Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 181: Death of the Lakers
"Defend! Defend!"

Hansen's offense and defense ignited the emotions of the fans, and the cheers echoed throughout the stadium.

However, this shouting did not affect Kobe. When facing Hansen's defense again, he used his signature back-to-the-basket single play, and successfully shook off Hansen by connecting his up and down steps.

But when he was about to make a layup, Gasol Jr. stood tall in the interior and almost blocked him twice in a row.

Although he avoided the block, the ball hit the front of the basket and bounced out.

This was the strategy Hansen and the others had discussed before for defending Kobe: focus on the outside defense and provide backup defense inside.

This is exactly the same strategy that Yao Ming and Artest used to defend James.

Of course, Kobe is not James, and the fact that this worked has something to do with the fact that Kobe was so excited at the moment.

If Kobe was calm enough, he should have realized that Okafor was open under the basket the moment he saw Gasol Jr., and he had the ability to pass the ball.

But everything has its pros and cons. Looking back, Kobe, with all his strength, blocked Hansen's shot.

He is not really as old as Hansen said. If he is old, he will not play with the highest efficiency of his career and win the MVP. If he is old, he will not average 30+ points per game in the playoffs.

Of course, Han Sen did not stop there.

When Kobe broke into the paint and caused Gasol to foul and stand on the free throw line, Hansen and Gay switched positions and took the initiative to stand on the side of the free throw line.

"Did VC give you the 50?" Han Sen asked, supporting his knees with his hands.

He bet that he could defend Kobe but failed and owed Kobe $50. He asked Kobe to ask Carter for the money because Carter also owed him $50.

More than a year has passed, and he now cares about her.

After all, he knew that the most difficult thing in the world was to collect debts, especially gambling debts.

Kobe didn't even look at Hansen.

However, Han Sen's next words kept him from collapsing.

"How about we bet another 50 dollars? I bet you can make this free throw."

"when!"

Kobe's free throw missed.

When it comes to mentality, Han Sen is second to none in the league.

Then, Hansen was given a cold look by Kobe.

Well, that's what it feels like.

What Han Sen wanted was Kobe to fight him to the death in the first three quarters.

At the end of the third quarter, the Lakers led the Grizzlies 89-86.

Hansen and Kobe were both resting off the court at this time.

The two fought for three quarters and consumed a lot of physical energy.

Of course, it can be seen from the results that Hansen's strategy is effective.

Because Kobe was so angry that he wanted to solve the battle by himself, the Grizzlies' combined inside and outside defense greatly reduced his efficiency.

Of course, another detail is that Kobe did not adapt to the penalty standards and deliberately commit fouls like Metta World Peace and others.

It can be seen that although the referee's whistle still favored the Lakers tonight, he obviously wanted to prove that he could beat the Grizzlies with his ability.

In this case, the help the referee can provide is limited.

"Kobe is the only man on the Lakers tonight." However, this approach did win him O'Neal's approval.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Paul and Gay led their respective teams on the court.

Paul is not Kobe. He is so smart and certainly knows how to maximize the use of penalty measures.

He fouled Faried and Speights and sent them to the free throw line, and the Lakers slowly widened the score.

Seeing this, Jorger had no choice but to replace the main players in advance, and both sides entered the decisive moment in advance.

There were still 8 minutes left in the game, and the score was 98 to 91, with the Lakers leading.

Many Grizzlies fans have already stood up early because this may be the last 8 minutes of the Grizzlies' season.

Hansen came up and made an assist, and Conley made a three-pointer from the top of the arc, and the Grizzlies narrowed the gap to 4 points.

Paul dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and found that his defender was Han Sen again.

Seeing this, Paul directly called on Gasol to set a pick-and-roll.

The scene of being knocked down and humiliated was still vivid in his mind. Today, he must eliminate Han Sen with his own hands!

Gasol failed to block Hansen.

Although Han Sen didn't know the [Puppy Gait], his lateral speed and agility were very high.

However, Paul had already taken advantage of Hansen's pick-and-roll skills to accelerate into the paint.

For a small player, he is very fast.

After looking back at Han Sen's position, he quickly shot a layup.

