super small forward

Chapter 143 143. Kobe Bryant vs. James
"Kobe, we will win today, wash your neck and wait!" Wade interjected.

Kobe pouted: "I'll wait and see."

Soon the game will start.

The Lakers have changed a lot compared to before, starting with Nash, Kobe, Wesley Johnson, Gasol, and Thackeray.

Nick Young and McCollum returned to the bench. This is the lineup structure planned at the beginning of the season. As long as Liu Ren and Green come back, the lineup will be active.

There is no change in the Heat's starting lineup, Chalmers, Wade, James, Battier, Bosh.

Bosh beat Thackeray with a jump ball to give the Heat the first down.

The Heat opened up, and James held the ball in the top arc.

Not to mention, the Lakers really can't find anyone in this lineup who can deal with Bosh well. After Bosh pulled out, he ran back to the basket and caught a pass from James for a layup.

Thackeray couldn't keep up with Bosh's footsteps and could only watch the opponent layup.

The Heat took the lead, leading 2-0.

When the Lakers attacked, Thackeray sat low and used his height and weight advantages to push Bosh, who was a circle smaller than himself, into a reasonable collision zone.

Nash passed the ball to Thackeray, and Thackeray pressed Bosh and turned around and hit a small hook.

Thackeray has become more and more confident in one-on-one singles, and has become more and more stable.

Bosh's thin and small body can be bullied by any big center. Thackeray, like Hibbert, starts the mode of eating and sleeping to beat Bosh.

Immediately afterwards, Bosh used Thackeray's slow footsteps to prevent it, and made a mid-range shot on the right side of the free throw line.

Thackeray immediately returned another strong insider and caused Bosh to foul and stand on the free throw line.

The strange scene turned into a confrontation between Thackeray and Bosh!

Thackeray free throw!
"Look, this is your Big Three? My God, LeBron, it's hard for you to win two championships with such a center."

Kobe said to James, standing to his left.

Before James could speak, Bosh's resentful voice came: "Kobe, don't you know how to speak ill of people behind your back? I'm right next to you."

Thackeray made a free throw. Battier and Gasol stood on one side of the three-second zone ready to grab a rebound. On the other side were James, Kobe and Bosh. Kobe stood between James and Bosh.

Bryant was a little embarrassed. He forgot that Bosh was next to him, and he just wanted to talk trash to James.

"Aren't you also unable to guard Chris?" Although James was a little dissatisfied with Bosh's repeated blows, he was still a teammate and a good friend of his.

"Don't worry, you will be able to prevent it later." Kobe smiled.

So confident?James was a little puzzled. Don't look at Bosh who is always blown up, but Bosh is really good for offense. There are not so many big men with a stable outside scoring ability of [-] meters and [-] in the future.

Thackeray made two free throws and Battier protected the rebound.

James advanced to the frontcourt, and originally wanted to pass the ball to Bosh. After all, Bosh played well on the offensive end, and he had to make good use of the advantage of the matchup.

But James found that the person who defended Bosh changed!Replaced by Wesley Johnson!He just followed Bosh, while the rather brute hunk on the opposite side crouched inside and couldn't come out!

Wesley Johnson's defensive Wade was just emptied outside the three-point line!
Wade's more than 20.00% three-point shooting this year has become a black hole for the Heat's outside shooters!
Compared with Bosh, a power forward who has a stable outside shooting ability, Wade is like a "power forward".

When Kobe returned to defense just now, he asked Wesley Johnson and Thackeray to switch defenses, and Thackeray just guarded the inside.

I have to say that Kobe made a perfect adjustment this time. James really didn't dare to pass Wade to shoot a three-pointer, but Wade's three-point ability is not as good as him.

In this case, James is ready to play singles, and it is Kobe who defends him.

Bryant retreated within the three-point line, giving James a lot of room to shoot.

James tried to shoot a three-pointer, but he didn't feel good and didn't make it!
Gasol protected the rebound, and the Heat retreated quickly, giving the Lakers no chance to counterattack.

The Lakers attacked from the ground.

Kobe still wanted to pass the ball to Thackeray, but found that the Heat had also switched defenses, and James went to defend Thackeray!
James really couldn't stand Bosh being crushed by a substitute center in the paint, so he went up on his own, and Wade became the one defending Kobe.

Not to mention, although James is ten centimeters shorter than Thackeray, his weight is not much worse than Thackeray, and Thackeray really can't squeeze in.

Bosh has good agility and can barely keep up with Wesley Johnson.

That being the case, Kobe decided to single Wade.

Kobe has a lot of experience playing Wade, and he has an obvious advantage in height.

Wade was afraid of Kobe's shooting and stuck close to Kobe. Kobe accelerated to the right, made a quick stop and then stopped again, then went to the left to pass Wade and enter the three-point line, and made a hit from the free throw line.

This is exactly the same as Kobe played Wade in the 09-10 season.

Although Kobe is much older now, Wade is aging faster.

This season, Wade averaged only 18 points per game, a new low in his career. His potential has been squeezed out by Pat Riley. Like the previous stars of the Heat, he began to enter a period of rapid decline.

The Heat have always been a well-known star-squeezing organization. When O'Neal came to the Heat, he was injured by Riley's devil training method. In the end, O'Neal's rapid decline in the defending championship season in the 06-07 season was because he was in the first two years. Years were squeezed dry.

Wade and James are also entering that stage now. Wade has always been the target of being squeezed by the Heat, and his injuries have never stopped. After the age of 30, he began to decline sharply.

Fortunately, James is still young and has enough potential, so it is only reflected in physical fitness, otherwise he would have been injured long ago.

Just look at Pat Riley sending away one after another slightly more expensive substitutes in order to save money. The Heat just want to squeeze out the value of the Big Three.

5 to 4, the Lakers lead by 1 points.

Offensive and defensive conversion Heat attack.

James missed a shot last time, but this time he chose to break through.

Kobe didn't fight James hard, and fought and retreated. He followed James and retreated to the three-second zone.

Kobe is definitely unable to defend against James' breakthrough now. He led James to the inside and formed a pincer attack with Thackeray!

This defensive strategy was inspired by Kobe Bryant from the Pacers, which is how the Pacers dealt with the Heat, using Paul George to put James inside, and then deal with James with Hibbert.

Thackeray's defensive skills learned from Whiteside are now displayed. He raised his hands high and did not jump. He just blocked James like that. Once James hit him, he fell down. If James made a strong shot , he just jumped up and didn't block the shot, just blocking James' sight like that.

(End of this chapter)