When pride still matters

Chapter 526 Shelter
The 10-point gap is what Phil Jackson called the 5-goal gap, and it is not easy to make a comeback.

James follows his own way of playing, holding the ball, looking for opportunities, and choosing the best solution.

But Kobe's playing style will never be as reasonable as James imagines.

Reasonable competition is not what Kobe believes in.

Just as James' breakthrough was affected by the sudden double-team defense of the Supersonics, he passed the ball to Kobe.

So, Kobe began to take over.

At that moment, James felt at peace.

The advantage of joining the Lakers is that James no longer has to fight alone like before, and he knows he can trust Kobe.

However, the relationship between people is far more complicated than the simple favor between strangers.

Kobe scored two goals in a row, and Durant responded with a three-pointer from the Supersonics.

So James felt that he needed to share more responsibility, so he dribbled the ball inside decisively.

However, Yu Fei would always team up with others to suddenly double-team him on the road, making it difficult for him to enter the paint area.

James can only choose to pass the ball.

Fortunately, his teammates have not lost their touch due to this full-time defense.

Mike Miller hit a three-pointer.

The Lakers were chasing points bit by bit at a slow pace. In order to limit the opponent's scoring, both teams consciously increased their defensive intensity, which in turn increased the difficulty of scoring.

The scoring efficiency of both teams plummeted in the middle of the second quarter.

Especially the core players of both sides.

Yu Fei and Durant, Kobe and James, they have not rested for a second since the start of the game, continuously attacking and defending, and exerting pressure. Even if they can persist, the decline in their touch due to loss of energy is inevitable.

With five minutes left in the first half, Mike Bibby used a pick-and-roll to get rid of the defense, and then made a jump shot to narrow the gap to 5 points.

The Supersonics replaced Durant and Jordan with Roy and Bosh.

The effect of the fully recharged Roy and Bosh's appearance was immediate.

Yu Fei put aside his organizational responsibilities and stood aside watching Roy repeatedly call out Big Z's name.

The Lithuanians were also unable to withstand it. Roy's calling out was not as violent as Yu Fei's, because his current offensive level was far from recovered, so the calling out was more of a strategy to mobilize the opponent's inside position, but Big Z had become a frightened bird.

This is the result of Yu Fei's continuous training of the inside line since the start of the game.

Big Z first got his second personal foul, and then acted like a zombie, not responding to Roy's variation breakthrough.

Roy therefore broke into the basket and scored a layup.

The score difference reached 11 points in a few minutes.

Seeing that Big Z was about to become a new breakthrough, the Lakers urgently replaced Big Z with Gasol Jr.

But for the Supersonics, trading Gasol for Big Z is just a new breakthrough point. They can still focus on the pick-and-roll at the five position to break through the Spanish defense.

Yu Fei called the roll for the last time before being substituted out by Coach Lu for a rest.

Just coming on the field, Gasol was full of energy and tried his best to defend, but the speed gap between him and the forwards was difficult to make up.

Even if Yu Fei didn't start at full speed, Xiao Jia would still have to pay the price of a foul if he wanted to block him.

Xiao Jia's hands were wrapped around Yu Fei's ball-protecting hand, and the referee blew the whistle quickly.

This was the Spaniard's fourth foul of the night.

It was also after this foul that Lu replaced Yu Fei for a rest as he saw that the team was leading by a large margin.

On the Lakers side, Kobe was also replaced, leaving only James on the court to control the situation.

This is actually the Lakers' chance to catch up.

Yu Fei and Durant were not there. The only ball handler on the Sonics' court was Roy, and the offensive core was Bosh.

James made up his mind and rushed forward, cooperating with shooters such as Bibby and Miller on the outside, and it really worked. The Supersonics also seized the fact that Gasol committed many fouls and was afraid to put pressure on the defensive end, and continued to target him on this point.

Bosh, who had always been under pressure from Gasol at the five position, was proud of himself. Gasol was walking on thin ice on the defensive end and was afraid of being singled out. These negative factors in turn affected his offensive touch.

To the extent that, no matter how many points James and the shooters score, they have to return them in full on the defensive end.

