Preface
Before the 08 season, Kobe Bryant fought alone, in fact, he couldn't lead the team to go further if he got a lot of points, averaging 35.4 points per game in the season, 81 dragon slaying performances for four consecutive 50+ games and even left Miami O'Neal made a speech after winning the championship and mocked Kobe: Without me, you will never be able to win the championship.
In 2007, Kobe Bryant forced the Lakers to strengthen the championship and first traded from the Magic to the powerful 3-and-D player Ariza in January 2007, and then the Lakers traded only Kwame Brown and two role players and the signing rights of Marc Gasol plus two draft picks to Paul Gasol. Popovich commented that this round of trade was a robbery, the Lakers only came back with some role players in exchange for the All-Star inside, with this set of transactions, won 57 wins in the regular season and won the first place in the West, Kobe Bryant also won the regular season MVP, defeated the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, defeated the Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals, and defeated the defending champion Spurs 4:1 in the Western Conference finals to enter the finals.
In the 2008 Finals, the Celtics had a lineup that was both offensive and defensive; Garnett and Parkinson form the twin towers to guard the interior, with all-round forwards like "Truth" Pierce, super shooter Ray Allen at the scoring guard, Rondo with a very high ball IQ at the point guard, and an iron-blooded Green Army composed of PJ Brown Cassel, Posey and other bench giants on the bench. The Lakers' lineup point guard is the old fish Fisher, Gasol and Odom can't compete with the Green Army at all, and the forward "skier" Radmanovic can't stop the All-Star Pierce's offense, Kobe Bryant has become the only point that can compete with the Green Army, averaging 25.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5 assists per game in the face of an impregnable defense.
Because Gasol was beaten as a "sister-in-law" by Garnett on the inside, the average score per game was suppressed to 14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds, Bynum and Ariza were reimbursed one after another, and the depth of the lineup was too poor, which could not limit Rondo's tandem well and could not parry Ray Allen's three-point and Pierce's singles, and when it came to the finals, the Lakers could not compete with the Green Army, Ray Allen and Pierce caught Radmanovic is a hammer, and finally the Celtics scored 4: 2 eliminated the Lakers, the Green Army's Big Three, Wolf King Garnett cut 18.2 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1 block, Ray Allen even averaged 3.7 three-pointers per game with a 52.3% shooting rate, and FMVP gave Paul Pearce, who averaged 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. Kevin Garnett also shouted the classic words "Anything is possible" after winning the championship, and in an interview with reporters after the game, Kobe Bryant media only said four words: "Fight again next year".
Before the start of the 2009 season, Bryant had cut out a photo of Pierce's championship newspaper and put it in his wallet to motivate himself. Hang your Olympic medal in Gasol's dressing room and tell him: "You lost to the Celtics and you finished second. You lost to us again at the Olympics and finished second. You don't want to have three runners-up this year, we're going to win this championship! ”
That's how he inspired Gasol. With Bynum's return from injury and Gasol's tacit understanding, Kobe Bryant changed his style of play and chose to believe more in his teammates to strengthen the low-post offense, better integrate into the Zen master's triangle offense, and gradually mature as a role player, winning 65 wins in the regular season, ranking first in the West, with an average score of 106.9 per game and a net difference of 7.5, which is a team with both offense and defense.
Entering the playoffs, they defeated the Jazz in 5 games, the Rockets in 7 games, and the Nuggets in 6 games to win the championship. When it came to the finals, the Celtics, who didn't wait for their hearts, welcomed the Magic team led by Warcraft Howard. In the face of the Magic lineup, the Lakers' "three highs" Bynum, Gasol, and Odom can consume Howard very well, and Kobe Bryant can only blow up the Magic's guard line by himself, and the entire Finals is one-sided. Finally Lakers 4: 1 defeated the Magic and climbed to the top as he wished, Gasol not only improved his strength to find the position of the team in this year's finals, but also scored 18.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in the finals, other players also performed very well, Ariza won the championship with a huge contribution to the defense and three-point making vital role, averaging 11 points and 5 rebounds per game, Bynum's excellent body and armbands averaged 6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, his role in the finals is more on the defense of Howard, Odom can be inside and outside is the big gate to defend the outside of the Magic, Fisher's excellent key ball ability averages 11 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists per game, Kobe Bryant also won the FMVP with an average of 32.4 points and 7 assists per game in the best stage of combining body and technology.
This Magic team is obviously not as strong as the 08 Celtics, and the offense only relies on Turkoglu for one point, if it is strangled to death, the offense will be dumb, unlike the Celtics, who bloom more, and no one can limit Kobe's offense.