As a Kobe hater, he was actually teammates with Kobe!

With a "ding!" sound, Kobe took advantage of Kwame Brown's pick-and-roll and made a quick stop to shoot from mid-range;

Marcus Camby gritted his teeth and held his position firmly, but the next moment, he felt a huge force rushing towards him. Camby, who was 211cm tall and weighed 107kg, only resisted slightly before being pulled behind by Zhou Ze. Then, Zhou Ze stood up in front of Camby, and with a height that exceeded Camby's half palm, he made a powerful tip-in and scored. The score was 18 to 30. With 2 minutes left in the first quarter, the Lakers already had a 12-point lead.

"Haha, our DPOY is as weak as a baby in front of Zhou Ze." Barkley grinned in the TNT live broadcast room.

"According to our statistics, in the first four games of the series, Zhou Ze blocked Marcus Camby 4 times. This Camby must be the softest DPOY in history!" Kenny Smith also mocked.

...

...

3 minutes and 15 seconds in the second quarter.

After Zhou Ze grabbed the defensive rebound, he advanced quickly with the ball. Carmelo Anthony on the wing tried to steal the ball, but Zhou Ze easily dodged it with a behind-the-back dribble. What was surprising was that the Nuggets had no subsequent defense. Zhou Ze easily broke through to the basket, causing Camby to commit a defensive foul.

2罚2中，24比39，湖人的领先优势已经来到了15分。

"It's over!"

"Denver's players, with the exception of Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, seem to have lost their will to fight."

"Eh, even though both of them are super scorers, when they're together they can't achieve the effect of 1+1>2. No, to be more precise, it's not even 1+1=2."

Barkley and Kenny Smith of TNT said.

The morale of the Denver Nuggets is indeed low now, and they no longer have the desperate mentality they had in Game 4.

The Nuggets began to make unnecessary low-level mistakes. Steve Blake's soft pass to Iverson was intercepted by Nate Robinson with a "pop!" sound. The latter went straight into a fast break and completed a one-stop dunk.

41 to 62, just one minute into the third quarter, the Lakers' lead expanded to 1 points. It is worth mentioning that this was when Kobe's touch was not very good.

After this shot, the Nuggets requested a timeout and replaced the chaotic battle expert JR Smith.

As a famous future sharpshooter in the NBA, once he is accurate, it is as if Djokovic is possessed, but when he is not accurate, he can be a headache.

After coming on the court, JR Smith challenged Zhou Ze under the basket again and succeeded for the first time, hitting the ball through an extreme pull-up shot.

But the second time, JR Smith jumped into the air and prepared to layup, but a big hand suddenly appeared, and with a "snap!", he blocked the ball with one hand the moment the basketball left his fingertips.

This successful defense also calmed JR Smith down a bit.

During a certain period of the regular season, Zhou Ze was mocked by many haters for being a "bully who only cares about the strong." This was because Zhou Ze was able to perform extremely well against weaker teams that lacked defensive discipline.

This is indeed the case.

Some teams with poor defense can easily give Zhou Ze opportunities to shoot three-pointers.

At 5 minutes and 01 second in the third quarter, the Lakers passed the ball to Zhou Ze after a series of passes. The nearby defensive players did not rotate in time, resulting in Zhou Ze's shot being basically an open shot. With a "swish", he made an empty three-pointer, 44 to 68!

The lack of defensive focus is a sign of a team with low morale.

At 5 minutes and 58 seconds in the third quarter, Zhou Ze took advantage of Kobe's pick-and-roll. Anthony, whose mentality was shaken, did not switch to Zhou Ze immediately. Zhou Ze immediately took the ball and jumped shot, and hit another three-pointer, 46 to 71!

At 6 minutes and 48 seconds in the third quarter, Zhou Ze received the pass in the corner. He ignored Kobe who was reaching out for the ball in an open position, and even ignored the DPOY who arrived a little late. He hit the three-pointer again, 49 to 74!

In less than 2 minutes, Zhou Ze hit 3 three-pointers in a row, extending the score difference to 25 points;

What is really frightening is that during this period, the Denver Nuggets were quite efficient thanks to the offensive output of their golden duo, but even so, the Lakers still widened the gap.

This is very discouraging.

In addition, the Denver Nuggets were also directly hit by the Lakers' three-point rain and requested a timeout.

After the timeout, Zhou Ze did not appear on the court.

Kobe teamed up for the game, and Andrew Byram replaced Zhou Ze.

Byram, also a sophomore rookie, averaged only 4 minutes in the first four games.

To put it bluntly, in the eyes of Zen Master Phil Jackson, Byram is not a trustworthy combat force.

As the youngest player to enter the NBA, Byram was also holding his breath. After he came on the court, he wanted to force Zhou Ze's ATM in the low post.

But in the end, Camby completed a cut and steal while Byram was making a low step.

Byram couldn't help but frown and looked at Marcus Camby in confusion?

How is this going?

He was obviously as soft as noodles, but why did he suddenly become so tough?

Byram really couldn't understand why Marcus Camby, who looked weak and vulnerable, like an ATM, could be so... fierce in defense.

The Phil Jackson on the bench shook his head, but at the same time he was glad that the team's top management finally listened to his advice and chose Zhou Ze to be the cornerstone of the team.

"Beep!" The referee whistle sounded, and PJ Tucker, who came on as a substitute, assisted Iverson on the wing and committed a defensive foul.

Iverson threw the ball.

However, even if this goal went in, it wouldn't count, after all, it wasn't a shooting foul.

Byram was under the basket. He was so angry that he had no place to vent his anger because he was blocked twice in a row by Camby. He looked at the basketball shot by Iverson flying towards the basket. Byram suddenly jumped up and slammed it away with force.

The basketball flew towards Iverson on the free throw line again. After receiving the ball, Iverson showed a disdainful expression, and suddenly threw the ball like a cannon. The basketball seemed to rise vertically. When it reached the highest point, it was at least 5 meters away from the ground. "Swoosh!", the basketball fell freely, rushed down, and fell into the basket accurately.

At this moment, even at the Lakers' home court, people couldn't help but marvel at Iverson's shot.

However...

No matter how exciting this goal is, it doesn't count as a score.

This seemed to be a portrayal of Iverson's game tonight. Although he played very well individually and successfully challenged Zhou Ze several times, he was unable to reverse the decline in the score.

The game is over!

90 is better than 113!

The Lakers eventually won Game 23 with a 5-point lead, with a score of 1 to 4, and were the first to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.