socalfunplaces Chapter 310 Top legends have unique ways of communicating!
Chapter 310 Top legends have unique ways of communicating!
Chapter 310 Top legends have unique ways of communicating!
When Riley and Mourning fell out, when the two guys no longer trusted each other completely like before.
When Payton decided to support Mourning to the end, and for the sake of his career, he skipped the next day's practice, dressed in casual clothes, and sat in the stands early.
When the team was down 0-3, the team leader even had an argument with the head coach.
When all of these things happen at the same time, the morale of any team will plummet, and their ability to resist and fight will certainly be less than 70% of their usual strength!
The Heat offered almost no resistance tonight. Faced with the Pacers' relentless attacks, the Heat only put up a token resistance for a short while at the beginning before quickly surrendering!
They couldn't break through, and they couldn't defend!
The players' minds were not on the court at all. Everyone was thinking about the offseason, thinking about going on vacation as soon as they lost tonight, and all sorts of other things. Not one of them was thinking about playing basketball.
The game was completely blown out by the end of the first half!
31: 55!
The Heat were in complete disarray, trailing by a full 24 points by the end of the first half!
In the third quarter, they lost by another 12 points, and by the end of the third quarter, they were down by 36 points!
The entire fourth quarter became garbage time!
It turned into a showcase for the role players from both sides!
Disappointed Miami fans began leaving the arena in large numbers halfway through the fourth quarter. By the time the Pacers secured the victory and began the Eastern Conference championship trophy ceremony, only 3 to 4000 fans remained at most.
The rest went home early.
4: 0!
The Pacers have swept their opponents for the third consecutive series!
They have already achieved a terrifying 11-game winning streak in the playoffs!
Their next goal is a 15-game winning streak!
They want to win every game in the playoffs!
If the Heat's lack of resistance in this game had any positive effect whatsoever...
That's Lin Tian's data!
Lin Tian's streak of scoring 40+ points in seven consecutive playoff games has finally come to an end!
In this game, Lin Tian only played 26 minutes and scored 25 points. Although he also contributed 13 rebounds and 14 assists, it was clear that Indiana fans didn't care about the triple-double; they wanted Lin Tian to continue his 40+ point streak.
Unfortunately, the Heat offered no resistance, making it difficult for Lin Tian to score high points.
His early exit from the game left the fans feeling disappointed.
Lin Tian himself, on the other hand, remained completely indifferent to all of this, as usual!
"Eight consecutive games with 40 points? That's pretty impressive, but compared to sweeping the opponent, it's nothing! I care more about the team being up 4-0, not my own 40-point streak!"
"Playing only 26 minutes means we won quite easily, it means we won the game without breaking a sweat! Maybe the fans don't like it, they think it's boring, but for me, I prefer this kind of relaxed game, and I hope the rest of the games will be like this!"
"As for game-winning shots and comebacks, those are more interesting to watch on TV, but let's forget about them! We just want to win four more games and become this year's champions!"
"You ask me who I'd prefer to face in the Finals, and how many games are left this season?"
"The answer to the first question is that I don't care. No matter who comes, the result will be the same! We'll take them all down!"
"As for the second question, it's four games! We'll use four more games to win the Finals, take the Larry O'Brien Trophy, and become the first champion of the 21st century!"
"3, 4, 4, 4!"
"That's our goal for this season!"
After defeating the Heat, Lin Tian made an incredibly arrogant statement at the Eastern Conference championship award ceremony! A statement that completely disregarded the Trail Blazers and Lakers!
Well, it didn't generate much buzz.
Or rather, this bold statement did spark a heated discussion among Pacers fans and across the United States, in various media outlets, newspapers, and television programs. However, the two parties involved, the Trail Blazers and the Lakers, the two teams directly targeted by Lin Tian, did not react at all.
I don't have the time, and I'm not in the mood!
The match between these two teams has reached a fever pitch!
In the first four games, the Lakers held a dominant position, taking a 3-1 lead.
