The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 255 - 159 Locking Kobe to Win the Game_2

Chapter 255: Chapter 159 Locking Kobe to Win the Game_2

Two guys guard up close and take a shot, do they even know how to play?

Can’t you be more reasonable?

During the Pacers’ possession, Su Wan receives the ball and does a cross movement with Tinsley. Kobe, like a "mad dog," hooks Tinsley’s waist and performs a "spin of love," swiftly appearing in front of Su Wan.

Su Wan simply passed the ball back to Tinsley, letting him drive to the basket.

During this defensive play, Parker completely lost his defense, turned his head to find Su Wan, only to realize Kobe had already bypassed the screen and was staring him down with "snake eyes":

What the hell are you defending?

Odom came to help defend under the basket.

Tinsley, now fully grasping Su Wan’s techniques, would not hesitate to shoot whenever he sees his offense draw any of the opponents out of the reasonable collision zone.

This appears to be a pseudo "2v1" under the basket rebound play.

Odom’s return to defense was fast, but Foster blocked him outside the reasonable collision zone. Young O’Neal, irritable, fiercely grabbed the "offensive rebound" and, in front of Mimm, turned around for a slam dunk.

Mimm and Foster stood together, proving the saying:

Not all white centers are the same.

Su Wan and Kobe stand together, reminding us of another saying:

The theories of "assist boards" and "assists" are indeed different.

The pairing of young O’Neal and Foster, playing the "assist board theory," significantly reduces the difficulty.

Wrapped in breadcrumbs, even Kobe next door would cry with envy.

Looking at the combination of Chris Mimm and Odom, not to mention if Kobe were here, even if Jordan were here, it could be...

No, if Jordan were here, that earlier throw might have gone in.

There’s no way around it, when a career shooter with an average of 49.7% shooting accuracy and ten-time "Scoring King" stands in front of you, you just believe he could make any shot, no matter how difficult.

The difference between Kobe and him might just be in this 5% career shooting accuracy.

Of course, being able to close that gap with Jordan, Kobe is also enough to stand proud among his peers.

Once again facing Kobe, Su Wan, with the interior rebounding advantage, fearlessly takes his shot against Kobe.

And an important point...

Draining Kobe’s physical fitness!

Since the start of the game, Rick Carlisle stressed to Su Wan, Artest, and young O’Neal that their defense against Kobe would decide how far this team could go in the playoffs.

After all, in the Pacers’ small lineup, their defense would largely represent the quality of the small lineup’s defense.

Calderon is not only the "bankrupt version of Stephen Curry" on the offense, but he’s also the "bankrupt version of Stephen Curry" on the defense.

Dior impresses with his resistance against some interiors and his help defense on the perimeter is decent, but limited by his height, playing the power forward, he often becomes a defensive liability exploited by opponents.

Add to that Rick Carlisle isn’t a fan of using "zone defense" like those seasoned coaches. Well, given the NBA’s "defensive three seconds" rule, even if zone defense is used, it’s a neutered version.

This is why in the 2024 Olympics, the United States Men’s Basketball Team had to rely on Stephen Curry’s three-point shooting in the last two games, and why the "Great Emperor" became a "clown" there—they had never faced a fixed zone defense in the "three-second zone."

Currently, Rick Carlisle prefers the defensive tactics from the ’90s the most: man-to-man, help defense, double-teams, early double-teams...

That’s probably why the Pistons almost got upset in the playoffs by McGrady leading the Magic Team—it really makes sense.

How different is Hamilton and Billups’s 1v1 defense against McGrady from when Raptors’ coach Mitchell had Jalen Rose guard Kobe?

But now, the Pacers’ defensive resources are not comparable to those Pistons.

Carlisle’s defensive philosophy won’t be a problem here.

And if a Kobe who once scored 81 points in a game can be contained, from Rick Carlisle’s perspective, there wouldn’t be any issue with the Pacers’ defense.

"Clang!"

Su Wan’s shot misses, but young O’Neal once again successfully grabs the "offensive rebound" and completes an under-the-basket slam dunk.

Tonight, his dominance under the Lakers’ basket can totally strip away the prefix "young"; damn, this is the impact of O’Neal.

4-0!

When Kobe got the ball again, Phil Jackson had already determined the Pacers’ defensive strategy, with Artest leading the defense and Su Wan assisting O’Neal from either side.

This defensive setup!

Even Phil Jackson frowned.

He couldn’t help but think of the 1996 Bulls’ team: Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Rodman, and Harper forming the "iron chain" that made the league’s heroes frown in pain.

The Pacers’ defensive configuration was still slightly inferior to that of the Bulls back then.

But he couldn’t help worrying, even with Kobe playing wildly in January, could he really maintain that against such intense defense?

"Clang!"

Sure enough, Kobe’s second shot also missed.

Artest quickly grabbed the rebound.

The Pacers counterattacked.

Su Wan took the ball and immediately sought out Kobe, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

Phil Jackson, from the sidelines, signaled to Cook to replace Kobe in guarding Su Wan.

But Su Wan taunted, "Come on, Kobe, didn’t you want to see ’The Zone’? I haven’t even started playing hard, and you’re already backing down?" Kobe immediately pushed Cook aside and charged at Su Wan again.

The following few rounds were a replay of the opening rounds.

At 7 minutes and 34 seconds left in the first quarter, the Pacers smoothly pulled ahead by 8 points.

At this point, Phil Jackson took Kobe out of the game.

Kobe thought Phil Jackson had subbed out the wrong person, and he looked over at the "Zen Master," his eyes questioning: Why are you subbing me out so early?

This season Kobe averaged 41 minutes and 13 seconds of playtime per game, resting less than 8 minutes, and his motto was "shoot till you drop."

He had never been subbed out so early before.

Normally, he played the full 12 minutes of the first quarter.

"Phil, are you testing some new lineup I don’t know about?"

After realizing he couldn’t win a championship alone and returning, Phil Jackson had become the only person Kobe truly communicated with.

Phil Jackson didn’t say much, only instructing him to closely watch the positioning and help defense habits of Artest, Su Wan, and O’Neal. After hearing that, Kobe understood Phil’s intentions – it was indeed the right decision; he had indeed not studied the defensive positioning of those three before.

Because the Pacers had never used this lead defense formation before.

Still, he derisively said, "You don’t think that when the Pacers’ trio defends me, it’s the same as defending other Lakers players, do you?"

Phil Jackson just smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, "Just keep following Jordan’s path and let’s see what results you can get!"

The "Zen Master" didn’t agree with how Michael Jordan interacted with his teammates back then.

But at that time, he was a rookie coach who had made a name for himself thanks to Michael Jordan, so he had never discussed these issues with Jordan.

He wanted to have a good chat with Kobe.

He had hoped that last season’s failure would make Kobe introspective, and their reunion would go more smoothly.

But he was only half right...

Their communication improved, but after reflecting on the failures of last season, Kobe became even more paranoid this season.

Even though he said that, Kobe still observed the details of Artest’s defense closely.

Despite Su Wan and O’Neal’s swift help defense, if he could shake off Artest’s defense faster, then Su Wan and O’Neal’s help defense would not be as timely.

This is called "defensive relativity"!

By then, there would be opportunities to exploit!

Kobe’s thinking was very clear.

On the Pacers’ side, they too had achieved their tactical objective during that time:

After a round of checks, the Lakers had no other positional advantage, meaning that as long as they kept Kobe under control, the Pacers could continue to widen the score gap, thus smoothly securing tonight’s game.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on fr(e)𝒆webnov(e)l.com

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.