When pride still matters

Chapter 224 I don’t know and I don’t care

Although the strength of the Lakers lies in leaving a fatal multiple-choice question for their opponents, OK, which of these two bottles of poison should I take? But the Lakers suddenly replaced Kobe and played around O'Neal in all aspects, which is also a common method.

In the era of zone defense, O'Neal cannot ask for the ball to attack as he did in the past. Even if the person guarding him is Gadzulic, he has many restrictions on reaching the deepest position.

Because of his bug-like physique, O'Neal has a reverse star whistle phenomenon. In order to promote outside stars, the league will instruct referees to take care of body hair whistles, but O'Neal is worried that his power is too high, and there have been many restrictions over the years.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to force every ball. However, O'Neal is a threat standing under the basket, and every move he makes affects the Bucks' defense.

No matter how Yu Fei named him on the offensive end, the entire game only hurt his flesh but not his muscles.

In the second quarter, the Lakers replaced Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant, who had been holding back for half a quarter, came on the court like a tiger out of the cage. His offensive was so intense that Devin George couldn't stand it.

"Man, relax!" George hoped that Kobe would stop thinking of himself as one of those angry youths in Eagle County waving "You're a criminal."

Relax? That word doesn’t exist in Kobe’s game.

"DG, you don't look like you have grown at all."

Kobe mocked coldly, and then shredded the Bucks' baseline defense while running without the ball, catching the ball for a layup.

Kobe Bryant's powerful performance gave the Lakers an 11-point lead over the Bucks at home.

After watching Kobe's performance, Yu Fei had a question in his mind.

Why didn't the 04 Lakers win the championship in history?

To be honest, as a post-2004 time traveler, he couldn't even recall which team won the championship in [-].

I had to think hard before I vaguely remembered that it was the Pistons who won the championship.

But the Pistons won the championship a year before he was born, so it had no meaning to him in his previous life.

Now he has played several games with the F4 Lakers and Pistons - although he has not played against the Pistons after the big trade - but it is really hard for him to believe that the Pistons can beat the Lakers.

Putting aside the reinforcements Rasheed Wallace brings to the Pistons, is there any style restraint between the Lakers and Pistons?

Ben is currently the only center who can confront O'Neal head-on.

Rasheed Wallace is a star power forward who is versatile in offense and defense but has an unstable personality.

The remaining people... Yu Fei's mind flashed to the Pistons' defensive style.

It advocates an oppressive man-to-man defense, but will leave players who are not confident in shooting, and then block the space around the opponent's star players, forcing them to conduct the most difficult one-on-one offense.

This defense is simply tailor-made for Kobe, but what about O'Neal? Even though he has a super high personal offensive efficiency, the Pistons have many ways to limit his ability to catch the ball.

Coupled with the conflict between OK, there is almost no interaction between Kobe and O'Neal...

Yu Fei was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear Karl calling him to come on.

"Fry?"

"are you uncomfortable?"

Yu Fei said: "What is the Lakers' outside shooting percentage tonight?"

Carr replied simply: "Except for Kareem Rush, they are all below league average."

Whether the Pistons' defense can work against OK, in fact, the key is not how OK is, but whether the players who were left open can respond.

If they can't help OK relieve the pressure, OK, who is fighting on his own, will certainly not be able to break the Pistons' iron barrel array.

The Lakers have proven in history that they cannot be broken, and Yu Fei is concerned about whether the Bucks can adopt the same strategy.

Because if they pursue defending their title, the F4 Lakers are an opponent they must face.

Yu Fei made suggestions to Karl.

Karl believes that they do not have the defensive toughness and tacit understanding of the Pistons. After all, the Bucks are an offensive team.

"You can try, but you have to wait until the second half." Karl said, "I will take care of it. What we have to do now is to make their defense more difficult and find ways to chase more points before the end of the first half!"

Later, Yu Fei returned to the game.

OK has worked hard to help the Lakers achieve a double-digit lead, but the 11-point gap is not a stressful point difference in front of the Bucks, who play a small-ball style.

In the first round when Yu Fei came on the court, the basketball passed through the hands of all five players on the Bucks court, and finally returned to Yu Fei's hands.

Rick Fox saw Yu Fei standing one and a half meters outside the three-point line at the top of the arc, and his vigilance dropped.

