Chapter 450 449: The fate of a coward who takes shortcuts (ask for a monthly ticket!)

Roger decided to break down James’ mentality in the first three quarters, which would make the game easier.

You have to admit that if the Lakers really play well, LBJ will unleash tremendous power. He is a top-notch downwind helmsman.

Brandon Roy took a deep breath. He needed to take on greater responsibility in the fourth quarter, which meant he had to kill Kobe Bryant!

Roy was not afraid. If he wanted to take over the scepter, this was the test he had to go through.

On the other side, LeBron James is also going through a test.

In this matchup that was watched by the whole world, he had just made a stupid mistake and let Roger score 2+1. This caused Kobe to start yelling at him, which caused his leadership of the team to seem to come to an abrupt end, causing Kobe to take the initiative again.

He knew he had to adjust immediately, continue to dominate the game, and make the night his own.

He couldn’t make the same mistakes again and couldn’t be bothered by all sorts of things anymore.

He needs to overcome this hurdle and face the crucial games like a true superstar.

On the bench, Kobe wiped his sweat and began to give orders to his teammates: “Dwight, the pick-and-roll should be tighter, don’t rush to cut inside! Chauncey, play more concisely and pass the ball decisively!”

James was about to agree like a leader. At this time, he must speak up and act like the owner of the team.

Before he could even open his mouth, Kobe turned around and yelled at him, “Stop taking risks with long-distance passes! Stop ignoring our strategies and tactics! LeBron, we can’t lose tonight, absolutely not!”

If it was Dwyane Wade, Kyrie Irving, or Anthony Davis, they would never speak to James in this tone on the court. No matter how lost James was, they would not do that.

But with the Lakers, it happened.

Kobe berated James. You couldn’t lose your focus around that guy without getting yelled at.

Roger watched Kobe yelling at James on the big screen and wanted to give a $100 million bonus to the director at the Oracle Arena.

This scene is as exciting as if a UFO was captured in the photo.

Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy immediately began discussing the altercation on the Lakers bench.

“Are there any troubles between LeBron and Kobe?” Jeff Van Gundy glanced at the Lakers bench with interest.

“No, I don’t think so. That’s just how Kobe is. He just wants to remind his teammates,” Mike Breen replied.

Overall, the Lakers locker room will not have any problems because of this incident.

But at that moment, James was really angry. He didn’t like being told what to do by Kobe.

Because it would make him look like everyone else.

This made him feel that the Lakers were Kobe’s team alone, and everyone else was just a deputy, including himself, and he was not special at all.

This feeling of disrespect led James to respond loudly: “Hey, we know what to do, Kobe.”

This is a normal response, but it is very delicate in the current situation.

Phil Jackson quickly patted James on the shoulder: “Stay focused LeBron, the most important thing is winning.”

Kobe remained focused and didn’t care about any special meaning of James’ answer.

He only had eyes for Roger now, and he just wanted to win.

Roger is very confident in his plan. In the Lakers, James will suffer double pressure. He will be under pressure from the outside and Kobe will be under pressure from the inside.

He will definitely collapse, for sure!

The game restarts and the Lakers have the ball.

Chauncey Billups was in control of the situation, and Kobe held the ball in the low post to play against Tayshaun Prince.

Kobe started to lose weight last summer. The heavy weight did bring him convenience, but his knees are no longer as healthy.

For the sake of his career, he had to give up his weight advantage.

So the average Tayshaun Prince is no longer so invincible in front of him.

Kobe Bryant made two shots with his back to the basket, but the distance he advanced was not as far as expected.

But Kobe still made a direct jump shot after shaking his shoulders. Tayshaun Prince covered his eyes with his long arms. No one could point out any mistakes in his defensive timing, but the basketball still went in.

9 to 7, the Lakers took the lead again.

This was a moment worth cheering for all Lakers players, as they regained control of the situation.

But Roger’s voice was as disappointing as a girl’s sudden knock on the door when she was playing with toys, instantly destroying the joy of the Lakers players after scoring the goal.

“Look, Kobe, you are worthy of being LeBron’s thigh. Hey LeBron, if there is anyone in this world who can really help you win, it must be Kobe. Don’t be nervous, Kobe will protect you well.”

“Shut the fuck up, bastard!” James cursed as he retreated and stood next to Tayshaun Prince.

He wanted to calm himself down and stay focused.

But then, Roger waved his hand and asked Tayshaun Prince to screen for him.

