Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 117 Three-point battle?The suspense of the finals!

"Don't be anxious, just take your time!"

The Pistons served the ball again. After Billups took the ball, he signaled to his teammates not to pay too much attention. They were already beaten 5-0 by the Lakers.

Facing Payton's defense, Billups played very steadily. He fought with his back while still in the backcourt, then connected with his hips and turned around to break through. It took more than five seconds to reach the frontcourt.

For the sake of the championship ring, Payton's defense of Billups is not unserious.

Noticing that Prince came up first to hang a screen, Payton took the initiative to take a step back and defended Billups from going left.

At the same time, Duane, who followed Prince, was also ready to switch defense against Billups.

However, at this moment, Billups suddenly took off, fired a cold arrow, and shot a three-pointer one step outside the three-point line.

Upon seeing this, Du En and Payton quickly stepped forward to block the shot, but they were still a little slow.

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The ball is in!
Billups is a bit rough, but he is worthy of being a player with a big heart.

Asking his teammates to play slower, he impatiently shot a three-pointer.

However, they were defeated 3-0 in the finals, and it was obviously not possible to continue to be stable.

Every time the Pistons lost before, it was because they could never match the Lakers in terms of scoring.

In this case, it is better to shoot a few more three-pointers, bet on touch, and bet on luck.

As of now, Billups' three-pointers still have a certain value to the Pistons.

"Hurry up and serve!"

Du En signaled O'Neal and Malone not to stand there stupidly and asked them to send the ball out quickly. Then Du En prepared for a fast break.

Based on the three-pointer that Billups just made, Dunn has already guessed that the Pistons will probably rely on Billups to break the game tonight.

However, if Billups dares to shoot three-pointers, Duan will dare to play fast breaks.

You know, in addition to the nickname "Mr. Key", Billups also has the nickname "The Prodigal Son" and "The Unbeatable".

Although Billups has been playing very solidly since he came to the Pistons, tonight the Pistons need to let Billups regain his natural instincts and take a lot of shots from outside the three-point line.

Wouldn't this provide the Lakers and Duane with a lot of opportunities to switch offense?
Even if Duan is not going to win the Finals MVP, it is not a bad thing to pass more passes to Kobe and Malone in the transition offense, right?

To be honest, if we really speed up tonight, the first person who can't stand it will definitely not be O'Neal, but Larry Brown!

Why is the small ball era coming?On the one hand, rule changes and star whistles have made defenses that increase physical confrontation gradually lose their meaning in the league.

On the other hand, there are constant fast breaks, which destroys the original defensive system of being rigid and defensive.

As long as the star has a mismatch advantage in the transition attack, he can rely on breakthroughs to get to the basket, or he can take shots without scruples from beyond the three-point line.

Originally, the full-court press limited the advancement speed of the opponent's ball holder in order to allow our inside line to retract into the penalty area in time.

With the emergence of legalized zone defense, the league's overall defensive intensity has been greatly enhanced, and defensive counterattacks have become the mainstream style of play for strong teams.

In order to defend transitional fast breaks, interior players begin to need forward-level speed and the ability to continuously turn back and run.

Over time, the small ball era has come, with point guards taking over and forwards being king.

03 Platinum Generation, on the one hand, the quality of the players is indeed outstanding, on the other hand, it also coincides with the end of the big ball era and the league is slowly transforming into the small ball era.

Nowadays, although there is no handcheck rule, Du En, as an all-around forward, has begun to reap the bonus of the version.

As O'Neal released the ball, Duan immediately rushed forward with the ball.

Although the Pistons have already returned to the backcourt, the Lakers' Payton, Kobe, and Malone are also following Duan on the fast break.

In order to prevent Duen from switching offense, Prince had to restrict Duen from breaking through the three-point line two or three steps away from the three-pointer.

However, Duen used the impact of his accelerated breakthrough to suddenly hit Prince with his back. As soon as he knocked Prince's center of gravity away, he immediately turned around and passed him.

Du En came to a position one step beyond the three-point line and suddenly stopped and took off.

Looking at this posture, he just wants to shoot a three-pointer and respond to Billups with a three-pointer.

Upon seeing this, Billups and Ben immediately swooped up. They didn't want Duan to fake a shot and pass the ball to Payton, who was cutting through the basket.

After Payton got the ball, he immediately joined the ball and then made a European step layup.

Roaring Tianzun stepped forward and stood still, raising his hands to block the shot. Unexpectedly, Payton hit the ground and passed the ball to Malone.

Prince and Hamilton followed Malone's footsteps and shrank to the basket. Malone suddenly stopped and jumped, but instead of shooting, he passed the ball to Kobe in the bottom corner.