But he underestimated Han Sen's speed. Just when he sent the ball out, Han Sen had already flown up from behind him.

"boom!"

In a very James-style chase-down block, Hansen pressed the ball directly onto the backboard.

Moreover, this time Hansen jumped from behind Paul, which incidentally pushed Paul out of the baseline.

Hansen landed with the ball, and Paul tried to steal the ball, but his movement was too big and the referee called a foul.

This made Paul very excited, he ran to the referee and questioned loudly.

Where is the whistle you promised?

How come you didn't call a foul when he knocked me out of the baseline, but now you call a foul on me!
It was Paul who made it difficult for the referee to block the shot. Whether a block is a foul usually only depends on the upper limb movements. As for the lower limbs, the offensive team will only move in order to prevent being blocked.

From this perspective, Paul pushed back with his hands when he was pushed out, and the referee's failure to blow the whistle was already a biased whistle.

Conley missed the mid-range pick-and-roll, but Gasol rushed into the paint and made consecutive tip-ins to score, successfully narrowing the score to one goal.

After scoring the goal, Gasol pumped his fist and roared like a white bear.

The other players on the Grizzlies seemed to have returned to G4, but the difference from G4 was that their desire to win was even stronger tonight.

Paul didn't believe it, so he used his speed to break through Han Sen this time, and knowing that Han Sen was chasing him from behind, he made an emergency stop and tried to cause Han Sen to rear-end him.

But he didn't expect that his butt would hit the air.

Han Sen often uses this move, so he is very familiar with it.

The result was that Paul failed to draw a foul and was forced to stop the ball by Hansen. Finally, when he passed the ball back to the outside, he made a pass error and Conley seized the opportunity to steal the ball.

Although Conley plays cleanly, he has a lot of steals, averaging 2.1 steals per game this season, more than Hansen.

The Grizzlies made a fast break, and Gay received the pass from Conley and performed another tomahawk slam dunk.

The Grizzlies launched a 4-0 offensive and directly tied the score!
Brown called a timeout, and the FedEx Center was once again in an uproar.

Hansen's ridicule of Paul during the regular season unexpectedly became the truth for both sides in the series: You can always trust Paul at critical moments!
Although the score was still tied, the Grizzlies looked clearly the team with a better chance of winning.

"Whoop that trick!"

After the timeout, the fans kept cheering.

Kobe started to run the tactics at this time. After receiving the pass from Paul, he shook off Gay, took one dribble and made a quick stop jump shot.

"when!"

The basketball hit the rim and bounced out. His current physical condition made it difficult for him to guarantee success on the offensive end.

What happened in G4 seems to be happening again.

However, before the cheers from the audience could be heard, Kobe predicted where the ball would land, rushed in early to grab the offensive rebound, and then made a second attack, causing Gasol to commit a defensive foul.

He lost his balance and fell to the ground after the confrontation. He was pulled up by Paul and Metta World Peace. He said nothing and went straight to the free throw line.

The camera turned to him again, he was biting his jersey with an extremely determined look.

After losing Game 4, Kobe said in the post-game press conference, "The responsibility for the loss is mine. I failed to stand up in the final quarter."

Now seeing a similar scene again, just like when he said "We are the number one loser" and then made a comeback the next year, Kobe did not take that sentence as just a sentence, this time he is ready to stand up.

Even though he no longer has much physical strength, as long as he can still move, he can do it.

Kobe opened his mouth, took a long breath, and made both free throws despite the noise of interference.

The Lakers took the lead again.

Gasol attacked the basket, but this time his shot was blocked by Okafor, and Randolph's tip-in was blocked by Kobe who rushed to the basket.

The Lakers finally defended this round.

Kobe once again attacked the basket with the ball, but again, his shot was blocked by Hansen who was helping defend.

But at this time, the referee's belated whistle sounded.

Hansen was called for a defensive foul and Kobe got two free throws.

Han Sen's "core shield" was broken.

In other words, that kind of thing didn't exist at all, and the referees were only concerned about preventing Hansen from being sent off.

When the critical moment comes, the decisive whistle will still sound.

Han Sen took a deep breath.

He knew that if he blew up at the referee at this time, he would only get a technical foul.

Kobe made both of his free throws, and the Lakers extended their lead to 4 points.

