Chapter 331 The Zen master's plan, the fierce battle is in full swing!
The duel between the two superstars made the fans at the scene extremely excited.
However, this situation did not last long, and the balance of the competition once again tilted subtly.
Kobe, the core of the Lakers, is not a robot after all.
After taking over most of the quarter, he inevitably encountered a physical bottleneck at the end of the second quarter.
Coupled with Tony Allen's strong defense, Kobe's offensive efficiency began to decline, and several shots appeared to be "short."
On the other hand, look at the Rockets.
Several main players have received adequate rest and are very physically fit.
Ever since, in the last few minutes of the second quarter, the Rockets once again had an 8-0 spurt.
When the red light on the timer came on and the second quarter ended, the score between the two teams was temporarily fixed at 65:50.
The Rockets returned to the locker room with a 15-point lead.
At the same time, in the private room, Shen Fei tapped his fingers on the table with a relaxed look on his face.
So far, the progress of the game has been almost as expected.
Even though Kobe Bryant exploded like this, he still couldn't shake the Rockets' lead...
Shen Fei no longer sees any possibility of a comeback for the Lakers.
............
Lakers locker room.
Kobe put a towel on his head and sat in his seat, breathing heavily.
Today's game gave him the feeling of... returning to the finals three years ago.
Although he can output at a high frequency during a certain period of time, other Lakers players cannot match the intensity of their opponents.
For example, the "three highs" that the Purple and Gold Legion is proud of were completely eclipsed in front of the Rockets' inside group today.
Thinking of this, Kobe couldn't help but look up and glance at the stupid guy not far away.
"Baby Shark" Bynum completely lost himself in front of "Little Giant" Yao Ming today.
Bynum, who was almost "invisible" in the first half, did the only thing that made his presence felt. After Yao hit a three-pointer, he confidently chose to respond from a long distance.
But the funny thing is that his super long three-pointer ended up being a three-pointer.
After seeing Bynum's demented behavior, even a man as determined as Kobe Bryant was a little "disheartened".
"Andrew, if you dare to shoot a three-pointer again in the future, you will never play for the Lakers again."
"Do you understand what I say?"
Kobe said unceremoniously.
Bynum nodded tremblingly, not daring to express his anger.
In the Lakers, he was not even afraid of Phil Jackson, but he only obeyed Kobe.
After all, the opponent has been a "boss"-like existence since he was a rookie.
"Let's talk about how we will play in the second half."
Kobe looked around at everyone and said.
"They have a lot of talent, but most of them are young players."
"How about we increase the intensity? Otherwise there is really nothing we can do!"
Ci Shiping suggested.
"That's a good idea."
"The young people in their team are still relatively weak, so they can really start with confrontation."
Fisher agreed.
"In terms of offense, we should start with the 'triangle offense' that we are best at. The success rate should be high and we should not give them a chance for a fast break."
Gasol suggested.
In the first half, the Rockets counterattacked like a silver bullet, dealing a huge blow to the Lakers.
...
The Lakers generals spoke to each other and came up with many solutions.
Phil Jackson maintained a "listener" posture throughout the entire process, and the most common action he performed was nodding.
After everyone had finished speaking, Kobe spoke again.
"In the second half, Ron will focus on T-Mac, I will take care of Stephen, and Derek will take care of George."
"Offensively, Paul (Gasol), you act as a pivot at the free throw line and connect the offense well."
"We still have plenty of time to make a comeback. The key is to improve our success rate and not give the Rockets a chance to counterattack."
Kobe concluded.
After that, he set his sights on Phil Jackson.
The Zen master smiled and nodded, then walked to the tactical whiteboard and began to lay out specific tactics.
"Here, here, here...these positions are easily overlooked when they defend."
"The rotation of the Rockets shrinking inside is like this..."
The layout is all about very small but very important details.
After the Lakers generals heard this, their confidence also increased a lot.
Because according to previous experience, what Phil Jackson pointed out were all the opponents' weaknesses.
If we can concentrate our efforts to attack the rocket's weaknesses, we may have unexpected effects.
At the end, Phil Jackson concluded: "There is an old saying in China: do your best to obey fate. Don't be burdened in the second half and just play boldly."
After saying that, Fisher took the lead in gathering everyone in the middle of the locker room:
"one.two.three!"
“golakers!!!!”
............
Time flew by and the third quarter started soon.
Rockets serve from the baseline.
Curry held the ball and pushed across half court, facing Kobe's defense again.
In order to conserve energy, the Black Mamba gave up the full-court press and started to defend after Curry passed half court.
It has to be said that when Kobe is full of energy, his defense is absolutely top-notch.
Under his extremely aggressive defense, it is difficult for Curry to make moves calmly.
Fortunately, Meng Shen is not the kind of character who just competes blindly.
When he found the right opportunity, he handed the ball to his teammates and started running without the ball.
Next, Curry ran tirelessly, but Kobe didn't dare to give him any space and could only follow him step by step.
After one round, Curry was indeed prevented from catching the ball, but Kobe also consumed a lot of energy.
After the transition between offense and defense, the Black Mamba chose to adjust his breathing on the outside first and did not participate in the offense immediately.
Fortunately, Gasol seemed to wake up a lot after the halftime break.
He received a pass from Fisher at the free throw line, turned around and hit Griffin with a mid-range shot...
"Shua~"
The basketball hit the net.
After scoring the goal, Gasol shook his fist with a firm look in his eyes, and then immediately threw himself into defense.
A minute later, the Lakers launched another attack.
This time, Gasol caught the ball and rushed straight inside.
Just as the Rockets' interior duo was about to block the shot, the Spanish Matador used a freehand behind-the-back pass to deliver the ball to Fisher, who was ambushing in the bottom corner.
At the critical moment, Lao Yu showed no mercy and used a crisp three-pointer to help the Lakers continue to narrow the point difference.
At 65:55, the Lakers launched a 5:0 shock wave.
"In these two attacks, the Lakers played very purposefully and the results were very good."
"It seems that during the intermission, the Zen master made more detailed arrangements."
Zhang Weiping commented at the right time.
"The Rockets still can't be careless. As the old saying goes, never underestimate the heart of a champion."
"If the Lakers are allowed to reduce the point difference to single digits, by the fourth quarter, it won't be certain who will lose and who will win."
Yang Jian added.
............
At the critical moment, Yao Ming stood up.
He hit Bynum hard in the low post, reached the penalty area and hit a hook shot.
At 67:55, the score difference came to 12 points.
In the next few minutes, the two teams fell into a stalemate.
Here Griffin broke through and caused damage, and over there Ci Shiping also used his weight advantage to beat George and succeed.
Kobe suddenly shot a cold arrow from outside the three-point line, and McGrady immediately responded with a pull-up.
But in general, the Lakers had a slight advantage under the careful deployment of Zen Master and narrowed the point difference to a certain extent.
With 4 minutes left in the third quarter, the Rockets led the Purple and Gold Army by 7 points, 85:78.
At this time, Mark Jackson waved his hand and replaced most of the main players.
And what came on the field was the "Ultimate Basketball" lineup that had performed extremely well in the previous games!