December 25th, Christmas Day Game, Chinese Derby, Staples Center.
"Kobe, you go and guard Jim Jackson. Leave Steve Francis to me. How about Gary take care of Cuttino Mobley?"
Before the game started, Duen took the initiative to apply to defend Francis.
Payton smiled when he heard this and said: "I thought you were going to defend Yao Ming!"
"I don't want to be abused!" Du En said angrily.
With Yao Ming's height, he was beaten to the point where he was unable to fight back. When Du En defended him, he was looking for death.
If Dunn wants to win tonight's China Derby, he can only defend the Rockets' perimeter as much as possible.
It's also because Payton's physical fitness has declined too seriously. On the defensive end, he can't keep up with the extremely fast breakthrough or the small steel cannon with explosive physical fitness. Du En can only take the initiative to share Payton's defensive pressure.
"If you can't handle Steve, give him to me!"
Kobe knew Duen's strength, so he had no objection to Duen's defensive arrangements.
It was also because O'Neal was determined not to come back. Kobe, who was eager to win, could only put pressure on his teammates and force them to continue to practice hard to improve their strength.
Even for a training gym rat like Duen, Kobe often practiced with Duen and even offered to challenge him for a duel.
Dunn also had the idea of using Kobe to test his own results after digesting Pippen's template, so he did not refuse.
In more than five consecutive iron fights, Duan has already defeated Kobe.
Although Kobe doesn't know why Duen's strength is growing so fast, he still approves of Duen's current defensive level.
Closer to home, as Yao Ming helped the Rockets win the ball, the game began.
The Rockets played relatively simply, clearing one side and giving it to Francis for a single.
Duan knew that Francis was the same type of player as Iverson, better at breakthroughs but worse at baskets.
So he took the initiative to let Francis go and defend Francis' breakthrough inside the three-point line.
Sure enough, Francis did not make a sudden move and directly shoot a three-pointer. Instead, he patiently dribbled the ball and shook Duan's center of gravity.
Du En responded calmly and was not fooled. Francis made a drastic change of direction and rushed to the left.
Du En immediately moved sideways in small steps to keep up with him, but Francis suddenly stopped and darted to the right.
Just as Duen stepped back into the penalty area and blocked Francis' breakthrough route, Francis turned around and broke through again, turning to the left and rushing toward the baseline.
Grant, who was under the basket, had to come out to help Duan defend. Francis stopped in front of Grant and protected the ball with his back.
Grant stood there and stretched out his hand to block the shot. Francis continued to turn around and break through the baseline. Duan ran to the reasonable collision area to block Francis' breakthrough route.
Francis turned his hips again, pulled him to the half-basket area, and threw his hand high before Grant could catch up.
One person plays and nine people watch. Francis is a bit unique in his playing, but there is something really good about his dazzling ball control and breakthrough.
After Duan obtained the Pippen template, his lateral speed increased a lot, but facing Francis's weird breakthrough rhythm, he really felt numb.
Fortunately, small throwing while moving is a common move of Francis, but it is not a trick. Just like Kobe's back is beautiful, but it often turns into three irons.
As Francis made the throw, six or seven people from both teams crowded under the basket to grab the rebound.
However, the Lakers' insiders are still too short. Rockets power forward Kevin Cato is 2.1 meters tall, which is taller than the two Lakers insiders, let alone Yao Ming, who is 2.2 meters tall.
Yao Ming grabbed an offensive rebound in the crowd, then hit two people with his back, turned around and dunked the ball into the basket, shouting "tomato".
Yao Ming has just started to gain weight, but he already has the feeling of O'Neal in the low post.
When the Lakers fans at the scene saw Yao Ming, they all missed the scene of O'Neal playing at the Staples Center.
There is no doubt that at this time, the Lakers have an unstoppable O'Neal in the low post, and the game will become completely different.
It's a pity that not only is O'Neal not on the court now, but Malone, who played more than 20 games, is also missing.
boom--
As soon as the Rockets players returned to defense near the center circle, they found someone hanging on their backcourt basket.
"Yao Ming, he turns out to be your little brother!"
"Can anyone tell me why he was under the basket?"
Jim Jackson rushed to the basket, picked up the ball, slipped out of the baseline, and quickly passed the ball to Francis: "Sorry, I didn't pay attention.
He ran too fast. I was still watching Yao Ming grab the rebound, but he had already run to the basket.
And his teammates understood him very well and passed the ball immediately. "
From a classical basketball perspective, the small forward should be responsible for scoring in positional battles and rushing for rebounds.
But with the emergence of Pippen, today's small forwards seem to be more functional, tending to defend, organize, and switch offenses.
