When it came to the Lakers' offense, O'Neal continued to pass the ball to Devin George.

Devin George was caught in the open space after being hand-to-hand by Jordan...... And I didn't hit it.

Samaki Walker cuts in for the rush...... Matt Hardlin moved into place first to jam it, and Li Ao pulled it back to grab the defensive rebound.

In the first two rounds, the Lakers' offensive play was very simple, extremely simple, and it made the two role players struggle.

The Zen master was expecting to use two role players to disrupt the opponent's defense, or to score two more rounds, but unfortunately the opponent was not fooled and responded steadily.

He was not surprised, the opposite side was the regular season champion, how could it be so easy to handle, but it was a little regrettable, he whistled and instructed the players to change their playing style and go straight to the point.

Devin George shot almost 1-of-3 in the last round, but the Zen master wasn't confident that the guy would be able to make the next shot after hitting the iron twice.

Jordan is now fully integrated into his defensive role — using a strong static power comparable to the interior to fight unfast pitchers, flank shrinking to block cut-ins and pinch shots.

For veterans like Rick Fox and Horry, they can handle this kind of defense, but for Devin George, such defense is tantamount to destroying his poor offensive ability.

After receiving instructions from the Zen master, the defense of the Lakers players became more rough, from the point guard muscular hunk Fisher, to the 146-kilogram shark, the Lakers' five starters, every confrontation was fierce.

As Li Ao analyzed, the Zen master was ready to flip the table directly!

Last season, the opponents in the Western Conference playoffs all thought the same way - we don't want to score inside, just consume each other with the big sharks, we have so many people on the outside, I don't believe we can't beat a Kobe.

The Zen master said that no matter how many outside stars you have, just come, I will use a second outside player in addition to Kobe Bryant to fight with you, and I will lose.

But Li Ao made the chattering Zen master grasp his trouser leg again.

Li Ao struggled to catch the ball by leaning on Kobe, and turned around and hit it in one step!

Relying on barely first-class back playing skills, Li Ao was as expected by the Zen master to find it difficult to get a good shot under Kobe's defense.

But he can just shoot the ball against the defense!

At this time, Kobe Bryant was much calmer than the Zen master, he had already regarded Li Ao as a player of the same level as him, and it was not surprising that the opponent threw the ball into him in any posture.

When the Lakers attacked, O'Neal pressed O'Neal Jr. to receive the ball.

Matt Halplin and Jordan didn't pinch O'Neal early to stop O'Neal from receiving the ball, and their focus on O'Neal was to prevent O'Neal from digging in and protecting the rebound.

O'Neal just caught the ball and pressed the Clippers defense down the line, and he passed the ball to Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant received the ball around Devin George, but Li Ao blocked him for the first time.

Like Jordan in the last century, Branch can pull down a beep with his ability to cover, and at most he can catch the ball by covering, and it is difficult to get rid of the defense when he encounters a player with a strong sense of pursuit.

But it didn't matter to him, he singled the big spider one-on-one, broke through, moved sideways, jumped, floated in the air and controlled his body balance to throw the ball......

Picturesque mid-shot hits!

After landing, a "hiss" sound came out of Kobe's mouth.

After retreating back, he stuck to Li Ao and said, "It's your turn, Spider-Man, let's see which of us is stronger in singles!" ”

Hearing this, Li Ao ran to the bottom line on the right side, crossed his waist, and said, "You are stronger." ”

Bryant:???

You hit two on horseback, and I only hit one, so you won't fight?

Kobe Bryant said angrily: "You're only going to rely on Jordan? ”

"You have what it takes, don't rely on O'Neill."

Kobe Bryant shut up.

He is ambitious, but he is not stupid, he wants O'Neill to be his little brother, not to lose this thigh...... At least not yet, his ambition and conceit are not as big as that.

Jordan turned his back and burst to the right side of the three-second zone to make an emergency stop, pulled a step and then turned to avoid Samaki Walker's defense, and hit a shot from the baseline.

