The Lakers are still getting used to each other, but the Rockets don't need to.
The Rockets' roster hasn't changed much in the last few seasons. They're not quite ready to win a championship, but they've always been a strong team.
After the third quarter, the Lakers still hadn't been able to pull away!
The audience was getting anxious...
Where is the promised resounding victory?
With such a strong roster, how could the Lakers, playing against a small Rockets team, fail to extend their lead to double digits after three quarters? What went wrong?
......
After a short break, the fourth quarter began.
The Lakers fielded four reserves: Farmar, Turiaf, Ariza, and Bynum, leaving only Kobe as their starter.
That's already very strong...
The Lakers took the initiative on offense.
Kobe received a pass from Farmar, backed down Wells, faked a half-turn, and then turned and jumped to shoot!
"Whoosh!!!"
The basketball went into the net.
Wells tried to return the favor, but was interfered with by Kobe and missed the shot. Bynum grabbed the rebound.
Offense and defense transition...
Kobe hit another three-pointer!
With Wei Guo on the court, Kobe played with ease in the first three quarters, still full of energy. Facing the Rockets' bench lineup, Kobe revealed his Black Mamba nature.
Kobe steals the ball from Scola!
A long pass was made to Turiaf, who scored on a fast break layup.
97:85!!
The Lakers lead by 12 points.
Gentry said cheerfully, "Brother Wei, you can sit on the sidelines and rest in the fourth quarter."
"That would be best..."
Wei Guo stretched and took out his phone to start reading a novel. He had recently become fond of a web novel about a guy who dominated the NBA. Although the story was a bit exaggerated, with things like dunking from the three-point line and performing some kind of superhuman feat, the protagonist's personality was very similar to his own.
The Lakers played very well in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter!
Kobe led the team on a 15-3 run, extending the lead to 17 points. Adelman brought in all the starters, but it was still to no avail.
Wei Guo didn't play in the fourth quarter at all...
After McGrady and Yao Ming entered the game, Gentry simply replaced Farmar with Paul, keeping the rest of the lineup unchanged.
The gap will widen further!
The Lakers finally delivered on their long-awaited, resounding victory in the fourth quarter.
Gentry is having a headache...
The better he plays, the more troubled he gets...
When Wei Guo and Kobe were both on the court, the score couldn't be widened, but when Kobe led the team, the score gap gradually widened. Doesn't this show that Wei Guo and Kobe were incompatible?
......
With three minutes remaining in the game, the Rockets had already given up.
Yao Ming's key players all left the court.
Gentry originally wanted Kobe to come off the court to rest, but after looking at the lineup, he changed his mind. There were only three minutes left, so he decided to let Kobe finish the game.
Could it be...?
Why did they ask Wei Guo to substitute Kobe?
"Beep!!!"
The whistle blew, and the game ended.
119:97!!
The Lakers defeated the Rockets by 22 points at home, securing their first win of the regular season.
Match statistics:
Wei Guo: 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks
Kobe: 31 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Paul: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 16 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks
McGrady: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks
Yao Ming: 32 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 steals, 2 blocks
Wei Guo and Kobe combined for 70 points, and the Lakers' duo's power surpassed that of the OK combination. Wei Guo's main scoring came in the first quarter, where he scored 21 points, accounting for most of the Lakers' points. Kobe's main scoring came in the fourth quarter, when Kobe carried the team's offense while Wei Guo was off the court.
The Yao-McGrady duo also played well.
32 points and 11 rebounds...
Yao Ming's stats are even more impressive than Kobe Bryant's.
Don't be fooled by Wei Guo's frequent 50+60+70+ scores... In this league, scoring 20+ is considered a high-scoring performance. In this game, McGrady scored 27 points, which is neither high nor low.
The Rockets lost because the Lakers were too strong.
......
At the post-match press conference, Gentry said a few words and left.
I might have trouble sleeping tonight...
I have so many worries on my mind, but I have no one to talk to.
Whether with the Nets or the Suns, Gentry always had a good assistant coach by his side. Phil Jackson was unwilling to let him be an assistant coach, so Gentry had to handle all the team's affairs himself.
He couldn't discuss it with Wei Guo yet...
What's giving Gentry a headache is Wei Guo and Kobe; to discuss this matter, he has to call both of them over.
Despite the high scores from both Wei Guo and Kobe, Gentry clearly saw that Kobe was almost invisible on offense in the first quarter when Wei Guo scored. The reason Kobe scored 30+ points was because Wei Guo sat on the bench reading a novel in the fourth quarter and didn't play at all. If Wei Guo had played in the fourth quarter, Kobe would have been lucky to score 20 points tonight.
If this problem isn't solved, both Kobe and Weiguo's abilities will be weakened.
This is different from the OK combination back then. The problems of the OK combination were irreconcilable. Kobe and Weiguo came together because of their good relationship, and both of them were willing to make sacrifices for the championship.
This is why Kobe didn't complain even though he didn't receive the ball in the first five minutes of the first quarter...
There's another very important thing!
If the Lakers can't resolve the compatibility issue between Kobe and Wei Guo, they might win the championship, but they definitely won't be undefeated. Wei Guo is aiming to create an undefeated season. There are no weak teams in the NBA, and other teams won't agree to Wei Guo's idea. Just like in his season with the Rockets, after a 20-game winning streak, the entire league was targeting the Rockets.
If the Lakers break the league's longest winning streak record, the following games will be tougher and tougher!
Can the current lineup maintain a winning streak?
Nobody can say for sure...
Gentry thought about it all night but couldn't come up with a way to maximize the offensive power of the Weiguo and Kobe combination.
It was almost dawn!
Gentry woke up his sleeping wife, and after some exercise, they got up to go to the gym.
......
Kobe once said that he knew what Los Angeles looked like at 4 a.m.
Gentry wanted to confirm this...
As dawn broke, Gentry arrived at the arena. The arena was lit up, and the sound of basketballs being dribbled could be heard from afar.
"Are there really people training this early?"
Gentry muttered, "It can't be Kobe, can it..."
Many players have training rooms and basketball courts at home, but they still prefer to train at the team's training center. Star players usually have trainers, and given the nature of American players, unless they have a very good relationship with their trainers, they rarely invite them to their homes. If a player were to come to the gym to train at dawn, Gentry would have to think twice about Kobe.
Unfortunately, no... There was indeed someone training... That person was Cummings.
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