NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 92 Kobe is back (25)

The Thunder attacked, and Lin Chuan held the ball again. He took a few steps back to the basket and turned to the baseline. Howard rushed up to block Lin Chuan's shooting space. It was dark in front of him and there was no one behind him.

Lin Chuan directly took the ball and stretched his hands forward from under Howard's armpits.

Was it a pass? Howard immediately turned around to check behind him, but saw nothing.

When he turned around again, he only saw Lin Chuan maintaining the shooting posture, and behind him came the sound of the basketball going into the net.

"OMG, Howard was completely fooled by Lin Chuan in this shot!"

Smith exclaimed,

"This shot is going to be one of O'Neal's top five embarrassing moments! Howard!"

Barkley shook his head.
"This Howard's basketball IQ is really not good enough. A simple fake pass from Lin Chuan fooled him and he was at a loss. In the first few rounds, Howard was also crushed by Lin Chuan. Not only was his offense blocked, but his defense was also completely unstoppable."

It was obvious that Howard had lost face again, but Kobe wanted to let him get back on his own, so he gave the ball to him after half-court.

Howard also started to back-up Lin Chuan and bumped into him twice. This time he was forced to stop the ball.

It was still a little far from the basket, but barely within his shooting range. Howard was hesitating whether to shoot or pass the ball. The ball inadvertently exposed its position and was quickly cut off by Lin Chuan, who passed the ball to Sefosa for a three-pointer.

"Idiot! Be decisive!"

Kobe directly scolded Howard on the court. This ball made him very angry and he wanted to ask him to find revenge, but this guy just lost more and more.

Howard knew he was in the wrong, but his superstar status made him feel that he couldn't let Kobe scold him so casually, so he retorted a few words.

Kobe was even more disappointed. Howard was just a weakling with a tough mouth.

When passing by Lin Chuan, Kobe looked at him coldly.
"Don't think you have it safe."

Lin Chuan spread his hands and acted innocently.

Just scold Howard if you want to. Why pick a fight with him?

"Haha, it seems that the rumors about the Lakers' big names not getting along and Howard and Kobe having a conflict have been confirmed this time."

Barkley pointed at Howard on the screen and criticized him harshly.

"Look at him. Even with his poor performance, he can still argue with Kobe. I can't imagine how high Howard thinks of himself during their usual training. With his level, why don't he find a class to join? How about I, Barkley, introduce one to him?"

After this half quarter, the ball never came back to Howard, and he either made mistakes or missed shots. He only committed one foul and made one of two free throws. Kobe decided not to pass the ball to this noob anymore, and didn't let the point guard pass the ball to him, so he prepared to do it himself.

Kobe held the ball at the top of the arc, facing the defense of Kevin Martin. He took a tentative step, saw Kevin Martin take a small step back, and immediately pulled up for a three-pointer.

"Shh!"

Three points scored.

"Kobe Bryant was in good form today. He made 4 of 3 shots and scored 9 points just halfway through the first quarter. Is this another high-scoring show?"

Hearing Barkley's words, Kenny Smith immediately added,

"Kobe made a bold statement before the game, declaring that he would score 50 points in this game to beat the Thunder. At present, he is in hot form, and the probability of fulfilling his promise is very high."

"Then let's see if Kobe can do both."

Seeing that Kobe was in good form, Brooks immediately asked Kevin Martin to switch defense with Westbrook.

Although Westbrook's defensive level is average, given his strong physique, his one-on-one defense level is still very high, which is much stronger than Kevin Martin.

However, with that pull-up shot just now, Kobe's touch has started to get hot.

After Durant missed a shot from the free throw line, Kobe took a step outside the three-point line on the wing and immediately jumped after receiving a pass from Blake. In that unconventional three-point position, Westbrook didn't even have time to try to block it, Kobe had already shot, and the ball arced in the sky and hit again.

Seeing Kobe suddenly start to enter the scoring mode, the original defender Kevin Martin also stepped forward to assist, but once Kobe got the touch, even two people could not stop him.

At the free throw line, facing two defenders, Kobe made a strong shot and also caused Westbrook to foul.

The penalty was also awarded!

In the first quarter, Kobe scored 20 points alone, and his outburst helped the Lakers take the lead.

The current score is 25:33.

The Lakers lead by 8 points.

During the break, all the fans in Staples Center were cheering and shouting Kobe's name, which made the Thunder players a little anxious.

Moreover, today the team leader Durant's touch seemed to continue the state during the warm-up, and his touch was not good.

In the first quarter, Durant took 6 shots and only scored 1 goal, which made everyone a little worried about the next game.

"No one could have imagined what would happen in the first quarter."

During the intermission, Kenny Smith spoke slowly in the TNT broadcast studio.

"That's right. Who would have thought that the Thunder team, which has three young players, would be beaten like this against the aging Lakers. Kobe actually scored 20 points in a single quarter!"

Barkley was a little shocked. He didn't expect that Kobe is 33 years old this year and can still score so well!

"After all, he is a tough guy who scored 81 points in the regular season. Let's see what adjustments the Thunder will make next."

The Thunder's adjustment is to continue to double-team Kobe.

After all, everyone knows that Kobe likes to play difficult shots.

One-on-two and one-on-three situations often happen.

Anyway, Kobe doesn’t like to pass the ball and prefers shooting, so let’s use two or three people to deal with him in this game!

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Thunder began to double-team Kobe, betting that Kobe would not pass the ball.

But today Kobe seemed to have come to his senses and did not force himself to shoot against several people.

When he was double-teamed, he immediately passed the ball to Gasol, allowing him to play singles consecutively at the beginning of this round.

Gasol was also efficient. Facing Iba's defense, he made three of five shots.

Even Howard got dunked a few times and dunked over Lin Chuan who was busy defending Gasol and didn't have time to take care of Howard.

Howard was very proud after dunking over Lin Chuan.

After feeling frustrated for half the court, Howard finally managed to beat Lin Chuan, and immediately started talking trash.

Lin Chuan was too lazy to pay attention to him. If he insisted that he was dunked over by him just because he was half a body length behind him, then he had nothing to say.

In the second quarter, after Kobe started sharing the ball, he successfully broke the Thunder's double-team tactics, but Durant still couldn't find his touch. He made 7 of 3 shots in this quarter. Including the entire first half, the continuously efficient Durant has only made 13 of 4 shots, with a hit rate of 30.7%. This inefficient output made it difficult for the Thunder's offense to continue.

With this back and forth, the score gap widened.

After the second quarter, the current score is 47:62.

The Lakers lead the Thunder by 15 points.

(End of this chapter)