In the past two years, some people have always compared Harden to Kobe. Even this year, most people think that Kobe is getting old and Wade is injured, so the first shooting guard is James Harden. With Kobe's arrogance and stubbornness, he naturally
He scoffed at this, and every time he met the Rockets, he would fight with Harden.
Therefore, as soon as today's game started, Kobe kept attacking Harden. Harden naturally refused to give in when he encountered Kobe.
After all, Harden was young, and Kobe could not successfully break through Harden's defense, but Kobe used his jump shots to constantly attack the Rockets' basket. Especially his fadeaway jump shots, even if Harden did not lose his position when defending, he still defended him.
No, I can only watch the ball and sigh.
So after half a quarter, the Lakers already led by more than 10 points.
At this time, when Kobe and Harden were fighting, another person from the Rockets appeared. Naturally, he was Wen Hao.
Kobe and Harden are dueling, which is what experts gave before the game. Now that the two have come to blows, the fans are extremely excited, and Harden and Kobe are also excited, vowing to defeat each other.
But Wen Hao didn't understand the style at all. After dribbling the ball past half court, he didn't give the ball to Harden at all, but passed it to Howard inside. Howard didn't pick it up easily when he hit the Lakers inside.
Song threw it into the basket.
On the next ball, Wen Hao, after playing a pick-and-roll with Dayao, turned around and passed the ball to Dayao. Dayao made a shot from four meters away.
On the defensive end, Wen Hao told the Twin Towers to guard the inside and let the Lakers shoot from the outside. No matter how good the Lakers' shooting is, they still don't have as high a shooting percentage as the Rockets inside.
As a result, the Lakers' offensive efficiency really dropped, while the Rockets kept putting the ball into the basket.
Lakers coach D'Anthony saw that Kobe's physical fitness was declining, so he also replaced Kobe.
Harden felt a little unhappy with Wen Hao. This was originally a game between him and Kobe. The two were having fun, but Wen Hao suddenly let them down.
Fortunately, the Rockets' style of play brought the point difference closer, otherwise he would have made Wen Hao look good.
After Kobe left the game, McHale thought the Rockets had one less obstacle and immediately asked the Rockets players to speed up the pace. The Rockets have always been a fast-paced team.
But McHale didn't take into account that today's Lakers, except for Kobe, are also young players. If they want to get up fast, they will not be weaker than the Rockets. As a result, the Lakers won indiscriminately and actually scored 12 to 3.
**, widening the point difference to 15 points.
Seeing this, Wen Hao suggested to McHale: "We can't compare with young people like the Lakers by playing fast. Our best way is to put the twin towers on the court and play steadily. In this way, the quality of defense will also improve, and the offense will also improve."
If you get the hang of it, you should be able to catch up with the score."
McHale now has no doubt about Wen Hao's basketball IQ. Since Wen Hao said this, he also felt that it was necessary to change his style of play, and immediately put the Twin Towers on the court.
Such a substitution had an immediate effect. Although the Rockets were not chasing points at a fast pace, they played steadily and at the end of the second period, they actually narrowed the point difference to 9 points. The Lakers could only watch the point difference gradually narrowing in vain.
way.
But the Lakers are not a weak team after all. During the halftime break, Kobe was furious in the locker room, which scared all the Lakers players and did not dare to say a word. Finally, Kobe said angrily: "If we can't win the game today, all of us will practice extra
Until two o'clock in the evening."
The Lakers players immediately got their spirits together and took the field again. It wasn't that they were afraid of the extra hours of practice, but that the boss was angry. No one knew what the consequences would be if the boss was angry. In short, they would definitely not be able to bear it.
That's right.
So as soon as the third quarter started, the Lakers players worked together to continue the battle with the Rockets. Although they failed to open up the score, they did not let the Rockets' twin towers close the gap any further.
Just when the Lakers players were relieved and Kobe's eyes softened slightly, Wen Hao suddenly broke out. When the Lakers were unprepared, he scored three three-pointers from the outside. He continued to break through to the basket, and then
Using his magician-like passing, he ripped apart the Lakers' defense time and time again.
Throughout the third quarter, Wen Hao actually handed out as many as 8 assists and scored 18 points. Such efficiency even surprised Kobe.
Under the leadership of Wen Hao, the Rockets players were very energetic. However, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers seemed to be unable to keep up physically, and his performance was a bit mediocre.
Finally, at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets led the Lakers by 12 points.
In the fourth quarter, without Kobe on the court, the Rockets played smoothly. After three minutes of play, the point difference widened to 16 points.
At this time, most Rockets fans believed that the Rockets had already won the game, and even the experienced commentators on the sidelines believed that the Rockets had almost won the game.
But Wen Hao did not relax. He knew that with Kobe's character, he would never give in and he would definitely counterattack. Wen Hao also kept reminding the Rockets players that they must beware of Kobe's counterattack.