However, in the pivotal Game 5 in Los Angeles, although O'Neal scored a whopping 31 points and grabbed 21 rebounds, his teammates underperformed across the board. Kobe Bryant went 4-for-13, Rice went 1-for-8, and the five substitutes, Rick Fox, Brian Shaw, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, and A.C. Green, delivered a terrifying 6-for-26 shooting performance.
With almost the entire team, except for O'Neal, underperforming, the Lakers suffered a truly ugly defeat at home! The Trail Blazers brought the game back to Portland, giving them a glimmer of hope!
接着来到波特兰，众志成城的开拓者队当然不会让好不容易拼回来的机会就此浪费！拉希德18分、史密斯26分、斯塔达迈尔14分7助攻、萨博尼斯10分11篮板，再加上替补上场的威尔斯爆砍20分！
The Trail Blazers once again unleashed their signature pack tactics, giving the Lakers a grueling experience!
On the Lakers' side, it seemed as if they had planned it all out. Kobe finally exploded in this game, scoring 33 points, but it was O'Neal's turn to falter. He only scored 17 points and made only 3 of 10 free throws!
In addition, although the other players performed well, they were still not outstanding, and the Lakers lost two games in a row! They were dragged into a decisive Game 7 by the Trail Blazers from a 3-1 lead!
Win or go home!
The Western Conference Finals have reached the stage that all fans have been waiting for!
The ultimate Game 7 was held in Los Angeles as scheduled!
But for Los Angeles fans, the start of the night was not so pleasant!
The Trail Blazers adjusted their tactics again during the game, continuing to strengthen their defense against O'Neal. They used a semi-fronting tactic to cut off the connection between O'Neal and his teammates, preventing him from receiving the ball. As soon as he got the ball, double or even triple teams would immediately come to the rescue, not giving O'Neal any one-on-one opportunities!
They're double-teaming relentlessly! They're making sure Shaq can't have a comfortable game!
Meanwhile, Scottie Pippen took over the responsibility of guarding Kobe, and from the very first second of the game, he relentlessly pressed Kobe from every angle.
With the Trail Blazers' strategy of relentlessly targeting the OK duo and almost ignoring the Lakers' role players, they got off to a dream start!
In the first four minutes of the game, Kobe and Shaq didn't attempt a single shot! Meanwhile, the Lakers' role players were frequently missing their shots! The Trail Blazers went on a 13-0 run, taking a 19-9 lead in the first phase of the first quarter!
The team's veteran Pippen took the lead in this quarter, locking down Kobe while also acting as the offensive spearhead, scoring 9 points in the quarter!
In the second quarter, the game became even more one-sided! A frustrated O'Neal committed two offensive fouls in a row, and he finally made his first field goal halfway through the second quarter!
Then, in the latter part of the second quarter, with Pippen going to the bench due to too many fouls, Kobe finally stepped up, hitting several jump shots in a row, including a buzzer-beating dunk before the end of the first half!
Thanks to Kobe's relentless attacks, the Lakers stabilized the situation and narrowed the score to 42-39, trailing by only 3 points!
Then, at the beginning of the third quarter, the Lakers went on another run. Glen Rice used his scoring methods that once ranked third in a single season: a strong drive to the basket for a 2+1 and a pull-up jumper for 5 points, helping the Lakers take a 50-51 lead!
However, after Rice's 5 points, the Lakers went cold!
They suddenly forgot how to score, and they also forgot how to stop their opponents from scoring!
Steve Smith scored 7 consecutive points, and Rasheed made two powerful dunks! Then, Pippen hit a mid-range jumper, bringing the score to 71-55!
The Trail Blazers unleashed a 21-4 offensive onslaught against the Lakers, their all-around scoring style completely bewildering the Lakers!
If it weren't for Brian Shaw's miraculous bank shot three-pointer, the Lakers might have been down by 20 points against the Trail Blazers at the end of the third quarter!
But Shaw's three-pointer could only provide temporary relief. At the start of the fourth quarter, Smith made a layup first, and with 10 minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Wells drew a foul and made both free throws!
At this point, the Trail Blazers were leading the Lakers by a full 15 points!
From any perspective, given the strength and margin for error of both sides in this ultimate showdown, fans could almost choose to leave early at this point.
