Duane's personal data and record are unique, but the controversy over sharing the Rookie of the Year award with James has not subsided.
At this time, it was also reported that Dunn had to undergo a temporary urine test because of his outstanding performance in G1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Naturally, the Los Angeles media paid great attention to this and rushed to report on it.
However, unlike foreign media, even if the urine test results have not been announced, the Los Angeles media basically defends Duane in every way, and then questions the fairness of NBA officials.
Coincidentally, the New York media on the East Coast has always been at odds with the Los Angeles media, but now they have abandoned their past grudges for the first time, shared the same hatred, and together helped create an atmosphere in which the league was unfair and Duane was the victim.
Of course, the main purpose of the New York media is to use their strength to reduce the negative impact of the New York Knicks being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
By supporting Doone, they also create the image of Antony as a tragic hero.
After the negative results of Duane's urine test were announced, fans in Los Angeles and New York followed suit.
For a time, Nike was winning. Duane, Anthony, and James all received a large amount of traffic, and the sales of sneakers of the three people increased to varying degrees.
If it weren't for Duane taking the time to digest the Larry Johnson template, Nike would have discussed with the Lakers to take up some of Dunn's training time and shoot a few commercials while the iron was hot.
It was Duen himself who replied to Nike's senior management. The King was very strong and needed all his efforts. He had been training to maintain his condition recently, so he couldn't spare much time.
After mutual consultation between the two parties, it was finally decided to wait until the Lakers advance to the Western Conference Finals or are eliminated in the Western Conference Semifinals before filming a new commercial.
As for now, we can only release some shooting training that we usually record, as well as the wonderful dunks that were not shown in the dunk contest.
As time goes by, sales of Dune's 1st generation sneakers have further surged.
G2 in the Western Conference semifinals is also coming.
It is worth mentioning that before the start of G2 in the Western Conference semifinals, the league announced the winner of this season's regular season MVP.
Kevin Garnett, the star of the second-place Timberwolves in the West, defeated Tim Duncan, the star of the Spurs, who was third in the West, and won the regular season MVP for the first time.
Duncan was already the second consecutive regular season MVP before this, and the two stars of the Lakers, the No. 1 player in the Western Conference, have each missed many games.
Although the Pacers' record is good, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the league is now strong in the west and weak in the east, and the Pacers' record is still somewhat lacking.
Therefore, O'Neal is only ranked third on the regular season MVP list.
Garnett won the regular season MVP in one fell swoop after the Timberwolves kept the clouds clear and received support from Cassel and the Madman. This was the result of years of hard work.
Of course, as the No. 1 team in the Western Conference, the Lakers' three players also ranked among the top ten in the regular season MVP list.
Kobe is fourth, O'Neal is sixth, and Duane is seventh.
Although Duan only received 3 second votes and 5 third votes, this also shows that Duan gained the recognition of the media in just one season.
Nike will help Duen with public relations awards, but Duen clearly does not meet the conditions for regular season MVP.
Without Nike's intervention, Dunn was able to get 8 votes, which does mean something.
Judging from the current regular season MVP list, Duan still has a chance to be selected for the best team.
However, it is unclear whether NBA officials are willing to give it to him. After all, Duan is too young!
These days, the four power forwards alone occupy many of the best lineups at the forward position.
Garnett and Duncan are the top two MVPs in the regular season, and they basically didn't make a run for a while.
Although Webb was injured and missed for a while, he still led the team to fourth in the Western Conference. In addition, Nowitzki also led the Mavericks to fifth in the Western Conference.
O'Neal Jr., who is third on the regular season MVP list, is bound to be on the best team. After all, he doesn't know who his opponent is in the Eastern Conference.
Then the remaining position is basically between Peja, Artest, Roaring God and Du En.
Duen and Peja's statistics are better, but in terms of record, Duen and Artest are better.
Roaring Tianzun is a veteran star. He was the boss of the Trail Blazers before. After going to the Pistons, he also provided huge help to the Pistons on both offense and defense.
Many fans even believe that the Pistons boss has changed from a boss to a roaring king.
Taken together, compared to others, Duen still has some advantages in competing for the best lineup.
The problem is that everyone else is basically the second child, and Duen can only be considered the third child in the Lakers' super team, which puts him at a disadvantage in terms of awards.
Since the league officials strictly protect the best team list, Nike has not yet helped Du En find out the information, so Du En can only be patient and continue to prepare for the Western Conference semifinals.
