The world's best combo guard

Chapter 224

"I will not forget that promise. To be honest, I am an optimist, but you know, an optimist is not a weak person. Let us witness what will happen next."

The next day, in the morning, at the Lakers training facility, when a reporter mentioned to Li Hao the bet he made with ESPN columnist Pellman at the beginning of the season, Li Hao laughed and said that he had not forgotten the bet. Said that the bet will be revealed soon...

One stone can start a wave of thousands of miles!

When Li Hao did not evade this topic in front of the media, he undoubtedly instantly focused group after group of people who eat melons.

Everyone wants to see what the end result of this bet is.

Of course, in fact, everyone also understands that when this season has progressed to the present, the possibility of Perlman losing this bet is being infinitely magnified.

Also, at the beginning of the season, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers suffered a lot of pain. Whether it was Shaquille O'Neal's departure or Phil Jackson's resignation, the team's future in the new season looked bleak.

In that case, many people in the league even had the same idea as Pellman at that time. They said that it was simply whimsical for the Lakers to complete the title defense in the new season. Among them, Pellman was the leader. In the new season, the Lakers still aim to advance to the playoffs.

Perlman may have been unintentional, but his words seemed stern and arrogant.

But this just happened to annoy the Lakers No. [-], that is, the unruly Li Hao.

Therefore, Li Hao then called He Long to Pellman, saying very strongly that if the Lakers fail to reach the Western Conference Finals in the new season, he is willing to pay Pellman $2, and in turn, Pellman will pay Li Hao Pay $[-].

People didn't expect Li Hao to be so aggressive, and directly asked Pellman to make a bet from nowhere, and even Pellman himself didn't expect it.

But isn't that right?

Perlman, who just heard the news, was ecstatic. He had always looked down on the defender from China. He was lucky enough to win fmvp last season and really regarded himself as the savior?
So, without further ado, Perlman immediately responded to Li Hao's bet.

In this way, the betting story between Li Hao and Perlman officially began.

As the season progressed, Perlman gradually panicked for the simple reason that the Lakers' record was far from what he expected.

Not only did the Lakers not struggle to enter the playoffs, but they have been sitting firmly at the top of the list, creating a record of winning streak.

And since then, fans have kept reminding him of the bet with Li Hao, which made Perlman very angry. He even publicly stated that even if the Los Angeles Lakers remain undefeated in the regular season, so what?After all, they still can't reach the Western Conference finals in the playoffs.

Maybe it's because the dead duck has a stubborn mouth, maybe it's because it can't save face, but the unit Perlman is still holding on.

Then, the playoffs came, and when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 4-0 without bloodshed, Perlman's face gradually became ugly.

He is very clear about what this means. It is not that the Lakers are invincible after defeating the Grizzlies, but the state of the Lakers in this series is simply too terrifying. Perlman has to admit that it seems that it is only a matter of time before the Lakers enter the Western Conference Finals The problem.

Even if the Lakers' opponent in the second round is the Dallas Mavericks.

For Pellman, at this time, he can only expect a "miracle" to appear. Pellman swears that he has lived for so many years, and for the first time he has become a [-]% Dallas Mavericks fan!

.........

At 5:7 p.m. local time on May [-], at the Staples Center, as the referee blew his whistle, the semifinal series between the Lakers and the Mavericks officially began.

When the game officially started, people discovered that the Lakers chose to change their formation tonight. Although Rudy Norwich had already decided to change in the training hall yesterday, the news about this was only known to the players inside the Lakers. Not sure.

Caron Butler was placed in the starting lineup, which surprised many people, even Dallas Mavericks coach "Little General" Avery Johnson was also very surprised, his brows were wrinkled, and he was trying to guess Rudy Tom and Norwich's intentions, but to be honest, he really couldn't guess it for a while.

Perhaps intelligence can discover some clues as the game progresses!Avery Johnson thought so.

