Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 160 Locking up Kobe will win the game
Smush Parker, who was called "the worst teammate" by Kobe, took the ball to the frontcourt, originally intending to direct his teammates to move and then pass the ball to Kobe.

As a result, Kobe gave him a look and he had no choice but to hand over the ball.

Regarding the feud between him and Kobe, Smush Parker once told a story in which he sincerely asked Kobe for technical advice, but the answer he got was "Get out of here", and then he was given the title of "Kobe's worst point guard partner who is not qualified to play in the NBA".

He didn't even know how he had offended Kobe.

He also denied the title of "the worst teammate". He believed that he averaged 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of 44.7% and 36.5% from three-point range. Although he was not as good as Kobe, he was not the worst among all Kobe's teammates.

Suwan's evaluation of Parker is:

Kobe Bryant fell victim to a parody of Michael Jordan's leadership style.

During this period, he often said this in team training matches:

You should think about your future plans! (You play hammer basketball)
In order to urge his teammates to improve, he would even go to his teammates' homes and knock on their doors at 5 a.m.

In the first two years of leading the team alone, especially when the team failed to make the playoffs in the first season, Kobe's personality was distorted to the extreme. In order to prove that he had the ability to lead the team, he not only pushed himself, but also learned the way Jordan treated his teammates, using all kinds of high-pressure tactics to force his teammates to improve together.

So he doesn't just think Parker is trash, everyone on the Lakers is trash in his eyes.

The only difference is that those who are willing to listen to him and keep up with him are “diligent garbage”, while those who are not willing to follow his way and push themselves are “hopeless garbage”.

Parker is hopeless garbage.

In my teaching, Kobe, you can ask questions if you want to, and not ask if you don’t want to?

Either you just concentrate on learning technology from me and don’t miss a single class; or you just get out of here and don’t treat this as a “hobby class”.

But Parker could never figure this out.

Kobe Bryant faces Artest with the ball.

The moment the two people's bodies touched, it made people feel that they were not confronting each other, but fighting like two wild beasts.

Every time the bodies make contact, you can hear the sound of muscles colliding.

Artest's "death coil" is usually very aggressive, and he is very confident in his lateral movement. Tonight, he was even more aggressive when defending Kobe.

However, facing his oppressive defense, Kobe was able to calmly adjust his pace and offensive form.

Not only Artest was stunned, even Rick Carlisle was stunned.

Although Artest has not played for almost a season, his physical fitness has not declined. On the days when the Pacers have no games, Suwan will find him doing the "hard work" of single defense, and the feeling of him never disappears.

Whether defending a top physical player like LeBron James or other scoring masters, he can effectively limit their movement while dribbling.

So far, Kobe is the first one who can hold the ball calmly under such pressure defense.

Kobe was actually surprised too.

He gained weight and played for most of last season. After losing weight in the summer, he felt like he had taken a pair of shackles off his body and his core strength was better, which allowed him to move freely in any confrontation.

After more than a month of adjustment and adaptation, he found his feeling on the offensive end.

Especially in this month's form, he didn't feel any pressure no matter what defender he faced.

Facing Artest tonight, he felt it was difficult to get rid of him.

He really wanted to say to Artest: "I, Kobe, admit that you are the best defensive player of the season!"

He pulled the ball back, changed his steps, and kept "frying" in front of his body, finally tricking Artest into stopping, and Kobe rushed past him.

But soon, he faced Su Wan's backup defense.

It was just a momentary distraction, and Artest also chased and defended in place, and the two of them blocked Kobe one step away from the free throw line.

Kobe is Kobe. In such a situation, he pushed against the outstretched arms of Suwan and Artest, jumped up forcefully, and shot directly.

Are you that stupid?

When Su Wan saw Kobe take the shot, he was stunned for a moment.

He had a vague impression of Kobe during this period. He only knew that last season and this season were the two seasons when Kobe shot crazily, but he didn't expect that he would be so bold in shooting.

However, when he looked back at the backboard, he realized why.

O'Neal Jr. also came out from the inside when he was assisting in defense, for fear that he would be passed by Kobe in one step, so he could serve as the third line of defense and plug the gap in time.

