Chapter 141

Phil Jackson is a psychology master, known for mediating players' mentalities.

At this moment, he also fell into deep thought. He knew Kobe very well; his eyebrows furrowed. Fan Xi and Bynum being suddenly so intimate exceeded his expectations, and it was hard for him not to worry.

He had read many history books and knew that one of the things a king worries about most is his successor having great power while he is still on the throne.

Before tonight, Fan Xi was the successor Kobe intended, and he had a competitor, Andrew Bynum.

But tonight, Bynum surrendered to Jack and treated Fan Xi and Kobe differently.

Most importantly, Bynum is the Lakers' interior core; for Kobe and Fan Xi, who sit at the center, he is the marshal commanding the army in the frontier. His inclination toward Fan Xi gave Fan Xi the power to marginalize Kobe.

The Zen Master keenly realized this.

However, he decided to watch calmly for a while longer.

Because the relationship between Kobe and Fan Xi is close.

Swish!

Jason Terry hit a jumper with an unreasonable stop-and-go.

The Mavericks are a crazy war machine; when they move crazily, they can immediately erupt with powerful kinetic energy.

Fan Xi dribbled across half-court, still giving the ball to Kobe as the starting move.

Kobe played one-on-one against Jason Terry, eating up his defense very easily.

However, Kobe's time to get into the zone tonight was a bit slow; he didn't seem to expect the Mavericks to use such crude defense against him. Bang!

The ball clanked, and the rebound was secured by Tyson Chandler.

Transition.

Nowitzki hit a jumper.

Both sides entered a stalemate.

Dallas is a tough bone to chew.

They have strong resilience.

Although Kobe Bryant's touch was a bit cold on the Lakers' side, other players quickly got into the rhythm.

After the first quarter, the two sides were tied at 28:28.

When leaving the court, Bynum specifically followed behind Fan Xi. When passing Scarlett Johansson, he deliberately greeted her: "Hey, I'm Jack's best teammate."

Bynum wanted so much to establish a connection with the big-name Hollywood actress.

However, Scarlett asked back: "Isn't Jack's best friend on the Lakers Kobe Bryant?"

"It's me now," Bynum said solemnly.

This person is truly fickle to an extreme degree.

How much he hated Fan Xi before is how much he wants to get close to Fan Xi now.

This shows that he is a person with intense emotions and is far from mature.

Kobe Bryant walked not far ahead; he heard Bynum's words and glanced at Bynum sideways.

Bynum's arrogance before and humility after toward Fan Xi made him despise him.

He looked down on Bynum in his heart, thinking he had no class.

…

The second quarter began, and Fan Xi sat on the bench to rest. His stamina was not enough to support him playing the whole game, so Phil Jackson consciously let him rest in the playoffs.

At the same time, Andrew Bynum was also placed on the sidelines to rest.

The Lakers' new lineup was Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Matt Barnes, Lamar Odom, and Pau Gasol.

The Mavericks also made personnel adjustments; the center was changed from Tyson Chandler to Haywood, the small forward became Shawn Marion, the shooting guard was Stevenson, and the point guard became Jose Barea.

The Mavericks' lineup is very deep; the strength of their starters and rotations is extremely average.

This allows them to always maintain a very high position.

Kobe Bryant found some touch, but the Lakers were inferior to Dallas in overall offensive momentum. At the point guard, small forward, and power forward positions, they were pierced through by the Mavericks.

The Mavericks, playing at home, erupted with powerful combat effectiveness; their flow was so smooth that it seemed to naturally restrain the defending champion Lakers.

"The Mavericks have studied the Lakers quite a bit over the past season."

Kenny Smith couldn't help but sigh on TV: "The Mavericks hid too much strength for this year's championship."

"Yes. We all underestimated the power of the 'losers.' Dallas assembled a group of frustrated former elite players this season. Most of their strength is at the tail end of their peaks, and their morale and desire are not possessed by other teams. This is the last stand of their careers."

Charles Barkley was also praising. "In contrast, the Lakers, who have won two championships, have a much lower overall desire to win the championship than the Mavericks."

In their discussion, it seemed as if they had already seen the Lakers' failure.

When there were 6 minutes left in the second quarter, the Lakers were trailing by 7 points, already showing an irredeemable posture.

Beep!

Phil Jackson called a timeout.

At this moment, he made a move that no one in the world expected.

He subbed out Kobe Bryant and subbed out Pau Gasol.

He subbed in Fan Xi, subbed in Mike Dunleavy, and subbed in Andrew Bynum. Before the timeout, he said to Fan Xi: "Jack, now we need impact; we need to give Dallas a taste of our power. Let them see the new power of Los Angeles."

OK.

Fan Xi nodded.

At this time, Bynum added from behind: "We will let them see the brand new OK combination of Los Angeles."

Hmm?

How bold.

Phil Jackson gave Bynum a warning look, meaning for him not to talk nonsense; even if he thought so in his heart, he shouldn't say it out loud.

