"Dunn, later you hoist the ball to the sky, don't give it to me from the ground."
The game was about to start. O'Neal came to Du En and whispered to Du En.
"Don't worry, I will let you catch the ball comfortably." Duan assured O'Neal.
Du En also knows that the current king is one of O'Neill's victims.
Over the years, there have been three teams that have limited O'Neal the best, and they are all in the West.
They are the Jazz led by Malone, the Spurs led by Duncan, and the current Kings.
Now, Malone joins if he can't beat him and becomes a part of the Lakers. There is no general next to Duncan, and his teammates on the outside are relatively immature. As long as O'Neal has Kobe beside him, the Spurs are not afraid.
It is precisely because of this that O'Neal's biggest problem now is that the King is left with a luxurious interior configuration.
Once upon a time, whether it was Divac, Scott Pollard, or even Webber, they could all match O'Neal.
Now that Scott Pollard has left and Webber is injured and out, the Kings acquired Brad Miller in the offseason.
All in all, in order to deal with O'Neal, the imaginary enemy, the King invested a lot of energy in building anti-shark armor.
In this game, O'Neal did not have Malone around him to share the offensive pressure, but he had to face Brad Miller's forward defense and Divac's defensive pressure behind him...
In fact, O'Neal is not afraid of two people standing behind him, just like Kobe is not afraid of two people jumping up to interfere with his shooting. What O'Neal is really afraid of is not being able to catch the ball.
After all, O'Neal cannot get the ball from the high post to start an attack. He must get the ball from the low post before starting the attack.
As O'Neal said, because of the Kings' targeted defense against him, it was difficult for him to simply catch the ball from the ground. He could only catch the ball from the sky with his talent.
Thanks to that, Duane won the honor of Player of the Week before and won the Pippen template.
Pippen's template failed to allow Duen to directly evolve into a top scorer, but it improved Duen's abilities in all aspects.
It is precisely because of this that Duan's ability to "give the ball to O'Neal" has also been greatly improved.
Although he is not as dazzling in passing skills as Kobe, he is still sure of breaking through to the low post and passing the ball to O'Neal.
O'Neal received Du En's promise and felt reassured in his heart!
As a teammate who gets along day and night and fights side by side, O'Neal has already noticed that Duan is improving every day!
In recent times, the balls passed to him by Du En have become more and more accurate and comfortable.
Since Kobe can pass the ball into his hands in the crowd, Duane should be able to do the same.
Closer to home, as O'Neal helped the Lakers get the ball, the game began.
Payton dribbled the ball across half court, but was heavily guarded by Bibby on the way.
Although Bibby's defense is average, his physical confrontation is okay. Bibby is criticized for his poor defensive ability mainly because he is too short.
However, Bibby is now in his prime, and he can still defend against the elderly Payton.
Duen saw that Payton was having trouble dribbling and took the initiative to respond.
However, the Kings' Doug Christie was not idle either. Before Duan could catch the ball, he kept touching Duan's waist, consuming Duan's energy through physical confrontation.
Doug Christie has a good defense all year round. In the past, the Kings always sent Doug Christie to limit Kobe's scoring.
Now that Kobe is gone, Duan suffers.
Fortunately, Du En looks like a rookie, but he has a lot of veteran competition experience in his mind.
After receiving the ball, Duan took the ball with both hands and used his elbow to get rid of it. Doug Christie did not want to be elbowed and had to take a step away.
After Duan gained space to break through, he quickly dribbled toward the frontcourt.
Pass the ball to Kareem Rush, then use the screener to pass it to Peja for a single.
Peja's defense was undoubtedly much worse than that of Doug Christie, but just when Duan was about to single out Peja, Doug Christie still resolutely double-teamed him.
Duane is not Kobe. He did not choose to ignore the double team and shoot, but chose to pass the ball to Kareem Rush.
The latter took the ball and shot a three-pointer directly. He seemed to have a good touch and helped the Lakers hit a three-pointer right from the start.
However, Brad Miller under the basket immediately picked up the ball and exited the baseline, passing the ball directly to Bibby in the frontcourt.
After taking the ball, the latter took a few steps towards the basket, attracted the defense of Payton and Kareem Rush, and then passed the ball to Doug Christie.
