Zhiba NBA

Chapter 33 (32) Memories of Maddie
Yuan Fei never expected that the person who calmed down the scene was Wang Zhizhi.

To put it bluntly, Wang Zhizhi is the oldest member of the 12-man roster besides Dameng and Billups.Although he is not very good at communication, he has seen a lot of wind and waves.Especially after being expelled from the national team, and having experienced ups and downs in his career, his mental maturity is simply not comparable to that of the other boys.

In this way, under the leadership of Big Zhi, the Rockets stabilized their position.Then McGrady and Turkoglu came on the stage, and the Rockets played more calmly. Although Kobe still played against the sky, McGrady would not show weakness to him.

第三节科比7投6中得到了16分，他还助攻费舍尔投进了2个三分，小鱼得到了8分，奥尼尔休息了半节得到6分。火箭方面麦迪8投4中得到9分。89:88火箭落后1分进入第四节。

"Bryant played almost the full three quarters. He is very tired. The victory in the fourth quarter will belong to us!" Coach Smith encouraged the players as always: "In the fourth quarter, they will definitely play against O'Fang. Yao Ming will leave it to you!"

Yuan Fei nodded in agreement.With the deepening of the playoffs, it is not just the players who have grown.

***
The Rockets kicked off, and McGrady missed a three-pointer, but it also scared Kobe into a cold sweat. "My main job in the fourth quarter is to limit McGrady!" Bryant thought.

O'Neill got the ball, Yao Ming pressed hard against the front, and Wallace stared at Holly while preparing to go to help defend.O'Neal hit the top, turned around flexibly with his strength, shot first before Wallace moved, and the ball scored! 91:88.

"What a flexible fat man!" Wallace couldn't help but marvel.

McGrady broke through Kobe's defense and caused a foul on Hawley who came up from the supplementary defense.But McGrady missed 2 free throws.O'Neill once again succeeded in singles against Yao Ming, 93:88.

Wallace assisted Yao Ming to score after a breakthrough, 93:90.

Hawley misses under the interference of Wallace.

McGrady assisted Wallace to score an air cut.

O'Neal hit 2 points again in singles. 95:92.

At the behest of Yuan Fei, Smith called a timeout.

"We went to the Twin Towers lineup to play a 3-2 zone defense and prepare to double-team O'Neal." Smith said.

（小知识：联防指以固定人员固定防守一定区域的方式进行防守。NBA是从2001年起允许联防的，但由于联盟中有防守3秒等限制规则，并没有国际篮联所允许的2-1-2联防等阵型。）
McGrady hit a three-pointer and the two sides tied at 95.The Lakers sent the ball, and the Rockets were already in formation.Yao Ming was on the left side of the three-second zone and resisted O'Neal who was reaching out for the ball.Okur is on the right side of the three-second zone, vaguely forming a double-team to O'Neal, ready to step forward to help defend at any time.

Kobe broke through McGrady's defense, and O'Neal took advantage of Yao Ming's slight diversion of attention and moved in time to receive a pass from Kobe, dunked successfully and caused Okur to foul.The extra penalty was also hit, and at 98:95, the Lakers led by another three points.

"Don't worry, although he didn't defend this time, O'Neill didn't dare to play singles anymore. This is a good sign." Yao Ming comforted Okur.

"Okay!" After hearing Yao Ming's words, Okur was also refreshed.He received a pass from Turkoglu and made a good shot, 98:97.

Kobe Bryant suddenly caused Turkoglu to foul again, and he made 2 of 1 free throws.

Next, the two sides will come and go, and the score will continue to rise.

The zone defense tactics effectively controlled O'Neal, and Kobe's physical fitness couldn't keep up.But the Lakers' thin camel is bigger than a horse, and their strength is still very strong.Kobe Bryant passed Hawley for a layup, 112 to 105, and the Lakers' lead expanded to 7 points for the first time.There are only 4 minutes left in the game!
Yao Ming missed a jumper, and Kobe Bryant also missed a jumper.Turkoglu finally scored 2 points, 112:107.

