Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

"Duane is a player from across the era. His ability to become the boss of the Chicago Bulls speaks volumes."

“I once played against Michael, and at that time Michael was someone I needed to look up to.

I also played against Duen. When I first heard about Duen, I thought the Los Angeles Lakers got him to sell tickets.

I once doubted whether Duan could adapt to the intensity of NBA games?

Well, his confrontation ability seems to be good, so I started to pay attention to him again to see when he will hit the rookie wall.

It's incredible. Duan's outstanding performance completely exceeded my judgment of him.

He has proven to the fans and other NBA players time and time again that he is the best rookie in the league and the most improved player in the league.

I thought he would stop being an All-Star, but he quickly improved his strength. He helped the Chicago Bulls become the strongest team in the league, and he became a well-deserved MVP!

Until now, he has become the most comprehensive and outstanding player in the league. He is the face of the league and an epoch-making superstar!

It's a great feeling to be teammates with Du En.

Playing with the Chicago Bulls, I feel energized every day. "

Before the start of G3 of the Finals between the Bulls and the Lakers, Garnett, who was preparing to return to the competition stage tonight, accepted interviews with media reporters before the game.

Garnett has been back with the Chicago Bulls for a week since the start of the Finals.

Although Garnett did not play in the previous two finals, he still followed the team for various trainings every day.

Garnett felt that his condition had been adjusted back, so after playing G2 of the Finals, he discussed with Duane and Scott Scales, hoping to get a certain amount of playing time in G3 away game.

In this regard, Garnett lowered his requirements and said that as long as the team needs him, he can accept the arrangement of playing as a substitute.

Garnett talked about this. Whether it was Duane as a teammate or Scott Skiles as the head coach, it was difficult to refuse Garnett's kindness.

Scott Skiles also took into consideration that the Bulls lacked a center and Milicic would have difficulty resisting Gasol.

The Bulls rely on Webber and other backup power forwards to serve as substitute centers, but the actual effect of protecting the frame and rebounding is not very good.

If Garnett can return to the team and help Milicic and others reduce the pressure of the game, then there is no need to wait for Garnett to fully return to the level of a 20+10 All-Star insider.

As long as he can serve as a center for ten to twenty minutes and enhance the Bulls' overall defensive capabilities.

It is precisely because of this that everyone in the Bulls agreed that Garnett would be included in the lineup for G3 of the Finals.

However, to be conservative, Garnett will start from the bench and slowly get a feel for the game.

Speaking of which, the Lakers had to become nervous after receiving the news that Garnett's condition had changed.

The Bulls beat them 2-0 in the absence of second-choice leader Garnett.

If Garnett really recovers from his injury and provides some positive contributions to the Bulls in the next games, then the Bulls the Lakers will face will undoubtedly become stronger and more terrifying.

"We've been pushed into a corner and we have to win tonight's game."

Kobe Bryant spoke in the locker room early, hoping that other teammates could work together with him to win this home game.

The Lakers players also know that Garnett has officially returned, and the pressure on the Lakers to win the championship has become even greater.

If Garnett truly adjusts his condition, the Lakers' hope of winning the championship will become even slimmer.

Tonight is a life and death battle for the Lakers, and they have no way out.

Especially O'Neal, he came to the Lakers this season just to win the championship.

And he is not young anymore.

If such a powerful Lakers can't defeat the Bulls led by Dunn, then even if he cuts his salary and goes to other teams to compete for the championship, it will be difficult to realize his dream of winning the championship.

Just like Jordan in his prime, unless Jordan retires, no team can stop his team from winning the championship.

"Paul, let me do it!"

O'Neal discussed with Gasol and prepared to jump the ball with Milicic.

Gasol had no objection to this, but the end result was still the same. Milicic relied on his physical talent to once again help the Bulls win the ball.

On the Bulls' first attack, Duan was ready to hit in the low post.

But this time, the Lakers set up a zone defense and attacked Duen as soon as he got the ball.

Duane can try to force a pull-up shot in the crowd, but Cassel and Luol Deng are both open on the outside.

Now that the opportunity has come up, Du En might as well let them try their hand first.

Because Luol Deng's three-pointer was more accurate than Cassel's, Dunn passed a long pass to Luol Deng at a 45-degree angle on the right.

