After the Clippers defeated the SuperSonics, the divisional semifinals of the East and West were automatically separated-

Western Conference - Lakers (0) VS (0) Clippers; Jazz (0) VS (0) Spurs.

Eastern Conference - Bulls (0) VS (0) Knicks; Heat (0) VS () Pacers.

The Lakers' first game is scheduled for May 4, and the Bo7 series will be played with a two-day gap between Game 4 and Game 5.

Zhang Qi learned about the double reed sung by Kobe and O'Neal from the news the next day. But it has to be said that these two have cultivated an extraordinary chemistry on and off the court, and if they can still play the last two games of the first round in the second round, it will be much more difficult for the Lakers to win.

At present, the strength of this Clippers team has no obvious shortcomings, and the only weakness before this is that in addition to Cassel, Kobe and O'Neal, although Finley and Lau's fixed-point shooting is very accurate, but neither of them has the ability to attack with the ball, so as long as these two are separated from the whole team, the Clippers' offensive firepower will be much smaller.

But now it's different, previously only O'Neal could attract a two-man defense, and if Kobe's singles can be paired with O'Neal's interior offense, the Clippers can draw more defensive energy from the Lakers on the offensive end, which will not only be difficult for the two to control, but will also allow the rest of the Clippers to get more open shots.

That's the OK combination that Zen masters have been hoping for, with the SuperSonics allowing the duo to score too many points in their final two games, with the Seattlemen largely killed by the spot-up shots of Kassel, Finley and Lowe.

The reasons here are easy to analyze, but how to solve them is a bit scratching.

Harris dotted the names of the Clippers' starting five and finally circled Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers' scouting report has all the games in which the Clippers have won by more than 10 points and lost by more than 10 points this year, and there is a very conspicuous situation here, that is, as long as Kobe Bryant has 20+ points and a shooting efficiency of more than 43%, the Clippers have a chance of winning more than 70%.

There is no statistics on O'Neal's role in this report, and the peak sharks are rarely in poor shape or defended by opponents, so Kobe's performance has become the key to the Clippers' victory - as long as his performance is excellent, the Clippers can form an OK combination in the Zen master's mind, and activate the remaining three main players with two strong points, one inside and one outside, so as to break down the opponent's defense.

Then look at the Clippers' fiasco of the game, which is basically a team with top-level backcourt defensive ability, especially in the face of the Bulls and Jordan, Kobe Bryant is too immature in the game, once he can't play this, Kassel is restrained by Fan Maniac again, and the Clippers can only rely on O'Neal to win, so the Clippers faced the Bulls twice in the regular season.

Now that the Lakers want to deal with the Clippers, they must do something about Kobe Bryant and Cassel, O'Neal's lethality as a center is limited, so what if he gets a 40+?

Therefore, as long as Kobe Bryant and Kassel are controlled, it is equivalent to controlling the outside line of the Clippers, and the chances of the Lakers losing will be minimized.

Mutombo made a military order in front of the whole team this time, but unlike the last round when he promised to limit Olajuwon to less than 20 points, this old dog is very shrewd, this time he directly doubled the scope of the guarantee, and his military order is to control O'Neill under 40 points.

"I can do that!"

Zhang Yu and a cadre of the team's interior line all complained in their hearts, 40 points and a hairy military order, which interior line that is good at defense can't guarantee that O'Neal's average points per game will be limited to less than 40 points, Battle dares to pack a ticket, it's a big deal to let him throw fifty or sixty shots.

Harris felt that 40 points was enough, and as long as he could guarantee that O'Neal could not score 40 points, he would be 70% sure of winning the Clippers. Or to put it this way, he is confident that Zhang Qi can score about 40 points per game in this series, so as long as O'Neal can't score 40+ points per game, he can't play more damage than Zhang Qi, and it will be difficult for the Lakers to lose the game.

The Lakers' side quickly decided on the strategy against the Clippers, and at this time Eddie Jones gave another message that made Harris's eyes shine, he revealed: "Sometimes, Kobe Bryant will believe in himself too much, he believes that he can solve all problems alone, he believes that he can beat anyone in the world, but this often backfires, so Coach Phil always replaces him early, but I don't think he listened." ”

Zhang Wei was a little skeptical about these words, because he felt that Kobe Bryant was still in awe of O'Neal, so he shouldn't be such an unruly character, right?

What Eddie Jones didn't say was: yes, he was in awe of me at first. But soon, he wanted to replace it, and the speed of this transformation was still very fast, didn't you see that I had been driven to the Lakers?

