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Defeating the Spurs in San Antonio is of great significance to the Los Angeles Lakers, it can be said that this game has liberated the pressure of the Lakers and Zhuang Fei in recent times, after all, as far as the NBA is concerned, 1-3 and 2-2 are completely different, and more importantly, the content of this game is even more surprising, especially Zhuang Fei's use of Kobe in this game and Popovich's restrictions on Kobe in this game have made many people think that these two people are crazy.

In the NBA, everyone knows that Kobe Bryant is the most important team of the Lakers, with the strongest scoring and the strongest finishing ability, after all, a player who can contribute more than 42 points per game has only averaged 30 points per game in the first three games, which is obviously not a very qualified performance, especially when the Lakers have played the Terminator tactics in three games, the average of 30 points per game is even more unqualified.

And this can also be seen Popovich's determination in this series, that is, to squeeze all the Lakers' offense about Kobe, in this case, Zhuang Fei was able to directly skim Kobe from the Lakers' regular offensive map in such a key game, in the first three quarters of the fourth game between the two sides, Kobe Bryant only made 2 shots, 2 shots and 1 of 3 points, until the fourth quarter when the Lakers played the Terminator tactics, the Lakers player did not brush his score in this game to more than 20 points after the end of the game.

Zhuang Fei didn't use Kobe Bryant when the Lakers were on regular offense, and it stands to reason that Popovich should use Duncan, the team's most important defensive force, to deal with other Lakers players, but what is also speechless is that Popovich didn't do it. Instead, he was extremely resolute in pinching Kobe Bryant from the beginning. Even Webb. Hill and Hardaway messed up the Spurs, and even lost in the end, the Spurs head coach did not change his plans, which has to be said that the use of these two NBA coaches in this game makes people feel crazy.

Just like Popovich and Zhuang Fei are two crazy head coaches, this round of the series is naturally an extremely crazy series from the current point of view, at least the game has become 2-2 between the two teams now, which is something that many people have not thought of, and each of the four games is different. It's not the same for each game to take the initiative, and for now, it's not so easy to say how the game will play out next, as reported by USA Today the day after this game.

"The twists and turns of this round of the series will be rare in the past, such twists and turns are not entanglement and twists on the big score, but the continuous change of the game situation, one thing can be determined, the next battle between the two sides of Tianwang Mountain, Popovich will definitely turn the unfavorable situation of this game, just like Zhuang Fei did in this game. And in the end, the winner of this series will be the one with the most solutions."

Here's America's take on this series, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Spurs going 2-2. In fact, the New York Knicks and Celtics on the other side are also inextricable in terms of score, but this matchup is not said to be a plot twist by the United States Today, because the two teams in this matchup are not constantly changing their tactics and playing styles, one is the limit of defense, the other is the inside-out offense, as for the outcome of the game, it does not depend on the wits of the two head coaches on the sidelines or the revision of tactics, It's which side can play better in a game and the opponent doesn't play as well as themselves, such a game and Celtic and Spurs naturally can't be compared.

Of course, after the Lakers defeated the Spurs away, public opinion in the United States changed again, and the situation that everyone taught the Lakers and Zhuang Fei before the start of the game has changed dramatically, although there are many media who have looked down on the Lakers a day or two ago, but after all, it is just a decline, and there is no direct saying like the failure in New York that the Spurs won four games in a row and finally killed the Lakers 4-1. So the day after the end of this game, Lakers fans suddenly found out again that the "hat of the strongest team in history" that had just lost was put on the Lakers' head again, which somewhat made these Lakers fans a little speechless, and the change of face of these guys was incredible.

