161 Western Conference Finals Begin

May 20th.

The Western Conference Finals has officially begun.

The streets of Los Angeles were buzzing with people, the fans at Staples Center were excited, and some entertainment stars and celebrities came to the sidelines.

Rap singer Snoop Dogg, Sylvester Stallone brought his beautiful three thousand gold daughter, Kim Kardashian, who recently became popular in the United States because of the video incident, and Bree, who won the Best Newcomer Award at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. Cleverly, and Taylor Swift, who won the "Best New Artist Award" at the 50th Grammy Awards, was sitting next to her.

"Los Angeles never lacks big-name celebrity fans."

"The Lakers have reached the NBA Western Conference Finals again after four years. This team has ushered in the rise of O'Neal's eastward journey in the post-OK era. This topic and popularity alone are enough to ferment this city."

Kenny Smith looked at the court expectantly and said.

Compared with the Trail Blazers opposite the Lakers, it was even more difficult for them to reach the Western Conference Finals. This season was even the first time in many years that the other team entered the playoffs. However, even if it is more difficult and not easy, the Trail Blazers It is also far from the enthusiasm and expectations that the Lakers currently have.

The big screen quickly showed the starting lineups of the two teams.

Trail Blazers: Center Joel Przybilla, power forward Aldridge, small forward Zhang Jun, shooting guard Brandon Luo Yin and point guard Jarrett Jack.

Lakers: Center Andrew Bynum, power forward Pau Gasol, small forward Lamar Odom, shooting guard Kobe Bryant and point guard Derek Fisher.

Before the game starts.

Kobe rearranged his clothes and pants on the technical table. He looked at the Trail Blazers in disbelief, and then looked at Zhang Jun, who almost slipped him in the regular season.

Kobe walked onto the court with an expressionless face and bumped sideways as he passed Zhang Jun.

Buckley couldn't help laughing when he saw this.

"Kobe is issuing a challenge to Zhang Jun."

Zhang Jun, who was knocked back and took a step back, was stunned. He looked at Kobe, who pretended that nothing happened and continued to move forward. He couldn't help but smile.

"This black mamba."

The referee's whistle blows and the game begins!

Jump ball at midfield.

Andrew Bynum jumped up and took the ball from Joel Przybilla on the first possession.

"Andrew Bynum, the tenth overall pick in 2005, is 213cm tall and weighs 129kg."

"He is a very traditional big player in the post. He can protect the frame, can pick and roll, and can move forward. The most important thing is that he has outstanding physical fitness, can grab rebounds, and is good at blocking shots."

"The third-year rookie has made very obvious progress this year, averaging 13 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. In the last series against the Spurs, he faced Tim Duncan many times and did not fall behind. The Lakers can To suddenly grow into a championship-level team this season, Andrew Bynum’s growth is very important.”

In Kenny Smith's view, the Lakers are the most typical team-building model for championship competition. Their average height is the first in the league. The starting lineup has three big players: Andrew Bynum, Gasol and Odom. A small player who is very oppressive on the court.

Any team in the league that wants to break through these three long men and get into the paint will probably have to think carefully.

Lakers ball.

Kobe and Fisher both controlled the basketball. Kobe asked for the ball at the top of the arc and quickly moved to the left. Odom, who was originally on the inside, crossed the free throw line from the right to the left to receive the ball at a 45° angle. Sol quickly got into a favorable position with his back and took control.

At the same time, after passing the ball, Kobe once again crossed the free throw line and moved from the left to the right corner, so that only Fisher was left at the top of the arc.

"The Lakers have three big men on the court, so the inside space is bound to be small. In order to release the inside space and find scoring opportunities for the players, the Lakers' head coach Phil Jackson used two consecutive free-throw lines without the ball to distract the defensive players. attention."

"It just so happens that these two penetrating players are both capable of shooting and holding the ball. The Trail Blazers had to follow up and didn't dare to fall behind half a step. In this way, Gasol got a very comfortable position."

Barkley seemed to be very familiar with the Lakers' tactics. He could see through the fundamentals of the Lakers' on-field tactics and play at a glance, and also analyzed the reasons why the Lakers played the way they did.

In his opinion, Jackson is definitely the best coach in the league at using big men and twin towers. Of course, he is not only good at this.

"Defend!"

