The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 568 - 233 "The Tallest Mountain" VS "The Longest River"_4

Chapter 568: Chapter 233 "The Tallest Mountain" VS "The Longest River"_4

This is it!

This is the flavor we need!

This is the intensity and courtside drama that the final NBA finals of the 2000s should have.

As the team doctor managed to stop the bleeding for Su Wan and Kobe, the game restarted.

But the live cameras started stirring things up, frequently cutting to Ivanka, Sharapova, and Elsa.

Just now, when Su Wan was bleeding, these three women all rushed over.

In the ABC studio, Reggie Miller remarked with emotion, "Su Wan’s popularity is just too high!"

To draw such a crowd in that dump of Indiana.

If he were to go to a big city, wouldn’t he become the next "Zhang Dashuai"?

However, these off-court sideshows were quickly forgotten as Kobe and Su Wan tangled up again.

The back and forth between Su Wan and Kobe dumbfounded everyone.

Let’s put it this way...

The confrontation between Kobe and Carmelo Anthony in the Western finals was satisfying for many fans, who felt it left them wanting more.

But in terms of intensity, the clash between Su Wan and Kobe felt somewhat like a ’David and Goliath’...

The ferocity of the game far surpassed that series, and...

the brilliance of the one-on-one battles also exceeded that match.

In the Western finals, over 6 games, Carmelo Anthony averaged 27.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, while Kobe’s averages were even higher, with 34.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists!

It could be said that Kobe thoroughly outperformed Anthony in overall stats!

This indirectly shows that Carmelo Anthony wasn’t consistently able to match Kobe head-to-head in every game.

Now in the first game of the finals, Su Wan and Kobe were going toe to toe. They exchanged blows at the start, and as the game escalated in the second half, Su Wan continued to respond to Kobe’s scoring.

Barkley, as the most rational "Su Wan fan," always had a viewpoint:

Su Wan’s accolades surpass Kobe’s, but in terms of individual ability, there was still a slight gap between him and Kobe.

However, seeing Su Wan’s performance in this game, he could confidently say, "Starting this season, Su Wan is truly the League’s number one player!"

Not only in honors but now in both offense and defense, Kobe couldn’t suppress him.

Although Su Wan couldn’t suppress Kobe either, if you look at it from both perspectives, one being even and the other a clear advantage, isn’t the ultimate outcome still a victory?

Just like this game...

Kobe and Su Wan were even.

But the Pacers’ inside game had the edge.

Especially after Yao ran out of physical fitness, the Pacers could still field a lineup with Zach Randolph and young O’Neal, or Marc Gasol. —Actually, the Gasol brothers’ showdown was also one of the highlights of the finals, but because it couldn’t quite compare to other aspects of this game, it wasn’t often mentioned.

Nevertheless, Marc Gasol truly became the last straw that broke the Lakers’ inside game.

Although he had no match experience, let alone championship experience,

he knew his brother well, understood his playstyle and habits, and could make timely defensive moves to restrict him.

Paul Gasol, already struggling to deal with Zach Randolph, was practically stabbed in the back by his own brother, making the game even harder for him.

In the end, they beat the Lakers by a score of 105 to 92, a 13-point margin, on the Lakers’ home court, taking the first victory of the finals.

The final stats for both sides were:

Su Wan 33 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 incident of bleeding; Kobe 32 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 incident of bleeding;

Shaquille O’Neal 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks; Yao Ming 18 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks;

Zach Randolph 18 points, 11 rebounds; Paul Gasol 16 points, 10 rebounds;

Billups 15 points, 6 assists; Ariza 11 points, including 3 three-point shots.

At this point, the Lakers and Pacers matchup was just barely comparable.

But the Pacers had a "Super Sixth Man," young O’Neal with 16 points.

The Lakers’ bench didn’t have a player of that caliber, no wonder they lost by double digits.

Hmm...

Basketball is sometimes just that simple, like Akagi Haruko taking notes in her textbook, you can calculate whether you’ll win or lose.

But what makes basketball more than just arithmetic is:

A player’s mindset, thoughts, spirit...

These can all influence a player’s performance!

Leading them to perform either beyond their ability value or below it.

Just like some students who do great on practice exams, but on the day of the final test, the big college entrance exam, they falter...

Of course, there are also cases where an average student excels in the final exam, going from a regular institution to a top-tier university.

The second game of the finals proved this too.

Having lost a home game, the entire Lakers squad, facing the upcoming "three away games," burst forth with an incredible will to survive, and played in extraordinary form. Despite the Pacers’ tactics being well-applied, they couldn’t stop the ball from finding its way into the basket.

In the end, the game finished with the Lakers winning on their home court 107 to 100, a 7-point advantage, evening the series at 1-1.

Although the home-court advantage still favored the Pacers, at least the situation wasn’t as dire!

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l