But anyway, for the victory of this game, Lakers fans have put down a big rock in their hearts, this season is a very legendary season, whether it is Webber's triple-double, Kobe's average of 40+ per game, or the Lakers' 80 wins, these can be called miracles, in such a miracle season no one does not want him to be perfect, since he hopes to be perfect, then finally winning this season's NBA championship is the most perfect node, before this round of the series, swept the opponent in two consecutive rounds, In the context of the general entanglement in this year's playoffs, the Lakers' performance is very reassuring, but when facing the Spurs and Popovich in this round of the series, Lakers fans feel a little mysterious, although they know that the outside world has been saying that the Spurs will cause trouble for the Lakers before this round of the series opens, but for now, this is definitely not just about causing trouble.

But fortunately, the Lakers survived the first wave of extremely dangerous moments, and now the second wave is coming to a more dangerous moment, the fifth game of the battle between the two sides, the winner of this game can basically be said to have one foot in the door of the finals, after all, everyone knows that whether it is Zhuang Fei or Popovich, these two people are the kind of people who will never let go after seeing the opportunity, let these two get the match point in advance, that means tragedy.

In this case, before the fifth game of the Los Angeles Lakers and Spurs on June 1, the fan atmosphere in Los Angeles has been good in recent times, and these Los Angeles Lakers fans are preparing a very special way to cheer on their team's home game

"Kobe, how do you feel about your performance in these games?"

On May 30, 2005, the Los Angeles Lakers head coach's office, it was the first day the Los Angeles Lakers returned to Los Angeles from San Antonio, and on this day, the Lakers resumed training in the afternoon. When Kobe Bryant first came to the team, he was called to the team's head coach's office by the team's head coach Zhuang Fei. And this is a little apprehensive for Kobe, who has not performed very well in recent times.

Because in the eyes of the Lakers' leading player. If it weren't for his poor performance in the second game, even if the Lakers didn't advance at this time, they would have led the Spurs 3-1 at the lowest.

But no matter how dissatisfied with his first two games, the game has passed after all, although Kobe Bryant is not a very open person, but he is not a person who always struggles with his poor performance endlessly. Especially after coming to Zhuang Fei's office, when he found that his coach's face was not ugly and he was smiling all the time, the Lakers' leading player was also a little relieved.

After the start of the playoffs, the Lakers have been playing very smoothly, whether it is sweeping the Clippers or sweeping the Raptors, there is no accident, in this case, Zhuang Fei naturally did not talk to these Lakers players in the playoffs, and now Kobe Bryant is also the first person in this aspect of the Lakers in the Lakers playoffs this season, when I think of this. Kobe, who loves face very much, feels that his face is a little hot.

"Coach, I had a terrible performance in the first few games. This round of the series is the way it is for me to do this, I dragged the team back" As the leader of this team, and Zhuang Fei was the only leader designated as soon as he entered the team, Kobe's performance this season cannot be said to be excellent, but he is also qualified, whether on or off the court He is willing to take on such a responsibility, although many times Kobe's commitment will cause chaos to the team, such as in the face of Popovich's provocation not long ago, if the Lakers leader was not stopped by Zhuang Fei, it is estimated that he would have to fight against Popovich, At that time, the Lakers will really be in a quagmire, although Kobe Bryant is sometimes very unreliable, but this season because he is the leader, and his teammates are really good, in this case, he can have such a 'guilty' idea is a very happy thing for Zhuang Fei.

Although Zhuang Fei doesn't know what Kobe was like when he was under Phil Jackson, but in the impression of Zhuang Fei's previous life, that Kobe Bryant would not take the responsibility on himself after the team had a problem, most of the time he could push it to others and never carry it himself, and those who could blame others would never reflect on themselves, from this point of view, Zhuang Fei was also very satisfied, although he did not change his style of play, but to a certain extent, it reversed his values for the team.

"yes, it's true that you've not played well in the last few games, but do you know why?" Zhuang Fei still said with a smile on his face, he didn't recruit Kobe Bryant this time to accuse the Lakers' leading player, in fact, Zhuang Fei was basically satisfied with Kobe's performance, but what surprised Zhuang Fei was that after he asked this question, Kobe Bryant actually came back immediately.

