Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 198 Rest easy, LeBron

Rich Paul is really...

What a good brother!

LeBron James smiled with satisfaction.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was a good idea.

What could be more important than this?
Of course, to be on the safe side, LeBron James still took a look at the upcoming schedule. If the games are all weak teams, he would put himself in an embarrassing situation if he rested.

The good news is that the Cavaliers' opponents in the next week are all tough teams. They will face the Pistons, Mavericks, Wizards and Nuggets, all of which are strong teams at the playoff level.

Especially the Mavericks.

The team's record is second only to the Pacers in the league.

Even with LeBron, the Cavaliers will not have an easy time against the Mavericks.

In the last game, they fought hard but still lost by 8 points.

Moreover, without him...

hum!

That would definitely be a disastrous defeat!
LeBron seemed to have already seen his team being beaten by the Mavericks by 30 points, and then the whole of Cleveland wailing, crying and begging him to come back.

Then, under the unwilling eyes of Shaquille O'Neal, he will take back all the rights that belong to him at once!

Since Su Wan can kill you, I can kill you too!

The next morning, LeBron called Mike Brown and told him that his back injury had recurred and that he would not go to the gym for training today. Mike Brown became nervous when he heard that his back injury had recurred: "How is it? Is it serious?"

LeBron said vaguely: "For the specific situation, I need to meet with the doctor and wait for the examination to know."

Mike Brown nodded: "Okay, if you have any questions, please contact me in time, LeBron, the team will fully cooperate with you, all you have to do now is to rest and recover. You know, how far the Cavaliers can go depends on you!"

These words almost made LeBron roll his eyes in pleasure.

That's the reaction, that's the reaction!
Just wait, you will all know soon what it means for the Cavaliers to be without me!
Mike Brown quickly announced the news at the practice field.

When Shaquille O'Neal mentioned this, he got excited.

He and LeBron have been at a truce for many days.

The management ignored the fight between him and LeBron and refused to trade him. As a result, he could only waste time with LeBron. He thought that this season would pass without them getting tired of each other.

I didn’t expect that!
God actually gave him such an opportunity.

Let him go further!
As soon as the training was over, he said to Gibson: "Man, treat the next game as a playoff game. No, you haven't played in the playoffs yet, so treat it as the last game of your career. Whether you can have more say on the court depends on these few games!"

Gibson was still a child, so he didn't realize that the battle for the team's sovereignty had already begun.

But Shaquille O'Neal has been involved in locker room struggles for a long time, so he naturally understands the truth that "winning is not scary, but it's embarrassing if someone is missing."

When the Cavaliers without LeBron go on a winning streak, he will be able to show his true colors again!

It's hard though.

Shaq looked at the Cavaliers' schedule for the next week, which included many strong teams.

but……

In front of the "Fire Sharks", all strong teams are paper tigers!

Shaquille O'Neal hasn't been this excited in a regular season game in a long time.

The Cavaliers' locker room was once again undercurrent due to LeBron's sudden "injury".

As for the Pacers, they will face the challenge of the strong Los Angeles Lakers after the All-Star Weekend.

The last time they lost to the Lakers, Su Wan admitted it, but he felt unwilling in his heart.

He must get back at the plate in this game.

The Lakers are also full of fighting spirit.

The reason for the high spirits is naturally Kobe.

There's no way. Given Kobe's personality, there's no way he wouldn't take Popovich's words to heart.

What's more, there are reporters fanning the flames: "Greg thinks Su Wan is as capable as you. Do you agree with him?"

Kobe just smiled and said, "After this game, you will know whether I agree or not!"

Once Kobe showed his desire to fight, who on the entire Lakers team would dare not rush forward roaring?

This game was also called a "preview of the finals" by many media!
Of course, among these many media, a large portion of them are from Los Angeles.

The Dallas media disagreed with this statement. They had been focusing on Indiana recently and now turned their guns to Los Angeles:
"Let's wait until the Lakers' record surpasses the Mavericks before discussing the finals!"

"If you don't know, you would think the Lakers are now No. 1 in the Western Conference!"