But it is impossible for Zhang Qi to see Kobe's true character, and O'Neal is the same, for the simple reason that he has not yet replaced O'Neal as the boss, which he himself knows very well.

Now O'Neal is at his peak, and his strength is enough to convince Kobe, just like Kobe Bryant treated Jones as a big brother last season.

But then again, this year's Kobe Bryant is no longer willing to play as a substitute for Jones, so in two years, Kobe Bryant may not be willing to be O'Neal's younger brother, ambition has always been linked to strength, the negative example is Jim Jackson, that is a typical example of self-indulgence, but Kobe Bryant is still self-aware, he will not jump out to compete with O'Neal before his wings are full.

Although Zhang Zhu didn't quite believe Jones's words, this did not prevent him from turning to the way of killing before the game to deal with Kobe's provocation to himself - young people, it is the easiest to inflate, if he is really so confident and really has such great ambitions, then let him move in the direction of arrogance.

On May 3, the second round of the 97-98 playoffs began......

Zhang was interviewed by reporters before the game between the Bulls and the Knicks, and gave Kobe Bryant high praise: "I am very familiar with Bryant, I met Kobe Bryant in the tryout before the '96 draft, and I saw the competitive spirit of basketball players from him at that time, and many things about him reminded me of Jordan, the two of them are the most competitive players I have ever seen." ”

What is the identity of the baby koala now? His evaluation is a little too high.

However, Zhang Qi was not finished yet, after being asked about Kobe and the topic of four o'clock in the morning, he showed a look of indifference, and said with a smile: "I don't think this is provoking me, young people should have self-confidence, how can they be called young people if they are not confident?" ”

There seemed nothing wrong with that, and Zhang continued: "You know, that kid plays with passion and spirit, and if I have to pick someone in the league who is young and has the potential to challenge me, then I choose Bryant." At this time, the reporter asked Zhang Zhu to give Kobe some advice, and Zhang Zhu also readily accepted: "Just play alone and rely on your personal ability to win." He's a talented guy like me, so don't take the advice of memorials. Except for what I said, the rest of the people's advice is bullshit! Yes, go for it, I'm going to win the championship with Olajuwon and Jordan like this! ”

It is said that after hearing Zhang Fu's words, the Zen master was so angry that his beard straightened, which is too foolish, right?

But if you think about it carefully, there seems to be nothing wrong with these words, Olajuwon and Jordan are indeed crazy shots in the playoffs, and Zhang Yu himself is the same, which superstar doesn't break out in the playoffs?

But the question is, can the current Kobe be compared to Olajuwon and Jordan?

Of course not, now the core of the Clippers is O'Neal, and the person who makes a crazy shot can only be O'Neal, Kobe Bryant is even a little worse than playing the original role of Pippen, and the Zen master is now letting Kobe and Cassel play the role of Pippen together.

After Zhang Zhu's mouth finished running the train, he didn't know that after Kobe and O'Neal heard his words, their faces changed.

This is what the Zen master hates the most, he can see that this is sowing discord, but Kobe and O'Neal can't see it, especially Kobe Bryant was obviously touched by Zhang Mao's words, because these words are exactly what he thinks in his heart.

There is an even more coincidental thing, the game between the Bulls and the Knicks that night just confirmed Zhang's words.

In this battle, the Bulls were able to defeat the Knicks by relying on Jordan's personal ability, and the old gang leader used his personal ability and up to 30 shots to score 38 points under the steel defense line formed by the Knicks, helping the Bulls win the first game at home.

This made Kobe's eyes light up again, and the media also gave him nicknames such as "Peter Pan" and "Viper" in the past few days, and the praise in his words made O'Neal a little jealous, because in these reports, Kobe Bryant actually had more pages than him, which made the fat man unconsciously remind him of the past in Magic, when Hardaway won the game, and it was his turn to take the blame when he lost, this feeling is too familiar and too bad!

Zhang Wei of course intended to sow discord between the two, and he did not even take the initiative to mention O'Neal in several interviews before the game. Occasionally, O'Neill's name was mentioned only when asked by reporters. This also made the fat man feel even worse, and secretly made up his mind: in the first match of the semi-finals, he must let people see the power of his Shaq big diesel engine.