On May 8, the Western Conference semifinals G2 between the Lakers and Kings started again.
After four days of repeated discussions and research with members of the coaching staff, Rick Adelman, who learned from the experience, still took a risk and adjusted the Kings' defensive tactics.
The Kings used a three-two zone defense to restrict the Lakers, focusing on defending Kobe and O'Neal, the two offensive strengths.
At first, the Lakers didn't pay attention. Dunn used a pick-and-roll with Payton to attract the defense and then passed the ball to O'Neal, who was playing Divac one-on-one.
Unexpectedly, Bibby immediately retracted to the basket. After O'Neal got the ball, he turned his back and slid to the bottom of the basket as usual, but saw Webber let go of Malone and double-teamed him.
O'Neal was surrounded by two big men, Divac and Webber, at the basket. Because of his average passing ability, he was unable to pass the ball from the crowd to Malone, who had been emptied.
O'Neal could only turn back to the wing and pass the ball to Duane and Kobe on the outside.
Who would have thought that as soon as he turned around, Bibi suddenly appeared in front of him.
O'Neal dribbled too high, and when faced with a steal from a small man, he could only lift the ball high.
Duan and Payton stepped forward to respond, but O'Neal was surrounded by three people and could only barely jump up to pass the ball, but Webb still jumped up and intercepted the ball in the air.
Upon seeing this, Du En and others immediately returned to defense, but they were still outplayed by the Kings in the frontcourt. Bibby scored 2 points with an air cut layup.
Soon, Payton dribbled the ball across half court, and Duan once again took the ball to find a chance for O'Neal to score in singles.
This time, O'Neal was a little more alert. After getting the ball, he tried to slide to the bottom of the basket. When he found that Weber was double-teaming again, he immediately turned back and passed the ball to Duan outside the three-point line.
After getting the ball, Duan did not rush to take action. Instead, he signaled Malone to come out from the inside and pick and roll with him in the high post.
As Weber also came out from the inside, Duan faked a breakthrough and attracted Weber's big delay in the middle, but actually handed the ball to O'Neal for a single.
It's not that Duane can't attack with the ball, but O'Neal is the most expensive player on the field. Duen must first hand the ball to O'Neal and let him complete his scoring task in the limited playing time.
If the Lakers only allow O'Neal to run back and forth on the court and do not allow O'Neal to participate in the offense, then O'Neal will have a purely negative effect on the Kings' defensive counterattack.
No team has the luxury of paying the league's second-highest salary to buy an undercover agent. Duane lets O'Neal play in isolation, and can also use O'Neal's offense to consume the physical strength of Divac and Brad Miller.
Otherwise, once O'Neal goes down because he can't run, Divac still has the energy to participate in the next attack, the Lakers will also be in a disadvantageous situation because of the loss of the inside.
boom--
O'Neal did not disappoint Duen. With Duen's help, O'Neal finally avoided being double-teamed by three people and smashed the ball into the basket, and also got an extra free throw opportunity.
Although Bibby helped defend, someone needed to step forward to defend O'Neal and slow down O'Neal's speed in attacking the basket.
O'Neal also used his own flexible steps to pass Divac with a turn. Then Bibby tried to limit O'Neal's scoring, even if he was charged with a foul.
In other words, dunking with one or two people hanging on his arm is already O'Neal's basic operation.
This season, it was Duane's rise that made O'Neal feel more comfortable playing, so he did not often suffer such inhuman treatment.
Duang——
However, in the playoffs, O'Neal still needs to pay more attention to his free throws.
It was also because O'Neal missed the free throw that the Lakers missed the opportunity to take the lead.
And because O'Neal took the free throws and relied on Malone alone, and the Lakers had no other strong rebounders, the Kings easily controlled the ball.
In the blink of an eye, Peja used Divac's pick-and-roll to hit the first three-pointer of the game from outside the 45-degree three-point line on the right side. The Lakers fell behind the Kings again.
During the Lakers' offensive round, Duan repeated his old tricks, playing a pick-and-roll with Malone to attract Webber's defense.
However, O'Neal's luck was not so good this time.
After receiving the ball, O'Neal just hit the basket. Except for Doug Christie, who switched in front of Kobe and Webber blocked in front of Duan, the rest of the Kings retreated to the basket, and O'Neal was double-teamed by three people.
When O'Neal saw Bibby and Peja standing in front of him, he was heartbroken and jumped towards the basket with the ball in his arms.