There's really not much suspense left in the game!
But then, the situation changed drastically again!
The Trail Blazers suddenly transformed into the Lakers in the first quarter, abruptly losing all their skills in putting the ball in the basket!
In the next 7 minutes, the Trail Blazers missed 13 shots in a row. Their shooting was so bad that they could open a world-class blacksmith shop in the bustling downtown of Los Angeles!
During this time, the Lakers seemed to wake up, and they started hitting shots one after another, making all sorts of incredible and jaw-dropping shots!
Shaw hit two consecutive three-pointers, Horry also hit a three-pointer, and with Kobe and O'Neal combining for 6 points, the Lakers used a 15-0 run to close the huge gap and launched a scoring frenzy that drove the entire Los Angeles team crazy!
Next, although the Trail Blazers regained their offensive rhythm and finally started scoring, they were unable to widen the gap or create another offensive surge.
With 1 minute and 30 seconds left in the game, the score was tied at 79!
The time from now on belongs to Kobe Bryant!
This guy, who had made four consecutive airballs against the Jazz in a do-or-die playoff game three years ago and almost became a laughing stock across the country, took over the game!
First, Rasheed drew a foul on Shaquille O'Neal and made both free throws, giving the team their first lead in the fourth quarter! Then, Rasheed, the Trail Blazers' best player tonight, drew a blocking foul on O'Neal, creating a valuable opportunity to tie the game!
However, whether it was fate or a slip of the hand, the big man, who has a career free throw percentage of over 70%, missed both of his free throws! The Trail Blazers lost their best and last chance of the night!
Then Kobe made an unbelievable, high-difficulty mid-range shot over Pippen! And then Pippen made an ill-advised three-point attempt that missed.
Finally, there's that world-famous painting!
Kobe executed a dazzling crossover, completely fooling Pippen and driving into the paint. After drawing help defense, he lobbed the ball high into the air. Shaquille O'Neal, like an ancient beast that had just broken free of its cage, leaped up and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand!
79: 85!
The Lakers went on a 6-0 run, sealing the victory! They gave the Trail Blazers only 40 seconds.
But those 40 seconds could only be the Trail Blazers' last desperate struggle, and they clearly couldn't close the 6-point gap during that time.
84: 89!
No matter how unwilling or painful it was, the Trail Blazers lost Game 7. They were once incredibly close to the Finals, and they had pushed the Lakers to the brink of defeat.
But they still lost!
They have squandered their best chance since Drexler led the team to the Finals twice!
They failed to replicate the miracle of 76 and ended their season with disappointment!
The Lakers, on the other hand, have made it to the NBA Finals for the first time in nine years!
Nine years ago was the last peak of Magic Johnson and Showtime, when he led players like Divac, Perkins, and A.C. Green all the way to the NBA Finals!
This year, OK duo finally transformed and made it to the finals for the first time!
The two eras have now officially come to an end!
It's worth mentioning that AC Green, the Lakers' starting power forward nine years ago, not only maintains his consecutive appearance record nine years later, but is also still the Lakers' starting power forward! He is also the only player besides Jerry West and owner Buss to have participated in two eras simultaneously!
Well, it's worth mentioning that Sam Perkins, who was two years older than him and started alongside him in the Lakers' frontcourt back then, is now playing for the Pacers!
Of course, the two players are now in vastly different positions on the team. Green still played all 82 regular season games, and started them all!
Perkins played a total of 42 regular season games, averaging less than 7 minutes per game!
His current role is more like that of an assistant coach, helping young people grow and imparting knowledge and experience to them.
But it's quite a coincidence that two former teammates were able to meet in the finals.
Speaking of fate, we must mention the busiest player among all the players from both teams after the Lakers advanced to the Finals!
"Honey, you're in Los Angeles? Oh, what a coincidence! I'm about to go to Los Angeles for an away game! It'll probably be two games in a row. I don't think we'll have to play a third away game. We'll sweep them! See you then! Love you!" Lin Tian hung up the phone from Theron and let out a long sigh.
This is the 4th, 5th, um, wait, which one was it again?
Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Connery, and even Bellucci have all officially given up their careers in Italy to try their luck in Hollywood.
My head is huge! It's incredibly big!
Keira Knightley also called Lin Tian, wanting tickets.
When Lin Tian answered her call, he didn't realize what was happening and instinctively said "darling".
He completely forgot that he had never touched this girl.
As a result, the girl opposite him timidly gave him an address, saying that her parents were not in Los Angeles and that she lived alone in this apartment.
No, young lady, you're a minor!
Aren't you Portman's best friend, aspiring to be the best wingman in America?
So you're working as a wingman for the Los Angeles Police Department now, aren't you?
Unfortunately, I, Lord Lin, am an upright man with excellent conduct and a strong moral compass!
I will never do anything that breaks the law!
Let's wait until the girl stars in "Pirates of the Caribbean" in a few years and reaches the peak of her beauty before we talk about it.
We can let her wear that pirate outfit then!
FUXX!
This is not the point.
The key point is that the girls all had time, all happened to be in Los Angeles, all followed the NBA games, and all decided to come to support Lin Tian in person!
The thing is, Lin Tian decided to make a phone call to Rashid!
"You're not going to do anything this summer! Just focus on practicing your free throws! How could you miss both of your free throws during a game?"
"Boss, I was really tired by then! Free throws were so hard!" Rashid complained, also a little confused as to why Lin Tian had suddenly called him.
"What's so difficult about it? You've had this much playing time all these years, okay? Don't talk nonsense with your eyes open! It's not easy for the fans to support you! Sometimes you should look at your own shortcomings, okay? Has your free throw percentage improved over the years? Have you been training seriously?"
"I've waited so long, just wanting to play in the finals with you guys, and this is how you repay me?"
"Boss, stop talking, I'll go practice my free throws right now!" Upon hearing that Lin Tian was upset about not being able to play in the Finals with his group of devoted fans, Rasheed immediately apologized and softened his tone: "Next season, my free throw percentage will definitely be over 79%!"
call!
I felt much better after giving Rashid a good blast!
But it wasn't comfortable enough, so Lin Tian glanced at the phone book and called Pippen again.
"Is this how you defend? Aren't you ashamed? You got completely destroyed by a rookie, huh? That last shot you were totally faked out, Scott? Thank goodness you didn't make the Finals, or I could have faked you all the way to the moon, making you the first Black man to walk on the moon after Armstrong!"
"My grandma could defend Kobe better than you! Look at what you did in Game 7? Scored three points in the last three quarters? Fouled out with six fouls? Got blown out by Kobe? Let him hit those fancy jump shots over you? And you..."
Lin Tian was venting his anger when Pippen on the other end of the line hung up the phone.
He's neither Rashid nor a fan of Lin Tian, so he's too lazy to listen to Lin Tian's nonsense!
Although Lin Tian hadn't finished venting, Pippen was clearly very unhappy, so he gave Lin Tian 100 experience points!
Yes, very good!
Lin Tian felt a little better.
Next, we need to make arrangements for the girls!
This time, he dared not ask the guy on the other side to help him get tickets!
Lin Tian will never forget how Jordan arranged for the girls to sit close together one after another during the Christmas game. Who knows if Kobe will follow his idol Jordan's example and cause some trouble for him? This time, he has to do it himself!
We can no longer entrust our lives and destinies to others!
At the very least, the tickets must first reach Lin Tian's hands, and then be distributed to the girls according to the seating arrangement.
Only caution ensures immortality!
For his own safety, the first person Lin Tian contacted was Bird.
"Larry, do you have any connections to get me tickets to the Staples Center game?"
"The Finals? How many do you want?" Bird didn't ask any more questions and directly asked Lin Tian how many he wanted.
"10... never mind." Before giving a number, Lin Tian suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of a more ingenious solution: "I need five tickets each for the third and fourth rounds, all in the front row, but they have to be spaced out, the farther apart the better. Any problems?"
"No problem, but do your friends have a grudge? Will they fight when they meet?" Upon hearing Lin Tian's request, Bird became a little curious. What kind of kind person would invite relatives and friends to watch a game and keep them as far apart as possible?