"This season the Mavericks have no rivals in the West, including the Lakers!"

……

The arrogant Dallas people now only have Suwan and the Pacers in their eyes.

The Mavericks' strong record makes them extremely confident. They believe that this season they can definitely take revenge and return the shameful "throat-cutting" action to Su Wan!

what?
You said the Pacers have a better record than the Mavericks this season, why are Dallas people still so confident?

Dallasites: Do you understand what it means that the East is weak and the West is strong?
The Pacers have played more games against Eastern Conference teams, so of course they have a better record!

If the Mavericks were in the Eastern Conference this year, their record would be even more terrifying!
In the last game, Rick Carlisle already knew how powerful the connection between Kobe and Yao Ming was.

Therefore, from the beginning of the game, he tried to cut off the connection between Kobe and Yao Ming.

Whenever Yao Ming goes to the high post for pick-and-roll, the Pacers will use the more mobile O'Neal to follow up and directly switch defense.

Let O'Neal Jr. guard Kobe, and let Suwan switch to defend Yao Ming to intercept the ball.

After all, if Kobe was allowed to go to the free throw line, not to mention Suwan, even Artest would not have so many means to stop him from attacking the basket.

Inside players like O'Neal who have long arms and legs are more suitable for defense.

Even if we can't stop him from attacking, we can still interfere with him.

When Suwan defended Yao Ming, his flexibility made Kobe afraid to pass the ball back. First, Kobe's passing ability was not top-notch, he could not perform so many fancy passing moves, and he was not so good at micro-manipulation of passing force; second, passing the ball to Yao Ming was also a technical job. His center of gravity was destined, and he could not catch the ground.

The effect was still very obvious. In the first five minutes of the first quarter, Kobe and Yao Ming failed to complete a joint attack.

At this time in the last game, they had already completed a pass to each other.

However, there is another reason this time. The Pacers' morale is stronger and the intensity of their tactical execution is incomparable to the previous game.

Phil Jackson discovered this, too.

Today, he rarely shouted on the sidelines, reminding the Lakers players to move on the court.

Phil Jackson in the 90s was actually also a "roaring emperor", but as he won more and more championship rings, he became so proud of himself that he began to "wander" on the sidelines.

But even if Kobe and Yao Ming were prevented from connecting, the score between the two sides was only 51 to 48 at the end of the first half.

Thanks to Calderon's catch-and-shoot three-pointer, the Pacers barely entered the second half with a 3-point lead.

Rick Carlisle said to Su Wan in the locker room: "Man, you have to attack the inside more in the third quarter to consume Yao's energy!"

Su Wan gritted his teeth and nodded.

This is not an easy task.

Because the person defending him was Kobe.

As the number of their encounters increases, Kobe is now very familiar with O'Neal's pick-and-roll, and can often avoid it in advance.

It has to be said that defense really has a lot to do with enthusiasm. Once enthusiasm is high, no matter how high the quality of the pick-and-roll is, it will be difficult to be effective every time.

Especially for a defender like Kobe...

O'Neal is considered a very good screener in the league, but he still can't stop Kobe.

But when rushing to the inside, Su Wan could only call for a pick-and-roll.

Since O'Neal Jr. is not good enough, Suwan can only let Foster help with pick-and-roll.

He is wider.

But there is a problem. Foster is not O'Neal Jr. and does not have so many ways to attack after receiving the ball. Especially when he is in the high post, he is basically a "wall" and it is useless even if he gets the ball.

The essence of the pick-and-roll lies in the two-line head attack.

Blocking is one part of the essence, and dismantling is another part of the essence.

The pick-and-roll with Foster was only blocking, no breaking!
At the beginning of the second half, seeing Suwan and Foster's pick-and-roll, Kobe and Yao Ming reacted quickly. They both rushed towards Suwan the next second after the pick-and-roll was formed.

Seeing this, Su Wan decisively turned on "The zone" mode, simply stepped on the accelerator, and rushed between Kobe and Yao Ming, rushing straight to the basket and completing a stunning dunk.

The Indiana players at the scene were still worrying about whether Suwan would lose the ball in the double-team, and the next second they saw Suwan soar into the air and complete the bombing, and they immediately screamed involuntarily.

