After Gordon got the ball, he was immediately double-teamed. With no other option, he passed to Barton, who had cut to the basket.
Barton was also an explosively athletic guard. He caught the ball and leaped high, ready to throw down a dunk.
But as soon as he jumped, Towns rose up to meet him.
You may be able to jump high, but are you taller than me?
Besides, Towns had a pretty good vertical leap himself.
And so, a vicious, sky-covering block sent both Barton and the ball crashing down.
That block had the same feel as one of Wang Yi's rejections.
The Kings got the ball, with Westbrook bringing it up. Westbrook glanced around and saw there was no chance to fast-break, so he slowed down and dribbled across half court.
He still passed the ball to Towns on the right wing, at a 45-degree angle.
Towns could handle Gordon one-on-one with ease.
After a simple fake, he dribbled one step to the right, then pulled up for a fadeaway jumper and sank it.
At the courtside commentary booth,
Phil Jackson watched the two teams trade offense and defense over the past two possessions, then asked Popovich, "What do you make of the Kings' defense and offense in those two possessions?"
Popovich stroked his silver-white beard and said,
"Wang Yi's defensive setup at the start is testing the Lakers' three-point shooting. With three big men packed into the paint, it's hard for the Lakers to get anything going inside. They can only rely on threes. Unfortunately, it looks like their three-point shooting hasn't been good all season, and they don't really want to shoot from deep."
Phil Jackson smiled and nodded. "So how do you think the Lakers, who don't want to shoot threes, should break out of