It sounds like a conspiracy!
"We have to separate anyway! If you can't figure it out, I'll go ask Erwin." Lin Tian shrugged and pulled out his trump card: when in doubt, just ask the magician!
"Why call him?" Bird rolled his eyes. "I should be the one making the call!"
"Huh?" Lin Tian was stunned for a moment, but Bird on the other end had already made the call.
"Old AIDS? He hasn't died from the poison yet, has he?" Bird's words hit the Magician's sore spot.
"I wouldn't die even if you did, you country bumpkin." The magician's voice came from the other end of the phone: "How many do you want?"
"Give me 300 tickets first. All of them should be in the front row."
"How about I buy Staples Center and give it to you? 300 tickets? You country bumpkin who's never been to the city, do you want all your country bumpkin relatives to come to Los Angeles? Why don't you just die?" Magic Johnson cursed and then said, "10 tickets, take it or leave it! If you want them, I'll send them to you, or you can come and pick them up yourself."
"Alright then, 10 it is. I'll call Jerry again; he should be able to manage." Bird muttered, "If Jerry doesn't have any, I'll call another Jerry. Those two definitely have plenty of tickets!"
"I've never seen such shameless trash in my entire life!" the magician continued, "20 cards! Don't bother our general manager and boss! You need cards 3 through 5, right?"
"No Game 5," Bird said, suppressing a laugh. "A game that won't play, printing tickets would just be a waste of paper! I'm a very environmentally conscious person."
"Looks like you knew you'd be swept?" Magic Johnson chuckled, quickly adding, "When we win the championship, I can let you come up here and touch the Larry O'Brien Trophy, give you a taste of your own medicine!"
"I have one in my cabinet, I got it the year before last. If you want to touch it, I can mail it to you so you can see the difference between trophies from the 90s and those from the 80s! Let me tell you, the manufacturing process has improved a lot!"
"I have five of these, they're nothing special."
"That's quite a lot. But I heard that none of the five are at your own home, but in the Lakers' office? By the way, speaking of which, didn't you say you wanted a proper job with the Lakers? Have they assigned you a position? I think the head of the cheerleading selection team would be perfect for you!"
"It allows you to play to your old skills and relive the wonderful days of your playing career!"
"Fuck you, you country bumpkin! FUXX!"
The banter between Bird and Magic Johnson has come to an end. Just by looking at Bird's expression, you can tell that this verbal battle ended in a resounding victory for Bird!
In terms of cunning, shrewdness, and sharp tongue, Magic Johnson simply can't compete with Bird! When it comes to verbal sparring and mind games, the two are worlds apart!
"All done!" Bird, feeling smug and happy, hung up the phone and looked up at Lin Tian. "I'll give you the votes first, and then you can distribute them to the others after you've chosen."
"No, you just asked Irwin for tickets like that?" Lin Tian was somewhat caught off guard by Bird's way of asking for tickets, and Bird and Magic Johnson were obviously very familiar with this "business". Needless to say, Bird had asked Magic Johnson for Los Angeles tickets many times.
"That's how you ask for it. What else can you ask for? Treat this AIDS patient to a meal and a bar, all in one go? Why don't I just ask Jerry West directly?" Bird said matter-of-factly. "I'm not that close to West, so it's not appropriate to keep asking him. I usually ask the AIDS patient 3-5 times, and then ask West once more."
"Well, on very rare occasions, like the Christmas Day game, when those two have already given away their tickets, I'll ask Bath for some. That old man is very shrewd; he's much more generous with tickets than those two misers!"
Lin Tian silently gave a thumbs up! A real thumbs up.
What else can he say or do besides give a thumbs up?
There's nothing we can do!
This is the truly hardcore way to get votes, and this is the right way for these legends and rivals to get along!
I, Lord Lin, will also learn from this in the future!
I want to make sure that no matter which arena in the league I take a dump in, someone will bring me toilet paper!
As Bird said, the tickets would be delivered after they arrived in Los Angeles to prepare for the away game. Lin Tian would then check the specific distribution of the tickets and decide how to allocate them.
