Chapter 1316 Zhuang Shen's Change

On the sidelines, Mike Brown was yelling at Howard: "Dwight, hold up the hammer from behind, you must strengthen the confrontation, you are younger than him, your physical fitness must be stronger than his."

Howard just wanted to curse, which eye of yours saw that the hammer's physical fitness was not as good as mine?

He didn't want to have a strong confrontation with Li Ba under the basket at all, it was too tiring, after one game, his body would not be in good shape for three days.

The Lakers attacked, Kobe took the ball, suddenly broke through George Hill on the right wing, and then made a two-step jump shot at the three-point line and hit a goal.

The Suns attacked, George Hill ran back and took the ball on the left wing. When he was about to jump shot, Kobe caught up and blocked the ball.

Paul grabbed the ball, the Lakers launched a fast break, Kobe received the former's pass outside the right wing three-point line, and shot a three-pointer, which penetrated the Suns basket.

4:8, the Lakers led by 4 points at home.

Zhang Heli shouted: "Kobe's defense is very strong. You must be careful when shooting in front of him!"

"Today, the Lakers made three of three shots and two of the three-pointers. The outside shots are very hot!" Yu Jia said.

"A high hit rate means fewer rebounds. This has also weakened the Suns' advantage in inside rebounds." Xu Jicheng said.

Harden pushed the ball forward, and Paul suddenly made a steal. Fortunately, the former was focused and reacted quickly, and did not lose the ball.

"Paul's hands are very fast on the defensive end. You must be careful when holding the ball in front of him. And Paul's steals have a characteristic that he doesn't lose position very often." Zhang Heli understood.

"That is, Paul's arms are not as long as Rondo's. If he replaces Rondo's arms, the number of steals will definitely increase sharply." Yu Jia laughed.

"Steals are fast and accurate, plus long arms. The reason why the hammer's steals are so powerful is that there are several factors. One is that his arms are long, the second is that the first step is fast, and the hands are also fast. They come up in an instant, and the third is that his hands are too accurate." Zhang Heli laughed.

The first shot missed, but Harden didn't shoot recklessly. The Suns were not Mosaic, so he couldn't shoot recklessly, otherwise he might be beaten to death by the boss.

At this time, Li Ba entered the basket, and Howard was behind him. Harden quickly pushed the ball in.

Li Ba received the ball, and without wasting half a second, he dribbled and arched, and arched again, twice in a row, pushing Howard into the reasonable collision zone, and then turned and dunked, and with a bang, the Lakers basket was hit.

Howard wanted to block the shot, but his center of gravity was bumped, and he was half a beat late.

"The hammer is the perfect combination of strength and speed under the basket." Barkley exclaimed in the TNT live broadcast.

"One-on-one, I think only O'Neal in his prime can defend the hammer, I mean O'Neal before he gained weight."

Kenny Smith said.

"That's not important. What's important is that the Hammer's strength is on the defensive end, which is something that even peak O'Neal couldn't crack, because the Hammer's defense is not aimed at the person he's facing, but the entire opponent team. His defense covers a very large area." Barkley laughed.

The Lakers attacked, Kobe got the ball on the right wing, singled out George Hill, faked a breakthrough and shot a three-pointer.

"The hand is really hot, it hits again!" Yu Jia shouted in surprise.

"6:11, the Suns are 5 points behind. If they continue to shoot like this, the Suns will be in trouble. There are still not many rebounds." Zhang Heli shouted.

Looking back, Li Ba was double-teamed.

At the moment Harden passed the ball, A-Lin double-teamed Li Ba.

Li Ba received the ball with his right hand, "saw" A-Lin coming, he had no chance to back Howard, immediately turned right, avoided A-Lin's double-team, and at the same time broke through Howard in one step and rushed to the basket.

But at this time, A-Lin, who knew Li Ba too well, also responded.

In fact, A-Lian knew that Li Ba would use this trick. He was too familiar with Li Ba. His double-team was to force Li Ba to turn around and break through, so when Li Ba turned around and broke through, he also changed direction and rushed to the basket.

This is the defense that Li Ba taught him, a combination of preemptive and post-attack, first forcing Li Ba to turn around and break through, and then directly defending the basket.

In this way, Li Ba stood up and dunked with one arm, and A-Lian jumped up in one step, defended in place, and blocked it with one hand.

"Snap!"

The ball jumped up, and Li Ba's dunk was blocked.

"Crack, crack..." Behind the baseline, the media's camera flashed instantly.

"Ouch!" Yu Jia screamed.

"Good guy, A-Lian blocked the big brother!" Zhang Heli shouted.

"This is teaching the apprentice to beat the master!" Xu Jicheng laughed and complained.

"A-Lian's defense is the reason why he gets the maximum salary." Zhang Heli laughed.

The ball went out of bounds, and the Suns still had the ball.

"Well done!" Li Ba praised A-Lian.

"Hehe!" A-Lian laughed.

The Suns attacked, Nene served the ball at the front baseline, Li Ba stood under the basket, and Howard immediately went around to block the passing route.

Nene passed the ball to Harden outside the arc, and Harden directly shot a three-pointer. Paul blocked it in the face, but the ball still missed.

The rebound was not lost, Howard went around, Nene entangled with A-Lian, Li Ba successfully grabbed the rebound, took off twice, and dunked.

Zhang Heli complained: "The Suns have a rebounding advantage, and it's okay to miss a few shots from the outside, but you can't always miss! If you don't make it again, the Lakers will rush in and double-team the hammer."

He was not wrong. The Lakers strengthened their rebounding protection next, especially when the Suns shot from the outside, the Lakers overall shrank the paint area, which impacted the Suns' rebounding advantage.

After one quarter, 28:34, the Suns were 6 points behind.

Barkley said: "Both sides have strong scoring ability. The Suns rely on shooting and second-chance offense to score points. The Lakers still have some disadvantages in shooting, but the outside shooting rate is high. They made 5 of 8 three-pointers in a single quarter, so they have an advantage in scoring."

In the second quarter, both sides came on the bench.

Drummond's playing time has been reduced to about 10 minutes in these games.

Payton talked to him and asked him to change his playing style, otherwise his playing time will be further reduced.

As a rookie in his rookie season, he had no room for resistance and could only obey, concentrate on the defensive end, reduce his shots, and no longer become a black hole for ball possession.

The substitute lineup is still very strong without Zhuang Shen's indiscriminate shooting and with his rebounding guarantee. At the end of the second quarter, the Suns tied the score at 55:55.

In the third quarter, the Lakers' outside shooting was not so hot. In the first three minutes, they made 0 of 3 three-pointers, which allowed the Suns to seize the opportunity and overtake the score.

Then the Lakers reduced their three-point shots and increased their mid-range shots, mainly long two-point shots, because they were too close to the paint and were afraid of Li Ba's defense.

After shortening the shooting range, the Lakers' outside success rate increased, and they gradually caught up with the score.

After three quarters, the score was 81:83, and the Lakers led by 2 points.