In the Grizzlies' turn, Hansen also started running tactics.

Gasol blocked Kobe tightly on this ball. After receiving the ball, Hansen passed Gasol with a bow, then rushed to the three-second zone and made a quick stop and shot.

He also knew that it would be difficult to guarantee his shooting accuracy if he was not physically fit, so he could only get to the basket as much as possible.

"when!"

But his jump shot also missed.

Okafor reached out to grab the rebound.

But before he touched the ball, a figure rose from the ground and directly pressed the rebounding basketball and smashed it back! When he saw the figure with one arm hanging in front of him, his eyes were full of disbelief.

That was actually Han Sen who had just completed his attack!
How did he do it?
"call!"

After landing, Han Sen let out a long sigh.

This dunk released all the emotions.

But he staggered a little.

Just now he jumped with all his breath, and his current physical condition does not support him to do that.

But the ball went in and it was all worth it.

After retreating to the defensive end, Hansen also switched back to defend Kobe.

After seeing this, Paul took the ball and broke through the basket, trying to make Gasol commit another foul.

But Gasol is not Faried, and he has already adapted to the scale of tonight's game and dodged in advance.

As a result, after Paul lost his force point in the air, his original front layup was forced to become a pull-up reverse layup, and the ball hit the edge of the basket and bounced out.

Gasol Jr. grabbed the defensive rebound and the Lakers' offense ultimately failed.

Hansen and Randolph played a pick-and-roll, and Randolph's mid-range shot after receiving the ball also missed.

At this stage of the game, the huge physical consumption made it extremely difficult for both sides to score.

It was only at this time that the fans realized that the only players who could score on the court for both teams were Kobe and Hansen.

When the game came to the last minute, Hansen's tip-in helped the Grizzlies tie the score at 101 again.

The fans at the scene felt like their hearts were about to jump out of their chests.

Paul dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, passed it to Kobe, and everyone else moved away.

Kobe and Hansen one-on-one in the high post.

Beads of sweat appeared on Kobe's forehead, and you could clearly feel his physical condition.

However, Han Sen on the opposite side had his jersey soaked, so he wasn’t much better off.

Kobe launched the attack and chose to break through and make a quick stop jump shot after facing the basket.

Even if he has more options now, his physical strength does not support him to complete more complex offensive moves.

This move was not enough to shake Han Sen off.

He was forced to stop the ball by Han Sen.

He tried to use a feint, but the continuous movement only brought Han Sen closer to him.

This kind of fake move is just like the fake ground move that James makes before shooting a three-pointer; it can only deceive yourself.

In the end, Kobe habitually chose a difficult fadeaway jump shot.

Han Sen followed him and jumped up to interfere.

He was forced to lean back more, and he shot an extremely difficult ball at an angle of almost 45 degrees to the ground.

The ball just passed Han Sen's fingertips and was almost blocked again.

After the basketball drew a high parabola...

"Shh!"

Hit the basket!
There was an uproar at the FedEx Center.

Even Kobe can make a shot like this!
After Kobe shot, he slipped backwards and fell to the ground. After being pulled up by his teammates, he excitedly pulled at his jersey.

The classic Kobe moment is difficult, a strong shot, and it goes in!
The Grizzlies called a timeout.

There were 40 seconds left in the game, and the Grizzlies still had a chance to tie or overtake the game.

The FedEx Center was dead silent at this time, and the next round would determine whether the Grizzlies' season would end.

Some fans with weak hearts covered their faces and dared not look.

Last year they lost to the Mavericks in Game 6. Will they lose to the Lakers in the same way this year?
After the pause, the camera focused on Han Sen.

The language of this shot is very clear. In the past period, apart from Kobe, only Han Sen was scoring. At this time, only Han Sen can save the Grizzlies!
Conley dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and passed it directly to Hansen.

Hansen dribbled the ball and waited until the strong side was clear, then he stretched out his hand to signal Gasol to move to the high post to play pick-and-roll.

After opening it, Han Sen quickly walked out, stepping back and waving his hands.

“He’s going to shoot a three-pointer!”

Brown shouted on the sidelines. He knew Hansen too well. With Hansen's character, he would never choose to take a two-point shot when he had the chance to reverse the score!

