Chapter 1010: Incompetence

"Good news, now our ratings have exceeded 100 million, congratulations to the Lakers and the Suns." Barkley said excitedly.

"Speaking of the game, the third quarter can be said to be a contest between traditional positional warfare and small ball, and the winner is small ball." Kenny Smith said.

"I said that the Hammer accelerated the arrival of the small ball era, and Yao and Tim are likely to be eliminated by the times." Barkley shouted.

"It is difficult to play against the Suns. The Lakers will win against other teams, even the Grizzlies and the Cavaliers." Kenny Smith said.

"The Grizzlies have Gasol, and the fast ones are only the two horses and Rudy Gay, which is not a real small ball. The Cavaliers are very strong this season, and have won all the games so far. The atmosphere of winning the championship is very high. The Lakers may not be able to win. If the Lakers lose this game, the Cavaliers will dominate the first place in the league." Barkley said.

"The Hammer said not to underestimate the Suns. Now in these three quarters, I agree with him. Don't underestimate the Suns." Kenny Smith smiled.

Barkley read Li Ba's statistics: "11 of 13 shots in 24 minutes, including 3 of 5 shots near the basket, 4 of 6 free throws, 26 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 7 steals, 5 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls. It's not surprising that the Suns won with such statistics in two quarters."

In the fourth quarter, Kobe controlled the ball.

At the same time, Duncan and Artest almost gave up the offense and surrounded Li Ba on both offense and defense, trying to isolate him from the game.

Even Parker repeatedly left Rondo open and implemented a three-on-one strategy on Li Ba.

This change made the game difficult. The Lakers played like they did on the offensive end. There was no gorgeous offense, no fast break that made people's heart beat faster, and the scene became ugly.

But this persistent tactic was indeed effective. The Suns made more mistakes. The Lakers recovered 8 points in the first half, 88:95, and were still 7 points behind.

After Li Ba, the core of both offense and defense, was restricted, the Suns only scored 8 points in half a quarter, and the weakness of the main lineup's insufficient scoring ability was exposed.

The Suns called a timeout.

Zhang Heli shouted: "Look, this is the result of not having outside shooting, not having three-pointers, and not being able to pull the opponent's defense."

Xu Jicheng said: "It's time to change players. Put Kevin Martin in as a three-guard and use his three-pointers to pull Parker out."

Yu Jia said: "Martin is a shooting guard. He can't solve the fundamental problem. Artest must be pulled out. Now Artest and Duncan don't do anything else, just entangle the hammer. It's too annoying!

Grant Hill can be used. His offensive ability can definitely pull Artest out. And Hill's defense is not bad now. He often defended the opponent's arrows last season. He can definitely start at the third position. He averaged 32 minutes per game last season. He can definitely play. His injury has healed."

Xu Jicheng said: "Maybe the head coach doesn't trust Hill's defense. After all, the Suns have Defense is the main thing, and the starters are the strongest defenders. "

Zhang Heli said: "Kobe's hands are really hot in this quarter, 4 of 6 three-pointers, he is a navigation. Ginobili tried his best to defend, but he couldn't defend. "

Yu Jia said: "Ya Lian has double-teamed Kobe, but Kobe is really strong. It seems that the more he is double-teamed, the more he can make shots. His defense is also stronger this season. Ginobili was defended by him for several times. Manu made a lot of mistakes today and his efficiency was not high. "

Xu Jicheng said: "Kobe's first step is much faster than before, which makes his breakthrough ability stronger and can get rid of the defender more thoroughly, which makes his jump shot higher than before. In addition, the effect of A Lian's double-teaming Kobe is not very good. This is the problem of the head coach. The power forward cannot be allowed to double-team the shooting guard. He can't keep up. "

After the timeout, the second half began.

The Suns attacked, and A Lian pulled out and took away Dayao.

The Lakers also double-teamed Li Ba with three people, letting Tony Allen and Rondo go.

Tony Allen entered the paint area to screen for Li Ba, but it did not solve the problem, but made the paint area more crowded.

In this way, the Suns' offense was undertaken by Yi Jianlian and Ginobili.

But Li Ba was surrounded and the Suns' rebounds were not guaranteed. The score difference continued to narrow. At the 10th minute of the final quarter, with 150 seconds left in the game, the score was tied at 100:100.

"Kobe broke out in the final quarter, making 6 of 9 three-pointers and scoring 20 points with free throws and shots. He is really too strong!" Yu Jia sighed.

"He broke out when he said he would, but with his strength, I am not surprised at all. But there are indeed some problems with the selection of double-teaming him. The new head coach of the Suns is still not capable of responding. You asked Tony Allen to double-team Kobe." Zhang Heli smiled.

The Suns asked for a timeout again.

Head coach Scott looked very serious. After all, he was a rookie coach. He was a little nervous when he met such a strong opponent as the Lakers and was tied with a big lead.

General Manager David Griffin also stared at one side, with the same mood as Scott.

Li Ba is fine, it's just like that when playing against the Lakers, the human-sea tactics in the restricted area is what Phil Jackson developed based on Pat Riley's tactics.

He didn't change the defensive tactics on the court, just like training Alian, he wanted to see the ability of the new head coach.

There was some disappointment, Scott didn't respond quickly, the tactics were as planned, now the game is almost over, I don't know what changes he will make, he is looking forward to it.

Scott wiped his sweat and said, "Switch defense now, Tony, you let Artest go and double-team Kobe."

"Sir, double-team him all over the court?" Tony Allen asked.

In the playoffs of 0607, under the command of Li Ba, the Suns did this, double-teaming Kobe throughout the court and not letting him receive the ball, so he asked this question.

Scott shook his head and said, "Double-team across half court."

It was this decision that made the Suns lose the game.

Kobe took over the ball from the backcourt, and when he got to the frontcourt, he immediately broke the Suns' half-court pressing tactics through a simple pick-and-roll, and scored two consecutive times, scoring five points.

The Suns forced the ball to Li Ba, but Artest stole the ball and made a mistake.

The Suns eventually lost the game. Li Ba did not perform well in the fourth quarter and was completely restricted.

When he left the court, he looked at Scott helplessly. The coaching ability of this new head coach is still a little bit green for the time being. It seems that he needs to be trained well in this regular season.

In fact, he was reserved in this game. The Lakers had a way to crack his double-teaming tactics.

For example, if they play full-court press and start defending directly from the baseline, with the strength of each of the top defensive players in the Suns' starting lineup, they will definitely be able to defend the Lakers to death, and then take advantage of the situation to speed up the offense and defense tempo. The Lakers will have no way to double-team him, and Yao Ming and Duncan will definitely continue to be busy.