As soon as Taylor Swift finished singing the song, the competition officially began. To be honest, Taylor would have dismissed this kind of small business performance, but for the sake of "charging the public for personal gain", she still chose to do it.
In this game, Kobe entered the scoring mode as soon as he started, scoring the first 8 points of the Lakers with one pass of "X.J.B.T", and his shooting rate was very good, playing an absolute leading role. Not only that, he also controlled the game again on the defensive end.
Westbrook allowed the latter to regain his scoring efficiency in the previous games, which made him a scumbag. Gasol also worked hard. Although his rebounding ability dropped a lot due to a foot injury, he scored two consecutive goals.
Blocking shots protected the Lakers' inside line, making Serge Ibaka, who had five offensive rebounds in this quarter, only make 3 of 8 shots, with a shooting percentage of only 37.5%. This is already quite successful for the inside players.
Defended.
But even so, the Lakers still fell behind after the first quarter.
There are three reasons. One is that the Lakers' team's shooting percentage is extremely ugly. Gasol made 1 of 6 shots, Bynum made 0 of 3 shots, Sessions made 0 of 3 shots, and Steve Blake made 0 of 1 shots.
, Tang Qian made 1 of 1 shots. In other words, except for Kobe, everyone else was in a scoring drought for the entire quarter, and the sound of iron was clanging continuously. Secondly, the rebound was blown to pieces. Comparison of team rebounds, Lakers
10 rebounds in a single quarter, what about the Thunder? 20 rebounds in a single quarter! That’s twice as much as the Lakers! In this case, if Kobe hadn’t scored 15 points in a single quarter and shot 66.7% from the field, they would have definitely lost.
It is extremely ugly. The third is that the gap between the bench lineup is too big. Kobe has to guard Westbrook, which has already involved all his defensive attention. As for others on the outside, he can no longer pay attention to it and can only watch James. Ha.
Deng showed off his prowess and scored 7 points with a 100% shooting rate.
Westbrook made 2 of 7 shots in this quarter, with a shooting percentage of less than 30%, but this is of no use because the Thunder have too many offensive scoring points this season, and one Westbrook is missing.
Take advantage of the opponent's outside line without fail.
21-26, the Lakers were 5 points behind their opponents. Tang Qian played 2 minutes and 11 seconds in this quarter and scored 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
ESPN Live Room.
"How about it? Jeff, I told you right? The Lakers can't beat the Thunder!" Stan Van Gundy said with a laugh.
"Don't worry, Stan, there are still three quarters left in the game, anything can happen." Jeff Van Gundy was not in a hurry and said calmly.
"Okay, I'll see how long you can be tough!" Stan Van Gundy said sarcastically to his younger brother.
"Bryant, how do you feel? Do you want to come down and rest for a while?" Seeing Kobe sweating profusely, Mike Brown suggested, because Kobe played too hard in the first quarter, not to mention scoring 15 points in a single quarter.
, and also completely blocked his opponent Westbrook. This high-intensity offense and defense consumed the old Kobe's huge physical strength.
"It's okay, I have no problem." Kobe's answer was still simple.
"Okay." Mike Brown nodded, then looked at the rest of the Lakers and said, "Cheer up! What the hell was going on in the first quarter! Didn't you even have dinner? Shoot that damn basketball
Go in! Do you understand?"
In the second quarter, as Kobe's touch slowly declined, the Lakers adopted an inside attack mode. Mike Brown still had this basic tactical ability. Fortunately, the Lakers' touch inside finally recovered, and Gasol
Bynum made 3 of 3 shots, and Ci Shiping made 2 of 2 shots. Throughout the second quarter, three Lakers players shot 100% from the field. They recovered 30-28 in a single quarter.
Two points later, at halftime, 51-54, only trailing by 3 points entering the second half.
"Damn it! That fucking referee! He actually awarded technical fouls consecutively! He must have received illegal money! It must be!!!" As soon as he returned to the locker room, Ci Shiping was furious and said: "I must tell you after the game.
Complain to the league office!!!”
Why is Ci Shiping so angry? The reason is simple. In the last 30 seconds, the Thunder made four consecutive free throws, directly overtaking the Lakers' score. Why did Ci Shiping make four consecutive free throws?
Thapo Sefolosha committed a tactical foul. This is a normal thing. In the professional league, in order to prevent the opponent from fast-break dunks, it is a correct decision to choose a tactical foul. However, the home referee of the Thunder gave Ci Shiping one
For a physical foul, the Thunder will get the right to two free throws and one throw, which is completely different from the original intention of Ci Shiping's tactical foul.