George made a shot, and McGrady failed to make a key three-pointer. The game was only 2 minutes and 50 seconds away. Yao Ming grabbed a key offensive rebound and made a tip-up, 112:109!

The Lakers called a timeout, and Jackson finally couldn't sit still.He also saw that OK's physical fitness was a bit lacking, so he used a timeout to let the two of them take a rest.

The Rockets used this substitution to replace Wang Zhizhi and Jefferson.

The Lakers used this tactic to give the ball to Fisher, who performed very well throughout the game and had already scored the highest score in the series with 24 points, but Xiaoyu missed the shot this time.

Billups received a pass from McGrady and hit a three-pointer, but the referee immediately decided that Chauncey had stepped on the line. At 112:111, the Rockets were still 1 point behind, with 2 minutes and 19 seconds left in the game.

O'Neill finally couldn't help playing singles with the ball. He knew very well that Wang Zhizhi was inferior to Okur in terms of defensive ability. Now without Okur's help in defense, it would be much easier to face Yao Ming alone.The Sharks who got the ball started to play hard. Jefferson wanted to step forward to help the defense but missed George. George received a pass from O'Pang and hit 2 points, 114:111.

Billups was intercepted by Kobe, O'Neal got the ball again, this time Wang Zhizhi rushed up in time, fouled!
O'Neal missed a free throw.Zen master substitutions, Shaw and Madsen replaced George and Holly.

There was no second free throw, and Da Zhi grabbed the backcourt rebound.After Billups organized, he chose to hand it over to Big Zhi, but his jumper also failed to hit.

The time is only the last minute and a few seconds. The score has not been opened but the Rockets have not been able to catch up.The Rockets players were all red-eyed.This ball must not lose any more points!
Kobe held the ball to organize and had no chance under McGrady's pressure, so he gave it to Fisher.Fisher took a few seconds and found that there was no room for the pass, and was forced to choose to break through for a layup by himself.Yao Ming stuck Ao Pang firmly behind him, and tried his best to reach out to interfere with the layup.Billups is also tight.

Under the interference, Fisher threw a layup and made a three-point shot.Jefferson got the ball, and McGrady was already running forward for the ball.Jefferson made a long pass, McGrady received the ball, and made a fast break dunk! 114:113.

The Lakers called a timeout again.

"We still lead by 1 point, and don't worry if we have the ball." Zen Master is still as stable as Mount Tai. "Listen, there are 41 seconds left in the game, and it will take 24 seconds (Note: NBA rules stipulate that each attack cannot exceed 24 seconds). The opponent still has enough time to play one time, so it is not worthwhile. We have to play a fast attack within 10 seconds, so there are at least 5 seconds to play again."

"So we lead by one point, and we can still play two offenses. The Rockets can only play one game when they are behind, and we will win." O'Neal said triumphantly.

"Yes, we will win." Bryant looked murderous.

***
The key ball was handed over to Kobe. He made a breakthrough and stretched his feet to get stuck in the position.

The Zen master couldn't help frowning.This is Kobe's strengths and weaknesses.He can make the hardest shots, but he's also not good at making things simple.A good head coach would prefer Kobe to throw a more secure ball at a critical moment.

The ball misses the front edge of the basket.Yao Ming protected the rebound.Billups advanced through half court and then handed the ball to Tracy McGrady. "Tracey, the last key ball, I will leave it to you, the core." He thought so.

"This time, I'll take care of you." McGrady secretly thought, he couldn't help but think of the scene against the Lakers last season, and Yuan Fei's advice.

"Tracey, let's watch a video first."

"The role of the core is to allow you to 'handle' the last ball."

"When you're as accurate as Bird or Miller, you dominate the league."

McGrady calmly observed the surrounding positions, and none of his teammates had a good chance, and O'Neal was also eyeing him, and he would step forward to help defend him as soon as he broke through the fat man.

