eurekapd Chapter 447 The Peak Showdown
Chapter 447 The Peak Showdown
Chapter 447 The Peak Showdown
The time has just entered March, and the media and fans have begun to look forward to this peak matchup between the East and the West.However, judging from the direction of the media, they are still more inclined to the Lakers. After all, compared with the Lakers, the Pistons' starlight is too bleak. If their style hadn't changed this year, they might have received even less support.Rao is so, the approval ratings of the two sides are not in the same order of magnitude at all, and the only advantage for the Pistons is that this game will be held at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
In addition, the Pistons' schedule is much better than that of the Lakers. Before that, they only need to go to Orlando to play a game with the Magic on March 3, and then they can start preparing for the game against the Lakers.Although the Lakers are not back-to-back, they only have one day to prepare. At the same time, they also need to fly from the far west coast to Detroit. The journey is quite arduous.
Zen Master naturally feels a headache, but for any NBA head coach, this is inevitable. The strong confrontation will not consider the current state of the team. It can only be said that the Lakers' luck is not very good.But despite this, Zen Master is still full of confidence in his team. The reason why he persuaded the team to introduce Payton and Malone during the offseason last year was to make every effort to hit the championship this season. The Pistons are also their potential opponents.
Although the regular season matchup cannot determine the situation of the playoffs, if the Pistons can be defeated in this game, even if they meet in the playoffs, they will have a certain psychological advantage.And for the Lakers, the lucky thing is the game before the Pistons. Their opponent at home is the Warriors who are currently ranked third from the bottom in the Western Conference. Zen Master can control the playing time of several main players in a planned way. Get ready for the next game against the Pistons.
He thought so, and he did so.Facing the weak Warriors, the Lakers aggressively attacked from the beginning of the game, and achieved a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter.In the second quarter, they continued to chase hard, but Zen Master only gave Payton and Malone half a quarter of the game. Compared with Kobe and O'Neal, they needed more rest.
Despite this, the Lakers still opened the point difference to more than 20 points at the end of the half, which was also the goal set by Zen Master before the game. The lead of 20+ is enough for the Lakers to play casually in the second half. Zen master simply disassembled the "OK combination" and let Kobe lead the role players to finish the third quarter, while O'Neal was in charge of the fourth quarter, so that both sides have enough rest time .Relying on the superhuman strength of the Lakers, they easily defeated the Warriors at home 112 to 95. Kobe and O'Neal played just over 30 minutes, and Payton and Malone didn't even exceed 25 minutes, obviously for the next game stay strong.Zen master didn't delay either, and immediately took the Lakers to Detroit to prepare for the game against the Pistons after the game.
At the Palace of Auburn Hills, the entire Pistons team was ready to fight. It didn't take much effort to beat the Magic two days ago. That game became Wade's solo show. He scored a rookie-high 32 points in a single game. With 4 rebounds and 7 assists, the veterans were also happy to hand over the stage to him. None of the five starting players played more than 30 minutes.
And after flying back from Orlando, they got two days of rest, and they have recovered no matter how hard they tried before.For the powerful opponent of the Lakers, everyone is gearing up and wants to give them a little color. As the most famous grassroots team in the league, the Pistons players are most disgusted with the Lakers, a team like the Lakers who rely on money to pile up stars.
Brown attaches great importance to this game, because there is currently a difference of 2 wins between the two sides. If they lose, the Lakers will catch up to only 1 game left, and they may overtake at any time.Although the regular season championship does not mean winning 100%, it is still very important to maintain the home court advantage. For the Pistons, this game must be won, which can be regarded as giving them more confidence.
The Lakers' offense is indeed very sharp. Their four major stars are all good singles players. This time, Brown still intends to use defense to wear down the opponent's momentum at first, and then use the substitute lineup to charge up and build a lead in one fell swoop.
But when the game officially started, Brown realized that he had taken it for granted.The outside line is okay, Payton is old and weak, so it is enough to let Billups, who is not weak in confrontation ability, follow. Although the ability to protect the frame is top in the league, Thomas is still powerless in the face of Malone, a devilish muscular man, not to mention that Malone still has a mid-range shot, and he was beaten directly to the ground.
Zen master also saw the advantage of the Lakers inside. He stood on the sidelines and yelled at the other players, signaling them to give the ball to Malone and O'Neal on the inside, and to drive outside shots when the inside opened up. .
This made Brown feel very helpless. Now the Lakers' inside line is a hard bridge and hard horse. If they don't compete with you in skills and support, they just use their personal strength to directly crush them.Big Ben may be able to support O'Neal, but Malone is not something Thomas can withstand in the low post, and the Pistons' substitute insiders are Diaw and Haywood, and they are not Malone's opponents in terms of strength.
Malone was the most dazzling star on the field before the two sides successively sent substitute lineups. His post-up singles and mid-range shots made Thomas almost lose his confidence in playing against him.In the entire first quarter, Malone scored 8 points and 24 rebounds in just 12 minutes and 5 seconds. He was the only player from the two teams to score in double figures. Although he has entered the end of his career, the No. Still maintaining a very strong strength, at least bullying Thomas is no problem.
However, the firepower of Billups and Hamilton on the outside did not make the Pistons lag behind too much. Coupled with Big Ben's protection of rebounds, the Pistons were only 22 points behind 26 to 4.Although Malone's explosion was beyond Brown's expectations, the 4-point gap is completely within his acceptable range, because now the two sides are competing with each other on the strength of the bench lineup.
Although the joining of Malone and Payton allowed the Lakers' original two starters to sit on the bench, but overall, their bench players are not particularly strong. The reason why they can gain an advantage in the competition is largely because of Zen Master Like to let Kobe play with the bench in the last few minutes of the first quarter, and there will be no mistakes with Kobe in charge.
However, this time, neither Zen Master nor Kobe expected that they would meet a strong opponent!
(End of this chapter)