"These two guys are so strong." In this game between the Spurs and the Lakers, at the beginning of the game, after O'Neal and Duncan's continuous strong attack baskets consumed a lot of physical strength, the main point of attack on the court gradually shifted to Meng Xu and Kobe. Kobe Bryant is better to say, as the Lakers' 2-in-command, and the player with the strongest individual ability and scoring ability in the team except for O'Neal, when O'Neal needs to rest and accumulate physical strength, Kobe Bryant should take over the offensive banner. And Meng Xu does not have such a status as Kobe in the Spurs, in the past, David Robinson and Duncan took turns to serve as the offensive core, but since he was injured last season, David Robinson's ability and state have declined more and more, and it is O'Neal who defends David Robinson in this game, in this case, David Robinson is basically more than enough now, and Avery Johnson, the current little general is shooting, and the breakthrough is average, and I can't count on it at this time, As for Sean Elliott, it is even more impossible to count on it, the former All-Star player has now basically degenerated into a fixed-point pitcher.

In this case, Kobe Bryant used difficult step-back jumpers in front of Meng Xu again and again when it was basically hopeless to break through on the offensive end, although under Meng Xu's interference, the shooting rate was slightly worse, but Kobe Bryant also shot 4 of 9 in the first quarter, and made 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 10 points. Unlike Kobe's back-to-back shots that are very similar to Jordan's shows, Meng Xu uses his excellent off-ball running position to constantly shake off Kobe or Rick Fox, and constantly hit back Kobe with a pull-up jump shot similar to Reggie Miller. In the end, Kobe Bryant and Meng Xu each scored 10 points in the first quarter, while the Spurs and Lakers also tied at 21.

"It's really interesting, both of them are going to be Pippen players, and now they are getting farther and farther away from Pippen." Looking at the players of the two teams who walked off the field one after another, Magic Johnson said such a paragraph without a head.

"Erwin, why do you always like to say things that people don't understand? Is it revealing the unfathomable to audiences across the United States? Taking advantage of the paused advertising time, Michaels, who was interacting with the audience behind him, asked with a slight sarcasm after hearing the magician's words, although Michaels and the magician have a very good personal relationship, but in the intention of attracting the audience, the two will always taunt each other intentionally or unintentionally in the process of commentary, deliberately creating contradictions between the two.

"El, with your intelligence, it's hard for me to explain this to you, because even if I say it, you won't understand it." After hearing Michaels's sarcasm of himself, Magic Johnson also made a disgusted and unfathomable expression, tilted his body to the side by the way, and let out a laugh in his mouth, and the audience behind him also burst into laughter after hearing the two taunt each other, and then in order to relieve the embarrassment of his partner, Magic Johnson stopped laughing and continued: "I think Popovich and Mr. Phil Jackson on the other side will definitely understand what I mean." ”

Popovich and Phil Jackson can certainly understand what Magic Johnson is saying now, whether it is in the Lakers or the Spurs, O'Neal and Duncan are the cornerstones of the team, the Jordan of their respective teams, and Kobe and Meng Xu are the helpers and 2 masters cultivated for the two, that is, the Pippen of their respective teams. But now, both Kobe Bryant and Meng Xu have deviated from the path that their respective teams have planned for them in advance. Especially Kobe Bryant is the most obvious, this unruly explosive head boy, if he was a rising star in the league last season, then after the baptism of the Western Conference Finals, Kobe has become one of the hottest superstars in the league this season. At the same time, after the beginning of this season, Kobe's desire to attack is getting stronger and stronger, compared with last season, Kobe's personal offense with the ball is also increasing, taking the previous 5 games as an example, Kobe Bryant scored 20+ points per game, including 3 games of 30+, and the average score and number of shots per game exceeded last season's large margin, but Kobe Bryant in rebounds, assists and even steals and blocks, these four data have declined to varying degrees, Kobe's performance, has indicated that he has gradually deviated from the track of a team player.

Although Meng Xu is not as obvious as Kobe, and has only participated in 3 games so far, from today's game and last week's game against the Timberwolves, it can be seen that Meng Xu's desire to attack the basket is more than one and a half stars stronger than last season.

