NBA: James wants to team up with me

Kobe has never teamed up with a super point guard in his career. The point guard he has played with for the longest time in his career is Derek Fisher. Even though he has teamed up with top point guard Jason Kidd in the past two years, But at this time, Kidd was approaching the end of his career, and his tactical status and peak period were completely different concepts.

But Chris Paul is different. Even Kidd at his peak didn't have as high a ball possession rate as Paul. It's not for nothing that Kidd doesn't attack. Kidd can organize and coordinate the offense of his teammates, but his own offensive ability is very poor. Basically There is no independent offensive capability.

Paul is different. Before coming to the Lakers, Paul averaged 20+10 points per game in two seasons. Last season, he averaged 18.7 points and 10.7 assists per game, which was not low either.

To grasp both offensive scoring and organizational support, it is inevitable to highly concentrate the ball rights in his own hands. In other words, it is a ball-holding and big-core style of play, which is the style of play that James is best at.

Although Paul's ball possession rate is not as exaggerated as James's, it is definitely not low. Even among all point guards, it is among the best.

But in this way, Kobe was a little uncomfortable. After all, his style of play also requires the ball.

In the previous triangle tactical system, Kobe, as the end point of the offense, did not need to hold the ball, as long as he made the last shot.

But in fact, more often than not, Kobe is used to holding the ball in singles rather than executing triangle tactics according to the script.

Here is a little trivia: In recent years, Kobe's usage rate has been at the forefront of the league. Last season, he ranked second in the league after Wang Chong. Therefore, Kobe is definitely a player who needs the ball. There is no doubt about this.

However, Paul and Howard had just arrived, and although Kobe felt a little uncomfortable, the two of them worked together very effectively, and they had a difficult battle with the Bulls, so Kobe did not have an attack after all.

However, as the game progressed, the Bulls' strong offensive firepower began to overwhelm the Lakers.

No matter how high the success rate of pick-and-roll tactics is, the efficiency is limited. Usually, teams that mainly rely on pick-and-roll offense will use absolute defensive intensity to ensure victory. The most typical example is the well-known Utah double-shattering combination.

Of course, Howard and Paul's defense is not bad. Both are defensive masters who have been selected to the All-Defensive Team for several consecutive years. However, the Bulls' offensive firepower mainly comes from Wang Chong, which is really impossible to defend, and Gasol Er has the ability to shoot in the mid-range. When he pulls out from the outside, even Howard has to follow him to prevent the opponent from taking easy shots in the open space.

This is also the drawback of super centers in the small ball era. No matter how strong your defensive ability is at the basket, so what? As long as there is a big inside player who can shoot, your defensive dominance in the penalty area will be weakened to the greatest extent.

Seeing that Paul and Howard's pick-and-roll style seemed to be unable to take the initiative on the court, Kobe couldn't sit still.

"Is that okay? If not, I'll do it!"

In the following rounds, Kobe started his own style of play - holding the ball and working alone.

At this time, the Bulls' starting shooting guard Billups had been replaced, and Danny Green came on.

In the third season of his career, Danny Green has made great progress in strength. After all, the original 11-12 season was Danny Green's rising season. After joining the Spurs, he averaged 9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Become one of the important rotation players for the Spurs.

In the Bulls, Danny Green was also reused in the first two seasons, and his growth rate far exceeded his original self.

As soon as the two of them came into contact, Kobe felt a slight chill in his heart.

"This kid has some defense skills..."

Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action.

Kobe can clearly feel the defensive pressure Green brings to him. The opponent is by no means an ordinary player.

But...so what?
Let alone Danny Green, even if it was Jordan standing in front of him, Kobe never backed down and even faced the difficulties.

Dribbling to the free throw line, Kobe feinted and made a jump shot.

Green's defense was timely, but Kobe had a good touch and made the ball steadily against Green's defense.

It's a pity... This is the only sports goal scored by Kobe in several attacks. In the subsequent attacks, everyone heard the sound of "clang, clang, clang".

Paul watched helplessly from the side, his face turned green.

As a point guard, the brain and engine of the team, seeing someone shoot so wastefully is more uncomfortable than killing him.

