Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 397 Walking the Legendary Road
I have to say that the Lakers have been very busy this Christmas.

There are only 2 games in the Christmas game. They are the Spurs vs. Pistons, which is the matchup between opponents in the finals of last season. In the end, the Pistons relied on Ben Wallace's 11 points and 21 rebounds, and new aid Antonio McDyess' 15 points. With 13 rebounds and a double-double, relying on the thickness of the inside line to resist the Spurs, they finally defeated their opponents at home 83 to 76. It is worth mentioning that Tim Duncan, the core of the Spurs, encountered the "cut Buddha tactics" and only made 12 of 3 free throws. On the other hand, Ben Wallace of the Pistons made 8 of 5 free throws when Popovich drew his knife and slashed, winning the applause of the fans in Auburn Hills.

Although many people think that defense is the essence of winning in basketball, the ratings will not lie. After the game between the Lakers and the Heat, the attention of the second game dropped significantly. No one wants to watch the slow-paced iron fight .

Among the four teams participating in the Christmas game, only the Lakers need to move to Washington the next day to challenge the Wizards back to back.

Back-to-back and consecutive away games, the Lakers players are not in good condition, especially Lamar Odom and Artest. The two obviously had a cool time in Miami. The entire first half was like sleepwalking. Artest missed all 4 shots. , Only grabbed 3 rebounds, and Odom made consecutive mistakes within 2 minutes, including a violation of sending a baseline ball and dribbling directly into the field, which amused the Wizards' home audience.The Wizards used their mistakes and iron strikes to score consecutively. Fortunately, Kobe continued to respond with scores and kept the score within a controllable range.

In front of Garnett, Kwame Brown scored 9 points and 12 rebounds in the first half like a god, including 6 offensive rebounds. Half of the pot belongs to Odom and Artes For Te, the two couldn't take advantage of Jared Jeffries and Brendan Haywood, so Garnett had to wipe their ass again and again, causing Kwame Brown to do whatever he wanted under the basket.

Dwyane Wade's touch was also cold. Under the powerful defense of Larry Hughes and the Wizards' tall inside guard, the breakthrough effect was not good. He only scored 5 points in the half and made 9 of 2 shots.

The Lakers trailed 51 to 56. The reason the game didn't take off was that Kobe made 15 of 11 shots in the half and scored 31 points.

In the second half, Don Nelson decisively adjusted the lineup. Udonis Haslem replaced the soft-handed Artest and appeared in the Lakers' starting lineup in the second half.

The tactics are also very clear, creating space for Kobe, allowing people with good hands to carry the team, Haslem is in charge of blocking, helping Garnett to share the pressure on the basket, Perkins enters the rotation lineup, and Artest and Odom was placed at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, with a substitute to see the effect.

That is to say, the depth of the Lakers' lineup, coupled with Don Nelson's eclectic coaching style, can support the Lakers to play like this. Hughes hurt each other. Hughes, who scored 17 points in the first half, made 6 of 1 shots in the third quarter and only scored 4 points.

With the top scorer Hughes' misfiring, the Wizards were gradually suppressed by the Lakers' backhand. After all, Kwame Brown's outburst cannot be regarded as normal. Bad offensive skills are not enough to support him to continue to score.

And Kobe's touch continued to be fiery, constantly using various means to wreak havoc on the Wizards' defense.

This venue used to be Michael Jordan's home court, but Joe's boss has completely torn his face with the Wizards management and left Charlotte.

Hold the ball on the right wing, break through Richard Hamilton's defense step by step, rush to take off before Jarvis Hayes' help defense arrives, and switch to the left hand in the air, avoiding Kwame Brown's block , and hit the basket with a backhand, even the posture of falling is still chic.

"After he made that shot, I knew that there was no way this game could stop Kobe. From then on, the game no longer belonged to us." Richard Hamilton said in an interview after the game, only said such a sentence.

Tentative step, ball collection, mid-range shot, hit.

Dribble slowly, suddenly speed up the rhythm, pretend to lower the center of gravity to break through, but suddenly receive the ball, jump up and shoot, and hit.

Low post back dribble singles, back turn to the right fake action, right foot bounces back, turn forward, drift backward, fallback jumper, hit.

Dribble to the right to break through, suddenly change direction sharply to the left, after breaking through, face the supplementary defense, make an emergency stop jump shot, catch the opponent by surprise, and hit.

Pushing through the bottom line, receiving the ball empty-handed, folding and gliding, and violently kicking back with both hands.

In the third quarter, Kobe only scored 14 points, but in the fourth quarter, Kobe made 13 of 9 shots, hit 5 three-pointers in a single quarter, scored 27 points alone, and scored 72 points in the game. After David Robinson, Kobe The second player to complete the miracle of passing 70 in a single game.After Bryant hit the decisive big three-pointer, even the fans in Washington declared their defection, applauding when Bryant was replaced, and chanting MVP in unison.

The Lakers beat the Wizards 127 to 115.

"I just play. The team was in trouble in the first half. As the leader of the team, I need to take responsibility and help the team out of the predicament. As for how many points I scored and whose record I broke, I don't care. I care. What matters is whether these points are enough to help the team win the final victory." Craig Sager caught Kobe on the sidelines for the first time, but Kobe was very calm in the interview, even though behind him, the Lakers players had already Frying the pot, Garnett, Wade, Artest and others used various methods to steal the spotlight and make fun of it, including cooling Kobe with cold water.

"Throughout the second half, what we did was so easy, grab the rebound - hand it to Kobe, defend it - hand it to Kobe, stand out of bounds - hand it to Kobe, sit on the bench - cheer on Kobe ... I was lucky, Became one of the closest people to enjoy this performance, although I have been used to such performances in training. Of course, I also have some credit. If I didn't perform so badly, he might have scored 40 points and closed it. hands." After the game, Ron Artest, who had a sluggish performance and scored 75 points with Kobe, showed a witty side in an interview.

After the game, Kobe's feat quickly spread all over the world. In front of the team that Michael Jordan once played for, he surpassed Jordan's career-high 69 points.

On the scoring list, Kobe's scoring average has exceeded 30 points per game, and surpassed Gilbert Arenas, who averaged 29.4 points per game, to third place.

(End of this chapter)