At this time, neither O'Neal nor Kobe Bryant knew that Zhang Qi said directly to his teammates in the last tactical class within the team: "Listen, we have to do this in this round of the series, we have to wrap up those players who have not received big contracts, especially Kobe, make sure that it is difficult for them to touch the ball, and do not give them a chance to shoot!" And for the players who have already received the maximum salary, you all know who I'm talking about, we just need to go to the single defense. Then, you'll see that the players with small contracts will complain all night that they haven't received the ball, and we'll watch them fight themselves! ”

Zhang Mao's words are already very straightforward, he wants to wrap Kobe and Kassel, especially Kobe, no one can let Kobe take the ball.

In the past few days, he and the media have been touting Kobe Bryant, and even their common agent is privately encouraging Kobe to take the ball to attack, if he can't catch the ball at all in the game, and can only watch O'Neal fight alone, what will Kobe be in at that time?

This little kid who is a year younger than himself, does he have enough emotional intelligence to deal with this situation?

Harris felt that this did not conflict with his own tactics, in fact, it was completely consistent with his thinking, and he certainly would not oppose Zhang Mao's plan.

On the other side, after the Bulls defeated the Knicks at home, the Jazz and Spurs also started their first match.

Zhang Qi is looking forward to this game even more, and he wants to know which is more powerful, the double front combination of Malone + McDyce and the twin tower lineup of David Robinson + Duncan?

In another time and space, the Spurs twin towers were still a little short of the Utah twins, but this was not the real reason for the loss, when the real gap between the Spurs was the outside, and the result was easily taken away by the Jazz 4:1.

But in this time and space, the Spurs' outside line is not weak, especially the addition of Clifford + David Wesley, which is enough to make up for the team's lack of firepower.

However, this only makes up for the shortcomings, as long as you look at the Jazz's ability to value more than 80 outside, you can know that the Spurs are still not as strong as the Jazz in terms of overall strength.

However, the decisive event today was not the strength of the team, but an unexpected event that stunned fans all over the world!

Malone, the man whose lungs can't be knocked down, is destined to become the Spurs' number one public enemy after tonight, because he actually suddenly flew up and kicked Duncan in the face in the fourth quarter, and kicked Duncan, who scored 32 points today, into a state of shock with just one blow.

The "Postman's" kick was earth-shattering, and David Robinson next to him was stunned, wondering if he recalled the past when he was knocked unconscious by that iron elbow.

Zhang Wei also looked stupid in front of the TV, he never thought that Ma Long would have such a crippled kung fu, and he could kick Duncan into shock on the spot for several seconds, and the tragic situation was exactly the same as David Robinson back then.

"Don't even pull me, let me go up and kill that bastard!"

Naturally, Popovich couldn't help but use his poisoned umbrella gun to kill someone on the field, this bastard bullied David Robinson back then, and now he's bullying Duncan, is it really easy for them to bully San Antonio?

Ma Long's kick also made him pay the price of a malicious foul, but unfortunately the referee only gave a "first-level malicious foul", and the chance of Ma Long being banned in the next game is not great.

Seeing this, Popovich felt the urge to take out the referees again, and he felt that everyone was targeting his Spurs and Duncan this season.

Duncan was in shock for a few seconds after being kicked by Malone, and although he came to his senses and asked to return to the court, Popovich was really uneasy and forced Duncan to be examined.

In the final five minutes, the Spurs had to use David Robinson alone to resist the Jazz's gang of vicious thugs, and naturally ended up being beaten all over the head.

The Jazz also lost Malone, but it didn't affect too much, and McDies was still able to play a near-unsolvable pick-and-roll with Stockton. Coupled with the excellent play of Eric Williams, Jeff Hornacek, Dow Christie and others, the Spurs were defeated suddenly.

It can be seen that the Jazz are still better than the Spurs in terms of hardware, especially the reserve strength on the outside makes the Lakers ashamed.

The final score was 97:88, and the Spurs resisted most of the game on the road, but they lost to a volley kick from Malone, and felt sorry for Duncan for a second.

"Amen, may Allah bless you!"

Zhang Yu folded his hands and sympathized with the unlucky Duncan in his heart, this guy was already stupid, don't kick stupidly.

After sympathizing with Duncan in his heart, Zhang Qian thought of Kobe Bryant, who had provoked him before, and a bold idea suddenly appeared in his head: "Should I also use flying kicks to teach that guy a lesson?" "Baby Koala has always thought of it, and at night he decisively let Hepburn and Miss Monroe stand in a good position, he has to study it carefully, how to kick people unconscious on the premise of only eating technical fouls.

Zhang Yu saw the power of the flying kick from Ma Long today, as long as he practiced this trick well, he would definitely make those little children who didn't know the height of the sky and the thickness of the sky no longer dare to speak loudly to himself.