What kind of “Three Heroes Fighting Lu Bu” drama is this!
This means that the two Lakers inside players are in a "2v1" situation under the basket.

The original version of the "Assisting Board Theory" gameplay, it's here!
As another representative of this style of play, Su Wan knows very well that, in theory, there is absolutely no problem with this style of play.

Anyway, it's quite powerful when he uses it.

As for why the Lakers' performance with this style of play was so poor... he also saw the reason.

Despite the numerical advantage, Foster managed to protect the rebound.

There is really nothing we can do about not being able to grab rebounds in a "2v1" situation in the interior.

If this shot is edited into a GIF, it will become the ironclad evidence of "Kobe's wild shots" in the eyes of some fans in the future.

With two people defending him, he still took action. Does he know how to play basketball?

Can you be more reasonable?
During the Pacers' offensive round, when Suwan received the ball, he made cross runs with Tinsley. Kobe, like a "mad dog", hooked Tinsley's waist, and directly made a "magic circle of love" and quickly appeared in front of Suwan.

Suwan simply gave the ball back to Tinsley, letting him attack the inside.

Parker completely lost his defense in this wave of defense. He turned his head to look for Suwan, only to find that Kobe had bypassed the screen and was staring at him fiercely with "snake eyes":
Are you on guard?
Odom made a tip-in under the basket.

Tinsley has now learned a lot from Su Wan. As long as he sees that his attack has attracted any inside player of the opponent out of the reasonable collision zone, he will shoot without hesitation.

This is a pseudo "2v1" rebounding round at the basket.

Odom's defense speed was still very fast, but he was blocked by Foster outside the reasonable collision zone. O'Neal Jr. angrily grabbed the "offensive rebound" and turned around and slammed it in front of Mim.

Mim and Foster stand together, just as the saying goes:

There are also differences between white centers and white centers.

Suwan stood with Kobe and said the same thing:
There are also differences between the rebound theory and the assist theory.

With O'Neal Jr. and Foster as a pair, the difficulty of playing the "assist rebound theory" is greatly reduced.

Wrapped in bread crumbs, Kobe next door would cry with envy. On the other hand, the combination of Chris Mihm and Odom, let alone Kobe, even Jordan would catch...

No, if Jordan had come, that top shot might have gone in.

There is no way. When a ten-time "scoring champion" with a career average shooting percentage of 49.7% stands in front of you, you will believe that he can make any shot, no matter how difficult it is.

The gap between Kobe and him may be just this 5% career average shooting percentage.

Of course, being able to narrow the gap with Jordan to this extent is enough to make Kobe the best among his peers.

Su Wan faced Kobe again. The advantage of rebounding in the interior allowed him to shoot at Kobe without any hesitation.

Another important point...

Consume Kobe's energy!

At the beginning of the game, Rick Carlisle told Suwan, Artest and O'Neal Jr. that the way the three of them restrict Kobe on the defensive end will determine how far this team can go in the playoffs.

After all, in the Pacers' small lineup, the defense of these three people will largely represent the defensive quality of the small lineup.

Calderon is not only a "bankrupt version of Stephen Curry" on offense, but also on defense.

Dio's ability to defend against certain inside players is impressive, and his help defense on the outside is also pretty good. However, due to his height limitation, when playing at the power forward position, he is often exploited by opponents to exploit defensive loopholes.

In addition, Rick Carlisle is not a veteran head coach who likes to use "zone defense". Well, for the NBA where "defensive three seconds" exists, even if zone defense is used, it is a castrated version.

This is also why in the 2024 Olympics, the US men's basketball team will have to rely on Stephen Curry to solve the problem with three-pointers in the last two games, and why the "Great Emperor" has become a "clown-like existence in the Olympics. They have really never seen a fixed zone defense in the "three-second zone".

Rick Carlisle's preferred defensive method is still the most common single defense, help defense, double team, and early double team in the 90s...

So it's not unreasonable that the Pistons were almost defeated by McGrady's Magic in the playoffs.

