Chapter 514 The Battle Suddenly Became Stalemate

I thought this wave could have killed the Lakers.

With Odom's double point guards and Christie's support, the Lakers seemed to have made full preparations, even though they did not expect Sakuragi to defend Kobe alone...

Lin Dong took a deep breath and smiled.

This is more interesting!

Speaking of which, the Sonics first played a trump card, Sakuragi's defensive ability against the No. 3 position, and the Lakers immediately returned a point guard Odom; the Sonics played another pass, and the Lakers followed up with a 1.5 times point guard Christie plus Nash.

And now, the Lakers' momentum seems to have returned, but the Sonics' momentum has not been lost.

The tug-of-war may be re-formed, but the 10-point lead will not disappear, so it depends on who has more resilience!

The Sonics' ball possession.

As soon as Lin Dong held the ball, Kobe and Nash immediately surrounded him, playing the fact that the Sonics did not have a second stable ball holding point after Payton went down.

Whether it is Rukawa, Iguodala, Chandler or Sakuragi Hanamichi, none of them can play with the ball in the Lakers' defense, but the Supersonics can play without the ball...

Pass the ball!

Lin Dong immediately passed the ball to Rukawa, and Rukawa passed it to Iguodala.

The Supersonics have already practiced this team-wide pass to the bone. This is the basis of running and gunning. The system is already very mature and the proficiency is high enough. Even if the Lakers choose to mark people, it is not so easy to limit it, not to mention that they have to choose two-team and one-team to cover Lin Dong, and Yao Ming is standing under the basket. The opponent is missing three people in the mobile defense, which is simply fertile ground for the Supersonics to pass the ball.

The basketball was passed on the court like a streamer, and it was in Chandler's hands in the blink of an eye.

Chandler got an open opportunity again, but unfortunately this time his luck was a little bad. He missed the 3-pointer and the basketball bounced up.

But his bad luck does not mean the team's bad luck. The angle problem makes the basketball bounce very high and more towards the right free throw zone, and Yao Ming's original more advantageous position becomes disadvantageous.

Sakuragi Hanamichi's task on the offensive end is to eat cakes and ensure offensive rebounds. At this time, he got the rebound and immediately passed it back to Lin Dong who caught up. Lin Dong stopped suddenly and almost caused Kobe to hit him.

Kobe couldn't stop the car and dodged sideways, and Lin Dong scored 2 points from mid-range.

92:80, the score difference is 12.

The Lakers have the ball, and the Supersonics continue to use the man-to-man tactics.

In this situation, if the man-to-man tactics are abandoned and the Lakers play a positional battle, the success rate will also be very high with the offensive power of Yao Ming and Kobe when they don't have the ball.

Although the man-to-man tactics are restrained by the Lakers' double point guard tactics, they win in the fast rhythm. As long as the rhythm is fast, the Lakers may make mistakes, and at the same time, it will increase the consumption of each other and increase the mental pressure of each other, thereby intensifying the confrontation and the level of the game.

This is undoubtedly the best choice before finding other more effective defensive means.

This is certainly a double-edged sword, but the brave will win when they meet on a narrow road. Soldiers who are afraid of fighting will never win the game. Choosing such a tactic itself is already a psychological advantage.

Of course, there are still a few small changes. Doug Christie can't be completely left alone.

Doug Christie drove straight in with the ball, and Rukawa Kaede separated from Odom's position to defend early.

Doug Christie was not prepared for a while, and the long pass to Yao Ming under the basket was a little short in a hurry, and was intercepted by Sakuragi Hanamichi halfway. The Supersonics counterattacked and scored two points, 94:80.

But looking back, Doug Christie was defended by Rukawa Kaede again, and Kobe Bryant stepped forward to respond and played a pick-and-roll with Doug.

Although Sakuragi followed up, it was a mismatched pick-and-roll after all.

If you let Doug Christie hold the ball, he is at most C-level in the league, but if you let him defend and pick and roll, he is definitely S-level.

Even though Hanamichi Sakuragi was already aware of it, he was blocked by Doug Christie. Rukawa Kaede was forced to defend Kobe in a mismatched position. He was obviously inferior in defensive awareness and explosiveness, and Kobe made a 3-pointer from the outside.

94:83.

The ball possession of the Supersonics.

Things in this world are always back and forth. The word "fast" is a double-edged sword. It can force your opponent to make mistakes, and naturally it can also force you to make mistakes.

The Lakers had just made a mistake because of the fast pace, and this time it was finally the turn of the Supersonics.

Facing the Lakers' double-teaming, the Supersonics' ball transmission route was too obvious, and they had passed to Chandler twice in a row. No matter how thick the Lakers were, they had already targeted them this time.

First, Chandler was deliberately left open. Yao Ming, who seemed to go inside to defend Sakuragi Hanamichi, chose to stay outside this time. As early as when Iguodala just received the ball, Yao Ming suddenly gave up the inside and rushed towards Chandler.

Sure enough, Iguodala, who adhered to the concept of passing the ball as soon as he received it and never sticking to the ball, did not look at it again and chose to pass the ball to Chandler. Yao Ming actually stole the ball and then quickly passed it to Kobe.

At this time, Sakuragi was still in the backcourt. The Sonics' defense was in overall chaos and completely unsystematic. Lin Dong immediately shook off Nash and filled in.

Kobe turned to pass the ball to Nash, Rukawa Kaede defended, but Nash passed the ball from behind. The ball went to Odom, who shook off Iguodala and jumped up and dunked on the spot under the basket, scoring 2 points.

