Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 106 The Fateful Showdown
Compared with the Lakers leading the league, the competition for the No. [-] pick is much more intense. The Bulls, Cavaliers and Nuggets are inseparable in the tank battle.

"Bad? This is not bad. Clear the space, sign high-salary short-term contracts and potential rookies, wait for the big fish and high-level picks in the free market, Kiki Vandeweghe's thinking is not wrong overall, we can look forward to the Nuggets In the past two years, it has risen and become a strong team in the West. If it were me, I might do the same. Of course, I would like to thank Mr. Jerry West. It is his wonderful operation that has laid a solid foundation for us to win the championship. Our work is much easier, and I am just the one who stands on the shoulders of giants to pick apples." In an interview, Jim restrained himself a lot.

Jim didn't believe that Stern could decipher another charge of illegally recruiting the general manager of the Nuggets from this interview.

The overall thinking of the Nuggets is completely correct, but it is a pity that Vandeweghe's luck and vision are a little bit worse, and he bet on Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby. Although the Nuggets have bright stars, they are always poor I took my last breath, of course, this is something for later.

Coming to the New Year, the schedule in January is relatively easy, there are not so many consecutive away games and back-to-backs, and the season is halfway through, which is the time when players are most likely to get tired.

Once tired, it is easy to overturn. The performance of the Lakers surprised many people, especially when facing non-playoff teams, they always feel lazy and unable to lift their spirits.They were double-killed by the Suns at home and away, lost to the Nets at home, and were a guest in Houston, but they were turned upside down by Francis scoring 44 points.

In short, the start of 2003 was not very good. It was not until the last game in January, when they faced the Sacramento Kings again, that the Lakers found their sense. Kobe scored 38 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Garnett scored 28 points and 22 Rebounds, teamed up to give the Kings a heavy blow to the championship.

At the end of January, the Lakers' record came to 30 wins and 13 losses.Just one game ahead of the Kings and Mavericks.

It's worth noting that rookie Carlos Boozer had a solid January campaign, pulling himself above 10 points per game, with Brad Miller appearing more as a high-post supporter. Next, he became the first scoring point on the Lakers bench.Especially in the game against the Rockets, he scored a career-high 31 points.

In the East, with O'Neal's comeback, the Indiana Pacers made great strides all the way, ending the whole month with a wave of 8 consecutive victories, surpassing the New Jersey Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers, and leapt to the top of the East. O'Neal was in the comeback game Averaging 26.8 points and 13.2 rebounds per game, he is still the invincible shark.Supplemented by the still old-fashioned Reggie Miller and Anthony Mason, former All-Star point guard Terry Brandon, perfect 3D Bruce Bowen, and the scoring master Al Harrington on the bench, the momentum Straight to the western powers.

Finally, after the big deal, the two teams faced off for the first time in the new season.

The Indiana Conseco Arena, which can accommodate 18345 spectators, was full of seats. The OK team reunited for the first time after parting ways. Coupled with the grievances between the two teams for many years, the game was heated up a week in advance, so that the Pacers bloodbathed Kyle in the previous game. The news of the special people occupied only a corner of the newspaper.

The two sides did not greet each other before the game, and both warmed up silently in their own half, but the air was already filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

A terrifying reality is that for a long time, the NBA's record for touch height is 378.46 centimeters held by O'Neal.

While the 325-plus-pound Sharks can't do as much as they did when they were young, winning jump balls is still easy.

The Pacers' offense was spread out, with Brandon holding the ball on the wing, O'Neal in the low post, Reggie Miller leading Kobe in circles, Bowen standing in the weak side corner, and Mason in the corner. high-level response.

Ben Wallace lowered his center of gravity and tried hard to prevent O'Neal from easily squeezing into the inside, but the Sharks didn't just dunk, a light half-turned hook shot, hollow into the net.

You have Zhang Liangji, I have a wall ladder.

Zen Master knows the characteristics of Bowen and Mason well, and it happens that he has two cards in his hand that can perfectly restrain the Pacers' two starters.

The Lakers' offense also started from the low post. After Garnett caught the ball with his back, before Mason posted it, he immediately turned over and shot a jumper. The shot was so high that Mason couldn't interfere at all.

It was the Pacers' turn to attack, and Reggie Miller was like a loach moving freely through the crowd. After he got rid of Kobe's defense with Mason's fixed-point screen, he received a pass from Brandon and scored a three-pointer Make a shot and hit it steadily.

The Lakers, in response to Bowen's thinness, resorted to Artest's aggressive tactics. Artest, who used to be in charge of standing in the bottom corner and taking the defender away from the weak side, became the starting point of the low-post attack. He weighed 50 pounds more than Bowen, and Bowen couldn't stop his savage push.

Both sides come and go, and the efficiency is very high.Big Ben couldn't stop O'Neal, and Mason and Bowen couldn't do much with Garnett and Artest.

After the first timeout, the coaches of both sides made adjustments.

The Pacers replaced Bowen, who was struggling defensively, with Al Harrington, and moved Mason to small forward.

The Lakers replaced center Ben Wallace and replaced Senegalese center Desagena Diop, who had had few opportunities to play before.

The Pacers still handed the ball to O'Neal for singles.

After the Sharks received the ball, the Pacers players consciously emptied one side. Al Harrington even pulled beyond the three-point line and took Garnett out.

After O'Neal observed the defense, he held the ball and started playing back.

Once, twice.

This time the resistance from behind was far greater than before. O'Neill thought to himself, even if it was Mutombo or David Robinson, they would be squeezed to the basket with these two strikes. Why is the kid behind him still in three seconds? Outside the area?

Behind him, Diop lowered his center of gravity and used his strong body to withstand the strange impact of the shark.

Unexpectedly, O'Neal exerted his strength again, pushed Diop back a step, then turned around and made a small hook throw.

But Diop's arm span was unexpectedly long, and O'Neill's shot was a little careless, and Diop's left hand that was trying to straighten touched the ball.

The basketball changed direction and missed the basket. Mason and Artest knocked the ball out of bounds while fighting for the rebound.

Diop scrambled to pick up the ball, passed the sideline to Billups, and ran upfield.

"Great job, Desa!" Billups praised as he passed by, and Garnett gave him a high-five.

As the least skilled player in the team, Diop trained very hard. Although he played very little time, he never complained.

Now, his chance has come.

　There will be another update at night, but it may be midnight...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)