Compared to ten years ago, while various technologies are becoming more mature, Su Feng's gas tank has indeed shrunk a lot.

However, through the rational allocation of physical energy, Su Feng can still make the Warriors' young guys feel intimidated by him.

In this series, apart from scoring only 14 points in Game 1 due to poor touch, James performed well in Game 2 and the first quarter of Game 3, always managing to find his rhythm against Su Feng's defense.

Online, after Game 2, James fans, who rarely get the chance to be arrogant in front of the Maple Syrup fans, boasted on various forums about James' almost freakish breakthrough ability.

But...

Is that really the case?

Admittedly...

Peak James, no one can completely shut him down.

But don't forget, Su Feng is still considered by fans to be the NBA's best defensive player of the past nineteen seasons.

In fact, in this series against the Warriors, Su Feng never thought of defending James the way he defended Jordan back then.

Therefore, he not only won't waste energy limiting James from receiving the ball...

He will even deliberately sell some flaws to Little Zhan Zhan.

Unlike most defensive players who would rather let Little Zhan Zhan shoot than break through,

In this series, Su Feng's defensive strategy against James is precisely to give him the drive, not the shot.

And this...

Is exactly why, in Game 1 between the two teams, when James wanted to attack with some relatively easy scoring methods, he lost himself as a result.

In Game 2, James adjusted his game in time.

He started to break through like crazy.

Although from the result of the game, the Lakers did lose Game 2 to the Warriors.

But James, who injured himself by ten thousand while hurting the enemy by one thousand, completely embarked on a road of no return.

In Su Feng's previous life, in the future Cavaliers-Warriors battles, the Warriors used this method to exhaust James to death.

This has nothing to do with James' personal ability.

It only has to do with his playing style.

Moreover, what's more...

In this series, James has to shoulder the heavy responsibility of increasing Su Feng's shooting cost?

However, this Warriors team is ultimately not the Cavaliers team in Su Feng's memory.

Because in the Warriors lineup, the Splash Brothers, Yao, and Butler can all share James' offensive pressure...

So even if this Lakers team is the best team Su Feng has ever led...

Su Feng must give it his all to increase the Lakers' chances of winning!

Eh.

At this moment, Su Feng didn't lie to Kobe.

Because unlike others,

In this league, only Kobe can unleash Su Feng's full potential.

Of course.

Similarly.

In this league, only Su Feng can dig out more of Kobe's potential.

Take this series against the Warriors as an example.

Kobe's scoring is indeed not as good as before.

But he, who will be 37 years old in three months, is helping this Lakers team in a very un-Kobe-like way.

On TNT, Barkley and O'Neal almost fainted in the studio at the same time.

Because to this day, Barkley still can't figure out why he only won one championship in the three years he spent hugging Su Feng's thigh.

And O'Neal doesn't understand...

Why Kobe didn't act as a green leaf when he collaborated with him in his early years.

On the court, after the timeout, the game continued.

With bayonets fixed and teeth clenched, James scored another 9 points for the Warriors in the second half of the quarter.

And under his unreserved defense, Su Feng, who scored 8 points for the Lakers in the first half of the second quarter, only scored 2 points in the second half of the quarter.

However, after halftime...

James felt that his body had been emptied.

At Staples Center, the score for the first half between the two teams was 67 to 69.

Middleton and Bledsoe became the key players for the Lakers in the second half of the second quarter.

The former scored 11 points on 4 of 5 shooting in the second quarter, plus free throws.

The latter completed the trade-off with Curry.

Staples Center can't give Curry a debuff every game.

This night, Stephen Curry scored a total of 10 points for the Warriors in the second quarter.

But on the Lakers' side, Bledsoe also contributed 9 points for the Lakers in the second quarter.

In Su Feng's previous life, even if his defense was no longer a black hole, Curry was very afraid of this kind of player with strong one-on-one breakthrough ability.

As for the reason...

It's mainly because of Curry's wingspan, which is almost the same as his height.

As we all know, defensive players with long wingspans can not only have a wider defensive area when defending head-on.

In addition, when the opponent is forcibly grinding you or shooting over you, you can also use your wingspan to effectively interfere with the offensive player.

