Chapter 200: The Battle of the Same City Begins
After the dust settled, people began to pay attention to the highlight of this year's NBA. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info
It's not the first time that the Lakers and Clippers have met together, even in the playoffs. The last time I went to '06, the Lakers lost to the Clippers, and the Clippers won the championship.
It's a similar story this year, with the two teams meeting again in the playoffs or in the Western Conference Finals, where the winner will have a chance to play the Celtics.
People actually want the Lakers to appear, thinking that the Lakers and Celtics are both old giants, and they have always been hostile.
The Purple and Gold Army and the Green Army are not called out for nothing, they are born full of gimmicks, as long as the two teams can meet in the Finals, I believe many fans like to see it, of course, except for Clippers fans.
After the Bowen incident ended, the media began to hype up this matter, and as the NBA's only city-to-city finals, it was naturally particularly eye-catching.
The two teams also use the same stadium, and the fan base is not much different now, which is definitely a good topic.
The starters of the two sides have been decided, and the Lakers are Bynum, Gasol, Ariza, Kobe, and Fisher. The elder Dunleavy did not maintain the original starter, but sent Kaman, Milicic, Artest, Liu Su and Rajon Rondo, and let David Lee bring in the substitute.
In the opening game, Bynum jumped the ball successfully, and after Fisher dribbled the ball through the half, he handed the ball to Kobe Bryant. Again, this is the same place for the two teams, and now the core of both teams is playing the second position, and the first thing the point guard does after half court is to give the ball to the core.
In the playoffs, Kobe Bryant was not so willful and made a block with Gasol. Then Bryant went inside, got past Milicic in one step, and then went to the basket and made a backhand layup.
Rajon Rondo dribbled the ball across the half court and handed the ball to Liu Su, who also made a block with Milicic, and then cut diagonally into the corner, shook off Gasol, and hit a pull-up jump shot.
The core of the two teams began to score points, which is obviously what the vast majority of people want to see. The most appealing style of play for fans is a great offense, and if there is a dunk, it will be even better.
After one match, Bryant didn't continue to ask for the ball. Fisher hoisted the ball inside and gave it to Gasol. As the team's second-in-command, Gasol also has the right of first refusal.
Gasol hit Milicic with his back, although Milicic's defense was good, but he was still a little worse in front of Gasol, and was pushed to the basket by Milicic, Gasol turned and shot.
Kobe Bryant's organizational offense is not as good as Liu Su's, but Gasol makes up for it, and the planner of the triangle offense is more often on the inside, so the score does not change for a while, and it is very anxious to alternate rising.
In the eighth minute, the two teams began to rotate. The elder Dunleavy is no longer capricious, but follows the Lakers' rotation time to make substitutions.
The Lakers replaced Odom and Jordan Farmar with Fisher and Ariza at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions.
The Clippers also replaced David Lee and Rose, the old Dunleavy did not go to Cassel, the speed of Cassel could not keep up with Jordan Farmar, Rajon Rondo still needed to rest, so he could only go to Rose to increase defense, and Liu Su would organize the offense.
With David Lee directly, Liu Su is more likely to get rid of Kobe's entanglement. He and David Lee have been working together for three years, and the relationship is very good, the cooperation is extremely tacit, knowing some of the other party's habits, blocking and dismantling is smoother.
Odom is very strong and can still act as a playmaker in the third position, so the elder Dunleavy did not replace Artest, Artest has the best defense in the third position, Ryan Gomez and Rose are not enough to defend Odom, the two of them are either too short or not strong enough to defend.
Famar is a guard with a similar style to Rajon Rondo, very good at dunking, and likes to play fast break. Rose was a little less fast and could only make up for it with defensive prowess, keeping Farmar from playing.
The Lakers organized the offense with three people, and the Clippers organized the offense on Liu Su himself, and the pressure shifted to the Clippers for a while. Fortunately, there is no problem with Liu Su's physical strength, and his physical strength reserves are very sufficient these days, so that Liu Su can consume it with confidence.
Soon, the first quarter was over, the scores were still close between the two teams, and the Clippers led by one point. After a few minutes of recess, the second quarter began.
The elder Dunleavy changed the lineup, replaced Artest, replaced Ryan Gomez, Liu Su Laker Rose changed positions, and Liu Su played the No. 1 position.
The Lakers also made substitutions, replacing Gasol for Radmanovic and Odom going to the No. 4 spot.
The situation on the court changed immediately, Liu Su reached the No. 1 position, Famar couldn't defend him alone, he was broken through every time, and the tired inside line came out to make up for the defense, and the inside line leaked people basically to give the Clippers points.
As soon as Kobe Bryant saw the score open, he immediately took over the ball, and Odom, the biggest card on the court, would not fight with him at all, he was Kobe's little brother. But Bryant faced Rose, who played mostly in garbage time during the regular season, and then came his chance in the playoffs.
Rose has always been the Clippers' defensive spearhead, and is the third in the Clippers' defensive rankings, behind Liu Su and Artest. And he and Kobe Bryant are also old rivals, and when he played against the Lakers before, he was generally the one who limited Kobe.
There is some truth to the saying that the person who knows you best is your enemy, and there are few people in the league who know Kobe Bryant better than Rose. Rose knew how to defend Kobe, and when he saw that Kobe was going to single him, he immediately began to defend against breakthroughs, as long as he was not broken, Kobe's lethality would be much less.
Kobe Bryant is very good at shooting, but Kobe's shooting also has a shortcoming, like Artest, a bit of a nerve knife, except when his hand is bursting, his shooting is not very accurate at other times.
So sometimes Kobe Bryant is not difficult to defend, and it just so happens that Kobe Bryant is not very good this year. Liu Su had been in the opposite position with Kobe Bryant for a quarter before, Kobe did not face Liu Su to shoot once, and the rest of the Clippers did not let him shoot more, Kobe Bryant only scored 5 points in the first quarter, two mid-range shots, and one free throw.
After Kobe Bryant broke through unsuccessfully, he immediately stepped back and made a quick stop jump shot, and then the basketball hit the rebound neck with a bang, bounced up, and the four inside began to get stuck in position, ready to grab the rebound.
Liu Su saw the landing point of the basketball, killed it in a few steps, held the basketball in his arms, and then began to play fast attack. But as soon as you look up, there are already two in the Lakers backcourt waiting, Kobe Bryant and Famar.
After Kobe Bryant saw Liu Su get the rebound, he immediately returned to defense, and after not conceding a goal, he also made people play a fast attack, then he was really going to lose.
After Liu Su took the ball through the half, he waited for everyone else to pull away, but found that it was Kobe Bryant in front of him, not Famar, and it seemed that Kobe was going to dislocate the defense.