Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 54 Unexpected Spurs, the main force
The Lakers vs. Spurs was originally a battle between thunder and fire.

However, after the Lakers arrived in San Antonio, they learned that Duncan accidentally sprained his left ankle in an away game against the Grizzlies two days ago.

Although the injury is not serious, it seems that he can recover after a few days of rest, but the state of the alliance reported for the next game is doubtful.

Players from other teams were injured and changed to a suspicious state, and there is a high probability that players will still be able to play.

But when it comes to the Spurs, even if the players are obviously healthy, if they become doubtful, there is a high probability that they will not be able to play.

It can only be said that the Spurs are too modest.

The Lakers banned O'Neal, the Spurs also banned Duncan, and also gave up a Parker.

In fact, Parker's matter has something to do with the Lakers. I have to say that the Lakers' F4 put too much pressure on the Spurs.

The Spurs considered that the Lakers' F4 lineup was too luxurious, and they could not support Duncan alone, so they had to find an outside support for Duncan-Jason Kidd.

Don't look at Kidd's shooting skills, but Kidd's ability to lead the team is really strong!

The same is to eat the bonus of the Eastern Conference. Marbury's statistics in the Nets became a cancer, but Kidd led the Nets to the second consecutive finals.

Just after the Spurs defeated the Nets led by Kidd 4-2 in the finals to win the championship, Popovich and Duncan kept calling Kidd to ask for his care.

After Kidd entered the free market in the offseason, he also tried to visit San Antonio and was already interested.

However, the Nets management is not a fool. They found that Kidd was flirting with the Spurs, so they quickly thought of a lot of ways.

It was found that the Spurs' salary space was limited. Even if General Robinson retired to make room for Kidd, the salary was only 1000 million.

The Nets can provide Kidd with a five-year 5 million contract.

At the same time, the Nets arranged for Kidd's wife to work as a host in New York, and also signed Mourning to strengthen the inside line.

Kidd was persuaded by his wife that he didn't want to be a prisoner who would join if he couldn't beat, so he chose to renew his contract with the Nets.

And the Spurs still don't want to miss Kidd and Duncan's peak period.So he wanted to stun Parker and send him on the plane, sign with the Nets first and then get Kidd in exchange.

But the Nets are not fools, what use is Parker, who is only in the third grade?

In the words of Wu Sheng Jackson, one of the heroes who won the Spurs championship in 03: "Which point is Parker better than Kidd? French!"

The Spurs' eagerness to get Kidd undoubtedly hurt Parker's self-esteem.

Parker took advantage of returning to China to play the European Championships and was angry with Popovich. During the start of the regular season, he also used the excuse of recuperating for not returning immediately.

Although Parker is still relatively good these days, he became the second leader of the Spurs last season based on his strength.

The second leader did not return to play in the NBA, the first leader was injured and absent, and the house leaked happened to the Spurs, which was raining all night. Ginobili, a second-year second-round pick, could only lead the team.

"It's stable now!" Payton looked very happy before the game started.

After scoring 28 points in the last game, Payton learned from his agent that the Los Angeles media praised him, so he was very happy.

This game is about to face third-year second-round pick Jason Hart, or Manu Ginobili, a white second-round second-round pick who looks thinner.

Payton thought to himself: "Isn't this an opponent who can be easily defeated?"

"I'm going to give you the ball, and you should continue to play what you do best, understand?"

Without Duncan's frame protection, Payton felt that the Spurs were more suitable for him to play. In order to get the support of Duane, Payton discussed with Duane how to divide the cake before the game.

Dunn said that there is no problem, I am a team player and I don't care about statistics at all...

"Fake, what's the matter with this guy, why is he even more twisted than a pole dancer?"

"What does he want to do? How could he break through this way? Is this okay?"

"Going to layup? Watch me chase you! Walter, how did you pass the ball?"

After the game started, not only Payton was dumbfounded, but even Kobe had to call his teammates to help defend and limit Ginobili.

However, if Ginobili had some kind of divine help tonight, he would turn into Jordan, and he would be so sudden, and he would also feed Rasu Nesterovic a lot of cakes.

Rasu Nesterovic is a white European center. Because the Spurs did not get Kidd and were afraid of O'Neal, they signed Rasu Nesterovic from the middle class to reinforce them.

In the past, it was difficult for Rasu Nesterovic to score in double figures throughout the game. Today, he scored 10 points in the first quarter relying on Manu Ginobili.

25 to 21. Although the Lakers led the Spurs by 4 points after the first quarter, it was very different from the imagined beating the Spurs.

Without Duncan and Parker, it is so difficult for the Lakers to win against the Spurs. If Duncan and Parker return, wouldn't the Lakers be beaten by the Spurs?

Seeing the background of the defending champion, even Payton put away his thoughts on collecting data.

The Zen master also realized that the Spurs were not so easy to deal with tonight, so he immediately told the players to block Ginobili in zone defense, and asked Dunn and Malone to look for opportunities to back Ginobili and Malik Rose after playing in the second quarter. .

Zen Master needs Dunn to use offense to consume Ginobili's physical strength, and use Malone's attack to help the team widen the point difference.

The Spurs habitually use small forward Bowen to defend Kobe, so Dunn is facing Ginobili on the offensive end.

Ginobili's defense is actually not bad, especially his ability to assist in defense is extremely strong, but in terms of single defense, Ginobili has nothing worth noting except for small moves and flops.

Malik Rose is a short and strong power forward, but he is not as strong as Malone. Even if he can handle the average inside player, he can't defend Malone, who is a handsome mid-range shot.

