Chapter 603: Provoked! Beating up

The Lakers were no pushovers, but the Kings, returning home with a victory, were in high spirits!!!

"Charge!"

"On our home court, blow out the opponent, strike while the iron is hot, and take the match point!!!"

"Ooh!"

The Kings were of one mind, in hot form, and united, all for the sake of winning the series and breaking into the Finals stage they had never touched.

Looking at the Lakers.

Kobe was still secretly competing with O'Neal, saying that no matter what, he had to play better than O'Neal, win the championship, and get this year's Finals MVP from O'Neal's hands!!!

O'Neal was also dissatisfied with not getting touches.

Clearly, he was still the most dominant center in the league; why did he have to rely on grabbing rebounds for second-chance points?

Why did the offensive initiative have to be in Kobe's hands?

He didn't understand.

He also didn't understand what the Lakers' management was thinking.

If they really didn't believe in him, did he still need to play seriously? This was a question worth thinking about.

Clearly he was more powerful, yet he had to keep following Kobe and assisting him; how could the "Big Shark" accept this?

The two absolute cores of the Lakers each had their own hidden agendas.

Malone and Payton had the heart to win the championship, but as the level of the game got higher, the role they could play kept decreasing.

Additionally.

Because of the secret competition between the "OK Combination," the two of them didn't have many touches either; not only were they few, one could even say... pitifully few.

So they couldn't have much of an effect.

However.

They were definitely still tough, so even if the Lakers had many flaws, they could still fight the Kings to a standstill.

But.

Basketball is a team game; no matter if your ability is good or not, at least you have to be united for it to work.

Like a pile of loose sand, each playing their own game, the difficulty of winning at will on the Western Conference Finals stage was still very high, and the Kings couldn't accept such a result.

In hot form.

Combat power maxed out.

Shooting touch exploding.

The Kings, returning home, used a 15-point blowout to tell the Lakers that the team breaking into the Finals this year would be them.

【Lakers 1:2 Kings】.

The Kings already held the initiative in the series.

After the game.

The Lakers' locker room.

"Zen Master" Phil Jackson, with a splitting headache, pulled the "OK Combination" into a separate lounge.

Phil Jackson spoke earnestly, "Kobe, O'Neal, this is the Western Conference Finals stage; the championship trophy is just around the corner.

Your strength is there; as long as you join forces, no one is your opponent.

You absolutely cannot act on impulse.

Do you understand?!"

The two didn't speak.

They had heard such arguments and chicken soup too many times; they couldn't listen to it at all.

This already showed that the conflict between the two had reached an irreconcilable level.

Phil Jackson continued, "As long as we can win, what does it matter if both of you sacrifice a little?

The championship is what's real.

Many years later, what people will care about is only how many championships you won and how many rings you have.

No one will care at all who played better in the series that year.

As long as you can win the championship, then... in the future, when mentioning this year, it will definitely still be the 'OK Combination'; you are an integrated existence, don't think too much, don't worry too much.

Play basketball well.

Join forces, and we are the champions!!!"

The two remained silent.

However... no matter what the two thought, Phil Jackson still had to say it; even if there was only a tiny possibility, he wanted the two to cooperate and play basketball well together before winning the championship.

The Lakers were trailing and in a crisis, but if they could play well, the chance of winning the series was still very high.

However.

The Pistons weren't so lucky.

Already down 0:3, they could only wait for death to arrive.

One day later.

8:00 PM.

The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Game 4 of the Pistons vs. Bulls arrived.

From the moment Hamilton and Billups were injured—and because Su Yan was injured, they couldn't play—this game was destined not to be a normal matchup.

"Jump! Ball!"

The tip-off between Yao and Rasheed Wallace.

"Snap!"

Yao tipped the basketball away very easily.

But this was too easy, which instead made Yao feel somewhat strange, somewhat... the calm before the storm.

Hinrich caught the ball and pushed it up.

Yao hurried to Su Yan's side and whispered, "Su Yan, although tonight is a sure win, I feel the Pistons won't let us win so easily.

I feel they will have some moves.

You must be careful."

"Hmm."

Su Yan nodded.

Match point, and a matchup without Billups and Hamilton; winning the game was just a matter of time, and he didn't want any trouble.