But...

With Curry's wingspan of about 191 centimeters...

Let alone frontal defense...

He is often blocked by the rim even when he tries to dunk.

This night, when Curry was feeling good, Coach Lue changed his game plan and increased Bledsoe's playing time.

Because in the first two games at Oracle Arena, Curry, who was at the peak of his career, had already proved that even the experienced Rondo couldn't completely limit him.

So, instead of thinking about how to defend Curry, Coach Lue thought, why not send Bledsoe to trade points with him?

Look, you Curry scored 10 points.

But, in return, didn't Bledsoe also score 9 points?

On the court, in the second half of the game, Coach Lue simply left Bledsoe on the court.

And this made Curry feel disgusted.

Because the Lakers' flanks are too strong, Curry can't always get help from his teammates like in regular games...

So throughout the third quarter, Curry had to rely on his own efforts to deal with Bledsoe, who wanted to stab a million transparent holes in the Warriors with his drives.

On the sidelines, Van Gundy strongly condemned the Lakers' blatant bullying of elementary school students!

However, compared to Curry and Bledsoe's back-and-forth stabbing on the court...

What worried Van Gundy even more was James' physical energy.

In the third quarter, no matter which forward player on the Lakers' side James was matched up with,

The latter would wander around the court with James.

Helplessly, in order to reduce the pressure on Little Zhan Zhan's interior offense, Van Gundy had to increase Yao's playing time in the third quarter.

However, Yao Ming's situation was also not optimistic.

Because Little Gasol, apart from defending desperately when defending...

On the offensive end, he didn't give Yao Ming any chance to stand in the paint and recover his health through defensive positioning and experience.

Some people may ask...

With Marc Gasol's weight, won't he get tired if he plays like this?

Um...

Of course he will get tired!

But, if Little Gasol gets tired, doesn't the Lakers still have Jokic and Adams?

No cap.

In the third quarter, if it weren't for Klay and Butler to keep the Warriors alive,

The Lakers might have even locked in the victory directly after the first three quarters.

No way.

After all, the Universe Warriors aren't just bragging.

On the court, after the first three quarters, the score between the two teams was 93 to 98.

In the final quarter, looking at James, who didn't want to stand up after lying down, Van Gundy was filled with grief and indignation.

Because in this quarter, when James was no longer matched up with Su Feng...

Su Feng didn't even bother to move.

He would often just find a corner to stand in, and he would directly turn on the mode of assisting his teammates' offense.

And as long as James came to defend him...

Then Su Feng would show off his movement like crazy.

See, what is it called a conspiracy in the open that can often make your opponent feel more emotionally collapsed than a conspiracy in the dark?

At Staples Center, in the final quarter, Su Feng still didn't rest.

On CCTV, Director Zhang, seeing this scene, said in surprise: "Wow! Su Feng is going to play the whole game today!"

He has to play the whole game, Director Zhang!

Otherwise, how can we force the Warriors to bring James back?

In the final quarter, Yao Ming really had to rest.

Because in the third quarter, Yao Ming was always in an overloaded state on both the offensive and defensive ends.

Therefore, Van Gundy couldn't risk sending him out, as Little Yao might collapse at any time.

But, as the physical energy of the players on both teams continued to decline...

Once the Warriors lost their strong offensive point on the court...

Under the Lakers' insane outside defense...

What were they supposed to do?

To be reasonable...

In today's league, only the Lakers dare to play like this against the Warriors.

Because apart from having a lot of people to play...

The most rogue thing about the Lakers is that they have Su Feng.

On the sidelines, Van Gundy could see it.

Facing the Lakers' rogue style of play, which was almost like playing a hooligan...

The only thing the Warriors could do was to pray that Su Feng could frequently miss shots like in Game 2.

However...

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

In the final quarter, looking at Su Feng, whose touch was like he was cheating, Van Gundy sighed deeply and had to replace James in advance.

On the sidelines, patting James on the back, Van Gundy couldn't even bear to look James in the eye before James entered the game.

On the court, fortunately, at the critical moment, Curry and Klay stood up one after another and hit difficult, ultra-long three-pointers for the Warriors.

