Legendary star

Chapter 99 Semifinals

On May 5th, most of the games in the first round of this season’s playoffs have ended. While the Heat, Spurs, and Knicks swept their opponents to advance, the 5ers and Trail Blazers also defeated their opponents in 76 games advance to the next round.The Jazz also eliminated the Supersonics after 4 games.

The first round of this season's playoffs is quite surprising. The Pacers and the Lakers are ranked first in the East and West respectively. The Pacers and Bucks each won a home game. After winning two games in a row, they were defeated by the Kings at two home games, both of which entered the five-game tiebreaker. The media all over the United States are looking forward to another black-eight miracle this season.

This season is also a year for Chris Webber to establish his status. After being traded to the Kings by the Wizards last season, Chris Webber officially became the boss of the team this season. Weber not only led the Kings into the playoffs, but also hit 24.5 With MVP-level data of 11 rebounds and 5 assists, some media have now compared him with Tim Duncan, calling them the two strongest power forwards in the league.

In the last two games of the first round of the playoffs, the Pacers and Bucks staged a suffocating defensive battle. The shooting percentages of the two teams were as low as 36% and 37%. The Pacers had the last laugh, beating the Bucks 88 to 85 to advance to the semifinals. In this game, Reggie Miller, who had been playing for almost the entire game, hit consecutive key goals at the last minute of the game and personally ended the Bucks.

In another game, the Kings and the Lakers also staged an offensive battle where sparks hit the earth. The Kings, who scored in double figures with five players, finally lost to the Lakers. In this game, the new regular season MVP Shaquille O'Neal scored 5. The dominant data of 46 rebounds, and the three-person combination of O'Neal and Kobe Bryant Glenrice scored a total of 17 points in this game. In the end, the Lakers defeated the Kings 3-87.

When the media was still lamenting that the Bucks and Kings failed to perform miracles, the Spurs team had already rushed to Los Angeles to adapt to the venue in advance.After resting for more than a week, the Spurs finally waited for their next opponent, the Lakers, but David Robinson was absent due to injury, which prevented the Spurs from dispatching the strongest lineup to Los Angeles.

On May 2000, 5, at the Staples Stadium, the home of the Lakers, just after the 7th game against the Kings, the Lakers only rested for one day, and they will play against the rejuvenated Spurs at home.

Due to the absence of David Robinson, Tim Duncan was pushed to the center position by Popovich in this game. This is also the first time that Duncan has fought against the big fat Lakers alone without the help of David Robinson.

After Duncan became the center, Samaki Walker became the starting power forward of the Spurs. At the small forward position, Sean Etrio was still the starter, while Meng Xu continued to appear at the shooting guard position. In the first game, Meng Xu's defensive object changed from Glen Rice to Kobe Bryant, and the starting point guard was still the unshakable Avery Johnson.

The starting lineup of the Lakers has basically not changed since the beginning of this season. Starting center Shaq O'Neal, starting power forward AC Green, small forward Glenn Rice, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, point guard Ron Harper.

If the Spurs' internal substitutes have always been weak, then the Lakers this season are full of weaknesses. With the three All-Stars of O'Neal Kobe and Glenn Rice, the salary level of the Lakers this season far exceeds the salary cap. , so that the Lakers do not have enough money to sign other big-name players, which also makes the Lakers' bench players very few. Without increasing their own playing time, the average playing time of both of them exceeded 3 minutes per game this season, while the opposing Spurs, except for Duncan, the playing time of other starting players all hovered around 40 minutes.

After the start of the game, Duncan overwhelmed O'Neal to win the first wave of ball possession for the Spurs. Since the Spurs used the Lakers as their imaginary opponent as early as a week ago, they conducted targeted training, so even if David Robinson could not play, the Spurs were still in the opening game. After that, the Lakers were suppressed.

Although the Suns failed to perform a miracle in the first round, they also successfully pushed the Lakers into a corner, and in this round of the series, the Lakers' weaknesses were also fully exposed.The power forward position of the Lakers has always been a stubborn problem. In several games against the Spurs this season, both AC Green and Robert Hawley were blown away by Duncan. In the series against the Suns, they were also given by Chris Webber. Hang up and fight.Another weakness is Ron Harper. Harper, who is 36 years old this year, has seriously declined his athletic ability. Although he still has excellent control over the rhythm of the game, his statistics are at the lowest level in his career. .And the Lakers' bench lineup is basically needless to mention, one of the worst in the league.

"Tim, we won't double-team O'Neal in this game, so you have to be mentally prepared to deal with that big guy."

"Meng, I will leave Kobe to you and freeze him." In the tactical arrangement before the game, the Spurs changed their previous tactics against the Lakers. In several games this season, the Spurs' defensive tactics were to double-team O'Neal. Using Meng Xu to limit Glenn Rice and then emptying Kobe, this tactical arrangement has achieved good results.But now that David Robinson is unable to play, and after having the experience of the Kings playing against the Lakers, Popovich changed his tactics against the Lakers.Using Duncan and O'Neal to switch, and then restricting Kobe, the rest of Glen Rice basically turned out to be a big wave.

The situation on the court was basically the same as what Popovich estimated before the game. Duncan couldn't guard O'Neal, and O'Neal couldn't do anything about Duncan. The two are now exchanging blows.Under Meng Xu's defense, Kobe can only score through long shots.

Originally, Glenn Rice was very depressed after determining his opponent in the next round. The Spurs' No. 5 was really difficult to deal with.But after the game started, Glen Rice was pleasantly surprised to find that that annoying guy was going to face Kobe Bryant in this game.

After Kobe was entangled by Meng Xu, Glen Rice also got an unprecedented offensive opportunity in this game. In the past, in the Lakers, the first choice of offense was always O'Neal, followed by Kobe, and finally it was his turn. , but in this game, Ron Haber passed the ball to himself more, perhaps because Sean Etrio in front of him is easy to deal with.

(End of this chapter)