"I know, my offense is not very decisive" Looking at Zhuang Fei's somewhat surprised expression, Kobe Bryant continued with some embarrassment: "Every time a teammate passes me a very good pass, I will subconsciously think that I must score that ball, and when I think like this, I always think too much"

And this time after Kobe Bryant finished speaking, it was Zhuang Fei's turn to be a little stunned, in Zhuang Fei's opinion, the reason why Kobe Bryant was so limited by the Spurs in the previous game is that he is not confident in his own shooting, although more impact on the basket is not a bad way to play, but it is not suitable to play like this when facing the Spurs, the best offense in the face of the Spurs is to shoot at the first opportunity, rather than hesitating how to impact the basket, in this case, The performance of this Lakers player will naturally make people think of his lack of confidence in his shooting, but from the current point of view, shooting is not confident in one aspect, the opportunities created by his teammates are too good, making him feel that he should not waste any opportunity is the main reason why he plays so conservatively, Kobe's words made Zhuang Fei think of the Heat James before he crossed over, the more he let him shoot, the more he couldn't shoot, although Kobe's current problem is different from James's problem, but it is essentially the same, Zhuang Fei also smiled when he thought of this, if it was this problem, it would be easier to solve.

"Kobe, I know what your concerns are, do you remember when I came to the team and said to you that this team belonged to you in the past, belongs to you now, and belongs to you in the future?" Zhuang Fei looked at the team leader in front of him and said with a smile, and after Zhuang Fei finished speaking, Kobe Bryant also nodded, of course he remembered. This is the first time someone has said such things to him. At that time, when I heard Zhuang Fei say this, the Lakers leader player's head was a little dizzy. The meaning of this sentence is obvious, in Zhuang Fei's view, the leader of the Lakers was him Kobe Bryant in the past, and now the leader of the team is still him Kobe after Zhuang Fei became the owner, even in the future, no matter what happens, he is still the only player in charge of this team, which is very motivating for Kobe Bryant, who was at the lowest point in his life at that time. So when I heard Zhuang Fei talk about this matter, the Lakers' leading player also looked a little abnormally excited.

"So, you need to have a superior consciousness now, you have to know that you are different from other Lakers players, you can waste all the opportunities without being punished by me, and even if you waste all the opportunities, your teammates have no right to blame you, all you need to do is to be able to carry this team under everyone's eyes" After Zhuang Fei finished speaking, Kobe Bryant was a little stunned, although Kobe Bryant was very childish many times, but Zhuang Fei's words were already very straightforward, and he understood.

At this time, Zhuang Fei actually regretted it a little, the reason why Kobe Bryant is now putting his position very low. It was he who caused it, and he originally wanted Kobe Bryant to know the importance of the team. So let the Lakers three elders abuse Kobe Bryant for three or four months before this season, in this case, even if Kobe Bryant is proud, I am afraid that he will not be proud in front of the three elders, although Zhuang Fei said that he is the only leader of the team, but he cannot have the courage to lead in the face of the three elders.

For Kobe, Zhuang Fei now feels that he is a little overkill, such an overcorrected Kobe can appear the kind of offensive method that Zhuang Fei wants, and this is probably the reason why the Lakers master player has not made much progress in the previous shooting training, and is very conservative in the game, he subconsciously thinks that this team is not his alone, he needs to pay attention to Hill and Webb's feelings, which he put on a shackle.

And now what Zhuang Fei needs is to help Kobe Bryant untie this shackle.

"Coach, I think I know what to do, if the team can beat the Spurs, I am willing to change my leadership method for the team" After a short silence, Kobe Bryant, who had been half-bowing his head, also suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhuang Fei and said firmly, and at this time Zhuang Fei looked at his disciple and nodded with satisfaction.

