Chapter 457 The Unstoppable Three-Peat

Original strong defense, but the way of stealing the ball has changed from stealing to blocking.

And what follows is the supersonics' usual super-fast counterattack.

The supersonics, who gave up the traditional center, are best at their overall speed on the offensive end, in addition to Lin Dong's sharp knife.

Iguodala, Sakuragi Hanamichi, and Lin Dong are all absolute speed types, and the weight-reduced Chandler and the aging Payton, although their speed is not the best in the league, can easily surpass a large number of centers in the league. I dare not say that they are the fastest in the team, but they can definitely keep up with the overall speed of the team and get in place in time.

What's even better is that after giving up blocking the Lakers' inside line, all the supersonics' positions are biased towards the outside line, and they are naturally faster when they counterattack.

At this time, Kobe, who was frowning, Atkins, who was furious, and Devin George, who was confused, tried their best to return to defense, but they still had to face the absence of Yao Ming and Odom.

The frontcourt once again formed an easy 5-on-3 situation.

Kobe didn't follow Lin Dong this time. After all, the Lakers' basket was absolutely empty at this time. If he didn't rush to the basket, he didn't need to return to defense and directly gave the Supersonics 2 points.

But as soon as he left and rushed to the basket, the basketball was immediately in Lin Dong's hands.

An open 3-pointer... There were Sakuragi Hanamichi and Chandler rushing to the basket in front, enough to protect the rebound. If he didn't shoot, it would be a shame for his regular season record of 6 3-pointers per game.

Swish!

There was no need for zones or anything like that. Lin Dong's current state was mainly a kind of relaxation, a kind of extreme rationality after returning to nature. Now he can play in this state for 48 minutes, and then go home and fight Yuya for 300 rounds...

He stood up without hesitation and made a move.

The basketball drew a beautiful arc in the air and then steadily went into the net.

Swish!

5:0, the Supersonics won another game.

——Lin! Lin! Lin! Lin!

Lin Dong's first score in every game is obviously a reserved program in the God Arena of the Supersonics. The cheers, flag-waving, shaking the roof and the floor, etc. are all just basic exercises.

And with the enthusiastic fans' carnival, the ball came to Atkins again.

And when he passed the half court for a long time and Sakuragi Hanamichi came up again, Atkins couldn't help but swallow his saliva subconsciously.

What about the mentality of NBA players?

Less than a minute after the start, facing the red-haired guy, he was arranged a steal and a block in two attacks.

Frankly speaking, if this doesn't leave some psychological shadow, it would be a shame to the word humanity.

Although Kobe, Dayao, and even Phil Jackson on the sidelines didn't say much to blame, Atkins was really a little scared at this moment.

Breakthrough? It feels like it will be blocked and stolen...

Use shooting to close the distance? It will be blocked...

At this time, Atkins began to feel a little nervous and unnatural.

To play under the basket, the Lakers' inside line is now an absolute advantage. As long as the ball is passed in, they will definitely score!

Atkins calmed down and chose a high throw, hanging the basketball directly into the basket.

This is indeed a high throw, a very high high throw. After all, in front of the 209-centimeter giant in front of him, Atkins felt that if he threw it a little lower, he would be called down by that guy.

Frankly speaking, Atkins still has the ability to pass the ball, and the ball was passed quite accurately.

However, it is really too high... so high that it has completely lost the meaning of passing and has become a "backboard" with a change of direction.

At the same time, it has another problem, that is, it is slow!

It took more than a second for the basketball to reach the highest point, and then it fell freely... The time the basketball was in the air was almost close to 3 seconds.

And 3 seconds is enough for the Supersonics to do too many things.

At this time, Dayao under the basket immediately held Chandler firmly and seized the best receiving position.

But the next second, Sakuragi Hanamichi in front turned around and double-teamed him, forming a double-team with Chandler against Yao Ming.

Chandler and Sakuragi, four games in the regular season, as well as last season and the season before, Sakuragi has been against Yao Ming almost every season, and Chandler has also had two seasons, which makes the two of them have quite rich experience in dealing with Yao Ming.

The front and back double-teaming focuses on a position and pressure, striving to ensure that Yao Ming can't jump up at all, but leaving Sakuragi Hanamichi with space to jump.

On the Lakers side, Odom saw that something was wrong. Thanks to the "slow enough pass" of the ball, Odom also had plenty of time to support and wanted to use the same method to limit Sakuragi's jump, but in return, Sakuragi Hanamichi countered Odom.

The four people's arms "entangled" arms and legs "entangled" legs, and no one could jump for a while, but the result was obviously more favorable to the Lakers.

As long as no one can jump up, then relying on the landing point of the basketball and Yao Ming's height and wingspan, the ball only needs to be caught.

