Chapter 637: A Friend of Mine (Part 2)
After hitting the lore, Kobe Bryant shouted at the camera lens, pulling his jersey: "I'll be back, I'll be back!" This is for you! β
After the game, the fans are all property, who are you in this "this is for you"?
Some people say it's Los Angeles fans, but the problem is that Lakers fans aren't sorry for Kobe.
Bryant's departure and the Lakers have been divided, and his goals and direction in life have changed.
Until leaving, Lakers fans still love Kobe, and Kobe Bryant loves them.
Is it for James? There was no need, James was on the court, hugged Garnett after being killed, and went straight back to the locker room.
Someone quickly guessed that this "you" must be referring to Clippers general manager Min Congda.
The two made a promise to meet in the Finals that night, just yesterday when the Clippers lost to the Lakers.
But Kobe Bryant beat the Cavaliers, and compared with the two, Kobe and the Nets were the first to win.
Of course, no one knows that the reason why Kobe Bryant said this to the TV camera was just because he was upset.
Kobe Bryant lost to Min Congda in the mid-line ultra-long three-point shooting game in the summer, and he also lost a lot of money, which was too uncomfortable for him.
Min Congda, the dog thing, stopped playing after winning money, and resolutely refused any challenge from Kobe, no matter how Kobe called or texted, he was unmoved.
This made Kobe angry enough, he didn't do anything else all summer, just crazy training for ultra-long-distance three-pointers, in order to hold his breath and win Min Congda.
Fortunately, Min Congda is not a big mouth, and Kobe Bryant didn't go around saying it after winning the bet, otherwise Kobe would have to challenge it publicly, and he couldn't swallow this breath.
But with Kobe's character, he couldn't easily let go of this matter, so this time, he was very bold in shooting at an ultra-long distance, and he succeeded in the kill!
His ball was to be pitched to Min Congda, a summer's hard work was not in vain, and Kobe's three-point shot really went to the next level.
The moment the ball hit, the Barclays Center thundered with joy, and the ball was repeatedly broadcast on TV for two days, becoming another classic masterpiece of Kobe's career.
In the next few games, Kobe Bryant also played well, and people found that Kobe's style of play was significantly different from before.
His breakaways have become fewer, and the mid-range has all but disappeared, replaced by plenty of three-pointers.
Kobe Bryant's season with the most three-point shots was last season, averaging 5.2 per game, which is already more.
But Stephen Curry is averaging 7.8 three-point shots per game, 2.5 more per game.
In the new season, Bryant further improved his three-point shooting tally to 7.1.
Compared with the previous kaleidoscopic offensive method, Kobe Bryant in the new season is doing subtraction.
Three-pointers, simple straight-line breaks, and a handful of mid-range shots, this is Kobe's main offensive means.
The low-post offense is gone, and the step-back jumpers after a lot of complicated dribbling are goneβthese are still seen in Paul Pearce, but not in Kobe.
This greatly surprised fans and some football experts, some people said that Kobe Bryant was lazy, this is a degradation, and a compromise to the three-point era.
But on November 1, the second game of the new season, the Nets defeated last season's Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat by 7 points, 107-100.
On November 3, 112-91 away, Kobe Bryant scored 24 and 25 points in these two games.
The score is not high, but if you look at the game, you can see that Kobe Bryant's scoring efficiency is quite high, he doesn't make many shots, and he has a strong ability to digest the ball.
And Bryant has six and eight assists respectively, playing an important role in the team's tactics.
On the contrary, Deron Williams feels that he is in average condition, and his statistics and performance on the field are relatively mediocre.
Garnett is especially powerful on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, he is basically a mid-range boy and a cake eater.
One of the really good plays is Pierce, whose one-on-one basket singles are still an important hard solution ability for the team.
But after watching three games, everyone knows that Kobe's efficiency and ability to digest the ball are the cornerstones of the current Nets' combat effectiveness.
This came as a surprise to many people, especially for some experts who were originally very optimistic about the Nets, a giant in their later years, who felt like they had been slapped in the face.
Of course, the season has just begun, and it is normal for the senior giants to team up and kill all sides in the early stages, and when the season progresses and the players are tired and injured, the problems will become prominent.