"We will win" When Zhuang Fei looked into Kobe's eyes and said this with a smile at the end, the Lakers' leading player and Zhuang Fei both smiled slightly

June 1, 2005, Los Angeles Staples Arena, this is the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs this round of the series can be called the most important game, a win is basically into the Finals of the game, in this case, the game has not yet started, in the TV thousands of fans watching the game found that the Staples Arena was all dyed golden by the Lakers fans, and at this time the audience in front of these TV sets were a little surprised not only that, Basically, each of these fans has a huge poster in his hand, and the avatar of the different posters in the phalanx is also different, when the TV camera swept around, it was found that the avatars of all 15 players of the Lakers appeared in the hands of these fans, and the largest phalanx in addition to holding Kobe Bryant's head and the Lakers three heads There is also a phalanx holding Zhuang Fei's head.

And when the Lakers team played, each phalanx in the stands shouted the names of their representatives, and for a while, the entire Staples Arena in Los Angeles immediately resounded the names of 16 people, and what was even more surprising was that such different shouts did not have a messy and noisy feeling, but gave people an extremely crazy feeling.

"It's a really good idea, I remember it when I used to have it at North Shore Gardens, it's not a little different from this time"

When Zhuang Fei took the Lakers team out of the game, he was also a little surprised when he looked at the crazy fans around him, which reminded him of North Shore Garden.

"Yes, it's different, but each has its own merits."

After Zhuang Fei sighed, Green on the side also said with a smile.

This game is very important to the Lakers, important to Lakers fans, and also important to those famous Lakers, in the previous half a month, whether it was Magic Johnson or Abdul-Jabbar, their war of words with Popovich has reached the point where it needs to come to an end, and this game is naturally very likely to come to an end.

"Elwin. What do you think are the chances of the Lakers winning today?"

In a box at Staples Arena. Abdul-Jabbar looked at Zhuang Fei, who was greeting the fans on the sidelines, and the Lakers players who had warmed up on the court. The greatest center in the history of the Lakers also asked with some frowns, not long ago Popovich's sarcasm on the history of the Lakers basically angered all the Lakers' celebrities, whether it is Abdul-Jabbar or the Magic, these people hope that the Lakers can stomp on the Spurs a few times, but the Lakers have not done well enough in recent games, and this is what makes Abdul-Jabbar a little worried.

"100 percent" was just a surprise to Magic Johnson after Abdul-Jabbar asked. He didn't expect the magician's answer to be so absolute.

In fact, the magician himself didn't know why he came up with this answer, which may be his absolute belief in Zhuang Fei, in his impression. This Chinese will definitely not lose in such a game.

Of course, at this time, although the Magic has enough confidence in the Lakers' victory in this game, others are not very sure, such as Kenny Smith and Barkley, the two TNT commentators of this game, when facing the camera, these two people talked for a long time and did not let fans guess who these two people think will win, obviously, these two commentators are a little afraid to say when facing Zhuang Fei and Popovich's game, and the changes are too great. And when the warm-up of the two teams ended in this game, the two actually talked directly about the starting lists of the two teams.

"The Lakers' starters are Webb, Hill and Szczerbiak up front. On the guard line, Kobe Bryant and Hardaway are on the lineup, and Coach Z's starting lineup is still stable without any changes. And on the Spurs' side, there seems to be no change, the center is Duncan, huh? The center is Duncan? Kenny Smith was a little stunned when he read this, but after a short pause, the TNT commentator quickly reacted and continued: "Well, every game, Duncan returned to the center position again in this game of the Spurs, and Howard actually appeared in the position of power forward, as for the small forward, it is still Eric Williams, the scoring guard is Ragabel, and the playmaking guard is Jason Kidd, except for Duncan and Howard swapping positions, there is no other change."

However, after saying that, neither Kenny Smith nor Barkley can understand why Popovich changed like this in this game, whether it is Duncan center or Howard center, is there an essential difference?

