George Carl's defense against the Lakers' starting lineup stage is very layered.

First of all, it is the confrontation consumption. Although McIlvay can't defend O'Neal, her body is not in vain in summer. It can have an impact on O'Neal in the confrontation. How much is it? Payton is also confronting Kenny Anderson, Kemp is also confronting Zhang Hao, and José Hawkins is also affecting Doug Christie.

Then there was a pinch attack, a pinch attack on O'Neal, and there was no mention of Zhang Hao running and receiving the ball. On the contrary, every time Zhang Hao got an open position with the help of pick-and-roll or back-run, the rest of the Supersonics team immediately made up for defense, and deliberately exposed the open shooting opportunity of one of Kenny Anderson and Doug Christie.

At this time, if Zhang Hao receives a pass, the pass is actually the best choice in theory, and it also gives O'Neal the opportunity to pass the ball to George Lynch who cuts in a way that directly attacks the box.

George Carl did not think about locking the Lakers offense, but just wanted the Lakers to pass more balls, defend against key points, and put down the key points, and let go if there was enough confrontation.

If there are too many passes, there will be easy to make mistakes. O'Neal is preferred with a high-level defense, Zhang Hao is second, even Kenny Anderson and George Carl are willing to let go. Although Kenny Anderson is stronger than Van Exel and is a better and more stable core player, this year, the Supersonics are not as afraid as they were two years ago in terms of wave shooting.

But tonight, Zhang Hao was like Van Exel possessed, and he had a little chance and threw the ball into his hand!

As long as he avoids Kemp's defense, even if José Hawkins or Payton make up, he will shoot directly without hesitation. This is definitely a unique way of playing.

George Carl never expected this situation. Zhang Hao's playing style is definitely unique! It is even more excessive than in the regular season!

Zhang Hao averaged 21 shots per game in the regular season, second only to Jordan in the league, which is more than Malone, Glenn Rice and Richmond.

From the Lakers' first round play, George Carl believes that in the playoffs, the Lakers' Silver Fox has made the three fat pads enough, and it should be that O'Neal, Barkley, and the Magicians play. After all, Zhang Hao is still young and has insufficient experience in the playoffs...

But Zhang Hao made George Carl feel what the impact of young people is and what fearlessness is!

Zhang Hao really threw it away and really went in. George Carl had no way to do it.

The key is Zhang Hao's body shape. Once Kamp is removed, the others will besides Schramf's defense, and Zhang Hao really wants to throw the ball when he receives it, so he can only bet that Zhang Hao has a bad touch.

But Zhang Hao felt very good tonight! After accepting Kamp's confrontation, he threw it in with a little chance!

...

Not to mention that George Carl was stunned by Zhang Hao's shot, the Lakers are almost the same.

Del Harris didn't expect Zhang Hao to play like this, but if he scored, that would be a good goal!

O'Neal started with 2 points and 2 assists, and he was very happy to play, feeling like a magician... He turned around and looked at the magician, yes, it really looks like!

Although the number of shots has decreased and I failed to beat the fierce opponent as I thought before the game, it felt pretty good. Anyway, O'Neal felt that the cooperation with Zhang Hao this time was particularly comfortable.

As for Zhang Hao’s side...

"The Lakers' No. 8 high school rookie plays so well!"

If you are like waving, it is amazing. It is a good choice. It is a slight opportunity. As for not entering... Isn't this entering?

Regarding how to partner with O'Neal, Zhang Hao has been thinking about this for a season. The way to play tonight is one of the ways he has thought about, but there is no good opportunity to try it out.

Most of the regular season O'Neal was paddling, and after the All-Star Weekend, he, Zhang, was rushing to score the scoring champion again...

There is no need to play against the Suns in the playoffs. Barkley played so well and wanted to let Barkley play. As a result, Barkley was very restrained. When the Suns were at home in the third game, Barkley did not continue to beat his old club.

When playing in the Supersonics team, Zhang Hao didn't think about playing like this at first. Hey, but there was a chance. He subconsciously played like that. It was really comfortable!

After only 3 and a half minutes, Silver Fox did not make any adjustments, and the tactical framework was decided at the beginning. The players made independent adjustments, which was the player's own business.

