Chapter 45: The winning streak

On January 18, the Lakers played against the Pistons at home, and Jones announced that he would return from injury, which gave the Lakers a boost of momentum. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The impact of Jones' return on the team was clear, and while he didn't feel good when he first came back, he attracted the Pistons' defensive center of gravity, which made it easier for Bryant.

Harris didn't re-disrupt the tactics that he had practiced for so many games because of Jones' return, which will have a certain impact on the Lakers' offensive and defensive ends, but it's a big deal to run in a few more games.

What's more, the Lakers, a strong team like the Pistons, have already lost to them once before, and if they return to the old routine, they will definitely lose.

Sure enough, Harris didn't do anything wrong, and Tony turned over the Pistons on the inside, forcing the Pistons defense to shrink.

After so many games, Tony is no longer the brainless stunned young man he once was, and now he can pass the ball out of the outside in time when he encounters a bag defense, which makes Kobe Bryant more comfortable.

If it weren't for the Pistons' Grant Hill who stepped up at the last moment, hit a mid-range shot and scored four points in a row to help the Pistons kill the Lakers, the Lakers would have almost won this game.

Although it is a bit regrettable to lose, Harris is still very satisfied, the Lakers players who can play to this extent with the Pistons have performed very well, and if Tony can continue to play like this, then the Lakers may become a dark horse in the playoffs.

Then the Lakers officially embarked on the winning track, first on January 20 at home with Kobe Bryant's 20+5+4 and Toney's 20+12 easily defeated the Dallas Mavericks 109-99, and then after a three-day break, the visiting Golden State Warriors kicked their butts.

114:97

The Lakers' offense and defense have finally matured under Harris's tutelage for so many games. Although the Warriors are not a strong team, they do have good players like "Madman" Sprewell and Chris Mullin, and the average strong team will inevitably be pulled down by them if they are not careful.

In a normal game, Kobe Bryant handed over 25 points, 6 boards and 7 assists, and he gave Tony several beautiful assists, and Tony also lived up to expectations, with 22 points and 14 boards, he brutally made the Warriors lose their armor.

It's not over yet.

On January 26, the Lakers narrowly defeated the SuperSonics 104-103 away and won three in a row.

In this game, Kobe Bryant played very poorly under the strict defense of "Glove" Gary Payton, he only scored 7 points on 3-of-14 shooting, but at this time Jones's role was reflected, he took the burden of offense, and completed well, handed over a report card of 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and assisted Tony to hit a fatal kill in the final moments to overtake the score.

After beating the SuperSonics, the Lakers continued to soar.

Away 102:83 again defeated the Mavericks, Tony slashed 31 points and 10 boards to completely dominate the basket, and Kobe Bryant also announced his return with 27 points, 4 boards and 5 assists.

The next day, the Lakers narrowly defeated the Spurs 99-95 on back-to-back roads.

The Lakers ended their January run with a five-game winning streak.

With the arrival of February, the NBA is also getting closer and closer to the annual event, the NBA All-Star Game.

Voting on the All-Star Game members has also come to a fever pitch.

.......

Tony was sitting in the living room of Kobe's home, boredly flipping through the latest newspapers, while Kobe Bryant was intently playing the electric.

Jessica came home because of winter vacation, and Tony, who was idle and bored, could only run to Kobe's house every day.

"Oh my God! Kobe, you've been drafted as an All-Star! Halfway through Tony's newspaper, he jumped up, "Come and see for yourself!" The shooting guard had the second most votes, only 20,000 votes behind Drexler! ”

"What?! It's true? Kobe, who has always been calm, was also taken aback when he heard Tony's words, after all, there are only 20 people in the league who are selected as All-Stars, and being selected means that he has become one of the top people in the NBA. He snatched the newspaper from Tony's hand.

Seeing his vote, Kobe Bryant had a surprised expression on his face, and it was a great honor to be selected as an All-Star when he was a rookie.

Then scrolling down, Kobe Bryant seemed to have discovered a new continent, "You also have a chance to be selected, now the number of votes is ranked third, not much worse than Mutombo in second place, and if you are lucky, you may be selected." ”

"Haha! I'm definitely going to be selected, there are so many fans in Los Angeles, I'm sure they're going to throw me in. Tony looked like he took it for granted, and Kobe Bryant couldn't help but be a little speechless.

"That's going to depend on how you do next." Bryant laughed and tossed the newspaper to Tony and continued to hit his electric head.

......

February 2nd.

The Lakers play the Washington Bullets at home.

The Washington Bullets have a 22-22 record so far, and while the overall strength of this team is not as good as that of the Lakers, there is a lot of pressure on Tony in this game.

The Bullets have two All-Star level players on the inside, Juwan Howard and Chris Webb, although Juwan Howard's performance so far this season does not match the fact that he just signed a sky-high contract of 100 million yuan, but he can still score 189 points and rebounds every night, and Chris Webb, the 93-year-old champion, has now become a 20+10 super big man, gorgeous offense, exquisite passing has made him have a lot of fans.

Add to that the fact that they have a quasi-All-Star level Rod Strickland on the outside, and the Bullets aren't as weak as they seem on their record.

In this game, the lineup of the Bullets is very terrifying. They pulled Chris Webber into the small forward position, with George Murraysan as the center, a typical big man lineup.

Speaking of George Muressan, I have to mention his terrifying height, he is 7 feet 7 inches long, which is 2.31 meters! If you don't have an idea of this number, then in other words, looking at the entire history of the NBA, you can't find a person who can be higher than him.

There's even a saying that says how he goes, "Once Muraysan makes a shot, because the shot itself is on top of the basket, any attempt to block him will become an interference ball." ”

Obviously, the Bullets put him in the starting lineup to target Tony.

However, this is not that Muresan is invincible, although his massive frame can defend against anyone who tries to make a layup in front of him, but the price paid for this is the mobility of lateral movement.

Due to his stature, Muresan moves very slowly, and sometimes opposing players will even use his body as a single block tool to block other players on the Bullets.

The height difference of almost half a head makes Tony look almost like a defender in front of him.