Chapter 1009 The Result Is Unexpected

But at this time, Tony Allen, who was unguarded, cut back, broke into the paint area, and rushed to the basket.

Artest saw it and immediately turned back to defend.

But at this time, Li Ba held the ball with one hand and suddenly broke through for the second time.

This time, his breakthrough direction was Artest's side. He turned around and followed Artest to break through Duncan.

Duncan didn't expect Li Ba to go to Artest's side. His position was wrong and he didn't keep up, allowing Li Ba to break through successfully.

Artest heard the friction sound of his sneakers behind him and knew that something was wrong, so he turned around immediately.

But at this moment, with a bang, Li Ba deliberately bumped into Artest, who was not stable when he turned around and fell directly.

Li Ba rushed past Artest and hung directly on the basket after one step. With a bang, the Lakers' basket exploded.

0:2, the Suns lead.

Zhang Heli saw this and said, "This tactic is to let the Hammer move up to leave space for Tony Allen to cut in. It's OK, but you must break in and play yourself. Otherwise, if you give it to Artest, once you can't get in, the Hammer will be blocked outside by Duncan and Artest, and there will be no way to guarantee offensive rebounds."

"So Tony Allen's cut is to pull Artest back and help the Hammer break the double-team. Offense is not the first goal." Yu Jia said.

"He can also do a pick-and-roll directly for the Hammer." Xu Jicheng said.

The Lakers attack, Parker advances to the frontcourt.

Duncan is in the low post on the left wing and moves under the basket, defended by Li Ba.

Dayao is in the high post, facing Yi Jianlian.

There is Kobe on the right wing, Artest on the right wing, and no one on the left wing.

"Don't jump easily, shoot at the moment he shoots the ball, you can do it. Just interfere with him with your hands, so that his shot is not too smooth..."

Li Ba instructs Yi Jianlian on how to defend Dayao in the low post.

In this game, Li Ba didn't want to win at all, and even in the entire regular season, he didn't want to beat the Lakers. He just wanted to use these opportunities to grind out Yi Jianlian. As long as Yi Jianlian can defend Yao Ming, the Suns have hope in the playoffs.

Last season, Marion couldn't defend Duncan and Yao Ming, so he played a little passively. Yi Jianlian is ten centimeters taller than Marion, and his jumping ability is also very good, but his jumping speed is not as fast as Marion, so his defensive advantage is greater.

And Yi Jianlian defends Yao Ming, as long as he reduces Yao Ming's shooting rate. He can control the backcourt rebounds in the low post, and Duncan can't grab him at all.

This ball was really defended by Yi Jianlian, Yao Ming turned around and missed the jump shot, Li Ba grabbed the rebound, and the Suns attacked.

Rondo pushed to the top of the arc, and Li Ba was in the high position again, and was double-teamed by Artest and Duncan.

After Rondo passed the ball to Li Ba, he suddenly started, bypassed Parker, and rushed into the paint area from Li Ba and Duncan.

His action immediately attracted Duncan's defensive attention. Duncan immediately turned sideways, holding Li Ba with one hand, ready to return to the basket at any time.

At the same time, Tony Allen stood behind Artest and made an offensive screen.

Li Ba received the ball, "saw" Tony Allen move into position, immediately turned right, controlled the ball with his left hand, held Artest with his right hand, and broke through Artest's side.

Artest wanted to turn around and defend, but bumped into Tony Allen and was blocked.

Li Ba broke into the paint area, and Duncan immediately returned to the basket.

But at this time, Rondo, who had rushed in first, made an offensive screen and blocked Duncan one step ahead of the basket.

"Bang!"

Li Ba successfully exploded the basket.

"Beautiful! This tactic is beautiful!" Yu Jia shouted excitedly.

"Two people who can only break through to score made a screen, which played their breakthrough ability and speed advantages, and played to their strengths and avoided their weaknesses. This tactic is really beautifully designed!" Zhang Heli smiled.

Xu Jicheng smiled and said, "This tactic also brings out the Hammer's ability to turn and break through, but even without Tony Allen's pick-and-roll, I think Artest alone may not be able to prevent his breakthrough."

"Tony..."

Phil Jackson shouted to Parker, "Don't let Rondo go in, keep an eye on him."

Parker nodded and continued to advance with the ball.

"Others, pay attention to grabbing rebounds, go in when attacking, don't wait outside." Jackson shouted to others again.

He has a different attitude when playing against the Suns and other teams. He is very busy and can't sit all the time.

This season, Li Ba returned. Although the Suns are weaker than the Lakers on paper, he dare not underestimate Li Ba's strength and leadership ability. Moreover, the boss hopes that the team will successfully defend the title and create another dynasty, which also increases his pressure, so he is particularly cautious when playing against the Suns.

After the first quarter, 28:25, the Lakers led by 3 points.

Li Ba is the main attacker, and the Suns can still keep up with the score.

The Lakers strengthened the control of rebounds and implemented the human sea tactics in the paint area, so the number of shots is not advantageous.

A-League's defense against Yao Ming was also unsatisfactory. Yao Ming's high-post offensive threat was very large, reaching as far as the three-point line, and was very difficult to defend.

In fact, in the Lakers, Yao Ming's tactical position was even higher than Duncan's because he had very good mid-range and long-range shooting ability, a high field of vision, and good passing ability.

Especially against the Suns, Yao Ming could suppress Li Ba's outside defense ability in the low post, and his tactical position was more important.

Li Ba did not play in the second quarter, and the Lakers also played with substitutes. The two sides had a tacit understanding, and this game was regarded as a tactical contest.

The Lakers' bench is notoriously poor. The salaries of Kobe, Yao Ming and Duncan alone exceed 60 million, which has exceeded the salary cap. They have to pay tens of millions of dollars in luxury tax every year. It is impossible to put many more stars on the bench.

After halftime, the Suns caught up with the Lakers and even surpassed them by two points, 50:52.

In the second half, the Lakers took the lead in changing their formation. Yao Ming went to the low post and played the double tower single stack tactics with Duncan on the left and right.

But the Suns also changed their tactics immediately. When Yao Ming was in the low post, they played fast breaks and accelerated the offense and defense conversion, that is, the small ball style.

This was a death sentence for Yao Ming. Even Duncan could not keep up. The Suns frequently formed a situation of more people against fewer people in the frontcourt.

So the Lakers' double tower tactics stopped after three minutes, and these three minutes made the Lakers fall behind by 6 points.

However, the Lakers did not play the double towers, but the Suns still played fast breaks, which increased the speed of offense and defense conversion.

If the Suns were the Knicks in the run-and-gun era and could not guarantee rebounds, then this speed-up would not be able to beat the Lakers because the number of shots was not enough.

But the Suns could guarantee rebounds. Even if the Lakers used the human sea tactics, they could only make up for some of the disadvantages in rebounds, but could not gain an advantage.

While guaranteeing rebounds, the Suns dragged Yao Ming and Duncan out of breath through fast offense and defense, and also broke the Lakers' defense into pieces.

At the same time, when playing fast breaks on the offensive end, on the defensive end, under the leadership of Li Ba, the Suns implemented a pressing tactic, forcing the Lakers to speed up, which further increased the physical consumption of Yao Ming and Duncan. At the same time, the Lakers made more mistakes, and Li Ba made 4 steals in a single quarter.

After the third quarter, the Suns led by 15 points, 72:87.

The result of the three quarters was beyond everyone's expectations.