Doug Collins of ABC said: "I completely understand the dilemma the Lakers are in. They have swept the league with their current lineup, and the center led by Marc Gasol has never been a fatal problem."

"Ever since Frye made traditional centers a disaster on defense with targeted pick-and-roll tactics in the Bucks, relevant research has been advancing," Collins explained. "Many large centers that were popular in the 90s and the beginning of the new century have been eliminated, and there are also centers like Yao who have successfully transformed. Mark is also one of the survivors, but he survived because his technical characteristics can adapt to today's game style, and the problems on the defensive end are not fatal in most cases. Because he is an excellent defender, the Lakers still have Kobe and LeBron, who can solve most of the problems, but tonight, Frye's strategy challenged this perception."

"Frye broke down the Lakers' inside line through unlimited pick-and-roll offense. Once Marc Gasol is knocked off the court, the Lakers will face a situation where no one is available inside." Collins said seriously, "This will not only be a turning point tonight, but also a turning point in the series."

On the court, Bosh's condition is on the rise.

The more Gasol worried about fouls and pick-and-roll defense, the more Bosh wanted to confront him, actively participate in the pick-and-roll offense, and continuously cooperate with Roy to attack him to death.

James tried to double-team Roy, and also tried switching defense and squeezing screens, but although they were both called out, Roy's style was different from Yu Fei's.

Every step of Yu Fei is aggressive, while Roy seems non-aggressive. He is slow and relies entirely on his sense of rhythm, but he can make sure to give the ball to the right person during the pick-and-roll, and he can also suddenly dribble in to attack when the opponent completely ignores him.

The only thing that limits him is the physical problems caused by not being on the battlefield for a long time.

One minute before the end of the first half, Roy felt like he was running out of energy again.

Alonzo Gee was quick-witted and committed a foul.

Coach Lu replaced Roy with Larry Hughes and survived the last minute of the first half.

47 is better than 59
At the end of the first half, the Lakers, playing at home, were 12 points behind the Supersonics.

They did not show the fighting spirit they had in the last away game against the Supersonics. On the contrary, their rhythm became a mess because their opponents targeted the inside throughout the first half.

Tyronn Lue went into his halftime interview like a complete winner.

His coaching performance has been praised by professionals on social media.

Especially tonight.

Whether it was the use of Roy or the targeting of the opponent's inside line, it was just right.

"I just did some insignificant work." Lu said modestly, "You know, if there is no superstar like Frye, all the arrangements will be impossible to start."

Yu Fei walked into the halftime locker room wearing a towel. He didn't ask about his own statistics, and he didn't care whether he could score 50 points in three consecutive games.

All he knew was that they played very well in the first half and had already taken half of the Lakers' life.

"Chris, you can play tougher in the second half. The Spaniard has already committed four fouls and he is scared!"

Yu Fei began to lecture.

Bosh nodded vigorously: "Of course, kill him while he's sick!"

"Zo!" Yu Fei looked at Alonzo Key, the surprise player of the night, "You also have four fouls, so be careful."

"Don't worry, Frye." Key laughed, "I will make every foul count!"

Roy was lying on the side and being examined by the team doctor. He played for 10 minutes in the first half and scored 6 points and 5 assists. He provided help to Yu Fei at the beginning and the end of the first half that no one on the team could give since the Western Conference Finals.

When Roy was resting, if the ball was not in the flying hands, the Supersonics' game lacked a sense of stability. They were like a headless fly, and whoever got the ball would play.

And Roy brought a long-lost feeling tonight. Even if Yu Fei was not on the court, they could play an orderly game.

"You look like you're dying."

Yu Fei said to Roy.

"About that," Roy said lazily, "Ten more minutes at most tonight."

"That's enough!" Kwame Brown said optimistically, "I don't think the Lakers can last more than ten minutes in the second half!"

Durant also chimed in: "That's right, as long as we go all out, they won't last even five minutes!"

"It's good to be confident, but don't be arrogant." Yu Fei interrupted his teammates who were about to open champagne at halftime, "Don't forget what happened in the last game."

Yu Fei's teammates rarely saw him take the game so seriously.

Normally he wouldn't give a speech during halftime, and what's more, after playing for such a long time in the first half like tonight, he should have found a place to lie down and rest like Roy did.