If it's this low, something will happen.

Yu Fei raised his hand and hit a super long three-pointer from the top of the arc, and he hit it!
  The Lakers were in a positional battle. Yu Fei grabbed the rebound and passed it to Ray Allen, who chased and scored a three-pointer.

In less than a minute, the point difference was reduced to 5 points.

Phil Jackson had no choice but to exchange for O'Neal in advance, and then he was called upon by the Bucks.

Yu Fei is now getting more and more experienced in pick-and-roll military training for insiders, especially when dealing with insiders like O'Neal who lack mobility.

The most important thing is not to attack his defense, the most important thing is to attack the opponent's will to resist.

O'Neal always saw Yu Fei throwing, jumping and even straight-arm push shots from a close distance.

Whenever such a goal is scored in front of him, Yu Fei's comments on his defense will follow closely.

O'Neal responded on the offensive end tonight, unlike the previous encounter with the Bucks.

However, the situation is ebbing and flowing, and if the fight continues like this, it will also be a test for O'Neal's physical fitness.

In order to save O'Neal's energy, Jackson replaced Kobe when the lead was about to be wiped out.

The Staples Center welcomed their return on the 8th with the warmest cheers.

Lakers No. 8 immediately took over the offense.

Although Yu Fei doesn't believe in rushing to the game BUFF, today's Kobe really looks like those players in Japanese sports anime whose strength suddenly improves after going through memory kills.

Before Kobe came on the court, the Bucks had already caught up to 1 point.

In the next half of the game, this 1-point gap was not caught up.

Although the OK connection is cut off, the presence of two dominant singles players on the inside and outside will bring a strong sense of security to the teammates.

Yu Fei decided to test the Pistons' iron barrel formation in advance and deliberately let go of the Lakers' role players.

As a result, their open shots were good.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers' lead returned to 5 points.

58 is better than 53
  The Lakers still have the initiative.

One of Yu Fei’s main insights from the experiment in the second quarter is that the core of the iron barrel formation is to block the space and reduce the shooting percentage of the core players, and then use their sluggish touch to convey this negative feedback to their teammates, thus causing them to The overall shooting percentage dropped⑴.

The more the game went on, the more Yu Fei felt like he was clearing the clouds.

He now wants to know what kind of lineup Karl plans to arrange to imitate the Pistons' iron barrel formation.

He also knows why James can end the Pistons' dominance in the Eastern Conference.

Essentially, he and James are the same type of players. They are both the most advanced players represented in the small ball era - big core with the ball.

The basic quality of a ball-handling core is that he is versatile in offense, passing and shooting. Although James is relatively nervous in shooting, he has unparalleled physical talent and delicate touch at the basket. His strong physical condition makes up for his shortcomings in shooting.

Yu Fei has watched the highlights of James' first championship game - scoring 2007 points against the Pistons in Tianwangshan in 48, and finally scored 25 points in a row - in this game, James not only broke through without a solution, but even shot. Come on, that night, he seemed to be a player born to restrain the Pistons.

This is the reason why Yu Fei is not worried about the Pistons, because in his third grade, he has far better technical reserves than You Zhan in cracking the iron barrel formation, and he is also supported by the five-year-old lineup. Therefore, he is confident that he can defeat the Pistons.

What he is worried about is that if they beat the Pistons, but cannot lock down the F4 Lakers like the Pistons due to style issues, and sink the first Cosmos team in the new century that locked the championship before the season even started, it will have several consequences. : Being slapped by O'Neal, he will become Duncan's alter ego. Last season's success will be considered a blessing, and F4 may not disintegrate.

No matter how you look at it, the combination of these things gives Yu Fei an indescribable stench.

He didn't want to face any of these consequences.

Therefore, the Lakers must be targeted based on the Pistons' successful experience.

George Karl has been walking with wind recently. Since Reid was traded, the Bucks' internal atmosphere has eased, and Ray Allen is no longer suspicious.

Now, he got a good suggestion from Yu Fei.

Yu Fei suggested that he refer to the Pistons on the defensive end, which may have a miraculous effect on the Lakers.

He didn't take it seriously at first, but then he thought about it carefully. Isn't the Pistons' iron barrel formation specially designed for core superstars the magic weapon to restrain the OK Lakers?