But this is Kobe. He is one of those people who the harder he is, the more he has to shoot. When he was young, he could really make his shots smoother. After going 10-for-0 from the field, he finally made 8-for-8 from the field. 18 of 8 shots from the field can be regarded as turning the tide.

But at the end of his career, Kobe often fought to the end with no turning back.

Kobe continued to strike, but the Bulls won't tell you about martial arts. Wang Chong and Curry's classic pick-and-roll cooperation scored consecutively, widening the point difference to more than 15 points.

The Lakers had to call a timeout.

Lakers home fans were a little confused.

what's the situation? The development of the plot should not be like this. The Lakers, with their three super giants, should take the initiative on the court very strongly, beat the Bulls, and announce their emergence to the entire league.

Why was it that the Bulls were already unilaterally suppressing the team before the half ended?

Basketball commentators have a much better vision.

In the TNT TV studio, Barkley shook his head. "The Lakers are facing the same problem as the Heat last season. This is a brand new team. There is no tacit understanding between the main players, and the team has not adapted to the tactical system of the Big Three. They basically play independently on the court. To fight, rely on personal ability to score points.”

"It is true that the personal abilities of the Big Three alone are enough to defeat more than 80% of the teams in the league, but this definitely does not include the Bulls. Wang Chong and his Bulls are simply too strong."

"Shaq, what do you think?"

TNT TV station welcomed a new commentator this year, the recently retired superstar Shaquille O'Neal.

As a player who has played for the Bulls and Lakers and won championships with both teams, O'Neal has a very strong say.

"The first thing the Lakers have to solve now is who will be the core of the team. Howard doesn't need to think about it, but who of Kobe and Paul will be the core must be determined. Now the two are basically on the court. Without cooperation, Paul can still have some cooperation with other players by virtue of his ability to organize and pass. Kobe is completely fighting alone. "The hatred between O'Neal and Kobe is not a secret in the league, although Stern once had a complete confrontation in front of him. At the All-Star Game, a drama was planned to make O'Neal and Kobe share the All-Star AMVP trophy, which became a good talk in the league. However, everyone knew that it was all just a show, and the grievances between the two could not be easily resolved. of?

So O'Neal didn't hold back and said directly: "If I were Kobe, I would delegate the power to Paul, because the other party is younger, more energetic, and has more development prospects, even if it is to consider the future development path of the Lakers. , and obviously the latter is more suitable.”

"Besides, the failures in the finals in the past few years have fully proved that Kobe will never be able to defeat Wang Chong in terms of positioning as a scorer. If they continue to use the same old style of play in the past, what awaits the Lakers is still failure."

Barkley smiled evilly and asked without taking it too seriously: "Kobe now has four championships, and you now have six championships. Do you think with the current lineup of the Lakers, does Kobe have a chance before retiring?" Winning two more championships will catch up with you?”

O'Neill pouted.

"Catching up with me? When did the evaluation of player strength start to be solely measured by the number of championships? Then Robert Horry still has seven championships. Does that mean Horry is better than Jordan? When did Kobe get his own Finals FMVP, let’s say this again.”

Huo! Very aggressive.

The story in the studio is just an interlude, back to the field.

After the timeout, Kobe calmed down a little. Although he was very unhappy, Kobe also understood that winning the game was more important.

People will change after all, even people as paranoid as Kobe Bryant will change.

Kobe's current situation is really different from his original situation. Because of Wang Chong, the two consecutive championships that established the height of his career are gone, replaced by three consecutive losses in the finals.

You can imagine how unwilling and humiliating Kobe was for such a proud and arrogant person to lose miserably to Wang Chong three times in a row in the finals.

Unknowingly, Kobe has also celebrated his 33rd birthday. He has reached the end of his career, but so far, except for a regular season MVP, he still has not won any other substantive honors.

Although there are four championships, those four championships were all won with O'Neal, and at best he was only the second in command.

He is now extremely eager to win a boss championship and FMVP, and he can endure it even if he makes some compromises.

