During the OK Lakers' three-game winning streak, did Kobe Bryant hug O'Neal's thigh?

Did his peak start after winning the scoring title in the 05-06 season?

Such a question is a hot topic discussed by many fans. I have to say that Kobe Bryant's personal honors are not too many, and the honors of MVP, scoring champion, and FMVP are not obtained during the OK period.

And during the Lakers' three-game winning streak, O'Neal's dominance on the inside line was recognized by the league.

But

Is it because of good luck that Kobe Bryant hugged O'Neal's thigh that he has such achievements and historical status?

Not really.

O'Neal was one of the biggest thighs in the league at the time, there is no doubt about that, but the ability that Kobe Bryant showed was not O'Neal's thigh pendant.

It is true that O'Neal was the well-deserved boss of the OK Lakers at that time, after all, when the Zen master went to the Lakers and officially corrected Kobe, O'Neal was already the most valuable center in the league.

In the commercial league, sometimes a lot of things can be seen from the player's salary, and O'Neal, who is nearly twice as valuable as Kobe, is a well-deserved leader of the team.

In terms of tactical position, the OK Lakers' triangle offense has no way to miss O'Neal, but there is also no way to miss Kobe.

Kobe's role with the Lakers is much more important than Pippen's with the Bulls.

This can be intuitively reflected from the number of shots and scoring data of these two people.

OK Lakers was a relatively standard dual-core system in the league at that time, just like the Magic and Abdul-Jabbar in the early years, it was a more traditional system configuration.

So when did Kobe Bryant show the qualities of a superstar player?

The answer is .97-98 season.

In Kobe's second season in the league, he has already shown strong ability and development value, and as the youngest All-Star player in history, Kobe Bryant is also affectionately known by fans as the person who most resembles Jordan.

In this day and age, saying that you play like Jordan is the highest praise for a player. It's completely different from the meaning of "you play like James".

It's just that Coach Del Harris doesn't trust Kobe Bryant, a young high school rookie, and has always put Kobe Bryant on the bench, and this situation has not changed until the arrival of the Zen master.

In today's game between the Lakers and the Timberwolves, the development of the entire game is within the preset range of Coach Philip, and there is only one point, which is somewhat unexpected by him, that is, Kobe Bryant, who came off the bench, and his excellent performance really scared him.

And the Lakers did not collapse in the second quarter, which was the result of Kobe Bryant's efforts.

The second quarter ended.

During the short break, Coach Philip quickly made personnel adjustments and replaced the martial arts that had been resting for a long time on the court, while Marbury was replaced for a short break, and Tom and Roberts were also off the court with him.

The two were replaced by Sam Mitchell and Garnett.

After this round of substitutions, the Timberwolves also became a lineup led by Wu Dao and Garnett, supplemented by Sam Mitchell, Chris Kyle, and Ben Wallace.

The team's perimeter defensive ability has decreased compared to the starting lineup, but it has also improved greatly compared to the previous rotation lineup.

"In the third quarter, we played as much interior offense as we could."

"Kevin, if you receive the ball in the low post, try to hit it inside and reduce the number of shots."

"With a tonnage player like Shaquille, the rate of physical consumption is very fast."

"You hit the basket and you have a chance to make a foul."

"As long as you can hold Shaquille to death like he did in the previous two quarters and don't let him play, this game can be won easily."

Coach Philip quickly set up the game for the players, and soon arranged the tactical system for the third quarter. Wu Dao listened carefully to Coach Philip's arrangement, nodded silently, and recognized the coach's strategy.

Before today's game with the Lakers, Takeshi took the opportunity of an adaptive training to talk about the ways to limit O'Neal in front of his teammates, and his defensive strategy was the way the Spurs defended O'Neal in those years.

Using Duncan's mobility and defensive ability, the Spurs made O'Neal suffer, if it weren't for Kobe's outstanding offensive ability, the Lakers would have been very sad for the Spurs' "nemesis" in those years.

Philip is an NBA-level coach after all, and he only needs to listen to a simple "concept" of the defensive system envisioned by Martial Arts, and he can naturally add the rest of the details.

The team's defense was just a hasty rehearsal, and today's game was put on the court by the Timberwolves for testing.

Garnett and Wallace are two of them with excellent defensive talent in their own right, and they only need to listen to this kind of defensive tactics to know what they need to do when they are on the court.

