Champion Creed

The day after the game ended, people once again saw Spoelstra with two big dark circles under his eyes.

To avoid making mistakes in his in-game coaching, he meticulously studied Phil Jackson's game habits, hoping to counter all of Phil Jackson's changes.

Before the start of the second game, Phil Jackson shook hands with Spoelstra with a confident smile on his face.

Phil Jackson admitted that players are the key to determining the outcome of the game, but you cannot completely ignore the role of the head coach.

Sometimes, the role of the head coach may only account for 10%. But in some very close games, that 10% is enough to affect the outcome.

In the second game of the series, both sides strengthened their defense on each other's star players.

With Roger and Kobe frequently scoring 50 points, neither team could afford to sit idly by.

So today, Karl Malone relaxed his defense on Stoudemire and focused his energy on helping to defend Kobe.

The result was that Roger significantly reduced his isolation plays today, and from the first quarter, he and Stoudemire went crazy with pick-and-rolls.

Karl Malone found himself in a dilemma. When defending the pick-and-roll, if he went all out to help defend Roger, then Stoudemire would be left completely open.

And today, coincidentally, Stoudemire's shooting was incredibly hot.

He was like a precise mid-range shot machine; as long as Roger delivered the ball, he could securely hit the shot from mid-range.

The Lakers changed their strategy in the second half. When Karl Malone went to help defend Roger, the weak-side Lakers player had to immediately help defend Stoudemire.

This strategy of robbing Peter to pay Paul worked because Stoudemire's passing awareness was relatively weak, so after receiving the ball, he often couldn't pass the ball immediately to the weak-side teammate left open, and Roger also couldn't directly pass the ball to the open man on the weak side with two defenders between him and Stoudemire.

The Lakers gradually caught up with the score, but only a few possessions later, Spoelstra made adjustments in response.

He arranged for only Roger and Stoudemire on the strong side, moving everyone else to the other side, effectively creating a 2-on-2 space for Roger and Stoudemire against Kobe and Malone.

This wasn't a difficult strategic change, the key lay in the timing of the reaction.

If it were someone like Doc Rivers, he might not think about how to respond until the game was about to be overturned, which is why he is often overturned. Doc Rivers' quick reaction depends on whether Rondo and Paul have reacted.

But Spoelstra's reaction speed far exceeded Phil Jackson's expectations; he didn't look like a rookie at all, and he was quite sensitive to changes on the court.

In fact, Spoelstra's coaching level has always been quite good.

In the 2011 Finals loss to the Mavericks, anyone else coaching would have faced a dead end.

Because there was a player on the court who wasn't fighting, and that's something the head coach can't control.

Although Spoelstra is young, the tactical literacy he acquired through years of climbing up from a bottom-level video editor gave him a solid foundation.

If Spoelstra's abilities were poor, the cold and ruthless Pat Riley would never support him so much—LeBron James once implicitly expressed his desire to replace Spoelstra in his first season going to the Heat, asking Riley to take over personally, but Riley refused.

Would Pat Riley refuse LeBron James for a lousy coach?

If Spoelstra's abilities were poor, Hubie Brown wouldn't have handed over the coaching baton to him.

Phil Jackson had several similar strategy changes afterward, but Spoelstra managed to adapt to them in a fairly timely manner.

Spoelstra's reaction speed is definitely not top-notch, but it's not criminally slow either. For a young rookie coach his age who is coaching a complete game for the first time and is not yet 35, Spoelstra's performance is quite remarkable.

In the hospital room, Hubie Brown watched Spoelstra's impressive management and directly turned off the TV.

His wife was somewhat puzzled: "The game is still very intense."

"No, it's not just this game; the entire round of the series will be very intense."

"Don't you want to see the end?"

"Would you watch a suspense movie whose ending you already know? The ultimate winner is already determined; it's the young people's era now."

When the game ended, countless female fans in Oakland took off their tops.

They all displayed their 'headlights,' with slogans written on their fair bodies.

"Roger is my King."

"Want to feel the King's warmth."

"I am the King's concubine."

It's worth mentioning that because of Roger's strong demand, the Oakland Arena relaxed its rules, allowing fans to go topless inside the venue. But as expected, this caused even more trouble.

Several female fans were taken away by security, and Roger shook his head upon seeing this: "Why doesn't the arena just stipulate that only males are allowed to go topless inside? We can't repeatedly dampen the enthusiasm of loyal fans like John because of this rabble."

Jeff Hornacek smiled on the side: "You're almost 30, Roger, don't be so naive. If they dared to do that, they'd be targeted by feminist groups and labeled as discriminating against women."

Roger sighed and instantly understood why the arena's rules were so stringent.

Even the mightiest heavyweight boxer can't deliver a punch heavier than a woman's blow.

The small episode of female fans going topless took over the front page the next day, but it still couldn't hide the fact that the Lakers were already down 0-2.