Chapter 154: Breakthrough Failure
The Warriors attacked, Kyle Lowry chose a jumper in the middle after shaking off Fisher, but he had no choice but to cross the line and the shot was missed again.
O'Neal showed his tremendous power again, Bynum was in position, but Odom picked up the rebound directly behind Odom, but when he grabbed the rebound, Bynum was pressed to the ground, and the referee blew O'Neal for a foul.
Bynum got up and stepped back towards O'Neal, who fired back, and the referee's whistle blew, causing an uproar in the audience.
In the end, the referee gave O'Neal a gun rebound foul, plus a technical foul, and a free throw and a throw.
Li Zhi frowned, the referee's decision was obviously not very reasonable.
Nelson stomped his foot angrily on the sidelines, but the referee ignored it.
On the Lakers' side, it was Fisher who shot 84.6% from the free-throw line this season, second only to Kobe Bryant's 85.6% on the Lakers' side.
The Lakers attacked, and the Lakers handed the ball to Gasol again this time, and Gasol was the tactical core of the Lakers and the most prominent point in the lineup against the Warriors.
The Warriors' power forward position is notoriously poor defensively, and Milicic was pinched again by Gasol as a soft persimmon, 0:8. and made a foul on Milicic.
When playing against other teams, the Warriors' weakness is not obvious, but the Lakers are different, the Warriors' No. 235 position is the top level in the league, and Lowry's defense at the No. 1 position is also extremely good, but these Lakers can have someone on the top, and there are obvious advantages in some places.
But in the No. 4 position, the Lakers are a lot taller than the Warriors, and Gasol's low-post offense, Milicic can't defend it.
Although Milicic has been in the league for 5 years, he has not been trained as a key core, and his average playing time is only about ten minutes, and he has suffered a loss in defensive experience. So even if Milicic looked annoyed, there was nothing he could do.
Gasol makes a free throw, 0:9
The Warriors attacked, O'Neal and Li Zhi blocked and dismantled in the middle, Li Zhi pushed Bynum to cut inside, Odom bypassed Bynum and pounced on Li Zhi, Li Zhi has broken through to A-, and is naturally not afraid of the middle shot.
Li Zhi shot, but Kobe, who had been staring at Li Zhi for a long time, also pounced in an instant, and the two of them were sandwiched to defend, and Li Zhi naturally failed to shoot this ball.
But O'Neal grabbed the rebound directly on the inside, and under the interference of Bynum, he exploded directly, dunked in, and pulled a foul from Bynum.
O'Neal apparently let go of the pent-up emotions in those rounds and slapped his chest at Bynum, who was grim-faced.
O'Neal misses a free throw, 2:9
Although the Warriors played this round, they relied on O'Neal's inside rebounds, and Li Zhi felt that this game was not easy to play, and the Lakers' defense was too dense.
In the next round, the Lakers attacked, and Kobe Bryant shook off Jackson and hit an extremely difficult backward shot, and the score came to 2:11.
Stephen Jackson's defense has always been at the best level in the league, but he is still powerless in the face of Kobe, who has reached the peak of his skills.
Last season, Jackson averaged 1.3 steals per game, ranking second in the Warriors, the first being Davis's 2.3.
Defending Kobe Bryant's attempts to steal and press obviously doesn't work, Kobe's dribbling skills are also top-notch, and since last season, he has reduced his singles by more than 1V, and the chance of being stolen is already very low.
The Warriors attacked, Li Zhi actively ran on the outside, and the Lakers adopted joint defense. Richie motioned for Lowry to pass the ball to O'Neal.
How hung O'Neal is now, only Li Zhi knows, saying that O'Neal is in his prime, the media does not believe it, and the coach and other players in the Warriors team do not know, so the first few rounds caused Lowry to unconsciously play the outside.
Li Zhi runs and O'Neal receives the ball inside.
Li Zhi is more experienced in the defensive system of joint defense, and the way to deal with joint defense is to play dislocated singles.
More precisely, it is to use running and blocking to create outside single opportunities, to tighten inside, to seize misplaced opportunities to attack, or to attract defenders to create opportunities for the outside.
But for the Warriors, this misalignment obviously doesn't need to block and run, because O'Neal on the inside is misaligned no matter who he faces.
O'Neal knew that he was in excellent shape and did not waste this single opportunity, and under the watchful eyes of the fans in the audience, O'Neal used the familiar way of Lakers fans, physically toughened against Bynum, and then turned around and forcibly dunked the basketball in.
4:11
Bynum's face turned red, Kobe Bryant looked at Bynum suspiciously, wondering if this guy went to a nightclub last night, he was so empty, and he was pushed by O'Neal and had no power to fight back.
But the rest of the Lakers players are already on offense, Bynum explained.
The Lakers were extremely slow at the tempo, reducing the number of rounds and trying to create another opportunity for Gasol to single Milicic.
Nelson waved his big hand and let the Warriors wrap it, O'Neal didn't move, but Li Zhi went to wrap it.
Odom shot just 32 percent from the outside and only made 1.3 shots per game, and was often emptied by the Celtics in last year's Finals.
Li Zhi did not have any psychological burden on letting Odom bag Gasol, on the contrary, he was eager to try.
Gasol saw that Richie was coming over to wrap the ball and immediately passed the ball to Odom. Everyone took Richie's covetousness of the best defensive player as a joke, but Gasol did understand the difficulty of this little brother's defense, and at the Olympics, Gasol was often bypassed by Richie's defense.
Odom got the ball, but after hesitating, he still didn't shoot directly from the outside, but took a step inside, but this dribble, the rhythm was completely out of order, and the jump shot didn't score.
Phil Jackson is obviously extremely dissatisfied with Odom's operation, and he has been emphasizing that Odom should shoot more, even if he can't shoot, he must strengthen his outside shooting, otherwise Odom will still be limited when he meets the Celtics.
Now seeing that Odom still didn't follow his orders, Jackson already had the idea of letting Odom play the sixth man.
O'Neal grabbed the rebound, and Li Zhi received the ball and went straight to the fast attack.
Kobe chased the defense, but Li Zhisheng started early, Kobe didn't catch up, Li Zhi hit a layup, 6:11.
For the next three minutes, the Lakers' defense once again limited the Warriors.
Even though O'Neal was also scoring inside, Li Zhi was restrained by Kobe, and when he broke through this move, he seemed to be completely out of order in the face of Kobe, and Kobe seemed to be able to anticipate Li Zhi's next move.
The feel is contagious, and O'Neal also has a bad hand, although every chance can appear, but he doesn't talk about putting the basketball in the basket a few times.
It caused a Gasol foul, but only one of the two free throws was made, and the score was 7:19.
Kenny Smith said: "Look, O'Neal's previous good form was just a coincidence, and now he has been defended by Odom. The Lakers are a championship contender, not a ragtag army. ”
Barkley said unconvinced: "Yes, maybe Shaq doesn't feel good, waiting for the Warriors to feel better, the Lakers will definitely be in trouble, don't forget, the Warriors are a three-point team." ”
Kenny Smith laughed: "Oh, it depends on God's brother that feels this kind of thing, can the Warriors still win the Lakers with three-pointers?" ”
Barkley was said to be dumbfounded, and he didn't think that a three-point team could win a championship team like the Lakers, and the theory of defending to win the game was the truth now. But Barkley is looking forward to the Warriors' three-point shot, and then his friend O'Neal will kill all sides, so his heart is very tangled.