Ginobili and Malik Rose both played just over 8 minutes in the first quarter.

The Zen master calculated that Popovich would send these two players to start the second quarter, so he entered the deadlock main mode ahead of time, and sent Malone to the field at the beginning of the second quarter, letting Malone lead the bench along with Payton and Duane.

The Zen master put Kobe on the bench, just to let Kobe come up and widen the point difference, and directly close the game.

However, before Kobe came to the court to exert his strength, Zen master's targeted arrangement during the intermission had already had a certain effect on the court.

Although Ginobili kept going to the basket, continued to score layups, and continued to create scoring opportunities for his teammates, the effect was not as good as in the first quarter.

The Lakers also relied on the zone defense to limit Ginobili's breakthrough, coupled with Dunn's back-up consumption of Ginobili's physical strength, the ball was given to Payton from the outside.

Payton continued to break through the inside, attracted the defense and gave the ball to Malone, and fed Malone to eat cakes, slowly widening the point difference.

In less than 4 minutes of the second quarter, the score on the field has reached 36 to 27.

Popovich realized that the situation was wrong, immediately called a timeout, and sent shooters such as Sean Hale, Hedo Turkoglu, and Robert Horry in an attempt to punish the Lakers with shooting.

Upon seeing this, the Zen master immediately sent Kobe to strengthen the defense of the outside line.

On the Spurs side, Ginobili handed over the ball according to the tactical arrangement, but his teammates used a lot of iron to encourage Ginobili to continue to attack with the ball.

Popovich also understands who the Spurs are capable of after Duncan and Parker are absent.

For this reason, Popovich had to continue to call a timeout and discuss with Ginobili: "If you don't attack Manu, then this team will not be able to score."

Manu Ginobili had no choice but to squeeze the rest of his strength, and at the end of the second quarter, he had another wave of bravery. After the first half, he scored a total of 19 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

而湖人这边，马龙和科比也在上半场拿下了15分7篮板2助攻和14分3篮板1助攻。

Because of Duane's style of play and possession of the ball in the first half, he only had triple singles of 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

But in the third quarter, Ginobili played only half a quarter and didn't play well.

After Ginobili left the field, Dunn didn't have to use his physical strength on back-up consumption and high-position card dealing.

Returning to the space point, Dunn also received a few passes from Kobe and made two three-pointers to help the Lakers widen the point difference.

After the third quarter, the point difference between the two teams widened to 78 to 66, and the Lakers led the Spurs by a full 12 points.

Popovich seemed to choose to give up the game ahead of time, and started the fourth quarter with a pure bench lineup.

Surprisingly, Horry broke out suddenly, making 4 of 3 shots, 1 of 1 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws. He scored 9 points in a short time and recovered the point difference to 7 points.

Upon seeing this, Ginobili took the initiative to apply for the game, wanting to fight the Lakers again.

Popovich did not refuse, and took advantage of the opportunity of the Zen master to call a timeout, and re-distributed the starting lineup except Malik Rose to fight the bayonet with the Lakers.

However, Popovich chose to keep Horry, but it became a hidden danger for the Spurs.

After the timeout ended, Horry was not as amazing as before. Not to mention hitting the iron, he couldn't even grab a rebound, and was completely blown by Malone.

Thanks to Manu Ginobili's stamina, the Spurs scored 6 points in a row, which seemed like a win.

But at the critical moment, Kobe on the Lakers side also stepped up and hit a three-pointer to help the team stop the bleeding.

Immediately afterwards, Dunn used Kobe to attract the defense, and after receiving the ball, he rushed to the basket to cause damage.

Relying on point-by-point free throws, they scored four points in a row to help the Lakers stabilize the situation and bring the point difference back to more than 5 points.

In the last minute of the fourth quarter, Duane also made an empty cut to the basket and scored 1 points for a layup, which once again prevented the Spurs from chasing points.

109 to 103, the Spurs chased after points in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers finally won the game with a 6-point advantage.

After the whole game, Ginobili scored 33 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists, although the defeat was glorious.

Kobe, the highest scorer on the Lakers side, also scored 24 points.

Followed by Malone's 21 points, Duane's 18 points, Payton's 14 points, and Fisher's 12 points.

The Lakers don't score many points here, but someone can stand up and score almost every minute.

The Spurs fought fiercely under the leadership of Ginobili, but in the end they still took a sigh of relief and had nothing to do with the Lakers.

However, after winning the Spurs, the Lakers did not seem too happy.

Obviously it was the Spurs who were absent from Duncan and Parker, but they forced the Lakers to play the main force.

In tonight's game, Kobe, who played the most minutes, played a full 41 minutes.

And Duane lasted a maximum of 33 minutes in the previous game, and this game has also increased to 38 minutes.

It can be seen that the Lakers' hard power is not as strong as it appears on paper.

The Lakers want to beat the Spurs in the playoffs and win the championship. Both offense and defense need to be further strengthened.

Of course, at this time, there are people who are happier, and that is O'Neill.

Originally, because the team continued to win consecutive victories, the Lakers seemed to no longer need him as a master.

At the same time, the Lakers also faintly became Kobe's team.

O'Neal was also worried about being played by Duane. The fact is not like what Duane said. The Lakers led by Kobe will lose in a daze, and the team must be saved by him.

Now that the Lakers are so reluctant to play against the Spurs, O'Neal is not worried.

Next, the Lakers will face the New Orleans Hornets, a strong Eastern team, back to back. Kobe played 41 minutes tonight. Wouldn't he be a soft-footed shrimp tomorrow night?
(End of this chapter)