After repelling the Spurs, the Bulls had no strong opponents in a short period of time.
The Warriors and Jazz from the Western Conference visited the United Center successively, but both came back defeated.
When the Bulls played against the Warriors, Duane and Baron Davis played in three quarters. When playing against the Jazz, Duane only played half a quarter more, but his playing time did not exceed 35 minutes.
However, the Bulls will usher in a wave of six consecutive visitors from the Western Devils.
The first three games were actually okay. The Bulls defeated the Warriors, Trail Blazers and SuperSonics, but the opponents in the next three games were powerful opponents such as the Lakers, Spurs and Rockets.
Among them, the Lakers and Rockets still have back-to-back away games.
On the evening of November 20th, Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Last night, the Bulls and the team just won against the Sonics, and tonight due to the schedule, they had to play back-to-back against the Lakers.
Fortunately, the Lakers have just returned to Los Angeles and do not have much advantage in terms of schedule.
"Kobe, 1V1?"
During the warm-up session, after Duen exchanged greetings with Kobe, he took the initiative to propose.
Hearing this, Kobe smiled and shook his head: "I have become different. I will beat you in other ways."
Perhaps stimulated by O'Neal's championship, Kobe gradually began to change his attitude this season and began to trust his teammates.
After all, the Lakers' lineup is not bad either, with Hinrich, Kobe, Eddie Jones, Odom, and Eddie Curry.
This starting lineup can at least rank among the top three in the current league.
The main problem with the Lakers' starting lineup is the lack of a playmaker.
For the time being, no one can completely unite the strengths of the five people and perform to the level that this lineup should have.
Kobe's passing ability is good, but his personality is a super scorer. When getting the ball, offense comes first, rather than organization.
However, in order to win, Kobe wanted to defeat O'Neal.
This season he also began to force himself to do things that he doesn't usually do, or even doesn't want to do.
Kobe plays more purely than 99% of the players in the league. In order to win, even if his teammate is Kwame Brown, he is willing to trust him, and he is willing to show the attitude of assisting O'Neal, and constantly penetrate the inside to pass the ball to his teammates.
Today, Kobe's inside teammates are Odom and Eddie Curry. The latter just completed his five-year maximum salary extension in the summer and will be the Lakers' main center in the future.
Therefore, Kobe can only make the Lakers stronger by helping Eddie Curry improve his strength, making him and his team more competitive and closer to the championship.
This season, the Lakers started with 5 wins and 4 losses. Dunn received the scouting report provided by the assistant coach before the game. He only glanced at it briefly and did not care about the situation of the Lakers and Kobe like he did last season.
Precisely because of this, Duane didn't know that the reason why the Lakers' current record is mediocre is because Kobe is trying to take other jobs.
It's also because Kobe no longer scores crazy points, and the Lakers need to redistribute offensive and defensive tasks and re-run-in, so the record is unstable.
Now, the Lakers have not figured out a practical winning plan.
This is good news for the Bulls.
"I look forward to your performance."
It's easy to change the situation, but it's hard to change the nature. Du En doesn't believe that Kobe has really changed.
Moreover, a pure shooting guard like Kobe should do what he is best at - scoring and defending.
In the NBA, it does not mean that the most versatile player is the strongest, it can only be said that the most versatile player is the most suitable.
If players who can play multiple positions and are competent in most positions serve as the cornerstone of a team, it will be easier for the team to strengthen and build a championship-winning lineup.
But it doesn't mean that a team with a super scorer as its cornerstone can't win the championship.
To put it bluntly, basketball is a scoring game. The team that scores more points wins the game.
Therefore, the most important thing is scoring, followed by defense. Then there are rebounds and assists.
Passing and organization are methods to assist scoring and can make teammates better. However, if your teammates are strong enough and can play alone without passing the ball, then organizational skills are not necessary.
This is also the reason why it will be easier for super teams to win championships in the future, and the organizational ability of traditional point guards has become dispensable, which in turn forces point guards to have the ability to score.
