Chapter 68: The Purple Lakers
On December 15, Li Zhi's vacation ended.
In the next game, the Warriors challenged the Lakers away and are currently ranked fourth in the West and are a strong team in the West.
The Warriors were very excited because Li Zhi was back in this game, and they missed Li Zhi immensely in the days without Li Zhi.
At the end of last season's "Black Eight", many teams were studying the Warriors, and Nelson Sr.'s seven-man rotation last season had been thoroughly studied by other teams, and Byron Davis was held back to win.
Compared to the Warriors' poor record, the Lakers are at the top of the rankings, but Kobe Bryant couldn't be happier.
He was kicked out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs last season by his old rival Suns, and this season Kobe Bryant worked hard to get back on his feet, but his record was not up or down.
In the MVP ranking given by ESPN, Kobe Bryant ranked first, but many experts and fans agree that Kobe Bryant's strength does not reach the MVP level, and his teammates do not have the CBA as everyone thinks.
Some media broke the news that Kobe Bryant has put pressure on the Lakers management to trade an All-Star-level helper, otherwise he will trade himself.
Trading himself, Kobe Bryant once again came up with this killer feature to threaten management, and Lakers manager Mitch Kupchak could only rack his brains to operate, hoping to bring a helper to Kobe Bryant after the All-Star.
And the Lakers' target is rumored to be Pau Gasol of the Grizzlies.
……
After the game, the media still paid great attention to the Lakers, who let there be a guy named Kobe Bryant here, the first person in the league today.
Compared with the excitement of the Lakers before the game, the Warriors are undoubtedly much more deserted.
The media is generally not optimistic about the Warriors, who have lost eight in a row, and predicted that the Lakers would win comfortably in Staples before the game.
There are also more people in the Black Warriors, and many people on the Internet think that without Harrington, the Warriors' interior strength is even weaker, and many teams have seized on this weakness of the Warriors.
Some people even blacked the old coach Nelson during this time, thinking that his tactics were the main reason for the Warriors' losing streak.
Before the game began, Lee Zhidu got the information sheet of the Lakers players. The Warriors' scouts are dedicated, and the performance of each of the opposing players every season is clearly written in those tactics.
Li Zhi started this game as a small forward, against Lamar Odom.
Ramal Odom was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1999 NBA Draft at No. 4 in the first round.
In the 2004-05 season, when the Lakers did not renew the contract of Shaquille O'Neal, Parker Riley saw a needle and successfully extradited the Sharks with Odom, Butler and Grant as trade chips, and Odom returned to Los Angeles wearing the purple and gold jersey.
However, in Odom's first year with the Lakers, the team suffered injuries from the coach to the players, which prevented the Lakers from making the playoffs.
However, in the next two seasons, Odom completed the comeback, and in the 2005-06 season, Odom played 80 games for the Lakers, he averaged 14.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and Odom also became the only all-around player in the league with 14+ points, 9+ rebounds and 5+ assists.
This season, Odom has become Kobe's most reliable teammate, although the poor playoff record in consecutive seasons has made Kobe impatient and he has asked to be traded by the team, but Odom's presence still gives Kobe a glimmer of hope.
Able to control the ball, can play four, fast-paced or even top five, regularly stands near the three-point line, can play fast-break, Odom is like James Trumpet.
There is still a lot of pressure on Odom Rich, the organizational small forward is not easy to deal with, the Lakers have a lot of outside shooters, and Odom can deliver assists if he is not careful.
The Lakers' power forward position is Luke Walton, a good blue-collar player, although he is not physically outstanding and his shooting has always been criticized, but he has a very high basketball IQ, can always stay calm on the court, has extraordinary insight, is very good at passing, has a strong sense of the big picture in the game, and can strictly implement Phil Jackson's triangle strategy.
The current Wharton is not the head coach of the Lakers in the future, and he is a little immature.
At the center position is "Little Shark" Bynum, who has excellent physical attributes, can grab rebounds, and is good at blocking.
The youthful Bynum once challenged O'Neal, although the guy was just as sparse as O'Neal.
The media ridiculed that O'Neal and Bynum must have started a battle over free throws.
On the guard line, the Lakers point guard is "Little Fish" Fisher.
"He's a shooter, he's a guy who can get offensive fouls on the defensive end to get the ball back, he's good at stealing, and he's tough defensively. He was the one Bryant trusted when he was caught in the bag and could make key shots in crucial moments. That's what Warriors scouts say about Fisher, and it's not high.
Finally, the finale was the leader of the Lakers, the first person in the NBA, Kobe Bryant.
This year, ESPN's sports reporters voted for the greatest shooting guard of all time, and Kobe Bryant finished second behind Jordan.
The closest person to God?
Li Zhi thought like this, and his heart was full of fighting spirit.
The game was broadcast live across the United States.
Barkley and Kenny Smith were also on the scene, and the pre-game analysis said: "The Lakers are currently on an eight-game winning streak and are on a strong streak, while the Warriors are losing eight in a row. I think the Lakers won this game. ”
Kenny Smith smiled: "I don't think so, although the Warriors have lost 8 in a row, but you see that they are also very scrappy now, not at all like a team that has not won 8 games in a row." Compared to this game, I would like to see George Lee who returned from injury, you know, in the Warriors' 8-game losing streak, Li Zhi did not play a game. ”
The live broadcast camera was given to Li Zhi, and Li Zhi, who was shooting, smiled at the camera.
Activating the attributes of the Super Saiyan, Li Zhi is now feeling hot, and he has scored more than a dozen three-pointers in a row.
After Kenny Smith read the starting materials of the two teams, he smiled: "The Warriors and the Lakers are really alike, the core of the line, and the power forward position is sparse." ”
Barkley nodded and said: "It's really quite similar, as you can see from the previous games, Li Zhi has played as a playmaker under Nelson's arrangement, and his performance is not bad, but I am still optimistic about Odom, he has already won 2 triple-doubles this season." ”
Kenny Smith shook his head and changed the subject: "The Warriors and Lakers' power forwards are Luke Walton and Matt Barnes, both of whom have no offensive power, and it seems that this is an outside battle." ”
Barkley laughed and said, "There is no chance of the Warriors on the outside, look at it, Kobe Bryant, the first man in the league, I don't think Montaelis can stop Kobe from scoring, and Fisher will definitely guard against Byron Davis." ”
There seems to be some truth to Barkley's words, and Byron Davis is absolutely painful to face a defender as tough as Derrick Fisher.
"Don't take advantage of it, let's watch the game." Kenny Smith was speechless.
Barkley laughed arrogantly: "Watch the game, watch the game, but the Warriors can't win the game." ”
Kenny Smith was clever enough not to bother with Barkley, concentrating on analyzing Pisa.