Different from the change of the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks continued to use their previous starting lineup against the Houston Rockets in this game: Jason Terry, Michael Finley, Josh Howard, Eric Danpis, Dirk Nowis base.

Jason Terry performed very well in this playoffs. At the beginning of the game, he hit a three-pointer against Kobe and helped the Mavericks score first.

The Lakers also responded immediately. After Li Hao advanced the ball to the frontcourt, facing Jason Terry, he opened his hand and made a three-pointer.

brush!
Vigorous cheers erupted at the Staples Center, and the home fans were all cheering wildly for Li Hao's three-pointer.

Jason Terry glanced at the yellow-skinned guard in front of him with some astonishment. He knew that this Chinese guard was difficult to deal with, and he was one of the players who needed the most attention in this series between them and the Los Angeles Lakers.

But he didn't expect that this guy shot so decisively.

Mavericks' offense, after Terry took the ball across the half court, it was immediately handed over to Dirk Nowitzki who was pulled to the high position.

This is not surprising at all. Dirk Nowitzki is the core of this team. Moreover, Nowitzki's coping ability is also very good. It is not surprising that this kind of ball is handed over to Nowitzki.

After Nowitzki got the ball, he faced Lamar Odom with a signature "Golden Rooster Independence" in a calm manner.

"brush"

The basketball went steadily into the basket.

Perhaps just like Kobe Bryant and Li Hao's fadeaway jumper, Dirk Nowitzki's "Golden Rooster Independence" seems to be an unsolvable shooting guard at this stage.

Li Hao had to admit that facing Nowitzki's move, even he seemed helpless.

Li Hao hit a three-pointer lightly before. This time, Jason Terry became very careful. When Li Hao just passed the center line with the ball, he rushed towards Li Hao.

Li Hao also saw Jason Terry who was rushing towards him, and then, with a toss, the basketball came into Kobe's hands.

When Kobe faced Michael Finley and Josh Howard's double-team, he didn't have any chance to shoot. You have to admit that the Dallas Mavericks did a good job of defending against Kobe.

Li Hao quickly bypassed the left corner from the bottom corner of the stamp book, hoping to create shooting opportunities through running positions.

Li Hao's speed was so fast that Jason Terry, who was in charge of defending her, couldn't keep up with him immediately.

and so.

"brush"

In the left corner, Li Hao received Kobe's pass and hit another beautiful three-pointer.

Jason Terry was very annoyed but also helpless. It seemed that he really couldn't keep up with the Chinese defender in front of him.

On the sidelines, Avery Johnson obviously also saw this. He didn't blame Jason Terry. After all, he knew exactly what kind of player Li Hao worked hard. On the contrary, he pointed at Jason Terry. made a gesture.

Jason Terry certainly understood what the gesture meant.

Double team!

In the next round, Li Hao enjoyed the "equal treatment" with Kobe, and he was also double-teamed by the Mavericks.

The change of defensive strategy of the Dallas Mavericks on the court did not hide the eyes of many people, and everyone showed conceited and incredible expressions.

Everyone agrees with the Mavericks' double-team defensive strategy against the Zijin Gemini, but they don't think it is wise for the Mavericks to adopt such a defensive strategy at the beginning of the game.

The reason is simple. In the long 48-minute high-intensity match, even if the Mavericks players work hard on the defensive end, their physical fitness is limited. When their physical fitness declines, it may be the beginning of the Mavericks' complete collapse.

After all, they don't have the conditions to fight the Lakers for a protracted offensive and defensive battle. They don't have perimeter superstars like Li Hao and Kobe.

Of course, they are not without opportunities. They have superstar Dirk Nowitzki inside. This point will be the key to their victory, provided that Nowitzki can play normally or even super long.

Judging from the first few minutes of the first quarter, they can really pin their hopes on Nowitzki, because Nowitzki made 4 of 3 shots and looked extremely good.

For the Lakers, this is very simple. In addition to continuing to maintain a strong offensive on the perimeter, they have to really make adjustments to Nowitzki's bet.

