"I'm back!"

Eddie Curry perked up and flicked the ball back to the Lakers' backcourt over Tyson Chandler's head.

At this point, the Lakers took the lead in getting the ball on the first offense.

Hinrich honestly dribbled across half court and then handed the ball to Bryant.

Seeing this, Doon immediately entangled, but instead of singled Doon with the ball, Kobe Bryant passed the ball to Eddie Jones.

At this time, I saw Eddie Jones, who had just received the ball, rush to the basket with the help of Odom's blocking.

Waiting for Eddie Jones to attract the defense under the basket, he didn't want Hinrich to suddenly cut the basket, and after receiving a pass from Eddie Jones, he completed a layup and helped the Lakers take the lead in scoring 2 points.

Although it was a home game, Doon had already guessed that it would be difficult to play tonight.

Who knows, as the target of the trade, Eddie Curry and Hinrich will also play harder tonight.

And Kobe Bryant also respected the two teammates, took the initiative to reduce the ball, gave Eddie Curry and Hinrich more balls to score, so that the two teammates could solve the grievance game with their own hands.

To put it bluntly, against Doon, what Kobe Bryant needs is not data, but winning!

As the boss of the team, the most important thing is to lead the team!

If Kobe Bryant wants to prove that he is stronger than Doon and O'Neal, he needs to win the game against the Bulls and the Heat!

At the same time, Tang Shuai's transformation and improvement of the Lakers is not small.

As the head coach, Tang Shuai focuses on boiling chicken soup more than on-the-spot command, but his control of the locker room and people's hearts is indeed stronger than that of many famous coaches.

Tang Shuai can make Kobe Bryant hand over the ball, so that the Lakers no longer rely on Kobe Bryant to play alone, which shows that Tang Shuai really deserves his reputation.

The lone Olajuwon can be transformed by Tang Shuai into the real deputy gang leader next to Qiao Gang Leader in the 90s, and now Kobe Bryant seems to have become less right under Tang Shuai's influence.

However, Doon is not very worried about this.

On the one hand, the chances of the Bulls reaching the Finals this year are very slim, and on the other hand, Doon knows that the biggest hidden danger in the Lakers team - Tang Shuai's health is not good.

In Doon's memory, the first year that O'Neal was traded and Kobe Bryant was forced to mess up was because Tang Shuai left the team due to illness, and the Lakers' record plummeted instantly.

Today's Kobe Bryant seems to have managed the locker room and found a way to win, but in fact, most of this is because of Tang Shuai.

Tang Shuai's physical condition is a time bomb, when it detonates, the Lakers' season will end here.

However, tonight's Tang Shuai's physical condition is obviously still good.

In the Bulls' offensive round, Tang Shuai still stood on the sidelines with a serious face to supervise the battle.

"Kobe, are you willing to send your teammates to wrap me up?"

Doon saw Eddie Jones coming over with Kobe Bryant's bag and spewed trash talk while passing the ball to Rohr Deng.

The latter took the ball and rushed directly to the basket, not wanting Odom to stop in front of Rohr Deng in time, Eddie Jones quickly retracted to the basket and cooperated with Odom to pinch Rohr Deng back and forth.

Luol Deng hurriedly passed the ball to Josh Smith, but the pass was mediocre and almost made Josh Smith buttery.

Fortunately, he dribbled the ball several times and got the ball in his hand, but the opportunity to attack in the open space was wasted.

There is no way, as the boss of the team, Dhorn sometimes has to work more and go forward to clear the ball.

Kobe's death entanglement made Doon uncomfortable, so he could only play high with his back first, play some offensive space, and adjust the rhythm and feel a little more confidently.

However, Eddie Jones came out of the interior again and resolutely cooperated with Kobe Bryant to wrap Doon together.

In this way, Doon will be difficult to do, throwing one or two difficult balls by himself, and the hit rate is not high. If you pass the ball to a teammate, it is a pot ball, and it is difficult for a teammate to throw the ball in a hurry.

Doon also knows that the three-point shots of Roel Deng and Josh Smith are not reliable at the moment.

After a moment's thought, Doon passed the ball to Ben Gordon.

Now this bull, the only one who can really be fully trusted by Doon is Ben Gordon.

However, Ben Gordon's rush was disrupted by Hinrich's tight defence and lack of time to attack.

Fortunately, Eddie Jones came out of the interior to contain Doon, and the Bulls had a lot of people under the basket, and finally Roel Deng grabbed the offensive rebound and passed the ball to Doon instead.

Doon took advantage of this opportunity to accelerate his elbow to the basket.

Kobe Bryant couldn't bear it and was slammed into front of the penalty area by Doon, and when Odom stepped forward to help defend, Doon stopped and jumped.

Originally, Doon wanted to pass the ball to his teammates, but there were too many people under the basket, and in the end, Doon could only shoot the middle distance by himself!

But it's okay, Kobe Bryant's flying pounce doesn't interfere much with Doon's shooting, and Doon's mid-range is already an All-Star level, and the efficiency of shooting all the time may not be high, but occasionally shooting one or two works wonders.

