Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 639 - 219: A New Round of High-Stakes Gambling, Two Epoch-Making Players (Yesterday’s big birthday rest)

May 2, 2011.

It's the day of the first game of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Lakers and the Warriors.

On the night of the game, regardless of the time, the ever-spirited Kobe and his teammates arrived at the Oracle Arena half an hour early.

It's worth noting that, during the pre-game warm-up, Kobe, who led the three-point practice, was not only free of any pre-battle tension but even had the leisure to tease his young fan, Ellis: "Montay, if your threes keep missing like this, they might trade you to the Clippers next season."

Even though the Lakers were swept by the defending champions during the regular season, and despite Kobe's track record against Qin Yue generally being less than favorable, as Kobe said before—those who fear failure are destined to lose their chance at victory.

Kobe knows very well that the current Warriors indeed pose a certain restraint to the Lakers.

This restraint has often rendered the Lakers' proud Spanish twin towers unable to fully utilize their potential against the Warriors.

But, no matter how bleak the Lakers' prospects for advancement seem before the match...

If even the Lakers' players themselves don't believe they can defeat the Warriors in the upcoming series, how are they any different from the French decades ago, who waved the white flag at the first sign of "small setbacks"?

Before the game, to ease the pressure on his teammates' shoulders, Kobe played the role of a life coach, engaging in brief chats with each teammate.

To Big Gasol, Kobe chuckled, "Paul, as long as you and Lamar don't let him score 100 in the game, I think we've got a pretty good chance."

To Little Gasol, Kobe remarked, "Mark, do you know the quickest way to get into the NBA All-Defensive Team? As long as you block that guy once on the court, you'll surely make the All-Defensive Team next season."

Kobe tried to relieve pressure from each teammate in his own way.

And the ongoing progress and outcome of the first game of the Western Conference Semifinals at Oracle Arena gave feedback to Kobe.

When the Warriors seemed unable to find their rhythm for a long time, the Lakers, seizing the opportunity under Kobe's lead, quickly established a scoring lead, and this lead was maintained by the Lakers until the end.

Final score: 121 to 112.

The Lakers unexpectedly won the first game of their Western Conference Semifinals against the Warriors.

That night, the Lakers, buzzing with energy, showed a level of aggression on both offense and defense that far exceeded the Warriors.

Especially the Gasol Brothers, who in past encounters with Qin Yue, were often suppressed by Qin Yue's solo efforts.

Although, until the final buzzer of the fourth quarter, the Gasol Brothers still couldn't gain any advantage in the actual matchups against Qin Yue.

But when the Gasol Brothers used their mutual understanding in pick-and-rolls to swap Brown onto them, Kwame Brown, who had impressive "20+10" games in the first round of the playoffs, almost instantly showed his true colors as predicted by Al Jefferson.

According to the advanced statistics from ESPN post-game, the 44 points scored by the Gasol Brothers for the Lakers, excluding free throws, were all gained under Brown's defense in this match.

The paint guarded by Brown unfortunately became an ATM for the Gasol Brothers.

From last season, every time the Gasol Brothers got bullied by Qin Yue, they'd recover their form by hammering Brown.

But what's different this time...

Because in this game, Brown gave the impression that the Gasol Brothers could play any way they wanted against him, plus the strong impression he left in the first round of the playoffs, the Warriors fans placed undeserved high hopes on him...

So by comparison, Brown naturally became the number one scapegoat for the Warriors in this game.

"Once away from Messiah's protection, or if Messiah can't support him with the usual aid, Kwame Brown's defense against the Gasol Brothers is as laughable as the Maginot Line built by the French back in the day."

The next day, after "the second greatest center in history" saw the media's savage critique, he immediately retorted in frustration, "They can't take away my honor just because of one game!"

In response, Qin Yue, who didn't bother with a post-game review after last night's loss, couldn't help but mock, "Kwame, you know, I think the media is actually being quite generous to you."

"Hmm?"

"Because at least, the Maginot Line was a defense built with real stuff."

"..."

At that moment, looking at Qin Yue's handsome face, a bad premonition suddenly arose in Brown's heart.

Sure enough...

In that day's training session, the team's head coach Mike Malone immediately decided to make an active lineup change for Game 2.

Antoine Jamison would replace Brown as the starter for the Warriors in Game 2. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And Qin Yue was once again pushed to the center position.

Although it wasn't the first time in a series that Brown was benched for tactical reasons by Malone.

But as long as he recalled what Qin Yue said to him earlier, Brown, who knew very well the saying "accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger," couldn't help but get nervous.

Because if in Qin Yue's eyes the Maginot Line was at least built with real stuff, then inversely, doesn't it prove that, in Qin Yue's mind, Brown had no real stuff at all?

Knock, knock!

This is absolutely a warning!

Before Game 2 started, Brown, who had always been arrogant this season, almost overnight reverted to the low-key, humble Brown who had first arrived at the Warriors.