Phil Jackson’s strategy for dealing with Roger’s pick-and-roll is to firmly delay him and switch defense directly if conditions permit. Because Roger’s ability to shoot directly after the pick-and-roll is too strong, he must always have someone in front of him.

So James defended directly in front of Roger, and Chauncey Billups had to chase and defend Tayshaun Prince who was quickly separated.

The entire side was emptied, and Roger got the space to challenge LBJ one-on-one.

Mike Brin’s eyes widened. Roger actually specifically asked to challenge James!
This pick-and-roll makes no sense from a tactical perspective because Roger did not switch to a weaker defender through the pick-and-roll.

Many people think that the pick-and-roll tactic is something that only exists in the small ball era. In fact, this thing has been very popular in the early 21st century. The most reliable hard-to-solve tactic of the Princeton Kings at that time was to use Mike Bibby to play 1-5 pick-and-roll to attack the undefended Sharks, which worked wonders.

But the Lakers’ three perimeter defenders are all excellent this season. Phil Jackson asked Chauncey Billups to defend Roger simply because he needed James to save more energy for offense. Also, Billups needs to be calmer.

But in terms of overall defensive level, James is definitely not weak.

Therefore, it makes no sense for Roger to use the pick-and-roll to target LBJ.

There is only one explanation: Roger didn’t want to make his offense simpler, he just wanted to get rid of LBJ.

This is a very old-school style of play, a style that is almost invisible 20 years later. Because 20 years later, basketball is all about letting the star player target the opponent’s weakest defender through continuous pick-and-rolls.

Even James disdains to use this style of play, because he often chooses to match up against the opponent’s FMVP in the finals.

James wanted to calm down a bit on the defensive end, but Roger didn’t give him a chance: “LeBron, what are you hiding from? Aren’t you going to kick me out of this league? And you don’t even have the courage to match up with me? And you want me to actively use pick-and-roll to find you? Don’t hide the fucking time, come out and face it!”

Kobe yelled from the far side: “Don’t worry about what he says, just focus!”

James didn’t respond, just stared at the basketball intently.

He won’t back down, he has to win it all tonight.

Roger began to dribble with both hands to find the rhythm. The Lakers did not dare to double-team him rashly. This was the convenience brought to Roger by the Warriors’ strong three-point threat.

But James was unmoved. When he was serious, he was an excellent defender.

Roger broke through to the left, and James immediately moved sideways, leaving Roger only about one-third of his body space. Moreover, his stronger body exerted tremendous pressure on Roger.

Roger stopped suddenly in the mid-range, he couldn’t enter the restricted area, that would make him Howard’s prey.

After stopping suddenly, Roger turned around and prepared to shoot a jump shot. James blocked him, making sure to interfere but not jumping, quite cautiously.

His one-on-one defense in this round was perfect. Under normal circumstances, the attacking side would have been completely blocked at this time and would be helpless.

But when Roger was completely blocked by James, he suddenly paused, interrupted his turnaround jump shot, turned around, took a step forward, and made a low layup.

Roger just isn’t very good at post moves, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it at all.

However, this is still an unconventional shot, because the position of the layup is too far. Kobe often uses this step, but he only chooses to use the layup to finish when he is close to the basket.

Roger just shot a layup near the free throw line, which looked more like he was just throwing the ball into the air out of desperation.

But the basketball was picked out of a wonderful arc, passed over the rim guard Dwight Howard and went into the net.

James’ strenuous defense did not help him win this round.

“What a wonderful finish! From Louisville to California, Roger’s finger-loop layup has been amazing for more than a decade! This was a superstar shot. You can’t blame LeBron. You can only say that Roger has too many weapons, and they have never aged. They can be used directly after they are taken out.” Mike Breen was unable to comment on this round. Both stars did their best. Although Roger successfully scored, you cannot say that James, who forced Roger to choose to shoot in this way, was a failure.

After scoring the goal, Roger gave James a thumbs up and said, “It was just a little bit short, but it will always be that little bit short. Don’t lose heart, Kobe will help you, a loser, to fight back.”

Roger tirelessly irritated James’ nerves, making him feel frustrated.

He knew that once humiliation and frustration took over his mind, his defenses would become weaker and weaker.

The biggest problem James has had on defense throughout his career is that his defense has been at the top level for too short a time.

Defensively, he grew too slowly and declined too early.

LBJ was not selected to the All-Defensive Team until 2009, when he had been in the league for six years.