The pace is average, not slow, not a 39-year-old veteran, but not fast either, Devin George and Samaki Walker are both faster than Jordan.

But Jordan's technique and rhythm were excessive, better than everyone in the room, and Devin George and Samaki Walker were shaken so much that they almost bumped into each other.

When it came to the Lakers' offense, Kobe Bryant sewed his mouth shut, and he wasn't going to talk anymore tonight, so he fired with all his might!

Kobe Bryant played the entire first quarter, shooting 4 of 7, except for a counterattack layup, the remaining 6 shots were concentrated in the middle and close range, and he scored 8 points in a single quarter without free throws.

It's not that he didn't break inside, but he didn't do it to shoot, but he messed up the Clippers defense and sent the ball to O'Neal.

O'Neal didn't score many points because of this, and the Clippers insisted on blocking him, even if Kobe Bryant scored on the perimeter and the wing shooter caught the ball and shot, the Clippers did not change their defensive intentions.

But O'Neal passed the ball well, with 2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block in a single quarter, both assists were three-point assists, and Fisher and Horry, who came off the bench, scored one goal each.

Fisher also relied on the ball passed by Kobe or O'Neal, and after attracting the defense, he split the ball and got two assists in a single quarter.

The way the Lakers play, Gentry just wants to say one word - Gan!

He cheekily called the teacher and discussed how to deal with the Lakers' beating of the 76ers last season.

As a result, the chattering head coach on the opposite side did not play the tactics of that night and gave up the triangle attack!

Fortunately, he has two hands to prepare, and if he can't prevent it, he will attack directly, and he will not give the opponent the opportunity to play slowly after playing an advantage.

Li Ao played 10 minutes in the first quarter and scored 8 points, Jordan played 9 minutes and also scored 8 points, and the two led the team together to lead the Lakers by 1 point 26-25 into the intermission!

On the other side of the bench, the Zen master looked at the score of the technical table and wanted to applaud the opposite side.

There are many people who ridicule his coaching as 'OK with the ball', the number of timeouts in a game is less than a handful, and the responsibility for on-the-spot response is handed over to the players.

But in fact, he has basically done the work he needs to do before the game, including predicting the opponent's tactical play and making targeted arrangements.

This kind of coaching method allows the star to play more freely on the field, and can also cultivate the star's ability to play key balls.

Tonight, he successfully predicted the opponent's prediction, did not let O'Neal be the main offensive point of the triangle and Kobe Bryant as the axis, avoiding falling into the opponent's defensive trap, and did a good job of defending under the basket and wing defense, limiting the scoring of O'Neal Jr., Matt Halprin, and Big Q who came off the bench.

But it was so well done, and it was still behind in the first quarter...... The manager on the opposite side has something.

But the Zen master thinks the most important thing is Spider-Man and the god of basketball!

He found the series to be a lot of fun, and the 1-2 deficit in the last round against the Trail Blazers didn't put as much pressure on him as this quarter.

This was also expected by him.

Since the other party also directly fights for the star, then continue to fight! See who can have the last laugh!

…

In the second quarter, the two teams continued to attack!

The fans in person and in front of the TV were happy to watch, but the pressure on the players on the field was huge.

Against Li Ao, Jordan, Bibby, and Odom...... And Kobe, whether it is the former or the latter, the pressure is quite high, and they are the decisive factor in winning or losing.

The role players are not easy either, they just play in a simple way, but the pressure is not small at all, and if they can take one more opportunity and score one more goal, they can help the main attacking players a little more.

The Clippers role players have stronger individual abilities, the Lakers role players are more functional and experienced, the Clippers role players have a stronger ability to seize opportunities after discovering them, and the Lakers role players have a better vision and better cooperation when they find opportunities.

O'Neill, who looks easy, is actually not easy at all, and he does hard work.

He had to give his full attention.

There will always be times when the opponent's pinch attack is not in place, and he has to seize the opportunity to score the ball.

There will always be times when Kobe Bryant hits the iron in his direction, and he has to seize the opportunity to grab the ball to complete the second offense.

