After the third quarter restarted, the court was still stuck in a quagmire of iron, and no one could break free first.
More than five minutes into the third quarter, the Pistons, who were lagging behind, took the initiative to change their tactics, or Billups wanted to break the game with his personal strength.
With the help of defensive counterattack, Billups quickly advanced with the ball.
In order to help his teammates defend, Kobe quickly ran back to the backcourt and stood inside the three-point line to defend.
Who would have thought that Billups would shoot a long three-pointer one or two steps away from the three-point line.
Seeing that the situation was not going well, Kobe immediately pounced on him, but it still didn't help.
Kobe guarded Billups for two and a half quarters, but he didn't expect to make a serious defensive error at this time.
As Billups hit a super long three-pointer, the players on the Pistons bench jumped to their feet one after another, and the atmosphere on the court became stagnant.
The Lakers led the Pistons by just these three points. After Billups made a contribution with a super long three-pointer, the point difference was immediately tied.
However, just when the fans at the scene held their breath and did not dare to make any noise, Payton immediately picked up the ball and passed it to Malone who ran outside the baseline. The latter caught the ball and immediately passed it back to the former.
Billups' risky move reminded Payton that everyone is so tough anyway. Instead of trying to shoot about 40% of two-pointers, it is better to gamble on chasing three-pointers.
When Billups saw Payton advancing with the ball, he didn't expect Payton to shoot a chasing three-pointer. After all, chasing three-pointers is his common skill, but it is not in Payton's arsenal.
It wasn't until Payton really stopped for a jumper and chased for a three-point shot that Billups flew out from inside the three-point line.
"Fortunately, his three-point shooting is unstable!"
Just as Billups turned around, he heard Duang's voice coming from his ear.
However, just as Billups was looking for a rebound, Duane also rushed to the frontcourt and caught the rebound head-on.
The Pistons are a common zone defense position. They protect rebounds within the free throw line better, but they are beyond their reach for long rebounds that bounce outside the three-point line.
Seeing Duen pick up the offensive rebound, Hamilton and Prince flew towards Duen together.
Du En, on the other hand, raised the ball in front of his forehead, tiptoed and shot quickly.
"Duane, Duane, Duane!"
Many Lakers fans at the scene saw that Durn's ball had a straight trajectory, and inexplicably felt that the ball would definitely go in. Before the ball was officially in the basket, they started cheering Durn's name.
Sure enough, the ball was really thrown in by Du En.
Facing the defense of Hamilton and Prince, Dunn responded strongly with the chasing three-pointer that Billups just made, helping the Lakers get back to the 3-point lead.
"Duane, Duane, Duane!"
More Lakers fans cheered, and there were even a few vague MVP shouts.
After suffering a loss, Kobe did not rush back to the backcourt this time, but continued to stay in the frontcourt to pester Billups.
Hamilton had to serve as a backup and stayed in the backcourt with Billups, so the Pistons' fast break stopped.
The Lakers continued to guard against the Pistons. Although Payton did not put forth much effort on the defensive end, this round just now was a great inspiration to him.
Payton waits for the defensive counterattack, or after the Pistons score, to advance on the fast break.
Soon, Hamilton once again took advantage of Big Ben's off-ball screen to get an opportunity and pulled to the free throw line for a mid-range shot.
However, even if you are the king of mid-range shots, not every goal must be scored.
Hamilton hit the iron, and the rebound was collected by Grant. Payton asked Grant for the ball, and Grant naturally couldn't refuse it.
While Payton was advancing quickly, Duan was also spreading his legs for a fast break.
Payton did not stick to the ball and immediately passed the ball to Duan who ran upfield.
Duane had just made a three-pointer, and the Pistons naturally couldn't sit back and watch Duen continue to shoot three-pointers.
Hamilton and Prince, who ran back to the frontcourt, continued to pounce on Duan. Even Ben took a step up from the low position and stood in the corner.
Duan saw this and passed the ball back to Payton. Payton didn't stop after getting the ball, and instead threw it to Malone who was on a fast break.
After receiving the ball, Malone shot straight into the penalty area. Ben reacted and found that he had no way to defend, so he could only forcefully pull Malone and use a foul to destroy Malone's goal.
However, Malone was already on guard, and immediately threw the ball after the physical confrontation occurred. The basketball rolled around the rim, but still fell into the net.
After the ball was scored, Malone was in a good mood and showed off his arm muscles at Ben.
If it were Artest, Ben might have taken action directly, but this was Malone in front of him, so Ben still controlled his temper.
"I didn't expect you to choose to pass the ball."