Brush –

The goal was scored, and it was a 2-2 draw.

The Bulls players did not relax and immediately returned to defense, and the Lakers did have plans to switch offense, but when they saw that the Bulls returned to defense in a timely manner, they took the initiative to slow down.

In the frontcourt, Kobe Bryant took the ball over and over again, and then Eddie Curry asked for the ball in the low post and singled Tyson Chandler.

Because the Lakers not only have Kobe Bryant on the outside, but also Hinrich and Eddie Jones, if you don't compare the three-point production, only the three-point shooting rate, Kobe Bryant is the most iron among the three.

Therefore, with the Lakers' outside shooting configuration, the Bulls don't dare to over-assist the basket.

And Eddie Curry is also worthy of the name of the little shark, just two back-hits, with super agility and gorgeous footwork, he got rid of Tyson Chandler's defense, and slipped to the bottom of the basket to complete the layup.

The Lakers have a big killer in the low post, and the Bulls have a conversion offensive machine.

Tyson Chandler immediately picked up the ball and slipped off the baseline.

In order to fit the Bulls' regular tactical play, Tyson Chandler also practices his long passing ability in private.

Seeing that Kobe Bryant was in hot pursuit behind Doon, and there were people around Roel Deng and Ben Gordon, Tyson Chandler immediately passed the ball to Josh Smith, who was two or three positions away from Odom.

Catch the ball, take two steps under the basket, jump, dunk.

With the help of the transition attack, the Bulls quickly erased the difference.

The Lakers are different from the Bulls, although they also play transition offense, but they don't play so urgently.

Seeing that the Bulls returned to defense in a timely manner, the Lakers continued to play steadily.

In the frontcourt, it was Hinrich who handed the ball to Kobe, and this time Kobe tried to consume Doon with his back, but he didn't seem to find any good offensive opportunities, so he once again handed the ball to Eddie Curry in the low post.

Luol Deng tried to trap Eddie Curry, but Eddie Curry passed the ball.

Doon immediately pounced in front of Eddie Jones, Eddie Jones hurriedly transferred the ball, and Bryant did not choose a three-point shot after receiving the ball, but immediately burst to the basket.

At this time, it is obviously too late for Doon to shrink the basket again!

Roel Deng and Josh Smith pinched Kobe Bryant, but Bryant passed the ball to Eddie Curry in the gap.

After a month of cooperation, Kobe Bryant also knew how to pass the ball comfortably to Eddie Curry, so that Eddie Curry could eat the cake smoothly.

Boom –

With the roar of the basket, the Lakers took another two-point lead.

The Bulls continued to play fast-break, but this time the Lakers returned to defend and it worked.

In the positional battle, Doon was caught again, and the vacated Roel Deng received the ball and stepped to the basket to make a two-point shot.

Odom came out to help, but Deng opted to fake the ball and pass the ball to Josh Smith.

Josh Smith immediately charged to the basket when he received the ball, but Eddie Curry was full of energy today.

I'd rather foul than be easily scored by Josh Smith under the basket.

Josh Smith in his rookie season was still a little rough and couldn't take the opportunity to play two and one.

After standing at the free throw line, he only scored one free throw on 1 of 2 shots, but fortunately the free throw was the second one.

It is worth mentioning that this free throw gave the Bulls an opportunity to make a substitution.

Scott Skels knew there was a lack of space on the pitch and that Doon was being wrapped up and needed to be addressed, so he immediately replaced Rael Deng with Andres Nocioni.

The arrival of Andres Nocioni eased some of the offensive pressure of the Bulls, and Doon was originally prepared to double cover in the high post and rely on his individual ability to score!

However, considering that Kobe Bryant didn't shoot much, Doon also needs to save enough energy to deal with the problems that may arise next.

So, next to being trapped, Doon still chose to pass the ball to other teammates.

Among them, Andrés Nocioni's mid-range has really helped the Bulls.

But the Lakers quickly found a way to deal with it, which was to let Eddie Jones single Andres Nocioni and use the offense to drain Andres Nocioni's physical strength.

Andres Nocioni is, after all, a white player, no matter how tough he is, and his physical fitness is much worse against a black All-Star swingman like Eddie Jones.

And Eddie Jones is not the Lakers' No. 1 scorer, even if they run out of energy in the first half, Kobe Bryant has the back.

It can only be said that under the guidance of Tang Shuai, the Lakers gradually gave full play to the advantage of squad depth.

Relying on the overall strength of the starting lineup, the Lakers did not make too much effort, and played 27-24 in the first quarter, leading the Bulls by 3 points.

Fortunately, not all of the Lakers' starting five Tigers are as physical and combative as Kobe.

At the beginning of the second quarter, although Kobe Bryant also continued to start, Doon relied on high-post cover tactics to constantly get rid of Kobe Bryant's sudden basket and took a lot of points from the Lakers' bench inside.

