When pride still matters

Chapter 222 Protecting the best Kobe
  For Lakers members other than Shaquille O'Neal, there is no essential difference between the Bucks who are about to visit Staples Center and other visiting teams that come here to play.

At best, it’s just a regular season game.

The media will put value on it, the strong rivalry between the East and West, and the preview of the finals, but if the players themselves are distracted by these things, the game will not be easy to play.

But, O'Neal and Yu Fei really have a grudge. Moreover, this grudge is increasing with the increase in the number of fights between the two. After every game, you won't hear what they did to each other to ease the conflict. You will only hear what Yu Fei did to O'Neal, what Yu Fei said, and what Yu Fei did. That's the problem. It's there.

As the best player in the league, O'Neal has hardly ever gotten any advantage from flying players.

This has raised some questions within the Lakers organization: Is Flesh restraining Shaq?

"Being restrained" is an extremely serious characterization in the eyes of the O'Neal camp.

O'Neal cannot be restrained.

There were reasons for previous failures.

But, who cares? This matter is more important to O'Neal, but what about the rest of the Lakers? They have too much to worry about.

That afternoon's training session, because Kobe Bryant failed to catch up, the Lakers' preparations were not comprehensive.

Strangely, owner Jerry Buss actually went over Phil Jackson and opened the training facility to the media without authorization.

In order to make the NBA more grounded, Stern issued regulations requiring teams to release bans on the media. The daily routines of teams that were not easily released to the media in the past are no longer secrets. But a team like the Lakers, as one of the most influential teams in the league, naturally has special power.

Phil Jackson can decide which days he is open to the media and which days he is not, but today, the situation got out of hand.

This is another suppression of Jackson's authority by Buss after the Lakers announced the suspension of contract extension negotiations with Phil Jackson before the All-Star Weekend.

Jackson became more and more anxious. He discovered that not only the team needed to find a soul, but maybe his boss, the father-in-law who lost his brain during a midsummer night in "Playboy", might also have to go somewhere to find a soul. .

"No comment."

"nothing to say."

"It's just a normal game."

Jackson was extremely cold toward reporters.

O'Neal was unwilling to miss any opportunity to get close to the media. He naturally acted in front of the camera and told humorous jokes.

It's only when Kobe is mentioned that he puts on another face.

"Shaq, how are you going to play against the Bucks without the full roster?"

O'Neal didn't say that Kobe could come back in time for the game. He said with a smile: "What are you talking about? Our staff is ready, and the whole team is here!"

It was just a repeat of his controversial comments earlier in the season.

This team, which Phil Jackson said was in need of a soul, still hasn't found one halfway through the season.

It kind of feels like sacrificing oneself to the devil.

As an insider and founder of the triangle offense, Tex Winter couldn't find a precise culprit for this disaster. But in his view, the tense atmosphere before the All-Star weekend was undoubtedly caused by Jackson.

At that time, the Lakers only suspended contract extension negotiations with O'Neal, but they were still very active in Jackson's contract extension negotiations. After all, Jackson is Jeanie Buss' fiancé, and keeping him in Laker country as the organization's long-term plan is a consensus among the brass.

However, Jackson had some wrong perceptions, taking credit and taking advantage of Jenny, overestimating his status in the heart of Old Buss, and actually publicly stated during the contract extension negotiations that he and Kobe were incompatible. If the team was not on the trade deadline, If Kobe was sent away before, he would not renew his contract.

Phil Jackson accurately entered the minefield and stepped on the old Bass red line.

The minefield lies in overstepping one's authority and making command-like demands to the management, while the red line is insisting on sending Kobe away.

Jackson is only a coach, not a godfather. Therefore, his statement angered the management, and using his own decision to threaten Buss to give up Kobe was even more intolerable to the boss.

So the Lakers suddenly announced that they were suspending early contract renewal negotiations with Jackson.

This is the source of a series of recent tensions for the Lakers.

At this time, the feud between Yu Fei and O'Neal was just a drop of the cake to them.

As Payton once again raged in practice over his inability to execute the triangle offense accurately, "I'm done with this fucking bullshit egalitarian offense!"

After hearing this, Winter smiled.

This reminded him of a past incident.

That's what Jordan called the triangle offense back then.

Of course, God's wording was a little more advanced. He mockingly said that this was an equal opportunity attack. Then he used an equal-opportunity attack to win six championships.

This is almost the biggest problem the Bulls face before winning the championship.

But in the Lakers, Payton's problem is not even a problem.

That night
  "Everything here looks so familiar." Yu Fei said, "I seem to have been here not long ago."

Sprewell nodded and helped Yu Fei recall, "You were here before and stole Shaq's AMVP."

"I like that you used the word rob to describe my feat." Yu Fei said proudly, "This is the happiest thing I have done in a while."

Mason suddenly said: "Would you be more happy than Princess Sesel to give you her contact information?"

"Stop talking nonsense, old man, I didn't pay attention to her at all." "Then you will have a hard time tonight. Look, the princess is here again."

Yu Fei looked in the direction they were pointing, and sure enough he found Paris Hilton in the same position.

Yu Fei will not take this matter to heart. Watching the Lakers game live is also one of the social activities for this group of celebrities.

During the warm-up, Yu Fei also saw Lakers owner Jerry Buss in the crowd. Next to him was his second-generation son Jim Buss, and then there were a bunch of other players around him.

