times with Coach Krueger and Coach Mike Woodson!

However, that strategy, both Coach Kruger and Mike Woodson want to save until the final Finals.

But now, it looks like it's time to have to use that!

Liu Mang came to Coach Kruger's side: "Coach, let's use that trick!" ”

The coach's on-the-spot command is very brain-intensive, some coaches don't even have the ability to command on the spot, and they can only catch blind when they encounter a different situation than expected, Coach Kruger has the ability to command on the spot, but he also has a headache when he encounters such a Kobe, which is a guy that Popovich can't think of a way to restrict.

"Do you really want to use that?" Hearing Liu Mang's suggestion, Coach Kruger was a little hesitant, he really thought that strategy was great, but he really wanted to save it for the end.

Seeing that Coach Kruger's expression was full of hesitation, Liu Mang looked at the special card that had been kept useless in the system space, and proposed again: "Coach, use it, even if they think of a way to deal with it, it doesn't matter, I have a better way in the finals!" ”

"......" Coach Kruger really doesn't know how Liu Mang's brain grows, seeing Liu Mang's determined look, Coach Kruger has no doubt that Liu Mang must have a bad idea again, to be honest, Coach Kruger really admires it.

After a while, Coach Kruger is also ready to go out, and the Lakers have to establish a winning advantage in the regular season, and they have to make their players confident, the Lakers' Big Four look too terrifying, these superstars will obviously be even more terrifying in the playoffs, if they lose the regular season, and meet them again in the finals, the psychological pressure is too great!

In that case, let's continue to believe in this unreliable disciple! It's all a tactic he came up with anyway!