Chapter 1003
You brat, aren't you going to give me a high five?
The headlines tonight weren't about Paul finally finding his rhythm, scoring 31 points and hitting the game-winner; nor were they about Wade and Anthony combining for 77 points to lead their team to victory; and of course, it wasn't about James recording a 30+ triple-double.
The headline tonight is Kobe.
We'll see!
This simple sentence swept across the front pages of major media outlets across the United States and occupied the most prominent positions on major websites.
There's no way around it, Kobe's status is undeniable, and secondly, and most importantly, everyone knows who Kobe is.
Almost without exception, all the threats this guy makes come true.
He said he was going to do something to someone, and he almost always succeeded.
And the very few exceptions, the very few people who could thwart Kobe's bold claim, were sitting right next to him at that moment, quite cleverly.
Lin Tian.
Kobe said countless times that we would win the championship, and Lin Tian defeated him countless times on the Finals stage.
But now Lin Tian is by Kobe's side, and more importantly, after Kobe said he would make everyone pay, Lin Tian directly said, "I support my brother!"
It's already quite alarming that one of the league's top scorers has declared he's going to go on a scoring spree.
What if he had the best passer and assist provider in the league by his side, and he expressed his absolute support?
The effect is definitely 1+1>2!
Therefore, everyone's expectations for the Lakers are once again at their peak.
The only pity is that, although the Lakers were already one of the two teams with the highest ticket prices in the league, and the price of tickets has risen even more after acquiring Lin Tian this year, their tickets have already sold out.
Tickets for the entire regular season were sold out, if not 100%, but at least 90% were sold.
Prices can be raised, but there are no more tickets available to raise.
But one thing is certain: the Lakers will once again become the most watched and hottest team in the entire league.
Hmm...maybe they always have been.
It was around this time that the Lakers returned to Los Angeles.
They can rest here for a day, and then they will play their first home game of the season at Staples Center.
The Challengers are a very popular veteran team in the league, and they even won the championship a couple of years ago.
Phoenix Suns.
The Suns did sell everything they owned a few years ago to assemble a roster of four superstars. Although the players were getting older and more injured, the team ultimately won a championship thanks to the old boys' last-ditch effort.
Now, several years later, O'Neal has retired, but Garnett, Pierce, and Nash are still with the team.
Of course, all three are clearly no longer as strong as they used to be.
Former MVP Steve Nash averaged only 15 points and 9 assists per game last season, and after playing 3 games this season, he is averaging only 13 points and 7 assists per game. Even his signature three-point shooting percentage has dropped to 36%. If he maintains his current stats until the end of the season...
All three of these figures represent his lowest points since leaving the Suns.
Garnett was plagued by injuries last season, playing only 38 games and averaging just 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. The once high-flying and unstoppable super power forward is now just an old man with slightly slow footwork and insufficient weight to withstand physical contact.
Of the three, the one who is in the best form is undoubtedly the youngest, Pierce. He was still able to average 21 points per game last season, but obviously, he is the youngest, that's compared to the two older guys. If you look at the whole team, he is the third oldest.
All three players are past their prime. The current Suns team seems to be giving them a retirement as a way of repaying them for the championship they brought to the team.
Of course, the Suns couldn't just watch the three retire without making any contingency plans. After all, it seems like all three could retire at any time. So the Suns' management found some young players to take over and develop.
For example, Diego Dragic, a Slovenian widely regarded as Nash's successor.
Although this young man was a second-round pick and had previously only played as a substitute, he had already shown his composure and maturity. The Phoenix team particularly liked this young man and naturally placed high hopes on him.
This season, the team has promoted him to the starting lineup, playing a dual point guard strategy with Nash, in order to help him develop as quickly as possible.
Nash's stats have declined further in these three games this season, largely because he has been given more ball possession.
And Dragic did not disappoint the team, averaging 20 points and 5 assists in 3 games this season, and has become the team's leading scorer. This achievement is definitely enough to make the team and fans happy.
Another player is Marcin Gortat, an inside player from Poland nicknamed "Polish Hammer". Gortat's style doesn't really fit the current Suns. He can shoot, but most of the time, he's more like a traditional center. He's really not used to running and playing.
But with Garnett drawing attention inside and Nash and Dragic feeding him the ball outside, Gortat's growth has been quite rapid.
The above five players are the Suns' current starting five!
On the team's bench are players like Lopez Jr., Dudley, and the team's rookie this year, Morris, either brother or sister.
Hmm... There's only one sun for now, Morris, but Lin Tian can't remember if it's the big one or the small one.
Although Lin Tian had long been able to distinguish the Olsen sisters through experience and would not mistake either of them, his ability to identify twins only worked on these two.
Lin Tian had absolutely no ability or energy to do what the other people, especially the male twins, did.
It's always good to be one of them.
You can tell from the Suns' roster that although the team is supporting the three veterans in their retirement, they also have backup plans. Even if the three of them retire today, the team can still put together a decent roster to play.
At the same time, their overall roster also clearly shows the Suns' strategy.
Apart from the three veterans who are nearing retirement, all the other players on the team are under 25 years old, with the youngest, Morris, being only 21.