No, judging by the defensive effect of the previous two quarters. This tactic is exceptionally useful.

In the third quarter, Coach Philip and the Timberwolves players naturally had to continue to follow through on the defensive policy of the previous two quarters.

On the Lakers side, O'Neal, who played two quarters in a row, was also replaced by the coach at the interval, and Horry returned to the court and formed the Lakers' interior line with Campbell.

As for the perimeter, Mario Bennett (27th pick in the first round in 1995, 198cm, 102kg) replaced Eddie Jones and got a chance to play, while Fisher was replaced by Rick Fox, who also joined the two of them in the perimeter lineup.

Looking at it, the Lakers have become a bunch of role players, and the stars are dim.

Timberwolves ball possession.

The basketball came out of the backcourt, and the young Chris Kyle, after quickly dribbling the ball into the front court, did not stick to the ball at all, and directly gave the ball to the hands of the martial arts on the wing.

The player who defends martial arts is Rick Fox, and as for Kobe, he is assigned by the coach to defend Chris Kyle.

On Mitchell's side, the opponent he faced was Bennett.

The Lakers obviously have no intention of giving up the game, and when O'Neal is not on the court, these players are also very serious about the game and are very cautious when defending.

The defensive pressure on the Martial Arts side is not small.

Although Kobe Bryant is not directly opposed to martial arts, he has always been eyeing martial arts, and he has a posture that will pounce at any time.

And Robert Horry on the inside, his attention is also focused on Martial Arts, and only occasionally pays attention to Garnett's position.

Don't look at Rick Fox in front of Takemichi as the only player defending him, but in fact, once he moves, he can easily be caught by two or three people.

After receiving the ball, Takeshi dribbled a few steps towards the right wing sideline, Chris Kyle at the top of the arc wanted to come and make a block for Takemichi, and when he saw the action, Takeshi waved his arm and motioned for him to leave. It's just that Chris Kyle left, but Kobe, who was originally defending Chris, took advantage of the convenience of the pursuit and directly blocked it towards the martial arts.

Kobe Bryant is a smart man, and when he saw the Timberwolves blocking O'Neal off the court, he knew that today's referee was "very big" in terms of "illegal defense".

This kid is also doing the same, and he directly sandwiched the martial arts.

He doesn't believe it, the referee will blow him for illegal defense, this is just the regular season, even if it is the home whistle, it will not be so outrageous!

Kobe and Fox quickly completed the packing, and sure enough, as Kobe expected, the referee turned a blind eye!

Wu Dao also noticed Kobe's movements, without the slightest hesitation, the rhythm of the dribble changed, and it was directly a strong step against Rick Fox's defense, and his breakthrough also scared the Lakers and the two of them jumped, Kobe Bryant also quickly went around the front, trying to block the martial arts after breaking through Fox from the front.

It's just that as these two people moved backwards in unison, Wu Dao was stunned, and the basketball in his hand hooked back, directly towards Chris's back at the top of the arc.

Chris, who received the ball in the open position at the top of the arc, adjusted it slightly, and directly shot the three-point shot in the open position.

Opportunity, real opportunity.

Chris has three-point ability, and after entering the Timberwolves, Chris knows that their team does not lack the so-called "ball-holding offensive core".

The passing ability of the defender is a must, and in addition to that, Chris has strengthened his catch-and-shoot ability.

If you can't be Jordan, it's not a bad thing to position yourself as a Kerr, at least, not even a "chief" substitute.

Chris's transformation and accumulation can now get some results.

"!!Shh

The basketball goes straight into the net.

On the side of the court, Coach Del of the Lakers looked at the Lakers' defense in this round, covered his forehead with his right hand, felt disappointed, came back to his senses, and shouted to the court:

"Kobe, what are you doing?!"

"Is this your defense?!"

"It's still outside the three-point line! What are you going to do?! ”

"Look at your own people, isn't this kind of leakage a point!"

Coach Del was very annoyed, and although Kobe Bryant on the court didn't say anything, his face was more or less ashamed.

This round of defense is very problematic for him, and he is not allowed to defend anything at all.

Switching offense and defense, the Lakers are without O'Neal, which is equivalent to a giant missing a leg.