There are always times when Kobe Bryant can't make a move, and he has to be ready to catch the ball and grasp the opportunity to play and the opportunity to divide the ball......

His role is no less important than that of Kobe, the main attacker.

He's the scorer, he's the defensive backbone, he's the rusher, he's the central axis of the game...... It's the one that Kobe Bryant hits more than a dozen times per game.

He consumes less physical energy than a hard chisel, but it takes a lot more energy than Kobe Bryant, who only needs to think about how to put the ball in the hoop.

Especially tonight, he needs to be more focused than in the first round.

The interior of the Clippers is not as good as the Sugar Man on the defense, but there are many tricks, and the four centers come in turns.

Fortunately, since last season's playoffs, he has been playing like this in the Western Conference series.

This style of play was brought by the Zen master, and he was originally unwilling to accept it, isn't this a role player?

However, from '97 to '99, in the three-year playoffs, he was first beaten 4-1 by the Jazz in the '97 playoffs, and was directly shaved by the Jazz in the '98 playoffs, and in '99, he was shaved by Duncan, a sophomore, and the admiral after a major injury...... He accepted the arrangement of the Zen master and changed his playing style, and after 2000, he liked this style of play, threw himself into it, and played better and better round by round.

This style of play can win and go straight to the west!

Role players are role players, as long as he can clear the west and the east group, he drives a Ferrari with one hand, and the outside of the east is a bunch of bandits, and then it will be his turn to fly with Kobe.

In this section, the Clippers had the upper hand!

The Clippers and Lakers were tied 12-13 in the first half of the quarter, tied 38-38 and entered the official timeout.

But in the second half of the quarter, the Clippers scored 18 points and played several counterattacks!

The Lakers only scored 9 points in the second half of the quarter, and they had a half-quarter iron feast.

At this time, it was O'Neal who took advantage of Campbell's half-quarter to rest, rushed wildly, scored two goals, and scored 6 points with 2 of 4 free throws, helping the Lakers hold the score and not let the game be spent.

30-22 in the first quarter, the score came to 56-47, and the Clippers led the Lakers by 9 points into the second half.

Gentry regretted that the Lakers' outside stage did not coincide with Campbell's stage when he was on the floor, otherwise the point difference would have been even greater.

However, he was already happy to have a nine-point lead at halftime...... Happy a little early.

In the third quarter, Kobe Bryant, who played two irons and didn't score a point in the second half of the second quarter, went violent!

Throwing 13 times in a single quarter, all of them were successful, 8 of 13 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 1 free throw, and scored 18 points in a single quarter!

O'Neal also went on a rampage after trailing by nine points at halftime, missing a single shot in the entire quarter, scoring only two of his five shots, but making 3-of-4 free throws but grabbing five offensive rebounds in a single quarter.

Kobe Bryant scored 18 points in a single quarter, O'Neal scored 7 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks in a single quarter, leading the Lakers to 36 points while limiting the Clippers' scoring to 22 points!

83-78, the Lakers overtook the Clippers by 5 points into the final quarter!

…

Destroy the wither!

Li Ao personally felt the meaning of the word.

They were already sure at halftime that the opponent would go all out in the third quarter, which was not difficult to predict, and the Lakers have always been like that.

But it's also a little too fierce!

It's no wonder that in the second half of the second quarter, Bryant stopped shooting after hitting two irons, and passed the ball to Rick Fox and Lynch Hunter, who were not feeling good and were empty.

Co-authoring is a big move to rest!

O'Neal suddenly rushed in the second half of the second quarter, which turned out to be because he was about to go to halftime and had time to recover his strength, helping Kobe Bryant create time to rest on the offensive end.

Rick Fox and Lynch Hunter found their touch by throwing seven or eight times in the second half of the second quarter combined.

I didn't expect that the old man of KFC with thick eyebrows and big eyes would actually play this kind of heart!

But this is also a trust in the strength of the OK combination, believing that O'Neal can single-handedly not let the point difference be too big in the second half of the second quarter, and believing that Kobe Bryant can go on a rampage in the third quarter, and these two also repaid the head coach's trust with practical actions.