OK The Lakers' strength from the beginning to the present comes from singles, especially Kobe's singles.

As long as Kobe Bryant misfires or O'Neal's space is blocked, the Lakers will recall how painful the past games against the Bucks were.

"In the second half, we have to make some adjustments!"

Karl first announced the starting lineup for the second half: Yu Fei, Ray Allen, Sprewell, Mason, and Mutombo.

Later, Karl introduced the specific positions and the purpose of these positions.

Sprewell's sharp eyes immediately saw through where Karl stole this position.

“Isn’t this a Detroit routine?”

Carr said: "No matter whose trick it is, we have to give it a try."

Sprewell glanced at Yu Fei and Ray Allen.

"With all due respect, the key to the success of this defense is Frye and Ray."

Ray Allen proudly stated: "My defense will not be a problem."

"Don't look at me!" Yu Fei hates the feeling of being questioned, "You guys know, I proved last season that I can guard my opponents to death if I want to, and even gave the team the most blocks on the night of the championship!"

After hearing what Yu Fei said, everyone was fine.

Because they all know that whether Yu Fei's defense is good or not really depends on whether he wants to do it well. As long as he is willing to defend, with his physical condition and golf intelligence, it will be difficult to mess up the defense.

At the beginning of the second half, the Bucks' starting lineup aroused discussions among the ABC commentary team and questions from the Lakers coaching staff.

Seeing the Bucks using Mutombo and Mason as the starting four, Jackson suspected there was something wrong with his eyes.

The Bucks are actually willing to give up the space-based interior line that is extremely lethal to O'Neal, and replace them with two defensive interior lines that have little help in the pick-and-roll offense to strengthen the interior defense?

Are O'Neal and Malone something you can handle by strengthening interior defense?
  Crazy?
  But soon, this contemptuous surprise turned into horror.

The Bucks arranged for Mason to stick to Malone, and then Mutombo defended O'Neal as usual.

However, Yu Fei, who was opposite Fox, kept a short distance from him. He could not only interfere with the opponent's three-point shots, but also counterattack the basket, suppressing the Lakers' inside space. Sprewell guarded Kobe closely. His defensive pressure was as heavy as Mutombo, but Ray Allen and Yu Fei would not let him fight alone.

Ray Allen left Payton, whose outside shot was inaccurate, wide open, ready to double-team Kobe at any time.

Although Yu Fei was beyond his reach, he used his athletic ability and arm length to simultaneously squeeze O'Neal's inside space, interfere with Fox, restrict Kobe's passing, and block the space.

Karl rarely admires his players, but Yu Fei is a person who surprises him more and more the longer he coaches.

Although they have never specifically trained the Pistons' iron barrel formation, Yu Fei naturally found his role in the Bucks version of the iron barrel formation - he is the Bucks' Tayshaun Prince.

Generally speaking, the Pistons would arrange Prince to guard Kobe, but Karl did not do this because Yu Fei has not proven his defense in front of top outside superstars.

Looking at it now, at least in terms of thinking and game awareness, Yu Fei has a lot to offer on the defensive end.

The Lakers' first offensive possession of the second half showed what the Bucks wanted to see.

The connection between the core and role players was disconnected. After Kobe forced a breakthrough, he found that he was trapped in a crowd and could only pass the ball outside.

Payton tried a three-pointer and missed.

Things started to go wrong in the Lakers' game.

Because although the Bucks make it difficult for you on the defensive end, they are not like the main Pistons who often cannot find a suitable offensive method.

Although the inside line has no shooting ability and cannot use his favorite pick-and-roll tactics in the fourth and fifth positions to torture O'Neal, Ray Allen and Sprewell are still there.

As long as Yu Fei temporarily puts aside the idea of ​​targeting O'Neal, the roll call attack can still be fought, and it will be more effective.

Payton missed on the offensive end, so he naturally wanted to make up for it on the defensive end.

But he is no longer the same person he once was. Even if he is still the same, the physical gap between him and Yu Fei will make him feel powerless in defense.

Because Yu Fei is not the kind of mismatched player who simply runs over someone with his body, he likes to show off his skills.

For O'Neal, his various face-to-face throws and half-shot baskets were extremely disgusting.