Wu Dao and Chris switched defenses, and he came to be responsible for marking Kobe. The Lakers' offensive points are actually not too many, and in Wudao's view, as long as they can crush Kobe, the Lakers will be dumb.

The player who holds the ball for the Lakers is Kobe, who is not an "orthodox point guard" player, and was even later labeled as "Du" by fans.

But that doesn't mean Bryant can't play the role of point guard.

A quarterback is also a guard, isn't it?

Kobe, who was holding the ball, saw Wu Dao and his teammates switching defenses to defend him in person, and his eyes suddenly lit up, and he was faintly excited.

Slowly approaching the three-point line with the ball, Kobe Bryant hovered the ball, twisted his hip to the left, shook it for a while, and then dropped the ball with his right hand, accelerating towards his right side.

“！”

Kobe Bryant's movements are very skillful, and they are extremely smooth, and the martial arts are really because of Kobe's twisted hips, and his movements are slightly sluggish when he is chasing, allowing Kobe to smoothly lead him by half a body.

Kobe's desire to attack is very strong, after occupying a slight position advantage, Kobe Bryant accelerated abruptly, held the ball with one hand, stepped on the free throw line, and actually picked up the basket directly in this position.

Kobe Bryant's movements were so fast that even Garnett on the inside couldn't react and make up for the defense in time.

The basketball flew out of Bryant's hand, smashed right in front of the rebound, and bounced back into the basket with a soft sound.

The offense was successful, Kobe Bryant clenched his fist with one hand, revealing a "resolute" look, and "by the way" deliberately slipped around from the camera lens of some media when he returned to the defense before accelerating towards the Lakers half.

It can be seen that Kobe really wants to prove his ability, and judging from this ball, Kobe Bryant has indeed proved his offensive ability.

Being able to break through the defense line of the martial arts head-on and then score points is not something that any cat or dog can have.

"Martial Dao, how did you get rid of it so easily?"

"It's a shame!"

"Seriously."

"Sitting too long and out of shape?"

Garnett's big mouth is sometimes not just aimed at opponents, and Martial Arts is also within the range of his trash talk.

Wu Dao didn't answer, he was singled out, what is there to say?

Without saying a word, he accelerated towards the Lakers half, and soon entered the Lakers half.

Kobe Bryant fell at the top of the arc and led the whole team.

When Wu Dao entered the front court, he also quietly glanced at the direction where Wu Dao was, feeling the terrifying momentum emanating from Wu Dao, Kobe grinned, just glanced at Ke Fox with some sympathy, and didn't care.

If you're angry, be angry, anyway, it's not me Kobe who is on the opposite side of your martial arts!

Kobe Bryant thought in his heart, and his eyes also fell on Chris, who quickly dribbled the ball into the front court.

Takemichi on the flank glanced at Chris Kyle, stretched out his hand, and motioned for Chris to pass the ball, who understood, and quickly sent the ball out and gave it to Takemichi's hand.

Wu Dao took the ball, faced Rick Fox's defense, tapped his right foot, a simple tentative step, and then under Fox's gaze, quickly collected the ball, and at the same time raised the ball to shake.

I thought that Martial Arts' shooting was a feint to pave the way for a breakthrough, but what Fox didn't expect was that Martial Arts didn't seem to have any intention of swaying at all, looking at his focused appearance, it seemed that he really wanted to shoot?!

The movement of the body was faster than his brain's reaction, Rick Fox straightened his arm, and jumped up directly to give Martial Arts a cover, but the moment he jumped, the martial arts who lifted the ball quickly fell the ball, and an acceleration was already leaving Rick Fox behind.

At the moment when the martial arts broke through Fox, Kobe Bryant on the side and Robert Horry on the inside made a move, and directly encircled and suppressed the martial arts from two directions.

Robert Horry bore the brunt of the attack, and directly appeared on the route of the martial arts.

However, in the face of his defense, Wu Dao did not have any intention of dodging at all, and without waiting for Robert Horry to stand firm, Wu Dao directly combined the ball to strengthen it, and while his body was on Robert Horry's body, he grabbed the ball with his right hand and sent the ball out.

Kobe Bryant, who was belated, stood on the side of the martial arts and quickly turned his head to look at the basket.

Under his gaze, the basketball hit the board sideways and fell back into the net with a soft sound.