Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 257 The Postman Working Overtime

In the battle of Tianwang Mountain, the Pacers are determined to win.

The famous Japanese basketball player Mu Shenichi once said: "Never underestimate the opponent and win in a steady way. Never show mercy to the opponent. If you grasp the opponent's weakness, you must attack fiercely. Because in the competitive arena , kindness to the opponent is cruelty to oneself."

The Lakers lost Garnett, and the inside line that was originally balanced between the two sides suddenly became the Lakers' worst. Before the game, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle made a special arrangement for this.
In the locker room of the Lakers, everyone formed a circle. The person in the center was not the head coach Phil Jackson, nor the boss Kobe Bryant, but the 41-year-old Karl Malone with a gray beard. .
"When I first came into the league, many of you were probably still in elementary school. For 19 years, I have dreamed of the moment when I lifted the championship trophy. The first two times, I screwed up. This year is my best. Well, it is also the last chance, because next season, I will [-]% not stay on the court."

The other players were silent. At the beginning of the season, Malone signed a two-year contract. According to his current state, there is no problem in playing for another one or two years. Unexpectedly, the postman had already made a decision and retired after the season.

"I missed like 30 games this season? It's never been done before. The body won't lie to you. I think it's time to go. Your boss, Jim Buss, when he recruited me , hope I break Kareem's scoring record with the Lakers-"

Jabbar on the other side showed a bewildered smile.

"—Of course, there are still more than 1000 points left. I'll leave this record to you. I'm not a great athlete. I just happen to be better at basketball and work harder than most people. That's a bit too much, listen Guys, we're going to play two or three games against them without Kevin, and I'm going to put all of my energy into playing time, fighting, and destroying them, boys, don't be fooled This old fellow of mine is no match for me!"

All the Lakers put out right fists and bumped together.

"We only got the news before the game that Lakers forward Karl Malone will be back in this game. This is two weeks earlier than his expected recovery time. I don't know if he has recovered all his skills? But anyway, his The comeback is a perfect complement to the Lakers' weak power forward position after losing Garnett." Mike Breen commented after getting both sides' starting lists.

"Karl Malone is back, but don't worry, his injury will definitely not heal quickly, and his condition will not be very good. We will implement according to the original plan, with Shaq as the core to open the inside line first, Reggie and Al's outside line must be Pay attention to the transfer of the ball, their rotation will not be so fast, we have to derive opportunities to make shots, and if we win this game, the championship will be sure!" Rick Carlisle is making the final deployment to the players on the field.

There is no suspense in the jump ball between O'Neal, who holds the NBA's highest touch record, and Ostertag, who bounces from the matchbox, and the Pacers get the ball.

Payton slowly dribbled the ball across the half court under Billups' marking and hung it to O'Neal.

Ostertag defended with all his strength, and Malone was cruising aside.

The purple Lakers away jerseys worn by Malone and Ostertag are somewhat similar in color to the Utah Jazz’s blue Snow Mountain jerseys. For a moment, O’Neal was in a daze, as if he was still playing in the Western Conference Finals.

Gathering his mind, Shark raised his hips and hit Ostertag. Sure enough, Malone's help defense arrived immediately, and he cut fiercely.

The shark collected the ball, dodged a hand knife from Malone, turned around and shot with a small hook.

Missed, Ostertag struggled to get stuck, and Malone received the rebound.

When I landed, my injured foot still had some dull pain, but it was not a big problem.

The Lakers attacked, Billups handed the ball to Kobe, and ran to the bottom corner by himself.

Ostertag came up to cover, and Kobe went left and rushed, and the quick first step directly passed the old glove.

O'Neal scrambled to help, and at the same time, he set a cross screen between Malone on the weak side low post and Ostertag on the roll. Ostertag hung Al Harrington and let Malone run When we got to the free throw line, there was no one there.This is the daily style of play of the two when they were in the Jazz, and now it is easy to cooperate temporarily.

Seeing that O'Neal was attracted by Kobe, he held the ball with his left hand and passed it back to Malone who ran out of the middle.

The postman made a steady mid-range shot and opened the scoring for the team.

Kobe and Ostertag gave Malone high fives when they returned to defense.

"Strike!" In the ward, Jim and others watched the game with Garnett, who had just finished the operation and was on bed rest. Kobe's breakthrough points are already very familiar, thanks to his teammates being able to put the ball into the basket Basket, if it is Reaper Parker, Kwame Brown, etc., their open shooting effect may not be better than Kobe's hard attack with three people.

The Pacers attacked, and O'Neal caused Ostertag's foul and went to the free throw line.

"Let me guess, your feet are so painful that you can't stand anymore, it's hard for you, hug the thighs of these brats for the championship, forget how that Kobe kid humiliated you in the All-Star Game Now? I will get the championship ring earlier than you, and I never left the Pacers." Miller came over and whispered in Malone's ear.

As the king of trash talk, Miller and Payton have different styles. Payton wins by quantity, and many words are completely out of his mind. He disrupts the opponent's mentality through 48 minutes of uninterrupted magic attacks of dirty words, while Miller uses Known for being acrimonious, he often speaks directly to the opponent's pain points, such as talking about the deceased father of Joe's gang leader.

At that time, Ma Long was unbalanced by Pi Erye's sentence "the postman does not go to work on weekends", and he missed both free throws, becoming a famous laughing stock in the league.

But Malone seems a bit different today, he turned a deaf ear to Miller's provocation.

O'Neal made two free throws and Malone received the rebound. Miller originally wanted to come up and grab it, but seeing Malone showing his big elbow that swept the league, he rationally chose to retreat.

Billups dribbled the ball across the half. In the playoffs, he averaged only 1.7 turnovers per game, and he was an absolutely reliable engine for the team.

Seeing that Miller's mind was not on him, Billups didn't lob the ball to Kobe who was asking for the ball in the low post. Instead, he dribbled a step directly, shot a three-pointer with a cold arrow, and hit it steadily.

"It's not that I'm partial to my friends. I think Chauncey can do more. He is better than many people imagine." Garnett applauded Billups' performance and also proposed his own to Jim. view.

"I think so."

Zen Master's system is because players hold the ball relatively evenly and are dominated by superstars. The requirements for the point guard's ability to control the rhythm are not too high. It mainly depends on shooting and defense. Billups plays like an enhanced version of Fisher .Of course, Jim doesn't think that the main guard who has been in the conference finals for seven consecutive years has only this ability.

(End of this chapter)