Basketball Dragon

Chapter 78 stalemate
With only 5 minutes left in the game, the Knicks led by 2 points, and the main players of both sides returned to the court.

To be precise, the Lakers used a small lineup at this time, replacing starting center Chris Mihm with power forward Brian Grant.

Maintain the offensive power from the outside, and only need to defend the inside.

Chucky Atkins, who is shorter than him in Marb, forced a breakthrough again and made a foul.

One of two free throws, as one of the Knicks players with the longest playing time, he is also a little tired.

After Kobe was defended by the ball, he went directly to the low post to ask for the ball, and was determined to single-play Li Hai to get back his face.

After Kobe received the ball and sat inside for a few times, he turned around and leaned back to make a shot.

If Li Hai can jump completely, it’s not that he can’t reach the position of Kobe’s shot. It’s just that his body contact prevents him from fully jumping. This is also an important reason why the back singles have no solution. Take off like a frontal defense.

The ball perfectly avoided Li Hai's defense, but the position was slightly off.

Kurt Thomas took the rebound and handed it to Marbury. Marbury dribbled the ball forward quickly. After halftime, he handed it to Crawford on the side. Crawford made a quick shot, but unfortunately missed.

The Lakers handed the ball into Kobe's hands again, and Li Hai secretly stepped up on Kobe so that the opponent's back dribble could not go too deep.

With the same technical action, Kobe was full of confidence, turning over and hitting the ball with a jumper.

When it was the Knicks' turn to attack, Marbury also hit the mid-range under the cover of his teammates.

The score stalemate is a very common thing in basketball games. When a shot is made, both sides make a shot, and when a mistake is made, both sides make a mistake. When the atmosphere on the court is too tense, players tend to fall into this vicious circle.

At this time, the team that can jump out first and seize one more chance than the opponent can break the stalemate and become the final winner.

This time the Lakers Kobe dribbled the ball directly for half court, and suddenly changed direction in front of Li Hai and accelerated towards the baseline. Erase in the middle and squeeze into the three-second zone.

Li Hai has been following the opponent's footsteps, jumping high when Kobe made a shooting motion.

However, Kobe this time is a feint, the ball from the seam to Odom.

Odom made steady mid-range shots. Tim Thomas' defense against him was very unsuccessful, as did the backup power forward. Odom is the type that is difficult to defend.

During the Knicks' offense, Butler was the player defending Li Hai. Butler's defense with the ball was pretty good, but he couldn't keep up with Li Hai's footsteps without the ball.

After Li Hai received the ball, he didn't rush to make a move, but also made a post-up single.

After resisting inside twice, he suddenly turned around and rushed to the inside. As soon as the opponent's defense came up, the ball in his hand was distributed to Kurt Thomas. Kurt Thomas was unguarded and easily hit a two-pointer.

There is still a gap of 3 points, and the time is only more than 2 minutes left.

At this time, Kobe even did the point guard's work together. Chucky Atkins concentrated on ambush outside the three-point line, and Odom also pulled out to make room for the inside.

Kobe dribbled the ball in front of Li Hai at an average speed, and suddenly accelerated to wipe it inside.

Even if Li Hai knew that he was going to speed up, he couldn't make a correct judgment in an instant. Kobe's ball-handling skills could only know whether he was going left or right after he speeded up.

Taking advantage of that momentary advantage, Kobe came to the side of the basket and started to throw.

Li Hai jumped up and blocked it with all his strength. No matter how realistic the previous fake move was, it was definitely going to be a shot when it started. Li Hai made the interception move almost without thinking.

The whistle sounded and Li Hai made a foul.

There was no other way. Kobe and Bryant were stuck together at the start. If Li Hai didn't block the shot with all his strength, Kobe would have gone straight in with the ball. There was no problem with dunking, but it would be easy to foul when taking off.

This is the price paid for delaying the judgment by a few tenths of a second. You will encounter such problems when you play against top swingmen. Defense requires more effort than offense, and it may not be successful.

Many people are unwilling to practice defense hard because defense is not easy.

But Li Hai is different, he likes to defend, just like the offense can break through the opponent's defense, he is not satisfied with only defeating the opponent on the offensive end, he also wants to defeat the opponent on the defensive end.

To become a real core player, it should be so.

At the critical moment, Kobe made two free throws and turned the score gap into an extremely erratic 1 point.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and the Lakers' defense at this time has also been raised to the highest level. Crawford has no chance to connect the ball under Kobe's marking.

Li Hai could only turn his back to ask for the ball, Marbury glanced at it but didn't give it, but obstinately wiped it inside.

Another foul was caused, and Li Hai's hanging heart also temporarily fell.

Most of their superstars who have a strong desire to win believe in themselves more at the last moment, and Li Hai is the same.

This time Marbury made two free throws, and the Lakers requested a timeout.

"If Kobe holds the ball close to the three-second zone, he will attack it." Coach Williams urged.

Li Hai didn't have any objections. At the last moment, Kobe was strong enough to enjoy such treatment.

After playing, Kobe still wanted to solve the problem by himself. When he caught the ball and turned his back to the three-second zone, Crawford immediately came over to pinch, and Kobe had to pass the ball out.

After two times, most of the offensive time was consumed.

At this time, Odom went out and held the ball at 45 degrees to make an offensive posture. Tim Thomas quickly posted it. After Odom dribbled the ball and took a step, he jumped up and threw the ball to Butler on the other side. , Butler made a three-pointer, the ball bounced twice in the basket and fell, making a three-pointer.

104:104, in the last 30 seconds, the two teams even drew.

The Knicks paused, and the coach drew the tactics on the tactical board that he had practiced many times before, "Don't worry, throw the ball in, and we will win."

Marbury took the ball and made a sudden move, seeing that the opponent's defender was not fooled, he immediately withdrew two steps and controlled the time outside the three-point line.

With 9 seconds left on the shot clock, Kurt Thomas came up to cover, and Marbury accelerated and rushed inside instantly.

But the Lakers had anticipated Marbury's attack option, and the two players quickly caught up.

Marbury staggered and almost made a mistake, but after all, he was skilled and leaned on the defensive player, but the ball was thrown out.

The position was a bit bad, but Li Hai's long arm still caught the ball.

(End of this chapter)