Kobe and Yao Ming both looked like they had seen a ghost.

They could more intuitively feel Su Wan's sudden surge in instantaneous power at that moment.

What the hell is “The Zone”?

Kobe's eyes were full of flames.

Otherwise why does he like playing against Su Wan so much?

you say……

How can this not be exciting?
For Suwan, Kobe is also the best opponent.

Don't say anything else.

In the third season of his career, with Shaquille O'Neal's words "Never talk trash to him", the number of players who dared to provoke Suwan or talk back at Suwan was greatly reduced.

The Pacers are about to finish 60 games this season, but Suwan has opened "The Zone" less than 20 times.

Only in the game against the Lakers can Suwan open "The zone" every time!
Suwan scored, Kobe hit back, facing Artest outside the right three-point line, and provocatively glanced at Suwan who was preparing to make up for the defense. His expression seemed to say:
Yeah!
Come on, come up!

Two people come together!

Su Wan was not tolerant at all and shouted behind Artest: "Ron, I will guard him!"

Kobe actually waited for Suwan and Artest to switch positions before launching the attack.

"Everyone will know who is better between you and me!" Kobe's trash talk is quite childish.

Su Wan curled his lips: "For the sound of a dog barking?"

Kobe: “…”

Actively seeking physical contact, Kobe took a "pause step" with his body turned sideways as Suwan approached, and used the acceleration of a half turn to directly break through.

But he didn't expect that Su Wan actually reacted, took a big step back quickly, avoided his elbow, and moved sideways again, perfectly intercepting Kobe's path.

But when Kobe saw this, he quickly stopped, adjusted his body balance while stepping back, and then took a "fade away jump shot", and the ball fell into the basket.

The whole movement was incredibly smooth.

This is Kobe's greatest ability:

After last season's "crazy season", Kobe has now mastered various offensive skills and can switch seamlessly.

Barkley watched Kobe's defense. When Kobe jumped in the air to shoot, he seemed to see an old friend: "How many times has this guy watched Michael Jordan's tape?"

While returning to defense, Kobe pouted and shook his head slightly at Su Wan.

As the saying goes:
What a pretentious guy hates most is others pretending to be pretentious in front of him.

In the next round, Su Wan also took the initiative to invite Kobe to have a "1v1" match with him.

The fans at the scene looked at Suwan hooking his finger at Kobe provocatively, and suddenly there was a burst of noise.

This scene alone is enough to make them excited!
Compared to Kobe, although Suwan is now a comprehensive scorer, his overall skills are not yet so perfect.

But he also has his own advantages...

That is the “full power” that can be reached instantly!
Although there are physical limitations, with Su Wan's current physical fitness, he no longer needs to hide it and wait until the last moment of the game to use it.

and……

Kobe is in good form now. If he doesn't fight back immediately, how can there be a final moment in this game?
Su Wan could notice that the "little snake" was always watching his movements.

I'm not trying to guess his next move, but to observe his accumulation of strength.

Obviously Kobe grasped the core of the problem.

Suwan's skills are good compared to most stars in the league, but in the eyes of "technical players", he is still a bit rough.

What really makes him rank among the top fighters is his terrifying instantaneous power.

Suwan is a very generous person. Since Kobe cares so much, let him see what kind of "monster" he is fighting against.

"Full power" turned on, with almost no obvious charging action, Su Wan just got rid of Kobe, rushed to the basket, took the ball with his left hand to trick Yao Ming into jumping up, and staggered the space. In the air, the ball returned to his right hand, and Su Wan once again "1 vs 2" and completed a one-handed slam dunk.

This goal once again made the audience excited.

Kobe's eyes were filled with shock. He couldn't figure out how Su Wan did it... He could capture that moment, Su Wan's power-gathering action, but it was only for a moment - his eyes saw it, but his brain hadn't reacted yet.

How did he develop such body control ability?
Kobe is jealous...

He wanted to ask:
Isn’t it dark enough in Los Angeles at 4 a.m.?