Doug Christie didn't hesitate after receiving the ball and shot a three-pointer directly.
Du En defended and pounced, but it was too late.
brush--
Relying on Doug Christie's three-pointer, the Kings took less than 3 seconds to tie the 3-point difference.
When Payton picked up the ball and prepared for a fast break, he found that the Kings basket was full of people, including O'Neal.
When fighting a positional battle, the Lakers naturally have to follow the triangle offensive tactics.
Duane quickly got the ball, but Doug Christie was still like a ferocious hyena, biting Duan and not letting go.
Duan used the pick-and-roll with Payton to move in front of Bibby.
Doug Christie just squeezed through the screen and was chasing after him again.
At this moment, Duen stepped back and shot a three-pointer without saying a word.
There were too many people under the basket, and Duane realized that even if he got past Bibby, he would still be easily double-teamed by Divac and Doug Christie.
In this case, Duan might as well keep it simple and rely on outside three-pointers to blast the little Bibby from a single point.
As for passing the ball to O'Neal?
"Can't you wait until I'm tired and pass the ball to Shaq?"
Du En already had a plan in mind.
brush--
The splash sounded again, and it seemed that Duan's touch was okay tonight.
Seeing the extremely smooth teamwork between the Kings, Du En immediately returned to defense and tried to limit the King's attack.
The Kings still tried to run fast breaks, but this time the Lakers' man-to-man defense was okay.
Bibby wanted to use his physical advantage to beat Payton in singles, but Payton relied on his defensive experience to defend Bibby.
However, the rebound was grabbed by Peja, and the Kings used this offensive rebound to resume the Princeton strategy.
Peja was running without the ball, Doug Christie was ambushing in the bottom corner, and he could cut to the basket at any time. Divac took the initiative to come out from the low post and run high to provide support.
O'Neal had to follow one step inside the free throw line, trying to get him closer to Divac.
Brad Miller also moved up to the corner position, first set a screen for Bibby, and then immediately followed up.
The King's running and pick-and-rolls are dazzling.
Even Duen, a strong defensive player with Pippen's defensive experience, did not dare to help defend at will. He could only try his best to implement the man-to-man tactics arranged by Master Zen at the beginning to keep an eye on Peja in front of him.
In the end, Kareem Rush followed Doug Christie for two laps and did not notice Brad Miller suddenly appearing in front of him.
Doug Christie used the screen to take the ball and hit a three-pointer from the corner, and then hit another three-pointer.
But this time, the King was finally seized by Du En on a fast break opportunity.
Stanislav Medvedenko passed the ball from the baseline to Duan in the frontcourt.
Although Doug Christie was right next to Duen, he was pushed by Duen when Duen was about to catch the ball.
This kind of confrontation without the ball is still allowed these days.
The whistle didn't sound, and Du En also received the ball, so he directly took the ball and rushed to the basket, raised the ball to the sky, and dunked with both hands.
When Doug Christie saw Duen returning to defense, he also quickly served the ball. As soon as Peja got the ball, Duen suddenly turned around and defended.
Peja had no intention of competing with Duan and passed the ball directly back to Doug Christie before running forward without the ball.
Peja's ability to become an All-Star forward in the Western Conference mainly relies on his shooting ability.
Seeing that Peja was already running in the frontcourt, Duan could only put down Doug Christie and continue to chase Peja.
Not long after, the Kings once again adopted the Princeton tactics. The Lakers players were so confused on defense that they could only keep them as far away from the basket as possible.
Fortunately, the Kings do like to shoot. The proportion of three-pointers in the team's total shots is almost the highest in the league.
Even though Doug Christie had already made two consecutive three-pointers, his subsequent three-point shooting percentage quickly dropped to the normal level of about 40%.
28 to 26, relying on O'Neal's inside advantage and excellent pie-eating ability, the Lakers slightly led by 2 points in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Duan continued to start, but Payton did not lead the bench with Duan tonight.
Thanks to the obvious improvement in Duan's personal ability, even with Fisher, Walton and other space points, he can still score efficiently with the ball when Divac is not on the court.
Duan led the team for more than 4 minutes in the second quarter, and the Lakers reduced the point difference to more than 5 points.
However, the good times did not last long. The Kings returned to the starting five, and the Kings' scoring efficiency improved again.