The latter took the ball and challenged for a three-point shot, but was blocked by Walton Jr.'s interference.

Milicic did grab the rebound, but when he was going for a layup, he was physically contacted by Gasol, and ultimately failed to score the second attack.

If it had been at home before, there might have been a whistle, but this is the Staples Center, the Lakers' home court, so it's normal that the referee didn't blow it.

After Gasol protected the rebound under the basket, the Lakers began to attack.

Hinrich stumbled and dribbled the ball across half court under Cassel's tight defense, while Kobe was in position at the top of the key early.

Obviously, because of the losses of G1 and G2, Master Jackson also made some adjustments.

After Kobe got the ball, Gasol also came out from the inside to provide a screen for Kobe.

Luol Deng saw that Duan was blocked by Gasol, so he immediately let go of Walton to help defend. At this time, Milicic also stepped forward to delay, and cooperated to attack Kobe.

Kobe passed the ball to Gasol, but Gasol was still near the three-point line. Because he had not entered the penalty area yet, he did not choose to attack directly, but continued to dribble towards the basket.

Duan chased Gasol and ran to the basket. Josh Smith also helped defend in advance, interfering with Gasol's dribbling and basket attack.

Gasol was flanked and immediately handed the ball to O'Neal. O'Neal did not choose to rush to the basket, but took a step back and adjusted his shooting rhythm before taking action.

brush--

O'Neal Jr. used his best method to help the Lakers score the first 2 points with this long two-pointer.

At this time, Du En had already reached the basket. Naturally, he immediately picked up the ball and slipped out of the baseline, preparing to make a long pass to start a fast break.

Luol Deng knew that Duan would definitely do this, so he ran to the frontcourt early, but Kobe was not far away from Luol Deng.

In addition, Cassel also has Hinrich who is good at defending, so Duan can only choose to pass the ball to Josh Smith in front of him.

Josh Smith quickly passed the ball back to Duen, who had no choice but to take the ball and move it forward.

However, after halftime, Kobe returned to Duen and used Death Coil on Duen.

Duen didn't take this seriously and just elbowed his way out of the way. Unexpectedly, this "very routine" action was called an offensive foul by the referee, and the ball was immediately transferred.

After this incident, not only Duan, but other Bulls players also understood what the standard was tonight. Du En and others were not too excited. Du En just spread his hands and complained twice to the referee. The referee didn't have much to say about this. He just made an elbow move towards Du En.

Seeing this, Du En could only give up. Anyway, everyone knew what was going on tonight.

Besides, it’s not like Duen has never played in a 5-on-8 game? Just asking if you won!

Sports projects will pursue fairness, but they will not be absolutely fair.

Duane both understood and adapted.

When the Lakers attack again, Kobe and Gasol will play a pick-and-roll at the top of the key.

Kobe usually doesn't play pick-and-roll easily. On the one hand, the triangle offense pursues star isolations.

The star's position forms a dynamic triangle, with no two points overlapping.

Another point is that when Kobe plays pick-and-roll with his teammates, it is easy to attract the defense and turn two people to attack him alone.

Kobe is a top scorer, but not a top ball handler. Although his passing ability is good, he prefers scoring to organizing.

Then, being flanked with the ball makes it more difficult to attack, which is undoubtedly contrary to his usual style of play.

Kobe is willing to play like this with Gasol tonight because Jackson convinced him that the Lakers need to use him to attract the Bulls' defense and help other teammates get more and better scoring opportunities.

Of course, it was also because of Hinrich's hand injury that the effect of playing pick-and-rolls with Gasol was greatly reduced.

As the leader of the team, Kobe had to do this in order to activate Gasol and let Gasol increase his offensive role.

After all, the main reason why the Lakers are inferior to the Bulls is their lack of scoring ability.

Having said that, Kobe also sacrificed his own ball rights and relied more on his ability to attract defenses to give the ball to Gasol.

Gasol also has good passing skills, helping other teammates score more efficiently.

The Lakers finally established some advantages in the first quarter.

Speaking of which, this may also be related to Kobe's previous playing style.

Kobe is good at playing alone and scoring, but his scoring efficiency has never been high.