But victory often paralyzes people and makes them unable to see the essence of things. Rockets players believe that from the third quarter, Kobe's physical fitness has declined significantly. Even if there is an explosion in the fourth quarter, he will only have 16 points.
The big hole is there, how can he fill it alone?
However, as a famous person said: Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Especially the heart of a champion like Kobe.
When he came on the court in the fourth quarter, he suddenly transformed into a killer. On the offensive end, he was omnipotent, and his breakthroughs were much sharper than before. Every time he broke through, his eyes were so sharp. His jump shots were even crisper.
That kind of self-confidence is extremely powerful. On the defensive end, he completely restricted Harden. Although he is not as fast as Harden now, he is taller than Harden, and his twenty years of experience is incomparable to Harden.
.
Under the leadership of Kobe Bryant, the morale of the Lakers team members was also high. The momentum narrowed the point difference to 9 points.
Even if McHale called a timeout, it didn't help. When they came back on the court, the entire Lakers team seemed like a different team, full of momentum.
Finally, at the Rockets' home court, they successfully reversed a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Only then did the Rockets players realize that they had underestimated Kobe. Even though he was a veteran with nearly 40 points, and even though he was still tortured by injuries, he still had the ability to turn the tide if he wanted to.
At the end of the game, Harden's eyes were a little dazed. Everyone said that he is the number one shooting guard this season, and he himself is sure that he is the number one shooting guard in the league today. Although Kobe is here, after all, Kobe is old.
Well, there is no comparable surname to mine.
But I didn't expect that Kobe would be so fierce and almost single-handedly reversed the situation in the fourth quarter. As long as he wanted to, he could still be the Black Mamba.
Wen Hao was also very depressed. He originally valued Kobe very much and knew that Kobe had superhuman abilities. But he didn't expect that in the end he still underestimated Kobe's abilities.
After being defeated by Kobe Bryant at their home court, everyone on the Rockets was in a low mood. After the game, no one even went to attend the press conference. McHale had no choice but to go and attend. At the press conference, he simply dealt with a few
The reporter asked questions and left the venue.
Perhaps this low mood affected the Rockets. In the second game, although they were in a stalemate with the Lakers, they still lost the game in the end.
Under the leadership of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers won two home games against the Rockets and returned to Los Angeles with satisfaction.
At this time, outside media have begun to comment: In these two games, Kobe averaged 39.2 points, 10.8 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game, and was the biggest contributor to the Lakers' victory. The Black Mamba's spirit once again shocked the world.
Mamba never gets old!
As for the Rockets, the media are no longer merciful. In these two games, the Rockets did not show the same momentum as the regular season. Their twin towers moved too slowly and could not keep up with the rhythm of the Lakers. Harden was beaten by Kobe Bryant
The restrictions are dead, but Wen Hao averaged 12.5 points and 8 assists per game, and his performance was very different from before. What happened to the Rockets?
Although Wen Hao doesn't care much about these comments from the outside world, after all, the Rockets lost two games. I thought the Rockets' playoffs would be much smoother than this, but he didn't expect to lose two games against the Suns and another against the Lakers.
Losing the first two games, and both at home, is really unacceptable.
And Wen Hao couldn't agree with his performance in these two games at all, and he didn't know what was wrong with him. Apart from anything else, his shooting percentage in these two games was only 39.2%. This is not good for other point guards.
It may still be barely acceptable, but for Wen Hao, who has the heart of a point guard, it is beyond bad.
And he couldn't find the reason why he played so poorly in these two games. He obviously tried his best to attack and defend, but he just couldn't play in a satisfactory state. What happened?
Just when Wen Hao was scratching his head over and over in frustration, the phone rang.
Wen Hao was in a low mood, and after answering the phone, his voice was not quite right: "Who is it?"
"It's me, Wen Hao." Carter's voice was on the other end of the phone.
"Oh, little Carter." Wen Hao's voice rose a bit, but his mood was still not very high.
"Isn't Kobe very awesome?" Little Carter said excitedly.
Wen Hao secretly scolded this naughty kid for saying such things at such a time.
Carter Jr. continued: "I have said before that Kobe is amazing. Now you have seen it. By the way, I see that you are not in good condition these two games. Is everything okay?"
"What can happen? I have been concentrating on preparing for the battle. God knows why my condition suddenly became worse." Wen Hao said.
Little Carter seemed to think for a while, but couldn't think of any reason, and said casually: "It doesn't matter, no matter which player, there are times when the state is not good. Even Kobe is no exception. Some nights are just not smooth, no matter how he shoots, he shoots
Not scoring. God has blessed these people and given them strong scoring abilities, but there will always be one or two nights when they can't score. Otherwise it would be too unfair to other people."
When Wen Hao heard this, his heart moved... (To be continued.)
