Naturally, the Lakers would not let the Trail Blazers complete their counterattack so easily. Kobe used a large number of pick-and-rolls and connections to get out of the open space and steadily hit two points.
When Nash came on the court, Kobe did not continue to play singles with the ball, but chose to move without the ball, which was relatively more energy-saving.
Exchange of possessions.
Nolan Smith advanced slowly, waiting for the players on both sides to be completely in position.
Howard frowned. He knew that the reason why the Blazers slowed down the pace was to give Wang Zelin enough time to settle down.
The fact was just as he expected.
Wang Zelin cut down from the high post, took the initiative to find Howard, and used all his strength to squeeze towards the basket.
Howard put one hand on Wang Zelin's waist to try to prevent the opponent from entering, and stretched his other hand outward to guard against the pass from the Trail Blazers point guard.
Unfortunately, Howard's upper limbs were slightly stronger than Wang Zelin, but his lower limbs were far inferior to the latter. His legs began to tremble and his body was forced to retreat backwards.
Since Howard was so unbearable, D'Antoni shook his head helplessly.
Opposite No. 36 is a true follower of his predecessor Yao Ming's "eat, sleep, and fight World of Warcraft!"
Moreover, the physical talent of that Chinese boy was definitely better than that of Yao Ming, and his skills were not much worse. D'Antoni had a terrible thought in his mind.
The new number one center in the NBA is about to be born!
After carrying Howard to the paint area, Wang Zelin raised his left hand high while his right hand was struggling with Howard.
The body size gap caused Howard behind him to be completely covered by Wang Zelin, and he could only watch helplessly as his opponent calmly caught the ball.
"Snapped!"
Just got the ball.
"Shh!"
"Shh!"
"..."
The entire Staples Center booed loudly.
Wang Zelin smiled because he could already tell that there was deep fear hidden behind the boos.
Staples fans have been frightened by themselves.
In other words, they no longer trust Howard's defense.
Now, we can only try to disturb Wang Zelin's mentality through these off-field factors.
But what they don't know is that the louder the shouting, the more excited Wang Zelin will be.
Stepping into the Lakers' sky-blue paint area with his right foot, Wang Zelin continued to exert force. After pushing deeper twice, he used it as an axis to turn toward the basket.
"He wants to hook!"
Howard, who was highly nervous, quickly made a prediction and responded.
Howard locked up all Wang Zelin's hook space, but this does not mean that he can completely lock up the opponent's arsenal.
Seeing Howard take off the ball quickly, Wang Zelin pulled the basketball back that was about to be released, bent down, keeping the pivot foot motionless, and retracted the other foot, even turning from facing the frame to facing away.
Howard reached the air and fell quickly. The basket appeared in Wang Zelin's sight again. He raised the ball, aimed, and shook his wrist.
"Whoosh!"
Watching his most hated No. 36 keep scoring under his defense, Howard felt extremely depressed.
This is not the happy basketball I imagined!
"After this game, let me be the number one center."
After scoring the goal, Wang Zelin smiled jokingly at Howard.
Howard's psychological defense has reached a critical point and will collapse soon.
Facing Wang Zelin's give-and-take in the paint, D'Antoni shook his head. Howard's condition today was too bad.
Defense is indeed useless, let's attack!
D'Antoni, who is already known as an offensive maniac, can no longer tolerate Howard continuing to do useless work on the court.
After the timeout, Howard was taken off, replaced by Jamison, and Pau Gasol was moved to the fifth position.
Howard returned to the bench, covered his head with a towel, and as soon as he closed his eyes, a scene of humiliating himself emerged.
When he was about to open his eyes, many radical fans outside the stadium booed, making him both ashamed and angry.
The towel seemed to be Howard's last fig leaf. He was using the towel to isolate himself from the outside world as if he was grasping at a life-saving straw.
In the following time, Pau Gasol, whose physical fitness and defense were far inferior to Howard, felt sore all over with every muscle collision.
In front of Wang Zelin who was in high spirits, Pau Gasol was like a lonely boat in the sea, unable to make any waves.
After half a quarter of rest, it seemed to have affected Kobe's touch, and the sound of hammering could be heard intermittently.
The Trail Blazers' perimeter offense wasn't very good, but Wang Zelin frequently attacked the basket, but no one from the Lakers responded.