In the second half of the second quarter, when the main lineups of the two teams returned to the court, the situation on the court was still very similar to the first quarter. Therefore, such a battle between Duncan and O'Neal for the first person in the alliance eventually evolved into a big battle between Meng Xu and Kobe.

"Coach, do you want to call a timeout?" When Meng Xu ran behind Duncan along the bottom line, and Kobe, who was defending Meng Xu, was blocked by Duncan, Duncan, who had already pushed Grant closer to the basket, passed the basketball in his hand to Meng Xu behind him, and Meng Xu increased his personal score to 20 points through this pull-up jump shot. After seeing this situation, Steve Cole, who was standing on the sidelines, also made his own suggestions to Popovich next to him. Popovich now has five assistant coaches, but if you look at it, it may be because of his long playing career, and among the assistant coaches under Popovich, Steve Kerr is extremely talented.

"Not yet." Popovich turned his head and glanced at Steve Cole, and continued to watch the situation on the court, although Meng Xu continued to score, but Meng Xu's scoring method has never been out of the scope of the team, unlike Kobe's singles with the ball, all of Meng Xu's scores are scored through his own off-ball running, receiving a pass from a teammate after throwing off the defender, and Popovich can also see that Duncan is obviously making a ball for Meng Xu in this game.

For this season's MVP, Duncan wants it very much, but in the current NBA, if you want to win the regular season MVP, you must meet the two conditions of the best team and the best player, since the NBA entered the modern era, the regular season MVP is basically the top 3 teams in the league, and even most of them are the stars of the teams with the best record in the league, such as O'Neal last season, and Malone last season, so for Duncan's MVP dream, The Spurs are going to win more games this season than they did last season, and the most important thing is to gain an advantage in the four games against the Lakers. Because in Duncan's heart, there is only one biggest competitor for his MVP, that is O'Neal, and the rest is not the remaining three of the "four big forwards", or the "four big scoring guards" and "four small forwards" that the league is going to launch, Duncan will not take it to heart, in Duncan's heart, they are no longer at the same level as themselves.

But relying on himself alone can't defeat O'Neal and his Lakers, in the past, David Robinson could help him, but with David Robinson's injury last season and getting older, he also needs another helper, and Meng Xu, who was also born in Wake Forest, is undoubtedly a very good choice. Therefore, since the beginning of this season, Duncan has been intentionally or unintentionally giving Meng Xu some opportunities, but unlike Duncan's idea, for Popovich, as long as there are signs of possible turmoil in the team, they must be strangled in the cradle immediately, so why can Phil Jackson tolerate Kobe's change, but Popovich can't tolerate Meng Xu's change.

Unlike Duncan, O'Neal is not interested in any honor in the regular season this season, O'Neal now cares about only one, that is, the championship, in order to ensure that he can win the championship this season, to ensure that he can get enough rest in the regular season, and at the same time not to be troubled by injuries, as early as the beginning of the regular season, O'Neal and Phil Jackson have discussed, in this season, O'Neal will reduce the playing time, and at the same time in the long regular season at least 10 games or so of rest is time, When it comes to the playoffs and the Finals, that's where O'Neal shines. Therefore, for Kobe Bryant's behavior of taking the initiative to take the lead, O'Neal not only supported, but even connived. But what O'Neal didn't expect was that it was because of O'Neal's connivance this season that Kobe Bryant had the idea of replacing him.

After halftime, Kobe Bryant had 23 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, and Meng Xu had 22 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals, all of which were the best players in their respective teams, while the Spurs and Lakers tied in the first quarter and tied again in the second quarter to 48 in the second quarter. When the game started in the third quarter, Meng Xu sat on the bench again and did not get a chance to play in the entire third quarter. As for the reason? Naturally, Popovich knew best, and he didn't know what to start, so Popovich set a small rule for Meng Xu to get off the court if he scored a maximum of 30 points in the regular season, so in order not to violate the rules he set, so that Meng Xu could still play in the fourth quarter, he could only press Meng Xu on the bench in the third quarter.