Is that why we cannot have such brilliant light?
How about training with Su Wan this summer?
Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but after getting the ball, Kobe's eyes became focused again. In this round, he also exerted his strength directly and forced a jump during the breakthrough.

The whole action is very clean, very Jordan-like. ——Compared to Jordan, Kobe's movements before shooting are actually much more detailed. This is because his physical condition is not as good as Jordan's, and he needs more micro-manipulation to create space and adjust his body balance.

Therefore, Su Wan did not expect that he would suddenly make such a neat shot. It was as if he had just taken out a wine flask and was about to take a sip, but was "frozen" in place by the Monkey King. When he cleared the debuff and jumped up again, Kobe had also completed his shot.

Still on target!

Su Wan was not willing to be outdone. In the next round, he asked for the ball to attack Kobe. During the confrontation, he used his elbow to push Kobe away and made the same signature "quick stop jump shot".

"Shh!"

Also hit!

It’s getting soaring!

Barkley was so excited that he looked like a pig in the wind, and he flew up into the air.

Bill Walton said: "Dear viewers, what you are seeing is a battle between the strongest No. 2 players in the NBA. I know that some of Dwyane's fans will be dissatisfied with me because of this, but what does it matter? Kobe and Suwan are performing a battle of the highest level of No. 2 players. They deserve such a title!"

Rick Carlisle's eyes were full of surprise.

He was well aware that Suwan had made progress this season, but he never expected that he could now compete with Kobe on both offense and defense.

This was something that he would never have been able to do two years ago.

Knew it!
Rookies watch for three years...

In the past three years, Su Wan has grown from an ordinary All-Star to a top superstar in the league.

Even when competing against Kobe, who is recognized as the top scorer in active service, he is not at all inferior.

This way, the Pacers will have more manpower to deal with Yao Ming.

The game entered the third quarter. Although Yao Ming did not gain weight as much as before, facing the continuous double-teaming of Foster and O'Neal, his physical fitness still had problems in the fourth quarter.

As a result, even if Suwan needed to save his energy for the second half of the fourth quarter, he still fell into a disadvantageous position in the competition with Kobe.

The Pacers still relied on their advantage in the interior and successfully maintained a 7-point lead until the last two minutes.

Kobe made a forced three-pointer, helping the team narrow the gap to 4 points. Suwan rushed into the basket at full power, causing Yao Ming to foul, and completed a "2 plus 1" in response, widening the gap to 7 points.

101 to 94…

In the end, at Conseco Fieldhouse, the Pacers won with a 7-point difference.

For the Lakers:
科比拿到了38分6篮板5助攻2抢断1盖帽；大姚前三节22分，第四节3分，一共拿到了25分，此外还有11个篮板3次盖帽；
Apart from the two of them, the Lakers' best player was Odom, who scored 16 points but took 17 shots, which was very inefficient. Especially in the fourth quarter, when Yao Ming needed him to step up due to physical reasons, he only made 6 of 1 shots.

But this is the best helper the Lakers have besides Kobe and Yao Ming...

Bill Walton's feeling after watching this game was: "The copy of OK is dominant enough, but they still lack a sufficient helper. This person should be Lamar Odom, but he didn't do what he should have done in this game."

Reporters in Los Angeles were also critical of Odom.

Lama actually didn't care about the criticism from the media, but he knew exactly how Kobe would look at him the next day after seeing the news. Therefore, Odom, who had already anticipated that he would be drowned in the media's criticism the next day, took the initiative to send a message to Kobe on the bus back home:

——Kobe, I think I need to practice more.

He pressed "Send" with his thumb almost trembling.

Then he watched Kobe open his phone, then turned his head and showed him an expression of surprise and relief:
You, kid, have finally grown up!

Odom looked at Kobe's reaction and thought:

Being physically tired is always better than being mentally tired!
It's better to be tortured for a while than to be stared at by Kobe with his venomous eyes every day.

The Pacers:

苏万第三节砍下了14分，最终全场砍下了34分6篮板2助攻2抢断2盖帽。

His performance was almost on par with Kobe's.

