One Year Left to Play

The Lakers have been handling slow-paced offenses pretty well this year, but their defense against fast-paced set plays has been poor since their game against the Raptors was exposed. They’re not as strong at controlling the pace, relying more on the opponents to consciously slow down, but the Phoenix Suns definitely won’t play at a slow pace.

Zhang Hao faced a challenge right from the start, trying to defend Kidd without Campbell and O’Neal unable to play. The paint became like a backyard for Sibaros under Kidd’s organization. Zhang Hao returned to the basket to protect it, but outside, Kidd had plenty of space to organize the offense, and the Suns had two shooters on the perimeter.

Before the season started, everyone on the Lakers thought they were in for a joyous basketball journey with easy wins.

They then realized their regular-season strength wasn’t as strong as last season.

Looking at it now, compared to last season, the perimeter has improved significantly with fewer big men like Campbell and Donyell Marshall. Though O’Neal and Barkley are added, stronger than Campbell was, with O’Neal injured, wearing a suit and sitting on the sidelines and Barkley not being a defensive player, their rim protection, losing Buck Williams to the New York Knicks, indeed affects them. They rely on George Lynch for mid and close-range assistance, while rim protection solely depends on Zhang Hao.

In this context, Zhang Hao chose to focus on rim protection, consuming less energy on defense.

Kidd targeted the Lakers’ defensive flaws early on, forcing Zhang Hao to retract, which eased the pressure on outside organization and made offensive play smoother.

Kidd is indeed brilliant, given suitable players, a core player status, he can truly play with offense in a mesmerizing way!

Kidd doesn’t hold the ball often, yet his assists are ample. As Kidd’s teammate, receiving the ball, they can immediately decide whether to attack or pass; Kidd’s control ability in this regard is considerable.

Under Kidd’s leadership, Kevin Johnson averaging 20+ and Sibaros averaging 18+ perform extremely aggressively on offense.

Although the Lakers didn’t defend well on the perimeter, Zhang Hao did a good job with rim protection, maintaining an advantage inside.

Offensively, Zhang Hao early on adopted an active ball-demanding mode, starting to study videos and materials for stop jump shots, but his perimeter cuts and post-up plays against the Suns’ paint are more than sufficient.

Kenny Anderson expertly leveraged the threat brought by Zhang Hao, organizing the offensive smoothly in the opening phase. It’s not only Zhang Hao scoring; he can always find the best spot to support Zhang Hao, even Kidd can’t prevent him from receiving Zhang Hao’s pass under double teams.

Though unable to defend the Suns’ fast offense and falling back into the situation against the Raptors and Hornets, the Lakers relied on Kenny Anderson and Zhang Hao to hold the situation!

The opening phase of the game between the Lakers and the Suns looked like challenging the current NBA trends; after 6 minutes and 22 seconds, the Lakers and Suns scored 19 to 15. After Zhang Hao made his first three pointer of the game, the Suns called a timeout!

Just before the timeout, Zhang Hao stood outside the three-point line. This time, Sibaros defending Zhang Hao didn’t extend too far out. Zhang Hao received the ball and threw it directly, and it went in!

Entering the timeout, Kidd thought about Zhang Hao demanding the ball five times beyond the perimeter in the first 6 minutes, defending Zhang Hao’s three-pointers four times, Zhang Hao completed cuts each time, scored twice, passed once for Kenny Anderson to pass again to George Lynch for a score, and another pass for Kenny Anderson to catch and shoot scoring.

Without a strong front-line barrier or excellent rim protector, Zhang Hao’s play style seemed like cutting down vegetables easily!

But without the risk barrier and rim protection expert, once choosing better compact defense, front-line players don’t fully extend themselves, Zhang Hao received the ball and just threw it, and it went in!

This is simply unguardable!

Kidd deeply understood one thing - you know what the opponent is going to do, but you just can’t stop it!

The most terrifying part is Kidd seeing Zhang Hao’s tactics — just shooting threes, cutting in with the ball, and breaking through for a pass, nothing else, yet the tactics are simple enough to be astonishing.

Directly facing Zhang Hao playing like this is far more terrifying than what the news and videos suggested!

If you can’t defend, then find a way to play offense well. Kidd, no longer inexplicably angry at Zhang Hao, remained calm.

Kidd analyzed and found a flaw in Zhang Hao’s tactics - stamina!

As a professional athlete, Kidd knows such tactics consume a lot of energy.

...

After the official timeout, the Lakers switched to a lineup of Magician, Brian Shaw, George Lynch, Jason Williams, and Zhang Hao.

Since they can’t defend, play fast breaks instead.

The Suns are also striving to play offense better. With Magician, the Lakers execute fast breaks excellently, and Kidd finds ways to command teammates to defend swiftly, increasing the Lakers’ set play attempts.

Kidd knows they can’t force the Lakers into prolonged set plays, but he’s trying hard to make Zhang Hao play cuts during set plays.

Once or twice can’t substantially drain Zhang Hao, but ten or eight times?

The game time is long, the goal is to play offense well and find ways to drain on defense.

And Kidd succeeded!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!