Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 221 The Agent's Counterattack

Both teams swept their opponents in the first round and entered the second round. According to the prediction before the game, this will be a matchup like sparks hitting the earth, but the Lakers' devastating performance reminds many people of 2001.

"We couldn't make shots, we couldn't make layups, we couldn't even make free throws, maybe we missed 15 free throws, and we were trailing by more than 10 points from the first quarter. It's hard to win, although In the following games, the players tried their best to chase points, but it is impossible to challenge such a strong team with such a low shooting percentage." After the game, Timberwolves coach Philip Saunders accepted an interview, Obviously he is not satisfied with the team's performance.

Garnett breathed a sigh of relief. He was hacked to pieces before the game, but he slapped the media in the face with a wonderful performance.

Before the second game, various media were overwhelmingly optimistic about the Lakers.

But the Timberwolves are such a magical team. When everyone is optimistic, they play poorly. When everyone starts to look down on them, they can deliver wonderful performances.

As the saying goes, a rookie waits for three years. Now the third-year Arenas has averaged 22.7 points and 5.4 assists per game, and his three-point shooting percentage has reached 38%. The leader of the Timberwolves.

"Those rookies in my year, Jason Richardson, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker, they all scored well, but they were not my opponents. If they scored, I could easily beat them. They. In terms of scoring, if I had to pick one player with the best offensive skills in the entire league, I would choose... Kobe Bryant, I learned a lot from being teammates with him, and we see now It's not all about him, what he did in training surprised all of us. But now he's our enemy, we lost the last game, I didn't play well, the next game, We will have a different performance, just wait and see!" Arenas expressed his determination to win the second game in an interview.

Game [-] is still at the Staples Center.

Philip Saunders is not incompetent. Although he has never gotten along well with young players, as long as he is given a few talented players, he can draw a lot of beautiful tactics.Before the game, he made adjustments to the Lakers' style of play, taking advantage of Malone's slow footsteps to reduce Jermaine O'Neal's strong attack on Malone, and frequently used pick-and-rolls to tear the Lakers' defense.

Compared with Sprewell, Arenas' shooting is relatively stable, and the task of opening the situation is on his shoulders.

Billups is strong, but relatively slow laterally, while Arenas has a quick first step.

Jermaine O'Neal started the pick-and-roll from outside the three-point line, and Malone couldn't keep up. By the time Billups bypassed the screen, Arenas had already made a comfortable shot, and the two steps outside the three-point line were Agent 2. Even in the playoffs, Arenas, who is not afraid of anything, lacks self-confidence.

Arenas felt hot and hit two consecutive large three-pointers.

On the defensive end, the Timberwolves used Jermaine O'Neal to smash Garnett, Malone handed over to Nesterovic to deal with, and Sprewell stuck to Kobe like a plaster, not giving him an easy chance to catch the ball .

So many opportunities for the Lakers fell on Malone, and the old postman arranged the first 6 points of the Lakers' start.

Jim is a little worried. Although the score is stalemate, the Timberwolves' arrangement is very targeted. The offense plays Malone's pick-and-roll defense, and the defense lures the Lakers to attack Malone. In this way, Malone's consumption will be very high, and other players will be unable to find them. to the offensive state.

At some point, this will happen, a player explodes in the first quarter, scores a few points, but then disappears in the next three quarters.

When Sprewell also started to score, Phil Jackson couldn't sit still and called a timeout.

The effect of Billups defending Arenas is mediocre, and there is no sense of presence on the offensive end. The Lakers made adjustments and replaced Wade.

Wade's faster, better physical fitness, Arenas want to get rid of Wade is not easy.

On the offensive end, Kobe began to control the ball. Although Sprewell was strong defensively, he was old after all, and he couldn't bear the physical strength of long-term high-pressure defense.

As Kobe scored consecutively, the situation of the Lakers gradually improved. Jermaine O'Neal focused all his energy on Garnett, and his defense was powerless.

At the end of the first quarter, the two sides tied at 24.Kobe played well in the second half, scoring 7 points on 6 of 14 shots.

In the playoffs, the Lakers shortened the rotation. Wade, Shane Battier and Nene are the main rotation players. Raja Bell will slightly support Kobe in the first and second half. Playing the fourth position, plus the starting five, formed the main rotation lineup.

As for the Timberwolves, Elvin Johnson and Oliver Miller are the main inside substitutes, and the outside substitutes are Nervous Hudson and defensive expert Hassell, and the depth of the bench is not weak.

In the second quarter, the main attack point of the Timberwolves was handed over to Szczerbiak. This is the usual routine of the Timberwolves in the later period. He and Hudson maintained firepower, and in the second half of the second quarter, four main players were on the field with Hassell.

Szczerbiak is physically strong, and he is not a pure shooter. He has a certain offensive ability with the ball and is also very accurate in mid-range shots. As soon as the second quarter came up, he hit 3 shots in a row, which caught the Lakers defense by surprise. Bell obviously couldn't restrain Szczerbiak's step-back shot.

Seeing that the substitutes performed poorly and the point difference tended to widen, Zen Master changed back to the main force.

Sanders saw the trick, and also replaced Arenas and Sprewell, and replaced Szczerbiak for a short rest.

"Did this Gilbert boy play chicken blood today? How can he be so accurate? Jim, I think you may have made a mistake when you traded him away. If I remember correctly, he also made the All-Star team this year." , or a native of Los Angeles..."

Facing Nicholson's accountability, Jim clutched his forehead, speechless.

On the field, Arenas broke out suddenly, shooting inside and outside, and all kinds of magic shots. Zen master tried it from Billups to Wade and then to Kobe, but no one could cool down Arenas' burning touch.

Within 8 minutes, Arenas made 9 of 8 shots and scored 20 points, beating the fiery Staples Center to silence.

After the second quarter, 59 to 44, the Lakers trailed by 15 points.

(End of this chapter)