As a result, this state only lasted for five seasons, and he completely dropped out of the ranks of the best defense.

In comparison, Michael Jordan had 10 first-defenses, Kobe had 9, and Pippen had 8. Well, without first-defenses, it’s not bad to be able to stay in second-defense for a long time.

But even with the addition of a second defense, LBJ only made six defensive plays throughout his career.

Those were the only years he really played high-level defense.

Many people say that LBJ’s defense is actually very strong, but the haters just exaggerate it based on the few rounds he missed.

This is truly confusing. James’ poor defense cannot be described by just “a few rounds”. Instead, he has contributed countless “famous scenes” on the defensive end in the ten years from 2014 to 2024.

Given LBJ’s talent and his self-proclaimed historical status, his defensive consistency is clearly not enough.

Why does this happen? Because James is an emotional defender.

He can exert top-level defensive influence in certain games, but once his emotions or physical fitness are affected, James will relax on the defensive end.

This resulted in his overall defensive level being average throughout the season, making it difficult for him to be selected for the All-Defensive Team.

When he defends seriously, he can force Roger into a desperate situation. But when he finds that his defense is ineffective, he will not continue to defend seriously like Kobe, Jordan or Pippen.

Therefore, Roger needs to continue to attack, continue to single out James, continue to put pressure on him, and continue to frustrate him.

As the number of times increases, he will definitely become looser.

So in the game after the first quarter, Roger’s desire to attack was very strong. Moreover, he wanted to challenge James in almost every round.

James’ defense deserves praise. In the first quarter, he stole the ball from Roger once and blocked Roger once. Although he couldn’t completely lock Roger down, he didn’t let Roger do whatever he wanted.

But in the second and third quarters, Roger still did not change his bad habits and caught LBJ for crazy one-on-one games.

Finally, James began to be affected.

Because he consumed a lot of energy on the defensive end, James’s activity on the offensive end was average.

As a result, his stats barely improved.

Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups and Dwight Howard played a large part on the offensive end, contributing more than one top-five play.

Where is James?

He could only pass the ball and create space, and after he had just experienced a difficult defensive round, he had little energy available on the offensive end.

He just wanted to take some simple open shots or open cuts, because he knew that with his current energy, his hit rate might not be too high if he attacked. And then, everyone would blame him for his hit rate, and this blame would bring him more pressure.

But Roger’s defense just couldn’t give James a chance to take an easy shot or cut to the basket, so he kept passing the ball on the offensive end.

Well, this is LeBron, he thinks about much more than the fans in front of the TV.

If Kobe could think about his shooting percentage during the game, he might not be so stubborn.

In the seventh minute of the third quarter, when Dwight Howard missed his zombie hook shot in the low post, Roger began to whisper in James’ ear again: “LeBron, I never thought that your tactical position in the Lakers is so low. Even Dwight has started to play one-on-one in the low post, but you are still passing the ball.”

After that, Roger raised his hand to ask for the ball, and Roy obediently gave it to him. After getting the ball, Roger boasted to the No. 23 player in front of him, “Look, this is what a core player is. I never thought that in order to defeat me, you would be willing to be a blue-collar player in the Lakers whose tactical position is not as good as Dwight Howard.”

James was a little dazed and was easily dribbled past by Roger, who then made a wide-open mid-range shot.

It started. James’ originally good defense finally began to loosen under Roger’s fierce attack.

Kobe spread his hands: “What the hell are you doing!?”

Roger took advantage of the situation and said, “Look, this is what happens when a coward betrays his hometown and takes shortcuts. No one in Cleveland dares to talk to you like this. How does it feel to live under someone else’s roof?”

The double pressure began to take its toll on James and torment his sensitive heart.

He was eager to fight back, so he said something that he regretted: “Who are you to say that about me? You also betrayed Orlando and Atlanta.”

This sentence was like a boxer suddenly dropping his hands in defense during a match, exposing his head completely to his opponent. Roger refuted it without even thinking:

“Betrayal? I brought three championships to Orlando before I left. I brought four championships to Atlanta and saved the city. I have experienced some transfers, but I can say with a clear conscience that I don’t owe any team, and I didn’t let the owners and fans spend every penny in vain. Even the fucking trash Michael Jordan stayed in Chicago and won three championships before he left.