The outside world has been talking about the only empire for a whole year, but in the end, the master of the empire needs his teammates. It is impossible for one person to win, and he needs to concentrate the strength of everyone.

This may be his biggest advantage over Kobe and James.

Compared to those two people, he can indeed mobilize the strength of the entire team, and no one will refuse.

While Fei was stabilizing the team's morale, the Lakers' locker room was a different scene.

Marc Gasol was beaten into autism.

The Sonics' strategy of treating him as the Lakers' weakness negated his value as a player, especially since Phil Jackson had always relied on him very much and gave him an extremely high tactical position.

In order to make it clear that Gasol is the future of the Lakers, and also to strengthen the power forward position, the Lakers even traded the real prince Andrew Bynum.

Gasol did not disappoint expectations. In his second season, he developed a stable arc-top three-pointer. As the axis of the triangle offense system when James was not on the court, he won the trust of Jackson.

Although he was often mentioned in the first four games of the Western Conference Finals, he suppressed the Sonics' proud inside group in the two games that the Lakers won.

In front of him, Bosh has no strength as a power forward, and Jordan Jr. and Brown are too rough.

But he never expected that his world would be turned upside down in this crucial battle of Tianwang Mountain.

Yu Fei beat him like a loophole and really broke him down.

He now has neither fighting spirit nor confidence.

But the problem is that apart from him, the Lakers no longer have a strong inside player to support the system.

Big Z is like Gasol, who is slower, has weaker stamina, has degraded one-on-one skills, has significantly degraded supporting abilities, and whose shooting range cannot cover beyond the three-point line.

But the Supersonics were so crazy that even Big Z was called out for three fouls in the first half.

If Gasol is defeated and Big Z is also useless, will the Lakers let their mascot DJ M'Benga play in the interior?

Phil Jackson and his assistant coaches held a short meeting in the room while the players waited quietly on the side.

At this moment, Jackson was not desperate. Perhaps he had seen many storms and waves, and this "little thing" could no longer arouse his emotional fluctuations.

He said this to the assistant coaches and also to the players:
"When all hell breaks loose, retreat into your 'sanctuary.' It's an image or memory in one's mind that brings us peace, happiness and inner peace."

Some people need peace, happiness and inner peace, some people don't.

Kobe stood up and said, "Enough! Enough is enough! I don't want to see them attacking our center anymore! If it doesn't work, we can give up the center. I can play center, LeBron can play center, and all of us can play center!"

"That's right!" Richard Hamilton echoed, "I can play center, too!"

"I can do that, too!"

One Lakers player after another loudly stated that they could play center, and they wanted to express their support for their teammates in this way.

But Jackson's eyes fell on the man who was most worried: "LeBron, where is your 'sanctuary'?"

For James, there is no place in his life that can accurately be called a "sanctuary."

He lived in a shabby house in the worst neighborhood of Akron when he was a child. His mother Gloria worked late every day, and he had to face the noise outside the house alone, which was enough to cause psychological trauma to the child. Although he met a good family during his long years of living under the care of others, it was not his home. Cleveland gave him everything, but he buried them with "decision". Los Angeles is a place of fame and fortune, a holy place for those who pursue fame and fortune, and never a refuge.

If there is really a place in this world where his soul can be stored, it can only be the basketball court.

"The court," James said, affirming that "it's my sanctuary."

Basketball changed his life and brought him unimaginable wealth and status. It was the only thing that allowed him to temporarily put aside his rationality and calculations and devote himself wholeheartedly.

However, if he failed again, his shelter would also be destroyed by the hurricane named Yu Fei.

Only when he wins fame and fortune will the stadium become his refuge.

"So, LeBron," Jackson said, "I want to see how committed you are to defending the sanctuary."

Jackson's words made the team's confusion disappear.

A few minutes before the start of the second half, all major TV stations received the Lakers' second-half starting lineup.

They are James, Kobe, Hamilton, Artest and Jamison.

Before the game started, a reporter asked Jackson who would be the Lakers' center in the second half.

“They all are,” Jackson said.

PS: This paragraph is separated from the chapter I haven't finished yet. Because I can't finish it before 12 o'clock, I will post part of it first. I will finish this game in one go tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)