With Kobe's three-pointer at the buzzer, the third quarter ended.
72:63.
The Lakers are still 9 points behind the Trail Blazers.
The Staples Center, which was originally extremely lively, fell into complete silence, but the Trail Blazers side was very lively, and the players were celebrating each other.
In the Christmas Day game that hundreds of millions of people watched, except for one go-ahead lead, the Trail Blazers suppressed the Lakers for the entire game. It should be noted how outstanding the performance of Wang Zelin and others was.
"Your performance is amazing, Wang, you beat the number one center forward!"
"Also, everyone performed very well. In the fourth quarter, all the main players came on the field. Don't give the Lakers any chance to counterattack."
"Come on and kill them!"
Coach Terry gathered the players around him and made the final arrangements.
Coach Terry's roar could be heard clearly even by the audience in the back rows of the stands, but now they could no longer boo.
After the timeout, Wang Zelin, who had played for nearly 30 minutes, was extremely tired, but the Lakers still did not dare to relax at all. Whenever he got the ball, he would always be double-teamed by two people.
This undoubtedly allowed teammates to get a lot of open opportunities and they took advantage of them.
After Kobe's return, his touch returned to normal, but just being normal was not enough to narrow the score for the Lakers.
When the game was halfway through the fourth quarter, the score was 79:72, and the Lakers really could not narrow the score.
As a last resort, the Lakers began to choose to play fast breaks to chase points, while the Trail Blazers honestly played positional warfare.
As time passed by, the Lakers' fast break did not bring them much benefit.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the course of this game should not change much.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! As expected.
Although D'Antoni brought Howard back on the court in the second half of the game, the happy beast's mind was no longer on the game.
The effect on the field is exactly the same as in the previous quarters.
In the last 58 seconds of the game, Kobe scored 2 points on a reverse layup.
87:82, the score difference came to 5 points.
At 43 seconds, Howard committed an interior defensive foul and Wang Zelin made two free throws.
89:82, the score difference returned to its original position.
In 30 seconds, Kobe hit a difficult floater in the paint area in a one-on-three, and also caused Wang Zelin's fourth personal foul of the game.
The Black Mamba stood on the free throw line and hit the extra free throw with heavy breathing.
89:85.
This magic ball shot injected new vitality into the Staples Center that had been dormant for a long time.
The dawn of victory seems to be coming to Angel City again!
Fans started chanting Kobe's name.
However, not long after everyone was happy, after Lillard advanced to the frontcourt, before his teammates could get into position, he suddenly hit a chasing three-pointer.
Still with Kobe's defense!
"Whoosh!"
hit.
This three-pointer was like the arrival of black and white, directly taking away the Lakers' last breath.
A cruel smile appeared on Lillard's face: "Kobe, your era is over!"
After saying that, Lillard pointed to his wrist, looked at his watch and celebrated for the first time in an NBA game.
The photographer on the sidelines adjusted the lens to focus on Lillard's wrist.
At first glance, it is a tattoo in the shape of a watch. If you look closely... there is a series of letters on it.
Lillard time
Lillard moment!
What an arrogant rookie!
However, it seems that he really has the capital to be arrogant.
Kobe, who was closest to him, saw Lillard's complete tattoo and fell silent.
13 seconds!
There were only 13 seconds left for the Lakers.
Unless God comes down at this time, the Lakers are almost sentenced to death.
Groups of fans gradually left the stadium early, and the game was no longer worth watching.
Time passed quickly, and with the referee's whistle, this Christmas war ended completely.
92:85!
The Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers by 7 points.
The moment the game ended, the Trail Blazers players surrounded Lillard in the center and rubbed his head fiercely.
The Lakers players lowered their heads and walked to the tunnel unwillingly.
They lost this world-renowned game at home, in front of their fans in Los Angeles.
Kobe looked up at the score on the big screen, the desire for victory never dissipating in his eyes.
On the other side, Wang Zelin and his teammates were celebrating heartlessly, and the two sides formed a picture with a huge gap.
Naturally, all this could not escape the dozens of cameras outside the venue.
The ups and downs, ebbs and flows of all NBA players will be remembered forever through photos and videos.
The Internet has memory!
…
In the locker room, the Blazers, composed of a group of young guys, recovered quickly from fatigue.
Coach Terry pushed open the door and saw that the players had finished bathing and arranged their clothes.
