For Duan, participating in the playoffs for the first time is tantamount to a college entrance examination.
Before entering the examination room, I felt uneasy and worried.
After I got the paper, I realized that I could do all these questions!
For an academic like Du En, he couldn't get a perfect score on the exam, but no matter how bad his condition was, he could still get a high score just based on his foundation.
Just like Wiggins, who scored 17 or 8 points in the regular season, he still scored 17 or 8 points in the playoffs.
With Duan's current physical fitness and basketball skills, as long as he has the ball, he can score more than 18 points, at least 20 points.
However, Du En was still not prepared to play a ball like the one just now.
It doesn't make any sense after all.
The Lakers are first in the Western Conference. On the surface, the Big Five lineup is actually at least F4.
Duane replaced Payton. Payton only has the level of an ordinary starter. When he was unable to integrate into the triangle offense, he was even reduced to a role player.
Despite this, the configuration of the four major stars has also made the Lakers the strongest team in the league.
In other words, as long as nothing unexpected happens, the Lakers can win the championship.
Even the Pistons in the Eastern Conference also have four All-Star players, but the quality of the OK combination is not comparable to that of Billups, Hamilton, Roaring God, and Big Ben.
Therefore, as long as the Lakers ensure the health of O'Neal, Malone and others and prevent themselves from destroying the Great Wall, the championship this season will be absolutely guaranteed.
Against a team like the Jazz, which is eighth in the Western Conference, the Lakers don't even need to go all out.
What the Lakers really need to pay attention to is how to deal with the plateau climate of Salt Lake City in the next away game.
Therefore, in order to take care of the two veterans, O'Neal and Malone, actively lowering the pace of the game and playing steadily, this is the best way to win.
Precisely because of this, in order to reduce the risk of O'Neal's injury, Duan's next play style changed from passing the ball to O'Neal to passing the ball to Kobe.
The Jazz's defensive strategy is zone defense, upper-line flanking, and low-post flanking, the key of which is Kirilenko.
Duan took advantage of the situation, held the ball on the strong side and rushed toward O'Neal. When he was flanked, he passed the ball to Kobe at a 45-degree angle on the weak side.
Except for the first ball, which was a bit unsuitable to the intensity of single-player defense, Kobe immediately picked up the ball after he got it, and shot a fadeaway jumper. The hit rate was quite good, and he gave Duan a few assists.
Everyone understands that it is the same as dealing cards. If there is no assist in a single and there is an assist in a single, as a dealer, I will definitely be more willing to pass the ball to the latter.
Zen Master knew the ball well. When he saw Du En pass the ball to Kobe Bryant, he guessed what Du En was thinking.
So just over 4 minutes into the first quarter, Jackson took advantage of the dead ball and replaced O'Neal first.
The Great White Bear Greg Ostertag was originally a weapon that the Jazz had always prepared to target O'Neal.
Even if O'Neal can't get the ball, the Great White Bear consumes a lot of O'Neal's physical energy.
It is precisely because of this that O'Neal, who has been stuck and competing with the Big White Bear, is a little unhappy because he can't get the ball.
"My opportunity is so good, why doesn't Du En pass the ball to me?"
"Dunn, what kind of ecstasy soup did Kobe pour into you? Aren't you going to compete with him for the top spot?"
O'Neal was still confused at first, but after being moved to the bench, O'Neal grinned widely.
"Kobe, Duan, run for me!"
O'Neal seemed to use the towel as a whip and kept waving it on the sidelines.
One thing to say is that without O'Neal on the court, which slows down the Lakers' transition speed, the Lakers can play faster.
Sloan did not expect that Jackson would boldly replace O'Neal, a big killer, off the court early.
Noticing the Lakers' substitutions, Sloan initially planned to let the White Bear take advantage of O'Neal's absence to play more shots under the basket!
It was also after the Lakers made two transition attacks that they re-adjusted the lineup and focused on strengthening the attack on Kobe.
Duan noticed the Jazz's defensive adjustment and directed Kobe to go to the low post.
Kobe not only knows how to fight big players, he can also fight big players! Although the low post threat is not as strong as O'Neal, he is still Malone now!
In order to free up space for Kobe at the basket, and because there were no defensive spots on the perimeter, Duan asked Malone to come out from the low post and play a pick-and-roll with him.
