Healing Basketball

  Chapter 685 685. The Lakers' frustration

   Kobe felt the power of a mighty west coast!

   This made him extremely restless.

   But when the Lakers attacked, he encountered the close defense of the outlaws, saw the overall defensive position and movement of the Trail Blazers... he quickly settled down, and entered the Princeton tactical state of the starting lineup.

   Deron and Wang Zhizhi cooperated in the pick-and-roll to start the Princeton style of play. Kobe came out around the baseline to receive the ball, attracted a double attack and split the ball in the middle. Deron caught the ball and leaned against Randolph for a layup!

Offensive and defensive transition, Liu Xiu continued the pick-and-roll attack, Odom expanded his defense more aggressively, Liu Xiu seized the opportunity to go straight to the basket, European steps to avoid Delong who came back, entered the basket and caused a foul by Wang Zhizhi, got two free throws, all hit.

   It was the Lakers' turn to attack. The first wave of tactics failed to run well. Odom, who was holding the ball, did not make a strong attack, but pulled it out and passed it to Kobe.

  Kobe catches the ball from the wing and breaks through, attracting Liu Xiu to shrink his defense and pass back to the left corner. Deron responds with a three-pointer...Miss!

  Although the goal was missed, the Trail Blazers players felt troubled-the Lakers' offense was exceptionally smooth!

   If you can play teamwork, you can play teamwork. If you can't play teamwork, Kobe will play singles.

The Trail Blazers players obviously feel that the Lakers are stronger than the last time they played against each other. Last month's poor record was widened by the Suns and Clippers. It does not mean that the Lakers have not improved, but after the All-Star Weekend, the lineup advantage become more apparent.

  In the next few rounds, the two teams played back and forth.

  The tactics of the Lakers run smoothly, and they can always find good shooting opportunities. If the back feels bad, no shooting opportunities will be used, but the shooting state of the Lakers tonight is not bad!

   Halfway through the first quarter, the Lakers scored 14 points and tied the Trail Blazers 14-14!

   Kobe made 1 of 1 shots, scored a three-pointer, 3 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists in the half quarter, and one rebound on offense and defense.

   Liu Xiu is a bit of a pain in the ass, and Morris Cheeks is also a pain in the ass.

   Their defensive strategy of circumventing Kobe, flanking Kobe, and infinitely targeting Kobe's scoring should have been seen through by the opponent.

  Playing against other teams, no matter how strong the head scorer is, they will not defend like this.

  But playing the Lakers, Maurice Cheeks is willing to give it a try.

  However, even if it is now discovered that the opponent seems to have predicted their strategy in advance, Maurice Cheeks is still not prepared to change his style of play.

  Because the opposite is Kobe, Maurice Cheeks really would rather give the wing shooter an open shot, would rather give the cutting player a chance to enter the basket smoothly, and wants to block his scoring opponent.

  Since the defensive strategy of blocking Kobe's scoring has already started, it cannot be shaken, otherwise this guy will definitely seize the opportunity to go crazy.

   Maurice Cheeks is very familiar with this kind of thing, because he has such a similar player under his hands.

  The Blazers’ data corresponds to Kobe’s player, of course Liu Xiu, but the difference is huge. He made 3 of 5 shots, including 1 of 2 three-pointers, scored 7 points and 1 rebound, and had no assists.

  The narrators on the court station were all teasing that the data of the two was reversed.

  …

  After the official timeout came back, the two teams continued to attack.

  Kobe worked hard to organize the offense, but after the Lakers performed a lineup rotation, their firepower dropped a lot.

  The center position has changed from Wang Zhizhi to Chris Mihm, the shooting range has narrowed, and the ability to support high positions has dropped to almost nothing...

  In the second half of the first quarter, the Lakers only scored 11 points.

  After the Trail Blazers replaced McDyess, Liu Xiu's pick-and-roll efficiency became more efficient. Playing against the Lakers, Payton was also extraordinarily motivated, scoring 4 points in the second half of the rotation.

On the last attack of the first quarter, Liu Xiu received the ball on the right side of the free throw line and turned around to break through. Kobe retreated quickly. It took half a second for Kobe's hand to reach the same spot after Show's shot flew by... GO!

   Liu Xiu made a step-back shot from the free throw line, and his score increased to 6 points in the second half!

  As the Lakers missed a three-pointer with a quick offensive, the whistle sounded at the end of the first quarter.

  Relying on Liu Xiu's 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in a single quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 31 points in a single quarter, leading the Lakers with 6 points to enter the intermission!

   After the intermission, the Lakers changed their style of play, and Kobe scored more points!

  Vujacic, who came off the bench, performed well, much better than Caron Butler, who played all the first quarters.

  Butler only made 1 of 3 shots in the first quarter, and Vujacic made 2 of 3 three-pointers in the first half of the second quarter. Therefore, after the official timeout came back, Zen Master continued to let Vujacic play.

Led by Kobe with 3 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, at 11 minutes and 33 seconds into the second quarter, the Lakers chased the score to 54 by relying on Wang Zhizhi's corner three-pointer after receiving a second pass from Odom. 55, the point difference narrowed to 1 point!

When it was the Trail Blazers' turn to attack, Liu Xiu and Kwame Brown broke through the pick-and-roll, Odom expanded to defend the pick-and-roll, Wang Zhizhi also retracted from the baseline to pinch, Liu Xiu passed back to Kwame-Brown who was one step inside the free throw line, Kwame-Brown Brown catches the ball and passes it again... Raheem retreats from the three-point line after Wang Zhizhi shrinks, and after receiving a pass from Kwame Brown, he makes a three-pointer from the corner... also scored!

   Repaid Wang Zhizhi's three-pointer just now!

  58 to 54, the Trail Blazers regained a 4-point lead.

  With 14 seconds left in the second quarter, the cooperation of the Trail Blazers just now made the Lakers players a little discouraged, but amid Kobe's roar, the Lakers players cheered up again.

  Wang Zhizhi said it well, if you are lucky and come to 3+1? It is possible to tie the difference of 4 points!

However, when the Lakers were attacking, Odom's top arc was too purposeful, and the pass was not very subtle. Liu Xiu made a move, retracted from the left corner, and rushed towards the free throw line. Go out...Successfully pats Odom's pass to Kobe Bryant on a cut!

   Ray Allen, who had been thrown away by Kobe's backrun, grabbed the ball and quickly threw the ball to Liu Xiu, who went straight down.

Liu Xiu went straight to the basket on the opposite side, and Odom struggled to get back in place. Liu Xiu took two steps and failed to deceive Odom, but he did not stop. He took off to meet Odom, pulled away to avoid the block, and after the confrontation Throwing the ball while falling...

  After the ball left Liu Xiu's hand, the whistle for the end of the second quarter had already sounded.

  Accompanied by a long whistle, the ball fell lightly into the frame...

   Liu Xiu counterattacked and made a layup at the buzzer, 60 to 54, and the Trail Blazers returned to the lead by 6 points!

   After hard work, they scored 29 to 24, and finally narrowed the point difference to 1 point. As a result, the opponent scored 5 points in half a minute.

  The Lakers have been busy for nothing in this quarter!

   Liu Xiu made 4 of 6 shots in the second quarter, plus 3 of 4 free throws. He scored 11 points in a single quarter, and his halftime score increased to 24 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.

  For the Lakers, Kobe had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals in the half, his overall performance was no less than that of Liu Xiu.

  But at the end of the half, Liu Xiu led the team to widen the point difference to 6 points, which is undoubtedly quite frustrating for the Lakers players.

  (end of this chapter)