Bibby and Peja knew they couldn't guard O'Neal, so they hugged O'Neal's arm decisively to destroy O'Neal's attack.
At the same time, Divac, who took a slow shot but turned around to catch up, did not show mercy to O'Neal. He jumped up to block the shot and grabbed one of O'Neal's arms in mid-air.
O'Neal suffered from a stacked defense and naturally failed to score the ball into the basket.
Standing on the free throw line again, O'Neal's eyes were full of anger, and he wanted to eat Divac and others one by one.
But there was no way. The physical confrontation was quite intense as soon as it started, and the physical energy consumption was also very obvious. O'Neal just had three more people hanging on his arm.
At this time, O'Neal, who had no feeling at all, could only bite the bullet and endure a large amount of cold sweat on his forehead, and executed two free throws.
Duang——
Duang——
Hearing the sound of blacksmithing, O'Neal was almost ready to die!
He was obviously playing so tired, but he wasted the team's offensive opportunities!
O'Neal wanted to help the Lakers get the rebound back, but as soon as he ran to the spot where the rebound landed, the Kings got the ball and started a transition attack.
In the blink of an eye, Weber helped the Kings establish a two-point advantage with a mid-range shot.
At this time, as the Lakers commander, how could Duan not know the Kings' defensive strategy?
O'Neal was temporarily strangled to death, so let Kobe fight first and let Kobe break the deadlock through his personal abilities!
Duan still started a high pick-and-roll with Malone. At this time, Bibby was leaning towards O'Neal, but he saw Duan suddenly passing to Kobe on the weak side.
Ever since, Bibby turned to attack Kobe again.
After Kobe got the ball, he found that there was only Doug Christie in front of him, so he just shook it, pulled it up, and shot a three-point jumper.
brush--
The ball goes in!
Kobe had just used a three-pointer to help the Lakers alleviate their scoring drought. Unexpectedly, Bibby and Webb passed Kobe and Duane respectively and rushed directly towards the frontcourt.
When Kobe and Duan caught up, they saw Divac grabbing the baseline ball and passing it long to midfielder Doug Christie. The latter took the ball and passed it long to Peja.
Duan and Kobe's attention was still on Webber and Bibby. Although Payton defended Peja, due to the obvious height difference, the interference from the take-off had no effect.
brush--
Also a three-pointer!
Just a few seconds after Kobe scored a three-pointer, Peja responded with a three-pointer.
At this time, O'Neal, who was late and sweating profusely, came to the backcourt.
Obviously, the Kings' defensive adjustments and game rhythm are very detrimental to the Lakers!
As the Lakers commander, Du En is facing a huge test and must find a solution as soon as possible!
If you don't have the ability to lead the team to chase points, you can only go down and listen to the Zen Master's arrangements after the Zen Master calls timeout...
However, although Du En very much recognized Master Zen's coaching philosophy, he hoped that the team would win the game under his guidance.
Du En was not willing to just follow the coach's instructions. Du En wanted to prove his ability to lead the team and let the Zen master continue to sit on the sidelines and meditate.
"It's time to show off your real skills!"
Previously, Du En had been filling in the gaps for the OK group and giving them a leg up.
Get assists, bring substitutes, take advantage of the opponent's lack of energy, and play some simple goals.
If Duan plays like this, it will be easier for him personally, his statistics will look better, and it will be easier for the Lakers to win.
However, this style of play is only suitable for games where the OK combination can lead the team to win.
Obviously, tonight's game is different.
The OK group has been targeted to a certain extent, but Du En's side is basically one-on-one.
In the triangle offensive system, Duan is the axis and is responsible for passing the ball. This is indeed true.
However, Duane is also the third offensive point in the triangle offense, the third superstar of the super team Lakers!
Therefore, as Kobe's teammate, Dunn should sometimes accept Kobe's basketball philosophy.
In the playoffs, it's impossible to keep playing simple ball!
Football stars are here to solve complex problems and get difficult shots!
Compared with double-teaming by two people and double-teaming by three people, singles are indeed equivalent to wide open spaces!
Today, Duan can not only shoot three-pointers, but also mid-range shots. He can even go to the low post and try to hit one or two.
However, the trump card needs to be hidden first.
Duan is going to start from the three-point line.
After all, three-pointers are the most effective way to break zone defense!
And three-pointers are what Duan is best at doing on the offensive end.
(End of chapter)
