Reborn as Kobe

On June 16, 1999, the first game of the Finals between the Lakers and the Knicks was about to start. Before the game began, the Lakers and the Knicks did a pre-war mobilization in the locker room as usual.

In the dressing room of the visiting team Knicks, Jr. Van Gundy looked at his players and said with a serious face: "Guys, it’s not easy for us to walk now. We have been in the finals without being optimistic. What we have to do is continue to win until we win the championship. The current Lakers are not as strong as you think. They also have weaknesses, and they will be defeated. You have to have confidence in yourself at the last moment. Here we are, let us take the victory home."

Sprewell, the Knicks' best-performing player this year, stood up first and yelled: "Kill the Lakers."

"Kill the Lakers!"

Suddenly, the cry of the sky began to resound throughout the locker room.

At this time, the atmosphere in the locker room of the home team Lakers is also very serious. Looking around his disciple, Don Nelson said in a low voice: "Today is a very crucial game. We defeated the powerful Houston. There is one goal left, and that is to defend the championship. I hope everyone can use their full strength today to completely destroy the morale of the New Yorkers. The dark horse will always be a dark horse, and it will never be possible to win the final victory. The Lakers must win! "

Kobe, O'Neal and others gathered together, shouting "Sure to win", and then collectively walked out of the locker room.

After the lively opening ceremony, the game between the two sides officially began.

The visiting team Knicks starter: Latrell Sprewell, Alan Houston, Charlie Ward, Larry Johnson, Chris Dudley.

Home team Lakers starters: Kobe, O'Neal, Barkley, Ray Allen, Mobley.

O'Neal jumped the ball and won easily. There was no temptation. The two sides entered the fiercest confrontation directly.

Bryant dribbled the ball through Ward for half the time, easily broke into the penalty area and handed the ball to O'Neal.

O'Neal dribbled the ball with his back, knocked off Dudley, and dunked the ball with his right hand. 0: 2.

The Knicks offensively, under Kobe's defense, Ward has a very difficult dribble, and Sprewell can only come over to take it. Larry Johnson ran out to make a wall for Sprewell. The latter gave the ball to Alan Houston, but Kobe snatched the ball. Kobe made a long pass and threw the ball to Mobley who was fast. Mobley chased it. He scored a three-pointer. 0:5.

This time the Madman held the ball for more than half of the game and scored the ball to Ward after a pick-and-roll with Alan Houston. Ward handed the ball to Larry Johnson. Johnson shot the ball under Barkley's defense, and the rebound was picked by O'Neal.

O'Neal handed the ball to Kobe, who quickly dribbled the ball through halftime and was blocked by Sprewell. After Kobe and Barkley screened the ball, Ray Allen got rid of Ward and made a jumper. 0:7.

Van Gundy can only call a timeout because the Knicks have missed two consecutive offenses.

Van Gundy took out his tactical board and told Chris Childs specifically: "Chris, you will replace Ward in a while. After you play, use your height and weight to give me a firm look at Mobley. Die, Kobe is in charge of Alan. It is not required to completely guard him, as long as he doesn't let him pass the ball easily, Ratrel, you should hit the opponent's inside line more."

All the Knicks players nodded and signaled that they understood.

After the Knicks made a substitution, Sprewell used his personal ability to attack the Lakers' inside line. The Madman this season is really strong. Kobe personally defended. The Madman used his teammates to easily get rid of Kobe and went straight to the basket.

For a while, the Lakers' entire defensive formation was completely disrupted, and the Knicks took this opportunity to score consecutively and began to attack the Lakers.

When Old Nelson took a look, he immediately understood Van Gundy's intentions. Nick Houston was the first to defeat O'Neal. Old Nelson made a gesture and said loudly to the court: "Charles, pay attention to the defensive position."

Barkley understood O'Neal's meaning to the Lakers and made an OK gesture, and then began to switch positions with O'Neal frequently, and was responsible for blocking Sprewell, so as to prevent O'Neal from fouling.

No matter how great a person is, he cannot escape the baptism of time and will eventually be eliminated by time.

Although Barkley has not suffered a major injury this season and has maintained a good state, the decline in physical fitness is an indisputable fact. He is old, and perhaps this season is his final highlight.

The Madman was gradually suppressed, and the Lakers' adjustments also achieved good results.

