Fischer revealed a seemingly honest smile and quickly waved his hands to explain, "Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! I had no intention of provoking you, this is just a game!"
"Hey, Simon, what are you doing, why are you going head-to-head with Derek?" Kobe noticed the apparent sparks between He Xi Meng and Fischer and walked over to ask.
"Your opponent is me! Okay?" Kobe actively drew He Xi Meng's attention to himself.
He Xi Meng shrugged, noncommittal.
Standing at the free-throw line, He Xi Meng made both shots steadily. A 2+1 to start, not bad!
Turning around, Fischer continued to bring the ball up the court. This time, Kobe stepped up directly and took over possession. He didn't give "Little Fish" a chance to play around.
In fact, Fischer had only acted on impulse, wanting to surprise He Xi Meng with a basket. In the current Lakers team, Fischer's status was nowhere near Kobe's, and he absolutely had no right to contend for possession with Kobe.
Facing Bowen, Kobe first tried to drive by himself, but the results were not optimistic. Bowen's defense was steady and sticky. Kobe decisively chose to break through forcefully and then pass!
O'Neal received the pass from Kobe, and relying on David Robinson, completed a turn-around jumper before Duncan could come over!
However, O'Neal's touch was off. His first shot of the game bounced off the rim. Kobe fought hard for the rebound and, before the big men could react, jumped up early and gently tapped the ball in for a one-handed putback, giving the Lakers 2 points!
The Spurs' second offensive possession chose a regular set play.
He Xi Meng directed his teammates to pass the ball around the perimeter, then looked for an opportunity to pass it inside to Duncan at the edge of the paint.
Duncan had a chance to single-handedly score against Horry. He prepared to back him down, and Fox quickly rotated to help Horry double-team Duncan!
Duncan this season was truly not someone Horry could defend alone.
Seeing the Lakers' double-team, Duncan didn't force it and instead passed the ball back to Ginobili, who was circulating outside.
On the Lakers' side, Fox was supposed to be guarding Ginobili. But since Fox had rotated to help double-team Duncan, Fischer immediately ran over to cover Ginobili, while Kobe abandoned Bowen in the corner and moved up to the top of the key to cover the space vacated by Fox!
However, the Spurs' ball movement was faster than the Lakers had anticipated!
After receiving the ball and drawing Fischer's help defense, Ginobili immediately passed it back to He Xi Meng at the top of the key. He Xi Meng faked a shot upon receiving the ball, making Kobe jump.
And while Kobe was still in the air, He Xi Meng took a dribble, shifted sideways, and jumped up for a three-pointer, which also went in!
Wow! He Xi Meng's touch at the start seems to be really hot!
After just making a difficult airborne spin layup, he now directly hit a three-pointer, scoring 6 consecutive points to open the game!
He Xi Meng's strong start brought great relief to the Spurs fans in the arena.
Equally relieved was the Spurs' number 21, He Xi Meng's teammate, Mr. Tim Duncan!
Duncan saw it and thought, "Oh wow, Simon's going off today? Excellent!"
In the next few possessions, Duncan received the ball at the edge of the paint and played slowly, with only one purpose: to attract double-teams and create opportunities for He Xi Meng on the perimeter!
The Lakers seemed to notice that Duncan wasn't eager to score, but they couldn't leave Duncan open!
After all, he was the regular season MVP player this season!
The player the Lakers were most afraid of leaving open was Duncan in the post!
So, even though the Lakers players vaguely guessed Duncan's intentions, they still had to double-team when necessary!
And He Xi Meng, having been provoked by Fischer at the start, inadvertently discovered that his touch today was indeed good! Whatever he shot, it went in.
Therefore, even though He Xi Meng knew that Duncan had a tendency to slack off, he didn't stop Duncan from passing.
The distribution of the ball on the court, or rather, the optimization, was tilted towards the player with the hot hand.
If He Xi Meng were in Duncan's position, he would have chosen the same.
Thus, fed by Duncan, He Xi Meng had already made 5 out of 6 shots, 3 out of 4 three-pointers, and 1 out of 1 free throw, scoring 14 points before the first quarter ended!
Fischer was completely shut down, and Kobe, despite his efforts to counter, only managed to score 8 points.
O'Neal was also trapped by the Spurs' double-teams, unable to play to his full strength.
Thanks to He Xi Meng's surge, the Spurs successfully established an 8-point lead.
During the rotation, Da Zhi came onto the court, along with Devin George, Lin Shiqing, and Masaki Walker. O'Neal went to rest, and Kobe stayed on the court to anchor the team!
On the Spurs' side, Yao Ming led the charge, supported by Malik Rose, Stephen Jackson, and Parker. Both Duncan and David Robinson went to the bench to rest, with He Xi Meng anchoring the team!
In this lineup, He Xi Meng habitually played shooting guard, leaving the point guard position to Parker, letting Parker run the offense, with himself as support. The tactical core and scoring core were not He Xi Meng, but Yao Ming.
Malik Rose served as support for Yao Ming on defense, and Stephen Jackson provided offensive supplementation for Yao Ming!
When the rotation lineup ran smoothly and performed normally, He Xi Meng interfered as little as possible, with his main job being to defend Kobe!
Unlike He Xi Meng, Kobe's understanding of anchoring the team was roughly equivalent to scoring!
Therefore, on the Lakers' side, Kobe directly took over this rotation period, taking most of the Lakers' possessions.
The anticipated showdown between the Chinese players did not materialize for the Spurs fans.
For most of the time, Kobe was challenging He Xi Meng one-on-one and verbally provoking him, hoping He Xi Meng would engage in a scoring battle.
But He Xi Meng did not take the bait, even trying to avoid touching the ball as much as possible, completely handing over possession to Parker.
Because Parker and Yao Ming were having a smooth small-ball combination during this period, Masaki Walker had already been scored on by Yao Ming twice. He Xi Meng was busy encouraging Parker and praising his excellent organization, so he didn't pay attention to Kobe's provocations...
On the sidelines, Phil Jackson saw that the rhythm was off. If it continued like this, Masaki Walker would be broken by Yao Ming!
Therefore, he decisively replaced Masaki Walker with O'Neal and, at the same time, had Kobe come off the court to rest.
Jackson had Kobe on the court to anchor, not to monopolize. Kobe's "bang bang bang" of taking almost all the shots made the bench players very awkward. 138 Reading Network
Correspondingly, Popovich also took He Xi Meng off the court to rest, and brought in Duncan to replace Malik Rose, helping Yao Ming double-team O'Neal!