The Lakers used Kobe as bait, and other teammates' scoring efficiency increased. In addition, the Lakers got help from the referees and the Bulls were restricted by the referees, so the scoring advantage could naturally be established.

Precisely because of this, with Kobe as the starting point of tactics instead of the ending point, the Lakers were able to gain an advantage.

The Lakers fans at the scene were a little unbelievable when they saw Kobe's statistics on the dome monitor.

After the first quarter, Kobe only scored 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, but the Lakers led the Bulls by 6 points.

However, even if the Bulls are restricted by the referee, their overall strength is still very strong.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Duane came on the court with Garnett to lead the Bulls' second lineup.

By the way, Garnett also played two minutes in the first quarter, but the effect was very average. He made 2 of 0 shots and only scored 1 rebound.

Considering that Garnett has just returned and needs to adapt, this situation is understandable.

In order to allow Garnett to adapt to the game as soon as possible and at the same time reduce Garnett's damage to the team, Dunn chose to play with Garnett.

Garnett is very aware of Duane's scoring ability, so it won't be like before when the team is lagging behind and is a little anxious when no one on the bench scores. He wants to play one or two by himself to help the Bulls turn defeat into a victory.

Playing with Duan on the court, Garnett defends well and grabs rebounds and that's it.

Of course, his physical condition has not fully recovered, and Garnett's defense speed and physical confrontation are not as good as before.

O'Neal Jr. relied on his personal ability to play a few games in the paint.

Even though Duan's scoring efficiency during the staggered trip at the beginning of the second quarter was okay, it only narrowed the point difference to 4 points.

When Kobe noticed that the Bulls were chasing points, he immediately returned to the court.

Not just defense, not just pick-and-roll bait, this time Kobe finally returned to his true colors as a scorer.

Relying on 4 of 3 shots from mid-range, Kobe suppressed the Bulls' pursuit of points. Not long after Gasol also returned to the court, Kobe gave scoring opportunities to other teammates.

Duane also wants to help his teammates score, but sometimes the referees are very annoying.

When other Bulls players made a three-pointer, they were physically challenged. Whether they were catching or shooting, they were seriously interfered with, but there was no whistle.

Duan was also flanked by the Lakers. When passing the ball, he could only try to find teammates who were in open positions.

In order to break the game, Scott Skiles replaced two pitchers, Ben Gordon and Zhu Fangyu.

Needless to say, Ben Gordon's ability is not bad. After Zhu Fangyu came to the Bulls, he adapted well.

Other abilities may still need to be practiced, but open three-pointers have definitely been developed.

It just so happens that the Bulls are now behind and need to chase points, so they send more shooters on the field.

However, Scott Skiles thought about adding space points and shooters to help Duane reduce the offensive pressure, but ignored the Lakers' outside offense.

Hinrich injured his assist hand, but not his shooting hand.

In addition, Hinrich's own shooting is also quite accurate, which resulted in the second half of the second quarter becoming a situation where shooters from both sides competed with each other.

There is no problem with the Bulls' ability, but they still suffered a bit in terms of penalties.

Because the Lakers increased their defensive aggressiveness, they made more mistakes, and their transition offense failed.

As the first half ended, the score reached 45-53, with the Bulls trailing the Lakers by 8 points.

The difference is not big, but it is difficult to chase.

Duan scored 14 points in the third quarter, but still failed to help the team turn defeat into victory.

The game entered the fourth quarter, and Scott Skiles saw that Garnett's condition was really bad, and it was mainly the offensive end that was dragging down the team, so he DNP'd Garnett directly.

And because Duane played almost the entire third quarter, he started the fourth quarter with a lineup of Cassell, Ben Gordon, Grant Hill, Joe Smith and Webber.

The flaw of this lineup is that the offense is okay, but the defense is a little worse, especially inside.

Gasol's offensive ability was average, but he also seized the opportunity. He scored 6 points in a row at the beginning of the fourth quarter and directly stopped the Bulls.

Seeing that the point difference had widened to 13 points, Duen was not allowed to rest and had to play again.

The Lakers also knew that only Duen could score for the Bulls, so they kept confronting Duen and flanking him.

Duan struggled to score 8 points in the fourth quarter and was really unsustainable.

In the end, Duan scored 43 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, ushering in his first loss in the finals of this season. (End of chapter)