The Kings advanced to the Western Conference semifinals earlier than the Lakers, but did not show symptoms of rest.
As soon as the game started, Divac showed off his power and pushed the ball back to the backcourt before O'Neal jumped to the highest point.
Bibby dribbled the ball forward quickly, but Payton was unable to form an effective obstacle.
As soon as the Lakers got into position, Bibby passed the ball to Weber under the basket.
Weber took the ball and shook it, making Malone fly up. However, Malone controlled his body very well and did not lean forward against Weber.
Seeing that there was no chance to draw a foul, Webb turned around and slipped to the baseline with the intention of attacking the basket. O'Neal could only let go of Divac to cover the basket.
Seeing a behemoth like O'Neal, Weber naturally did not choose to attack. Instead, he strictly followed the Princeton system and passed the ball to Divac who was in the open position.
Divac took the ball and shot directly from the mid-range. Malone jumped in front of Divac, but was obviously a step too late.
The basketball fell steadily into the net, and the King easily hit a mid-range layup with exquisite coordination.
As the saying goes, you have a good plan, and I have a wall ladder!
It's different from the Kings having four All-Stars but playing team basketball. As a super team, the Lakers specialize in playing around superstars and focus on superstar basketball!
Duane and Payton cooperated in the pick-and-roll, deliberately switching in front of Bibby.
However, the Kings were well prepared. Peja followed Duane to squeeze into the screen. Bibby stepped forward to delay the double attack. Divac took a step inside the free throw line to prevent Payton from catching the ball and rushing to the basket.
Thanks to Bibby not being tall enough, Duane's vision can always pay attention to the positions of Divac and O'Neal under the basket.
Duan jumped up and passed the ball to O'Neal under the basket.
Divac jumped to intercept, but failed to destroy Duan's pass.
At the same time, after receiving the ball under the basket, O'Neal turned around and hit a layup, helping the Lakers even the point difference.
In the first attack, both teams played their own core tactics, which looked simple and pleasing to the eye.
However, as the game time went by, the style of the game quickly changed from offensive basketball to defensive battle.
Just like the Warriors' passing and cutting system, the Kings' Princeton system worked very well in the first two seasons.
But they have played for six seasons now, and the Kings have always been a team competing for the Western Conference championship. How come the Lakers are not familiar with the Kings' Princeton system?
Under normal circumstances, when fighting in position, the Lakers can basically prevent the Kings' offense. The Kings rely entirely on the personal strength of Webber, Peja and others to score.
The Kings focused on protecting rebounds, playing defensive counterattacks to push speed, playing fast and slow, bullying O'Neal because he was too heavy and could not keep running in the seven-game series.
In order to make up for O'Neal's speed and physical problems, the Lakers can only retreat faster on the outside, trying to limit the advancement speed of the Kings' ball carrier, and minimize the Kings' scoring in transition attacks.
As for the offensive end, the Lakers actually have no problem.
Under Duan's connection, it was a simple pick-and-roll to attract the defense, pass the ball to O'Neal and Kobe, and let them use their personal abilities one-on-one to help the Lakers take the lead.
They all rely on personal ability to score, and the Lakers definitely have the advantage.
The first quarter lasted for more than 7 minutes, and the score on the court reached 14-18, with the Lakers temporarily leading by 4 points.
The Kings made the first substitution, replacing Divac with Brad Miller, and continued to support O'Neal.
Fortunately, tonight is only G1 of the Western Conference semifinals, and O'Neal still has plenty of energy.
Relying on Duan's lob to the basket, O'Neal caught the ball and singled out Brad Miller, and the Lakers continued to widen the point difference.
It wasn't until more than 10 minutes into the first quarter that Master Jackson saw O'Neal breathing heavily and his head covered with sweat, so he replaced O'Neal off the court.
However, after O'Neal comes off the court, Duane can continuously call Malone and Grant to pick and roll with him in the high position. The Kings will either have a big defense against Duan, or they can use a big delay to attack.
The Kings' strategy to defend Duen is to delay. Fortunately, Duen not only has excellent passing skills, but also has a good passing vision.
As a result, Duen didn't have to expend much effort on his own. He just passed the ball to Malone or Grant, allowing them to get an open mid-range opportunity.
You can easily get one or two assists to help the Lakers continue to stabilize their advantage.
Malone, who has not suffered any recurrence of injuries since his return to the regular season, is still quite reliable in the mid-range.
Relying on Malone's two mid-range shots at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers further widened the point difference.
By the end of the first quarter, it was 19 to 26, and the Lakers were leading by 7 points.
However, Rick Adelman is a little more ruthless than Zen Master in terms of killing the main players.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Jackson just asked two young men, Du En and Kobe, to come on as substitutes and hold on for a while.
When O'Neal recovers his physical strength, O'Neal will naturally be sent to the court to support Duane and Kobe.
Who would have thought that the Kings still fielded the entire main lineup, Bibby, Doug Christie, Peja, Brad Miller, Divac, and only Webber still rested on the bench for a while.
In fact, the Kings relied on this lineup to win in the first half of the regular season.
Without Weber, the Kings' cooperation seems to be more tacit.
After all, the Lakers have substitute players and their defense is not as good as the main force. It is inevitable that they will miss out and be cut by the Kings to steal the chicken, or they may switch offense.
Just over 3 minutes into the second quarter, the point difference was narrowed to 2 points, and O'Neal and Malone had to return to the court.
Relying on O'Neal's inside advantage, the Lakers quickly stabilized the score.
Rick Adelman noticed that the Lakers mainly played O'Neal, so he replaced Doug Christie and Peja to rest for a few minutes to let them breathe.
But sometimes that’s not how being smart works.