Playing Payton, Yu Fei saved other unnecessary steps, called the pick-and-roll to rush to the free throw line, and then made a pull-up jumper that Payton could not interfere with.

The difficulty of this shot was similar to that of training, and Payton's defense basically had no impact.

"You can ask Kobe to help you."

Yu Fei's friendly suggestion sounded even more humiliating to Payton.

When does he need help from his teammates on defense?
  Coming to the Lakers' offensive round again, they found the Bucks four sinking near the free throw line.

This created a good opportunity for Payton outside the three-point line.

Ray Allen has never been regarded as an excellent defender, so Payton Sr. has ideas about him.

This is also to help vent the anger of the previous offense and defense.

But Ray Allen is indeed similar to Yu Fei in some game habits.

Normally, defense is regarded as dirty work, and a symbolic defense is considered a failure. Suddenly he raised his demands on himself, and after the strength invested in the defensive end was greatly increased, the defensive effect also changed qualitatively.

Payton confidently dribbled the ball across his hips, intending to shake Ray Allen away, but failed to keep his center of gravity and almost knocked himself down.

For him, the biggest problem in the offense is not to solve Ray Allen, but to solve Ray Allen.

Sprewell didn't have much respect for Kobe's outside shooting.

After all, Kobe's outside shooting percentage is less than 33%, which is definitely a low level that can be put aside.

If Sprewell doesn't respect Kobe's outside shooting, then Yu Fei has even less reason to respect Fox's shooting.

Fox's three-point shooting percentage this season is only 25%. This level is at a level where even a glance at him from the outside is regarded as a defender's mistake.

But the essence of the Iron Bucket Formation is to adopt loose defense against low-level shooters.

While taking advantage of their low shooting to shrink the defense and compress the space, they don't completely let them go.

Payton finally broke through Ray Allen's defense and faced Yu Fei's assisting defense.

His only option is to pass to Fox.

Then Fox made a three-pointer.

Ray Allen scored on a fast break.

The Bucks once again caught up to 1 point, but this time, for the Lakers, OK was on the court, and it was just the beginning of the second half. Everyone was full of energy. The Lakers were facing the Bucks' changes in formation, and this set of piston barrels. The array's gameplay showed strong discomfort.

Phil Jackson didn't recognize that the Bucks' defensive system came from the Detroit Pistons.

Because their two games against the Pistons this season took place in November at the beginning of the season, and they played two games in one week. The Lakers had one win and one loss, but the Pistons failed to impress.

They don't feel that that style of play is inherently incompatible with them.

Jackson believes that as long as they can seize open shots, they can crack the Bucks' defense.

This is the difference between the big ball era and the small ball era.

Even if their outside shooting percentage is a piece of shit, coaches in the big ball era still think they just need to make shots.

The problem is that it is precisely because of this inefficient three-pointer that the Bucks have enough fault tolerance to implement the iron barrel defense.

Kobe solved this problem by not shooting three-pointers.

Now that you know your hand is not good, you should give up the open position, take a few steps in, and then make a pull-up jumper.

Although he refused to shoot, Kobe made the long-range mid-range shot.

This is a solution, but it does not quench the thirst.

Moreover, the Bucks are happy to see Kobe shooting like this.

The score difference returned to three points again. Yu Fei dribbled the ball across half court and suddenly called Mutombo to pick and roll.

O'Neal followed this time, because Mutombo didn't have the ability to shoot, and his speed in the pick-and-roll was not fast enough. Malone was still under the basket and could block his route at any time.

O'Neal, who was determined to block Yu Fei with Fox, opened his eyes wide and this bastard who deserved death in his eyes made a weird reverse sideways jumper.

Fox and O'Neal ultimately stretched out their hands in front of him symbolically.

"Shuh!!!"

"I couldn't even find the basket. Thank you for pointing me the way with your pig's knuckle." Yu Fei looked at O'Neal and mocked.

O'Neal was furious and came to the offensive end fiercely.

His teammates passed the ball, but Mason on the other side did not cover up. He roughly hugged O'Neal from behind and forced a foul to send the opponent to the free throw line.

The rhythm of the game returned to the Bucks' hands.