After receiving the ball, Kobe dribbled for a while to get a feel for it, and then waited until Hamilton and Prince pounced from the inside before jumping high and shooting a three-pointer from the highest point.

Kobe's career three-point shooting percentage was 32.9% in the regular season and 33.1% in the playoffs.

It doesn't seem like it's going to work, but if you exclude those ball catches, you'll find that Kobe's three-pointers are okay.

Not to mention, Kobe's three-point shooting percentage is not very high, and he also likes to hit people and make strong shots.

Nowadays, shooting open three-pointers and dribbling to adjust the shooting rhythm can still be grasped.

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The basketball hits the net!As Kobe Bryant hit a three-pointer and successfully responded to Billups, the Lakers returned their scoring advantage to a 5-point lead.

At this time, O'Neal, who had just reached the three-point line, saw Kobe making a three-pointer and had no intention of celebrating with Kobe, so he immediately chose to return to defense.

After Kobe made a three-pointer, he did not celebrate with Malone or express his gratitude to Malone for passing the ball. Instead, he immediately immersed himself in sprinting into the backcourt to try to prevent the Pistons' next attack.

The other three players of the Lakers also returned to defense with great tacit understanding. If they really wanted to celebrate, it would not be too late to wait for the league official to hold a championship award ceremony for them.

By the way, after Kobe Bryant scored, the Pistons immediately chose to serve and play a fast break.

Billups did not blindly play Payton in isolation. Instead, after picking and rolling with Ben, he passed the ball to the weak side of Roar Tianzun.

Because before Malone and O'Neal switched defenses and came out to focus on the big man, now it was O'Neal who pulled out to interfere with the Roaring God's shooting, so naturally it was a beat slower.

Roaring Tianzun's open three-point shot was also extremely accurate, and he used a three-pointer to recover the 3-point difference.

However, Malone slipped out of the baseline in time and passed the ball to Payton, who then passed the ball to Duane.

When Du En started a fast break, O'Neal, who had interfered with the Roaring God, also went straight to the frontcourt.

Duan helped O'Neal attract the defense, and then threw the ball high into the sky.

Duan's pass and O'Neal's pie-eating, add up to no solution!

I saw O'Neal, who was following Duan, jumping high and catching the ball in the air.

He took advantage of the trend and slammed it towards the basket. In the end, his whole body hung on the basket, assuming a standard shark splashing posture.

It's not that O'Neal wants to be cool, or that O'Neal wants to be imposing.

In fact, O'Neal's shark splash is a very smart play!Anyone who has played ball knows that after scoring, you cannot actively touch the ball or interfere with the opponent's serve.

However, passive contact with the ball is allowed.

O'Neal's shark splash is because it is a continuous dunk action. After the ball enters, it slides down from the basket and falls on O'Neal's body.

O'Neal took advantage of the trend and "shark's tail" and used his belly to push the basketball out of bounds.

This artificially creates a process where the defender or referee has to go out to pick up the ball, thereby delaying the defender's fast break rhythm.

O'Neal himself got off the basket, turned around and applauded Duan to celebrate, and took a leisurely walk back to the Lakers backcourt.

It is precisely because of this that even O'Neal's dunk only helped the Lakers open a 2-point gap.

But in the next round, the Pistons had no chance to switch offense and could only continue to slowly fight in position.

In this way, it is not that easy for Billups to use pick-and-rolls to create open shooting opportunities for Roaring God.

Because the Lakers' defense was relatively in place, Billups was flanked by Duane and Payton, and could only pass the ball to Prince who was separated in advance.

Prince did not pass the ball after receiving the ball, but shot a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

It's just that the three-point ability is limited, but it still works.

O'Neal protected the defensive rebound and passed the ball to Duan. Duan made a fast break to attract the defense and passed the ball to Kobe. With the help of Kobe's layup, the Lakers opened up the 2-point gap.

The Pistons have not chosen outside shooting as their main offensive method before, because they are worried that the Lakers will continue to score with the help of defensive counterattacks.

Seeing that the point difference had widened to 6 points, Larry Brown had to call a timeout first.

After the timeout, the Pistons replaced Ben with Okur.

Obviously, since it has been proven that they can't guard the Lakers, the Pistons can only go to the dark side and field a lineup with five people who can shoot.

Of course, the defense of this lineup is not bad, at least Okur is still very good at defending inside.

Besides, in terms of defensive transition and offense, Ben is not much better than Okur.

On the offensive end, Okur's role was indeed immediate.

With Billups playing high-post double screens with Roaring Gods and Okur, Payton and Malone failed to explain their defense clearly and passed around the screens.

Billups took advantage of the screen and made another three-pointer, and the point difference suddenly narrowed to 3 points.

