Chapter 353: Chapter 224 I Don’t Know, Nor Do I Care

This is a solution, but it doesn’t quench the thirst.

Moreover, the Bucks were more than happy to see Kobe shoot like that.

The lead was back to three points. Yu Fei brought the ball over half court and suddenly called Mutombo over for a pick and roll.

Shaquille O’Neal followed out this time because Mutombo had no shooting ability, and his speed on the pick and roll wasn’t fast enough, with Karl Malone still in the paint, ready to block his route at any time.

Determined to block Yu Fei with Fox, Shaq widened his eyes as the bastard he considered damn worthy came up with a tricky reverse step-back jump shot.

In the end, both Fox and Shaq merely extended their hands symbolically in front of him.

“Swish!!!”

“I couldn’t even see the basket at first, thanks for pointing the way with your pig elbow,” Yu Fei mocked as he looked at Shaq.

Enraged, Shaq went down to the offensive end and fiercely called for the ball.

His teammate passed the ball, but Mason on the other side didn’t bother to hide it and rudely bear-hugged Shaq from behind, forcefully sending him to the free-throw line with a foul.

The pace of the game returned to the Bucks’ hands.

The Iron Bucket Formation feared the core ball handler, but the Lakers didn’t have a core ball handler, so even this primitive, flawed version of the Iron Bucket Formation dragged them into the mire.

Once their offense was disrupted, Yu Fei’s targeted threat made someone among them remember a past fear.

Before today, Phil Jackson wouldn’t admit that Shaq had a nemesis, no matter what.

But after Yu Fei served Shaq a targeted special in the third quarter, he admitted that a ball handler capable of initiating pick and rolls from any position, with a huge shooting threat, deadly floaters, a variety of layup techniques, and an arsenal of close-to-the-basket attack moves, was indeed Shaq’s nemesis.

What was desperate was that originally Shaq could have a scoring face-off with Yu Fei on the offensive end.

Then the Bucks suddenly deployed the Iron Bucket Formation, and the time for mutual explosions was gone, the first half’s showdown was like a beautiful dream, that was Shaq’s most dignified moment in front of Yu Fei.

In an attempt to rescue Shaq from the Iron Bucket Formation, Jackson tried to substitute Kareem Rush, Derek Fisher, and other players with a higher shooting accuracy.

Unfortunately, aside from Rush, no other player was consistently sinking threes.

But relying on Rush alone was not enough.

In the fourth quarter, Kobe’s intense desire to be the savior kept him from passing to Shaq from start to finish, which left Shaq, already struggling offensively and defensively, even more isolated.

Kobe’s aggressive offense made him tonight’s highest scorer, yet it was also his inefficient aggression that caused the Lakers to lose hope of victory early in the fourth quarter.

When Yu Fei used targeted tactics to assist in getting Shaq’s sixth foul inside, boos thundered through the Staples Center, unclear whether they were aimed at the referees or Yu Fei.

Anyone who understood the game could clearly feel the Lakers’ obvious discomfort against the Iron Bucket Formation on the offensive end, and Shaq’s helplessness against Yu Fei on defense.

Now they had a bigger problem, which was the reason Phil Jackson was nervously uneasy.

If we meet the Bucks in the finals, what are our chances?

Before tonight, the Lakers felt their chances were very high internally, but after tonight, they all knew just how tough the Bucks were to play against.

Especially the coaching staff, who even harbored a cowardly thought.

Let some Eastern Conference team take out the Bucks, better yet, break Frye’s legs, and the world would be at peace!

Then, the game concluded: 112 to 99, the Bucks achieved a big victory over the Lakers on their home court, taking the win in this much-anticipated battle.

Post-game interview

“Maybe in the past, when Shaq wasn’t functioning well, Kobe felt he needed to take over the game,” Karl Malone slightly expressed dissatisfaction with Kobe’s one-on-one play in the fourth quarter, “but now he doesn’t need to do that.”

When asked whether Kobe’s frantic one-on-one play in the fourth quarter was due to tactical design by the coaching staff or his “own will,” Jackson shrugged, “I wouldn’t choose either of those options. It wasn’t designed, I think he just felt he had to throw the ball into the hoop.”

Shaq took a resolute stance on the question of “Is Yu Fei your nemesis?”: “Stupid question!”

On the Bucks’ side, obviously, the atmosphere wasn’t as tense as the Lakers’.

“I think this proves my worth as a defender,” Ray Allen responded on how he managed to lock down Payton defensively in the second half.

“What’s so special about it?” George Karl numbly said regarding the victory over Phil Jackson in the regular season, “It’s just a regular season game, no need to make a big deal out of it.”

Yu Fei ran into Kobe on the way to the press conference.

They greeted each other amicably.

“You played well tonight,” Kobe said, “but I’ll win next time.”

Yu Fei responded: “You can keep winning at the scoring game, I’m not greedy, just winning the game is good enough for me.”

“Hmph,” Kobe snorted, “You’re confident, but this is just the beginning.”

It sounded as if he really would win their next encounter.

“The one who’s overconfident is you, Kobe,” Yu Fei said, “Do you know the difference between confidence and arrogance?”

“I don’t know,” Kobe replied in just two sentences to Yu Fei’s question, “and I don’t care.”

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(1) In the ’04 Finals, the Laker with the highest field goal percentage was Shaq, averaging nearly 27 points per game with a 62% shooting percentage. Then, no other Laker had a field goal percentage higher than 40%. Despite Kobe’s abysmal 38.1% shooting percentage, it still ranked fourth on the team.

PS: Today there’s only one chapter, because two chapters were combined.

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