Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 563 - 187: The Final Textbook, The Lament of the Era! (2 updates, 10,000 words, earnestly requesting subscriptions and monthly votes!)
With the progression of the first quarter...
Qin Yue noticed that Kobe was clearly conserving his strength tonight.
This top scorer on the wing in the league today...
Not only did he delegate the scoring responsibility to his teammates at the start, but also, while merely focusing on defending Bell, he even blatantly took it easy during Lakers’ defensive turns.
This made Qin Yue, who always had to cautiously defend Big Gasol during the game, feel a sense of unfairness.
Thus...
After entering the official timeout in the first quarter, Qin Yue suggested to Ma Long, "We need to let Stephen play now."
Upon hearing this, Ma Long initially thought Qin Yue wanted him to sub in Curry for Nash.
Unexpectedly, Qin Yue’s suggestion was to sub in Curry for Bell.
The Nash-Curry backcourt combination...
Ma Long could not imagine how beautiful that scene could be.
However, Qin Yue successfully persuaded Ma Long, "Jerald is also a member of the defensive team; he can handle defending Kobe."
Qin Yue knew very well that although Lowry in the Lakers lineup was not what he used to be, as long as he was a point guard, he would never receive tactical focus from Phil Jackson.
After all...
In the Lakers’ triangle offense system, Lowry’s main tasks were shooting open threes and dribbling past half-court.
As for Wallace becoming the primary defender against Kobe...
Who should defend Odom?
"Stephen, you’ll be responsible for matching up with Lamar next."
Patting Curry on the shoulder, Qin Yue said, "You can stick to him confidently, don’t be afraid of his breakthrough. If he wants to break through, just let him in."
Curry nodded and said, "What about offense? What do you need me to do offensively?"
"Offensively, you just need to keep trying off-ball runs as usual," Qin Yue smiled slightly, "Remember what Monta Ellis said to you before the game?"
Upon Qin Yue’s reminder, Curry’s eyes instantly burned with intense fury.
As someone who has been through this, no one knows better than Qin Yue about Curry’s underlying character traits.
Qin Yue didn’t believe that a player lacking competitiveness and who never gets angry would say, "No one wants to face us next season," and then successfully lead his team to peak the following year.
On the court, after the timeout, the Warriors switched in Curry and in their first offensive turn, gave Kobe that familiar feeling.
From Hamilton to Ray Allen, then to Curry.
Kobe just couldn’t understand...
Why do these tireless guys choose basketball instead of signing up for a marathon directly?
Moreover, facing the Warriors’ attempt to continually deplete Kobe’s stamina through Curry, the Lakers had no way to counter it.
Because under the premise of Odom being responsible for defending Qin Yue...
With the Lakers using Gasol Brothers for the inside lineup, they don’t have extra defensive resources for switching defense.
At present, with both teams’ lineups on the court, the only one who can switch with Kobe is Lowry.
But if that’s the case, Kobe also has to defend Nash, that annoying demon, and be exhausted defensively by Qin Yue through constant screens.
The Lakers think tank is well aware that if the Lakers want another player to defend Curry, they would only have to sub out an interior player and bring in Battier for a small lineup.
"That’s essentially courting disaster."
Phil Jackson told his assistant coach Brian Shaw, who suggested switching to a small lineup, "We need enough height to cope with the Warriors’ inside assault."
In Jackson’s view, the Lakers now need not to worry about Kobe’s stamina.
Rather, they must reverse and punish the Warriors’ outrageously arrogant backcourt duo.
Oracle Arena, it’s the Lakers’ turn for an offensive.
Odom easily broke through Curry’s defense and went straight to the Warrior Forbidden Area.
Then...
Three-time Best Defensive Player Qin Yue shattered Odom’s basketball dream, attempting to score, with his desperately fast defensive rotation.
Brown promptly came to seize the second position.
Then, just after getting up to retreat, Odom witnessed the heartbreaking scene.
Kolker Kardashian didn’t feel sorry for Odom getting blocked, not even for a moment, because Qin Yue had already dashed toward the Lakers’ half-court after blocking Odom.
In private, Odom has complained about Kolker’s behavior, which always seemed to trouble him.
But to this, the ever-upgraded Kolker said, "Darling, I just like his style of playing basketball. If you can’t even accept my interests and hobbies, how can you say you love me?"
On the court, Qin Yue completes a fast-break dunk and once again draws the sideline beauty who completely disregarded the inner feelings of her fiancé to give a grand show.
When that gleaming white spring scene on Kolker’s chest once again appeared before the world, Odom’s mood undoubtedly collapsed.
However, this is the outcome of being a sycophant.
In fact, if Odom stopped being a sycophant, how could Kolker ever tame him so obediently?
It’s now the Lakers’ offensive turn.
The silent Black Mamba finally lashed out.
After calling Odom in front of him and screening together, Kobe immediately displayed a posture of personally punishing the Warriors’ defensive backcourt duo.
However, just as Kobe and Odom completed the screen moment, Curry immediately completed the encirclement with Wallace around Kobe.
Forcing a defensive switch with screens against the Warriors?
Think again!
Seeing this, since the descending screen Odom completed an absolute open space, not even Kobe could ignore it.
