At the end of the third game, the Lakers' Big Three were all gloomy and lost, which made the pressure on the Big Three suddenly double, the Lakers have been forming the Big Three for two seasons, and it is understandable that they did not win the championship in the first season, but if the second season still does not form a Big Three lineup, then the Lakers' Big Three will lose its meaning.

The Lakers did not hesitate to send many team heroes, trading Paul and Howard, in order to let them help the Lakers continue to win championships, if they can't win the championship, why did the Lakers waste so much money to bring them in?

What's more, at the end of this season, both Paul and Howard's contracts will expire, after the Lakers tried to renew their contracts in the middle of the regular season, and both of them have maintained a wait-and-see attitude, both of which have expressed their desire to make a decision after the season.

Paul and Howard's intentions are very obvious, they are looking to see if the Lakers can win the championship, if not, even if the Lakers give both of them a maximum salary at the same time, they will not stay with the Lakers.

This playoffs can be regarded as the last fight of the Lakers, if they succeed in winning the championship, it will naturally be a happy thing, Paul and Howard will choose to renew their contracts, and after Kobe's contract expires, it is estimated that he will also choose to take a salary cut to stay with the Lakers, and the Lakers' dynasty is clearly visible.

But if they lose, the Lakers dynasty is basically over.

There are countless teams in the league that have pursued Paul Howard, and they don't need to stay in the Lakers as one of the many core players all the time, with the strength of the two of them, being the absolute core is completely easy. And the Lakers will only have Kobe Bryant alone, and Kobe Bryant is already 35 years old, can he maintain his peak condition, and even if he does, what can he do? 05,06 is Kobe's most golden and strongest period, but when he leads the team alone, it is still difficult for the Lakers to enter the playoffs.

So, for the Lakers, this is a playoff game that can't be lost, if you lose, the Lakers lose everything, the whole dynasty needs to be torn down and rebuilt, and if you win, the future will continue to be bright.

Because of this, in the fourth game with the Hornets, the Lakers played extremely strongly, Paul's breakthrough shot, Kobe's emergency stop shooting, Howard's strong inside play, the Lakers finally played the most dominant game this season, the formation of the Big Three, often means that these three people will sacrifice their own data, sacrifice their right to shoot, many people will play a little lower in this situation, and in this game, the Lakers' three giants have played their strongest level.

Because of this, the Hornets undoubtedly lost the fourth game, although Wang Meng wanted to turn the tables, but the difference between the two sides was too big, even if he used the skills of hitting and exploding instantly, he could not quickly catch up with the score gap.

If Wang Meng suddenly smoked and played a 35.13 seconds like Maddie back then, maybe it would be possible to turn the tables, but unfortunately only Maddie has done it alone in this miracle league, and Maddie has only done it once in his life.

In the end, Wang Meng scored a team-high 29 points and handed out 13 assists, but with Paul's 25 points and 12 assists, Kobe Bryant's 35 points, 4 assists and 6 rebounds, and Howard's 28 points and 14 rebounds, he had no choice but to accept the fact that he lost the game.

Losing this game, the score between the Hornets and the Lakers became 2:2, and it was time for the favorite battle of Tianwang Mountain, the only thing that the Hornets were thankful for was that the home court of the Battle of Tianwang Mountain was held at the Hornets' New Orleans Arena, and the Hornets still had a home court advantage.

This game is likely to be related to the final victory of this series, so both the Hornets and the Lakers take this game very seriously, in fact, in every game in the playoffs, no matter which team will take it very seriously.

At the beginning of the game, the Lakers' Big Three had another sign of a strong performance in the last game, but the Hornets who have been actively adjusted are not without a way to deal with it, although the Lakers Big Three seem to be very terrifying, but the Hornets also have a very luxurious lineup, Wang Meng, Roy, Wallace, Gasol, which is equivalent to four All-Star level players If you want to calculate carefully, Oden can also be counted among the All-Star players, that is to say, the Hornets also have 5 All-Star players, so although the Lakers are very bullish, But wasps aren't vegetarian either.

In this game, both Wang Meng and Kobe Bryant chose to give up each other's defense by default, and the four games have made them clearly feel that they have exhausted their efforts to defend the opponent's strongest attacker, and the effect is not ideal.

Wang Meng can't defend Kobe, Kobe Bryant can't prevent Wang Meng either, and at the same time, the two people who have consumed a lot of physical strength on defense feel that if they put their minds on offense in this aspect of defense, the efficiency may be better.

So the two of them inexplicably returned to their respective positions.

Wang Meng's defensive object was changed to Paul, and Kobe's defensive object was changed back to Roy or Tony Allen.

This kind of change, although it doesn't seem too much on the surface, actually makes the offensive efficiency of both sides instantly improve a lot. Because whether it is Paul defending Wang Meng or Tony Allen defending Kobe, there is a certain gap in height, which makes it easier for them to attack.

But soon, this ease of Kobe Bryant disappeared.