In '97, the Rockets had a 21-2 record before Charles Barkley's injury, chasing the 72-10 of the 96 Bulls.
But Kobe Bryant seems to be ready, and in the subsequent series of games, Kobe's performance is quite stable, as if after changing teams, systems, and cities, Kobe Bryant has changed as a player.
At this time, he has a style of heavy sword without a blade and no work, and he is no longer obsessed with using high difficulty and skills to eat the opponent's score, but cares more about scoring effective goals in each round, being able to score points, and not wasting the ball.
On Nov. 15, the Nets took on the Phoenix Suns on the road, the second of their three-game road streak in the West.
Facing the old rival Sun, now he is a fish belly, without Nash, without Xiao Si, the Sun has completely entered a period of reconstruction.
In such an easy game, Kobe Bryant showed no mercy, he shot 4 of 9 three-pointers, scored 24 points, and occasionally showed his grandeur at critical moments, using a difficult aerial left-handed hand to change to the layup, scoring two important points and helping the Nets win 100:96 over the Suns.
At this time, the Nets' record has come to 6-2, and the Nets have only lost two of the eight games in the first eight games of the season, and they have gnawed all the hard bones.
After Kobe Bryant chose to trade to the Nets, despite the media fanfare, the Nets' odds to win the championship were very real, only ranked tenth, lower than the Lakers.
After all, there are too many examples of this kind of old giant partnering failure, and there are almost no successes (the Lakers also survived for several years in 72 until they were old), and everyone naturally blew what they should blow, and their bodies and votes are very honest.
As a result, the Nets played quite well, and in the post-game interview after playing the Suns, the reporter asked Kobe: "Why are there so many adjustments and changes this season, is Coach Kidd asking you to make changes?" β
Kidd was sitting next to Kobe Bryant at this time, and Kobe Bryant said very facelessly: "No, it has nothing to do with Kidd." β
Kidd smiled awkwardly, and he also added: "How Kobe Bryant plays is completely up to him." β
Bryant continued: "In the summer, I was training with a friend, and his ideas and ideas inspired me a lot. You know, every season comes in, everybody says, I've learned some new skills, I'm going to make some changes on the field. However, there are very few people who can actually make a change, and it requires not only technical training, but also a change in thinking and thinking. β
Bryant pointed to his head and said that he had a change in his mind.
It makes a lot of sense, and a lot of players want to complete their transformation in the offseason.
For example, I found a foot master to practice my steps, hoping to play a dream dance step, but I really competed a dozen, and found that the crab step was easy to use, and it was smooth to use.
There is also Dwight Howard, after losing the Finals in 09, I don't know who I listened to in the offseason, or I think he is one step away from a super center, and the reason why he lost the Finals is that he scored too low and shot too poorly, averaging only 15 points per game, and if he shoots up, he will not lose to the Lakers if he makes a big free throw.
So he practiced shooting, and at the beginning of the 10 season, he often showed off his mid-range wipe board in the game, but as the season deepened, he returned to bunny jumping and dunking.
For NBA players, it is not difficult to learn a technique, the difficult thing is to apply, the difficult is how to perform under high-intensity confrontation, many times when the game reaches a critical moment, what kind of technique a player chooses is completely based on instinct and conditioned reflex.
Instinct will drive him to use a certain technique, and those technical movements that have not been practiced to the bone marrow will not work in real competition.
Bryant is one of the few players who can actually acquire new skills in the offseason and put them to use in the new season, he has talent, and he works hard enough.
But in both seasons, Kobe Bryant's technical improvement lacked vision and did not follow the trend of the league, because the Lakers have never been a team at the forefront of the technical and tactical trend.
Fortunately, Kobe, who came to the Nets, seized the final stage of his career and made another change in technique and tactics, and this time he had good guidance.
The reporter asked, "Can you tell me who this friend is?" β
Kobe Bryant shook his head with a smile and said, "No, it's a secret between us." β
"I'm going to see him in the game soon, though, soon."
The last opponent of the Nets' three-game tour is none other than the Los Angeles Clippers.
(End of chapter)