The team is already undergoing a generational change and overhaul.
Everything is just waiting for a dignified retirement ceremony for the three veteran players. Everyone knows that day is not far away.
This seemingly unambitious Suns team encountered the Lakers, who were aiming for the championship, and Kobe, who was eager to prove himself.
"This is a great opportunity, Kobe." Before the game started, Lin Tian, who was stretching on the floor, looked at Kobe and said, "A great chance to score a lot of points! There's no team in this league with worse perimeter defense than the Suns."
"Dragic and Nash, my grandma can score 10 points against both of them, can you do that?"
"If you don't seize this opportunity, the next game will be against a strong team. You won't be able to handle it, will you? If it really comes down to it, I'll give you a special privilege today. Even if you play terribly, I'll keep feeding you the ball, how about that?"
"Even if we lose today, you have to keep your promise! You have to get some impressive stats today!"
"Shut up!" Kobe didn't want to pay any attention to Lin Tian at all. He didn't even look at Lin Tian. Instead, he buried his head on the floor, closed his eyes, and tried to clear his mind as much as possible.
Unfortunately, Lin Tian didn't give him that chance. Lin Tian didn't care whether Kobe looked at him or not; you're not covering your ears just because you closed your eyes.
Unless Kobe takes a needle and punctures his eardrum on the spot, Lin Tian will not stop at all.
After all, trash talk is meant to be heard, not read.
In the end, Lin Tian successfully annoyed Kobe. The guy stopped stretching and jumped up from the floor to get away from Lin Tian.
This jump startled Nash and the others who came over to say hello.
Pierce, who was walking at the very front, even actually jumped up.
The Suns' three veteran players, along with the team's future leader Goran Dragic, all came.
They're very calm now, just enjoying basketball, so before games they often take their younger teammates around to get acquainted and ask for favors.
These guys are paving the way for Dragic in advance, making a good impression on him from various bigwigs. That way, when he takes the lead in the future, he'll have some support, right?
In most cases, you can't hit someone who's smiling, and Dragic still manages to receive a lot of goodwill.
But tonight is clearly a niche situation.
Kobe stood up, staring coldly at the three people in front of him, then his gaze locked onto Dragic, and he said coldly, "Is this the only kid guarding me tonight?"
“Kobe…” Paul Pierce, Kobe’s closest friend in Los Angeles, immediately wanted to say something to ease the tension, but Kobe didn’t give him the chance at all.
"Have his family prepare black clothes and a coffin; they might never see their precious son again." Kobe finished speaking, turned and left, not forgetting to pick up a rubber band to continue stretching himself. "Was he kicked out of the house by Vanessa?" Garnett, who hadn't spoken before, immediately offered his opinion as soon as Kobe left.
"Who knows?" Lin Tian lay on the ground, rolled over, and looked down at the group. "I think, how about we have Steve guard Kobe tonight? He's old, thick-skinned, and has a good mentality. Even if he gets beaten to death, it won't matter."
"Your buddy, don't let this traumatize you. We all know what a Kobe Bryant is like when he's enraged."
"Isn't my life a life?" Nash immediately cursed, "Why didn't you let Paul guard him?"
“He can’t defend against him. His lateral movement speed isn’t even as fast as my grandma’s.” Lin Tian said, “Your lateral movement speed is fast enough to keep up with him.”
“I’ll go with your grandma, I’ll go with you,” Nash grumbled irritably. “Why don’t you look at my muscle mass?”
"Who cares about that kind of junk?" Lin Tian waved his hand and said, "I thought you three were good older brothers, taking your little brothers around to pay respects to the powerful, and this is all you've got?"
"So you guys don't even have this much responsibility? Tsk tsk tsk, being your underlings must have been a real ordeal."
“Let’s go.” Garnett stretched out his arms and put his arms around a few of his men. “Let’s go. None of them are normal. One of them is like he’s on steroids, yelling at everyone he sees, while the other one doesn’t yell at all.”
"But he just won't speak human language, not a single human word."
The four men left, grumbling and cursing. Lin Tian then changed his position and lay on the floor to continue stretching. He was in a very good mood at the moment.
At the same time, Lin Tian glanced at the side of the court and spotted Durant.
This guy is displaying his feathers.
Standing on the sidelines, he kept showing off his dribbling skills, and every now and then he would spin the ball around. He looked just like a high school student who suddenly saw the school beauty passing by the court and then went on a crazy show-off of his skills.
The girl next to Durant is definitely much prettier than the average school beauty right now.
Durant is happily chatting with the girl next to him in the bathwater he's been dreaming of.
He was laughing so hard he was practically shaking with joy, and Durant was getting happier and more engrossed in showing off his skills.
Unfortunately, Scarlett barely glanced at Durant; her attention was elsewhere. Lin Tian couldn't be sure if Durant was aware of this, but he just felt that Durant was acting like a pervert.
At the very least, if you want to drink someone's bathwater, you should at least strike up a conversation and invite them to bathe together sometime, right? You don't even dare to invite a girl to bathe, yet you say you want to drink her bathwater?
