Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 235

It seems that the Lakers had already distorted one side of the basket in the first half. After the start of the second half, Turkoglu, who was feeling overwhelmed before, lost his sight. He tried two consecutive three-pointers and failed to make a hit. Instead, the Lakers Billups and Kobe each hit a goal, narrowing the point difference to only two points.

Seeing that the 14-point difference is about to be evened out, even Popovich can't sit still, but at this time the Spurs' system is far from smooth and smooth 10 years later. When encountering problems, there is usually only one solution. Leave it to Duncan.

With Malone on the top defense, the perimeter often double-teaming, and Garnett cruising beside him ready to help defend, Duncan did everything he could, dragging the Spurs forward. Since winning the championship in a shrinking season, David Robinson also completely finished his peak and fell rapidly. For a long time, the Spurs did not have any reliable second masters. The three outsiders, including Turkoglu, were all young people who had not yet issued a rookie contract. , although he has potential, he is still a long way from becoming a star. He has no problem dealing with ordinary strong teams, but the opponent is the Lakers with strong troops.

Now the only Spurs can count on to help Duncan share the pressure, only Rasheed Wallace.

Seeing that the outside touch is not good, Popovich readjusted his tactics. Duncan and Rasheed Wallace fell on the strong and weak sides respectively. Duncan held the ball and played low singles to attract double-teams. —cuts to the hoop to attract Garnett's attention on the help defense, while Rasheed Wallace moves in the opposite direction, making it difficult for Garnett to do both.

Garnett's first reaction was to recover the basket. Of course, he couldn't let Parker go to the basket. In contrast, he would rather let Rasheed Wallace's mid-range shot.

In the playoffs, Rasheed Wallace's shooting percentage near the top of the arc has not been high, only 26.3%. On the contrary, the shooting percentage at 45 degrees on both sides is quite good. Duncan passed the ball to Wallace, Garnett received the basket to help defend Parker. For a while, a 3-meter gap appeared around Wallace.

Tianzun glanced at the basket and made a shot, but because of hesitation, the swing before the shot was too long, and the ball hit the back basket.

Garnett overwhelmed Parker, accepted the backcourt rebound, and handed it over to Billups, who was down immediately.

Parker went too deep, got stuck by Garnett, didn't get back in time, and Billups started stealing early on Rasheed Wallace's shot.

This time he did not choose to chase a three-pointer, but used a rare two-handed dunk.

Halftime behind, the Lakers finally tied the score.

The Spurs attacked, and the Lakers continued the successful defense just now, emptying Rasheed Wallace who was standing at the top arc.

This time, Tianzun adjusted his mentality. After all, he was also a ruthless role as the team's big brother. It is a bit unreasonable to be placed in such a humiliating wide open and still fail to make a basket.

After aiming at the basket, Rasheed Wallace made a steady mid-range shot.

Off the court, Popovich breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Rasheed Wallace can continue to output, Duncan's pressure will be reduced a lot.

Here, Kobe's shot missed the target under the interference of Prince's long arm. Duncan grabbed the backcourt rebound and sent Parker to advance rapidly.

But Billups returned to the defense at the first time, trying to stop Parker's fast break. Parker was about to grab one by force, but Popovich had almost walked to the court off the court, yelling for Parker to stabilize and increase the success rate.

Parker had already increased his speed, but finally obeyed the order, went around and returned to the outside, handed the ball to Duncan who was in position, and went to run tactics by himself.

Popovich, who was born in the military, has absolute control over the team, and the boss of the team, Duncan, is a superstar with a calm personality and comprehensive skills. He knows how to be the best choice for the team, but others want to adapt. The management style of the Spurs needs a lot of time to get used to. After three years of polishing, Parker finally has a bit of a look, while Ginobili often goes his own way. Qi was very troubled by this.

Duncan held the ball, and before Billups' double-team arrived, he turned over and made a jumper, hit the board, and widened the point difference to 4 points again.

The Lakers attacked, and Kobe played against Prince in the low post. Although he suffered from height and wingspan, Kobe had the advantage in strength. After turning his back and running over Prince, he took off against the opponent.

Duncan rushed to help defend at the first time, but Kobe received the ball in the air, distributed the ball to Malone who followed up with the trailer, and fell out of the field by himself.

The postman scored with an easy layup and pie.

Seeing that Kobe hadn't come back, Prince was ready to serve the baseline quickly, but Billups was already prepared, started ahead of time, and cut off the pass to Parker. At this time, Kobe came back from the field and received Billups. Puth ran to the bottom corner after passing the ball and made a steady three-pointer.

54 to 53, the Lakers took the lead for the first time in this game.

Popovich was furious and immediately called a timeout. He did not allow this panic to occur.

Replaced Prince, who was a little confused, and replaced Ginobili.

Ginobili's breakthrough threat is much stronger than Prince's. After he plays, he can provide several more solutions for the Spurs' offense.

But after this wave of offense, the Lakers are already showing signs of gaining momentum.

Ginobili's breakthrough layup was blocked by Garnett's help defense. After Kobe grabbed the backcourt rebound, he advanced one-stop, forced a layup and scored a two-pointer.

Adding penalties and hitting steadily, Kobe has scored 8 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in a single quarter, which is very efficient.

Here, Ginobili was reckless and missed a goal. The second attack was still handed over to Duncan. Duncan faced Malone and cut into the middle. Before Garnett's help defense arrived, he made a hook shot with his right hand.

Looking at the data, Duncan is just an ordinary All-Star, but few players can match the role of offense and defense.Kobe is an outside player and can be a big lock on the defensive end, but he cannot become the backbone of the entire team.

Looking back, Kobe, who was feeling hot, caught the ball in the low post, forcibly turned to the middle, and faced Manu Ginobili and Rasheed Wallace, who came to assist in the defense, forced a jumper and missed.

But Garnett has already taken off, a one-handed dunk, and Malone and Duncan on the other side are stuck in passion, and no one stops him.

This time the home atmosphere was completely ignited.

Ginobili signaled to Bryant to stretch his legs during the jump, but the referee was unmoved, saying it was just a normal movement to maintain balance.

Ginobili, who was above him, was on the offensive end. When he was setting an off-ball screen for Parker, he dug Billups down and got an offensive foul.

Taking advantage of the Spurs' mistakes, the Lakers scored consecutively. The Spurs could only rely on the piecemeal play of Duncan and Rasheed Wallace to score. On the contrary, they led by 32 points before entering the fourth quarter.

(End of this chapter)