Chapter 1313 Millsap

In the fourth quarter, neither Li Ba nor Irving played again, but the Suns' bench lineup still played like the Cavaliers' bench lineup.

After the game, the media surrounded Li Ba.

"Iron Hammer, is it too much to target Irving today? He is only a sophomore, is it too much?" a reporter asked.

"Young people, how can they improve without training? I did this for his own good, satisfying his desire to challenge me and achieving the purpose of training him. But you don't have to thank me on his behalf, let him do it himself." Li Ba said.

"..."

The reporter's face was dull, I will not thank you on his behalf.

"Iron Hammer, 67:139, the Suns won 72, setting a record, do you know?" a reporter said excitedly.

"Oh, the record for the largest score difference?" Li Ba guessed.

"Yes, the biggest score difference in history was in the 1991-1992 season, when the Cavaliers played against the Heat in a regular season game. The score was 148:80, a score difference of 68 points. The Cavaliers nailed the Heat to the pillar of shame, and this time they were nailed to the pillar of shame by the Suns." The reporter laughed.

"And the score doubled in this game." Another reporter added.

Li Ba laughed and said, "Then I can only wish the Cavaliers to win the No. 1 pick next year."

In fact, his words came true, and the Cavaliers really won the No. 1 pick next year.

"Iron Hammer, what do you want to say to Irving?" a reporter asked.

"Young man, don't be arrogant, don't be ignorant of what you know when you have some skills, don't know how high or low you are, and don't know how high or low you are." Li Ba said loudly.

"Can't you say something encouraging?" a reporter complained.

"Haha..."

Li Ba laughed twice and said coldly: "Do you really think I will have a good impression of a kid who wants to step on me to get to the top?

Sorry, I won't be so hypocritical. I will only destroy his beliefs, destroy his self-confidence, and then kill him with one finger!

Encourage him to continue to step on me to get to the top? Think too much!"

The reporters felt the incomparable cruelty from Li Ba's words, and they couldn't help but feel a huge chill in their hearts, and their faces twitched. Right, this is in line with Tiechui's character.

"Tiechui, can you tell me how to defend Irving?" a reporter asked.

"You ask and I will answer."

Li Ba said with a smile: "My defense is very simple. The first step is to take the initiative to defend and force the ball holder to do what I want. In Chinese, this is called preemptive..."

The reporters nodded one after another.

Li Ba continued: "The second step is to strike back."

"Tiechui, what is strike back?" a reporter asked.

Li Ba said: "The so-called post-strike means that when the opponent takes the action I want and exposes a flaw, I use a faster and more direct way to seize that weakness and complete the defense."

"Pre-strike? Post-strike?"

Many league superstars watched this interview of Li Ba and kept thinking about these two sentences.

In front of the Suns bench, Jimmy Butler was also thinking about these words. He felt that he could catch some inspiration, but in the end he didn't catch anything. He just felt that the boss's words were too profound and sighed helplessly.

After the post-match press conference, the Suns rushed to Salt Lake City overnight. Tomorrow they will play back-to-back against the Jazz.

At 3 a.m. on the 10th, the Suns arrived in Salt Lake City.

At noon, far away in Miami, at the headquarters of the Heat, Pat Riley was on the phone with Nike.

He has two targets, both of whom are Nike players, and hopes that Nike can come forward to help the Heat strengthen.

The first is Paul George of the Pacers, and the second is Paul Millsap of the Jazz.

He thought that if he got one of the two Pauls, the Heat's lack of inside strength would be solved. Among them, Millsap was more suitable at the fourth position, and he wanted to get this player more.

Moreover, the salary of this player was not high, only more than 8 million this season. This season was also the contract year of the second contract, so it would be more convenient to trade.

Another point is that the Jazz had too many forwards, and the possibility of trading was also very high.

In the evening, the game between the Suns and the Jazz began.

Before the game, the starting lineup was announced.

Suns: Li Ba, Nene, Caron Butler, George Hill, Harden.

Jazz: Al Jefferson, Millsap, Marvin Williams, Gordon Haywood, Jamal Tinsley.

Zhang Heli complained: "There is no center. Except for guard Tinsley, the other four are all forwards over 203 cm tall. I don't understand why you pile up so many forwards?"

Xu Jicheng laughed: "There are still several on the bench, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter, DeMarre Carroll, Jeremy Evans, a total of eight forwards, haha!"

Yu Jia said: "The Jazz may want to play Pat Riley's five small forwards tactics."

Zhang Heli nodded and smiled: "It's possible. The Suns can actually seek a trade from the Jazz. The small forward position is a weakness, and the Jazz can be strengthened here."

Xu Jicheng said: "One of Nene and Garnett can be traded for a small forward."

Yu Jia laughed: "Garnett is impossible to trade. He doesn't want an annual salary of tens of millions. He joined with a minimum salary just for the ring. In the end, you traded him away, haha..."

The three of them laughed as they talked.

The game started.

In Miami, Pat Riley was also staring at the TV. He wanted to see Millsap's performance against the Suns through this game to determine who to bring in in the end.

Or, both?

"Shit, so many forwards?"

He casually opened the official website and looked at the Jazz's lineup information, and couldn't help but groan.

He recalled the battle between the Heat and the Suns. Even if the fourth position was added, the advantage of the hammer was too great, and he was not sure.

In addition, the Suns were all rookies. After the tempering of the regular season, once they entered the playoffs, the Suns would only be stronger, and the Heat would be even more unstoppable at that time.

"How about it?"

He stared at the computer screen and looked at the Jazz's lineup without blinking.

At this time, the battle between the Jazz and the Suns began.

The Suns attacked, and Millsap came to defend.

He was like Li Ba, strong, short, and had few low-post offensive means. He had a half-court shot. His offense was mostly a second offense after grabbing an offensive rebound. He had good rebounding ability and a slow pace, but he had a good basketball IQ, could pass the ball, and played very well with his teammates.

Millsap weighed 113 kilograms, was 203 cm tall, and had a wingspan of 217 cm. As soon as he approached Li Ba, the latter was puzzled. Is this guy 203 cm tall?

"I'm also 203, but why am I taller than him?" Li Ba suppressed his doubts and started to position himself.

In fact, Millsap's height may be less than two meters, about the same as Big Ben, so his doubts are still correct.

When Nene was entangled with Al Jefferson, Harden passed the ball in.

Li Ba received the ball, suddenly turned down, and rushed past Millsap in one step. After sliding to the bottom, he took a step and slammed the ball into the basket with a bang.

Millsap didn't keep up, and he didn't pull him. Li Ba's movements were too fast and he didn't keep up with the rhythm.