At halftime, Kobe, who was sitting in the locker room, had a gloomy face. He had never played such a frustrating game.

When playing against other teams, the opponent either hits him or defends alone. The meaning of single defense is to let him score alone and cut off his connection with others.

But the Knicks sent Zhou Mubai to defend him, but Zhou Mubai alone made him feel very uncomfortable, which is a very rare situation.

It would be fine if Zhou Mubai defended dirty, but Zhou Mubai really succeeded in defending with his strength.

Whether he plays singles or without the ball, Zhou Mubai can always find the right way to defend him, making every attack he feels very difficult.

He made 4 of 15 shots in the first half, and his shooting percentage was outrageously low.

There is no question about self-doubt. He has always been very confident, but this feeling is really bad.

The key is that he is also very frustrated on the defensive end. After choosing to give up the two attacks, Zhou Mubai's scores were rising sharply. At halftime, Zhou Mubai had scored 32 points, 11 assists and 6 rebounds, and he was obviously overwhelmed by Zhou Mubai.

He was very serious in defending Zhou Mubai, and hoped that Zhou Mubai could fight him one-on-one like a Cavalier, but no matter how he provoked, he ignored it. He just took the pick-and-roll and rolled up the Lakers' defense one by one, which was really frustrating.

This situation did not change after the start of the second half. Zhou Mubai just called one pick-and-roll after another, but he stopped staring at Bynum. He named Gasol and Odom. If Fisher was defending, he would also break through Fisher. Except for Kobe and Atai, everyone else was pointed out by Zhou Mubai.

The Lakers will encounter problems that other teams will encounter - how to restrict Zhou Mubai.

At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks led by 20 points, and Zhou Mubai scored 42 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers did not give up and continued to play as the main player in the fourth quarter, but if they could not solve Zhou Mubai's problem, they would have no way to deal with the Knicks.

It's not just Zhou Mubai who scored in the Knicks, but he has shown a full bloom rhythm. Even Robinson has scored 9 points, which is three three points.

The Lakers felt that their defense had become riddled with holes, like a house with air flowing on all sides, with sand and stones flying everywhere as the wind came.

In fact, everyone knows that the problem lies. When the Lakers are on the court, they have advantages in offense, second rebounds and strong attacks at the basket, but when they return to the defensive end, they will be attacked by Zhou Mubai again and again because of their slow movement.

Phil Jackson tried a small lineup during the rotation, but as soon as the small lineup was on, Chandler broke out, and the Lakers' inside defense was almost broken through.

Zhou Mubai Chandler's pick-and-roll is particularly beneficial for Chandler to attack rebounds. Isn't the reason why he fed the bottom corner in the first half because Bynum and Gasol were waiting for him at the basket?

The Lakers seem to have forgotten how the Knicks defeated the Magic.

An important factor in the Knicks defeating the Magic is that once Howard of the Magic is pulled out by Zhou Mubai, no one can protect the frame at the basket. Chandler can't attack independently, but eating cakes is indeed a good player. The so-called Brutalist center is not just a casual talk.

In addition to being worse than Stoudemire, who is in the middle distance and singles, he is really not inferior to Sullivan when he catches the ball down and attacks the box.

Seeing that the pure small lineup was not good, Phil Jackson replaced Bynum's frame protection, and the effect was OK. At least Chandler could not run in as much as he wanted, but the Lakers' offense became stagnant. Without Gasol, the Lakers' offense was not smooth.

Phil Jackson replaced Bynum with Gasol again, and in fact, the offense is effective and he can't defend against the defensive end. Gasol defends Chandler, so he has to be pulled outside. If he defends Garinari and wants to come back to protect the frame, what should he do with Garinari in the bottom corner?

Phil Jackson was a little confused, like Rivers - why did basketball suddenly become something I didn't know very well?

In fact, it’s not that the Knicks’ tactics are so awesome. The Knicks’ style of playing is actually not much different from the Magic.

They are all lineups with one big and four small, power forwards are all high-end turrets, Gallinari is equivalent to Lewis of the Magic, and Zhou Mubai is equivalent to Tekoglu before, and they all play in pick-and-roll styles.

But the key to the problem lies in Zhou Mubai. Zhou Mubai's aggressiveness and passing are not comparable to Tkoglu, which leads to the Lakers being unable to crack the pick-and-roll. If they cannot crack the pick-and-roll, they cannot block the loophole. If they block the three-point line at the basket, they will be empty, block the three-point line and they will be broken through the basket!

The Lakers often use contraction when playing with other teams, and when they play against the Knicks, they become targets.

You shrink in, right? That's great, I just started with a three-pointer.

When the Lakers try to expand the defensive circle, that's great. The space in your three-point line, Zhou Mubai, happened to go in for a walk, thank you!

Phil Jackson is a team-building coach. Whether in the Bulls or the Lakers, his best attitude is to find the right players to perform his triangle offense. Basically, as long as he finds the right superstar, he can bring the team into the finals.

That's how he brought his fingers to the championship ring.

But he found that the situation seemed a little different now.

The triangular offense is mainly based on positional battles, and the superstar singles are mainly based on medium-range attacks, and the output is mainly based on two points, with few rounds and low mid-range efficiency. Facing the Knicks' magic ball style, the Lakers can't stand it anymore. Oh, it should be said that his tactics can't stand it anymore.

Is there any problem with the Lakers' offense?

In fact, the problem is really not big. Apart from the power outage at the beginning, there is basically no problem in the subsequent offense. The scores are basically the same as the regular average score, but look at how many points the Lakers averaged in the season - 101.5 points!

Actually, it’s pretty good, right? After all, everyone’s scores in this era are not too different, but the problem is that the Lakers can’t defend against the Knicks. The Knicks’ scores are almost the same as those of the regular season averages. So what is the Knicks’ average score? 124.6 points!

So the meaning is - in fact, everyone has achieved their own level, but your small score is your problem!

This made Phil Jackson fall into deep thought - has the times changed?

Yes, times are about to change.

In the early years, the Phoenix Suns played a thrilling run and bombardment, but did not let all teams follow the trend. The reason was that they did not win the championship. However, the Knicks reached the finals this time, and the team that was actually incomplete in the eyes of many people reached the finals. This shows that this way of building a team and playing style is actually another correct way!
Chapter completed!