As a result, Dunn quickly recreated the exquisite pick-and-roll cooperation between Stockton and Malone in front of Sloan.
Things change and people change. This time Malone is no longer the boss of the Jazz and no longer plays for the Jazz.
Seeing this scene, Sloan's serious face inevitably showed a bit of loneliness.
Sloan proved that it was possible to reach the playoffs without Stockton and Malone, but it was a pity that he did not win the championship with his two favorite players.
With the help of Duane, the Lakers commander, Malone once again shined on another strong Western Conference team and beat the Jazz's native chickens to staggering.
18 to 31, after the first quarter, the Lakers had a 13-point advantage even though O'Neal didn't exert much effort.
The disparity in strength between the two teams is evident.
In the second quarter, although the Lakers did not open the champagne in advance, they also deliberately reduced the playing time of two veterans, O'Neal and Malone.
First, Duane brought Fisher and other substitute players and played for more than five minutes. Then Kobe, Malone, and O'Neal came on the court. O'Neal's low-post play supported him for two or three minutes, and then Kobe took over and played for another four minutes.
On the surface, it seems that the Lakers have been playing alone, which is a simple one-on-one game between stars.
In fact, under the triangle offensive system and under the guidance of Du En, the OK combination created an excellent singles opportunity.
Why is the playoffs a stage for superstars? Because in the playoffs, stars are either being double-teamed or on the way to being double-teamed.
The vast majority of All-Stars also have good singles ability, but if they are constantly double-teamed, their scoring efficiency will inevitably decrease.
On the one hand, the triangle offense uses superstars to attract defense and create scoring opportunities for role players. On the other hand, it also aims to reduce the burden on superstars and reduce defensive intensity.
Duane isn't that great, giving the ball to other role players. Even Payton, who had a good relationship during the regular season, didn't pass the ball.
Duan just believes in a deadlock and gives the ball to the person who is more confident in scoring the ball.
So he kept passing the ball to O'Neal and Kobe, and occasionally cooperated with Malone in the pick-and-roll.
42 to 58. After testing his ability in the first half of the game, Duan already knows how to lead the team to win in the playoffs.
Of course, Duan's way of leading the team to win still requires the support of some stars.
Duan has not yet evolved to the point where he can lead a group of rotten fish and shrimps to kill everyone in the playoffs.
By the way, in the second half, although the Jazz's offense was still tepid, their defensive aggressiveness was obviously greatly enhanced.
And because the Jazz were far behind the Lakers, the referee was embarrassed to blow the home whistle for the Lakers because of the Jazz's heavy defensive actions.
Zen Master also saw the scale of the referee's whistle. In order to avoid the main player being injured, he did not rely on the main player as in the past, but continued to use a half-main force and half-rotation lineup.
As a result, the Lakers' offense was naturally not as good as the first half.
I have to say that Sloan is indeed Sloan, and he has a good grasp of the referee's whistle-blowing psychology.
However, a good woman can't make a meal without rice. The Jazz allowed the Lakers' scoring to drop slightly, but their own scoring data was only 20 points in a single quarter.
63 to 81. After the third quarter, the Lakers not only did not narrow the point difference, but relied on their own strength to still expand their advantage.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Zen Master also continued to reuse Du En, allowing Du En to fire unlimitedly.
In the first three quarters, Duan only made 5 of 9 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 1 of 2 free throws, and scored 12 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists.
After more than 3 minutes in the fourth quarter, Duan scored another 7 points with a three-pointer, a layup, and two free throws.
However, the Jazz were very resilient and the point difference was not further widened.
In the end, Zen Master could only bring in Kobe Bryant to share the offensive pressure with Du En.
More than 5 minutes into the fourth quarter, Duan relied on a transition attack to score another 2 points.
More than a minute later, Sloan saw that O'Neal was still on the bench. Jackson had no intention of sending O'Neal up, and finally gave up the idea of turning defeat into victory by relying on shark-cutting tactics.
As Sloan strategically gave up the game, the Lakers' main force clocked out in the third and a half quarters.
86 to 101, relying on Kobe and Duane to score 20 points, O'Neal and Malone both scored 15+, the Lakers easily won their first victory in the playoffs this season.
Duan also scored his first career playoff double-double with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists.
(End of chapter)