But they forgot that the Supersonics had another flying man...

"Be careful!" Kobe Bryant shouted anxiously.

Just as the four people were huddled together under the basket waiting for the basketball to fall, two figures suddenly jumped up from the left diagonal direction. They were Lin Dong and Kobe!

Lin Dong is faster, has better jumping ability, and has a better height and wingspan. When he is on the defensive end, his position from the basket is more advantageous. The two seem to jump up at the same time, but Kobe is behind Lin Dong.

The four people huddled together under the basket could not move for a while, and could only watch the two guys flying over their heads.

Bang!

Lin Dong intercepted the basketball that was about to fall into Yao Ming's hands.

Steal!

The Lakers' three consecutive attacks at the beginning were intercepted three times in a row!

Lin Dong, holding the ball, turned his back to avoid Yao Ming and Odom's subconscious hands that were stretched out to steal the ball, and then started to rush forward. This time, even Kobe, who landed a step behind, did not have the opportunity to catch up.

There was no need for the entire Supersonics army to press on.

Steal, hold the ball, fast break, the hidden edge was fully displayed at this moment, full of explosive power.

Lin Dong passed Atkins without slowing down, and then left Kobe, who was chasing him, hanging behind him, and jumped high under the basket.

Boom!

A tomahawk dunk.

7:0!

Kobe was stunned, Phil Jackson on the sidelines was stunned, and those commentators who shouted "The Lakers are the biggest dark horse to stop the Supersonics this year" were also stunned.

It was just a small change in the defensive lineup, but the results and rhythm were completely different from the previous Supersonics!

It only took three balls and three rounds to press the Lakers' long-studied tactical arrangements specifically for dealing with the Supersonics to the ground and rub them hard, leaving the Lakers without any ability to fight back.

Is this still the Supersonics who tied the Lakers 2:2 in the regular season?

——Hahaha! Who said before that the Lakers restrained our Supersonics?

——Who said before that the Lakers could stop the Supersonics from winning the championship? Are you slapping your face now? !

——Arrange you from the beginning to the end! I will control you to death, and the Sonics will win!

——Lin! Lin! Lin! Lin!

——Supersonics! Supersonics! Supersonics!

The cheers of the Seattle fans shook the roof, and also shocked the Lakers who were originally full of confidence.

7 points, it seems not much, but every time the score was scored, it hit the most fatal seven inches of the Lakers, leaving the Lakers with no chance to fight back!

Facing Lin Dong, Kobe couldn't play with the ball; and facing Sakuragi Hanamichi, the only offensive point guard didn't even have a chance to pass the ball, let alone shoot.

The style is completely restrained. Although the Lakers still have the advantage in the interior, if the ball can't even get to Yao Ming, how can they play? !

Phil Jackson urgently called a timeout, and after the timeout, the returning Lakers made some adjustments on the offensive end.

The outside line began to work together, and Devin George or Odom both came up from the low post to do a pick-and-roll for Atkins, but the effect was very general.

Sakuragi's anticipation made the Lakers' hastily formed pick-and-roll combination extremely inefficient, and it was often impossible to break it up. Even if it was occasionally broken up, it would face the wrong defense of Iguodala and Payton.

Iguodala's defense may not be as good as Sakuragi, and Payton's physical fitness and burst are not as good as Sakuragi, but don't forget that the opponent is only Atkins.

If he always singled out these two defenders, he would still have a fighting force with his speed, and even be able to perform well.

But if he only played once in an occasional mismatch, and Atkins' offensive spirit had been lost at this time, these two people were enough to block him.

Without the organizer, Kobe and Yao Ming's offensive firepower could not be released, which made the Lakers play quite stumbling on the offensive end, while the Supersonics relied on a fast offense to be extremely smooth, and they played against Yao Ming's slow defense.

Counterattacks are almost certain to go in, and even in positional offense, most of the time it will be left to Lin Dong to hit the success rate, until he can bring out the touch of the Sonics' outside shooters.

The score difference went from 7 points to 10 points, and then to 15 points at the end of the first quarter. The Lakers almost never played a real counterattack, and even the momentum of a counterattack could not be seen.

By the second quarter, Phil Jackson had completely lost his patience with Atkins, and replaced him with veteran Fisher, hoping to rely on Fisher's strong body to control the ball and force his way into the inside to connect with Yao Ming.

This move is often handy when playing against other teams.

Fisher is a tank-type point guard. When facing a speed-type, he can rely on strength to eat hard, and when facing a heavy defender, he can win by relying on the speed of a small man. He is an absolute mismatch point guard.

But he met Sakuragi Hanamichi...

