"Man, implement the defensive strategy firmly!"

Carlisle shouted loudly at the scene as he clapped Lynch Hunter.

Unlike Larry Brown who yells at odds when encountering unpleasant things, Carlisle's image in the minds of the players is introverted, but if you talk during the game, it is very important.

Although Dell Curry has suffered many injuries this season and has had necessary rest, and has only played 40 games in more than 70 games, he received the ball and shot in the running position, followed by Zhang Hao and Parker to follow up with three-pointers, and cut into the offensive box in the positional battle. It was the best year in three years since he joined the SuperSonics, with a shooting percentage of 46.2%, an open three-point shooting percentage of 43.4%, and averaging 1.6 three-point shooting percentage.

He averaged 17 minutes per game in 40 games and scored 8.6 points, which was the best year for the SuperSonics.

Executive coach Paul Westfal decided to let Dell Curry do so during internal discussions on the coaching staff to form a better restraint. Dell Curry's $2.1 million shot is better than Steve Smith, who scored $6 million.

Of course, Steve Smith is worthy of a salary of US$6 million as the sixth person. It’s not that Steve Smith is not good, he does it well, but Dell Curry has done too well this year.

Lynch Hunter nodded at Carlisle and rushed to Payton over the half-time pass. O'Neal started the threat mode of rushing and robbing. The regular offense still had to revolve around Payton and Pierce.

After some running and passing, Horez Grant received the ball at the open position, and the baseline passed the ball to the left of the three-second zone. Payton received the ball and made a mid-range shot!

If Jordan doesn't play, the Supersonics' seamless rotation of 2-4 positions cannot be implemented. This year, Jordan's defense guard is much worse than last year, but Artest can defend himself at first-class level when changing defense and point guards this year, and Jordan's weight gain defense small forwards and power forwards do better than last year... But isn't Jordan's inability to play?

The Lakers' offense accurately grasped this point. Pierce, O'Neal, and Horeth Grant pushed the defense down. Lynch Hunter is a very excellent double-season defender. He is one of the players who adapted to the new three-point line after the three-point line specifications have been changed. He can average 2 three-pointers with a 43% three-point shooting rate in the 99-00 season. Last season, the Pistons averaged 12.7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.8 steals per game with the Pistons. He was in his 31 year of playing. He joined the Lakers for three years and 10 million US dollars. He was willing to be a supporting role. The back line formed with Payton is one of the strongest defensive back lines in the league.

Jordan doesn't play. When Hores Grant or Pierce receives the ball from the offline line, Ben Wallace can only block people, and reasonably hit the area above the zone and make up for defense below the free throw line. Ben Wallace was restrained.

The Lakers played a great offensive this round. Zhang Hao glanced at Carlisle, who had shaved his head at some point. He really wanted to get Parker...

‘Jin Carrey is really amazing. He can always think of the best way to deal with the game, no wonder he can baldly.’

Zhang Hao picked up the ball and sent it to Kassel, whistled, and gestured to his teammates.

Kassel immediately accelerated his advancement after receiving the ball.

The defensive end can see clearly the exquisite tactics of facing the Lakers Big Three and Carlisle at a glance, and they cannot be defended.

Since this is the case, we should adjust as much as possible in the offensive end in a direction that is beneficial to their Supersonics, and also reduce the number of times the opponent lands in the position by speeding up.

When their supersonic team has loopholes when they retreat because of their fast fighting, will the opponent give up the opportunity to seize the loophole?

At the beginning, the Lakers could hold on, but it was fine if they could hold on once or twice, but as the game deepened, their bodies became more and more excited, which would also affect their judgment of making choices.

If you catch the opponent's defensive loopholes when retreating to defend, you will actually have a high probability of making mistakes...

After 4 minutes and 47 seconds in the first quarter, the Lakers led the Supersonics 13-9 by 4 points. Artest missed a three-pointer from the right sideline. O'Neal grabbed the rebound and passed it to Payton. The portal opened in the direction of the top arc. Payton received the ball at the free throw line and counterattacked again!

One time before, he successfully fought back, which gave Payton a lot of confidence.

Ben Wallace quickly retreated to defense, Payton advanced to the frontcourt and assigned Lynch Hunter to follow up, Lynch Hunter flew on the layup... Zhang Hao, who was chased back, slapped the ball and bounced back on the rebound. Zhang Hao grabbed the ball himself and started a counterattack!

The other Lakers just followed up and entered the three-point line and immediately had to run back.

