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

The time came to October 2008, 4.

The Lakers opened Game 1 at their home court, Staples Center.

Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers.

The starting lineup of both parties:

[Jazz (starting)]: Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur.

[Lakers (starting)]: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Zhou Ze and Kwame Brown.

The Jazz's starting lineup was also a pain in the hearts of thousands of Rockets fans in the past.

The Rockets don't have a good rim-protecting power forward, so Yao Ming has to stay under the basket and has to use a mismatch to defend Boozer. To be honest, Okur is also slow, and if Yao Ming is pulled out of the three-point line by him, it is unlikely that Okur will be able to tear through the defense by cutting inside.

But when Yao Ming left the basket, the Rockets had no rim protection.

Boozer, a short and stocky inside player, may not be very fast, but compared to Yao Ming, he is definitely fast. In addition, he has good jumping and explosive power, and an accurate mid-range shot.

As long as he is in the right position, he will definitely not be able to steal the ball from Yao Ming, but Boozer is very good at "passing the ball with great force", and he can directly poke away the balls that he cannot steal.

However...

The Jazz's strengths are nothing to the Lakers.

What's more, the Lakers moved Kwame Brown, who has better mobility, to the team's starting position tonight in order to better stick to Okur.

Deron and Boozer set a pick-and-roll, and Zhou Ze adopted an "offside defense". The moment Deron made a ground pass, Zhou Ze turned around at supersonic speed. Boozer noticed someone behind him and made a fake shot, but to his surprise, Zhou Ze did not jump.

After several tentative fake dribbles, up and down, "whoosh!", Zhou Ze wanted to hit the backboard, but he jumped up and covered the sky with one hand, "ding!", while nailing the basketball to the backboard, he also used the palm, waist and abdomen to exert force to directly grab the rebound ball.

"Nice pass!" After blocking the shot, Zhou Ze smiled at Boozer and passed the ball to Old Fish. Old Fish accelerated again and again, and after rushing to the basket, he took the initiative to use his strength to push away Deron, but he did not make a layup but passed the ball back to Kobe. At this time, the AK47 flew past him from behind.

After Kobe received the ball, he took a crossover step and exploded to the left. Ronnie Brewer, who was defending him, failed to keep up, and Kobe easily got the chance to shoot and made a mid-range jump shot.

"Shh!"

The basketball went into the net, creating a splash.

...

...

"Carlos, don't be reckless!"

"Pass the ball more!"

"Ronnie, don't give your opponent easy shots."

Although the Lakers had just scored the first goal, the Jazz's iron-blooded coach Jerry Sloan was roaring loudly on the sidelines.

In order to defeat the Lakers, Jerry Sloan's solution was to limit their fast breaks.

If you want to avoid the opponent's fast break, you must have a good positional battle hit rate.

Deron continued to play pick-and-roll with Boozer. After Old Fish was caught by Boozer, Deron broke through to the other side of the pick-and-roll. Zhou Ze switched defense directly, while Boozer prepared to receive the ball in the high post.

Deron was very patient. Halfway through his attack, he found himself still within Zhou Ze's defensive zone, with two long arms still covering him. Deron quickly used an abrupt stop and start to get rid of Zhou Ze again.

After breaking into a deeper position, Deron Williams couldn't help but gasp when he saw Zhou Ze out of the corner of his eye.

"Damn it, I haven't gotten rid of him yet." Deron still found no space for a layup.

Deron quickly passed the ball back to Boozer behind him, but at the critical moment, he suddenly "changed his mind" because he saw Kobe moving towards the passing route between him and Boozer.

"Swoosh!" Deron quickly changed the direction of the pass and passed it to Ronnie Brewer.

After receiving the ball, the latter took a three-pointer from a small open space. With a "bang", unfortunately, the three-pointer went straight into the air.

Rebounding battle.

The court was quite interesting at this point. Outside the three-point line, the 211cm tall Okur gave up the rebound and immediately returned to defense. Zhou Ze positioned himself in advance and blocked Carlos Boozer's attempt to grab the ball. However, after the game started, Odom, who was in very poor condition, failed to stop AK47.

Kirilenko rushed in. His 220cm wingspan, coupled with his elite jumping ability, touched Zhou Ze's fingers as he touched the basketball. The next moment, their arms touched.

Although Zhou Ze's jumping speed was fast and his jumping height was explosive, he completed the jump under the resistance of Boozer.

However, due to its large tonnage and weak strength, Zhou Ze, who also had the [Iron Clamp Hands] badge, had a terrifying grip. With a "snap!", the basketball made a loud bang, and the AK47 in the air staggered and almost fell to the ground.

Zhou Ze, who was protecting the defensive rebound, wanted to initiate a pass, but found that the Jazz's defense was very good. Except for Boozer and AK47, the other three players had already retreated to their positions.

The Lakers were forced into a positional offense.

Zhou Ze aggressively demanded the ball in the low post. Boozer, who was guarding him, tried to get ahead of him, but it was too late. Fisher had already passed the ball. The moment Zhou Ze received the ball, he backed up and drove hard, while 47 on the wing waited for Zhou Ze to turn right.

That's right!

This was a defensive ambush set by the Jazz.

Although Zhou Ze's domineering elbow turn is invincible in singles, as long as the timing of the double-team is right, especially after the turn is completed and he is facing the basket, it is relatively easy for the defensive player to make a powerful cut and shoot the ball down, even if he fails to shoot it down.

If you have a tall striker in front of you who is 206cm tall and has a wingspan of 220cm, your offense will also be affected.

Of course, not every forward can do this. This requires the defensive player to have a very high basketball IQ, to predict the timing of defense, and to take into account his own defender.

Otherwise, the defender opposite you will take advantage of your distraction and suddenly make a cut to the basket, tearing apart the entire defense.

AK47 is one of the few top-level wing defenders in the league today that can do this.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, dressed in a suit and standing on the sidelines, clenched his fists after seeing what was about to happen. He was eager to see if his defensive strategy would work.

However, after Zhou Ze moved away from Boozer, he did not turn to the right back to the basket, but turned to the right front and made a fadeaway jump shot.

Boozer was hit and had no time to jump.

At this time, AK47, who wanted to double-team Zhou Ze, was also dumbfounded.

Turn around and jump shot!

That's right!

Zhou Ze used his new weapon to turn around and do a fadeaway jump shot. Although his body was not as stretched in the air as Jordan and Kobe, and was even a little stiff, and the aesthetics were much worse, the trajectory of the shot was very accurate.

With a "swish", the basketball went into the net.

"nice shot!"

"nice shot!"

"Well done! Zhou!"

On the Lakers bench, Zen Master Phil Jackson led the applause for Zhou Ze's wonderful goal.

In fact, although it is called a new weapon, Zhou Ze actually used it occasionally in the second half of this year's regular season. Of course, the accuracy at that time was still a bit lacking.

"Coincidence?" said the Jazz assistant coach.

"Bullshit! How could this be a coincidence? The tricks this little bastard used in the playoffs must have been honed through thousands of trials and tribulations." Jerry Sloan cursed directly