Of course Ci Shiping quit, but someone reacted faster and more intensely than him. He was the Lakers' No. 24, Kobe Bryant. In such a critical game and at such a critical moment, you actually gave it to the Lakers
A "physical foul" on the team? This is simply an act of manipulating the trend of the game! In addition, the Lakers finally managed to overtake the score before halftime. In this case, how could Kobe not be angry? So he replaced Ci Shiping.
He went directly to question the referee.
But what Kobe didn't expect was that the referee directly adopted a "zero tolerance" policy and gave him a technical foul. Suddenly, the Thunder team became a "three free throws and one throw"!
Seeing that the team boss was punished for standing up for him, Ci Shiping, who had a fiery personality, felt unhappy and walked forward together to question the referee.
The referee was decisive and didn't listen to Ci Shiping B.B. He raised his hand and awarded another technical foul. The Lakers were instantly about to receive "four free throws and one throw"!
Seeing that Kobe was about to explode, Gasol immediately stopped the former to avoid angering the "fair" referee again.
So, there was this scene just now.
Fortunately, the Thunder missed a three-pointer on their last attempt. Otherwise, scoring 7 points in one round would have been a huge blow to the Lakers.
"Forget it, even if the referee is biased, we still have to win this game!" Kobe said with a gloomy face: "We must win!"
Ci Shiping also made a profit. According to NBA rules, physical fouls and technical fouls do not overlap. Otherwise, at that moment, he would have had to end the game with honor and be ejected from the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The current Lakers cannot do without Ci Shiping. Although Ci Shiping seems to have been beaten by Durant in this series, if he is missing, the Lakers will only be even more miserable. At least Ci Shiping is there.
At this time, Kevin Durant did not dare to break through unscrupulously, which put relatively little pressure on the Lakers inside. Otherwise, Westbrook + Du Shao + Harden would continuously attack the inside, even if Duncan came, they would not be able to hold on.
In the second quarter of the game, Tang Qian did not get any playing time.
During the halftime break, Taylor sang another song in the center of the court, and then Game 5 of the Lakers vs. Thunder series officially continued.
In this quarter, according to Mike Brown's idea, he continued to attack the inside first. After all, the inside players were in good condition in the second quarter, but he paid the price for his wrong decision-making. In the third quarter, Anzhu's touch plummeted.
Under the interference of the card, they actually started with a 0-for-4 start. This time, the Thunder seized the opportunity and used the athletic ability of their lineup to push fast breaks and transition quickly with Scott Brooks.
In other words, we must use fast pace to drag down the aging Los Angeles Lakers.
A few minutes later, the score between the two sides became 51-60, and the score difference widened to 9 points. The Lakers missed all their shots for nearly 3 and a half minutes, which gave the Thunder a chance to play a trick. No joke.
, this season, the two teams with the strongest "one-wave flow" in the league are Miami and the current Oklahoma City Thunder.
Seeing this situation, Kobe once again came to take over the game, "shuashuashuashua~", and hit consecutive strong shots from every man, instantly breaking the Lakers' scoring drought. This season's Black Mamba is still capable of it.
All of this. But because most of Kobe's energy was invested in the offensive end, his control over the defensive end was immediately weakened. Russell Westbrook would never let go of this opportunity and immediately took advantage of the situation to attack, filling up this section.
There was a vacancy in the game where Durant had poor touch.
In the third quarter, Kobe once again made 6 of 9 shots and added 2 free throws, scoring 15 points. His offensive firepower was very strong and his scoring efficiency was also very high. However, due to the weakened control on the defensive end, this allowed Westbrook to take advantage of the loophole.
, the Thunder's No. 0 also took the opportunity to score a high score of 12 points, and his shooting percentage was not much worse than Kobe's.
In the final stage, Westbrook also made a defensive foul on Bynum, causing the latter to receive his fifth foul of the game.
However, the Lakers were lucky. Westbrook actually missed both free throws, which made the final score of the single quarter fixed at 26-29 points. The Lakers were 77-83, trailing their opponents by 6 points.
Tang Qian still had no chance to play in this quarter, because Mike Brown's old habit recurred. In order to ensure the combat effectiveness on the court, he began to continuously squeeze the physical fitness of the main players and did not give the substitute players a chance to play. The five main players of the Lakers,
Except for Sessions, everyone played more than 30 minutes in the three quarters. Among them, Kobe and Gasol had the highest playing time, reaching 34 minutes. This means that in the entire three quarters, the two of them only took about 2 minutes of rest.
