I am the Killer of the Kobe Killer (Part 2)

Zen Master Phil Jackson's offensive philosophy differed from that of other coaches.

Most teams in the league relied on their "franchise player's" elite scoring ability to draw defensive attention, creating good shooting opportunities for teammates and jump-starting the offense.

Phil Jackson, however, had the "role players" create a favorable offensive environment for the "franchise player"—in other words, opportunities for one-on-one isolation.

When Zhou Ze caught fire from three and Marion no longer dared to help off, Kobe would find it easier to get isolation opportunities and put the game away.

Of course, there was one prerequisite.

The player finishing the play had to possess indiscriminate one-on-one scoring ability.

Whether facing a point guard or a center, he had to be able to feast on whoever was in front of him.

Over the next two minutes, Kobe first pulled up from beyond the arc and drilled it over James Jones.

Right after that, Kobe faced Kurt Thomas, used a three-threat jab to probe, blew past him, and finished the layup.

Against Raja Bell's relentless harassment, Kobe started with a crossover, powered through Bell to the basket, then stopped short and spun into a jumper that dropped.

In just 1 minute and 58 seconds, Kobe scored seven straight points, perfectly demonstrating what "Kobe Time" meant.

However, the Suns remained efficient on offense during that stretch as well. Rookie Andrew Bynum picked up a defensive foul while rotating over to defend Nash's drive to the rim, paying his tuition.

Marion also hit a three-pointer under Zhou Ze's defense.

The current Lakers had Kobe on offense, and, uh... Zhou Ze, barely. Their offensive firepower was not bad.

But defensively, they really were not very good...

Zhou Ze and Andrew Bynum had yet to develop.

Both of them loved to jump.

Neither had particularly sound defensive habits.

Of course, compared with Andrew Bynum, Zhou Ze was not only more agile, but also much more active defensively.

By the end of the first half, the Lakers still held a two-point lead, [60:58].

In the third quarter, both teams saw their shooting percentages decline. With Marion guarding him closely, Zhou Ze struggled to find good scoring opportunities.

Zhou Ze was quite helpless about it.

As a player who primarily operated off the ball, he did not get many scoring chances to begin with. And with Marion defending him, he had virtually none.

Over the entire quarter, Zhou Ze played six minutes and took only three shots.

The first came in transition. After receiving a pass from a teammate, Zhou Ze went up with momentum, absorbed Barbosa's foul, and threw down a poster dunk. Uh... Zhou Ze's leaping speed was not especially quick, nor was his explosiveness particularly strong, but bullying a small guard who was only 191 cm tall and weighed just 88 kg was still no problem—especially when he had a full head of steam.

Unfortunately, Zhou Ze missed the free throw.

Zhou Ze's free-throw shooting was on par with rookie Griffin's.

It made the Zen Master and Kobe's scalps tingle. Your threes are so accurate, so why are your free throws this bad?

The second came in semi-transition. Zhou Ze set up in the left corner beyond the arc and, facing a James Jones who was half a beat slow, immediately caught the ball and fired a three, producing a loud clang.

The third was a bailout shot. Zhou Ze took Bynum's hot-potato pass, saw that there were only two seconds left on the shot clock, and turned to launch a three over Marion's defense. The slightly fading shot not only avoided Marion's block, but also banked in from three.

As everyone knew, banked threes were all luck...

That made the Suns fans rain boos on this thorny rookie who had stepped in dog crap.

By the time the fourth quarter began, the Lakers had built a nine-point lead.

The Suns were eager to cut into the deficit, but without Stoudemire as a powerful interior scoring threat, their comeback efforts were ineffective.

The Lakers, meanwhile, played steadily.

After the fourth quarter began, Kobe scored on two straight possessions, stretching the lead further to thirteen points.

Kobe, who was on fire, faced the clingy Raja Bell and used an enormous crossover to shake him cleanly aside.

Kobe had plenty of big crossovers during his No. 8 era.

But after becoming No. 24, there was less flash and more refinement—simpler offensive moves.

As Kobe drove, the shaken Raja Bell directly grabbed Kobe's arm from behind...

"Thud!" The two immediately tumbled to the floor in a heap, and the referee's whistle sounded.

Kobe crashed heavily to the floor, baring his teeth in pain, his expression slightly twisted. But he quickly got back up with a blank face.

The Lakers players on the court rushed over as well...

Zhou Ze, at the front of the pack, confronted Raja Bell directly.

Raja Bell was quite cunning. He raised both hands and put on an innocent expression.

"Zhou, calm down!" Kobe, who had been deliberately fouled by Raja Bell, ended up being the one breaking things up.

The referee intervened in time and called a flagrant foul on Raja Bell, finally bringing the farce to an end.

"Kobe, he came at you that hard. Didn't it hurt?"

"Tomato!"

"Why the hell didn't you complain to the referee?"

"Get that bastard thrown out!"

Zhou Ze looked at Kobe, somewhat angry.

Kobe said nothing.

Kobe was no gentleman. He had gotten physical with others on the court before, but that foul just now, though vicious, had not actually hurt him.

Besides, in Kobe's eyes, such a dirty foul from an opponent meant they had been broken mentally.

That thrill of conquest made Kobe let the matter go.

With 5:11 left in the fourth quarter, on what appeared to be an utterly ordinary fast break, Zhou Ze, sprinting ahead, found himself matched up with Raja Bell.

Zhou Ze was no slower than Raja Bell off the ball, but once he received the ball, his speed with it was rather hard to watch.

Raja Bell began closing in on Zhou Ze, ready to strip the ball at any moment.

However, as Zhou Ze gathered the ball and took his three steps, he directly drove an elbow into Raja Bell, who was reaching in for the steal.

Bang!

Even the spectators in the front rows heard the sound of bone cracking.

At the same time, they saw Raja Bell's body stiffen as he fell backward.