Seeing that Gentry seemed to be wearing a mask of pain, Li Ao felt sorry for the head coach.

Jordan can't count on it now.

The senior gods played 17 minutes in the first half, and even if it was a playoff game, the third quarter should have rested until the last two or three minutes before playing, and then the final quarter was played according to the specific situation.

But Gentry played three minutes in the third quarter and replaced Jordan for the rest of the game.

Li Ao didn't blame Gentry for messing up, the opposite side was too fierce.

Facing the OK duo that fired at all hands was completely different from the feeling of being a spectator on the sidelines and watching the live broadcast, and Li Ao could see how helpless his hapless head coach was in the third quarter.

The game is on this, Li Ao has nothing to be annoyed about, there is still a quarter, a 5-point difference, not an untraceable gap, just do it!

In the fourth quarter, Li Ao and Bibi were on fire, and Odom looked for an opportunity to respond.

In this section, the two brothers performed better than the OK combination.

The OK combination is also human, and after a brutal quarter in the third quarter, the performance in the last quarter returned to normal, and they couldn't press back on the opposite side of the brothers.

But in this case, the Lakers have encountered a lot and have a lot of experience.

The OK combo all focuses on defense.

As for the offense, having fed the teammates so many balls, it's time to trust them.

Here they refer to - Fisher, Horry.

The OK combination, together with Samaki Walker and Mark Madsen, who seized the opportunity to eat cakes, scored a total of 14 points, which was not as high as Bibby and Li Ao's combined 18 points.

But Fisher and Horry scored 10 points in the final quarter, and the Lakers scored 24 points in a single quarter!

Although Bibby and Li Ao teamed up to lead the Clippers to score 26 points in the final quarter, the Lakers still relied on Fisher and Horry's accurate mid-range shots at critical moments to keep the victory to the end!

Kobe Bryant had 33 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, O'Neal had 21 points, 16 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks, and Fisher had 18 points and 5 assists......

The Lakers beat the Clippers 107-103!

Li Ao 28 points, Jordan 19 points and 5 assists, Bibby 21 points and 6 assists, Odom 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, O'Neal Jr. 11 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks, still failed to hold the first home court, and the big score was 0-1 behind!

…

After the game, Li Ao took a long bath, ate a hamburger and two cups of fat boy happy water, and then eased up and got rid of that strong sense of oppression.

In the playoffs, it turned out to be this feeling when facing the peak OK combination!

He estimates that this year's OK combination is even stronger than last year.

O'Neal's skills are better, there are more small tricks, Kobe Bryant is still in the growth period, and it is normal to get stronger every year.

The Lakers' dominance declined, and they were forced to tie five by the Trail Blazers in the first round.

However, the Lakers only signed two last summer, and the undrafted Medvidenko and Richmond, who was treated as a sweet tooth in the offseason, proved that the Lakers' management and coaching staff still trust those veterans.

Tonight's final quarter proved that the Lakers have a unique vision, and everyone else is talking about the Lakers' offseason loss of reinforcements, but how many role players can be trusted more than Fisher and Horry in crunch time?

He opened the system, and the first hint was the progress of the mission of 'Operation Shark', and the highest reward was already unattainable, even if he won the next 4 games, he could only get 2 additional basic attribute point rewards.

However, he never thought that this task would be able to get full rewards.

He opened the report for tonight's game.

As he remembers, tonight, the OK combination played the whole game!

It's normal for Kobe Bryant to play the full court, and he's been the norm in the Western Conference playoffs for the last three seasons.

But O'Neill played the whole game...... The last time, it was when the West Finals in 00 was tied for seven.

Even in the only game the Lakers lost in the playoffs last season, O'Neal didn't play the full game in regular time.

Judging from the score, the difference of 4 points is not much of a gap.

And before the game reached the final moment, the Lakers were already relying on the veteran's key shots......