Zhang Jun on the right shouted a reminder that Aldridge was guarding Gasol at this time.

Zhang Jun keenly discovered that Gasol, who received the ball on the left, did not play singles the first time he received the ball. Instead, he held the ball behind his back and observed the movement of his teammates.

He's running a triangle offense!

After discovering that no one on the Trail Blazers had any thoughts of double-teaming, Gasol started attacking with his back.

boom!

The first back-body collision was so powerful that Gasol even slumped his shoulders. Aldridge was knocked back half a step, and his resistance was quite strong.

It's just that it's very different from traditional big men such as Yao Ming and O'Neal who play post-ups. Gasol's post-up is not only about strength or turning, but also a lot of movement with the ball and breakthrough steps. .

This is due to his agile body and excellent ball-handling skills.

call!

After knocking Aldridge half a step away, Gasol immediately moved laterally with the ball and approached the basket.

In such a deep position, Joel Przbilla had to rush over to help defend.

Uh-huh!

Gasol made a front hook in the paint area and the basketball fell firmly into the basket, scoring the first goal for the Lakers.

"Beautiful hook, facing the defense of two people."

"This is the first point of this year's NBA conference finals, from Pau Gasol of the Lakers."

Switch offense.

The Trail Blazers played the same tactics as usual. After the start, Luo Yin held the ball to assist, and Zhang Jun ran without the ball near the baseline.

Aldridge raised the pick-and-roll, and Luo Yin used the pick-and-roll to get rid of Kobe's defense and quickly walked to the basket. The Lakers' defensive method was to switch defense, and Gasol saved it to help defend.

This is the defensive strategy used by the Trail Blazers' opponents when they played the Rockets and Hornets before.

It's just that the Lakers have made some changes in this defensive strategy.

"After switching defenses, I switched back again!"

"After Kobe got rid of Aldridge's pick-and-roll, he quickly rushed towards Luo Yin. Gasol just lifted up to delay the defense, and then quickly moved sideways and returned to Luo Yin after Kobe returned to defense!"

Luo Yin faced Kobe again, and he was a little afraid.

Turning his back, Luo Yin tried to push away Kobe, but Kobe didn't move at all. In the end, he could only take a step sideways to try to open the distance between him and Kobe and then complete the shot.

call!

Kobe quickly followed up without giving Luo Yin any space. He seemed to understand Luo Yin's footsteps very well.

Duang!

Luo Yin took a shot against Kobe's shot. The basketball hit the top of the basket and the attack missed.

Then an extremely terrifying scene occurred on the court.

Gasol stuck Aldridge on the left side of the basket, Bynum stuck Joel Przybilla on the right side of the basket, and Odom moved into the paint the moment Luo Yin took action. Guard near the middle road.

Just like this, after the Trail Blazers made a shot, the basket was surrounded by all the Lakers' big players, and no one from the Trail Blazers could hit the offensive rebound.

Zhang Jun, who originally wanted to hit the offensive rebound, immediately stopped thinking about going after seeing this wall.

"Who can rush in? Unless it's a high rebound after a long-range shot, no one can grab this rebound."

boom!

Bynum jumped high to grab the rebound, and then smacked the basketball hard with his other hand, as if to express his sovereignty.

But in the eyes of others on the court, his action of grabbing the rebound and then batting the ball was a bit arrogant.

The Lakers attack again.

Although they have three big players on the field, they can counterattack very quickly.

Kobe asked for the ball at the midline. He wanted to hit the basket, but found that the Trail Blazers' defense was faster than him.

Zhang Jun had already returned to the frontcourt and was staring at Kobe under the basket.

With the ball in hand, Kobe came to a 45° angle on the right side and took a shot directly from outside the three-point line in the face of Luo Yin's defensive step back.

Uh-huh!

The basketball is a solid hit.

"Starting 5:0, the Lakers seem to be in very good shape."

Aldridge served a baseline kick, and Luo Yin felt great pressure inexplicably.

Although the game only lasted a minute, the opposite Lakers team gave him the feeling that as long as you failed to respond to a ball, they could immediately open up the score.

"This round must be scored no matter what!"

Trail Blazers offense.

