Soon, the Trail Blazers ushered in the fifth to last game of the season, against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Hello, viewers, this is TNT. I am Kenny Smith, the commentator for today's game. Some people may be curious about where my colleague Charles Barkley has gone. Well...it's hard to explain, so let's not talk about him!

In this game, we invited the famous glider Clyde Drexler, a veteran of the Portland Trail Blazers!

To be honest, Clyde, do you think the Lakers have a chance to win this game?"

Drexler immediately said after listening to Kenny Smith's words: "It is true that Kobe and his Lakers have reached the edge of the cliff. They are only 0.5 wins away from the eighth place. If we talk about this game,

It is very likely that they will miss the playoffs directly. I think it is time for them to fight hard!

But...

Then again, the Trail Blazers' performance this year exceeded everyone's expectations, including me. Although they are still very young, no one will question their strength, especially the luxurious lineup configuration inside ~ Wang Zelin Aldridge's

The combination almost leads the league.

Compared with Dwight Howard, I think Wang Zelin was the number one center in the league in the 2012-13 season. As long as they win this game, the Trail Blazers will sweep the Lakers in a single season for the first time in team history. To be honest,

I’ve been looking forward to this moment!”

The butt determines the head. As a famous player of the Trail Blazers, Drexler always promoted his home team during the communication process with Kenny Smith.

After listening to Drexler's analysis, Kenny Smith continued to speak.

"Clyde, you said that Wang Zelin and Aldridge's inside combination is the best in the league. I choose to reserve my opinion on this point.

On the other hand, the Lakers' interior lineup is also extremely luxurious, and Howard has played in recent games, which makes people feel that he has got rid of the back injury. At this stage, Dwight is still the league's number one center!"

Obviously, Kenny Smith doesn't agree with Drexler's statement.

"Okay, don't talk nonsense, let us tell the facts!"

The lineups of both teams are as follows.

Visiting Lakers: PG Steve Blake, SG Kobe Bryant, SF Earl Clark, PF Pau Gasol, C Dwight Howard

Home team Trail Blazers: Same old, skip...

Judging from the strength on paper, the Trail Blazers clearly have the upper hand at positions 1 and 3. Both Steve Blake and Earl Clark are little-known little players. If it weren’t for the aging of some of the Lakers’ main players,

As a result of constant injuries, it is impossible for the two of them to become Lakers.

After comparing the two, the only advantage the Lakers had was Kobe, so Terry Stotts gave the order during the pre-game meeting: Get Kobe at all costs!

The game on the field started soon.

Wang Zelin and Howard jumped the ball in the middle circle, and the latter lost again. The Trail Blazers took the lead in gaining the offensive ball.

Both sides set up twin towers at the same time, and everyone's eyes were on players No. 36 and No. 12. Another collision between the two was a highlight of the evening.

Wang Zelin just received the ball in the low post, and Pau Gasol defended him. Who would have thought that Howard quickly yelled: "Get out of here, I can deal with him alone!"

Yes, good intentions are regarded as the liver and lungs of a donkey.

Pau Gasol walked away helplessly.

"You know, Dwight, I love you so much!"

"What?"

"Every time I meet you, I always get a beautiful piece of data, and I believe this time will be no exception."

"..."

Howard's face turned black instantly. Wang Zelin took advantage of the situation and pushed back, took a step back and turned over to shoot a jumper. Howard reacted immediately and rushed towards Wang Zelin, but unfortunately the ball had already been thrown.

"Whoosh!"

The Trail Blazers won first.

"Look, what did I say? This is coming..."

After scoring the goal, Wang Zelin specially waited for Howard to hit the baseline kick and rushed to the Lakers' position with him.

"You're just a talker, I'm not afraid of you!"

Howard had a fierce look on his face and said ferociously.

"But you just can't help it..."

Wang Zelin smiled.

At this time, Kobe caught the ball at the top of the arc, made a gesture to pull away, and after his teammates pulled to the outside, he suddenly started to pass Matthews and went straight to the penalty area.

But Batum, who was in the high post on the left, reacted very quickly and immediately came over to cover the defense. Kobe quickly turned around and passed the defender cleanly. Wang Zelin wanted to take a defensive step, but was held back by Howard.