94:85, the Lakers narrowed the gap back to 9 points!

The Sonics' Lin Dong launched a one-stop fast break and scored 2 points, bringing the score difference back to a safe double digit.

The Lakers took advantage of the Sonics' unstable defense and played fast. After serving the ball quickly, Odom shook off Iguodala and went straight to the basket. After attracting Sakuragi Hanamichi's defense, he passed the ball to Yao Ming, who jumped up and dunked under the basket, and the score difference returned to 9 points again.

At this time, the defense of each other had actually begun to look a bit chaotic under the fast-paced offense. Both sides picked up the ball and started serving fast breaks as soon as the other side scored, without waiting for the other side's defense to get into position. They were competing for speed and chaos, and who would make fewer mistakes in the chaos.

The Sonics wanted to crush the Lakers with rhythm, but the Lakers actually wanted to crush the Sonics with rhythm.

This is really the first time in the league that someone dared to compete with the Sonics in rhythm and "speed"!

The fans in the stadium were stunned at this time. Although they were excited about the fast break, they also felt the desperate momentum and belief in victory of the Lakers, which was not inferior to the Supersonics.

When the rhythm and speed of the game reached this level, when the players of both sides entered a complete state, when both sides had no better tactics to limit the other side's scoring and were forced to fight for points, it was very difficult to control the rhythm.

Mistakes from both sides began to appear continuously, and the scores of each other also rose alternately.

10 points seemed to be a benchmark for the two sides to fight back and forth. The score difference kept switching between 8 and 12 points, as if it was a position for fighting back and forth.

You fight during the day, and I fight back at night. The so-called tactics have gradually become less important in the players' own emotions and states.

Frankly speaking, if there is enough time to adjust, enough time to calm down and adapt, then each side may always find a way to restrain the crazy attack of the other side.

But at this moment, both sides were already blood-thirsty and tense. If one side took the initiative to let them rest, stop, and change tactics.

Whether the changed tactics will be successful, no one can guarantee it, but one thing is certain: the side that took the initiative to stop has lost its momentum and will lose a lot psychologically.

- Look, they are still cowardly after all!

- The coach called a timeout at this time, did he see that we are not as good as the opponent and that we are about to be broken by the opponent?

McMillan and Phil Jackson were quite wise not to choose to watch at this time. Although they were extremely anxious and uneasy, they both knew very well: at this time, it was not just tactics, but momentum and will, and each other's tolerance and psychological quality!

In this case, whoever called a timeout first, whoever couldn't stand this tense tug-of-war first, would be the loser. That kind of psychological collapse is more terrible than any tactics!

McMillan and Phil Jackson, including everyone on the field who had fully entered the fighting state, knew very well: it would not be tactics that would determine the outcome of this tug-of-war, but only people!

99:91, at the end of the third quarter, the score difference between the two sides reached 8 points.

The Supersonics suffered a small loss. After the Lakers completed the last attack, they only had more than 2 seconds left. Lin Dong received the ball and was double-teamed. After passing the ball to Rukawa Kaede, the latter failed to score a long shot before crossing the center line. Because the Lakers jumped the ball in the first quarter, the Lakers would have the ball after the opening of the fourth quarter.

Letting the Supersonics lead by 8 points into the fourth quarter, if it were any other game, perhaps the head coaches of both sides and fans across the United States could directly announce the result, because Lin Dong in the fourth quarter was unstoppable.

But today's Lakers are a little different. Although Dong was unstoppable in the last quarter, the Lakers' running and gunning seemed to be something that the Supersonics' defense could not withstand.

Due to the high-post tactics in the first half, Yao Ming never entered the basket. Even when he followed the Lakers' running and gunning, there was little confrontation and the running distance was short, from his own outside line to the opponent's outside line. This allowed Yao Ming to preserve extremely abundant physical strength. Although he returned to the positional battle in the second half of the third quarter, it was only a consumption of one quarter, and Yao Ming could completely withstand it.

His scoring in the second half of the third quarter was quite stable. After all, Sakuragi Hanamichi had been pulled to defend Kobe, and Chandler under the basket could hardly stop Yao Ming's offense. He hooked and hit, and also sent two fouls.

Kobe's offensive efficiency after switching to the No. 3 position was also extremely high. With the Lakers' double point guards, even if he was entangled by Sakuragi Hanamichi, Kobe could always find an angle for an open cut or a perfect pick-and-roll. Whether he was mismatched with Odom or Christie, he was in control.

The offense of these two people was also in an irresistible state for the Supersonics at this time.

What's more terrible is that the Lakers' double-teaming of Lin Dong in this game was quite effective. Kobe and Nash's complementary defense made it seem that Lin Dong could never find many good opportunities to shoot.

Once Lin Dong's shots and hit rate were restricted, or he was forced to pass the ball to the Sonics' outside line, the threat of 'Dong' in the final quarter would undoubtedly be greatly reduced, and the 8-point difference might not be so safe.

The Lakers... would have a chance to win!

Barkley was sweating profusely. The stalemate made him think of the mountain lion in Tyson's home... Although the TV station manager repeatedly told him that there would be a trainer to calm the mountain lion's emotions, but... it was still a mountain lion!

Just imagining the bloody mouth opening, Barkley felt that he could smell the fishy smell in the beast's throat!

Can't lose, the Supersonics can't lose...

He kept praying.