Chapter 345: Veteran strength

When Karl Malone made a free throw and blocked Garnett's singles on defense, and then caught Kobe's pass and dunked in a fast counterattack, Leon knew that the game was not over.
The veteran is not dead, but withered.
"The dunk just now must have hurt." Leon thought in his heart as he watched Malone's face running back with his lips pursed after a successful dunk. At this time, the Staples Center was all applauding and cheering for Malone. He let the Lakers pull back from the cliff, the score difference came to 3 points, the Lakers saw hope again.
But Leon did not call a timeout. He still believes in the players on the field, believes their performance under pressure, believes that their desire for the championship is no less than Karl Malone.
Sure enough, Garnett rarely asked for the ball in the low post. He held Malone with his back and opened his arms in an attacking posture. However, Garnett has a power gap with Malone. His position is not deep. He is 15 feet from the basket, and it is difficult to launch a close attack after receiving the ball. But Pierce, who held the ball, passed the ball to Garnett, and he saw the raging flames in Kevin's eyes.
Garnett took the ball. He didn't try to play with his back. He kept in mind what Fox-Leon said to him, "Remember you are Kevin Garnett." So he turned to the basket with a smooth sigma, and then suddenly a left-hand dribble rushed forward and turned back, next to Malone, turned to a position close to the bottom, and then jumped high, no one in the entire NBA can block the shot. When it's time to shoot backwards, a jumper is shot.
The arc of the ball in the air was terrifying. Both sides looked up at the trajectory of the ball. O'Neal and Brown were huddled together to grab a rebound. However, the ball hit the edge of the basket and bounced into the net. . After scoring, Garnett obviously took a sigh of relief and hurried back to the backcourt to defend. This ball has elements of luck, but his resolute shot is also very important.
And Karl Malone's burning is not over yet, he wants to add another Garnett in the low post.
It's completely different from Garnett's style of being outside. Malone has to take a position in a deep place. His strong arms and back will keep Garnett dead behind. Kobe's pass is just right, and Malone will take the ball at the moment he receives the ball. Sliding, he used his elbows to open the way, and succeeded in layup against Brown who came forward to make up the defense!
The ball didn't touch the floor at all. Malone used his good card position and turning technique to complete an attack, still 3 points, the beginning of the fourth quarter, the two sides fell into a stalemate.
But then Pierce's three-pointer gave the Lakers a powerful blow. He faced George in the offense, used a fake move to shake the center of gravity, retreated and hit a three-pointer, a golden goal. The little fat man who used to shoot the shots on the streets of Los Angeles is deeply hurting the city. This is Pierce's 30th point tonight.
But Malone still insisted.
Seeing Pierce scored, Kobe couldn't help it. He didn't continue to hand over the ball to Malone or O'Neal, but also chose to force a three-pointer from the outside-but his three-pointer went wide and hit the basket. side. At this time, Malone used his experience to grab the spot in advance, point to the ball, and then put the ball in his arms.
Observing the Celtics' defense, Malone saw that Garnett hadn't posted it. A dribble turned over was a jumper. The ball enters the hoop just like a preset trajectory. After the goal was scored, Staples fans could not restrain their excitement and stood up to applaud Malone, and Jack Nicholson shouted Malone's name from the sidelines.
Obviously, Malone is giving the Lakers his life.
But the Celtics didn't want to give them this chance, and it was Kevin Garnett. This time he relied on the team's cooperation and finally made a shot from the 16-foot position and continued to open the point difference to 6 points. Both sides played a highly efficient offense at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Celtics rely on their overall, and the Lakers rely on Malone.
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"We gave them too many opportunities. The next step will be defensive time. Defense is the basis of our victory. It is very dangerous to bet everything to the touch. We must be careful of their one-on-one offense and let them fully open up. It's very, very bad. It is necessary to improve attention on defense and give them enough pressure, even if some unconventional means are used." A long timeout in the fourth quarter, Leon began to ask the players to improve defense.
The score at this time was 81:86. The Celtics still led by five points. Karl Malone was unstoppable in the fourth quarter. He made 4 of 5 field goals and 3 of 3 free throws to get 11 points. Abruptly helping the Lakers bite the score, Leon also had to call a timeout. He worried that if this continues, it will cause too many variables to be delayed until the last two minutes of the game.
Leon also made a substitution adjustment, replacing PJ Brown with Chris Anderson, risking Kevin Garnett to play center against O'Neal, and handing Karl Malone to Anderson to deal with.
