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

2009 12 Month 25 Day.

This was the 29th regular season game for the Los Angeles Lakers and also the Christmas game of 09.

Unlike in past years...

This year's Los Angeles Lakers are not playing against the Celtics or the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There's nothing we can do. The fans are really tired of it and want to try something new.

The Lakers' opponent this year is the Orlando Magic.

Although the Magic brought in Vince Carter this season, they lacked the Turkish agent Turkoglu to organize the team's offense. The strength shown by the Magic this season is not as good as last year.

Staples Center Arena.

The live DJ introduced each player with a passionate and exciting voice.

Zhou Ze was the main performer. When the DJ called out his name, the fans reacted enthusiastically, but it did not outweigh the second-to-last performer, Kobe Bryant, who was the last to appear.

Starting lineups of both teams:

Magic: Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard.

This is a typical case of "one star with four rays".

Lakers: Rajon Rondo, Kobe Bryant, PJ Tucker, Zhou Ze and Chris Andersen.

"Man, look at Dwight, what's wrong with him? There's no smile on his face at all." The commentator couldn't help but tease Dwight Howard who was playing away.

"Isn't this normal? Every time Dwight plays against us, he always looks worried, as if he's going bankrupt." Another commentator said with a smile.

Howard is known by the media as a happy animal, always wearing a carefree smile on his face, and he looks like he has a low IQ. However, every time Dwight Howard meets the Lakers, he always looks melancholy.

Doesn't Howard want to laugh?

of course not!

This was not caused by Zhou Ze.

This season, Howard has firmly established himself as the top center in the Eastern Conference. While Andrew Byram's offensive game is superior, the gap between them hasn't widened. On defense, Howard's range far surpasses Byram's, making him a current Defensive Player of the Year candidate, second only to Zhou Ze in the predicted rankings.

In the first attack after the game started, Zhou Ze used practical actions to tell the two commentators on the scene why Howard always had a gloomy face when facing the Lakers.

Howard, who is 208cm tall and weighs 120kg barefoot, mainly defends Zhou Ze, who is 208cm tall and weighs 131kg barefoot.

Zhou Ze asked for the ball with his back to the basket, and Howard, who was very concerned about his reputation, had to put aside his dignity and choose to defend in front.

Although the two men were the same height, Zhou Ze's standing reach was better. In addition, there was a huge difference in lower limb strength. Zhou Ze turned sideways, leaned his left shoulder against Howard, and kept pushing. Howard's legs suddenly became like rootless duckweed, and he couldn't even stand steadily.

Rajon Rondo, Zhou Ze's chosen "Point Guard God," seized the opportunity and quickly threw a lob pass. Howard, unsteady on his feet, couldn't even jump, and Zhou Ze leaped into the air, boom! He completed a two-handed dunk.

The Magic only let Howard defend in front, and he couldn't defend Zhou Ze at all.

But if you don't defend yourself from the front, you will die faster.

In a semi-transition offense, Zhou Ze faced the unstable Howard. After a simple tentative step, he quickly started from the other side. With a "swish", his super-fast first step directly wiped out Howard.

If it were someone else, Howard, with his quick bounce and quick run, could have chased down and blocked the shot even after being passed by his opponent. But unfortunately, Zhou Ze was faster and jumped higher than Howard.

"Boom!" Another slam dunk.

certainly...

Even if Howard is in a fixed position, Zhou Ze can still use his strength and footwork skills to eat him alive.

In the second quarter of the game, Zhou Ze outplayed Howard three times in a row in the low post. It is worth mentioning that the second and third post-ups not only resulted in goals, but also caused a defensive foul by Howard.

Especially the third time, after Zhou Ze pushed Howard to the basket, he completed a slam dunk.

Howard the Beast?

no!

It’s just my mount!

This immediately brought Howard's foul count to 4, and the second quarter was only halfway through.

Howard, who was troubled by fouls, went to complain to the referee.

The referee gave a unilateral explanation and then ignored Howard.

"Zhou, you clearly raised your elbow just now, don't deny it." Howard, who was furious, said to Zhou Ze in shame and anger.

Zhou Ze sneered, "Coward! That's why 2k only gave you a 91, while I got a perfect 99! Humph, only weaklings complain about their environment!"

Howard was furious and looked at their starting point guard, Jameer Nelson.

Howard wanted to say, "Pass me the damn ball, I want to single him out." However, his mind couldn't help but recall his four singles attempts in the first quarter, all of which were blocked by Zhou Ze.

What's even worse is that the third and fourth times, he was cut off directly during the face-to-face charge.

Of course, it is worth mentioning that the face-to-face charge does not necessarily mean advancing towards the basket, it can also be advanced diagonally.

When Howard encounters a large or solid inside player and cannot get through, he usually moves diagonally, staggers the defensive position, and then connects with a hook shot.

The advantage of walking diagonally is that you can stagger the defensive position and gain space to shoot.

But the downside is that you can't really get close to the basket.

For a skilled inside player, going diagonally doesn't matter, but for Howard, whose finishing touch is not smooth, it seems like a gamble on luck.

certainly...

Even if Howard fails to hook the ball in, he can still use his super fast speed to grab offensive rebounds.

The inside players who can withstand his hard attacks are generally meat shields, slow in speed and bounce speed, and it is difficult for them to protect the defensive rebounds after being defended.

But Zhou Ze is different...

He has both massive power and bug-level athleticism.

Howard was suppressed in all aspects in front of Zhou Ze. The only way to break Zhou Ze's offense was to rely on pick-and-roll with his teammates.

Howard and Nelson quickly set up a high-post pick-and-roll. Rajon Rondo used a paper-drawing technique and failed to squeeze through. Zhou Ze immediately stepped forward to delay him.

Howard made a short run and Nelson passed the ball.

Howard jumped into the air, caught the ball with both hands, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The next moment!

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

"Buzz!"

Howard seemed to hear the roar of an airplane engine.

Fans at the scene, Zhou Ze, who was delaying Nelson a second ago, appeared behind Howard like a flash, and with a "bang", he blocked the shot from behind.