Is there an essential difference between the center and the power forward switching positions? Of course there is, maybe for the players, what they should do on the court, the overlap of the power forward and the center makes it difficult for them to feel too uncomfortable, especially for Howard, who is now not a threat on the offensive end, and Duncan, who can play both the center and the big forward, there is not much difference, but the players feel that there is no difference in such an exchange, but for coaches like Zhuang Fei and Popovich, the difference is big.

It's a change in the center of the Spurs defense, and it's a big change.

"Hehe, finally can't help it? I think you'll regret it after this game" After getting the special change of starting the Spurs on the court from Greena, Zhuang Fei looked at Popovich on the side with a little good smile.

Obviously, the failure of the last game Popovich did not allow the Spurs to appear again, and Howard's unbearable responsibilities in the last game also disappointed the Spurs head coach, and finally had to let him free Duncan, but for Kobe, he naturally couldn't let it go, in his opinion, Kobe, who was choked enough by him in the first three games, should only need to use Ragabel and Howard, and Duncan's words there are a bit overkill.

It's just that in this game, can the young Howard and Ragabel really strangle Kobe Bryant like Duncan and Ragabel? Zhuang Fei would not think the same thing as Popovich at this time.

In fact, after Zhuang Fei finished thinking about it, this game also started with a jump ball, Howard, who won three times in the first four games, lost to the Lakers again this time, and the Los Angeles Lakers won the first wave of offensive balls, and after the success of the jump ball, the Lakers also rushed towards the Spurs' half like a tide.

However, for the Spurs, the Lakers' quick offense is a bit ineffective, and the Spurs in this series are considered by many experts to be the best thing about their defense.

In this case, when Hardaway and the Lakers advanced to the frontcourt, the Spurs' defense was already in position, and just as the Lakers fans were choking for this counterattack, Hardaway, who suddenly held the ball, suddenly had a light in his eyes and then a flick of his wrist.

Kobe Bryant, who was already about to cut into the basket, suddenly turned around and came out, and at this time Ragabel was also hesitating, and it was only this hesitation, Kobe Bryant had successfully received Hardaway's pass at the top of the arc in the bottom right corner to the basket, and at this time it was still possible for Ragabel to want to seal, as long as he took another step forward to provoke.

It was only to the surprise of Ragabel and the Lakers fans that after he took a step forward to jump the ball, Kobe Bryant did not shoot, but took a step back and stood outside the three-point line, and then looked down, and after confirming that he was already outside the three-point line, the Lakers' leading player jumped high.

A very high and beautiful arc flew out of Kobe's hand, and at this time, Ragabel, who was flying in the air and had begun to fall, was also a little shocked after seeing Kobe's attack, especially when he saw Kobe's decisive eyes in the air, which made him a little uncomfortable, this Kobe was different from before.

It's just that just when Ragabel thought about landing here, it didn't take long for a brush to blow, and then the Staples Arena arena was boiling again.

Kobe Bryant hit a three-point shot in the opening game, and after hitting this three-point shot, Kobe Bryant also stretched out his right hand very arrogantly and raised it and slowly clenched it into a fist, and finally slapped his chest with his right hand on the Spurs bench on the sidelines, obviously telling others that this is his true Kobe Bryant's ability.

"It seems that we can make it easier again" And after Kobe Bryant completed the attack very decisively, Hardaway and Hill, who had just assisted Kobe, said with a smile after looking at each other. It's a good thing for them.

"I hope this kid won't repeat it again, but I'm curious what the coach said to this kid the day before yesterday" Looking at this now arrogant teammate, Hill also said with some smile and curiosity, but it was obvious that Hardaway could not give him an answer.

"Well done" After Kobe Bryant's ball was hit, Zhuang Fei waved his fist fiercely, this is not just a simple three-point, which means that Kobe's current shackles have been removed.

"Now I want to see what you do" When thinking of this, Zhuang Fei also squinted and looked at Popovich on the side again with a smile, and the Spurs head coach's face was a little unsightly at this time. (To be continued......)