"Be smarter, like Dennis." Leon said, patted Anderson on the shoulder, and Anderson went back into battle. In the third quarter, Anderson used his invincible vitality and defensive deterrence to help the team reverse the situation. Now he will act as an eye-catching engineer to deal with the hot state of Karl Malone.
Anderson still remembers that when Dennis Rodman was still in Boston, he told himself about the competition with Karl Malone in the Finals. He still remembers Rodman saying, "There are always people who can’t Beyond, I will never be able to score like Malone, but you have to discover your own value, discover the weaknesses of your opponents, don’t be blinded by appearances, and be blinded by data. If you can’t be the top, then become the best among the rest Ok."
In fact, similar words were told by Bill Lambir when Rodman was in the Pistons. Later, he passed this spirit to Chris Anderson. Anderson was walking along this road. Now he also met Karl -Malone.
After the timeout, the Celtics took the lead in attacking. One of the great advantages of Garnett's position at the center is that O'Neal really can't prevent it, so he can only let Malone play against Garnett, and Anderson's elegant position makes O'Neal quite equal Uncomfortable. When Michael Reid missed a mid-range jumper, Anderson, who had no one to defend, picked up the offensive rebound, passed the ball to Pierce, Pierce took the knife and landed, and a mid-range jumper from the right corner was made.
Phil Jackson looked at the Celtics' accurate shooting and wanted to scratch his head. He didn't understand how the Bostonians' shooting was trained. Obviously their shooting standards are higher than the entire league. This is also their super strength. Basics-can convert created opportunities into points.
But Jackson didn’t have the mind to think about this issue, and the point difference was opened to 7 points. The next offense is crucial. There are six minutes before the end of the game. If the point difference can be reduced to 3 points before the last two minutes. Left and right even equalized, the Lakers hope to win this game.
All Staples fans are standing and watching the ball. They hope to continue to see Karl Malone show off the veteran's final style. Sure enough, Kobe passed the ball to Malone's hands, but Malone was very calm and stuck it like a gumdrop. Anderson, he very decisively dropped the ball to O'Neal inside. O'Neal squeezed Garnett away with a strong body, and he was about to dunk the ball, but Garnett rushed forward and slammed the ball off O'Neal.
Kevin Garnett made his fourth foul and sent O'Neal to the free throw line.
Leon scratched his head a bit. He found that he still had a loophole in his lineup considerations. Garnett still suffered from O'Neal. Although he would have an advantage on offense, once the defensive end faced a foul problem, he would be at the end of the game. very troublesome. At the same time, whether Malone's extremely old experience and fiery state can be suppressed by Anderson is also a great variable.
Taking advantage of O'Neal's free throw, Leon made another substitution, replacing Reid with Posey, enhancing the height of the striker and assisting Garnett in defending the inside.
O'Neal's free throws were unambiguous at the critical moment, and both free throws were hit. Karl Malone was equivalent to another assist. Staples's voice grew louder, and Karl Malone's name resounded throughout the audience.
At this time, Kevin Garnett was unwilling to watch Malone play like this. He suddenly rose with the ball at the top of the arc, and forced a breakthrough from the middle to the basket. When O'Neal came forward, he made a high throw and Chris Anderson took off. , From the flank air relay vigorously dunk successfully.
The situation became tense again, with less than five minutes left before the end of the game, still a seven-point gap. Kobe Bryant couldn't help it anymore, UU reading www.uukanshu. He thought that his time should be up for the last five minutes.
In the counterattack, Kobe chose to break through with the ball from the bottom line on the right. He turned Pierce away with a skillful back, and then cut inward against Pierce, but Garnett’s defense followed closely behind Pierce, a timely one. Flanking, Kobe chose to hit and want a foul. If Garnett fouled again, he would foul five times.
But Garnett didn't jump. Instead, Chris Anderson jumped high from behind and bluntly fanned Kobe's throw.
Leon almost saw a final defensive defensive, if the Celtics scored a backboard and counterattack successfully, the Lakers will be about the same. However, Karl Malone didn't know where it came from. He picked up this offensive rebound and drove a layup directly.
At this point, Posey played a role. He struggled to make up the defense and interfered with Malone's layup. The ball turned around the basket and fell off.
The basket then grabbed the ball, Chris Anderson desperately held the ball in his arms, and Malone also fell to the ground and grabbed the ball with both hands.
Scrimmage. It's another scrimmage. (To be continued.)