Malone stood on the free throw line and reached out to Duen, wanting to take a shot.
Without Duane attracting defense, Malone would not have been able to get this offensive opportunity and play this two plus one.
"Gary, your pass is so comfortable."
After high-fiving Duan, Malone clapped and talked and laughed with Payton.
"Kobe, Horace, you are also great."
Malone was soaked in both rain and dew, and clapped with Kobe and Grant.
Subsequently, the extra penalty was also hit steadily, helping the Lakers widen the point difference to 6 points.
Kobe continued Billups' tight defense, preventing Billups from repeating his old tricks, and used a chasing three-pointer to help the Pistons recover the score.
Billups is actually pretty good off the ball, but Kobe can follow Hamilton all over the court, so it's not a big problem to target Billups.
Billups was unable to participate in the Pistons' offense, unable to effectively connect the team and score points. The Pistons' offense was still sluggish.
In this case, Hamilton can only rely on Hamilton's mid-range play and Campbell's inefficient low-post singles to alleviate the scoring shortage a little.
It wasn't until there were more than 3 minutes left in the third quarter that Larry Brown finally called a timeout.
Larry Brown replaced Billups with veteran Lynch Hunter, hoping that Hunter's shooting ability could help the Pistons relieve offensive pressure.
The problem is that the Pistons couldn't score, not because Billups was poor, but because Kobe locked Billups up.
Although Kobe didn't score much, on the surface it looked like Billups was competing with Kobe. In fact, Kobe, who injured his right shoulder, didn't take many shots, which was actually a good thing for the Lakers.
Therefore, Larry Brown's substitution did not have much effect. Hunter was also locked up by Kobe after he came on the court.
And it also caused Hamilton to have to assist in the backcourt and help dribble the ball through the half court.
Hamilton did not run without the ball in the first moment, helping the Pistons tear apart the Lakers' defense, making the Pistons' offense even more difficult.
On a dead ball opportunity, Larry Brown had to take remedial action and replace Campbell with rookie Memit Okur.
The ball has to be passed from the outside to the inside. Hunter was guarded by Kobe, and Hamilton's dribbling level was relatively average. Facing Dunn's aggressive defense, Hamilton also made some dribbling errors.
Although Hamilton was not able to steal the ball directly from Duen, his poor dribbling made it more difficult to pass the ball to the teammate who should pass it.
Hamilton was under pressure to hold the ball and could only pass the ball early to substitute Collis Williams.
Collis Williams has a certain ability to hold the ball, and facing Payton's defense, his scoring efficiency in singles is pretty good.
In the last minute of the third quarter, the Pistons relied entirely on his 2-of-4 singles.
Because Collis Williams played well, before the end of the third quarter, Kobe even took the initiative to find Payton and wanted to exchange with Payton.
However, Dunn, who was still on the court, heard the conversation between Kobe and Payton and said there was no need to change.
“Colliss Williams won’t last long, and it’s not like Gary didn’t defend a single ball.
If you change it back again, you might miss Hunter.
We are not afraid of their two-pointers, what we need to guard against are the three-pointers that are easier to narrow the score! "
After listening to Duen's words, Kobe stopped proposing a defense change and continued to lock down the Pistons point guard, maintaining the lead until the end of the game.
After the third quarter, the Lakers only led by 5 points.
Kobe, who was eager to win this strong dialogue and iron fight, felt that he had not participated much in the offense tonight and still had plenty of energy, so he took the initiative to continue playing in the fourth quarter.
The Zen master originally had the idea of defeating the main force. Since Kobe took the initiative to ask for help, the Zen master naturally would not refuse to agree.
Even Duane, who contributed a lot in the third quarter, was continued to be sent to the court to help Kobe share the offensive pressure.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Pistons were still led by Billups.
Larry Brown thought that Kobe would go down to rest. Who knew that Kobe was so difficult to deal with and led the defense for three quarters, but he didn't even need to rest.
Billups and his substitutes failed to have the desired effect, and the Pistons had to make a desperate move and send all their main players in advance.
The Zen Master saw every move and tried his best to control the main force. In the end, the Lakers had the last laugh.
"Duen, I didn't expect you to persist until the end!"
Duen, who insisted on playing through the fourth quarter, was affirmed by Master Zen after coming off the field.
84 to 89, the Lakers held on to their home victory with a 5-point advantage and became the ultimate winner of this powerful East-West dialogue.
In 42 minutes of play, Duan made 7 of 17 shots, 3 of 8 three-pointers, and 4 of 6 free throws to score 21 points. He became the only player to score 20 points in the game.
This shows how tragic the fighting was.
