Phil Jackson was lost in thought.

It's all because he is a Zen master and doesn't like to call timeout. In fact, it's not a matter of personal preference.

This is just Phil Jackson's habit of fulfilling his head coaching duties.

He is used to arranging everything before the game and keeping everything in order.

In this way, there is naturally no need to pause too much during the game.

In his opinion, tactics adjusted during the game may not be truly effective if they are not carried out in training.

This hesitation lasted until the end of the first half of the game.

At this moment, the score between the two sides is 62:50, and the Lakers are already 12 points behind.

A 12-point difference was not a small difference at the end of the half.

Phil Jackson frowned slightly and walked into the locker room.

With 50 points at halftime, the Lakers' offense is actually not bad, but the problem lies in their defense.

Especially in the first quarter, the SuperSonics scored 35 points in a single quarter, which simply beat the Lakers' defense to pieces.

"CCTV, CCTV, welcome everyone back."

After Sun Zhengping’s voice, Zhang Lijia’s voice is naturally indispensable.

"After their poor performance in the last game, SuperSonics showed all their strength in this game.

To be honest, even the Lakers are having a hard time with the Sonics at full strength."

"Director Zhang, please analyze for us, what's wrong with the Lakers?"

"Actually, I think this is not the Lakers' problem, but the SuperSonics played too well.

Of course, the Lakers definitely have problems with their tactical choices, and they are big problems.

In the first half of the game, we could see that the Lakers' choice was to let O'Neal shrink to the basket.

This actually makes sense. The deterrence of O'Neal at the basket and O'Neal in other positions are two different things.

In fact, the Lakers did the same thing in the last round of the series.

It's just that the Sonics are not the Spurs. When O'Neal completely shrinks the basket, the Sonics' perimeter will have a chance.

We can see that Wang Hao, Michael Reed, and Lewis performed very well today."

"What does Coach Zhang think the Lakers will do in the second half?"

"To be honest, it's hard to choose. It's not the best choice for O'Neal to leave the inside.

But once he shrinks inside, he will have less and more outside, which gives the Sonics an opportunity to take open shots.

It still depends on how Phil Jackson chooses, whether to continue betting on the SuperSonics' feel, or to make changes?"

In fact, not only CCTV, but also major TV stations have seen the problem and are speculating on the Lakers' choice.

The Lakers didn't keep everyone guessing for too long. As the second half began, they gave the answer.

O'Neal is still huddled under the basket. If the referee doesn't pay attention, he won't even leave the three-second zone.

I have to say that Phil Jackson was really betting on the SuperSonics' touch.

Of course, he was not just betting on one game, but on several games.

It can even be said that he has given up on this game, or is using this game to gamble.

Does this game feel good? What about the next game?

Anyway, the Lakers have already won once on the road and returned to Los Angeles with a score of 1:1, which is completely acceptable.

The NBA playoffs are a series, not a game that determines victory or defeat.

It can only be said that Phil Jackson's choice actually reflects the thinking of the NBA in this era.

That is, the closer you are to the basket, the higher your shooting percentage.

Whether to choose to leave the inside or the outside, at least 99 of 100 NBA coaches will make the same choice.

It's a pity that Phil Jackson forgot one thing, that is, the SuperSonics are different from other teams.

Wang Hao alone averaged 4 three-pointers per game in a single season, and the entire team averaged 11.7 three-pointers per game.

What kind of data is this?

The SuperSonics are the only team in the entire NBA that has made more than 10 three-pointers.

Not only that, in the entire league, there are only 10 teams that can average more than half of the SuperSonics in three-pointers per game this season.

Yes, this is the current situation in the NBA.

Therefore, not only can Phil Jackson's behavior be said to be wrong, it is actually quite normal.

However, if no changes are made, it means that the Lakers' game today is in danger.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the second half, Wang Hao scored another three-pointer to further open the score.

As for the Lakers, they can only rely on Kobe and O'Neal to continuously score points.

Moreover, every time O'Neal wanted to directly gain position in the paint, he would be constantly double-teamed by the Sonics.

That is to say, the offensive firepower of O'Neal and Kobe is sufficient, otherwise, the score will be further expanded.

Moreover, although Phil Jackson did not allow O'Neal to leave the paint on defense, there was no such restriction on offense.

O'Neal left the inside more often during the offense and started a pick-and-roll with Kobe.

The pick-and-roll between Kobe and O'Neal was a bit unsolvable except that O'Neal couldn't shoot from the high post.

More importantly, Kobe and O'Neal not only score, they both pass the ball very well.

After saying so much about the Lakers, the Lakers still lost the game.

114:102

In fact, in the last two minutes of the game, Phil Jackson had already chosen to give up.

The SuperSonics tenaciously tied the score to 1:1.

The Lakers played well, but the SuperSonics performed better.

Five members of their team scored in double figures, including Wang Hao with 26 points, Lewis with 21 points, Michael Reed with 16 points, and Gary Payton with 12 points and 11 assists.

With such a performance, it is natural to win.

However, there are problems.

Although Phil Jackson lost the game, he was not in a bad mood. After all, he won an away game.

More importantly, in the second half, he saw what he wanted to see.

In the first half, Lewis had 15 points and Michael Reed had 12 points, which means the two only scored 10 points in the second half.

More importantly, the scoring efficiency is greatly reduced.

If Wang Hao hadn't stepped up in time and took over the game, it might have been hard to say whether he would win or lose today.

In other words, if the Sonics could continue their performance in the first half, the game would not have lasted until the last two minutes.
Chapter completed!