When the Hornets replaced Roy, Kobe Bryant did not have as good points as before, Roy's defensive skills naturally needless to say, as the core and recognized boss of a team that year, Roy's single defense skills are very deep, plus excellent physical coordination, which also makes his defensive ability more outstanding.

Although it is not impossible for Kobe to score in front of Roy, it will undoubtedly waste more physical strength than Tony Allen, so that the Hornets finally have a small advantage.

Under Roy's defense, Kobe Bryant missed the basket on both shots, and the Hornets took advantage of this opportunity to score consecutive points, which soon widened the gap between the two sides.

At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets had a 14-point lead over the Lakers at home, and in the second quarter, the Lakers still couldn't catch up.

By this time, a large part of the Hornets fans had begun to celebrate with each other, because in the second quarter, the Hornets once again widened the difference, and by halftime, the Hornets had led the Lakers by a full twenty points.

"Knock out the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals! Knock out the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals! Finals knock out the Heat! Hornets fans cheered loudly.

In the other arena in the West, the game between the Thunder and the Spurs is almost coming to an end, the score of the Spurs and the Thunder is 3:2, and the Spurs can win one more game to turn the score into 4:2 and advance smoothly.

The game between these two teams has been very intense, and the young players of the Hornets have fought hard, but the Spurs' interior lineup is too terrifying, and the interior combination of Duncan and Yao Ming has been called one of the strongest interior combinations in history.

Not surprisingly, if the Hornets advance, then they should face Spurs.

As for the East, although the situation is a little uncertain, it still looks like the Heat will be dominant, the Knicks and the Pacers, although they have a good level, but there is still a big gap compared to the Heat, the NBA championship plus the third consecutive win in history, no one will doubt that the Heat will not be able to go to the Finals.

Well, to get back to the point, although the Hornets fans chanted such slogans, the game between the Hornets and the Lakers was not over yet.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Hornets fans were a little unable to scream.

The Lakers launched a scoring operation under the leadership of Paul, Paul himself first scored a three-pointer, and then a variety of breakthrough layups plus pass assists, although Wang Meng is now responsible for defending Paul, but in the continuous blocking and dismantling, Paul finally found a gap.

With Paul's help, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run, and it wasn't over yet, as the Hornets players focused on Paul and didn't let him easily use pick-and-roll tactics to find gaps.

Paul also has a way of dealing with this, and in fact, he has used it in several games against the Hornets.

That way to do that is to give the ball to Kobe Bryant, or to Howard.

It may be humiliating to say, but it's actually the most efficient way, both Kobe Bryant and Howard have more offensive ability than Paul, and when playing with these players, giving them the ball and letting them play on their own is one of the most effective ways, and they always have a way to get the basketball into the basket safely.

This time was no exception, Paul passed the ball to Howard on the inside, Howard chose to play the inside, and relied on Oden to play strongly.

By this time, the Hornets' lead in points was running out. For the sake of safety, the attack on the Hornets' side was carried out by Wang Meng, but unfortunately, Wang Meng's hand seemed to be a little bad at this time, and two consecutive outside shots were off.

With this almost, the Lakers fought back and finally caught up with the score gap.

At this moment, the wasps suddenly felt exponentially the pressure, especially Wang Meng.

The third quarter is about to end, but there is no gap between the scores of the Hornets and the Lakers, so that in the fourth quarter of the game, the Hornets and the Lakers will be a starting line. And as the team that won the jump ball in this game, the Lakers also had the right to serve in the fourth quarter.

"Whew." Wang Meng took a deep breath, he knew that at such a critical moment, he still needed to rely on himself.

At the end of the third quarter, the Hornets 83: Lakers 80, entered the fourth quarter with a three-point advantage.

As soon as the fourth quarter came up, Paul used a three-pointer to chase the three-point gap back, and the Lakers fans immediately cheered. "How can it be so easy to catch up?" In the face of Paul's three points, Wang Meng's choice was to fight back head-on.

"Instant explosion!" As in previous games, as soon as Wang Meng opened the instant explosion, Paul's defense instantly became as fragile as paper, Wang Meng easily tore this layer of paper, and rushed into the Lakers inside.

Howard immediately came up from the inside to make up for the defense, and the moment Howard moved, the basketball in Wang Meng's hand had already flown out like a cannonball.

Oden hurriedly received the pass, and Wang Meng's passing accuracy was also affected in an instantaneous explosion, so Oden did not receive the pass very smoothly, and after adjusting for a while, Oden still sent the ball to the basket before Howard came back to make up for the defense.

This is not over, in the face of Paul's defense, Wang Meng's biggest advantage is not to break through, but to shoot.

On the Lakers' side, Kobe Bryant attacked with the ball, and Kobe singled out to defend his Tony Allen, and shot a back-to-back jumper, but the basketball went out of the frame and the rebound was confiscated by Gasol.

Wang Meng received the pass, immediately went down, and hit a three-point jumper from outside the three-point line.

Through Wang Meng's unremitting efforts and the hard defense of other Hornets players, the Hornets finally led the Lakers by 5 points.