, this is undoubtedly a huge physical test for veterans in their thirties.
Coupled with the playing time in the previous games, the Lakers' starting lineup and physical energy are almost exhausted.
"Everyone calm down, everyone calm down, it's not a big deal, we are only 6 points behind, we still have time, we still have a chance!" Mike Brown said his "lame" motivational words on the bench.
He said, but it was obvious from the look on his face that he was about to lose control. In this state, his words simply did not have the ability to appease the team.
The Lakers players all felt the heavy pressure at this moment. The entire Chesapeake Energy Arena was filled with the roar of the mountains and the tsunami, which was as heavy as a boulder, making people almost breathless.
With this atmosphere, the Lakers took to the court to welcome the fourth quarter.
Mike Brown didn't know whether he was in a daze or something, but he sent the leader who had committed five fouls up again. Seeing such a good thing, the head coach of the Thunder immediately made a gesture on the sidelines, asking the team to strengthen their breakthrough.
, to strengthen the damage to the Lakers' inside line. Soon, Scott Brooks' tactics worked. As James Harden made a breakthrough layup, Bynum made a defensive foul and was directly ejected by the referee.
The All-Star center of the Lakers is just wandering and walking away, and will no longer be able to make any contribution to the team.
His personal statistics for this game were also fixed at 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Mike Brown also seemed to be "scared" by the situation. He hurriedly called Tang Qian and asked the Lakers to take the field as No. 29, and did not explain any tactical instructions to the latter.
Bang~
After making one of two free throws, Harden cursed secretly, and his second free throw crashed into the basket.
77-84, Tang Qian protected this defensive rebound.
He was affected by the "inner demon" in this game, and his competitive state dropped by 30%. This was simply a huge disaster.
Without the ability card subsidy, I am afraid that even Nick Collison of the Thunder could easily suppress Tang Qian.
Because tonight, the Thunder team is full of momentum. Almost everyone is working hard and competing for the first place. As a result, everyone's competitive state is much higher than that of the regular season. And this is commonly known as the playoffs.
Game status.
But Tang Qian didn't panic too much, because he had already thought about how the game should be played before he came on the field.
Now the Lakers have a weak offense and lack of firepower, so Kobe is easily double-teamed, and the inside can't find easy opportunities to take shots. In this way, the Thunder's defense will become more and more targeted, and shrink smaller and smaller, allowing the Lakers to
The team's overall offense was paralyzed. Someone had to step up! Otherwise, the offensive space would not be opened up, and Kobe would not be able to defeat 2 to 3 defenders.
As a big center with more than seven feet, how should Tang Qian stand up?
Rebounds? Block shots? NO~ With his competitive state tonight, there is no way he can even hope to perform!
What to do?
Of course...shoot a three-pointer!
Maybe ordinary people would think that Tang Qian was crazy when he shot a three-pointer, but only he knew that it was okay tonight.
Tonight, I will be a "three-point center"!!!
The Lakers were dribbling and attacking. It was obvious that Sessions' mental state was already very bad. Perhaps in his mind, this game and this series were over. Kobe wanted to get the ball, but the Thunder didn't want him.
The defense is very tough. Not to mention James Harden's struggle to get the ball, even if he can barely get the ball, it will immediately lead to a double-team or even a triple-team from the Thunder. Anyway, the rest of the Lakers are now...
If you give him a long shot, he won't be able to make it, so the Oklahomans can double-team Kobe at will, leaving the Black Mamba with no space to exploit.
At this time, Tang Qian ran over slowly. He was the last player on the Lakers to run across half court, which was very different from his usual positivity.
"Ramon, pass it to me, I'm open~" Hearing a shout in his ear, Sessions passed the ball in his hand in a daze. Anyway, in his eyes, as long as it was passed to the Lakers
Team members, that's fine.
As for who it was, whether it was suitable, and whether it had the range, he was too lazy to think about it anymore.
"Ha~ Sessions actually passed the ball to the Chinese? This is really a funny pass~ What can a seven-foot center do outside the three-point line? Is it possible that he can also shoot a three-pointer?"
"This is a sign that the Lakers are about to collapse. I bet that within 3 minutes, this game will enter garbage time~"
Just when the Thunder's two on-site commentators were "blind B.B", the Lakers took action on the 29th.
PS: There is another update, thank you for your support~