At the end of the first half, 52 to 55, the Lakers were 3 points behind the Kings.
In the third quarter, the Kings felt even more crazy, hitting 7 three-pointers in a single quarter, and the Lakers were opened up by 12 points by the Kings.
In other words, Du En served as a substitute for half a season and developed an efficient scoring ability during off-peak travel.
Relying on Duan's scoring and organization, the Lakers once narrowed the point difference to less than 5 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
After O'Neal and Payton came back on the court, Dunn took the time to rest for a few minutes, and the point difference remained stable at around 5 points.
With more than 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Duen returned to the court, and the game fell into an extremely anxious situation.
After fighting for a whole time, no one had much energy, so Du En went down to rest for a few minutes, finally getting a chance to breathe.
It is precisely because of this that Duen, who took the ball as soon as he came up, did not refuse.
After calling two screens in a row, he finally got rid of Doug Christie's entanglement and appeared in front of Bibby again.
"Don't come over here!"
Bibby had a headache as soon as he saw Duen. He was taller, stronger and even better at shooting. Bibby was almost ready to die when he defended Duen.
brush--
Come in again! Dunn hit his seventh three-pointer of the game, helping the Lakers narrow the point difference to 1 point.
It seemed that the Kings were eager to widen the point difference. Looking back, Peja shot a three-pointer, but failed to respond.
O'Neal protected the rebound and the Lakers gained the offensive ball.
Duan once again took the ball in the frontcourt and continued to call double screens, looking for the best opportunity to take action.
Seeing Bibby about to be shot by Duen again, Brad Miller came out from the inside to interfere with Duen's shooting.
Seeing this, Duen dribbled the ball under his crotch and connected with the ball. Brad Miller, not doubting that it was a fake, immediately got up and pounced. Unexpectedly, Duen turned around and rushed towards the center.
Bibby defended in front of Duen and was held up by Duen's ball protector. Then Duen ran over Bibby and continued to rush to the basket.
Divac could only step forward to stop Duane. Doug Christie, perhaps noticing that O'Neal was unguarded, immediately retracted from the outside to the inside and blocked O'Neal.
When O'Neill saw that there was such a good thing, he immediately waved to Du En.
Duan also noticed that the opportunity came to O'Neal, and immediately passed the ball to O'Neal with a lob while traveling.
O'Neal judged the passing route and felt that he could directly pass the alley-oop, so he squeezed out some strength to jump up, then steadily picked up the ball in the air, and performed a shark splash directly towards the basket.
The basketball fell from the net, but O'Neal was still hanging on the basket and had not yet fallen.
In the past, someone from the Kings would have taken the ball and slipped out of the baseline to start a fast break.
But now at this juncture, the Kings went from leading by 4 points to being chased by 5 points, and fell behind by 1 point.
The king was so confused that he couldn't think of a quick attack?
As the head coach, Rick Adelman sensed something was wrong and immediately called a timeout.
After the timeout, the Kings became a little more cautious. They no longer shot three-pointers from the outside, but used two points to chase points as much as possible.
It's a pity that Webber is not here, and the Kings lack people who can shoot key shots.
Divac, Peja, and Bibby took shots one after another, but they all failed to help the Kings score.
On the Lakers' side, Duan continued to break through the pick-and-roll and passed to O'Neal at the basket. O'Neal steadily scored 2-pointers one after another.
In the last 2 minutes, in order to limit the Lakers' scoring and take the lead, Rick Adelman could only resort to shark-cutting tactics, allowing O'Neal to frequently get to the free throw line.
O'Neal played 39 minutes tonight, and it was really difficult for O'Neal, who was almost exhausted, to put the ball into the basket at this time.
Seeing this, the Zen master had no choice but to kill Ma Su with tears and put O'Neal on the bench.
Relying on Payton and Duan holding the ball against each other to slow down the game time, the Lakers still struggled to survive the last minute or so.
97 to 94, the Lakers, who fought hard on the road, won the Kings, the first in the Western Conference, by 3 points, and then returned to the first place in the Western Conference!
And Duane, who made 12 of 28 shots from the field, 7 of 17 three-pointers, 3 of 4 free throws, scored 34 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 steals, is undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the Lakers winning the battle for first place in the Western Conference tonight. !