"Let me deal with this ball!" McGrady made a fake move, then tossed the ball, jumped up, and shot.

"I didn't make the shot that time because I didn't make the best choice. But this time I believe that shooting by myself is the most sure choice."

"Lakers, what you owe me, you should pay it back!"

Goal scored, 114:116!The Compaq Center Arena was boiling, with only 6.3 seconds left in the game, McGrady gave the Lakers an almost fatal blow!
"It's not over yet, guard them!" Yao Ming shouted, "Defend the last ball."

Maddie looked up.Yeah, and one last ball, come on.

The Lakers didn't have a timeout. Madsen served the ball. He wanted to hand it to Brian Shaw. The quick-witted Jefferson reached out before Xiao.Jefferson pokes the ball out, and he dives for it.In the air he saw McGrady has run to position.pass the ball!
McGrady catches the ball and turns around for a dunk!With only 1.1 seconds left in the game, 114:118, the Rockets sealed the victory!

With Shaw missing a three-pointer, the game officially ended.

The Rockets reversed and narrowly beat the Lakers in the last minute at home, winning the battle of Tianwangshan with a big score of 1:3!

奥尼尔打出了33+13+4，科比也贡献了31+7+7，超水准发挥的费舍尔得到24+4+4，但在第四节一分未得。火箭队麦迪在第四节独砍14分，全场打出了36+10+7，华莱士发挥出色贡献了18+10+4，比卢普斯22+4+8，杰弗森也有15+6+3。

All the audience at the scene witnessed the moment when the Lakers' dynasty throne cracked.

The eyes of the entire league are focused on the next game-on May 2003, 5, the Lakers played against the Rockets at home.If the home team wins, it will be dragged into the seventh life-and-death battle; if it loses, it will declare the collapse of the Lakers dynasty.

4月30日，NBA官方宣布鲍比.杰克逊当选为本赛季最佳第六人，杰克逊获得了52张第一选票，362积分。火箭队里德以33张第一选票和257分屈居第二。

On May 5, the two teams met again at the Staples Arena.

Before the game, the atmosphere in the locker room of the Lakers was dull, and even the always hip-hop sharks became serious.All the players listened quietly to Phil Jackson's speech.

"Boys, I've won 3 consecutive championships. I did it twice with the dynasty Bulls. In the past three years, I and most of you have completed another three-peat. I want to say that the championship will end. Everyone will lose, and we will too." Zen Master was uncharacteristically low-key, but then changed the subject: "We all know that the Lakers dynasty will end, but it shouldn't end today. We can lose to the Spurs, because they have the same monster as Shaq. Ken: We can lose to the Kings, until now I still remember that they brought us huge resistance on the way to the championship last year; we can lose to the Dallas Mavericks, they are a powerful new team; but we shouldn’t lose to the Rockets. We were the champions last season, how can we lose to a weak team that didn’t even make the playoffs last season?”

"That's right!" "That's right!" The emotions of the Lakers players were mobilized, and they also had a heated discussion.

"I almost forgot, the Rockets were a bad team last season. It seems like a long time ago." O'Neal suddenly realized: "They supplemented Yao Ming and Billups last summer, it seems to be completely reborn."

"I don't care about these, and I don't care how strong the Rockets will be in the future. I just want to beat McGrady." Kobe said coldly, "Shaq, you should beat Yao and Olajuwon."

"I will!" said the shark through gritted teeth.

　The Blazers were eliminated by the Warriors 1-4. I have no feelings for this team, but I have deep admiration.The Trail Blazers have mediocre talent this season, and they are obviously not as good as the Rockets on paper.But compared to the Rockets, who were repeatedly defeated in the first round, they created more trouble for the 73-win Warriors.A game dragged into overtime and lost, and the final battle lasted to the last 30 seconds.I hope that every team can play in such a mental state and dedicate a wonderful game to the audience.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)