Chapter 1135 He Is Still a Superstar Who Needs Double-Teaming

4:9, the Lakers fell behind, the Suns attacked.

This time they didn't play double stacking, Li Ba was active in the low post on the left wing, Dayao was in the high post, Yi Jianlian was pulled away, and Gasol was in the low post on the right wing.

At the top of the arc, Ginobili made a tactical gesture, passed the ball to Dayao, and then immediately bypassed Kobe and rushed into the paint area from Dayao.

When he passed Dayao, the ball returned to his hands.

Kobe quickly chased.

Ginobili rushed to the basket with the ball, and Artest, who was defending Li Ba, could only choose to defend the basket.

At this time, Ginobili immediately changed direction to the right wing, rushed two steps, suddenly jumped up, twisted in the air, twisted himself into a twist, and faced the double block of Kobe and Artest, and threw the ball in his hand.

The ball was very high, Kobe and Artest failed to complete the block. After landing, they were about to turn around to grab the rebound, and they heard a violent slamming sound from behind. Looking back, Li Ba was hanging on the basket with one arm and dangling.

"One-armed dunk, a performance from Hammer and Manu Ginobili!" The roar of the commentator on the scene rang out in the American West Arena.

"This tactic is good, using Ginobili's breakthrough to attract the Lakers' defense. But in fact, it would be the same if Hammer played it. Artest defended Hammer in the low post. Does he have the low post defense skills? The Lakers didn't switch defense. This is a tactical mistake." Zhang Heli shouted.

Just like what he said, Phil Jackson also realized this problem, but he couldn't solve it.

Because Artest is only 201 cm tall, 5 cm shorter than Li Ba, asking him to switch to the other three inside players of the Suns, he was also beaten.

Looking back, Kobe passed a ball to Gasol.

Gasol played his brother Gasol on the left wing, first shook a little, then turned around and jumped and hit a goal.

6:11, the Lakers fell behind, and the Suns attacked.

It was the same style of play as before, with Yao Ming in the high post, Li Ba and Gasol in the left and right low posts, the three forming a triangle, and Yi Jianlian moved to the left wing.

Ginobili held the ball at the top of the arc and passed it to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming got the ball, and Li Ba entered the basket and rushed directly to the right wing low post to make a pick-and-roll for Gasol, who then rushed to the basket.

At this time, Yao Ming passed the ball, Gasol received the ball, and faced Artest's switch defense, he directly dunked and scored two points.

"The Suns played with a height advantage in the basket, and the Lakers couldn't defend at all." Barkley shouted.

"Artest couldn't defend anyone on the Suns in the low post, everyone was taller than him, Gasol was 15 centimeters taller than him, plus the wingspan, he was a foot taller, how could he defend?" Kenny Smith complained.

In the eighth minute, Yao Ming and Gasol were replaced, and Dio and Tony Allen were put on, and the Suns changed to a small lineup.

The Lakers also replaced Duncan with Parker, and the others were still on the court.

At this time, the score was 13:22, and the Suns led by 9 points.

The rhythm of both sides was not very fast, there was no fast break, and it was mainly based on positional warfare, so the score was not very high.

After Yao Ming and Gasol went down, Li Ba officially returned to the fifth position, partnering with Dio in the interior, against the Lakers' interior combination of Gasol and Odom.

The Lakers adopted the tactic of pulling all the interiors out, emptying the Suns' restricted area, and then letting Parker and Kobe break through and play the breakthrough and scoring tactic.

This tactic was not bad. The score was not further widened in the last four minutes. At the end of the first quarter, 20:29, the Lakers were still 9 points behind.

In the first quarter, Li Ba made 4 of 4 shots and 2 of 3 free throws, scoring 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks and 1 foul.

He continued to play in the second quarter, leading the substitute lineup against the Lakers' semi-main lineup.

The Lakers' main inside players didn't play much in the second quarter. Duncan and Gasol played for four minutes each, and the rest of the time was given to the substitutes.

Kobe made 3 of 7 shots in the second quarter, including a three-pointer, and 4 of 4 free throws under Tony Allen's defense, scoring 11 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, and his performance was also very strong.

But Li Ba broke out in this quarter. Facing the Lakers' substitute inside players, Li Ba went all out on both offense and defense, and blew up the Lakers' inside players. He made 6 of 6 shots and 3 of 6 free throws in a single quarter, scoring 15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, and 1 foul. He scored 25 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 steals, 6 blocks, 1 turnover, and 2 fouls in the first half.

At the end of the first half, 37:59, the Lakers were 22 points behind, and it can almost be said that the game was over.

Barkley said at halftime: "Inside, inside, no matter whether the Suns play fast break or traditional positional warfare, the Lakers can't hold up and can't keep up in the inside. They are too passive in tactics."

Kenny Smith said: "Yes, the Lakers' tactics can only follow the hammer. When the hammer goes to the outside, the Lakers have to change players and tactics immediately. When the hammer goes to the inside, the Lakers have to change again, but it's impossible. The Lakers can't keep up with the rhythm."

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Lakers restored the main lineup and counterattacked with all their strength.

The Suns had a huge score advantage and adopted a defensive strategy. Dayao didn't play. Li Ba and Yi Lian partnered in the inside, and Tony Allen + Ginobili + Rondo were on the outside.

After the third quarter, Li Ba played a quadruple-double, scoring 30 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists, 10 steals, 10 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls.

Under the strong defense of the Suns, the Lakers' counterattack was unsuccessful. At the end of the third quarter, 61:80, the Suns still led by 19 points.

The Lakers did not give up in the fourth quarter because the score difference was not so big that they could not hope for the win and they still had a chance to make a comeback.

Phil Jackson sent out a lineup of Gasol + Odom + Artest + Kobe + Parker, letting Duncan rest below.

For the Suns, Yao Ming came on the court and partnered with Yi Jianlian in the interior, while the outside line was Tony Allen + Li Ba + Ginobili.

When Yao Ming came on the court, he said to Li Ba: "You kid don't keep your word. You took all the time. I only played eight minutes today, which is less than the regular season. It's almost garbage time. Let me attack this quarter, and you just defend."

"I just need to assist." Li Ba smiled.

Yao Ming smiled and started to get into position in the high position.

Li Ba went to the basket and was double-teamed by Artest and Odom.

None of the two could hold Li Ba from behind, so there was no hard top. They just moved around Li Ba to prevent him from receiving the ball, while also looking at Yao Ming in the high position, so they could double-team Yao Ming at any time.

When the Suns attacked, Yao Ming got the ball in the high position. Facing Gasol's defense, he turned around and made a fadeaway jump shot without hesitation and hit a goal.

He played too fast, and then turned and shot a fadeaway jumper, so Odom had no chance to double-team him.

"When Yao Ming is on the court, he is still a superstar who needs to be double-teamed. It is impossible for Gasol to defend him alone." Zhang Heli shouted.