Legendary star

Chapter 100 Shark and Duncan

"I wonder if the two teams will make adjustments after the timeout?"

In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers and Spurs basically gave up their own tactics, and they played without any rules. To be precise, neither team was able to play the tactics they were good at. It was Meng Xu's candy-style defense against Kobe. As an important rotation point in the Lakers' triangle offensive tactics, after Kobe was bitten to death, the Lakers' triangle offense could not run smoothly at all.After losing David Robinson, the Spurs also gave up the twin-tower tactics they had been using in recent years, and picked up the inside-out combination tactics of the Robinson era, but the Spurs now lack a shooting power forward, and There is no strong point outside.This made the tactics of the two teams eventually become a tactic of relying on superstars to fight alone.

21 to 21, the Lakers and Spurs played like this in the first quarter, which is also very surprising. O'Neal and Duncan played the entire game in the first quarter without any rest.O'Neal made 12 of 7 shots and 2 of 1 free throws in a single quarter. He scored 15 points and 6 rebounds.Duncan, who faced O'Neal directly for the first time, made 10 of 6 shots and 2 of 2 free throws. He scored 14 points and 4 rebounds.

"Currently Tim Duncan is the only player in the league who can be evenly matched with O'Neal." Kenny Smith, the guest commentator of this game, sighed in the commentary booth.

As the rules of the game continue to change, the four major centers are hailed as the last flourishing age of inside players. As the only remaining of the four major centers, O'Neal is still at his peak. The big guy, after the other three major centers gradually slipped to the top, O'Neal has always been an invincible presence in the league's interior.And Tim Duncan is another dominant inside player. In his rookie season, he overwhelmed Karl Malone to enter the best team of the season and became the most powerful power forward in the league. In the second season, he led the Spurs. Top championship, and crowned fmvp.And Duncan and O'Neal are also known as the last glory of the inside, but both Duncan and O'Neal are in the West, and only one of them is destined to stand out and enter the finals.

After the game restarted in the second quarter, Avery Johnson, under the close defense of Ron Haber, brought the ball to the frontcourt very easily. After covering with Meng Xu, Johnson handed the ball directly to the inside Duncan.

After Duncan received the ball, he faced O'Neal directly again. The rest of the Spurs pulled away and let Duncan single-handedly play O'Neal, but the Lakers did not double-team Duncan. It may be that Mayfair Jackson did not plan to double-team Duncan. It is also possible that O'Neal couldn't hold his face and prevented his teammates from double-teaming.

Duncan leaned back against O'Neal, pushed back twice, then turned back and stepped back, and directly hit the back jumper.

After Duncan succeeded in singles against O'Neal, the Lakers also chose a similar tactic. After Ron Haber dribbled the ball for halftime, he also handed the ball directly to O'Neal. Under O'Neal's continuous impact, Duncan inevitably lost his position. Although he was very big, O'Neal's turn was very flexible. Points deducted.

This kind of superstar duel where you have one goal and one goal is the favorite scene of fans at any time.After O'Neal scored this goal, the entire Staples Stadium burst into applause and cheers instantly.

"Tim, I'm the strongest one." O'Neal, who got off the basket, stared viciously at Tim Duncan beside him.But Duncan did not respond to O'Neal's provocation, but left after casting a glance at O'Neal.

The personal relationship between O'Neal and Duncan is very good, but on the court, the two are not so friendly.O'Neal is also very dissatisfied with the media comparing Duncan with himself. He has never had the opportunity to directly match Duncan before, but in this round of the series, due to David Robinson's injury, O'Neal finally waited for the long-awaited opportunity. In the first round of the series, O'Neal will prove to the world that he is the strongest and unique in the league.

For Duncan, it is very stupid to argue with others, and Duncan has his own unique way of responding.After the exchange of offense and defense, Duncan directly held the ball on the right side of the free throw line. After taking two consecutive steps, he followed by continuous changes of direction and turns, and passed O'Neal very easily. Facing the supplementary defense of AC Green, Duncan completely ignored He jumped up against AC Green forcefully, and directly buckled AC Green out of the bottom line.After finishing his response to O'Neal, Duncan still remained expressionless and began to retreat.

"Beautiful dunk, after O'Neal dunked in front of Duncan, Duncan responded to him in the same way."

Duncan and O'Neal's answer-ball, not only the audience and the commentator, even Meng Xu on the side watched enthusiastically. This kind of duel between superstars is really inspiring.

Although he really wanted to steal the limelight, Meng Xu also knew that with his current strength, it was simply not enough for him.I also heard from Anna that O'Neal had a strength rating of 98 at his peak, and Duncan had a strength rating of 97 at his peak. Now these two are at their peak. At this moment, Meng Xu looks at Duncan and O'Neill's eyes are also envious and jealous.

But this kind of answer-ball is also extremely exhausting. When the second quarter was almost halfway through, the shooting percentages of the two players whose physical strength dropped significantly began to drop. In this case, Popovich called a timeout decisively. , replaced Tim Duncan with Filton Spencer, Terry Porter replaced Avery Johnson, Mario Eli replaced Sean Etterio, after the substitution, Meng Xu returned to small In the forward position, he will also serve as the playmaker on the field. In the second half of this season, Popovich has always wanted to transform Meng Xu into a playmaker, but he has not been able to do so.

The Lakers on the opposite side replaced O'Neal with John Sely, Robert Hawley replaced AC Green, Fisher replaced Ron Harper, Rick Fox replaced Glenn Rice, and the Lakers after the substitutions , Kobe Bryant became the only core on the field.

(End of this chapter)