Zhang Hao failed to trigger the 'single ride', but he still attracted the defense. He rushed to the opponent's three-point line under Pierce's defense... Dell Curry returned to the defense a little slower, but he was also a beat faster. The jumping high made the dunk, which made his son sitting on the sideline envious...

Dell Curry completed a dunk in the game when he was 11 years old, but Curry was 14 years old. Although he could dunk normally, he did not even have a successful dunk in the game.

A month ago, the final of the X-ray Cup of Seattle Junior High School basketball event, Curry Jr. led Seattle Lakeside Middle School to fight against Seattle Northwest Middle School, while Lakeside Middle School locked in the victory, Curry Jr. counterattacked and dunked... Dunked on the basket and fell a dog to eat shit, which became a joke in Seattle...

With Dell Curry's all-match dunk from Zhang Hao's pass, the Supersonics chased the score to 11-13, keeping the score tight.

Looking at the situation on the field, Carlisle chose to sit down.

This opponent is too difficult to deal with!

If Jordan doesn't play, the Supersonics loses a lot of strength.

But it is unlikely to crush the other party.

Zhang Hao, who entered his peak period, did not know how to play a decisive limit.

In Carlisle's view, Zhang Hao's playing characteristics have not changed much in 6 seasons.

But Zhang Hao is too strong at receiving and shooting, singles, and counterattacking.

There are also things Zhang Hao doesn’t do easily what he is not good at.

As for the Supersonics, they would rather not play well at some point than do randomly, so as to maintain the continuity of the entire state.

It has rich experience in winning the championship, which is a very big advantage for the Supersonics.

In addition, the Lakers have another point tonight that is not doing well. The defensive end attaches too much importance to Zhang Hao's shooting. They don't want Zhang Hao to continue to score 40+ points, and want to end Zhang Hao's 8 consecutive games of 40+.

After 6 minutes and 22 seconds in the first quarter, the Supersonics fell behind the Lakers by 3 points 13-16, calling the timeout to enter the official timeout.

Just now, Lynch Hunter missed two points, and Cassel made a mid-range shot, but Pierce made a three-pointer and the Lakers led by 3 points again.

In terms of personal performance, Zhang Hao scored 4 points and 2 assists in half a quarter, and his score was low, but his assists were very good compared to other games this season.

The Supersonics are under great pressure. They play very hard and try their best to seize all opportunities, but they can only keep the score tight.

Once you have the opportunity, the opponent may break the gap in one fell swoop.

But the Lakers are under greater pressure!

It’s so terrifying to be the score of Zhang Hao’s team!

In the Western Conference Finals last season, the Lakers lost in two of the four games, and the score difference was extremely small. They all played at critical moments. The entire Lakers team's defense was focused on Zhang Hao, and they were easily beaten by Kassel and Jordan at critical moments.

After the timeout, the Supersonics sent a combination of Parker, Dan Marley, Artest, Zhang Hao, and Ben Wallace.

The Lakers sent a combination of Payton, Fisher, Pierce, Mark Madson and O'Neal.

The Supersonics scored 13 points in half of the energy savings, which is a large part of the reason why the Lakers attach too much importance to defending Zhang Hao's personal score.

Carlisle also attached too much importance to it. He failed to defend Zhang Hao from playing singles in the first round, so the players focused on blocking Zhang Hao's breakthrough, and the pinched attack restricted Zhang Hao's shooting...

During the suspension period, Carlisle chose not to care about how many points Zhang Hao got, and the overall advantage was more important.

Although the home advantage in the Western Conference Finals last season was not of much use, it is always better than not.

After going through the opening stage, Lakers players didn't care so much about restricting Zhang Hao's scoring. Zhang Hao played 73 games this season, 31 times, 40+ and 50+. There are so many teams that have been beaten by Zhang Hao, and they are not short of their team.

This adjustment from the Lakers is very effective!

In the second half of the first quarter, Zhang Hao scored 6 points, scored in double digits in a single quarter, and scored 10 points in the first quarter, but only 1 assist was available in the second half.

After the first quarter, the Lakers led the Supersonics 30-24 and entered the break with 6 points.

Zhang Hao scored 6 points in the second half of the first quarter, but the Supersonics team only scored 11 points.

After the quarter-time game, facing an opponent like the Lakers, Jordan's impact on the Supersonics was truly reflected.

Before, they lost back-to-back against the Timberwolves and the Bucks, but in those two games, Garnett performed too well, but he didn't play against the Bucks Cassel, and the Bucks' shooting accurately on the outside was not completely because the Supersonics played themselves.