And on the Warriors' bench, when Curry and Klay hit their three-pointers...

This was definitely the most relieved moment for Van Gundy in this game so far!

But...

You Warriors have shooters who can go off.

Doesn't that mean the Lakers don't have shooters who can't go off?

Who are you looking down on?

Swish!

Swish!

In the final quarter, Green, who replaced Kobe, used his strength to interpret what a big heart is!

After hitting two consecutive three-pointers for the Lakers, Danny Green, who lost his real name "Zhang Tielin," became the last straw that broke the Warriors' back this night.

In the end, 119 to 128.

In the first game of this Western Conference Finals against the Warriors back at Staples, the Lakers had the last laugh.

In the whole game, Su Feng scored a total of 45 points, 10 rebounds, plus 4 assists and 2 steals.

And Kobe scored 13 points, 5 rebounds, plus 9 assists and 1 block.

Bledsoe scored the team's second-highest score of 29 points.

At the same time, he also set a new single-game high score in his personal playoff career.

In addition, Middleton and Green also had 18 and 12 points respectively.

On the Warriors' side, James, who bled the last drop of blood for the team, scored a luxurious stat line of 33 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

And Yao, Klay, and Butler scored 16, 18, and 15 points respectively.

This night, Stephen Curry was as depressed as James.

In the game, he scored 30 points for the Warriors and not only successfully assisted Bledsoe in scoring his personal playoff career-high score, but also repeatedly contributed valuable transition offense opportunities for the Lakers due to mistakes when the Warriors narrowed the point difference between the two teams several times.

The play style of elementary school students is simply high risk, high reward.

Whether in his previous life or this life, you can't ask Curry not to make mistakes on the court.

Because compared to making mistakes, once he loses his personal rhythm in the game...

Then he won't know how to play.

To be honest.

After Game 3.

Curry missed Rondo quite a bit.

Because although Coach Rondo would always use all kinds of methods to disgust him on the defensive end.

But at least, when defending Rondo, he, Curry, didn't have to worry like he did when defending Bledsoe!

Alright!

In Game 3, Rondo's main task was indeed changed from mainly defending Curry to waving towels with Sacre.

Tsk!

Look at the depth of this Lakers' lineup!

Being able to let a star guard who is at his peak be a water dispenser manager and still win...

This is just outrageous!

…

After Game 3, Van Gundy realized the seriousness of this series.

Two days later, at Staples Center, Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Warriors officially started.

As a result, inspired by Game 3, Coach Lue simply arranged for Bledsoe to be in the starting lineup in this game.

On the court, Bledsoe was still fierce in this game.

In Su Feng's previous life, in the 23 career matchups with Stephen Curry, don't look at Bledsoe's average score of only 12 points...

But if you exclude Bledsoe's early career games, you will find that Bledsoe, at his peak, could often have explosive games with Curry.

Just like Iverson against Nash.

Neither of them can defend the other.

And compared to Su Feng's memory...

Curry couldn't even get Klay to help him defend Bledsoe.

After all, on the Lakers' side, Su Feng, Kobe, Middleton...

None of them are easy to deal with.

And so it was.

After making very bold changes to the Lakers' lineup in Game 3, Coach Lue was surprised to find that...

The Lakers didn't even need Su Feng to set the tone for the Lakers by attacking strongly at the beginning of the game.

Because wouldn't it be enough to just catch Curry and beat him to death?

On the Warriors' side, Van Gundy had not thought of ways.

For example, bringing in Chandler to increase the team's interior mobility.

Using Chandler's movement speed to cover for Curry.

Then...

Van Gundy was dumbfounded.

Because Coach Lue, who was becoming more and more daring in lineup adjustments, directly moved Su Feng to the five position and replaced Little Gasol with Dinwiddie after the Warriors changed their formation.

Having reached this point in the series, Coach Lue also understood.

Anyway, as long as James breaks in, ordinary people can't stop him.

Plus, the Lakers' big strategy was originally to exhaust James.

So, it didn't matter who the Lakers used as a center.

Because as long as they could make James pay enough toll at the first line of defense on the outside.