And these 5 points are a sword hanging above the Lakers' heads, and it seems that they will fall down at any time and cut off the Lakers' heads.

As the game time gets shorter and shorter, the Lakers are finally in a hurry.

"Wang Meng's ability to deal with key balls is too strong! It must not be dragged into a critical period! Bryant made quick judgments on the field and waved at the players on the court.

The Lakers' players were nervous at the same time, and Paul and Howard couldn't help but be stunned.

Bryant's gesture was very obvious, which meant that he was going to prepare for the singles.

Singles at such times? Kobe's intentions were already obvious, and he decided to use his strength to solve the victory of this game.

Paul Howard and the two looked at each other, and finally chose to believe Kobe, after all, they were willing to join the Lakers in order to make Kobe Bryant's terrifying play at critical moments.

This gesture is not a secret gesture, so most of the players on the Hornets side can understand it.

"Ready to play singles?" Seeing this, Wang Meng immediately said to Roy on the side: "Brandon, let's change our guards!" ”

Roy smiled slightly, but did not refuse.

In fact, as the boss of the Trail Blazers, Kobe Bryant wanted to play alone, and he was not afraid at all, but as a player with a high ball quotient, Roy knew that Wang Meng's restrictions on Kobe Bryant on the defensive end were stronger than himself, because Wang Meng's speed and bounce were very strong, and Kobe's shooting percentage in the face of Wang Meng's defense was far less high than when facing himself and Tony Allen.

Bryant held the ball and stood at the top of the three-point line, and the other players, including Paul and Howard, also scattered in all directions, leaving Bryant plenty of room to play alone.

Looking at Wang Meng, who was standing in front of him and defending himself seriously, Kobe Bryant couldn't help but have a lot of thoughts.

Wang Meng's eyes were as good as ever, with an absolute sense of firmness in the certification, as if he was sure that he would definitely be able to guard against this ball.

"I remember the first time I saw this look three years ago." Kobe Bryant thought silently: "Wang Meng was very young at that time, whether it was technology or mentality, he was an absolute rookie. ”

However, the rookie's progress has been so rapid that in just one season, he has grown into one of the league's rare superstars, and in the second season, he led the Hornets to the second round of the playoffs as a key player on another team.

And in this third season, he has led the Hornets to the second round of the playoffs, and at the same time forced Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to such a situation.

Sometimes, Kobe Bryant always wonders what would have happened if the Lakers hadn't traded Paul and Howard in the first place, but had kept the same roster. Is it possible for the Lakers to win four consecutive championships, even five consecutive championships, and six consecutive championships?

However, regret pills are not sold.

Bryant sighed softly, his hand holding the ball froze suddenly, and then his whole body tensed like a cheetah. "Since there is no regret medicine, then calm down and work hard to play this game!"

"It's coming!" Wang Meng's eyes were clear, staring at Kobe Bryant, not even letting go of his every subtle move.

However, Wang Meng didn't see the gorgeous style of Kobe Bryant in his imagination, outside the three-point line, Kobe Bryant just held the ball and suddenly jumped on the spot.

"I'm rubbing! It's this trick again?!! Wang Meng was taken aback and hurriedly pounced on the defense, but it seemed to be a little late at this time, Kobe Bryant's jump with a very large range of backwards, Wang Meng's interference had no effect, the basketball crossed a beautiful arc in the air, and then gently fell into the net.

"Damn it!" Wang Meng scolded fiercely in his heart, the more critical this kind of moment, Kobe's convulsions became more and more incomprehensible, and this feeling of not knowing how to defend made Wang Meng feel very unhappy.

"Since you can't prevent it, then just attack with all your might!" Wang Meng's heart was crossed, he simply broke the jar and broke it, and you are not the only one who will have convulsions!

Wang Meng ended up serving, stepped up his legs and ran outside the three-point line, and at this time, the player who defended him also changed from Paul to Kobe.

"I can't stop you, but can't you just as much about me?" Wang Meng doesn't know Kobe's backward jump shooting skills, but Wang Meng's skills are even more.

Butterfly wears flower steps with drift shooting, this move has become one of Wang Meng's common moves in the playoffs, the defense of the playoffs is different from the regular season, even if it is an instant explosion, the chance for Wang Meng to break through the inside smoothly is very small, but the opportunity to shoot from the outside is even greater.

Kobe Bryant at his peak still can't prevent butterflies from wearing flower steps, not to mention Kobe Bryant, who is now old? Coupled with his own drift shooting, Kobe Bryant was completely thrown away by Wang Meng, watching Wang Meng shoot two points from mid-range.

The two of you have a ball and I have a ball, as if a team game has become their own bullring, but to the surprise of fans, whether it is the Hornets or the Lakers players, they are all willing to act as the background of the two people, only doing some basic actions such as grabbing rebounds and controlling the ball over half the court. At this moment, this game seems to have turned into a game between Wang Meng and Kobe.

(To be continued)