...

After the timeout, the Supersonics did not make any lineup adjustments.

Supersonics attack, frontcourt ball.

After receiving the serve from Kemp, Payton did not control the ball himself, but passed it to Schramf.

Schramf held the ball in the top arc, and Payton came to the top corner on the right side of the three-second zone, leaning against Doug Christie to receive the ball and hit the ball with his back!

In the point guard position, Mark Jackson's back-playing game is the most famous, especially after Zhang Hao became famous when he met a power forward who was not as powerful as him. Mark Jackson's name was "the three giants in the rogue world" became famous.

But if you really want to say that the point guard has the strongest back position, Payton should be the strongest in today's league!

Payton's outstanding strength pushed Doug Christie a step away. Doug Christie pressed up immediately. He guessed that Payton was going to shoot, but Payton did not use a jump shot with a turnover, but then knocked Doug Christie back and stepped out to the left, turned left, avoiding Doug Christie who was rushing up, and made a two-point jump shot...

Hit!

Very beautiful high-end back and turn jump shot!

It's so stable! Payton's career has so far, including the two years he was a supporting role in his early career, his shooting percentage is 48%, and his back-turned jump shot is so sharp.

George Carl's solution to the current danger is simple and crude - the tactics of playing stars.

Payton completed the task well, stabilized the situation after the timeout, and avoided the middle and close defensive dominance circle formed by O'Neal and Zhang Hao.

Lakers offense.

Kenny Anderson continued to hang the ball to O'Neal. O'Neal received the ball and did not encounter a pinch. Zhang Hao and George Lynch had no ball pick-and-roll, and only let the opponent's forward switch to defense.

It can be reported that Zhang Hao will hit Schramff on his back, but there is no need. In terms of hitting him, who else is more powerful than O'Neal?

O'Neal's left hand was hooked with his back and hit!

That's it, what the Supersonics are afraid of is O'Neal's smooth singles score!

Even though Zhang Hao is already the scoring leader, the Lakers player that the Supersonics fear the most is still O'Neal.

Except for the Magic, any team knew last summer that O'Neal would be the absolute number one center in one or two years at most.

O'Neal does not have the ability to raise the team's upper limit like Zhang Hao, but O'Neal's bottom-up strength as the cornerstone of the team building will not lose to the other three centers at their peak.

There must be a defensive focus. In contrast, the Supersonics were more willing to block O'Neal at the beginning, but Zhang Hao started the game too hard, and the Supersonics could only activate a one-on-one defensive strategy.

If possible, Payton, Kemp, Schramf didn't want to compete with the Lakers for the tough team, they prefer the team-oriented style of playing at the beginning.

But when there is really no way, the three stars of the Supersonics will not be timid!

O'Neal scored one with his back and turned around. Payton continued to play with a high post. George Lynch chose to make up for the free throw line and accidentally made up for Payton. Payton passed the ball to Schramf. Schramf broke into the inside and attracted Zhang Hao's backup defense. The left side of the ball... O'Neal immediately retracted from a long distance and made up for McIlvay, but Schramf's pass was on the left side, but the height was very high, and he directly hung to the bottom corner on the left.

Jose Hawkins took advantage of Camp without the ball to run to the bottom corner on the left and received the ball and made a three-pointer!

This ball seems to be a role player score, but it is the cooperation of the three supersonics stars. Jose Hawkins' shooting opportunities are purely created by the three major stars.

On the defensive end, the Supersonics continued to choose one-on-one defense. The Supersonics quickly retreated to defend, allowing the Lakers to fall into positional battles, allowing O'Neal to play McIlvay alone, and then find ways to fight on the offensive end.

The Lakers really have nothing to deal with in the Supersonics' style of playing. The pace is very slow, and it is hard to defend. Payton, Kemp, Schramf, these three players fought against Jordan, Pippen and Rodman in the finals last year.

Because of Zhang Hao's relationship, the two teams entered the star competition from the very beginning.

In order to hold on to the counterattack of the three Supersonics stars, the Lakers must work hard on the defensive end. Zhang Hao protected the frame, O'Neal made a close-range defense, Doug Christie and George Lynch defended the outside, and George Lynch had to switch to defend Schramf, the All-Star, even switched to Payton...