Before Zen Master could remind Duan to hand the ball to Kobe, Duan signaled O'Neal to attract defense in the low post. Malone came up to assist and cleared the left side for Kobe.
The pick-and-roll cooperation between Duan and Malone still attracted a certain amount of defensive attention from the Kings.
At this time, Duan handed the ball to Kobe again and asked Kobe to single out a small guard like Anthony Pillar, who was just over 1.9 meters tall.
With Kobe's ability, whether he is shooting or shooting, it is as easy as drinking water.
By the way, Kobe has a strong desire to attack. When Kobe played against the Jazz in the first round, he often complained to Duan why he didn't pass the ball to him.
Just before the first quarter, Kobe also reached out to Duan for the ball from time to time.
Duane only gave it once or twice, and during the break, Kobe began to complain again: "They only sent Doug Christie to guard me!
You should pass the ball to me, not to Shaq.
My shooting opportunities are very good and there is a lot of space for shooting! "
Now Duan has created better offensive opportunities for Kobe. After Kobe gets the ball, he naturally won't hesitate and immediately takes the ball and shoots a jumper.
brush--
The ball went in, Kobe got two points, and Duan got an assist!
What is a superstar! This is called a superstar!
The so-called superstar means that the playoffs are similar to the regular season. There are no obvious ups and downs in status and data. They are very stable and reassuring!
Speaking off the court, Kobe Bryant's career regular season shooting percentage was 44.7%, but in the playoffs it was a little higher, 44.8%.
Although he cannot be compared with Jordan, he is still second to none among the four major shooting guards.
And Kobe's shooting percentage was achieved while being double-teamed by two, three or four people. Nowadays, one-on-one singles are no problem.
To describe it in Thompson's words - the team owner paid him to do this!
As Duan continued to pass the ball to Kobe, Kobe also rewarded Duan with 3 of 4 shots and 6 points in a row.
Before the first half was over, Duan continued to pass the ball to O'Neal and Kobe, and his assist data was about to reach double figures.
If Du En was not ambitious, it would be quite satisfying to be Pippen next to OK.
However, after having the system, Du En would obviously not be so stupid and waste his unique talent.
By the way, more than 7 minutes into the second quarter, Rick Adelman had to pay for his previous mistakes and called a timeout to bring Doug Christie and Peja back up.
At the same time, Webber also returned to the court, Divac went down to rest again, and then Brad Miller continued to carry O'Neal.
It has to be said that as one of the four power forwards, Weber's personal strength is still strong enough.
Right from the start, he relied on his personal strength and succeeded in a single against Malone, helping the Kings recover 2 points.
It can only be said that he fell behind the Shifo Wolf King driver because he did not have a championship.
"pause!"
Seeing that Weber was in good condition and considering that O'Neal was sweating profusely, Jackson immediately called a timeout after Fisher dribbled the ball past half court.
Zen Master said that this timeout was not a waste because he needed to use this game to experiment.
If the experiment is successful, the Lakers' chances of winning in this series will undoubtedly become higher.
In fact, it was Du En who warned him!
At the end of the first quarter, when O'Neal was not on the court, Duan led the team to play very well.
The defensive effect of retreating is good. On the offensive end, Duan can also create easier scoring opportunities for Malone and Grant, successfully helping the Lakers open the score.
Thinking that O'Neal's scoring efficiency had declined due to excessive physical exertion, and that it was slowing down the team's retreat speed, the Zen Master decided to withdraw O'Neal off the court again.
O'Neill was already exhausted and sweating profusely, so naturally he would not refuse the Zen Master's kindness.
After replacing Grant on the court again, Jackson also signaled Duan to continue playing as he did in the last two minutes of the first quarter, focusing on high pick-and-rolls.
As for Kobe, he was placed in the low post, like O'Neal before him, attracting defenses in the low post.
If there is a chance, Duan should naturally pass the ball to Kobe. Jackson believes in Duan's court insight and game reading ability.
As a master tactician, Rick Adelman is very good at building a team system, but his on-the-spot ability is still far behind compared to Zen Master.
The Kings' defensive counterattack was unable to be effective due to the increased speed of the Lakers' defense.
The Lakers relied on high pick-and-rolls and continued to punish the Kings who couldn't guard from mid-range, slowly widening the point difference again.
Until the end of the first half, Rick Adelman had no other way to deal with it except to beat the main force.
41 to 52, halftime.
In the home locker room, with the Lakers leading by 11 points, the main players were meditating under the leadership of Zen Master, looking like they were recharging their energy.
Rick Adelman roared loudly in the away locker room: "Doug, it's up to you to defend Duane in the second half. You can't let him pass the ball easily anymore.
In the first half alone, he has already received 9 assists. If this continues, we will be destroyed by his passing.
Chris, Karl Malone is old. I need you to show a tougher attitude and help the team catch up with the score!
I know you can do it, you are our king, you must believe that you can do it!
Peja, you have to keep running, Verratti and Brad will help you get rid of the followers behind you.
You need to shoot and give those guys on the Los Angeles Lakers some color!
Mike, you should attack more. Whether it's Gary Payton or Derek Fisher, they can't guard you! "
“I know everyone is tired, but it’s all worth it!
As long as we can defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, we can break out of the Western Conference and win the championship that belongs to us!
Have you noticed? The Los Angeles Lakers' Shark can't run anymore!
Everyone, just hold on for a little longer, and if you keep on holding on, victory will definitely belong to us! "
After eating the bowl of chicken soup that Rick Adelman painstakingly cooked, the exhausted Kings main force regained their morale, became high-spirited, and soon returned to the court.
Correspondingly, there are Lakers players who are full of energy and energetic.
At this time, O'Neal actually had extra energy and was dancing and amusing the Lakers players on the sidelines.
"Didn't the coach say that O'Neal can't run?"
(End of chapter)
