Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 62 Preheating
After arriving in Sacramento, Zen master locked himself in a hotel room.

It is not the first time that he has faced the situation that the team is about to fall apart. The Bulls in the 97-98 season had a lot of internal and external troubles: Jordan will retire after the end of the season, Pippen is plagued by injuries, the lineup is aging, and the core is in conflict with the management Many things... But with the joint efforts of him and Jordan, he still kept the championship trophy in Chicago, creating a legend of the last three consecutive games.

More difficult than winning is defending, and even more difficult than defending is consecutive championships. Since the Celtics, no team has been able to achieve four consecutive championships. Even the Lakers in the 80s almost monopolized the Western Conference championship , but still encountered a strong challenge from the eastern team in the finals, and the winning rate was barely over half.

With the increase of league teams and the increasingly perfect rules, to maintain the long-term competitiveness of the team, not only must the operation of the management be tested, but sometimes some opportunities must also be used.For example, Pippen's sky-high price will change to the price of cabbage in about seconds.For example, the Celtics' Len Bias and Reggie Lewis, of course, this is a counterexample.

Back then, the Bulls hoped to maintain long-term competitiveness and traded with Pippen as the main body to get Sean Kemp and rookie Tracy McGrady.But Zen Master and Jordan tried their best to prevent it, and the transaction was eventually aborted.It is somewhat similar to the current situation.

However, if Kobe heard that O'Neal was about to be traded, instead of stopping it, he would applaud.And if I stop it, I'm afraid I'll pack up and leave Los Angeles immediately.

The doorbell rang, interrupting the Zen master's cranky thoughts.

It was Brad Stevens, the young man who always had an idea.

"Coach Jackson, I have something to say about tomorrow's game against the Kings..."

In view of the fact that after the last game, the Spurs' own coach Popovich unanimously condemned Bowen's black feet. Zen Master made a change in the game against the Kings, and the starting small forward was Stephen Jackson.

It's hard to say what the purpose of this change was, but it did have a miraculous effect. Stephen Jackson's defense against Stojakovic was unexpectedly successful. He didn't suffer in the matchup, but his tough style of play and fierce personal defense made Peja, who was softer in his style of play, miss all his shots and made 6 of 0 three-pointers.

The main firepower on the periphery failed, and Weber was defended by Big Ben and Mason taking turns in hand-to-hand defense, which consumed a lot of energy. The king's offensive burden could only be handed over to Bibby and veteran Divac.Fortunately, Divac was merciless against his old team. Most of the time, he was facing the rookie Okur and taught the Turkish big man a good lesson. The old Youtiao scored a large double-double with 18 points and 17 rebounds. , Bibby 25 points and 7 assists, the Kings beat the Lakers 93-88.

Such a score is already quite low for the Kings.

Although he lost the game, Zen master used the advice given by Stevens. In the absence of O'Neal and Kobe's poor hand feeling, the stalemate with the Kings went to the last lesson.Harassing Stojakovic with tough close defense and small moves made it difficult for him to receive the ball from the outside, forcing him to use more ball-holding breakthroughs to attack, making the King's offensive operation often stagnant.

And when the Zen master asked the reason, Stevens took out a stack of materials, which showed Stojakovic's shot distribution statistics for the entire season, as well as the corresponding shooting percentage, and told the Zen master that Stojakovic Under the close-fitting high-pressure defense, the overall shooting rate will drop by nearly 10 percentage points, and when he is attacking with the ball, the overall offensive efficiency of the Kings will decline as a whole.

Because in the King's system, if the ball doesn't move and doesn't come to Divac or Webber, Webber's personal attack will be greatly weakened, while Stojakovic, Christie and Bibby's off-ball attack will be greatly reduced Force, or even lure Stojakovic to make a breakthrough with the ball, is a means to disintegrate the King's smooth Princeton offense.

"Who told you to do this? Research on a certain team since the beginning of the season?"

"It's Mr. Jim Buss, who thinks the Kings are going to be our worst enemy in the playoffs."

Stumblingly defeated the Cavaliers, but lost to the Suns and Trail Blazers. The Lakers' record fell behind the Kings by two games. The last battle in March was still against the old rival Spurs.
The Lakers finally waited for O'Neal's comeback. The Sharks tried their hand at the game and scored 20 points and 18 rebounds in 7 minutes. The efficiency was very high. It seems that the toe injury did not affect him much.

The Timberwolves have been in poor form recently, losing four of their five games and dropping to fifth in the West. The Spurs and Mavericks have won each other due to the Texas Civil War, and the number of wins is also far behind the previous Kings and Lakers. some gaps.

The Lakers, who are almost locked in the top two in the Western Conference, strictly control O'Neal's playing time, allowing him to play only about 20 minutes per game. No matter whether the team is leading or lagging, or even about to lose, the clocking time will not change.But Shark, who usually plays tricks and amuses, often has a serious face, and the number of times he even teases rookies is much less.It made Arenas, Anderson and Okur a little uncomfortable.

In the season-ending game, the Lakers' opponent was the Kings with a record of 61 wins.

O'Neal's playing restriction was lifted, but the Lakers still sent Stephen Jackson as the starting small forward, moved Mason to the power forward position, and Ben Wallace as a substitute.

Facing the higher defensive intensity of the Lakers than in the previous game, Adelman had nothing to do. Stojakovic and Webber faced Jackson and Mason's melee defense, and the efficiency was very low. The King's Princeton offense was fragmented. Had to rely on the personal abilities of Bibby and Weber to force the attack.

The Lakers simply gave up the support of Mason and Jackson with the ball, and O'Neal and Kobe took turns playing singles. Mason relied on his strong body to build walls everywhere, and Jackson and Arenas ran marathons with defense, further consuming the physical strength of the Kings.Big Ben, Bowen, Okur, Fisher, Anderson, Richmond and Marley's super long rotation lineup will not suffer against the Kings bench led by Turkoglu and Bobby Jackson.

Mason only played 20 minutes, but he was out of breath by the end of the game, more tired than usual after playing 36 minutes, and Stephen Jackson even had a cramp in the third quarter, and Bowen and Marley rotated in the fourth quarter Finished playing.

斯托贾科维奇17投5中，得到13分，韦伯15投6中，得到16分12篮板，送出4助攻的同时有7次失误。

For the Lakers, O'Neal lifted the ban for the first time and scored 36 points and 28 rebounds in 15 minutes. Kobe showed unfathomable physical strength, played 46 minutes, scored 31 points, and switched to Bibby many times on the defensive end.

In the end, the Lakers beat the Kings 95-87.

The regular season dust has settled, the Lakers topped the Western Conference with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, and the opponent in the first round of the playoffs will be the Utah Jazz.

　Today's news, the bald man retired...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)