In the end, it was Aldridge who took the initiative to meet Kobe.

"drink!"

Kobe roared angrily, ignoring Aldridge in front of him, and jumped up without fear. The basketball flew past the latter's fingertips and fell into the net. He staggered when he landed and almost fell.

"oh!"

The Rose Garden Arena was in an uproar.

The 1.98-meter Kobe actually knocked the 2.11-meter Aldridge away, which made the fans very dissatisfied.

Why don't you dare to be cruel?

So cowardly!

"Beep!"

Aldridge's thug fouled and Kobe made an extra penalty.

"Performance from the Black Mamba! He contributed 2+1 as soon as he came on the field. It can be seen that Kobe's desire to attack today is very strong!" Kenny Smith's commentary sounded at the scene.

"Shh!"

The scene was followed by boos, and the tens of thousands of Trail Blazers fans performed extremely well.

I hope they have obviously underestimated the cold-bloodedness of the Black Mamba. To him, this level of booing is nothing more than encouragement.

"Shua~"

The extra free throw was made and the Lakers took the lead by one point.

The boss's performance caused a burst of cheers from the Lakers bench.

Looking back, Wang Zelin caught the ball in the high post, made a fake shot and passed the ball to assist. Aldridge stood under the basket and dunked successfully, which was regarded as a return.

In the recent two games against the Spurs and the Jazz, Aldridge's condition has improved, so the players decided to give him more ball play and try to adjust his condition before the playoffs.

The Lakers played very hard. Before the game, Kobe warned everyone with a serious face: We must win the game tonight, we can't lose again, and whoever dares to hold us back will be rewarded by him.

After half a quarter, Kobe took turns educating Matthews and Batum on the offensive end. He made 3 of 4 shots in the half, 3 of 3 free throws, and scored 9 points and 1 assist...

Yes!

Wang Zelin and Aldridge took turns bombing the Lakers penalty area. The two scored 11 points and 5 rebounds together, helping the Trail Blazers to stop the Lakers with a 4-point lead at 17:13 and enter the official timeout time.

During the timeout, D'Antoni continued to arrange rotations and offensive tactics, while Kobe sat aside with a dark face, minding his own business.

How can he still lag behind despite being like this? How else can he win?

Everyone can see that the fundamental reason why the Lakers are lagging behind is that there are too many loopholes in perimeter defense, especially at the No. 1 position.

After half a quarter, Lillard got 3 assists through simple sudden points, not counting indirect assists.

It can be seen that Steve Blake cannot guard Lillard at all.

I hope Kobe doesn't blame his teammates too much, because he knows Steve Blake's level is there, as long as he tries his best.

What he hates most now is time!

Time has taken away his youth, causing his inevitable peak period to gradually decline. He hates feeling weak.

On the Trail Blazers side, coach Terry Stotts saw the players playing so well and did not make too many arrangements. He learned from Rivers and drank chicken soup for his soul, because he knew that what the players needed at this time was encouragement, and

Not with a straight face.

Through the half quarter just now, we can especially see the way the Lakers, or Kobe Bryant, played tonight.

Unlike some previous games where they organized their teammates first, they did the opposite and attacked fiercely from the start.

In addition to being anxious about the regular season results, the reason is that both Kobe and D'Antoni know very well that the Blazers have too many points that are difficult to prevent, and blindly wasting time is just a slow suicide.

Instead of waiting for death, it's better to take a gamble on Kobe's touch.

From the current point of view, D'Antoni made the right bet. Kobe's touch is indeed great, but he ignored one of the most critical points, that is, No. 24 is no longer young, and he cannot be as good at both ends of the offense and defense as he was when he was young.

Ruled for a long time.

When you attack aggressively, your defensive efficiency will definitely decline.

…

After the timeout, the Lakers attack.

The two teams still have the same lineup, with Batum guarding Kobe Bryant, Aldridge guarding Pau Gasol, and Wang Zelin and Howard engaging in hand-to-hand combat under the basket.

Steve Blake had just dribbled the ball across the center line, and Kobe came up from a 45-degree angle from the right to respond, as if to say: "Give me the ball, and I'll take you home."
To be continued...