Legendary star

Chapter 129 Tie-break (2)

At 5:20 p.m. on May 8th, the Staples Center Arena, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, was already full of seats at this time. As the second largest city in the United States, coupled with the Lakers' excellent record in the past and beautiful basketball style, making the Los Angeles Lakers’ ball market has always been at the forefront of the entire league. There has always been a saying in the NBA that the box office and advertising revenue of the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers is the sum of all other teams. This can also be seen Out, the Los Angeles ball market is booming.

Since Magic Johnson retired, the Los Angeles Lakers have not tasted the taste of a championship for a long time. With the entry of Phil Jackson this season, the Lakers have achieved the best record in nearly 30 years. Shaquille O'Neal is at his peak With the gradually growing Kobe Bryant, starting from the continuous winning streak in the middle of this season, the Lakers have become the biggest favorites for this season's championship.

"In this game, the Lakers' starting lineup has not been adjusted much. The starting center is still Shaquille O'Neal, power forward Robert Hawley, small forward Rick Fox, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, and point guard Ron Harper. "

"As for the Spurs, compared to the previous game, Popovich made a huge adjustment to the starting lineup. In this game, Tim Duncan is the power forward, and the starting center is Samaki Walker, small forward Meng Xu, Shooting guard Mario Ellis, point guard Jalen Jackson, Popovich dropped the lineup that won the game and put in a new starting lineup."

"Irvin, according to the situation of the two teams in this round of the series and the performance of the last game against the Spurs, Popovich shouldn't have made such a big adjustment to the starting lineup." Now, there is very little room for adjustment, so the commentator on the sidelines is also a little puzzled about these adjustments made by Popovich. Instead, he asked his partner, the special guest commentator of this game, and the famous Lakers Elvin Johnson.

"For the Lakers, there is really not much room for adjustment. Just continue the tactics in the previous games, and the rest depends entirely on the performance of the players." After first commenting on the Lakers' lineup, Magic Johnson paused slightly After a while: "As for the Spurs, they were able to win the last game entirely because of their super high 3-point shooting percentage, but it's hard to say whether this good touch can continue to this game, and Popovich obviously Instead of betting on the Spurs' outside touch, Popovich chose to change formations. Popovich put Tim Duncan in the power forward position, obviously out of consideration for liberating Tim Duncan. The defensive end has invested too much energy. As for the substitutions in other positions, in the last game, the rookie of the Spurs showed a very good ability to break through and score the ball. Popovich replaced the team's The main point guard uses a shooting point guard, and it is very likely that this game will try to let Meng play the point forward."

"Pointing forward?" Once upon a time, pointing forward was also a tall term. Even now, there are not many qualified pointing forwards in the league. Hardaway, and Grant Hill of the Pistons, these three people are now almost synonymous with point forwards, but after the lack of Jordan and O'Neal, Scottie Pippen and Anfernee Hardaway can no longer reproduce point forwards. The ball forward was brilliant in the past, and Grant Hill has never been able to lead the Pistons to achieve a breakthrough, so now the point forward is also considered an incomplete tactical term. In the eyes of almost everyone, a team with Jordan and O'Neal , No matter what tactics are played, it will be the favorite of the championship. Therefore, whether Pippen made Jordan, or Jordan made Pippen, this enduring topic, is now finally dusted.

In this tiebreaker between the Spurs and the Lakers, almost all experts were unanimously optimistic about the Lakers before the game. Although the Lakers lacked Glenn Rice, they did not suffer major personnel damage, but almost troubled them. The problem of the Lakers for a season was completely resolved after Glenn Rice was placed on the injured list. Rick Fox and Robert Hawley were more suitable for triangle tactics than Glenn Rice. After Kobe switched tactical positions, the Lakers' triangle offense played more smoothly and more threateningly.

Even Magic Johnson thinks so. The possibility of the Spurs winning this game is very small. Presumably Popovich is also aware of this problem, so he actively changed his lineup in this game, and fought with his back while being unexpected. A game is one in which neither team can back down.

"I don't know if this kid whom Larry placed high hopes on can make a difference under such pressure." As Larry Bird's good friend, Magic Johnson naturally knew that Bird liked Meng Xu very much, but Both of them are very clear about Meng Xu's strength. Meng Xu's playing style and talent are doomed. He will never become the kind of superstar who will kill the Quartet once he enters the league. The magician still has some doubts about Meng Xu's ability to bear pressure and his psychological quality, but Magic Johnson is still very curious about the final result. Since Larry Bird coached him, his ability to recognize people is still very unique. For The magician is both envious and jealous of Larry Bird's achievements in the Pacers, and this time if he misses it, he will have the conditions to ridicule him.

"I didn't expect you to take a different path." Just as the tiebreaker between the Spurs and the Lakers was about to start, Larry Bird, who had been paying attention to Meng Xu, was also sitting in front of the TV, watching the guy who had already Standing on the court, Meng Xu, Larry Bird has always had an inexplicable confidence in this rookie. He is a player with a similar style, and his achievements may never reach his own height, but after only one season, Meng Xu has embarked on another path, and for Meng Xu's future, Larry Bird is now also I dare not imagine it at all.

"This is the second jump ball that Shaq has won in this round of the series." The commentator on the sidelines said jokingly. Lost both, only making jump balls against old and sick David Robinson and Samaki Walker.

"Yes, maybe this also indicates a good start." Magic Johnson nodded on the side. O'Neal's physical fitness is not invariable, but due to the influence of his weight, O'Neal didn't have much strength when jumping the ball. On the contrary, he has repeatedly lost to those thin inside jumpers. In this round of the series, when he faced Tim Duncan with several jump balls, O'Neal also failed.

(End of this chapter)