But he knew that except for those few shots where he played at full power, he was mostly suppressed when facing Kobe and could only look for opportunities for mismatch.

There is no way, because Kobe is the most capable player in the league during this period.

The right age, the best condition and the most sophisticated skills.

I'm afraid that no matter who it is, it will be difficult to gain the upper hand against such a Kobe.

However, a thought suddenly popped up in Su Wan's mind:
I wish I were also a rookie of the “96 Generation”.

It must be a very pleasant feeling to compete with Kobe at his peak...

Ok……

Su Wan had no idea that he was actually also a "battle maniac".

Since Kobe was fully focused on Suwan in this game, the Pacers' other two core players performed very well:

O'Neal Jr. scored 25 points and Artest also scored 19 points.

Often on nights when both of them can contribute enough firepower on the offensive end, the Pacers can defeat their opponents.

The only difference is...

In the past, if the three of them had performed like this, the game would have been over long ago.

In tonight's game against the Lakers, they only won by 7 points.

But considering that they were facing Kobe and Yao Ming, a pair of "OK copies", it was understandable that the victory was difficult.

Rick Carlisle seemed to realize something, and immediately asked his assistant coaching team to start collecting more information about the Lakers after the game.

The Lakers were also originally the favorites to win this year, and the Pacers coaching staff had been studying their game.

Before this game, the Pacers coaching staff was more inclined to believe that the Mavericks would be the team that made it out of the West. Now that the second game with the Lakers has been played, Rick Carlisle feels that the Lakers are more likely to become the final obstacle.

The Lakers are the only team in the league that has advantages both inside and outside against the Pacers.

Of course, the Pacers also have their own advantages against them.

It’s just that the Pacers didn’t take advantage of this advantage in this game.

The main reason was that Yao Ming was too aggressive in the early period, and he kept attacking the basket with the ball.

Kobe is also on the outside.

If they really don't care about the "small lineup", it might be a "copy of OK" where two people each hit the Pacers with a hammer and knocked them out directly.

Rick Carlisle needs to study the Lakers more carefully and analyze the best time for the "small lineup" to play from Phil Jackson's use of Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant.

Anyway, the Lakers' weaknesses are here:

Yao Ming’s physical fitness!
Then this game also proved that the connection between Kobe and Yao Ming could be cut off.

Taking all these aspects into consideration, Rick Carlisle also has certain ideas about how to target the Lakers.

It's just a pity...

The Pacers and Lakers will not play in the regular season next.

But winning this game at least made their regular season record with the Lakers 1-1.

And as the party that has completed revenge, they have a psychological advantage.

Not only that, early the next morning, Indiana announced to the world that the Pacers had returned to the top of the power rankings.

What Lakers? They are just so-so!
After defeating the Lakers, the Pacers went on to win three consecutive games.

But at this time, everyone's attention was temporarily shifted away from them.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been the focus of attention recently.

It's not just because they have achieved "four consecutive victories".

Also because of this wave of "four-game winning streak" Cavaliers without LeBron James!
more importantly……

The opponents are all very powerful!

The first game was against the Pistons, who were ranked third in the Eastern Conference and were in direct competition with the Cavaliers.

At that time, this game was also LeBron James' first game after resting, and the Cleveland media were very worried that the Cavaliers would lose badly to the Pistons.

As a result, Gibson broke out in this game, scoring 31 points and 7 rebounds, helping the Cavaliers win by 89 points, 80-9.

The Dallas Mavericks, who we faced in the second game, were stronger than the Pistons.

The Cleveland media, who were surprised and delighted by the Cavaliers' win over the Pistons, believed that the Cavaliers would definitely lose this game, and the importance of LeBron James' absence would also be reflected in this game.

result……

Shaquille O'Neal "returned" to his peak, scoring 41 points and 13 rebounds by himself, and beating Dampier, the "second center in the West".

The Cavaliers managed to overcome this tough challenge.

Achieved "two consecutive victories".

You have to know that although the Cavaliers are second in the Eastern Conference, if you really compare their record in the Western Conference, they would at most be ranked fifth in the Western Conference, the same as the Nuggets.

Judging from the record, there is a big gap between them and the Mavericks.