On the contrary, it is the so-called all-around forward who nominally works as a point guard. In fact, he only takes the ball from the point guard, sucks the blood of his teammates, and creates a false sense of strength.
Duane's statistics this season are still pretty good, averaging a solid triple-double per game.
But if someone carefully studies Duen's ball usage rate, he will find that last season's ball usage rate was as high as 33.4%, and this season it has dropped sharply to 24.5%.
This season, Duane's scoring and assist statistics are higher than those of most point guards in the league, but his ball usage rate is at least two to three percentage points lower.
And this is the embodiment of true versatility and efficiency!
Kobe's style of play is inherently inefficient, and if he now wants to become more versatile, his scoring efficiency will inevitably decrease, while his turnover rate will greatly increase.
But compared to offense, Kobe is at least among the top five in the league. Now he is giving up his own advantages to do things he is not good at.
That is undoubtedly self-imposed, degenerating from a superstar to an all-star.
Therefore, after guessing Kobe's thoughts and current playing style, Duan is more confident in winning tonight's game.
At the same time, Tyson Chandler became confident again against Eddie Curry.
"Look at how fat you are..."
Tyson Chandler also didn't expect that Eddie Curry, who signed a big contract, would gain so much weight in one summer.
Obviously, this situation is due to the fact that he has lost some weight after pre-season and half a month of regular season training.
It's also because Eddy Curry is too heavy and has no energy.
Therefore, Tyson Chandler easily helped the Bulls win the ball.
Recently, Duen has been playing from the bottom up, only taking two or three shots in the first quarter.
Baron Davis knows Duane's situation and has completely integrated into the Bulls.
There was no pause. After dribbling the ball past half court, he directly set a cross screen with Du En and then rushed to the basket.
However, Kobe, who was originally guarding Duan, was well prepared for this and switched directly to Baron Davis.
It was also because of Kobe's timely switch of defense that Baron Davis could only make a sudden stop and take off. He found that the mid-range jumper would be blocked by Kobe, so he was forced to pass the ball to Duane who was pulled to the top of the key.
At the same time, Hinrich and Eddie Jones double-teamed Du En. Although Du En had the opportunity to make a move based on his personal strength, he still chose to give the opportunity to Luol Deng on the wing.
After receiving the ball, Luol Deng did not take an open three-point shot, but chose to dribble to the basket.
Odom came out from the inside in time to help defend. Luol Deng relied on his strength and speed to push Odom first, then turned his back and slipped toward the basket.
Who would have thought that Kobe suddenly appeared under the basket!
Luol Deng just turned his back and was still a little dizzy, so he subconsciously jumped up and dunked.
This time, it played into Kobe's hands. Kobe jumped up and blocked the shot.
Obviously, the Lakers studied the Bulls deeply before the game, especially Kobe. Originally, they only focused on single defense, but now they are even forced to practice assist defense.
In addition to relying on lateral speed and defensive attitude, assisting defense also depends on game experience.
The Bulls and Lakers only played against each other twice a year, and this was the first time they played against each other this season. However, Kobe was able to seize the opportunity to switch defenses and make up defenses just right.
This all shows that Kobe did enough homework before the game.
"However, defense is not one person's business. No matter how diligently one person makes up for it, how many goals can he defend?"
Duan looked at Eddie Curry, who was fat as a ball, and Odom, who had a weak face. He was not worried about the outcome of tonight's game at all.
You know, the Bulls' main players have been training with Duen all summer!
Nowadays, the Bulls are ranked first in the league, with a continuous winning streak and no losses since the beginning of the season. Their morale is also impeccable.
At this time, it is not difficult to win against the Lakers who are still adjusting their lineup.
Therefore, the meaning of Duan's playing tonight seems to be to tell his former teammate Kobe: "There is no way to win just by working hard as the boss of the team..."
(End of chapter)