The Iron Bucket Formation is afraid of the ball-holding core, but the Lakers do not have a ball-holding core. Therefore, even this original version of the Iron Bucket Formation with many flaws still dragged them into the quagmire.

Once the attack goes awry, Yu Fei's threats will remind one of them of the fear they once had.

Before today, Phil Jackson never wanted to admit that O'Neal had a nemesis.

But after Yu Fei gave O'Neal a roll call in the third quarter, he admitted that a ball-handler who can launch a pick-and-roll attack from any position, has a huge shooting threat, fatal floaters, diverse layup techniques, and various near-basket attack methods, It's O'Neal's nemesis.

What's disappointing is that O'Neal could still compete with Yu Fei on the offensive end.

As a result, the Bucks suddenly resorted to the iron barrel formation, and the good times of mutual confrontation were gone forever. The confrontation in the first half was like a dream. It was the most dignified moment for O'Neal in front of Yu Fei.

In order to rescue O'Neal from the iron barrel formation, Jackson tried to replace players with higher shooting accuracy such as Kareem Rush and Derek Fisher.

Unfortunately, other than Rush, no other player can consistently hit three-pointers.

But a Rush alone is not enough.

In the fourth quarter, Kobe's strong desire to be the savior prevented him from passing the ball to O'Neal from beginning to end. This made O'Neal, who was already in trouble on offense and defense, even more isolated and helpless.

Kobe's onslaught made him the highest-scoring player tonight. At the same time, it was also his ineffective onslaught that made the Lakers lose hope of winning early in the fourth quarter.

When Yu Fei used a roll call tactic to assist in O'Neal's sixth foul, the boos at the Staples Center were thunderous. It was not clear whether they were scolding the referee or Yu Fei.

Everyone who understands the game can clearly feel the Lakers' obvious discomfort with the iron barrel formation on the offensive end, and O'Neal's inability to fly on the defensive end.

Now they have a bigger problem, and that's the reason for Phil Jackson's nerves.

If we meet the Bucks in the Finals, what are the chances of winning?
  Before tonight, the Lakers felt that their chances of winning were extremely high, but after tonight, they all know how difficult it is to beat the Bucks.

Especially the coaching staff, they even have a cowardly idea.

Let's bring an Eastern Conference team to kill the Bucks. It's best to break Frye's legs and feet directly, so that the world will be peaceful!

Then, the game ended: 112 to 99, the Bucks defeated the Lakers on the road and won this focus battle.

Post-match interview
  "Maybe in the past, when Shaq was dysfunctional, Kobe felt he needed to take over the game." Karl Malone had a small dissatisfaction with Kobe's fourth-quarter single, "but now he doesn't have to do that."

When asked whether Kobe Bryant's crazy singles in the fourth quarter were due to the tactical design of the coaching staff or his "self-will," Jackson shrugged. "I wouldn't choose either of those options. It wasn't by design, I think he just felt like he had to throw the ball in the basket."

O'Neal took a firm stance on the question "Is Yu Fei your nemesis?": "Stupid question!"

The Bucks' atmosphere is obviously not as tense as the Lakers' atmosphere.

"I think it proves my quality as a defender." Ray Allen answered how he blocked Payton on the defensive end in the second half.

"Is there anything special about this?" George Karl felt numb about defeating Phil Jack in the regular season. "It's just a regular season game. There's no need to make such a fuss."

When Yu Fei was heading to the press conference, he met Kobe.

They said hello in a friendly way.

"You played well tonight," Kobe said, "but next time I'm going to win."

Yu Fei responded: "You can keep winning in the score game. I'm not greedy, as long as I win the game."

"Hmph," Kobe snorted, "You are very confident, but this is just the beginning."

It sounded like he was actually going to win the next fight.

"You are the one who is overconfident, Kobe." Yu Fei said, "Do you know the difference between confidence and arrogance?"

"I don't know." Kobe answered Yu Fei's question in just two sentences, "I don't care."

⑴ In the 04 Finals, the person with the highest shooting percentage for the Lakers was O'Neal, with nearly 27 points per game and a 62% shooting percentage. Then, there is no second player on the Lakers who shoots better than 40%. Although Kobe's shooting percentage is a disastrous 38.1%, it still ranks fourth on the team.

PS: There is only one chapter today because two chapters were merged.

(End of this chapter)