After the players came down, the Zen Master announced his decision and set up a brand new tactic.

When Fan Xi led Bynum and the others onto the court, Kobe frowned and asked Phil Jackson: "I don't understand this tactical arrangement. Can Jack and the others hold up?"

Phil Jackson smiled slightly and said: "Kobe, we should put some pressure on the young people. You know they can't hold up, and I know they can't hold up. If they can't hold up, you go back on the court; that is the normal logic. The trump card should be used at the very end."

Once the Zen Master said this, Kobe understood.

The Zen Master did indeed still acknowledge Kobe's absolute dominant position in this team; he did this to let the young people go up and hit a wall, and then let Kobe join in to enhance the combat effectiveness.

Beep!

Matt Barnes passed the ball to Fan Xi.

Fan Xi dribbled to the frontcourt and immediately directed the players to run their positions according to Phil Jackson's tactical arrangement.

At this time, there were four players on the court.

Mike Dunleavy is Fan Xi's direct subordinate; as a shooter, he relies heavily on Fan Xi's distribution.

Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes were good big brothers who got along well with Fan Xi when he first entered the Lakers; they loved and supported Fan Xi from the bottom of their hearts.

Bynum, he now also surrendered to Fan Xi with a 180-degree turn.

Therefore, Fan Xi's command was very smooth.

The players' movement was smooth and precise, not dragging their feet at all.

After Fan Xi gave the order, he took a quick step; his violent explosive power made Jose Barea unable to react at all, and he missed a beat... Bang!

A sharper change of direction happened before his eyes; he only felt a shadow flash before him, despite his short stature and fast speed.

But he reached out his hand and only grabbed a handful of air.

Fan Xi accelerated sharply from left to right, flashing past his side like lightning.

Instantly stepping inside the free-throw line, the Mavericks' Shawn Marion hurriedly came to help defend. Fan Xi quickly gathered the ball and stepped, making a passing motion to Mike Dunleavy on the right side. Marion subconsciously lunged to the right.

However, Fan Xi's ball had long been thrown from above his head toward the paint.

Bynum flew into the sky, overpowering Haywood to grab the ball with one hand in the air... Boom!

He slammed the ball into the rim over Haywood.

The rim roared because of it.

Haywood underneath had a face full of grief and indignation.

At this moment, the Little Shark had the ferocity of the Big Shark back in the day.

As if the Overlord had been reborn.

When Bynum roared and descended from above the rim, Phil Jackson, standing on the sidelines, was even a bit dazed; he clearly saw the shadow of the number 34 from the past on the number 17.

Kobe Bryant was also shocked; he didn't expect Bynum to have such a performance. Could it be that I haven't mastered the user manual for Bynum all along?

After Bynum pounded his chest and roared twice, he walked to Fan Xi's side and high-fived Fan Xi forcefully.

The big screen overhead was replaying their cooperation just now.

The two mastered the timing perfectly; Fan Xi's pass height and Bynum's jump angle merged perfectly.

"Holy crap! The last time I saw the Lakers have such a violent interior-exterior cooperation was in 2004."

Kenny Smith cursed.

The 2004 he mentioned naturally refers to the cooperation between Kobe and O'Neal back then.

He didn't expect that the Lakers still had the possibility of repeating it.

Jeanie Buss and Magic Johnson, sitting in front of the TV, looked at each other, both with confused faces.

They were both very surprised.

When did the cooperation between Bynum and Jack Fan become so perfect? Did they find the secret manual left behind by the Lakers' dynasty OK combination?

"This must be Bynum's expedient measure; Bynum is saving the country through a curved path. He is feigning compliance to enhance his own performance."

Magic Johnson quickly made a judgment: "This kid has been smart since he was little."

Jeanie Buss nodded.

Given the hatred Bynum had previously shown toward Fan Xi, how could he make up with Fan Xi so quickly?

It must be feigned compliance, saving the country through a curved path.

This kid really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Jeanie Buss smiled.

At the same time, in another office of the Lakers club, Jim Buss and Kupchak were also looking at each other: "What's going on? Is the information true? Jack handled Bynum? Is Bynum so easily handled?"

Jim Buss asked Kupchak.

Kupchak was silent for a long time, then said: "Based on my observation of Bynum, he really doesn't seem very smart. He cherishes his life while doing big things and forgets righteousness for small gains; it's not strange at all that he surrendered to Jack."

Phew!

Jim Buss let out a long sigh and said: "That's great. Jack is really always creating surprises for us. We can completely use this matter to hold our heads high in front of our father, and from now on, the team will be firmly in our hands. All along, my ability to handle things has been stronger than Jeanie's."

Buss raised his chin proudly.

He was full of confidence in the future.

At the same time, Kobe was bewildered.

He looked at the Zen Master, who was clenching his fist and waving it forcefully; how did he feel that what the Zen Master said before was lying to him?

…

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