On the offensive end, O'Neal was the main attacker.

At this stage, both teams do not know whether this change is good or bad. The Supersonics were forced to launch such a style of play at this time, which is purely helpless.

Such a simple offense is beneficial to the Lakers, but O'Neal's consumption becomes even greater.

After three and a half minutes at the beginning, they entered a tug-of-war. The scores of both teams continued to rise, and the pace of the game was very slow, but the offensive efficiency of both teams was good in this stage of the star competition.

When O'Neal faced single defense, his passing ability could be better demonstrated. The Trail Blazers had to defend Zhang Hao more strictly. Zhang Hao had almost no chance of receiving the ball and shooting from the outside like before, but Kenny Anderson and Doug Christie had the opportunity to play and were activated by O'Neal.

However, when the first quarter was 9 minutes and 06 seconds, Del Harris was forced to call for a timeout.

26 to 25, the score difference was chased by the Supersonics to only 1 point left!

The official timeout has just returned and has been slowed down for two minutes. O'Neal continued his performance before the official timeout, but after playing a few more rounds, O'Neal's physical strength can be clearly seen to be affected.

It’s not that O’Neal can’t play anymore, he can still play at the All-Star level, but he can’t play one at the same time as he was originally!

McIlvay really couldn't defend O'Neal, but his mission was to consume O'Neal at close range and at the basket. It was very simple and had no effect at the beginning, but as the game deepened, the effect gradually became available.

When the Supersonics replaced the 82nd Rookie Terry Cummings and Kemp hit O'Neal together, O'Neal's pass was obviously much slower!

George Carl was able to lead the team to the finals, so he was naturally very capable. He accurately judged the time when O'Neal's performance declined, and took advantage of a dead ball to make a timely substitution, and truly hit the counterattack.

O'Neal is not as good as O'Neal who will gain weight in the future in time and space. Otherwise, why does O'Neal need to gain weight?

It can be said that O'Neal is more mobile, has stronger counterattack impact, and is flexible... But the power of the star competition, that is, the playoffs, is far less powerful than after gaining weight.

Of course, Del Harris must have never thought so much now. He just called the timeout to make adjustments, replaced O'Neal with a rest, replaced Barkley, Jason Williams, Zhang Hao's frontcourt trio, and Kenny Anderson and Wilkins were sent on the back line.

...

I came back from the pause and entered the last two minutes of the first quarter.

The Supersonics set off a star duel in the first quarter, which was very stressful for them, so they naturally wanted to play out their advantages in the first quarter and lead to the second quarter.

If you want to win this series, the Supersonics team with a worse record will need to win at least one away game. If possible, of course they want to win the first away game. Whether it is a team with home advantage or a team without home advantage, the probability of advancing to win the first game of the series is much higher than the probability of advancing to lose the first game of the series.

During this timeout, the Supersonics coaching staff predicted that the Lakers would replace Barkley, and the defense was adjusted, and they sent a combination of Payton, Nate McMillan, Larry Stethur, Sam Perkins and Kemp.

The lineup is relatively mini, but more mobile.

The Supersonics' defensive focus is on Barkley. The strength shown by Barkley in the first round is definitely the Lakers second only to O'Neal's No. 2 star.

At this time, Zhang Hao, who was mainly restrained, was pushed back to the Supersonics' defensive plan.

The Supersonics still focus on one-on-one single defense, using Camp to defend Barkley.

Judging from Zhang Hao's performance in the past 6 minutes since 3 and a half minutes, he has scored 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, there is no problem with the Supersonics' defensive plan.

Barkley also looked fierce and wanted to lead the team forward.

But the first attack came up, Barkley received the ball from a high position and then hung up the basket. Zhang Hao forced Sam Perkins to make a comeback!

The role Barkley played after he came on the court was as expected by the Supersonics, no less than O'Neal. However, Barkley's playing style was completely different from O'Neal. He used the threat of breakthrough and shooting threat to pull the space under the basket to Zhang Hao and let Zhang Hao play!

When it comes to the power of the inside singles, Zhang Hao is definitely not as good as Barkley, but he just played against the Supersonics and was surprised!
To be continued...