Before that, the Pacers still have two home games to play!
After all, if they lose a home game, even Lin Tian probably wouldn't be in the mood to cause any trouble.
We need to win the game first!
It's also worth mentioning that back when Lin Tian lost the Eastern Conference semifinals last year, he promised all Indiana fans that he would lead the team back to the Finals this year, and that during the Finals, the Pacers' home games would be moved back to the City Square Arena!
They want to give the City Square Arena a perfect final game!
Let's say goodbye to this arena that has been with the Pacers for 25 years with a victory, a victory in the Finals!
As for the new Conceco Center?
When Lin Tian formally submitted his application to the team, he had already given them an idea: sell tickets for Conseco Arena too! Let fans who couldn't get tickets for City Square Arena watch the game at Conseco Arena!
Of course, the average ticket price is more than half lower!
But for the Pacers, this was an extra source of income, and the team, from top to bottom, agreed to Lin Tian's application without any hesitation!
The Finals will be held at City Square Arena! Additionally, a separate venue will be set up at Conseco Arena to allow even more fans to experience the atmosphere of the arena!
Beautiful!
A win-win situation!
As for the question of whether the doubled number of tickets sold at once might result in unsold tickets, leaving the stadium empty and devoid of any atmosphere?
Anyway, the Pacers' management isn't worried about this at all!
Given Indiana's basketball market and fans' passion for the sport, coupled with the fact that this is the ultimate showdown of the Finals, the Pacers are not worried at all about not being able to sell out their tickets.
They are confident that even if they sell 4 tickets, the demand will be too high and both stadiums will be full at the same time!
In the entire league, there are definitely no more than 5 teams that have this kind of confidence and actually do it!
Most of the remaining teams will likely find that neither arena is full, resulting in not only a lack of extra revenue but also a significant loss of home-court advantage!
But the Pacers have die-hard fans, top-tier stars, and the best record in the league!
They aren't worried about that at all!
The Pacers' only worry right now is whether they can stop the Lakers!
To reiterate: their goal is not just to win the finals and the championship; they've already declared their objective!
"Winning the championship in 15 games!"
Every single match is a failure!
This is the Pacers' goal, and also the pressure they've put on themselves! They hope this will stimulate the team's fighting spirit and the players' enthusiasm!
On the afternoon before the Finals, needless to say, Bird once again gave the Pacers players their final tactical analysis session in his tactical war room before the start of the Finals!
"I think I don't need to say or repeat myself what this series means or how important it is! Win this series! Sweep the Los Angeles team and become the champions!"
"I'll say it again: what we're building isn't just a championship team, it's a dynasty team!"
"So, this year's Finals are just the beginning! Starting with this year's Finals, we will begin a dynasty belonging to Indiana! The greatest dynasty since the Bulls dynasty!"
"We ended the Bulls dynasty! And only we can usher in a new dynasty!"
After delivering his morale-boosting opening remarks, Bird looked at the excited and confident players in front of him and officially began today's tactical analysis!
"The Lakers finished the regular season with 67 wins, second in the league! They had a smooth run in the first two rounds of the playoffs until the conference finals, where they encountered resistance from the Trail Blazers and had to fight to a Game 7 to narrowly win!"
"But what I want to say is that the gap in strength between the two teams is actually very large and very obvious! The 3-1 score in the first four games is the best evidence! The Lakers have an overwhelming advantage against all other teams in the West! And I believe that next year, the Lakers' advantage will be even more obvious! They might even sweep the entire West!"
"I believe they will become the masters of the West!"
"What gives them such a strong core competitiveness is their head coach, Phil Jackson, a coach who is bold in his personnel decisions, adept at unleashing players' potential, and skilled at boosting team cohesion and morale. His greatest strength lies in enabling already top-level superstars to unleash their extra abilities and perform at 120%!"
"His control over the mentality of players, especially top players, is absolutely the best in the league today!"
"This is why the Lakers can always come back from behind and play beautiful games during close matches! They have absolute confidence! This confidence comes not only from their strong abilities but also from Phil Jackson!"