Tang Shuai watched the Lakers go from leading by 3 points to trailing by 5 points, and immediately couldn't sit still, and re-put the two defensive giants of the starters, Eddie Jones and Hinrich, on the court.

The Bulls saw the move, using Ben Gordon and Dio to share Doon's scoring pressure and playmaking pressure respectively.

But tonight's Ben Gordon was defended by Hinrich and his scoring efficiency was greatly reduced.

Dio is also because of his relatively average shooting ability, which is easy to be let go, which has the opposite effect on the Bulls' improvement of offensive space.

In the end, the Bulls couldn't play a decent tactic in positional warfare.

Either in the positional battle, Doon forced a high double cover to hit the basket.

Either Ben Gordon singled or Andres Nocioni catches the ball and throws one.

You can only rely on increasing the defensive intensity, speeding up the pace of the game, and relying on the conversion of the offense to score.

However, as the game time goes by, the physical depletion, the number of times the Bulls convert offenses and the success rate, are also decreasing.

When the second quarter was about to end, the Lakers overtook the score again, and even slowly opened up the difference.

54-49, although the Lakers only led by 5 points, Kobe Bryant only took 5 shots in the first half and scored 7 points, which is very telling.

In the third quarter, as expected, Kobe Bryant took the lead in the charge, intending to pull the difference apart.

Playing at home, in the cheers of the Chicago fans at the scene, Doon had to stand up and continue to have a round of strong conversations with Kobe.

Of course, Doon didn't do the opener, just one-on-one singles with Kobe.

It doesn't make sense for Doon at all, in order to be able to win, in order to hold on to the home win.

Doon used efficient pick-and-roll play, as well as connecting with other teammates, to help the Bulls score more simple shots.

However, in the third quarter, the Lakers' strategy for defending the Bulls was completely different from the first half.

In the first half, he was still pinching Doon, and in the second half, when Doon broke through the basket with the help of cover, the Lakers directly put Doon to shoot the middle distance.

The Lakers are setting up joint defense, adopting the method of shrinking the basket and locking Doon's breakthrough path, restricting Doane's passing to teammates and restricting Doane's efficient scoring under the basket.

Doon tried to punish the Lakers with mid-range, but Doon broke through a lot, singled a lot, and lost his stamina, while his mid-range shooting percentage was also dropping rapidly.

Doon started with a mid-range shot of 2 of 3 in the third quarter, and then it didn't take long for it to become 1 of 3.

Although having a 50% hit rate is quite good.

However, the difference between the two teams did not narrow because of Doon's good mid-range shooting percentage, but widened a little.

Doon couldn't have been shooting from mid-range for the entire quarter, so he had to hand over the ball and run off the ball to the bottom corner to rest.

However, Ben Gordon couldn't get his touch back until the third quarter.

Andrés Nocioni was limited by Eddie Jones' iron locks, and only shot 2 of 5 from mid-range, with a 4 percent shooting percentage, and his scoring efficiency was even worse than Doon's.

Doon was isolated and had a little stamina to play again.

I tried to shoot 3 three-pointers to chase the points, but I only made 1 of 3 shots, and I didn't achieve too good results.

This can only be done early to break and try again at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

79-68, the Lakers entered the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead, putting a lot of pressure on Doon.

And the Lakers also knew that Doon would not give up so easily, so Kobe Bryant and Eddie Jones continued to play at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The purpose of this move is to try to take Dunn down and win tonight's match more securely.

Naturally, Doon was unwilling to lose like this, so he could only try his best to try again.

However, the score difference has remained around 10 points, and the only change is that Doon's scoring data has risen from 21 points to 29 points, and is about to break 30.

Scott Skels considered that he would play the second-place Heat in the East in the next game, so he quickly withdrew Doon after Doon's scoring data reached 31 points.

Doon knew that tonight's game was unlucky, but he was withdrawn in the middle of the game, and he still felt a little resentful in his heart.

I wanted to dump my teammates, and the coach didn't make adjustments in time.

But after a few fruitless protests, he sat back on the cold bench under the patient persuasion of Scott Skeys.

With Doon off the court, the difference on the court naturally widened further, and in the last 3 minutes, the difference widened to 16 points, and the Lakers also withdrew the main force.

Doon, who had regained some physical strength, didn't have garbage time to play and fight again.

So, 104-91, the Lakers beat the Bulls by 13 points and avenged the opening game.

"I won tonight, I'll treat you to dinner! You're not going to come, are you? ”

As soon as the game was over, Bryant went straight to Doon.

Hearing this, Doon wanted to refuse, but he still showed the demeanor he deserved.

"Of course! Congratulations, Kobe!

You and your team-mates beat us and you were the better team tonight.

By the way, can I bring my teammates?

Originally, I also said that I would take them to dinner. ”

Since you lost on the field, you have to make up for it off the field!

Doon was not reconciled, so he simply asked Kobe Bryant to give more money and bring his teammates to prostitute for nothing.

"No problem, they're all witnesses to my win!"

Kobe laughed, apparently not minding a few more people coming to eat.

(End of chapter)