O'Neal immediately served the ball, but the Pistons predicted the pass in the continuous transition and fast break, roaring Tianzun turned around to intercept, and then went to the basket to attack the basket next.

O'Neal immediately rushed out from the baseline and tried to snatch the basketball back, but was stuck in the reasonable collision area by the Roaring God and hit a two plus one.

O'Neal's foul actually falls into the range of whether it can be called or not. If he scores a layup in the playoffs, he usually won't be given an additional penalty.

However, the civilian Pistons can compete with the super team Lakers for this sake, and now they are playing at home, so it is no problem to add suspense to the game with a whistle.

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The extra free throw hit, 12 to 12 points, and the two teams tied the score again.

"Don't worry about it Shaq, just be more careful next time."

Duane came to the baseline to catch the ball, comforted O'Neal, and then passed the ball to Payton.

Payton's shooting was unstable, but his dribbling was still stable. After halftime, Duan received the ball and directed traffic, continuing to play a high double-cover tactic.

The Pistons were forced to focus their defense on the strong side. Duan noticed that Payton at the top of the arc had an opportunity to cut and immediately passed the ball.

After Payton got the ball, he attracted Hamilton's defense and immediately passed the ball to Kobe.

After Kobe got the ball, he went directly to the basket. Facing Okur's defense, he could pass it inside to O'Neal, but for the sake of FMVP, he still chose to make a pull-up jumper, which was picturesque.

The ball hit the iron without accident, but O'Neal at the basket grabbed an offensive rebound that was close at hand.

Immediately afterwards, he continued to use the shark splash method, dunked after taking off and hit the second offense, and then knocked the ball away, and at the same time helped the Lakers gain a 2-point lead.

As a super team, the Lakers have very stable scoring capabilities both inside and outside.

After O'Neal destroyed the Pistons' fast break, the Lakers continued to defend the Pistons' position, and finally became one again.

Just as the Lakers slowly opened the point difference to 5 points again, O'Neal received his second foul because he made too many moves while fighting for rebounds.

O'Neal naturally complained about this and wanted to find an explanation from the referee on the bottom line, but the Zen Master off the court knew very well how to handle this situation.

In order to prevent O'Neill from receiving unnecessary technical fouls, Zen Master took advantage of the dead ball and immediately replaced O'Neill.

Anyway, the Lakers still took the lead, and more than 7 minutes had passed in the first quarter. O'Neal came down to rest first, which was normal.

In fact, after Grant replaced O'Neal, instead of being narrowed by the Pistons, the Lakers continued to play transition offense, seriously damaging the Pistons' defense.

Relying on the personal strength of Duan and Kobe, by the end of the first quarter, the score difference on the court had reached 29 to 23, and the Lakers had a 6-point lead.

After the restart of the second quarter, O'Neal, who returned to play, also helped the Lakers further open the score because of his abundant physical strength.

However, the good times did not last long, and O'Neal quickly received his third foul.

Larry Brown also seemed to have noticed the number of fouls O'Neal had committed, and deliberately asked the Roaring God to stimulate O'Neal, hoping to make O'Neal accumulate more fouls and end the game early.

Originally, O'Neal was dissatisfied with the referee because of the penalty scale. When he heard the roaring Tianzun's endless trash talk, O'Neal naturally exploded and wanted to ask the referee for an explanation.

The referee who can preside over the finals has some background. The referee's authority is unquestionable, and he immediately blew the whistle to O'Neal.

After O'Neal received a technical foul, Jackson could only remove O'Neal who committed the third foul.

The Pistons got three free throws in a row, and the point difference was once again narrowed to less than 3 points. The suspense of the finals was also maintained.

When the second quarter reached more than 9 minutes, the Lakers withdrew their main force Duan and needed other main players to stabilize the situation, so they sent O'Neal again.

However, Kobe, who had scored 17 points in the first half, was obviously not willing to share the ball with others.

At this time, the Lakers' point guard was the famous dribbling guard Fisher, who did not have much organizational ability and could not pass the ball to O'Neal.

In fact, it was also because the Pistons defended O'Neal better, so it took a lot of effort for Dunn to pass the ball to O'Neal.

Fisher didn't have this ability and could only simply hand the ball over to Kobe.

After Kobe got the ball, he did it himself. O'Neal couldn't catch the ball and could only stare.

Fortunately, Kobe played well and helped the Lakers stabilize the situation.

However, Old Bass, who was in a large box at the Palace of Auburn Hills, couldn't sit still.

He told Buss Jr. who was sitting next to him: "Go and notify Rob Pelinka and ask him to tell Kobe..."

When Bass finished his instructions, the score on the court was 56 to 50. The first half was just over, and the point difference between the two teams remained at 6 points.

(End of this chapter)