"But this guy, leave him to me, I'll take him down! Besides Phil Jackson, it's the Lakers' current inside-outside duo: Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant!"
"Shaquille O'Neal averaged 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game in the regular season this year! He was the league's scoring champion, ranked second in rebounds, third in blocks, and second in the MVP race at the end of the season! This regular season, he was the second-best player in the league, second only to Lin!"
"In the playoffs, O'Neal averaged 29+17 in the first round and 30+16 in the second round! In all three series, only the Trail Blazers successfully defended O'Neal, limiting him to 26 points and 12 rebounds per game, with a field goal percentage of only 53%!"
"Yes, you heard right, this is Shaq after being successfully contained! Even when Shaq is defended, he can still put up numbers that 99% of interior players can never achieve in their entire careers!"
"So no matter what others say, this guy is the best center in the league right now. He has unparalleled destructive power and terrifying dominance! When he gets the ball in the paint, it takes 2-3 people to double-team and help defend him to have any chance of stopping him!"
"The Trail Blazers were able to defend him thanks to a long line of frontcourt players like Rasheed, Sabonis, Schrempf, Grant, and Pippen relentlessly double-teaming and physically confronting him, as well as using fierce and tough fouls. Every game, at least one player on the Trail Blazers had to foul out with six fouls. Almost every player on the Trail Blazers team participated in the team's double-teaming of O'Neal!"
"This relentless, aggressive double-teaming came at a huge cost! Just look at the Lakers' three-point shooting percentage! Kobe 53%, Rice 35%, Shaw 61%, Fisher 37%, Fox 38%! The Lakers' entire perimeter and almost all their shooters were shooting three-pointers at a higher percentage than their career average!"
"The Trail Blazers ultimately lost, and that's exactly what they lost! They lost because of the Lakers' role players' three-point shooting!"
"So, we can't defend Shaq like the Trail Blazers did, and we can't leave the Lakers' perimeter players open. That won't work! In this series, at least in Game 1, Ben, you're going to go one-on-one with Shaq! Just give it your all, and I want to see how you can defend Shaq!"
"If you can single-handedly limit Shaq to 25 or 6 points, then we can easily sweep this series!"
"Leave it to me, Coach! I'll give it my all!" Ben Wallace nodded, confidently telling Bird, "I'll do everything I can to keep him from scoring 30 points!"
Ben's confidence is indeed very strong!
In today's league, there are very few players who dare to say they can hold Shaquille O'Neal to under 30 points in a one-on-one situation! Only the most elite defenders would dare to make such a boast!
This also shows just how terrifying Shaquille O'Neal is now!
A true ancient ferocious beast!
Bird nodded in satisfaction and said, "Another reason we won't defend O'Neal like the Trail Blazers do is that our wing players aren't as strong or deep as the Trail Blazers'! Our players are better at offense! So I won't put too much energy into defense!"
"This will also be our key strategy for this series: Attack! Attack! Keep attacking!"
At this point, Bird paused, then continued, "Besides Shaq, the Lakers' most formidable opponent is undoubtedly Kobe Bryant! This young man has quietly grown into one of the league's top guards!"
"He averaged 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists per game in the regular season. His offensive talent and ability go without saying, and his skill in feeding the inside is also underestimated by many!"
"What I want to say is that Kobe's most overlooked ability is his defense, his tenacious defensive end! Countless star players have been thoroughly humiliated by him this season! This guy has absolutely the potential to become the league's next generation of top-tier two-way superstar!"
"He might even be the number one player of the new generation! After all, Iverson and Marbury are too short, Stackhouse is too selfish, and Ray Allen is inherently a level below them. Vince, you..."
"I'll kill him!" Carter frowned, his smile vanishing as he looked at Kobe, who was dominating the game on the screen. "I'm the best swingman of this new generation in the league! I'll prove it!"
"Great! I like your determination! But you don't need to shut him down, you just need to dominate him on offense! Doug, Kobe is yours! Take him down! Shut him down! Prove to me that you're the best perimeter defender of this generation!"
"Leave it to me!" Christie nodded, remaining as quiet as ever.
(End of this chapter)