And you? Apart from failure, apart from wasting a lot of money of the team owner, apart from one lie after another, what have you brought to Cleveland?
When I went back to Orlando and Atlanta, I was greeted with cheers and tributes. What was it like when you went back to Cleveland? The fans there even burned your fucking jersey!

Never, ever compare yourself to me, that’s the mistake you’ve been making since day one in this league.”

When Roger laid out the cruel facts one by one, James’ mind went blank. James now wished that time could go back five seconds so that he could take back the stupid trash talk he had just said.

Then, James predictably lost.

In the next few defensive rounds, James’s reactions were always a beat slow.

The Lakers’ offense was also not going well, and Kobe started to miss shots because Roger started to double-team him.

Seeing this situation, Kobe only passed the ball to James when he was double-teamed.

But for two consecutive rounds, James did not shoot or break through when faced with opportunities.

He is still passing the ball patiently.

In the tenth minute of the third quarter, Roger scored a pull-up shot when James’ defense had completely relaxed, and he had already scored 28 points in the game.

After scoring the goal, Roger turned his head and looked at the Zen Master: “If I were you, I would replace this rubbish. He is only useful for bragging at the press conference!”

This goal put the Lakers behind by 9 points. They had to score the next goal, otherwise the team might enter the fourth quarter with a double-digit score difference.

Kobe received the ball in the low post and prepared to play one-on-one against Matt Barnes, but Roger immediately double-teamed him.

At this time, because Howard and Billups were both substituted out for rest, Kobe either passed the ball to role players such as Vujacic or gave the ball to James.

This doesn’t seem to be an option. At this critical moment, the ball must be given to the stars, and the stars must stand up.

So, Kobe passed the ball to James for the third consecutive round, hoping that James could understand the current situation.

James received the ball and Roger quickly counterattacked, but No. 23 still had a chance to shoot in half space.

Or, he can fake a shot and then break through.

But he did not choose either of these two offensive methods. He chose to pass the ball to Vujacic who was being guarded by Jason Richardson.

Kobe’s throat was almost spitting fire. The overall situation is one thing, but you should become a killer at this moment. As one of the most important players on a team, you have several chances to save the team, but you pass the ball to Vujacic. This doesn’t make sense!

Vujacic was at a loss and passed the ball back to Kobe. The moment Kobe got the ball, Roger was in position to double-team him.

There was no other way, No. 15 could only turn over and lean back under the defense of two people.

From the perspective of Excel, this will be a round in which James did not make any mistakes, and Kobe, who was alone, “stupidly” forced a shot against two people. Many years later, this will become the material for countless people who did not watch the game to criticize Kobe.

The basketball bounced off the rim, Mutombo secured the rebound, and the Warriors took over the attack.

When Roger faced James again, James was standing far away with his arms open.

Kobe was getting impatient behind him: “LeBron, pressure, pressure!”

James was unmoved, he could no longer hear anything.

There was only one sentence in his mind: This is the result of a coward who betrayed his hometown and took a shortcut.

Kobe couldn’t stand it anymore. He was just as angry as when he called on Jeremy Lin to foul his opponent in the original timeline, but Jeremy Lin didn’t move. He simply rushed forward and double-teamed Roger with James.

Roger passed the ball to Jason Richardson, and Kobe quickly rushed back. Jason Richardson hit the ground and passed it. Kobe turned his head and saw Roger had easily cut in, while James was turning around and chasing.

This means that his reaction was slow again.

After receiving the basketball, Roger rushed straight to the basket. Without Howard, Roger could attack the basket with confidence.

Theo Ratliff? Yeah, he was the shot-blocking leader, but that was in the past.

Roger leaned on Theo Ratliff and threw the ball towards the backboard during the confrontation.

“Boom, swish!”

With two crisp sounds, the basketball went into the net and the referee whistled.

Roger spread his hands: “All women in Hollywood are tighter than you, LeBron.”

James’ dignity was completely trampled upon, and Roger’s goal was achieved. He destroyed No. 23 in three quarters without mercy.

The free throw was made, the Warriors led by 12 points, and the Lakers suspended the game.

Kobe and James walked off the court together. James walked slowly, while Kobe walked impatiently.

When he walked to James, he raised his elbow and hit James hard on the chest: “Damn it, get out of the way!”

This was undoubtedly the best shot of the third quarter, and the Oracle Arena’s million-dollar director once again presented it all on the big screen on site.

Roger sighed.

Having said that, Kobe is not as good-tempered as Wade.

(End of this chapter)