But after the Lakers changed their formation to the Death Five,

On the Warriors' side, Curry had to make a choice no matter what.

That is...

Either be broken through into a sieve by Bledsoe.

Or be elbowed into minced meat by Su Feng, Kobe, Middleton, and Dinwiddie.

From the results.

Dinwiddie was the gentlest one to Curry in the first quarter.

Because at this time, his skills were still relatively immature, so Van Gundy let Curry match up with Dinwiddie for most of the time after the Lakers changed their formation.

But facing the Lakers' Death Five...

Van Gundy couldn't come up with the best response plan for a while.

In the first quarter, the score between the two teams was 35 to 38.

On the court, Su Feng, who was playing center, confused the Warriors.

Because the Lakers' offensive space was pulled extremely wide, the Warriors' defensive players couldn't form effective protection for each other at all.

In the second quarter, the Warriors, who switched back to Little Yao, did successfully force the Lakers to switch to Little Gasol.

After all, Ming Di's face had to be given.

But...

After Yao Ming went off the court.

The Lakers immediately brought back the Death Five.

The Warriors couldn't suppress the Lakers' offense.

But...

To win, they had to play more efficient offense than the Lakers.

But, the premise of this efficiency was often based on the condition that James' physical energy was still ok.

Some people may ask.

Can Jimmy Butler not be a reliable strong offensive point to help James?

Is it because Van Gundy doesn't trust Butler?

Emmm!

This is a good question.

The answer is...

Since Jokic and Middleton on the Lakers' side have to abide by the "Basic Law of Player Growth"...

Then why doesn't Butler have to abide by the "Basic Law of Player Growth"?

In this life, Butler is definitely one of Van Gundy's favorite players after he coached the Warriors.

But in a fairy fight like the Lakers and Warriors...

Jiba obviously needs time to grow.

The same is true for Middleton's performance not being as good as before in this series.

At Staples Center, the only thing that could make Van Gundy feel gratified in the first half of the game was Klay's outburst in the second quarter.

On the court, in less than 8 minutes of playing time in the second quarter, Klay scored a total of 19 points for the Warriors.

But, the reason why a fairy fight is a fairy fight.

Is precisely because you have immortals, and I also have Golden Immortals.

In the third quarter, Su Feng, the king of 20+ points in a single quarter in the regular season and playoffs in NBA history, returned the favor to the Warriors with a wave of 23 points in a single quarter.

In the final quarter, James ran out of energy.

Although the Warriors' outside players repeatedly brought back the suspense of the game...

However, the Lakers, who had higher scoring efficiency, won this Game 4 with their more stable scoring.

In the whole game, the final score between the two teams was 124 to 129.

Su Feng scored a total of 51 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists for the Lakers, and once again broke the record for the oldest player with 50+ points in the NBA playoffs.

And two days later, as the Lakers defeated the Warriors in Oakland with a score of 119 to 110...

This intriguing Western Conference Finals also came to an end.

Although this series only lasted 5 games.

But this is definitely one of the most valuable playoffs in NBA history.

It's a pity.

If the Warriors hadn't played so recklessly earlier and solved the Kings as soon as possible...

Then maybe, they wouldn't have been so passive in this series.

But...

History doesn't exist if.

Oakland, Oracle Arena.

Looking at Su Feng, who was already wearing a hat symbolizing the Western Conference championship.

After accepting the interview with a slight sense of loss, Yao Ming was the last to leave the court on this night when the Lakers successfully advanced to the Finals.

This was the last time Little Yao was interviewed as a player.

At the end of the interview, the Eastern giant forced a smile and said, "The most glorious day in a person's life is not the day of success and fame.

It is the day when the challenge to life arises from lamentation and despair and bravely moves towards will.

Compared to most people, my career has been lucky enough.

I won't regret not being successful this season.

Now, I have to go be with my family!"

From 00/01 to 14/15.

A generation of legends came to an end.

Fifteen long years are enough to change some people and some things.

But some things can't be changed, such as people's memory of the glorious years of the Chinese Great Wall.

Goodbye, my old friend...

Yao Ming!

……

ps: The late but arrived update is here! Mwah! (Today it's 6.2k! One step closer to ten thousand words!)