This is an inside line that can hold up Yao Ming and O'Neal. Fisher is definitely not as strong as him.

As for speed, even Atkins' speed was controlled by him, what could Fisher do?

The effect was almost the same as Atkins, and even more controlled.

The score difference continued to expand, 17 points, 20 points, 25 points... so stable!

Only then did Phil Jackson completely understand the real changes of this Supersonics.

They have completed the real transition between the old and the new. Sakuragi Hanamichi took over Payton's original position as the defensive leader and became the real defensive core of this Supersonics.

If Lin Dong blocked the opponent's trump card, then Sakuragi Hanamichi blocked the opponent's ball holding point, which is the focus of the opponent's entire team!

As for the inside line... as long as he passed the ball in, Yao Ming never let everyone down, and he almost always hit the target, but the problem was that there were too few chances to pass the ball in successfully.

This meant that Yao Ming's firepower was not fully released, and he had no chance to use it, so there was naturally no inside advantage.

Under the guidance of the Zen Master, the Lakers tried several changes in succession.

The classic triangle offense composed of Yao Ming, Kobe and Odom had a little effect, slightly improving the Lakers' offense, but the effect was limited.

This was limited by Yao Ming's speed. After all, Yao Ming was not O'Neal, and his style was different, which made his changes in the triangle offense tactics relatively simple, and he was also easily targeted by the opponent.

Yao Ming was not suitable for the triangle offense.

On the other hand, the Sonics' increasingly perfect zone defense was too strong.

Iguodala, Lin Dong, Sakuragi Hanamichi, and Payton were all defensive stalwarts, and even Battier, who was sitting on the bench on the sidelines, could complete the rotation with these four at any time, and even replace Chandler to form another defensive version of the death five small.

When they completed the transition from Payton to Hanamichi Sakuragi as the core of defense, the Sonics became more energetic and aggressive on defense, which greatly increased the Lakers' mistakes.

The Lakers... lost!

Not only this game, but the entire series may have been doomed to failure.

A slight difference can lead to a great error. The Zen Master sighed, the Lakers lack a strong point guard!

Throughout the game, Lin Dong scored only 38 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks, the first time he did not score in double digits in the playoffs.

But both the Zen Master and Kobe Bryant could see that it was because the defense of the entire team was taken over by Hanamichi Sakuragi, which made the Sonics suddenly become impeccable.

And thanks to its defense, the Sonics' famous counterattack fast break went smoothly, which gave others more offensive opportunities and exposed Yao Ming's shortcomings with the word "fast".

The complete defeat from the beginning to the end meant that Lin Dong didn't need to explode in this game at all, and this guy who seemed to have no intention of brushing up his stats was just happy to let his teammates show themselves...

It was too easy!

127:95, the Supersonics defeated the Lakers and easily won Game 1!

The big score obviously exceeded the expectations of all the commentators and fans, but those voices in the United States who shouted that the Lakers would definitely beat the Supersonics before the game still didn't shut up, trying to use the Lakers' performance in this game as an interpretation, and put their hopes on Game 2.

The result...

117:102, the Supersonics easily won Game 2 again two days later, using almost the same tactics as Game 1, and Lin Dong scored less than 40 points again. Although he had 11 assists to double his stats again, he still looked restrained overall, and the win was too easy.

At this point, not only Phil Jackson and Kobe, but anyone with a bit of vision could see that the Lakers were no match for the Supersonics. Only those American fans who were already tired of the Supersonics were still attributing this result to the "Supersonics home advantage", hoping that the Lakers could win back in the next two home games.

But...

121:98, the Supersonics won G3.

The Lakers showed an extremely strong desire to win and fighting spirit in G4, abandoning Atkins's ball-holding style of play, and replaced it with Kobe and Odom taking turns holding the ball.

And with the belief that he didn't want to be shaved bald, Kobe played the best performance ever in the matchup with Lin Dong, with a double-double of 34+11, and Yao Ming and Kobe reappeared in the connection, and the two worked together to score 72 points, but it was a pity...

The Supersonics were still the Supersonics, and Lin Dong quietly scored 48 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and the data was a triple-double again.

111:106, the Supersonics won G4, 4:0 over the Lakers, and with an unstoppable attitude, they once again took the lead in advancing to the finals when the 76ers and the Pistons were tied 2:2!

4:0 all the way, sweeping all the way, even including the Lakers who won 71 games this season and were hailed as the biggest nemesis of the Supersonics!

The entire league, the United States, Dragon Country, and even the world, all fans, whether they hate the Supersonics or don’t like Lin Dong, all fell silent.

Whether they like it or not, the result seems to be doomed.

This is a three-peat that no one can stop, no one can do it!