You'll never get to drink it in your lifetime!
Serves them right for not getting a drink.
As time went by, the warm-up session quickly came to an end, and the starting players from both sides took to the field early, waiting for the match to begin.
"The starting lineups of these two teams have the most players in the league who entered the league in the 90s."
"The Lakers have Kobe and Lin, and the Suns have Garnett, Pierce and Nash. But looking at the whole league now, there are no more than 20 players who entered the league in the 90s and can still play as regular starters."
"That's more than a quarter of the total! So if you like basketball from the last century and retro games, this is a game you really can't miss."
"These guys' games are truly becoming increasingly rare."
As the match was about to begin, Van Gundy's voice rang out again.
Miller added, "That's right. Besides them, how many other players who entered the league in the 90s can secure a starting position on their teams?"
"Besides these few people, the only ones who can be called top stars are Duncan and Nowitzki. Carter and Johnson still have some star power. The others are basically just starting players on the team."
“Francis, McGrady, Brand, Artest…” Jackson said, “These guys have either suffered injuries or declined due to age over the years. In short, they have all lost their positions without anyone noticing.”
"Actually, you've forgotten someone," Van Gundy suddenly said. "Stephen Marbury, he's in China. I heard he just led his team to a successful title defense and is known as the strongest foreign player in the entire Chinese basketball league."
"How's the league level?" Miller couldn't help but ask. "Lin and Yao both came from the Chinese league, right? Their team won five consecutive world championships, so the league level must be pretty good."
“It’s a pity.” Van Gundy shrugged. “Yao led the team to the championship in the last season of that league. He once scored 47 points and 20 rebounds in a Finals game, shooting 21 for 21. Yao was 20 years old at that time.”
"As for Lin, he has never played in the Chinese league. He came from the NCAA, you idiot."
"How many shots did he make again? Yao at 20?" Miller repeated the question in surprise, then recalled Yao's level and performance when he first entered the NBA, and then he lost interest in the Chinese CBA league.
Let's talk about what's in front of us.
By this time, Bynum and Gortat had reached the middle of the court and were ready to jump the ball. The referee quickly glanced at the time, then walked between the two. After a whistle, the basketball was thrown into the air.
There's absolutely no doubt about Bynum's physical talent.
His wingspan, height, and physical attributes are absolutely exceptional, so his success rate in jump balls is also quite high.
With a 'smack', Bynum had already slapped the ball into Lin Tian's hands, giving the Lakers their first offensive opportunity of the night.
At that moment, the entire Staples Center erupted in a deafening roar and cheers.
coming!
The Lakers' first official home game of the season is here!
Lin Tian easily swatted the ball high into the air, then stretched before leisurely starting to advance.
"How many points do you want me to score on you today, Steve?" Lin Tian came to the frontcourt, turned his back to Nash, and immediately started teasing him.
"As long as it doesn't break the record, it's fine." Nash chuckled. Even in his prime, this guy wasn't easily angered.
"So you're saying your little brother gets beaten up and loses his record?"
As soon as Lin Tian finished speaking, he suddenly threw the ball towards the vicinity of the basket.
The basketball flew through the air. Garnett was standing in the area above the free-throw line because he was guarding Durant. Gortat's movement speed was negligible. Of course, more importantly, this team had little defense in its prime, let alone now that it's in its retirement phase.
At this moment, the entire Suns team could only watch, wondering who would receive the ball.
Kobe, of course!
This guy was just strolling around slowly at first, but somehow he suddenly made a reverse run and, in the blink of an eye, shook off Dragic and rushed into the paint.
No one can stop him, and no one wants to stop him.
Kobe leaped into the air, grabbed the basketball Lin Tian handed him, and then slammed it towards the rim.
"boom!"
After the explosion, Staples Center erupted in cheers!
They absolutely loved that alley-oop start!
"I thought you could only manage a layup at most." Lin Tian reached out to touch Kobe, but Kobe ignored him and even dodged Lin Tian's hand with a graceful movement.
I'm not going to fist bump with you, you bastard.
You're not going to touch it, right?
Row!
If you ignore me, then I'll ignore you too. Let's see who begs whom in a bit!
Although both teams have a dominant center, it is clear that both sides play a fast-paced, run-and-gun style of play that focuses on quick transitions and capitalizing on the transitions between offense and defense.
So the pace on both sides was incredibly fast, and the fighting was absolutely spectacular and exciting!
Los Angeles fans were thrilled by the series of brilliant plays from both sides.
They were having a blast!
The players, without realizing it, completely fell into this rhythm, focusing more on offense and neglecting defense.
Therefore, the flow of the game in the first quarter was quite good, and the offensive efficiency of both sides was also quite high.
The game was fast-paced and fluid, with both sides scoring repeatedly. For the Suns, Pierce was on fire tonight, scoring 11 points in a single quarter, showing a burst of youthful energy.
In addition, Nash also hit two three-pointers, scoring 7 points and 4 assists.
With one attacking and the other orchestrating the offense, the Suns scored 34 points in the first quarter alone.
But the Suns were still trailing. (End of Chapter)