Not to mention there is no LeBron James.

But the Cavaliers just defeated the Mavericks.

Kenny Smith said: "I can see that all the Cavaliers have an urgent desire. The one who drives this desire is Shaquille O'Neal. To be honest, I haven't seen Shaquille like this for a long time. He was not such a motivated guy in the regular season, but the facts have proved that as long as he takes a serious attitude, he is still the top center in the league!"

After he finished speaking, Barkley reminded him: "If we don't meet the Pacers..."

Then Barkley added: "I don't know what the injury situation of LeBron James is! The good news is that he can rest assured to recover from his injury, because the Cavaliers look very strong without him."

Kenny Smith looked at him with a mean look on his face and wanted to ask:
Is this really good news for LeBron?
In Kenny Smith's opinion, it is remarkable that LeBron can keep his mentality now.

It turns out...

How can LeBron keep his composure?

The next second after seeing the Cavaliers beat the Mavericks, I called Rich Paul.

Paul was also paying attention to this game. When he received a call from LeBron, he said, "Don't panic, LeBron, it's okay. It's just two wins. Now other teams can't figure out the Cavaliers' style of play, so they can win in a row. They will definitely lose next time!"

Paul said he told LeBron to calm down, but his tone was not calm at all. He was the one who came up with the idea, and now he was more panicked than LeBron.

LeBron listened to Paul's "ineffective consolation" with flickering eyes. He also knew that he had no other choice but to wait for the Cavaliers' momentum to weaken.

If I had known earlier, I would have listened to Bill Duffy and focused on my performance on the court...

At this moment, LeBron finally realized how reliable Bill Duffy was!
At this time, Su Wan also learned from Irene that the Cavaliers defeated the Mavericks. He asked, "Have the Cavaliers finished their two games with the Mavericks this season?"

Irene said, "This is the second game. The Cavaliers lost the last game."

"That's interesting!" Su Wan showed a fox-like smile, "Erin, do you know what I mean?"

Irene naturally understood what he meant.

The next morning, news began to spread that the Cavaliers lost to the Mavericks with LeBron, but defeated the Mavericks without LeBron.

In fact, this comparison is not exaggerated enough.

As far as Su Wan knows, the Lakers team that will linger in the play-offs in the future, without LeBron, will be able to defeat the Celtics, who are ranked first in the league.

Although this Cavaliers team defeated the Mavericks, it is still the second best team in the Eastern Conference.

Pity!
But even so, it is enough to make LeBron be questioned again.

You know, when LeBron announced his absence two days ago, Cleveland was in a panic, as if without him, the entire Cavaliers would be slaughtered by the entire league. Su Wan didn't know whether LeBron's team was behind the hype of these media.

Bill Duffy wouldn't do such a stupid thing.

But think about his position in LeBron's team, it should be not much different from that in Yao Ming's. Even if LeBron doesn't go through him, he still has other media channels...

Well, whether there was a deliberate push or not, it doesn’t matter anymore.

What's happening now is that the importance of not having LeBron was promoted at the time and is now being backfired.

Many media outlets were surprised to find that even without LeBron, this Cavaliers team seemed very combative.

The Cavaliers' winning streak continues...

In the next game against the Wizards, Shaquille O'Neal was a little weak, but the two "gunmen" worked hard. Channing Frye and "Ah Q" made 10 three-pointers together, helping the Cavaliers beat the Wizards, who were ranked 5th in the Eastern Conference, and continue their winning streak in the days without LeBron.

In the fourth game against the Nuggets, Allen Iverson's unexpected injury allowed the Cavaliers to sound the clarion call for a counterattack. In the last quarter, the Cavaliers went from being 8 points behind to leading by 8 points. The Cavaliers showed amazing perseverance and defeated the Nuggets with defense even though the whole team was not in good form.

This is not a strong defensive team, but they did it.

After the game, Shaquille O'Neal, sweating profusely, shouted to the camera in his hoarse voice: "Rest assured, LeBron, we can fill your vacancy!"

Today is the first update, 8 words, please vote for me.

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(End of this chapter)