Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 340
In the third quarter, the Lakers' strategy changed again. Artest was sent to defend Nowitzki, and Battier replaced Haslem.

Before, the Lakers often resorted to this trick when they were short-handed. Relying on Artest's strong body and strong defense to entangle the opponent's power forward can often have a miraculous effect.

After Battier came on the court, the Lakers put more pressure on the ball holder. Compared with Haslem, Battier's attack range and threat on the field are also larger. The only disadvantage is that the rebound protection of this lineup is not Not too good.

If it is Jeff Van Gundy's Rockets, his plan is definitely to reduce the tempo, grasp the success rate, guarantee retreat, not seek merit but seek no mistakes, and finally hand it over to Yao Ming or McGrady for singles; but Jim's policy is to push speed, Grasp the transition, take advantage of Nowitzki and Dampier's weak defense and slow speed, and forcefully increase the rhythm. After all, there is an offensive ghost like Kobe in the team, and it is a waste of money not to stimulate his firepower.

So, in the third quarter, the rhythm of the two sides instantly turned into an All-Star Game. Poor Dampier felt that he was back in the Warriors. He was just about to cover for his teammates, but he had already made a shot. Whether he scored or not, the Lakers sent the ball quickly Offensively, he has to drag 280 pounds back to the defense, where Kobe or Garnett has already forced the inside to score.

Under this rhythm, Dampier's proud ability to protect the rim has been abolished. On the court, he can only grab the frontcourt rebounds, but the Lakers except Billups, everyone else protects the backcourt. In terms of rebounding, Garnett is one of the few rebounders in the league. The Mavericks' plan to use their height advantage to grab offensive rebounds was also killed by the Lakers in the cradle.

Seeing that Dampier ran a marathon on the field, his body language revealed frustration, the old Nelson traversed the bench, and in the end he could only send Van Horn, and Nowitzki formed a double shot inside.

This adjustment was in Jim's hands. After Van Horn came on the field, the Mavericks' defense was completely lost. Billups and Kobe frequently completed pick-and-roll cooperation with Garnett, hitting the basket and scoring, and quickly widened the point difference to more than 10 points. .

And this point difference, the Mavericks did not turn over until the end. Terry did everything he could. In the second half, under the strict marking of Billups, he still made 8 of 4 shots and 6 free throws. He scored 15 points, but Nowitzki, under the siege of the Lakers strikers in turn, fell short in the second half and only made 12 of 1 shots.

It's hard to win when your main player is so bad, let alone with Stackhouse next to him who made 9 of 2 shots in the entire game.

104 to 88, the Lakers beat the Mavericks away and won a good start. Kobe played 42 minutes, made 23 of 12 shots and scored 32 points. His performance was very stable.

On the other hand, Nowitzki, who played 43 minutes, made 22 of 5 shots and scored only 14 points, which can be called the first pot of the game.

"The Lakers obviously made full preparations for Nowitzki. We can see that Jim Buss used four players, Haslem, Artest, Nene and Garnett, to deal with Nowitzki. Dirk Nowitzki, took turns to consume his physical strength, on the offensive end, also consciously looking for him, and the Mavericks' response is very bad, replacing Van Horn is a failure, and now Van Horn is attacking The defensive end is equivalent to the Mavericks playing one less player. Let's look at his data in this game. He made 7 of 2 shots and scored 5 points. Such an inefficient contribution cannot even out the loss he lost on the defensive end. Score." Newcomer Mark Jackson commented on the game.

In the case of the last defeat, they still suppressed the mighty Mavericks in the away game, and the Lakers supporters regained their confidence.

In the second game, the Lakers still insisted on the defensive policy of deadlocking Nowitzki, placing Josh Howard and Stackhouse in the second half of the list.

Under the targeted defensive measures of the Lakers, Dirk Nowitzki, who has not yet shaken off the title of softie, made 5 of 1 shots in the first quarter.

Fortunately, this time the big brother Finley stood up, 4 of 4 in a single quarter, scoring 11 points alone, helping the Mavericks to bite the score and dragging Nowitzki out of the venue.

Terry's performance has always been a thorn in the Lakers' minds. Billups suffers a bit in terms of speed. Terry is also good at using pick-and-rolls, and his jumper after using the screen is a must.

The old Nelson also learned his lesson, and never put on the suicide inside line of Nowitzki and Van Horn. When Dampier was off the field, Sean Bradley was also pulled out to top the inside line for a few minutes. The effect is not bad, after all, that height and wingspan.

At halftime, the Lakers temporarily lead 55 to 53.

In the third quarter, Josh Howard broke out suddenly and made consecutive mid-range shots to help the Mavericks overtake the score.

A team like the Mavericks with seven or eight scoring points is indeed very difficult to deal with. You don't know when someone will suddenly have a gust of wind and hit a small climax.

Fortunately, the Lakers also had a lot of scoring points. This time it was Artest who stood up. He first grabbed an offensive rebound, stormed Josh Howard, caused a foul, scored 2 plus 0, and then received Garnett to point out He retreated beyond the three-point line and resolutely shot amidst the shouts of "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" from all the Lakers fans, abruptly turning the second half of their sentence into "Strike!"

Artest's 5 points in this wave of mistakes helped the Lakers stabilize the situation. Kobe's offense is still unsolvable, and Garnett's precise mid-range shots and support are also dismembering the Mavericks. defense, while Terry and Finley's precise shooting is still supporting the situation for the Mavericks, waiting for Nowitzki to find his touch.

In the fourth quarter, the Lakers sent Nene to mark Nowitzki, and the German finally found a chance. First, he faked Nene and hit a mid-range shot. Made two free throws.

Jim changed back to the main force, but Nowitzki's frozen touch has been thawed out. An iconic Golden Rooster independent turnaround jumper ** Garnett, plus a pick-and-roll outside three-pointer, announced to everyone that I am Silver Horn The king is back again.

The home audience seemed to see the dawn of victory again, but Kobe immediately extinguished the newly ignited fire of hope with a large three-pointer.

Josh Howard put his head in his hands, very annoyed, his defense has reached the extreme, and even almost caused Kobe's mistake, but the man wearing the No. 8 jersey on the opposite side picked up the basketball that was about to go out of bounds, and it was about to finish in 24 seconds At that time, he forced a shot from 32 feet away and hit a deadly three-pointer.

With 44.8 seconds left, the Lakers led by 4 points.

Terry and Nowitzki ran the pick-and-roll, and Kobe and Garnett manned them both.

Two consecutive screens finally forced a change of defense. After Terry changed direction continuously, he stepped back and shot a jumper.

There are legends in the rivers and lakes that Garnett can take off on the spot, turn over the coin placed on the backboard 20 times in a row.

Although it was confirmed by himself to be purely fictional, his defensive area should not be ignored at any time.

Although Terry's ball is usually safe, the remaining one was slapped into the audience by Garnett's all-out block.

With the sighs of the audience, the Mavericks' home court was captured for two consecutive games.

(End of this chapter)