The on-site director's camera shot was given to Lakers coach Rudy Tom, Norwich and Lamar Odom.

After all, having two people is the key to deciphering Dirk Nowitzki's point.

"Look, guys, we don't need to try to limit Dirk as much as we can, we're going to play with them on offense, Lamar, show your confidence, you don't have to fight your brains on defense, you just have to Playing at the level we should have on the offensive end, that’s enough.”

After returning from the official timeout of the first quarter, the Lakers' tactics were obviously adjusted. When Dirk Nowitzki continued to maintain a good level in the interior, the Lakers' offensive success rate in the interior also increased.

"brush"

"Haha, Lamar hit again, this is his third consecutive hit shot"

People have to admit that Rudy Tom Norwich is really an old, tough but smart head coach. Facing Dirk Nowitzki's dominance in the interior, he didn't let his disciple Lamar Odom tried to play defense that he was not good at, but let Lamar Odom also play a role on the offensive end.

And because Dirk Nowitzki has invested a lot of energy on the offensive end, it is impossible for him to restrict Lamar Odom's offense too much on the defensive end.

29: 21!

Unknowingly, the Lakers at home have gained an 8-point lead. Maybe this is what people expected, but everyone did not expect Li Hao to explode at the beginning of the game tonight. .

According to conventional logic, people think that Kobe will still be the first offensive choice of the Lakers in this game, but in fact, this is not the case. The most popular player in the Lakers account in the first quarter is Li Hao.

13 points. When Li Hao was replaced with 2 minutes left in the first quarter, he had already scored 13 points and was the player with the highest score in the game so far.

He even made three of three three-pointers, a [-]% terrifying shooting rate.

"Perhaps everyone should understand the reason why Rudy Tom and Norwich suddenly changed their starting lineup in this game. He wanted to release Li Hao. That's right, that's the point of releasing Li Hao."

"Rudy Tom Norwich has the foresight. He knows that the Dallas Mavericks have made a lot of arrangements for Kobe, so they completely liberated Li Hao unexpectedly. It can be seen that Rudy Tom Norwich's decision It has already paid off”

Indeed, including Avery Johnson, at this moment, I finally understood the reason why Rudy Tom and Norwich changed their starting lineup in this game.

However, in the face of Rudy Tom and Norwich's changes, Avery Johnson seems to have nothing to do.

Avery Johnson can almost imagine that Rudy Tom's old guy from Norwich is waiting for him to take a more intensive defense against Li Hao, because when he really does that, Kobe will turn around at this point. Here comes liberation.

"This is the advantage of having two superstars on the perimeter."

Avery Johnson can only sigh in this way, but he did not give up. After all, the combination of Michael Finley and Jason Terry on the outside of his team is not bad. As long as they can show their true level, they have a chance won the game.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Mavericks played a pick-and-roll. Their goal was to get Michael Finley and Jason Terry to score as soon as possible. His coverage extended to the three-point line.

9: 0!

The Mavericks used this change to achieve certain results. They beat the Lakers 9-0 in the opening stage of the second quarter, and instantly narrowed the 11-point difference in the first quarter to 2 points.

Rudy Tom and Norwich immediately requested a timeout. He was very dissatisfied with the team's defense on the outside during this period, especially Derek Fisher, who replaced Li Hao.

To be honest, since this playoffs, Derek Fisher's performance has not been very good. Whether it is the offensive end or the defensive end, he seems to be struggling.

Rudy Tom and Norwich didn't put too much pressure on Derek Fisher. He just let Li Hao back on the field after returning from a timeout, and Caron Butler also returned to the field.

The purpose of replacing Li Hao is to strengthen the offense, and the purpose of replacing Caron Butler is obviously to strengthen the defense.

Li Hao played really well tonight. When he returned to the court, he completed a 2+1 in the first offensive round, helping the Lakers stabilize the situation quickly.

(End of this chapter)