Chapter 239: The Avengers
After entering the playoffs, the main theme of the NBA is the game, especially for the parties involved, the attention is all entangled by the game, just one day later, the Warriors once again set foot on the battlefield and started the fourth big game with the Spurs.
If the Warriors lose again this time, the Spurs will win the match point with a score of 3-1, and in the history of the Spurs, as long as they win the match point, there has never been a situation where they have been eliminated by the opponent again, so this battle, the Warriors are bound to win.
The other two teams in the West, the Hornets, finally relied on the advantage of home to win a terrific victory, temporarily rewriting the score to 1-2.
Before this game, the Hornets were in an even worse situation, they suffered two consecutive defeats, and if they lost again, Paul himself would be ashamed of the fans: the fans unanimously agreed that he was more suitable for the MVP honor than Kobe, and there are still many people who believe that Kobe and Stern stole Paul's MVP.
In the third game between the Hornets and the Lakers, the Hornets still played a very dangerous game, and it was not until Paul hit a fatal shot at 3:09 before the end that the Hornets narrowly outscored the opponent by one point to tie the overall score at 1-2.
Chris Paul contributed 27 points, 13 assists and 5 steals, Stojakovic finally found his touch to score 26 points, and West scored 22 points, and the three combined to score 70 percent of the team's points, which is why they were able to take out the Lakers who were in the limelight.
On the Lakers' side, Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 32 points, Gasol had 22 points and 15 rebounds, Odom scored 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Bynum performed very badly throughout the playoffs, and was looked at like a little milk dog by Chandler, with only 6 points and 8 rebounds in this game, not even Odom, who likes to wander.
The Hornets showed their aggressive attacking mood in the opening game, Chandler snatched the ball over Bynum's head, and then Peja received Paul's breakthrough pass and hit the first goal for the Hornets from mid-range, and West followed up with another goal to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead.
Then, the Lakers began to counterattack, and Kobe Bryant rushed into the interior to dunk in the face of Peterson's defense, opening up the situation for the Lakers. But the game started with the Hornets, a team that stood on the edge of the cliff and burst into a terrifying rally, with West and Paul echoing inside and out, and after combining for eight points, the Hornets led the Lakers 12-6.
But then, Odom, who used to like to wander away, suddenly woke up, and the left-handed Magic proved to be absolutely tough when he wasn't distracted, and he scored nine points in a row to help the Lakers win 11-4 and rewrite the score to 17-16.
The Lakers were unstoppable for a while, Gasol blocked Paul's layup and advanced himself with the ball to play a full-court dragon, this offense made the Hornets fans lose their voices for a while, and Kobe Bryant was about to go crazy, his assistant performed too well.
Relying on Gasol's two-pointer and Bynum's subsequent foul on one of two free throws at the free throw line, the Lakers added three more points to lead the Hornets 20-16, and Hornets coach Scott had to call a timeout, with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.
The timeout played a role, and although the Hornets couldn't catch up with the difference, they did hold on to the score, and the Hornets scored four straight points inside before the end of the quarter to end the first quarter with a 27-31 deficit.
In the first half of the second quarter, the Lakers still maintained the lead with more points, and after Kobe Bryant hit two free throws, the Lakers led the Hornets 41-35.
The Hornets knew what their problem was, and suddenly they pressed the whole court, and then the Lakers' offense came to a standstill, Paul showed his MVP strength comparable to Kobe, he scored 5 points inside and out, Peja hit two shots from the outside, West and Chandler scored in a row on the inside attack, and the Hornets rewrote the score to 50-41 in one fell swoop with a wave of 15-0 scoring frenzy!
The Zen master, who has always been calm, was also beaten by the Hornets' crazy offensive, and he couldn't suppress the Hornets' madness even after calling two timeouts, and the Hornets' home arena was completely in a frenzy, Paul's name and MVP calls came and went, making Kobe Bryant's face pale.
At this critical moment, Farmar stepped up off the bench and hit a shot to break the Lakers' scoring drought, but the play of Paul and Peja helped the Hornets maintain their lead, and the Hornets led the Lakers 56-48 at the end of the second quarter, reversing the decline of the first quarter.
Entering the second half of the game, Kobe Heavy wore a jersey and went out, but the Hornets, who were bent on winning, played with a fatal attack, and even Kobe Bryant could not contain the attack frenzy led by Paul.
Paul made two straight steals of Bryant and Fisher and converted those two steals into assists, helping Peja and Chandler to attack and extend the Hornets' lead to 61-48.
Immediately after, Kobe Bryant turned on his personal scoring mode, he gave Pau Gasol a look, and the latter made a block with him and received a pass and hit a three-pointer on West, and then Kobe Bryant hit a three-pointer from the outside and then scored two more points from the free throw line, but the Hornets had too much advantage before to maintain a 63-56 lead over the Lakers.
The Lakers' pursuit ended here, in the second half of the third quarter, the Hornets' interior attacks were frequently successful, Bynum dropped the chain, and he couldn't see the shark at all, Chandler couldn't prevent him from entering the restricted area for a while, Kobe Bryant hated iron and steel, and it is estimated that if the team training game will play Bynum.
Paul stepped up the frequency of his breakaways, hitting all six of his free throws from the free-throw line to help the Hornets end the first three quarters with a 79-64 lead.
The Hornets continued to extend their win after the start of the final quarter, and after Paul hit a one-pointer, the Hornets took a 20-point lead at 86-66 at 9:14.
