Chapter 923 The Lakers Can’t Stand It Anymore

Barkley explained at this time: "The first ball has a distance of two and a half meters from the basket, and the second ball has a distance of three meters. This means that the entire paint area is within the throwing range of the hammer."

Kenny Smith shook his head and sighed: "This is surprising. You must know that Duncan's near-basket shooting is mainly based on rebounding. Is the Hammer going to bloom his talent on the offensive end?"

In front of the Lakers bench, Phil Jackson said: "From now on, the defensive distance against the Hammers will extend to the entire paint area. Don't be too scrupulous. Although he can attack close to the basket, he is also far away from the basket. We Can better protect defensive rebounds."

The second quarter begins.

Li Ba played again, and the rest were all substitutes.

The Lakers' three giants take turns to play, keeping two people on the court, and with the alien Cassell, they are still very strong.

There were no two big insiders inside, so Li Ba only had to defend one alone, which allowed him to completely control the paint area, prevent the Lakers from scoring at the basket, and grabbed 9 rebounds in a single quarter.

In the second quarter, he fully defended and served as the organizing center on the offensive end. He sent 4 assists in a single quarter. The Lakers' giant lineup did not perform as it should.

At the end of the second quarter, 54:50, the Lakers were still 4 points behind.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Lakers began to exert their strength on the offensive end. The three giants took turns to take over in this quarter and gain a score advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Especially after Li Ba was suppressed by Dayao in the low post on the left wing, Duncan attacked in the low post on the right wing and defeated Marion.

He took 7 shots in one quarter, took one shot from Marion, one shot from Li Ba, and missed one shot, but he still scored 4 goals, showing his superstar style.

Kobe also showed strength in the third quarter, but he did not rush to the basket. Instead, he used Duncan's offensive cover to frequently make mid-range or near-basket shots in the paint. He also made 4 of 7 shots, which was very efficient.

Dayao played the same hand 6 times and played with good efficiency. He was blocked by Li Ba once, missed 2 goals and hit 3 goals.

The Big Three combined for 11 of 20 shots and 5 of 7 free throws, and together they scored 27 points in a single quarter.

But even so, after three quarters, the Lakers failed to catch up with the score.

Li Ba also worked hard on the offensive end. After Marion pulled Duncan away, the Suns did not use the usual weak-side back-cutting tactics. He also did not shoot near the basket. Instead, he singled out Dayao in the low post and then directly attacked. The basket was very efficient, making 7 of 7 shots in the first half. Dayao couldn't guard him at all.

In the second half of the quarter, the Lakers tried their best to help defend the basket, and Li Ba began to assist the outside again.

The outside touch was pretty good, and he sent out three assists in the first half of the quarter.

At the same time, he continued to protect rebounds, grabbing 8 rebounds in a single quarter.

After three quarters, 90:83, the Suns lead by 7 points.

Barkley said: "In this quarter, the Lakers did not use the breakthrough tactics like the first quarter, and let the Big Three play. Simple and clear, this gave the Hammers' defense no chance to play. He was suppressed in the low post by Yao and was unable to implement the coordination. Defense, so the Suns were unable to limit the Lakers' scoring, allowing the Lakers to achieve good offensive efficiency."

Kenny Smith said: "But the Suns took 7 more shots than the Lakers in the third quarter, and their efficiency was no lower than the Lakers. This is the reason why the Lakers are still lagging behind. They still can't get the rebounds from the Hammers."

"To put it bluntly, you can suppress the Hammer in the low post, but when he is in the low post, he can better control the rebounds. After three quarters, the Hammer has scored 23 rebounds, which is the Suns' rebounding There were 10 more than the Lakers in the third quarter, which is a guarantee of winning."

Zhang Lili said excitedly.

Yu Jia added: "The Lakers' physical fitness is definitely not as good as that of the Suns in the fourth quarter. Even if Kobe is fine, Dayao and Duncan have played for thirty minutes, and their physical fitness will definitely decline. Now the situation is biased towards the Suns."

Zhang Lili said: "This is why the Hammers came on the court in the second quarter. He wanted to drag down the Lakers' two big insiders by himself."

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Dayao sat on the bench and did not come up.

The Suns attack, and the rest of the Suns pull away. Li Ba confronts Duncan in the low post on the left wing, demanding the ball.

Rondo dodged Parker and passed the ball. Li Ba took the ball and Duncan hit the ball. He didn't dare to retreat directly to the basket like before.

This is what Li Ba did after he exposed his shot near the basket. The opponent did not dare to retreat directly to the basket.

For him who has a top-level turn, this effect is too great.

Li Bashang turned around, shook Duncan, and then immediately followed up with a spin, passed Duncan, and went straight to the basket. With a bang, the Lakers' basket exploded.

"Hammer's physical strength is really strong, and his movements are still so fast." Buckley praised.

"Duncan can't defend against the Hammers alone. He must help defend." Kenny Smith said.

Lakers offense.

Li Ba held Duncan low on the left wing.

In fact, in the past two years, Duncan's shooting range has become farther and farther.

First, because of Li Ba, he also started to practice shooting, but his wrist joints were large and the flexibility was poor, so he did not make as much progress as Li Ba.

The second reason is that because of his declining physical condition, it is becoming more and more difficult for him to score with the defender on his back.

When he first entered the league, he wanted to be as deep as he could and directly hit the basket. Now, that's no longer possible.

Especially for the number one defender in history like Li Ba in singles, he never thought about scoring.

Duncan was in the low post on the left wing. Li Ba let him go three meters and took the next step to the free throw line.

Duncan moved toward the basket, and Li Ba took the next step, leaving him two meters clear, which was one step away from returning to defense.

Parker hesitated and the ball failed to pass in time.

At this time, Rondo suddenly got close to him, forcing Parker to turn around and protect the ball.

When Li Ba saw it, he rushed to the top of the arc without hesitation and implemented a defensive double-team.

Parker was unable to pass the ball in time and quickly lost the ball after being double-teamed.

The Suns took the opportunity to launch a fast break. Li Ba, who had stolen the ball, held the ball and went down quickly. The Lakers were unstoppable and dunked the ball.

Lakers offense.

This time Kobe took a shot and was double-teamed by Ginobili and Marion. He forced the shot, but failed to make a shot. Li Ba grabbed the rebound.

The Suns attack.

Li Ba once again got the ball in the low post.

This time Artest double-teamed half a shot ahead of schedule.

As soon as Li Ba got the ball, he smashed it outward and passed it to Battier who was left open.

Battier's touch was not bad today, and it was no wonder that he had practiced three-pointers for two more seasons. He hit open three-pointers with his hands and down.

After three minutes of play, the Lakers couldn't stand it anymore.

Without Dayao, Li Ba completely controlled the paint area on both ends of the offense and defense just like in the second quarter. The Lakers lost control of the rebounds and took fewer shots.

Not only that, because Duncan could not suppress Li Ba in the low post, Li Ba frequently helped defend the outside line. He committed a steal and a block in three minutes, driving the Lakers' offense away from the edge of the paint area and indirectly reducing the Lakers' shooting rate. .

With the Suns also showing good offensive efficiency, losing control of the rebounds was fatal to the Lakers.