After returning to the court, Kobe no longer continued to work alone, but handed the ball over to Paul. The Lakers' offense finally began to go smoothly, but due to the large point difference, the Lakers were still at a disadvantage and needed to work hard. Chasing points.

But Paul's possession of the ball only brought the Lakers' offense back to normal, and it did not mean that the Bulls' offense had stalled.

With the scores of both sides steadily improving, the 15-point gap could never be narrowed.

Whenever the Lakers have a little momentum to chase points, the Bulls will immediately counterattack strongly and regain the point difference.

The point difference lasted until the end of the last quarter and failed to catch up.

107:98, the Bulls finally won the game at the Lakers' home court with a 9-point advantage, a good start to the new season, and also handed the Big Three to the Lakers their first defeat.

The Big Three of the Lakers actually performed very well. Paul scored 18 points and 12 assists, Howard scored 21 points and 14 rebounds. Kobe Bryant performed slightly worse, making 19 of 7 shots and a shooting percentage of only 36.8%. However, he made 9 of 8 free throws and finally won. 22 points.

Just this kind of performance is obviously not enough to help the Lakers defeat the Bulls.

For the Bulls, Wang Chong alone scored 42 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Although no one else scored more than 20 points except Wang Chong, Curry, Garnett, Gasol and others averaged double figures. , winning the game is naturally easy.

The Lakers home fans were a little disappointed with this result. After all, they had been looking forward to the Big Three of the Lakers for a long time. They did not expect to lose in the first game of the regular season, even if the opponent was the Bulls, the team that had won four consecutive championships.

Because this also means that the Lakers, like the Heat last season, even if they have a super Big Three lineup, they still need time to run in and find a set of tactics suitable for the current lineup.

At the same time, Kobe finally seemed to be at a disadvantage in his competition with Wang Chong.

In the past few years, although Wang Chong has always dominated the league's scoring leader, the gap between Kobe and Wang Chong is not large, and he has always been ranked in the top five or even within the top three in the scoring list.

But at least in this game, Kobe and Wang Chong seem to be completely different levels of players. Compared with Wang Chong, who has explosive scoring ability and is unstoppable, Kobe shows fatigue on the court and is just a Danny. .Green can actually make it difficult for him on the offensive end.

At this time, Lakers fans still don't know that Green is no longer the transparent Bulls team he was in the previous two seasons. Even if his defensive ability is not at the top of the league, it is definitely at the forefront. It is really not that easy to deal with.

The Bulls, who defeated the Lakers, continued their super dominance in the regular season in the past few seasons.

On December 12, they defeated the Golden State Warriors 26:112 in an away game.

On December 12, they defeated the Sacramento Kings 29:108 in an away game.

On January 1st, they defeated the Memphis Grizzlies by 1:104 at home, with 64 points, directly winning the first five consecutive victories, leading the league in record.

This is not over yet. The Bulls' opponents at the beginning of the new season are generally average in strength. Except for the Lakers in the opening game, there are almost no playoff-level teams.

On January 1, the Bulls ushered in their second playoff team, defeating the Atlanta Hawks 3:97, followed by two consecutive away games against the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic.

The Pistons are no longer the same Pistons they were back then, so let’s not even mention them.

After the Magic lost Howard, they instantly fell from one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference to the bottom. Although they also got another promising center, Andrew Bynum, and two first-round picks, Bynum and Howard were simply not good enough. It's not a concept, and he can't dominate the defensive end like Howard in the penalty area.

This directly led to the collapse of the Magic's tactical system, and their strength plummeted. Before the match against the Bulls, they had a record of 1 win and 6 losses, and were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They were reduced to the same level as the Cavaliers, Bobcats and Wizards.

Defeating the Magic brought the Bulls to an 8-game winning streak. Then on January 1, the Bulls lost to the Hawks in an away game and lost the first game of the new season.

The Bulls just defeated the Hawks a few days ago. The opponent was unable to organize an effective counterattack against the Bulls. However, in just a few days, the Bulls lost again. The loss was not because of lack of strength, but because of the king's strength. What Chong was most worried about happened.

Injury strikes! (End of chapter)