Kobe Bryant and Gasol and others once helped the Lakers narrow the score gap, but the hole dug in front of the team was too big, and the Hornets did not give the opponent a chance to breathe at all, after Chandler hit both free throws, the last 4 minutes, the Hornets still led 96-78. After that, there was no suspense, with both sides replacing their starters and bringing on the bench as the Hornets won 105-88 to keep one of their home courts.
This result made Chamberlain feel envious, jealous and hateful, his mother's wasps kept their home field, and they actually lost their home field, isn't this nonsense?
Playing against the Spurs again, the Warriors were united, and when they entered the court, they changed their hippie smiling faces from the past, and they were expressionless until the game began, Chamberlain and others did not talk again, but practiced separately, and West hit twenty three-pointers in a row outside the three-point line, and the fans who watched were addicted.
The Warriors players gave fans a hope, a hope to win.
Seeing the opponent's immobile appearance, the Spurs players' faces were much heavier, but they are not people who like to be lively, and the Warriors look like this is more like them, that is, a game is a game, what did you do with so many tricks before?
Bowen tried hard to break the morale of the Warriors, and when Chamberlain stepped up to the halfcourt line, he smiled and said, "Hey, baby, why is your look so ugly?" Is it your daughter-in-law who won't let you **** in order to punish you for your failure last time? ”
Chamberlain looked back at a few people viciously, gritted his teeth and said: "You are right, my daughter-in-law won't let me be ****, he asked me to keep my strength to fuck you bullshit bastards!" ”
The referee blew the whistle and threw the ball up, and Chamberlain soared into the air like a rocket and slapped the ball hard!
The moment Chamberlain jumped, Ellis in the front court ran straight forward, Finley was taken aback and did not catch up with him, so the ball flew directly around the three-point line, Ellis grabbed the ball and quickly attacked the basket, and easily sent the ball into the hoop with an easy pick.
With just two and a half seconds to play, the Warriors made it 2-0.
Parker calmly dribbled to the frontcourt, and when he stood at the three-point line, he suddenly accelerated sideways and broke through from Billups, Billups held Parker's waist with one hand and stretched out his hand to stop Parker, Parker turned around and passed the ball to Bowen outside the three-point line.
When Bowen received the ball and made a jump shot, Ellis stuck to it, yelling, "You old man kind of come to break me!" Do you think Lao Tzu is really a defensive sieve? This kind of feint Lao Tzu stopped playing when he was three years old! ”
Finley came up to pick it up, and after getting the ball, he passed it again to Parker, who had rushed to the penalty area, Parker received the ball and jumped sideways, and he slightly adjusted his posture in the air to throw the ball into his hand.
A big man slammed out from under the basket, and Chamberlain shook his hands and jumped fast and high as if he were stepping on a spring, and slapped the basketball and flew down.
Billups picked up the ball and led the team to move quickly, and when he got to the frontcourt, he looked at his teammate's position and passed the ball to Oxlade-Chamberlain on the inside.
Seeing this scene, Duncan and Oberto did not hesitate to step forward to wrap up, the latter was ready to foul, and they planned to continue the tactics of the last game: the iron law of the NBA, if a tactic works, then it is a good tactic.
Chamberlain received the ball on tiptoe and moved it to the retreating O'Bryant, who started today in place of Evans and made his second start of the season.
O'Bryant stabilized the ball in his hand, then jumped up leisurely and sent the ball into the hoop.
Nelson Sr. sent O'Bryant to start, and he used him to break the Spurs' trap tactic: he really didn't have a good interior in his hands, but why wasn't Popovich? Admittedly, Evans is not allowed to shoot in the middle and has no independent offensive ability, he can play Oberto can wrap Chamberlain at will, and Harrington is not large enough in size and tonnage, and he will suffer in the face of Oberto, so let O'Bryant come.
For a center forward, O'Bryant's running, lateral movement and bouncing calculations are excellent, and he never feels heavy and clumsy on the court. Whether he plays or not, he is always very aggressive in grabbing positions under the basket, which makes him a very good rebounder and blocker, especially in the sense of blocking defenses.
The key is that as a seven-foot man, he has a strong ability to control the ball with his hands, and his small hook skills are mature, although the free throw shooting rate is not high, but he has a soft hand and a very impressive mid-range shooting rate. With a wide field of vision, accurate passing, and the ability to quickly find open teammates under the pack, he has a high basketball IQ.
His offensive ability is actually good, but the poor is the confrontation ability, once he makes physical contact with the opponent, the shooting rate will drop wildly.
Admittedly, if one-on-one, O'Bryant doesn't have an advantage against the NBA's interior line, which is why Nelson Sr. is reluctant to use him. But if Chamberlain attracts the pack, then his offensive ability can come in handy.
As for defense, this is O'Bryant's strength, the Warriors selected him with the ninth pick in the first round, because he saw his defensive awareness and growth potential, although it turned out that the team was blind and saw the wrong person, this guy's growth potential is not as good as Evans, but his defensive level is really good.
O'Bryant made a name for himself with his staggering blocking ability right out of high school, and he dominated the Missouri block charts for two years in a row. At the same time, with an ultra-long arm span of 7-foot-6, he is also a big man who can put pressure on opponents, and relying on these to deal with an Oberto who is worse than him in offense, he must be nine out of ten.