Duan caught Jim Jackson off guard with his excellent transition awareness and speed.
However, Jim Jackson saw Duen's unicorn arms and felt that even if he followed Duen closely, it would be difficult to prevent Duen from scoring in the transition attack.
Soon, Doon faced Francis again.
This time Francis started his attack directly, but Du En remained unmoved. As a result, Francis made a direct and clean attack.
Du En immediately pounced on him and missed, but the long two-pointer was not something Francis was good at. It was Du En who interfered.
Also because it was two points long, the ball bounced farther. Stanislav Medvedenko, who started the game, helped the Lakers protect this rebound.
Payton reached for the ball and quickly advanced after getting the ball.
Although Malone is missing from the fast break, the Rockets have two tall men over 2.1 meters tall, and their return speed is obviously slower than that of the Lakers.
As a result, Payton went directly to the middle, relied on Kobe and Duan to fly on both wings, attracted the defense, shot straight to the basket, and succeeded in a fast break layup.
Seeing the Lakers finish their fast break, the Rockets also served quickly.
But Francis pushed in halfway and pulled out again.
Yao Ming set a screen for Mobley under the basket, and Mobley came out to catch the ball and shoot from the baseline.
Francis at the top of the arc also looked in the direction of Mobley, but when the ball was passed out, he found that it had been put into Yao Ming's hands.
There was no one guarding Yao Ming under the basket. After getting the ball, he stood on tiptoe, jumped slightly, and dunked the ball into the basket.
If they can't guard Yao Ming, there's nothing the Lakers can do.
We can only push up the speed as much as possible, maintain the score with converted offensive points, and consume Yao Ming's physical strength with constant turnaround runs.
However, the Rockets are not unable to defend every fast break.
This time Payton failed to push up the speed. Considering that the two tall men under the basket were too strong in protecting the frame, Payton could only hand the ball to Dunn and play according to the triangle offense.
Duan's fight is very simple, can Jim Jackson fight? Can fight!
But Duen did not choose to play in singles. Instead, he followed the triangle offense and asked Grant to come out for a pick-and-roll.
Kevin Cato can't follow up. The Rockets' three perimeter players alone will be unable to guard four people.
While the Rockets were taking charge of defense on the outside, Duan moved in front of Mobley, then turned around with a back-up move and easily squeezed into the penalty area.
Du En knew that to win this Chinese derby, he must defeat Yao Ming. So I chose to use Maggette's method to get rid of Yao Ming.
However, Yao Ming took a stand under the basket in advance and had no intention of blocking.
Moreover, Yao Ming's rim protection is different from other insiders. Other insiders fly away at a moment's notice. No matter how Yao Ming swings, his feet are rooted and he doesn't jump at all.
For this reason, Du En could only make a sudden stop, take the ball and pretend to shoot, luring Yao Ming forward.
Sure enough, Yao Ming was fooled and rushed over, reaching out to try to block the shot.
But Du En took the ball and took a step forward, and took the initiative to hit Yao Ming's chest.
Yao Ming is not light. When he jumped out in a hurry, he couldn't control his body. He didn't stand still but continued to take a step forward, which naturally blocked him.
After the confrontation, Duen made a fadeaway jumper.
The ball didn't go in, but the whistle sounded and two free throws were made.
"I'm sorry, Dayao. We don't have O'Neal anymore. If we want to win, we can only send you off."
After Du En stood on the free throw line, he smiled and said to Yao Ming in Mandarin.
"It doesn't matter, I understand. It's your ability to draw fouls, don't mind."
Yao Ming expressed his understanding and responded to Du En with a trademark embarrassing smile.
Du En took advantage of the fact that he still had some preparation time before the official free throw, so he exchanged a few words with Yao Ming.
“I also hope to play with you in the international arena.
But I'm a little worried about your status, just like O'Neal and Ewing.
Even someone as strong as O'Neal would miss such a long time due to a toe injury, which would cause great trouble to the Lakers.
Ewing is the only one among the four major centers who has not won a championship!
I think it's not that he's not strong enough, but that he suffered a serious knee injury early in college.
It is precisely because of the impact of injuries that I always miss a breath at critical moments. "
"Do you think Kobe is good enough? At least he is one of the top ten superstars in the league today!
As for me, my scoring average now exceeds 24 points per game, ranking 7th among the scoring leaders.
However, Kobe, myself, and Payton, even though we were in good shape, we couldn't win.
Since Malone was injured, the Lakers have been losing!
This is enough to show that any team needs a strong big man.
If the men's basketball team wants to achieve results, it doesn't matter whether I am present or not. What is important is that you cannot be missing.