Kobe and Gasol both rushed towards Hansen.

However, no one expected that Han Sen would raise his hands and strike the ground with a huge blow.

The basketball passed through Kobe and Gasol at an extremely fast speed like a cannonball, and after bouncing, it landed in Gasol's hands.

Gasol Jr. took the ball and rushed to the basket with it held high.

Okafor has also been blocked by Randolph.

"Oh!"

With a cathartic emotion, Gasol Jr. slammed the ball into the basket with all his strength.

With 28 seconds left in the game, the Grizzlies tied the score again!

Brown's judgment was not wrong. Hansen did not choose two points, but he chose to pass the ball.

In other words, the past two rounds are a reflection of the game between the two tonight.

Kobe has been relying on himself to solve problems, while Hansen always has his teammates in mind.

This time it was the Lakers' turn to call a timeout.

After the timeout, Kobe dribbled forward.

After reaching the frontcourt, all the other members of the Lakers moved away again, and Kobe and Hansen were one-on-one in the high post again.

A ball of life and death.

Kobe leaned against Hansen to press the time, and when there were about ten seconds left in the offensive time, he launched the attack.

He did not choose to face the basket again, but chose to trust the strongest killer weapon he had used throughout his entire career: post-up singles.

After turning around and breaking through to the high position, he pressed Han Sen with a series of fake moves before turning and leaning back to the baseline.

Han Sen followed suit and jumped.

The two competed in the air, and finally Han Sen touched the ball with his fingertips!
Although both sides fought to exhaustion, Hansen was younger than him and weighed less after losing weight. Even that little bit played a decisive role at this time.

The basketball didn't hit the rim and fell into the crowd under the basket.

After a scramble, Gasol Jr. got the ball, but before he could raise it, Paul quickly poked the ball!

It's just that Paul poked his finger when he poked the ball, and he didn't get the ball, and the ball was finally poked out of bounds.

After a dangerous situation, the Grizzlies got the ball.

They had 3.6 seconds left.

Just as Joerger was about to call a timeout, the referee gestured to indicate that the ball was in the front court.

This caused an immediate uproar.

This is not a biased whistle, this is a black whistle!

Because there was no such thing as "ball possession challenge" at that time, this gave the referees a lot of room to maneuver.

The Grizzlies players were very excited and there were boos everywhere.

This ball possession is so crucial!

But the referees did not change the call, or it was impossible for them to change the call.

Because the Lakers no longer had any timeouts, Paul waved his hands and quickly walked to the sideline, waving his hands frantically to make tactical gestures, preparing to throw the sideline ball.

"Keep an eye on your people!" Han Sen shouted.

This shout made the Grizzlies players gradually calm down. It was originally a 5 vs. 8 game, so don't expect to get a fair judgment at the last moment.

Kobe was moving, and Gasol blocked Hansen with this shot.

Paul raised his hand to pass the ball, but at the moment he was about to pass the ball, he saw Hansen flashing to the side and preparing to rush out.

He tried to collect the ball, but felt a stinging pain in his fingers and the ball floated out.

"careful!"

"Snapped!"

With Paul's reminder, Hansen completed the steal before the ball flew into Kobe's hands!

The moment he touched the ball, Hansen's body seemed to burst out with infinite power. He rushed forward, shaking off Kobe who wanted to chase him, and also shaking off Paul who ran in from the sidelines.

The cheers at the scene could no longer be stopped.

Han Sen was like a shot arrow, no one could stop him.

He is racing against time.

Han Sen rushed across half court and reached the front three-point line.

There was not enough time for him to rush into the paint and make a layup, so he could only choose the extreme buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Because of inertia, his body was still floating forward, and he made an unconventional three-point move like shooting an arrow on horseback in the air.

The ball flew out of his hands and headed towards the basket.

Before the ball reached its highest point, the red light on the sidelines came on.

The fans at the scene held their breath at this moment and their hearts beat uncontrollably.

Because his body had already floated inside the three-point line when he shot, the distance of the ball was shorter than the actual three-pointer.

"Shh!"

However, it still pierced the Lakers' heart like a sharp arrow!
(End of this chapter)