One Year Left to Play

Chapter 541 - 165: Lifespan Finally Breaks 1,000 Days! (5,000 Words Bonus Update)

In the first quarter, the SuperSonics’ Payton and Kemp played the entire time, as did the Lakers’ Zhang Hao and Van Exel. In the first half of the second quarter, the SuperSonics were led by Schramm and the Lakers by Magician. During this stage, the Lakers’ rotation lineup included Sedale-Srte, Doug Christie, George Lynch, Donyell Marshall, and their offense was decent. Like the last game, the rotation stage was not disadvantageous.

In the second half of the second quarter, many of the starters were back on the court for both teams.

An unexpected factor in a game can have a significant impact if the strength gap between the teams... let’s say if the advantages and disadvantages between these two teams are not large.

As the winner, George Karl is a very confident and even stubborn head coach. Although the SuperSonics prioritize preparation training, their tactical strategy is to reinforce the successful defense from the last game.

This approach is correct, but George Karl simply did not consider the second scenario—what to do if their single defense fails.

In that case, the players can only rely on their own judgment at the moment to make defensive adjustments.

Sometimes this adjustment is effective, and sometimes it is not. The probability of success largely depends on the specific restraint situation.

Like tonight, Payton took the initiative to adjust his defense against Van Exel and Zhang Hao. He limited Zhang Hao’s shot attempts well after his accuracy increased, but against Van Exel, not only did he fail to defend the original solo plays, but also because Zhang Hao’s offensive threat increased, he couldn’t block Van Exel’s passing!

In the second half of the second quarter, Zhang Hao and Van Exel executed a brilliant collaboration right after the break.

Initially, they continued to distribute the ball from a high position. In fact, this kind of passing was not very effective. If Payton didn’t take a gamble to intercept Zhang Hao, it would at least give Van Exel a lead by half a body length into the defense of the Supersonics, thus not being very effective compared to Divac’s high-position coordinating ability.

However, later on, Zhang Hao moved to the baseline, Kemp helped with 4 defenders against 3, blocking Van Exel and Campbell and cutting off the Magician’s receiving line. Then, Van Exel passed to Zhang Hao. With Kemp attracted to Zhang Hao’s defense, Zhang Hao passed back to Van Exel, who immediately moved out of the free throw line to make the shot!

This time Jose Hawkins dared not go directly to double-team Zhang Hao, and Kemp didn’t block Zhang Hao’s passing lane close to the sideline. Jose Hawkins continued to stick to Anthony Peeler while Kemp genuinely went to block Zhang Hao’s mid-range shot.

With this positioning, Zhang Hao successfully passed the ball to Van Exel, who made the shot from outside the free throw line!

The coordination in offense became smoother! The Lakers finally found a loophole in the Supersonics’ defense coordination and exploited it successfully!

NBA head coaches in terms of tactics, overall view, and pre-game predictions are undoubtedly much stronger than most fans who can’t stop talking, but sometimes, their naivety and arrogance are also much higher than fans can imagine.

Reality is said to be more magical than fantasy, and this is clearly reflected in the NBA.

Who would have thought that facing their biggest competitor in the West, George Karl didn’t have a plan B?

He really didn’t, and it’s not that he completely underestimated the Lakers, but he wanted to defeat them with just one strategic plan, just like the Lakers defeated them last year.

Moreover, he really didn’t consider anything else, single-mindedly thinking about how to cut off the Lakers’ team offense to the extreme.

However, they had already done this to the extreme in the last game. Even with intense research and effort, there was only a minor improvement from 91 points to 92 points.

Once the opponent found those small loopholes and exploited and expanded them, the Supersonics’ defense became increasingly chaotic! George Karl called a timeout but couldn’t make effective adjustments.

By the end of the half, the Lakers scored 3 consecutive goals, while the Supersonics didn’t score any, leading the Lakers to an 8-2 run, entering halftime with a 59-51 lead!

In the third quarter, the game became very simple, the Lakers went for solo plays. Van Exel and Doug Christie took shots in the space created by Zhang Hao and Donyell Marshall, while Jason Williams was responsible for crashing the boards.

This lineup didn’t defend as well as in the last game but had a good offense. Mainly last game, the Lakers were trailing by 13 points at halftime, and in the third quarter, they only managed to claw back a few points through defense and Van Exel and Doug Christie’s defense, but the deficit was too large, resulting in a loss.

Tonight, the Lakers entered the third quarter leading by 8 points, playing very openly in the third quarter.

In this quarter, the score was tied at 26, Payton, Kemp, and Schramm tried their best to attack but still couldn’t narrow the gap!

Centered around the hard-earned advantage created by Zhang Hao and Van Exel, the Lakers fought tooth and nail against the Supersonics in the fourth quarter, and ultimately, succeeded in maintaining their lead until the end!

to 103, with Zhang Hao scoring 21 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 1 steal; Van Exel scoring 34 points and 6 assists; Doug Christie scoring 18 points; and Jason Williams scoring 11 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, the Lakers defeated the SuperSonics by a 6-point lead, successfully avenging again!

...

When the final whistle blew, Zhang Hao felt his whole body about to collapse.

Physical and mental exertion reached the extreme tonight.