Losing a playoff game, in addition to the pressure brought by the terrifying strength of the OK combination, Li Ao does not have a lot of negative emotions, he will always lose in the playoffs, 7 games and 4 wins, and the winner who laughs to the end.

As for losing home advantage...... 7 games were played in the Staples Center, and he cares about that?

Packing his backpack, Li Ao left the rest room where he was alone and came to the training ground, where Jordan was scolding his teammates, which he had heard just now when he was eating burgers in the locker room.

Watching his teammates change from being overwhelmed by pressure at the end of the game to anger, Li Ao felt that it was good to have an elderly basketball god, and he didn't need to work hard to regulate the emotions of his teammates after the game.

As for whether the anger of his teammates was directed at Jordan or the Lakers...... It's not important, it's important not to be overwhelmed by pressure.

Playing the opponent to the point where he can't get out of the pressure and making the opponent lose confidence is also the terrible thing about the OK combination.

In the playoffs last season, the four teams that played against the Lakers played as if they had given up in the last two games of the series, and even Iverson struggled to regain the confidence of his teammates.

Li Ao left as if he didn't see his teammates.

Jordan didn't see Li Ao, and the big spider would definitely fight back when he was scolded and ridiculed.

The two tacitly ignored each other, and the teammates were expecting the boss to be scolded as well, so they balanced.

I didn't expect these two to be so shameless!

…

After the first game of the Los Angeles derby, public opinion was not as one-sided as Li Ao thought.

The media and experts are objectively analyzing the next direction of this game and this series...... There's no shortage of heat in this series, and there's no need for those meaningless hypes.

In such a game, fans prefer to watch more professional analysis, and the media forcibly hype is to attract the attention of fans, and dedicated analysis can keep fans.

Even Lakers fans, there are only a few pure supporters who don't understand the ball at all, don't watch the game at all, and only look at the score.

The arrogance of most of the Clippers fans has also been extinguished a lot at this time, and the most discussed in the forum has become a discussion on how to beat the OK combination.

After Li Ao heard about such public opinion from Vivian, he was a little surprised, but he didn't care, and he didn't go to the Internet to see, he didn't have that idle time, tomorrow is the second battle, he has to hurry up and prepare for the war, all morning long, he is watching the video, watching it repeatedly, analyzing what was good and bad last night, and what needs to be done better.

However, public opinion did not affect him, but it did have an impact on his teammates.

He arrived at the Memorial Stadium after lunch and it was clear that his team-mates had picked up confidence!

It is not simply to transfer the pressure through anger after being scolded by Jordan, but to really pick up, and the enthusiasm of the teammates to prepare for the game seems to be even higher than before the start of the Los Angeles derby.

He heard his teammates actively discussing last night's game and exchanging ideas.

After losing the first game, they clearly felt the invincible strength of the OK combination.

But just because they can play back and forth with the playoff version of the OK combination, and there is a possibility of winning, their confidence has increased dramatically...... Is this the OK combination? Li Ao rubbed his chin, not envious at all...... Dit! Grow your beard faster!

In the afternoon training, Gentry was much calmer than last night's third quarter, not rushing to adjust his style of play, but starting from the details.

After calming down, he confirmed one thing - there was only an OK combination on the opposite side.

Although the opponent is still the strongest team in the league, they did push the opponent to a dead end last night, if the details can be better and the response can be calmer, they are not impossible to win!

A couple of on-the-spot adjustments in the first fight frustrated Gentry, but it also sharpened his will, and he himself didn't notice the subtle changes in him.

But veteran coach Doug Collins spotted it, and he felt that Gentry might open the way to becoming a real manager with this L.A. derby......

The rest of the day passed quickly, and on May 9th, the match day of the second game of the Los Angeles derby arrived!

……

……

Xiaofeng slept lazily in the morning, played mahjong with the elders in the afternoon, and only had time to code words at night, so I finally went back to my hometown, or spend more time with the elders, and write a little more ~ Xiaofeng knocked one, thank you to the friends who are still supporting Xiaofeng ~

(End of chapter)