The two sides continued to start a seesaw, but the situation was leaning towards the Lakers bit by bit.

Due to the absence of Ewing's injury, the Knicks' offense and defense lacked an axis, and the offense against the Lakers always missed the other.

The Lakers subtly control the rhythm of the court.

At this time, down the court, Little Van Gundy looked anxious at the changes in the situation on the court.

Van Gundy whispered to Camby: "Marcus, wait a while for you to play, double-team O'Neal with Larry, don't let him receive the ball easily."

Camby nodded solemnly and took a deep breath while staring at Kobe, who was flying on the court. As Kobe's second place in the same year, Camby hasn't been a good player in recent years. Because of injuries, he is still Did not fully realize his talent.

The situation of the game is falling to the Lakers bit by bit. The Knicks players have begun to lose control of their emotions and their movements are getting bigger and bigger. Now the Knicks players are under great pressure and they have become the biggest of their normal performance. obstacle.

As the New York gang that the league is focused on, Van Gundy is very afraid of any accidents. If a conflict arises, the Knicks will be completely over. He immediately got up and called a timeout to calm the disciples.

Van Gundy took the tactical board and said in a deep voice: "We have to be patient and play against a team like the Lakers. We should not be anxious. We should try our best to slow down and hit the success rate. Wait for Chris to come down and rest first. Here, the inside team pays attention to the defense against O’Neal, Rattle, help Alan double-team Kobe, don’t let him speed up."

The timeout ended soon. Players from both sides continued to play. After Camby came on the court, he immediately took advantage of O'Neal's negligence and gave him a hot pot.

This time O'Neill was completely angry, and naturally found it back after losing face. He started to ask for the ball frequently in the interior, and Kobe could always put the ball in his hands comfortably and comfortably. The Knicks' relatively weak interior suddenly became a venue for the big sharks.

Little Van Gundy tried his best, but he traded Oakley away and hurt Ewing. He really has no way to stop O'Neill from running away.

At the end of the first quarter, Camby and Larry Johnson both committed two fouls, and the score also stretched to ten figures.

Seeing the 18-30 score on the scoreboard, Van Gundy almost bald his hair that was not too luxuriant.

The Knicks players who returned to the sidelines all had their heads drooped. The game was too awkward, and the inside and outside lines were suppressed by their opponents.

Little Van Gundy said in a deep voice: "We have no retreat now. We can only fight against our opponents. Don't think about the score when we start the game. Everyone let go and play our normal level."

Larry Johnson said: "The coach is right. Now we have no retreat. Come on, brethren, if we don't work hard, then victory will definitely be farther and farther away from us."

In the second quarter, the Knicks players were like guns, playing desperately on the court~www.readwn.com~ The Lakers were pressured by the Knicks' momentum for a while, and there were many consecutive mistakes.

Seeing that his teammates were not in the right mood, Kobe stood up at this time, facing Alan Houston’s defense, he suddenly smashed his opponent away, and then got rid of Sprewell’s defense with a very beautiful cross step and broke into. After the inside line, he jumped high and pressed Camby in the same session to dunk the ball into the basket.

"This is my place!"

Kobe's roar boosted the morale of his teammates, and everyone began to face-to-face with the Knicks.

This is the role of the leader. When his own players are suppressed, he can score, he can lead the team to win, and never say lose. Jordan does this, and Kobe is the same.

After the Lakers stabilized the situation, the Knicks had no chance of a comeback. The overall strength of the Lakers is much higher than that of the Knicks. Although Larry Johnson, Sprewell, Alan Houston and others have tried their best, they still failed to close the score, and the points gap continued to expand.

At the end of the third quarter, the score was 84 to 59, and the Lakers led by 25 points.

After the start of the final game, the Knicks' defensive action became more and more serious. Old Nelson simply replaced Kobe, O'Neal, and Barkley, allowing Ray Allen to take Horry, Nowitzki, Lewis and Fisher. Run away and boom.

Gradually, the Knicks player's physical fitness problems have begun to gasp. Seeing this, the old Nelson replaced Horry with Ryan Bowen and continued to accelerate.

The Knicks finally collapsed, and two minutes before the end of the game, Van Gundy Jr. replaced all the main players. The score of this game was finally fixed at 113 to 91. The Lakers defeated the Knicks with a total score of 1 to 0, making a good start for the Finals.