Once you can't play, even if you add one or two more, you won't be able to achieve good results. "
Du En used the current situation of the Lakers to explain his worries to Yao Ming.
By the time Yao Ming began to consider what Du En said, Du En had already put both free throws into the basket.
After the game resumed, Duane continued to guard Francis.
As expected, Duan failed to guard Francis again. This time Francis passed Duan and reached the basket.
But it didn't matter, as soon as Francis made the layup, Duen had already ran to the frontcourt and launched a fast break.
Jim Jackson returned to defense in time, but failed to guard Duan who was hitting hard in singles under the basket.
Relying on Duan's increasingly proficient switching offensive experience and skills, the Lakers stabilized the situation in the first quarter. 28 to 26 on both sides, the Lakers only fell behind by 2 points.
Van Gundy Jr. actually did a pretty good job in using Yao Ming.
Yao Ming only played more than 9 minutes in the first quarter, and came on as a substitute for 8 minutes in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Yao Ming only played 7 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, Yao Ming himself had little physical strength. In addition, he received his fifth foul and was substituted after five minutes due to foul trouble.
At the critical moment, Van Gundy, who was so anxious and dizzy, even forgot that Yao Ming was on the bench, so Yao Ming did not return to the court.
For this reason, the Lakers didn't have much pressure from inside defense during the decisive moment. The Lakers relied on the iron chains of Payton, Kobe, and Duane to lock the hands of Francis, Mobley, and Jackson.
Coupled with two fadeaway jumpers and an open three-pointer by Kobe and Fisher at critical moments, the Lakers defeated the Rockets with difficulty by 2 points.
Kobe and Fisher were undoubtedly the major contributors to the Lakers' victory on Christmas Day tonight!
But really speaking, in tonight’s Christmas game, the biggest winner was 16 of 26 shots from the field, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 7 of 11 free throws. He scored 40+ points for the first time and won the Chinese Derby. Doon.
In fact, Yao Ming was not bad either. He made 8 of 14 shots and 4 of 5 free throws. He scored a double-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
However, Duan's data is so dazzling! 41 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
Tonight, Duan kept beating Francis and Mobley with the ball, and kept hitting the basket to cause trouble for Yao Ming.
The Lakers also relied on Duan's large number of free throws and transition offense to score points, often winning the score at critical moments.
By the fourth quarter, no one inside the Rockets scored, and because Francis liked to play alone on the outside, he was flanked by Duane and Kobe, with men on both sides.
The Lakers reversed an 8-point deficit in the final quarter and turned defeat into victory!
However, the Lakers had just regained their morale by winning the Rockets on Christmas Day, but their mortal enemy from afar, the Celtics, gave the Lakers another fatal blow!
After Christmas, the condition of most NBA players will decline, and the same is basically true for the Lakers.
When Kobe faced the Celtics, he had the attitude of fighting for everything against his mortal enemy.
But Du En was not very interested in this. In Dunn's view, not every game is a Christmas game plus a Chinese derby.
Therefore, I didn't pay much attention to the yellow-green battle during the regular season. I didn't keep running towards the basket like the Rockets did before.
As a result, the Lakers insider was taught a lesson by an old drunkard like Vin Baker! Now, there is no way to hide the fact that the Lakers are all CBA insiders!
Lakers fans were very excited and strongly demanded an explanation from the Lakers management.
The local media in Los Angeles also began to focus on the shortcomings of the Lakers' lineup, criticizing the management, O'Neal, and Kobe for failing to lead the team to success.
As the saying goes, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish. O'Neal continues to be a pig and is not afraid of boiling water. In order to win a big contract renewal, he is even prepared to further delay the time.
For the Lakers management, no one can lose to the Celtics.
Forced by public opinion, he had no choice but to temporarily compromise with O'Neal and extend his big contract worth 45 million for another three years.
Of course, to a certain extent, considering O'Neal's worth, this is undoubtedly a very large salary cut.
However, O'Neal's original contract with the Lakers was extended to the 2005-06 season, and he would be 35 years old when the contract ended.
Who would give a 35-year-old fat man a maximum salary contract with an annual salary of 15 million?
Not to mention, the Lakers also gave O'Neal a three-year contract, which is enough for O'Neal to play until the age of 38 and then retire with dignity.
After getting the contract he wanted, O'Neal was satisfied and immediately held a press conference with the Lakers.
He said that the Lakers are in a bad situation recently. As the team leader, he has to risk injuries and come back early.
All in all, Shaq the Superman is back!
There are finally big fish in the lakes of Los Angeles!