Luo Yin was still holding the ball at the top of the arc and needed to pick and roll. This time, Zhang Jun knew that Kobe and Gasol would also adopt the defensive strategy of switching defenses in the previous round and then switching back. After all, the Lakers have three big men inside. The defensive area on the court and the ability to protect the inside are very strong, so they dare to switch back after switching defenses, and they are not afraid that the Trail Blazers will take advantage of the short period of switching back to make a breakthrough.

Because the inside space is small, as long as Luo Yin dares to break through the Lakers, other players will make up for it.

So in order to solve this problem, Zhang Jun stepped forward to give Luo Yin a pick-and-roll, but the pick-and-roll was false.

After the pick-and-roll, Zhang Jun quickly ran back and hit the basket. This time, Kobe didn't dare to wait for time to switch defense, so he quickly followed Zhang Jun to the baseline.

In this way, it becomes Odom who defends Luo Yin.

Luo Yin understood instantly. At this time, he and Aldridge were engaged in a pick-and-roll. In terms of defensive speed, Odom did not have the speed and defensive pressure of Kobe, so he would need to consume more energy if he wanted to switch back after being picked-and-rolled. time.

And since Odom is bigger, it will be more difficult for him to get rid of Aldridge's pick-and-roll.

But during this free time, the defensive pressure on Luo Yin has dropped a lot!

"He's going to shoot!"

Kobe reminded him on the other side but it was too late. Luo Yin took advantage of the pick-and-roll and took another mid-range shot.

This time, he was finally not facing Kobe's defense, and Luo Yin suffered much less defensive pressure.

Uh-huh!

The basketball hit the basket steadily.

After seeing this goal, Nate McMillan, who had been restless, finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the coaching bench.

Monty Williams said: "Finally a goal, but it's not a problem to keep playing like this."

"The Lakers' defensive arrangement inside is very good. They also use the strategy of switching defenses and then switching defenses in the mid-range. Their defense is really good."

Nate McMillan also saw this clearly. He found that the Lakers' defense suppressed the team very much. To be precise, it suppressed Luo Yin very much.

The Lakers are a team that attaches great importance to inside and mid-range defense. Luo Yin's scoring area is precisely in these two positions, so asking him to use his own offense to deal with the Lakers' defense is tantamount to encountering a problem. nemesis.

“When you play the Lakers, it’s best to use three-pointers.”

Nate McMillan came to this conclusion.

On the court.

Gasol held the ball in a high position. Fisher passed the ball from the top of the arc and immediately moved to the bottom corner. Gasol went to the line as a pivot. After observing the positions of his teammates, he immediately passed the ball to Kobe on the other side.

This is another way of playing the triangle offense. The big man comes up to attract the defensive attention. After the weak-side player attacks with the ball, he can post up and complete the offense directly.

Due to Gasol's restriction on the line, although there are still many defensive players and the space inside is slightly compressed at this time, because Gasol is far away from the penalty area, Kobe naturally gets an offensive opportunity near the free throw line.

It is a mid-range offensive opportunity.

Kobe is very good at mid-range offense.

He took one step forward to dribble, passed Luo Yin sideways, and then leaned back from the mid-range to directly hit the ball.

Uh-huh!

The goal was scored cleanly.

"That's why the Lakers dared to play three big players."

"Half of the teams in the league have begun to speed up in the past year or two, weakening the big players inside, choosing to retain one or two big men at most to form dominance in the inside, and then dominate the outside offense."

"Only the Lakers dare to be unique, but they have the confidence to bring in three big players and have no worries about affecting the team's offense."

"Because the Lakers have the best outside player in the league at mid-range, Kobe Bryant."

Buckley nodded and analyzed.

This is also the reason why the Lakers' record has been soaring after acquiring Gasol. What they have been lacking is a player who can act as a pivot, attack independently, pass the ball and defend.

Gasol may become an All-Star for any team in the league and help the team steadily improve, but only by joining the Lakers will his abilities and characteristics be infinitely amplified, and this team has always been What is lacking is players like Gasol.

After scoring this goal, the Lakers led 7:2.

The opponent's rapid opening up of the point difference and suppression of the opponent's defensive end were a bit jaw-dropping. At least none of the Blazers could react. How could the 5-point point difference be opened up in the blink of an eye.

What's more important is that the Lakers players on the field gave the Trail Blazers players an inexplicable pressure, which they have never encountered in the playoffs so far.

This Lakers team is truly the best team they have ever faced.

"Give me the ball!"

Zhang Jun suddenly shouted.