With the defensive quality of Hamilton and Billups, what is the difference between defending McGrady 1v1 and Raptors head coach Mitchell using Jalen Rose to defend Kobe not long ago?
However, the Pacers' current defensive resources are not comparable to those of the Pistons.

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

And if the Pacers can limit Kobe, who scored 81 points in a single game, from Rick Carlisle's perspective, the Pacers' defense will not have any problems.

"Dangdang!"

Suwan missed the shot, but O'Neal Jr. successfully grabbed the "offensive rebound" again and completed a slam dunk under the basket.

The dominance he displayed under the Lakers' basket tonight can completely remove the word "small" in front of it. This is O'Neal's impact.

4-0!

When Kobe got the ball again, Phil Jackson also determined the Pacers' defensive strategy, with Artest leading the defense, and Suwan and O'Neal Jr. supporting on the left and right.

This defensive configuration!
Even Phil Jackson frowned.

He inexplicably thought of the 96 Bulls team: the "iron chain" formed by Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, Rodman and Harper, which made the heroes of the league in those years frown and look painful.

The Pacers' defensive configuration is slightly worse than that of the Bulls back then.

But he couldn't help but feel a little worried. Even if Kobe played like crazy in January, could he really play like crazy facing this kind of defensive intensity?
"Dangdang!"

As expected, Kobe missed his second shot.

Artest rushed for the rebound and scored.

The Pacers fought back.

As soon as Su Wan got the ball, he looked for Kobe, not giving him any chance to breathe.

Phil Jackson winked at Cook on the sidelines, asking him to defend Suwan instead of Kobe.

But Suwan said, "Come on, Kobe, don't you want to see 'The zone'? I haven't even started to exert my strength yet, and you're scared?" Kobe pushed Cook aside and rushed towards Suwan again.

The next few rounds can be said to be a replay of the opening rounds.

At 7 minutes and 34 seconds in the first quarter, the Pacers easily opened up an 8-point lead.

Phil Jackson replaced Kobe at this time.

Kobe thought Phil Jackson had substituted the wrong player, and looked towards the "Zen Master" with a questioning look: Why are you substituting me so early?
This season, Kobe averaged 41 minutes and 13 seconds of playing time per game, with less than 8 minutes of rest in a game. His main strategy was "as long as the shot doesn't kill you, just shoot it to your death"!
He has never been substituted so early in the game.

Usually he plays the full 12 minutes in the first quarter.

"Phil, are you going to practice some new formation that I'm not aware of?"

After realizing that he could not lead the team to win the championship alone, the returning Phil Jackson became the only person Kobe would communicate with.

Phil Jackson didn't say much, just asked him to observe the positions of Artest, Suwan and O'Neal, as well as their defensive habits. Kobe listened to him and understood what Phil meant. He knew that this was a very correct decision. He had never studied the defensive positions of these three people before.

Because the Pacers have never used this defensive formation.

But he still said disdainfully: "You don't think that when those three guys from the Pacers defended me, they were the same as when they defended other Lakers players, right?"

Phil Jackson smiled and gave him a thumbs up, saying, "Just keep following Jordan's path and I'll see what good results you can get!"
The "Zen Master" did not agree with the way Michael Jordan got along with his teammates back then.

But at that time he was just a rookie coach who made his name with the help of Michael Jordan, so he never talked about these things with Jordan.

He wanted to have a good talk with Kobe.

He originally thought that last season's failure would allow Kobe to reflect on himself, and his cooperation with Kobe again would be smoother.

In the end, he was only half right...

The communication went smoothly, but Kobe reflected on the reasons for his failure last season and became more paranoid this season.

Although he said that, Kobe still carefully observed the details of Artest's defense.

Although Suwan and O'Neal's defensive backup was very quick, if he could get rid of Artest's defense more quickly, then Suwan and O'Neal's defensive backup would become relatively less timely.

This is called "defensive relativity"!
By that time, there will be an opportunity!
Kobe's thinking is very clear.

The Pacers also achieved their tactical goals during this period:
After a round of investigation, the Lakers do not have advantages in other positions. In other words, as long as they can hold down Kobe, the Pacers will be able to continue to expand the score and successfully win the game tonight.

First update today.

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(End of this chapter)