"Wang, LaMarcus, Damien, you three will attend the press conference with me."
Wang Zelin, who scored 33 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks, was undoubtedly the best player in the game.
Aldridge and Lillard scored 23 points and 21 points respectively, becoming the team's second and third largest contributors.
Especially Lillard's last three-pointer that killed the game, it is very likely to become the top of tomorrow's top five goals.
"I won't go to coach. Jaylen is still waiting outside for me to take him to visit Los Angeles."
The Jaylen Aldridge talks about is his eldest son.
Seeing this, Coach Terry did not force himself any further and took Wang Zelin and Lillard to the post-game interview.
…
"Wang, first of all, I want to congratulate you on winning the Christmas war. How do you feel about spending Christmas in the United States for the first time?" a Sports Illustrated reporter asked.
Wang Zelin's face remained as usual, but he was already complaining in his heart: What else can I do, just like that!
However, how could Wang Zelin answer like this? He smiled slightly: "It feels very novel and very lively at the same time. Christmas in the United States is similar to the Spring Festival in China. This will be a night I will never forget."
"Wang, your statistics for this game are 33 points and 15 rebounds..."
"Wow!"
"OMG!"
Before TNT’s beautiful reporter Kristen Ledlow finished speaking, there were already loud exclamations all around her.
"And Dwight Howard's statistics are 6 points, 9 rebounds and 5 fouls, which is far different from yours. Can I think that you are already the best center player in the league?"
After saying that, Ledlow's beautiful eyes flashed and he fired an electric shock at Wang Zelin.
Wang Zelin chuckled and said: "I don't know yet whether I am the best center in the league, but through several games with the Lakers, I should be able to prove that I am indeed better than Dwight!"
Poof!
Ledlow lost control of his expression and laughed out loud: "Howard is recognized as the number one center in the league. Since you admit that you are better than him, those are not..."
"Wait a minute, who is recognized as the number one center?"
Wang Zelin's face was full of doubts.
"emmm..."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
This question left Ledernor speechless, and the surrounding media reporters from all over the world even laughed out loud.
On the other side, Kobe and D'Antoni are also being attacked by reporters.
When Kobe was asked whether the Lakers could still make the playoffs this season, the question made D'Antoni curse inwardly.
This is not exposing someone's shortcomings or slapping someone in the face.
Just as D'Antoni was about to smooth things over, Kobe's face was so cold that it almost froze: "I assure everyone that the Lakers will definitely make the playoffs this season! It's a sure thing!"
Kobe's answer, which can be regarded as a vow, surprised everyone.
Such words cannot be said easily. Once the season ends without completion, it will be an everlasting joke for a historical superstar like Kobe.
However, Black Mamba's paranoia once again exceeded everyone's expectations. He did not care about various pressures from the outside world and directly said harsh words.
…
8 a.m. on the 27th.
"Fuck, why?"
After washing up after coming out of Nuan Nuan Township, Wang Zelin ate breakfast and checked his cell phone.
In his expectation, he would definitely own all the headlines in major media today.
But the reality was beyond his expectation.
"Kobe Bryant boldly said that the Lakers will make the playoffs. Who gave him the courage?"
——"ESPN"
"Confidence or arrogance! Time will tell."
——"TNT"
"We can always trust Kobe!"
——"Laker Nation"
The interview after the Kobe Bryant game spread throughout the sports circle, and Wang Zelin once again witnessed the influence of superstars.
But he was still very angry!
After working so hard to play such a gorgeous battle, the headlines were stolen, and the person who stole the headlines was Kobe Bryant, who was the loser...
No one can stand this!
"What's the matter, dear!"
A familiar voice came from behind.
"I'm very angry now!"
Wang Zelin turned around, his scarlet eyes staring straight at the half-wrapped bath towel on Izarena's body, and pulled it with one hand.
I just had enough to eat and had the strength to go to work.
"I just took a shower..."
"Oh, no."
"It's okay, I'll wash it with you later."
Wang Zelin arrogantly picked up Izarena by the waist.
"I mean, don't stop..."
…
Two hours later.
"So that's what happened!"
"Hahaha!"
Reina lay on Wang Zelin and scrolled through her phone, understanding the whole story.
"If you dare to laugh at me, it seems I have to teach you a lesson again."