But even if the Lakers do not pay too much attention to Zhang Hao like in the first half of the quarter, Zhang Hao still attracted the Lakers' defensive attention to the Lakers in the last two points in the first quarter. However, without the outrageous Jordan's shot at the critical moment, he could see the difference between Jordan playing and not playing.

Any team that lacks a scorer who averages 20 points per game will have a huge impact.

Entering the break between the festival and returning to the bench, Zhang Hao came directly to the coaching staff who were communicating and said to Doug Collins: "Coach, I will be shooting randomly next time. The next rotation can be mainly about ensuring rebounds."

Hao Lat, the Collins brothers, Paul Westfar, Hornersek... and others stopped communicating, and the solutions they had thought of before were in vain.

But, if Zhang Hao can get angry, it will be better than any tactic or any method.

The silver fox almost blurted out, "Do you still know you're fighting randomly? If I hadn't been able to throw in, I would...I wouldn't have those three rings!"

...

The arrangement of rest between sessions is often done when multiple-choice questions, and multiple-choice questions when they are at a disadvantage are even more difficult to do.

But with a clear direction, I will give the ball to Zhang Hao when I encounter problems.

This is much simpler.

Avery Johnson, Steve Smith, Zhang Hao, Jason Williams, Ben Wallace's lineup was replaced by the Supersonics.

For the Lakers, Carlisle sent Fisher, Pierce, Rick Fox, Samaki Walker and Mark Madson.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Supersonics attacked first.

Avery Johnson advanced and passed it to Zhang Hao over halftime. Zhang Hao relied on Rick Fox to receive the ball, and turned over and jumped to make a jump shot... hit!

Playing Pierce and playing Rick Fox... Speaking of which, the defensive characteristics of the two are very similar. Pierce's defense is basically taught by Rick Fox. It is very excellent, but the differences are. Rick Fox is more dependent on skills at this stage, and Pierce's athletic ability is at its peak.

Playing Rick Fox cannot be complicated. It must be direct and avoid being cut or held down the lower plate. Playing Pierce requires more skills to reduce the threat posed by Pierce's athletic ability.

Zhang Hao grasped this little detail very well.

He made 4 of 7 shots in the first quarter and 2 of 2 free throws. Zhang Hao felt very good tonight, and the boring and complicated warm-up before the game was very effective.

When Zhang Hao made a shot, he decisively issued an order when he retreated to defend, "Kobe Time" to open the pre-order!

26 to 30, the Supersonics bit the difference.

Unfortunately, after three more rounds, Zhang Hao made the first two rounds of shots, increasing the Supersonics score to 31 points, chasing the score to 31 to 34, and narrowing the score to 3 points.

But when the "Kobe Time" was about to trigger, he broke into the basket and missed the strong shot...

Fortunately, Zhang Hao scored 7 points from 3 of 4 shots in the second quarter, which shocked the Lakers.

Even if the Lakers don’t care how many points Zhang Hao scored in a single game, the gap between the scores continued to narrow by Zhang Hao, which is something that the Lakers cannot accept.

After three minutes of playing, Zhang Hao missed a strong shot. After Mark Madson protected the rebound, the Lakers called a timeout, replaced Payton in advance, replaced Richmond, and replaced Devin George with Samaki Walker, who was not doing well in the attack on Zhang Hao.

The Supersonics did not substitution, and the Lakers sent a combination of Payton, Fisher, Pierce, Devin George, and Mark Madson.

The Lakers' defense replacement in the frontcourt has improved their ability to attack, and the backline's repair speed and ability to improve their ability to repair defense.

In the 9 minutes of the second quarter, Zhang Hao's scoring efficiency declined, but Zhang Hao also relied on that wave of 3 of 4 shots, forcing the Lakers to pay attention to his scoring. Avery Johnson took the opportunity to show his mid-range reception shooting and ball-scoring ability in the 4 minutes between 3 minutes and 7 minutes of the second quarter. Kassel and Artest, who appeared in the next 5 minutes, also took advantage of this to withstand the stage of O'Neal's return and attack.

In the entire second quarter, Zhang Hao scored 7 points in the first 3 minutes and only scored 6 points in the next 9 minutes, but the rest of the Supersonics team scored 15 points in the second quarter!

In the second quarter, the Supersonics scored 28-26. After the half-time, the Supersonics chased the score to 52-56. Compared with the first quarter, the difference was narrowed by 2 points and 4 points behind and entered the midfield break!

Zhang Hao scored 9 of 16 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 4 of 5 free throws to score 23 points.
To be continued...