It is also very unusual to watch a home game without sitting in a box.

Kobe also chatted with Buss for a few words during the warm-up. He was the only Laker player to do so.

After the warm-up, the Bucks' starters took the field first.

Unlike before, Karl put Mutombo in the starting lineup.

Although Mutombo had already proven in 2001 that he could not stand up to O'Neal, the help he brought to the team in protecting the basket was actually ignored to a certain extent after being brutally beaten by O'Neal.

The reason why Kobe sang hymns to his hometown crazily in the finals that year was that, on the one hand, the 76ers' wings were really well defended, and on the other hand, it was due to Mutombo's DPOY-level rim protection that had a great impact on the perimeter led by Kobe.

When dealing with the Lakers, the Bucks have always relied on Yu Fei to unreasonably call out O'Neal to break the game, but today, Karl decided to test the water temperature with an unconventional lineup.

Karl originally thought that the Lakers would let O'Neal relive the 2001 Finals at the beginning. Unexpectedly, Payton played like another Kobe.

O'Neal asked for the ball in the low post on the right, and Payton asked for the ball in the low post on the left.

Sometimes, players act so outrageously that fans don't know if they are really stupid or just acting.

Take this triangle offense for example. Rodman didn't understand anything at the time, so he integrated into the Bulls with the understanding of "pass the ball to Jordan and it's all done".

Payton originally claimed to have understood the triangle offense in a week, but now he has understood it for half a season. His understanding is that during positional battles, he has to go to the other side to get the ball in the low post to make O'Neal's offensive space more crowded.

This understanding can be said to be top-notch. If Yu Fei were O'Neal, he would have hunted his mother first.

The Bucks changed the defensive method of letting Yu Fei face Payton last time.

Since the Lakers have asked Fox to face Yu Fei on the defensive end, Karl also asked Yu Fei to face Fox on the defensive end, which can save some energy.

Payton's hard work was left to Sprewell.

Sprewell also didn't expect that Payton had such a "profound" understanding of the triangle offense. He didn't react for a moment and was beaten by Payton and turned over to steal a ball.

2 is better than 0
  Yu Fei wanted to play fast break and fed Ray Allen the ball after halftime.

Ray Allen missed a three-pointer.

Kobe grabbed the defensive rebound and tried to play faster, but was caught up by Yu Fei.

If it was Payton who took the ball, Yu Fei was still worried about the Lakers' counterattack being successful. As for Kobe, he believed that his idol would not let him down.

Kobe rushed to the frontcourt. Although the Bucks retreated in time and did not allow the Lakers to play more or less, the defensive position was in a mess. As long as the ball was passed out and the defense was pulled, an open space could be found at will.

And Kobe is worthy of being Kobe. Yu Fei just tried to exploit the weak side, but he actually broke through as soon as he stepped in. It was only after Yi Fei reacted quickly that he realized it was a trap. A normal person would have thought about passing the ball when he got here, but Kobe felt that he had a backup plan. He first stopped suddenly, stabilized his body, and collected the ball. At this point, it can be said that people and gods were angry, and the counterattack rhythm was completely interrupted. However, he was still in his own offensive rhythm, forcibly dragging his body up and throwing it over his head. one.

"Boom!"

As if he wanted to say that Yu Fei's defense was not strong enough, Kobe was still shaking his head when he returned to defense.

"You can let him in, and I'll help you defend." Mutombo's thousand-year-old voice was so heart-warming.

After hearing this, Yu Fei felt that all the evil spirits in his heart had disappeared. While waiting for Mutombo to serve, he asked: "Dikembe, you are almost 60 years old, are you still so motivated?"

"NONONONONO is not that big." Mutombo shook his head.

Yu Fei received the serve and slowly came to the frontcourt.

If Mutombo's voice full of personal characteristics soothed some of Yu Fei's emotions stirred up by Kobe, then when he saw Kobe taking the initiative to defend him, an idea of ​​​​actively fighting against him occupied his mind.

Yu Fei took a step forward with his right foot, stepped off the cross, accelerated, stopped suddenly, took another cross, swayed half of Kobe's body, and collected the ball.

I have to lament that Kobe spared no effort on the defensive end. He was swayed half a step away. Someone else might have stretched out his hand symbolically, but he pounced with all his strength.

This desire to kill the opponent is worthy of praise, but it is not enough. He gave Yu Fei more loopholes.

Yu Fei used the time difference to pass over most of Kobe's body, and then took off while grazing the smaller half of Kobe's body. The referee blew the whistle and took action.

"Shh!"

Is this minor foul a reward for the fans?

Yu Fei planned to say this, but a big fat pig who was no different from a dead body in his eyes took the lead: "This kind of defense still requires Rick to switch defenses? You don't know how much you weigh?" ?"

Kobe glared at O'Neal coldly, "I don't need your comment on anything I do!"

Yu someone whistled and slipped away.

It was so dangerous, I almost fell over my head.

How does it compare to Ke? People are attending court hearings and rushing back to play games at the same time. Their mental state has long been abnormal. Can't they be more tolerant of their idols?
  In order to let himself remember the lesson of this time, Yu Fei decided to deduct one day of his fan membership. The four-day old Komei will always protect Kobe, the best (against O'Neal).

(End of this chapter)